I was forced to start the second round because I was raised in poverty

Chapter 302 The Ma Family, the Gambling King
The demanding KPI targets, which were too large, not only put mental pressure on Su Cheng, but also created another problem.

That's the pressure in the workplace.

Su Cheng not only had to answer to the old man, but also had to be responsible to his subordinates.

He's now easily stuck in the middle, pleasing neither side.

Su Cheng had already noticed this trend.

From her conversations with Jiang Shuyue, Gu Jingyan, and Xu Wenlin, Su Cheng discovered that they were not very satisfied with her arrival.

It's not that I dislike him as a person; how would I know if I like him or not if I haven't even met him yet?

The key issue is that Su Cheng's arrival brought them KPIs that they might not have been able to achieve in three to five years, which caused dissatisfaction.

People will definitely assume that this is the workload that Su Cheng proactively requested from her superiors.

Even knowing that it wasn't Su Cheng who requested it, and that this KPI was based on Su Cheng, it's easy to let emotions affect him.

There's only a 50% chance that a newly appointed leader will be successful. The old man added a supermodel criterion, making things even more difficult for Su Cheng.

How can Su Cheng carry out his work if his subordinates don't listen to his orders?

Since he was unfamiliar with the place and the people around him, only Zhang Yangwen listened to him, and there was a high probability that they would engage in covert resistance.

It's even possible that they'll secretly form an informal power alliance to make his work difficult to advance, ultimately leaving Su Cheng to take the blame.

Just like Mu Xueping did against Ye Li, she implemented information blocking.

Economic pressure is one thing, but Su Cheng not only ignores him, he also spends money freely and drags Zhang Yangwen into it.

But the things that follow are more difficult to deal with.

"Does this mean I have to personally go out and drum up business?"

……

……

Above the international airport on the island of Macau.

A Gulfstream G700 reported its location to the control tower, stating that the runway was being cleared and the aircraft was about to land.

Bai Zihua was browsing the information.

Like Long Ruoli, he also secretly sent people to investigate the capital behind "I Tell You".

However, this time Bai Zihua did not use Wei Qing, but his usual trusted confidant, who was only responsible to Bai Zihua.

He obtained the information much faster than Long Ruoli, and he was unaware that Long Ruoli had also been transferred to the Internal Affairs Department behind the scenes.

There is no direct evidence in the materials that shows that "I Tell You" is related to Su Cheng, but it leaves some inexplicable and meaningless traces.

Even with this trace, it's hard to connect it to Su Cheng.

More clues are still being investigated.

Based on this limited information, Bai Zihua was able to make a reasonable deduction: "I'll Tell You" was most likely made by Su Cheng.

What are the odds?

Bai Zihua believes there is at least a 90% probability.

If Xiao Cheng was the one doing it behind the scenes, then Bai Zihua would be quite happy.

Even if President Su knew about this, he would be very happy, because Xiao Cheng did not leak it, and showed extraordinary wisdom in the optimization of "I Tell You".

Bai Zihua did not intend to hand over the investigation materials to President Su, nor did he intend to mention this matter to President Su.

From President Su's perspective, Xiao Cheng was stealing assets from the Emperor Group.

President Su's consistent philosophy is: what I give you is yours, and what I don't give you, you can't take away.

If you take it from me by other means, then you are my enemy.

Bai Zihua didn't want Xiao Cheng to stand against President Su, or to be seen as a business rival.

In that case, Xiaocheng would suffer even more severe punishment.

Bai Zihua is now planning to make a move.

He flew to Australia specifically to arrange security matters and also to provide some assistance to Xiaocheng.

Bai Zihua cannot directly deal with Su Cheng, but he can use personal connections to do so.

He chose a powerful family from the island of Macau: the Ma family.

The Ma family is a local power in Australia. They have accumulated their initial capital for a long time, but have been blocked in Australia for various reasons.

The economy has been doing very well in recent years, so the Ma family is eager to expand into various fields.

to be frank.

Ma Yingyao, that old guy, is quite resilient.

His illness is quite similar to that of President Su; both suffer from problems with neurons and cells in their brains.

But Ma Yingyao managed to extend his life by more than ten years by receiving injections of special nutritional drugs costing millions of yuan each.

This action can be considered to have laid the foundation for the Ma family's presence in Australia.

Ma Yingyao's decades of business experience in his early years gave him a lot of influence in the local community, making him very powerful.

Wealth can be inherited, but personal relationships cannot. Even if they are inherited, it's merely a superficial matter and cannot provide any real help.
At that time, the second generation of the Ma family had not yet emerged. If Old Ma had not received this injection, the Ma family might not have developed to its current scale and influence, and its assets might have shrunk by hundreds of times.

It's even possible that it was swallowed up by other families more than a decade ago.

But it would be different if Ma Yingyao were alive.

This allows the second generation ample time to develop and grow, and to pass on wisdom to them.

Once everything settles down, it doesn't matter whether he lives or dies; Old Ma's mission is complete.

This truly shows that having an elder in the family is like having a treasure.

It is worth mentioning that.

President Su and Ma Yingyao had a falling out more than a decade ago.

At that time, Mr. Su brought him to Macau to help design the entertainment hall, and Mr. Su personally took charge of the design.

As a result, the Ma family reneged on the agreed price.

The original consulting fee was 250 million, but the Ma family was only willing to pay 150 million.

Bai Zihua asked why, and they said they introduced a girl to President Su, so they factored in the additional 100 million.

At the time, Mr. Su thought that was a special treatment he received from the Ma family.

At the time, the Emperor Group was not very powerful, and in the end, they parted ways on bad terms.

Bai Zihua knew that President Su had remembered this incident for more than a decade, believing that he had been humiliated by the Ma family at the time.

Bai Zihua had just learned that the whole thing was the unauthorized action of one of Ma Yingyao's concubines, and even Ma Yingyao himself was unaware of the details.

Old Ma entrusted Bai Zihua to report the matter truthfully to President Su, hoping to gain Su Tianyan's forgiveness.

At the time, President Su did not express his opinion, but he also did not forgive them.

The Ma family repeatedly asked Bai Zihua to try to ease relations with the Emperor Group, but to no avail.

The main reason was that Su Tianyan felt he had lost face and been insulted.

The reward of 250 million has been cut in half.

What kind of woman is worth a hundred million?

Needless to say, Bai Zihua has always sided with President Su.

There's no need to even discuss whether that girl is worth a hundred million.

When you mix personal relationships into business, it's definitely not the same thing.

The agreed-upon amount was 250 million, so just give me 250 million and that's it.

Once the business transaction is over, we can discuss the girl's affairs, even if you want billions or tens of billions; that's a different matter altogether.

Business is business.

Personal favors done in private are personal favors done in private.

Ma Yingyao knew he was in the wrong, which is why he had been afraid of the Emperor Group for so many years.

To be precise, they were afraid of Su Tianyan, and afraid of any business dealings involving reckoning or suppression against them.

The power of the Geely Group in mainland China is far greater than the Ma family could have imagined; the Geely Group controls virtually every sector.

The Ma family also tried to expand into the mainland several times, but their investments in several sectors all inexplicably failed.

In retrospect, these areas all bear traces of Geely's activities to varying degrees.

Companies that had been operating steadily in this field immediately adopted a very aggressive operating strategy after the Ma family entered the market.

The Ma family absolutely refuses to believe that this wasn't targeted at them.

Over the years, at least several billion yuan has been wasted.

They just keep failing at everything they do; no matter what they try, they just can't make it work. They won't let the Ma family earn a single penny.

Later, the Ma family simply gave up and focused on developing in Macau, no longer venturing into the mainland.

But Bai Zihua knew that they had always harbored a desire to flourish in all fields.

The plane lands.

Almost the entire Ma family came to pick them up at the airport; there were at least thirty or forty people in total, including members of the Ma family and close relatives by blood.

The procession was quite large, and they treated Bai Zihua with the utmost respect and courtesy.

The person in the lead was Ma Yingyao, who was sitting in a wheelchair and wrapped in a blanket.

Bai Zihua couldn't remember which concubine was pushing Ma Yingyao from behind.

It's been too long; he hasn't been to Macau in a long time.

Bai Zihua had seen this kind of scene many times before, and he often saw even bigger scenes than today.

He walked briskly down the airplane stairs.

He alone possessed an aura that rivaled that of the entire Ma family.

"Mr. Bai!"

Ma Yingyao smiled kindly and waved to Bai Zihua, even trying to stand up and greet him at one point.

Upon seeing this, Bai Zihua immediately stopped him, saying, "Mr. Ma, please sit down. There's no need to be so polite."

Ma Yingyao dared not be impolite.

Who is Bai Zihua?
A close confidant of Su Tianyan.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's the second-in-command of the Emperor Group; he's second only to the emperor.

not to mention.

The two families had a lot of unpleasantness in the past, and Bai Zihua helped convey his desire to reconcile many times.

"How is Mr. Su's health?"

"Mr. Su is doing well, and how about you?"

"I've always been like this."

“Mr. Ma, you are just as impressive as you were ten years ago.”

"Haha, Mr. Bai is joking."

Bai Zihua was received with the highest honors throughout the entire process, enjoying the best treatment the Ma family could provide.

After dinner.

Ma Yingyao gestured for someone to bring over a beautifully packaged box, saying it was a gift for Bai Zihua.

"Mr. Bai, this is just a small token of our appreciation. Please accept it."

When Bai Zihua opened it, he found that it contained a bottle of wine.

Moreover, this bottle of wine looked extremely familiar to him.

Bai Zihua frowned.

Isn't this the whiskey that Long Ruoli gave him last time, but he didn't want?
Islay, first edition single malt in an individual bottle from 1970, with a hand-painted Port Allen winery logo.

The winery, label, bottle, and vintage all match.

Last time, Long Ruoli gave him two bottles, but here there is only one.

Ma Yingyao noticed Bai Zihua's unusual expression and quickly asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Bai? Don't you like it?"

Ma Yingyao knew that Bai Zihua liked whiskey, so he gave him this gift to cater to his taste.

He had given Bai Zihua whiskey before, but none of them were as good as this one. Why does Bai Zihua look so serious?

"Mr. Ma, if I may be so bold as to ask, where did you get this wine?"

This wine didn't just appear in Macau out of nowhere; Bai Zihua definitely needs to find out.

At the same time, it also helps to confirm a suspicion in one's mind.

Ma Yingyao truthfully stated that it was an auction recently held in Australia.

“I have inquired with relevant people, and they said that the winery closed down in 1983, and there are no more than 40 bottles left on the market, making the number extremely small.”

"After I learned of this news, I immediately had someone take a picture."

Is there only one bottle?

Ma Yingyao, bewildered, replied, "Yes, Mr. Bai, there's only one bottle."

He didn't know why Bai Zihua asked that question. Did the wine always come in pairs?
"Do you know who sent it to the auction?"

"I don't know about this."

"Is it a man or a woman?"

"I'm not sure about that either."

"photo?"

"Uh...no."

"Mr. Bai, if you need anything, I can send someone to inquire. I will let you know as soon as I have any news, is that alright?"

"Okay, send someone to investigate now. I'll wait here."

Ma Yingyao's heart tightened.

Inquire now?
Bai Zihua had already made his point, so naturally he dared not be negligent.

Ma Yingyao immediately signaled a butler to come in and gave him instructions.

“This matter is urgent. We’ll investigate it now. Mr. Bai and I will wait here.”

Bai Zihua added, "It would be best to have photos."

"Ok."

He rolled up his sleeve and glanced at his Rolex on his wrist, seemingly already starting to set the timer.

About twenty-five minutes later, the butler came in again.

However, the photos he brought were very blurry, and the seller was wearing a mask and a baseball cap, so nothing could be seen.

There is no specific information such as the seller's name, the time of delivery, or the account information left.

The butler added, "Mr. Bai, I'm really sorry, Shifu Auction House has a responsibility to protect the seller's privacy, and we have done our best."

Bai Zihua stared coldly at the Ma family's butler with a stern face.

Finally, he uttered two words: "Useless!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Yingyao became anxious.

It might be one thing in other places, but in Australia, the Ma family can't even find a single person. They're really useless.

No wonder people curse at you.

"Mr. Bai, please forgive the incompetence of my subordinates."

"Please wait a moment, I will find the person for you within fifteen minutes."

Ma Yingyao first calmed Bai Zihua down, then gave the butler and the bodyguards at the door a look, signaling them to follow the butler to investigate further.

Less than fifteen minutes.

The butler then went back into the room.

This time, he had an extra file folder in his hand.

It contains high-resolution photos and the seller's personal information.

Although Ma Yingyao didn't know why Bai Zihua was so eager to know who the seller was, he didn't need to know.

Just do as instructed.

Bai Zihua carefully reviewed the document.

The information shows that the seller's name is JiaHua Zhang, and the payment is received through an unknown overseas bank account.

The person who delivered the item to the auction house claimed to be named Zhang Jiale, but the name on the bank account was different from the name on the account.

This time, however, they sent clear video footage instead of blurry photos.

Although the seller never took off his mask, Bai Zihua recognized his voice.

What Zhang Jiahua and Zhang Jiale? Isn't that Zhang Yangwen?

Young Master Zhang of Jin Hong Group.

How did the wine end up leaking from his hand?

(End of this chapter)