After Liu Yutong and the others left, they were unaware of the subsequent events that unfolded at the elite club.
Jin Xiangming had clearly become much more subdued, perhaps sensing that Aunt Liu wasn’t particularly fond of him. He didn’t dare utter a word during the car ride until they dropped him off at the hospital.
Once Jin Xiangming was settled, Liu Yutong also gave Master Jin a call, briefly explaining the situation. With that, the matter was concluded.
Right after the call, the contract arrived. Signatures and seals were affixed in one swift motion.
Gao Min, standing nearby, was utterly stunned. She had just witnessed Liu Yutong’s money-making prowess—simply helping someone out of trouble had earned her a cool 9 million?
Was making money in this world really that easy?
Today, Liu Yutong had refrained from ordering any physical confrontation, considering Gao Min’s presence. However, she had no intention of keeping Gao Min around indefinitely.
If Gao Min wanted to go undercover, then she’d give her the chance to earn some merit.
From the very beginning, Liu Yutong had never planned to keep Gao Min in the Wanlong Society. There was no point—the Wanlong Society already had Li Xiaohui as their lucky charm. There was no need to harbor someone on the government’s payroll.
Instead, she intended to assign Gao Min to the Yilian Society.
This idea had only solidified after seeing Lin Muyang and that man named Wang Shi.
She remembered Wang Shi. How to describe him? He was practically the living embodiment of terms like "treachery" and "ingratitude," much like Lü Bu from the Three Kingdoms era.
Within just a few years, he had taken out three bosses, including the leader of the Yilian Society.
Of course, one could also say he was exceptionally patient—otherwise, he wouldn’t have gained the trust of three consecutive bosses. Most crucially, before his final moments, he had dragged many others down with him.
What did this mean? The man was cunning, meticulous, and had a habit of leaving behind evidence whenever he did someone’s dirty work. Otherwise, so much incriminating material wouldn’t have surfaced.
His methods were on par with some of the current Wanlong Society members.
If Gao Min could earn his trust, she could dismantle multiple criminal organizations, climbing the ranks through her achievements. Meanwhile, the evidence she gathered could also be useful to Liu Yutong. A win-win situation.
But how to convince Gao Min to go along with it? That required some careful thought.
When Liu Yutong returned to the company, Yang Xin was already waiting for her.
The moment he saw her, he eagerly asked, "Boss, I’ve found out—it’s a company called Muyang Construction that acquired the supermarket. I really don’t get it. What’s a construction firm suddenly doing in retail? That’s one hell of a pivot!"
"Don’t worry. By the end of the year, that supermarket will be in our hands."
If Bright Pearl City’s six Mingcheng Supermarket branches had been acquired by a competitor, things might have been trickier.
But since it was Lin Muyang behind the purchase, dealing with him would be far simpler.
She could now pretty much guess why Lin Muyang had acquired Mingcheng Supermarket—and why he’d done so right before its scandal broke.
Lin Muyang had an urban renewal project in his hands, and this wasn’t just about tearing down old buildings for redevelopment.
If it were merely about reconstruction, it wouldn’t be worth spending tens of millions to buy Mingcheng Supermarket.
But if he packaged this project as a financial product—say, a city investment bond wealth management product—he could sell future returns from local urban construction to individual investors.
For example, if the profit margin of an urban redevelopment project is 10%, they could issue a financial product of roughly equivalent value, promising an annual return of, say, 7%, and then sell this product piecemeal to investors, thereby securing future profits in advance.
This way, they’d make money without lifting a finger. With the funds in hand, they could then subcontract the construction work and pocket the profits upfront.
It’s a simple and efficient method—arguably even more effective than pre-selling unfinished properties—and if anything goes wrong, they can easily shift the blame onto the investors.
Investors should tread carefully, after all. Financial products always carry risks—that’s common knowledge.
As for how Lin Muyang could pull this off, it’s straightforward: his mother is a senior bank executive. That endorsement alone would be enough to win the trust of many investors.
Still, even with such backing, attracting sufficient investment and selling enough financial products would take time.
The emergence of Bright Pearl City Supermarket happened to fill a critical gap in Lin Muyang’s plan.
The supermarket’s cashback promotion was, in essence, already a form of fundraising—borderline illegal. But if this operation were integrated into the urban construction investment financial product, and customers who had recharged their accounts were persuaded to sign a new agreement, wouldn’t the nearly billion-yuan in assets on the books seamlessly transform into funds for the new financial product?
Customers could refuse the new financial product, of course, but if they did, the supermarket could withhold their money and refuse refunds.
With Lin Muyang’s personal endorsement further bolstering credibility, most people would likely end up signing the financial agreement and purchasing the carefully packaged investment product.
Once this was done, Lin Muyang would promptly repackage and sell Bright Pearl City Supermarket a second time.
In this back-and-forth, he wouldn’t have to spend a dime of his own money, yet he’d walk away with nearly a billion yuan—effectively pure profit.
With these funds secured, he could reinvest them, take on new projects, and continue manipulating the capital markets to amass even greater wealth.
If things went well, he might even repay the individual investors—those who bought the financial products—with both principal and interest, assuming he had a shred of conscience.
But if the investments failed, everyone would lose everything.
The fact that Lin Muyang dared to operate this way spoke to his extreme confidence—or, perhaps, his arrogance.
His relentless pursuit of Liu Yutong was proof of his personality: once he set his sights on a goal, he wouldn’t stop until he achieved it.
As for how Liu Yutong could convince him to sell the supermarket to her, it was simple—she just needed to drop a hint to his mother, Lin Ke.
As a seasoned bank president with years of experience in finance, Lin Ke couldn’t possibly overlook the enormous risks lurking in her son’s scheme.
After all, the operation of repackaging Bright Pearl City Supermarket’s cashback fundraising into a financial product was a high-stakes gamble. One misstep could trigger a financial crisis, even implicating her personally.
Of course, all of this was based on Liu Yutong’s speculation.
But verifying it wouldn’t be hard—she just needed to check whether Lin Muyang had recently established a new financial investment company.
If he had, his ambitions would be laid bare.
As for whether Lin Muyang might simply hand the supermarket over to her for free—well, that was possible. After all, he had been pursuing her relentlessly.
But Liu Yutong would definitely not accept it. Accepting would mean two things: first, acknowledging his romantic pursuit, and second, being tied to his agenda.
When Yang Xin heard the young mistress speak with such confidence, his heart settled completely. In his eyes, the young mistress was an infallible presence—someone whose word had never been broken.
After a brief discussion, he left in high spirits, ready to follow her instructions and investigate the operations of Lin Muyang’s companies.
However, the moment he returned to the supermarket, he noticed the accountant looking troubled as they tallied the figures.
“What’s wrong?”
“Manager Yang, there’s a discrepancy in our accounts. After a final check, we found some inventory missing. We suspect someone has been stealing goods from the supermarket.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“About four or five days.”
“Have you checked the surveillance?”
“We’ve already pulled the footage, but nothing conclusive yet.”
