After finishing all his notes, the man closed the notebook and let out a long, relieved sigh.
He felt he had now completely mastered the core secrets of leveling up from a street punk to a mafia godfather.
He could almost see the future of his gang: a bunch of guys in green T-shirts, with green-dyed hair... hmm, that part needed reconsideration, each holding a copy of the "Criminal Law"—spiritual youths, under his brilliant leadership, dominating the Great South City!
"Heh heh heh..."
Thinking of this, the man couldn't help but let out a gleeful, silly chuckle: "Wanlong Society, just you wait! I'm destined to become the next legend!"
Putting away the notebook, he tucked it into his waistband, carefully pushed open the restroom door, looked left and right to confirm no one was around, straightened his clothes, and walked out pretending nothing had happened.
Just as he was about to exit the hotel's main entrance, he almost bumped headlong into a figure dressed in a black suit.
While dodging, the bangs on his forehead parted, revealing a faintly visible celestial eye tattoo.
Before the other person could react, he covered his backside and scurried out with hurried steps.
This awkward movement and reaction left the young man in black quite puzzled.
"In such a hurry, did he have the runs?"
"If he had the runs, why not use the hotel restroom? Or does the toilet at home smell better?"
The young man in black merely glanced at the guy, didn't think too much about it, and hurriedly ran upstairs.
Because he had urgent business to report to the young mistress.
...........
In the banquet hall.
All four hundred-plus newly promoted core members had changed into uniform black attire.
In the entire hall, over a thousand members in black sat neatly, creating an extremely imposing scene.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring banquet hall, the invited suppliers were also feeling anxious.
Some of them were already old acquaintances and had joined the Wanlong Symbiotic Business Alliance.
They certainly knew what was happening next door; they had experienced it once before at last year's Wanlong Society annual meeting.
They were probably worried they weren't being compliant enough and wanted to give them another warning.
When Liu Yutong sent someone to invite them over, these suppliers grew even more apprehensive.
Some had even made up their minds, thinking they might as well transfer a portion of their shares to spend their way out of disaster.
"Here it comes, time to lay the cards on the table."
"Sigh, let's go. At least it's just about money, probably not our lives, right?"
"Hopefully, they just want shares and won't go too far..."
"Be sharp later, attitude must be good. We absolutely must not upset that young mistress!"
"......."
Steeling themselves, as if marching to the execution ground, they shuffled hesitantly into the banquet hall occupied by the Wanlong Society.
As soon as they entered, a thousand pairs of eyes instantly fixed on them, immediately making the legs of these seasoned business owners tremble.
Even though it wasn't their first time seeing this spectacle, that intangible sense of oppression still left them feeling somewhat suffocated. Especially this year, the scale of the men in black had doubled compared to last year, making the visual impact even stronger.
They hardly dared to look up at the young mistress on the stage with her powerful aura, mentally figuring out how to tactfully propose a plan to transfer some shares that would both preserve their assets and satisfy the other party.
Last year, when the Wanlong Society established that Symbiotic Business Alliance, it was already made clear that they would have to accept Wanlong Society's investment in the future.
Wasn't their insistence on that clause precisely for today?
Since they couldn't avoid this blow, they might as well try to negotiate for more lenient terms.
"Miss Liu!"
"Chairwoman Liu!"
"....."
The group greeted Liu Yutong upon reaching her, their voices noticeably trembling.
"Gentlemen, please don't be nervous."
Liu Yutong, sensing their tension, got straight to the point: "The main reason for inviting you all here today is to inform you of one thing."
"For all products you supply that sell exceptionally well in our supermarkets, the purchase price will be increased by 3% to 5%."
As Liu Yutong's words fell, everyone was stunned, finding it somewhat hard to believe.
Were they hallucinating from nervousness?
They weren't being asked for their shares?
Instead, they were being given more money?
A 3%-5% increase meant their profit margin would grow by that amount. In the current market environment, this was like manna from heaven.
"Ch... Chairwoman Liu, did you just say the purchase price would be increased?"
"That's correct."
"Not only will the prices be raised, but Wanlong Supermarkets will also actively promote your products."
"However, I have two conditions. First, you must guarantee that the product quality supplied to us is always the best. Second, you need to establish factories or invest in Mingzhu City. I can guarantee you won't face harassment here and that your investments will be secure."
"........."
"Of course, this is just my preliminary idea for now. You can go back and consider it carefully."
The suppliers gradually understood and nodded repeatedly.
Their feelings at this moment were also complex.
The Wanlong Society group looked intimidating, even occasionally subjecting them to a bit of dark visual intimidation, but when it came to cooperation, they were far more reliable than many ostensibly righteous and moral major clients who actually pushed down prices relentlessly.
Wanlong Supermarkets also had almost stringent requirements for the quality of supplied products, absolutely not allowing substandard goods to enter the market and harm consumers.
Now they were even taking the initiative to offer concessions and promised to help with promotion, all to bring the industrial chain to Mingzhu City and drive local development.
It even made some of them wonder if they were really dealing with organized crime figures?
Some among them had indeed encountered issues like demands for bribes, local protectionism, and organized crime figures demanding kickbacks when investing and building factories.
Even now, many of them still faced such problems, with local gang bosses and bullies coming to cause trouble from time to time, finding excuses to demand money.
And you couldn't just call the police to have them removed.
There were those who had stood their ground against such troubles from these figures, only to end up bankrupt and shut down due to retaliation.
If the Wanlong Society could truly guarantee a stable business environment, it might not be a bad idea to consider opening a factory here.
At the very least, after cooperating for so long, apart from being a bit scary, the Wanlong Society had never truly harmed their interests. On the contrary, they had earned more through this partnership.
"Chairwoman Liu!"
A food processing factory owner, deeply troubled by local bullies, couldn't help but speak up.
"You've hit the nail on the head. To be honest, the factory I have in the neighboring city constantly has people coming up with all sorts of excuses to demand money, even threatening my workers. If Mingzhu City is really as good as you say, I'll be the first to move my factory here! Even if the profits are a bit lower, I'd value the peace of mind."
His words immediately resonated with several other bosses who had similar experiences.
"Yes, Chairwoman Liu, we're in business precisely for a stable environment."
"If we could really avoid those nasty troubles, we'd accept slightly higher costs."
"........."
Liu Yutong had investigations done on all the suppliers invited today.
For every supplier that joined the Wanlong Symbiotic Business Alliance, the Wanlong Society had stationed quality supervisors.
During the nearly half-year supervision period, there were constant reports that the instability in supply from some vendors was due to frequent harassment by local bullies in their areas.
Therefore, she decided that since she aimed to transform Mingzhu City into a headquarters for the Wanlong Association, one that could rival those in second-tier cities, it was essential to attract investment and businesses.
Given this, her first step would be to extend invitations to these suppliers, encouraging them to relocate or establish branch factories here.
Of course, apart from this, she also had a personal motive.
