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

Chapter 344 Encirclement and Suppression of the Ma Family
Ma Ru immediately dialed Ma Shuning's number to ask where she was.

"I haven't boarded the plane yet."

Ma Ru's heart sank.

Why haven't we boarded the plane yet?

Upon learning of President Bai's arrival, Ma Ru immediately arranged for Ma Shuning to leave.

Logically speaking, Shu Ning should have already settled in another country by now.

"The control tower said that a safety check needs to be conducted first, and we need to wait for a weather report. Finally, they told us to line up, but we haven't been called yet."

Security check?
weather?

Is there a queue at the control tower?

Isn't the point of private jets to save on these steps?

Why hasn't it taken off yet?
Ma Ru immediately sensed that something terrible was about to happen.

"Shu Ning, don't wait any longer. I'll have someone book a ticket for you. You can take another flight from a different airport."

Ma Ru hung up the phone.

Then the door was gently pushed open, and an older-looking butler walked in with faltering steps.

A glimmer of hope flashed in Ma Ru's eyes when she saw him.

Yang Fu.

He was his father's most trusted advisor and his right-hand man.

The Ma family's rise to power owed much to his advice and assistance during his youth.

"Uncle Fu, you've finally arrived!"

Uncle Fu's back was more hunched than Ma Ru remembered, and every step seemed to require all his strength.

Uncle Fu's voice was hoarse and dry. Looking at the young patriarch in front of him, who had lost all his youthful vigor overnight and was now only haggard and flustered, his cloudy old eyes were filled with endless complex emotions.

Ma Ru invited him over immediately, not to discuss how to handle her father's funeral, what etiquette to use, or which guests to invite.

The old man's passing has now become the least important thing for the Ma family.

What they need to focus on most right now is the pressure from the Su family.

This is the most important matter concerning whether the Ma family can continue to survive in the world.

"Xiaoru, tell me the situation now, tell me everything, don't hide a single word."

Ma Ru's bloodshot eyes looked like a drowning person grasping at the last piece of driftwood.

He explained the details of the incident to Yang Fu, starting from Bai Zihua's first visit to Macau and ending with the scene just now.

"Uncle Fu, you must have a way, right?"

“When my father was alive, he often said that you were his most trusted ally, and that any problem he encountered could always be solved by you.”

Ma Ru's voice trembled slightly, a sign of his last hope struggling to survive.

Uncle Fu's lips moved a few times, but he couldn't utter a single word.

He slowly shook his head, the movement slow and heavy.

Looking at the young patriarch before him, who had lost all his youthful vigor overnight, leaving only a haggard and flustered appearance, Yang Fu's cloudy old eyes were filled with endless complex emotions.

He avoided Ma Ru's expectant gaze, turned to the deep night outside the window, and let out a long sigh.

The sigh was old and powerless, filled with unspeakable helplessness and sorrow.

"Do you know who they are?"

"The fact that Bai Zihua and Long Ruoli both appeared at the same time means that Su Cheng is the legitimate son of the Su family!"

Ma Ru had no idea that Su Cheng's true identity was like this; all he wanted now was to live.

He wanted the Ma family to live.

Ma Ru couldn't accept that the Ma family was gone so soon after she had come to power.
He emphasized to Yang Fu the cards they could play at the moment.

child.

If Su Cheng is the legitimate son of the Su family, then this card must be even more important, right?

Ma Ru is now essentially Su Cheng's brother-in-law, and Shu Ning is his future wife.

Yang Fu shook his head again.

"Xiaoru, don't be naive!"

"This will only increase the Su family's pressure on us."

"You still don't understand how powerful the Emperor Group is."

"It is absolutely impossible to use children to fight against the Su family."

"You can ask your friend surnamed Fan at that hospital how high their success rate is, how many clients they have each year, and who these clients are."

With current technology, the success rate of having a child through in-vitro fertilization is almost 100%.

Yang Fu meant that the card Ma Ru held was worthless; only he himself thought it was very valuable.

"Besides, Xiaoru, it's not even certain whether you have this card or not."

"Even with this card, the situation is one for boys and another for girls."

"The most crucial thing is Lao Su's attitude."

"He will never acknowledge this child. You should know that your family has a history of conflict with the Su family, right?"

Ma Ru tried to argue: "It doesn't matter if Su Cheng doesn't admit it, as long as Su Cheng admits it, isn't that enough?"

"What's the use of him admitting it? Does he have the final say in the Emperor Group now?"

"Besides, even though you and Shu Ning used such methods, the young master of the Emperor Group doesn't admit it now!"

What Ma Ru wanted to say was that Su Cheng might not admit it now, but he could admit it later.

Will Su Cheng's attitude not change at all after she sees the child?

"Ugh……"

Yang Fu's sigh crushed his last shred of hope.

Ma Ru's body swayed involuntarily, and her face instantly turned ashen.

That is, from this moment on.

Ma Ru and Yang Fu then began to receive one piece of bad news after another.

The first news came from the mainland.

Their accounts on all major video platforms were permanently banned, and the account operators behind them were also arrested.

These people are all employees of the Ma family in mainland China; in fact, they are junket operators.

By posing as self-media bloggers, they post videos for promotion and traffic generation, aiming to attract VIPs and wealthy individuals.

At its peak, junket operators accounted for over 60% of the total revenue from VIP room business, and at one point even reached 70%.

However, following the legal revisions a few years ago, the VIP business of entertainment venues began to shrink precipitously.

This move fundamentally changed the Ma family's profit model, forcing customers to shift their focus from the low-profit-margin, high-turnover VIP room business to the high-profit-margin, low-turnover mid-range business.

Although the profit margin of the mid-market business is higher and there is no need to pay high commissions to junket operators, its average transaction value and total revenue are far lower than those of VIPs who have huge wealth, requiring a large customer flow to make up for the shortfall.

Ma Yingyao and Ma Ru had to recruit and train people with higher emotional intelligence, teaching them how to disguise themselves and how to avoid risks and laws and regulations, in order to keep VIP revenue at the current 15%.

However, the banning of these accounts and the arrest of these individuals means that this portion of revenue will drop to less than 15%, and will fall to 0!

It's obvious that this is related to Bai Zihua and Long Ruoli, who just left, and the Emperor Group behind them.

Before Ma Ru and Yang Fu could feel any fear, the second piece of bad news arrived.

“Mr. Ma, some record companies just said that their singers are unable to attend the concerts they agreed to hold in Macau in the second half of this year, but they are willing to pay us the penalty for breach of contract.”

It's not just that the singers can't come.

Even some art exhibitions, including major sporting events, have indicated that they will be held in different locations.

Without exception, these companies were all willing to pay the exorbitant breach of contract penalties imposed by the Ma family. This wasn't limited to the Asia-Pacific region; almost every record company and artist management company on the market, including those in Europe and America, rejected collaborations with the Ma family.

Even fashion events hosted by some internationally renowned luxury brands to attract high-net-worth individuals have been cancelled.

What caused them to issue such ultimatums to me at the same time?

The answer remains: Geely Group.

Concerts, art exhibitions, sporting events, and fashion activities—these seemingly insignificant breaches of contract are actually measures taken by the Dihao Group to cut off the flow of customers from the Ma family.

The Ma family mainly attracts people by giving away free concert and sports event tickets.

The Ma family spends 90% of their project funds on these activities every year.

Through these business activities, the Ma family successfully attracted a large influx of people.

Again.

The arcade isn't afraid you won't play, it's afraid you won't come.

The disappearance of these activities means that the Ma family is about to lose a huge number of potential midfield customers.

If the Ma family wants to hold events in the future, they may only be able to invite some unknown underground idols from Sakura Island, but this will not help the entertainment hall at all!

The most critical piece of news came from the banking sector.

In the future, Australia may need to strengthen its AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations, implement CFT (Collateralized Funding and Counter-Terrorist Financing) regulations that are stricter than the international standard FATF, and also conduct reviews of the remittance of their profits.

The FATF standard is already the globally recognized "gold standard," and exceeding it means that regulation will penetrate into every aspect of casino transactions.

They must invest in state-of-the-art AI-powered transaction monitoring systems to analyze, flag, and report every transaction that reaches an extremely low threshold in real time.

Not only that.

The Ma family will need to hire a team of top international legal, compliance, and risk management experts at exponentially higher prices.

Customers are no longer only reviewed once they reach a certain amount; any new customer needs to provide basic proof of the source of funds.

Even for ordinary tourists, as long as their single or cumulative betting amount reaches a relatively low threshold, such as tens of thousands of dollars, the EDD procedure must be initiated, requiring them to provide detailed proof of assets, bank statements, and the source of their wealth.

This is unacceptable to the vast majority of middle-class tourists, and will directly deter the vast majority of middle-class players who are unwilling to disclose their personal financial information. High-end mid-range players will be forced to reduce their spending or simply choose other travel destinations.

One of the pleasures of an entertainment hall is its convenience and privacy.

When the source and destination of every penny are rigorously questioned, it becomes a financial audit full of friction and pressure, and its entertainment value is completely lost.

This complete disruption to the customer experience will lead to a precipitous loss of customers in the future.

In the future, banks will not only have to review customers, but also the remittance of profits by the Ma family.

If the previous measures were a major blow, then these two measures are equivalent to strangling the Ma family and shaking their most fundamental business foundation.

If the Ma family continues to make profits in the future, these profits will not be able to flow freely to the parent company, becoming what is known as Restricted Cash, resulting in profit stagnation.

The core of a listed company's valuation lies in its ability to generate free cash flow for shareholders.

If the generated cash flow cannot be conveniently, quickly, and directly returned to shareholders, then dividends cannot be paid to shareholders, directly harming their immediate returns.

Stock buybacks are thus restricted.

The stock price will not be able to rise in the future.

These two measures will weaken the group's overall financial health, completely destroy the company's valuation model, and cause its stock price to plummet.

Any financial analyst or entertainment rating agency would consider this a huge risk and significantly downgrade its rating.

Restricted profit repatriation effectively cuts off the lifeline of its global strategy.

They use capital controls and payment channels to restrict their movement of people and income.

Strengthening the supervision of various funds increases their operating costs.

Remittance restrictions cut off their way home.

This is the most direct and fierce financial strategic attack launched by the Dihao Group against the Ma family!
Ma Ru was at a loss for what to do.

He wanted to leverage his extensive network of contacts built over the years: "Uncle Fu, what if I tried to get support from other groups in Australia?"

But without needing to answer, Fauci himself had already rejected the idea.

Most of the people I associate with are second-generation rich kids. The older generation is still alive, and these second-generation rich kids haven't taken over any power yet.

It's fine for casual eating, drinking, having fun, and playing a couple of decks of cards.

If something really happens, like something big like this, they're not prepared at all.

It's already quite good that these uncles and elders who usually have a good relationship with him acknowledge his status.

As for help?

Then let's not even think about it.

Right now, other families are probably thinking about how to curry favor with the Su family and get a piece of their flesh, right?
"Xiaoru".

“Your dad has been in this position for too long, and people have been envious for a long time.”

The Su family is now employing a three-pronged approach, which will ultimately lead to the slow demise of the Ma family's entertainment business.

Besides Macau Island, other surrounding areas also have entertainment industries, such as Selamat, Afghan Peninsula, and Peninsula. These casinos have similar strategies, actively trying to attract tourists from mainland China.

Yang Fu directly refuted the "chronic death" theory, stating that Ma Ru's analysis was flawed.

This isn't a slow death; it's a move to bring the Ma family to their demise!
soon.

A new report confirmed Yang Fu's deduction.

"Mr. Ma, a ship has docked at our pier."

Correct!
pier!

They also have a dock.

"What ship?"

Ma Ru couldn't bear to listen anymore.

No matter how powerful the Emperor Group is, they can't just send their destroyers over to have their docks blown up, can they?

"It's a roller coaster!"

"Nonsense, I'm asking you what's on the ship."

"Is it...is it a brand new energy bus?"

Ma Ru was drenched in sweat: "How much?"

"Their documents say there are 180 vehicles."

180 brand new buses.

Is Geely Group planning to shut down all free rides that go directly to entertainment venues?
The free shuttle bus directly to the casinos owned by the Ma family is by no means a free perk.

The ban on these free-riding vehicles represents the destruction of the most important external ecosystem of the Ma family!
The fortune car is one of the most important strategic cores of the Ma family.

The target audience for midfield and high-end midfield customers is the group most sensitive to accessibility.

The "lucky car" is a traffic-generating tool tailored specifically for them.

Many tourists may not have a specific destination in mind, but because they get on a certain "get-rich-quick" bus, they end up spending money at Ma's place.

An ordinary tourist, dragging a suitcase, emerges from various ports and finds himself in a square without any signs indicating "free shuttle buses".

He needs to immediately study the complex Macau public bus routes, or wait in long queues for expensive taxis.

The first impression of the trip immediately changed from "seamless" to "chaos and anxiety".

If the "free ride" service faces suspension or ban, the first thing to be affected is the loss of the largest customer base that forms the basis of the entertainment hall's profits – those customers who engage in random and impulsive consumption.

The Emperor Group is essentially launching a precise, multi-dimensional attack on the Ma family from all directions!

"Could we stop these cars outside for now?"

“Mr. Ma, they have the necessary standard procedures and customs documents, and we have no right to refuse to unload them.”

Ma Ru slumped down in a seat.

With the strong entry of the Emperor Group, the power structure and balance in the local Australian island may be undergoing a disruptive reshaping!
This is an unprecedented and major crisis for Ma Ru and the entire Ma family!

(End of this chapter)