Liu Yutong had just stepped into her dorm when someone from the company called to report the information they had gathered, with a particular focus on the situation of that second-generation heir named Xue Chen, who had previously clashed with Yu Xin.
This Xue Chen was indeed no simple character, or rather, he was exceptionally arrogant and overbearing.
He had actually managed to drive a billion-yuan scale enterprise in Lucheng into the ground, though certainly not by any legitimate means.
Truth be told, whether in business wars or competition in other fields, things are often very simple and brutal, much like the food delivery wars and the thousand-group wars of the previous era.
Back then, it was all about who could burn more money and who could burn it longer.
Extremely plain and unadorned.
And that was the contest between top-tier major companies, which was, to some degree, already quite fair.
If a small company caught the eye of a big corporation, there were generally only two outcomes: either get acquired, or refuse the acquisition and then be suppressed by the big company using its own resources and connections until it goes bankrupt and shuts down. Finally, the big company would poach the core personnel and replicate a similar project.
This tactic is equally plain and unadorned.
When you get down to it, the vast majority of business wars always revolve around two words: power and money.
Was Xue Chen arrogant?
He certainly was, and he had the capital to be arrogant.
Relying on his connections, this guy controlled a medium-sized entertainment company and had ruined a billion-yuan scale enterprise, all because the other party refused to sell it to him at a low price.
His method of destroying that company was similarly simple and brutal, yet very effective.
First, subject them to all sorts of inspections, and then, in a bad mood, find a pretext to have people detained for a period.
Ultimately, that company's funding chain broke, leading to bankruptcy and even family ruin.
Later, he applied the same method, acquiring 20% of the shares of a company called Xiaolu Dairy at a low price.
As Xiaolu Dairy's market share continuously expanded and its valuation broke through ten billion, his personal wealth also skyrocketed, exceeding two billion.
Although net worth is often inflated, if he wanted to sell his shares, he could easily fetch over a billion.
It was precisely through this method that Xue Chen showed Zhou Muchen, another second-generation heir from a prominent family who was also preparing to enter the business world, a different kind of 'business opportunity.'
This was also the main reason why Zhou Muchen was willing to let Xue Chen join the small circle he had formed, the Yunshan Club.
Xue Chen had both money and 'entrepreneurial experience.' From these two aspects, he was indeed helpful to Zhou Muchen and other second-generation heirs wanting to start businesses.
Shortly after Xue Chen joined the Yunshan Club, they quickly locked onto their first target: Wanhui Youxuan.
Originally, Zhou Muchen had intended to enter the real estate industry. For him, real estate was the easiest field to make money. Land that others couldn't obtain, he could easily secure and then resell at a high price. The price difference alone could allow him to effortlessly make billions, becoming an invisible tycoon.
However, the real estate industry was, after all, quite murky. Once something went wrong, the impact would be enormous.
Furthermore, his family's elder still had the potential for further advancement. For the sake of caution, they ultimately decided not to touch this area.
Thus, they turned their attention to some seemingly normal industries, like the internet.
In this era, the internet industry belonged to the innovative sector and aligned with policy direction. Even if their methods were slightly over the line, it was easy to cover up and not easily give critics ammunition.
And Wanhui Youxuan had just started, not yet grown large, making it the perfect time to strike.
Of course, they could also start their own similar company to compete with Wanhui.
But that would be too troublesome. How could it be as fast as simply taking it?
This was also the reason why Zhou Muchen was willing to give Yu Xin a 9% stake. To put it bluntly, it was to have these professionals work for him.
After roughly understanding their tactics, a glint of coldness flashed in Liu Yutong's eyes.
At the same time, she also secretly felt fortunate to have met that girl Li Xiaohui at the University of Finance and Economics.
Otherwise, even if she personally stepped into the ring to fight these people, it would be extremely tricky.
After all, when dealing with a group with special status like the Yunshan Club, there were too few usable tactics; the Wanlong Group was naturally at a disadvantage.
Perhaps she could try talking with the other side.
Sometimes, having one more friend is better than having one more enemy.
If the other side insisted on making things difficult for her, then she could take action later.
Liu Yutong didn't know that Zhou Muchen also intended to talk with her. If they could reach an agreement, naturally there would be no need for a major confrontation.
However, Xue Chen, who had arrived in Mingzhu City first, had no intention of talking with her first.
Not long after Liu Yutong hung up the phone, someone else reported to her that the company was in trouble.
And it was coming on strong.
Various departments in Mingzhu City seemed to have made an appointment in advance. Departments including Fire Safety, Taxation, Industry and Commerce, and Cultural Market Inspection all received real-name reports on the same day, one after another, and dispatched teams to various subsidiaries of the Wanlong Group for surprise routine inspections.
This inspection was extremely thorough, the requirements exceedingly strict. Any minor flaw was unacceptable, and immediate suspension for rectification was demanded.
If it were an ordinary person reporting, the relevant departments, considering that the Wanlong Group was a local enterprise, wouldn't be so harsh.
But this time, the identity of the whistleblower was not ordinary; there were even people from the provincial level who had put in a word. The relevant departments had no choice but to take it seriously, and during the inspection, they did indeed find some minor issues.
No one is perfect, and neither are companies. It's simply impossible to be completely flawless.
These exposed minor issues could originally have been resolved with on-the-spot rectification, but unfortunately the whistleblower was closely watching and wouldn't let go, so the relevant departments could only follow procedure.
Just like that, the company's normal office order was completely disrupted. Employees were busy preparing various materials for submission, and core business operations were also forced to be interrupted.
Almost simultaneously, the online public opinion, which had been calm for months, stirred up again.
A large number of marketing accounts suddenly emerged on portal websites, simultaneously publishing exposés targeting the Wanlong Group.
The content of the exposés was nothing new, merely claiming that the Wanlong Group was a black society organization that also used illegal means to acquire wealth.
The company internally also encountered external poaching. Some non-core but crucial technical personnel, sales managers, regional ground promotion leaders, etc., were approached by headhunters.
Even worse, the Wanhui Youxuan website actually went down.
The reason was that a major cloud service provider partnered with Wanlong Technology suddenly notified them of a service suspension due to so-called technical reasons, requiring a so-called security review.
The headquarters of this cloud service partner company was located in the provincial capital, Lucheng.
This set of combination punches was fast, fierce, and ferocious!
To put it bluntly, if an ordinary company encountered this incoming set of combination attacks, it would probably kneel on the spot.
Listening to one piece of bad news after another on the phone, Liu Yutong's expression grew increasingly grim.
Even she actually felt a bit at a loss.
Although these tactics wouldn't necessarily crush the Wanlong Group, if they came every now and then, the company would inevitably suffer significant losses and could even be driven to collapse.
Could it be that she really had to actively ask Li Xiaohui to intervene in advance?
She was now truly experiencing the means of these second-generation heirs.
Although somewhat underhanded, they were harder to deal with than any opponent she had encountered before.
In the past, her opponents either settled things the way street toughs do—by seeing whose fists were harder—or resorted to low-level frame-ups, or hired some online trolls to smear her.
For her, these were easy to handle, even effortless.
But this time was completely different.
Almost in an instant, the Wanlong Hui Group was violently yanked off its high-speed development track, plunged into a situation of being besieged on all sides, with all operations grinding to a halt.
The second-generation offspring of the compound elite—truly not to be underestimated.
