Chapter 739 - Ming Zhi Yi Vs. Legendary Families

The four families' meeting was concluded.

Since Ming Zhi Yi openly challenged the might of the legendary families by touching the Xiong heiress, then they no longer needed to be polite. They could pressure him openly as well.

In the next two days, the legendary families began to target Ming Zhi Yi's business. They did not even bother hiding it.

First, they began to cause trouble by interfering with the industrial chain of Ming Zhi Yi's market. A very slight issue with one of the material supplies caused quite a trouble to the company under Ming Zhi Yi.

There were also several other interruptions. Although these issues were eventually fixed at the end by Ming Zhi Yi's group behind the company, the trouble caused by their interruptions was still bothersome and took time and effort.

With the legendary families' influence, they pressured a handful of businessmen who were under Ming Zhi Yi's legal ȧssociations to withdraw their investment. They even brought the other shareholders to their side and pressured them to sell the shares of the company to them. 

Thus, the economic turbulence in the country began on smaller scales.

Some of Ming Zhi Yi's subsidiary companies suddenly found their stocks plummeting down.  Some were bought over by the legendary families and some were pressured by the government due to several legal inspections for tax evasion or not following a minor trade law.

The legendary families were cruel and ruthless with their movements. They did not even spare the minor businessmen who only depended on Ming Zhi Yi's business deal for a living and made them all enter bankruptcy. 

Ming Zhi Yi and his group naturally would not take this lying down. While controlling the public opinion, they one by one resolved the issues and responded in kind towards the legendary families.

The multi-centennial peace and balance of the domestic market was disturbed by the overwhelming power struggle of the legendary families and the new dark horse.

...

The city lights below were like a sea of bright stars in a dark ocean. The bustling city did not seem affected by the turbulent waves that were happening in various industries caused by the conflict between the legendary families and Ming Zhi Yi's faction.

The root cause of this storm was currently leaning on the couch, watching the headlights of the traffic flow like a river below the floor-to-ceiling window of the company office.

The president of this company was kneeling and trembling on the ground.

"I am deeply ashamed. The company had fallen to bankruptcy when the four families made their move. I cannot do anything at all when they release such clear cut evidence against us. What do I do now? I can't let the company fall like this! Please help us! With your influence in the government and the investigation team, I am sure you can turn the tables around!"

Ming Zhi Yi casually waved a hand. "Of course, I can go against them. I challenged them in the first place. This much is expected." 

Ming Zhi Yi then glanced at the table where the chess pieces that he was playing alone were put into position. "You just have to be patient. It is not the time yet to turn the tables. I am still having fun."

His long fingers took the black pawn and put it in front of the white queen. "Let them deal with something first. That is just my first gift. Now, let us give them my second one."

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes flashed. He wasn't worried at all.

And there was no doubt they would choose him.

....

As Ming Zhi Yi planned, the legendary families' provocative actions raised quite a few families' ire.

Those who were working with Ming Zhi Yi convinced some of the neutral parties and those who were restrained by the legendary families to join their side.

To them, what the legendary families were doing was showing off their power and acting like a tyrant. They openly abused their power and status to bully a junior conglomerate such as Ming Zhi Yi's. 

Then what would happen to them once this battle was over? The legendary families' might and tyranny would continue to grow. The rest would be left in the dust.

The clans who had been pushed back by the legendary families felt that they would be continuously pressed back if they did not do something in this situation. 

Once Ming Zhi Yi lost, then they would be next.

Therefore, many dissatisfied parties with hidden ambitions saw this opportunity to gather altogether and join Ming Zhi Yi and his people. They had been oppressed and pushed back for too long. They had to bow down their heads to these four families for many generations. 

At this moment, it was not only the business industry that was filled with tension, but also the circles in the upper echelons.

....

At the Tang Mansion, three greying heads and one young man gathered together in a meeting.

The atmosphere in the air wasn't great.

Mistress Tang had a complicated look on her face. "We pushed Ming Zhi Yi back and weakened the strength of the people around him, but we got another sort of response as well. Although I knew that some would feel threatened, I did not expect that this would provoke many families to join him as allies."

Old Lu had a grim face. "That cunning bastard! I bet this is part of his schemes. He provoked us openly so that we would attack him, and then he used this as a demonstration to the others. He must be waiting for this chance."

Old Xiong thoughtfully put his hand under his chin. "But it is truly a wonder. He managed to convince the other families to side with him in just a few weeks. He could not have persuaded them all in just a short time."

Old Lu and Mistress Tang had an agreeing expression. 

"Obviously, there has been previous correspondence between Ming Zhi Yi and these families."

"He must have planned this from the start. To make that happen, he must have planted his people in those families to bring them all to his side when the time is right."

They all halted. Their faces suddenly turned even grimmer. 

"If he had planted spies in those families, then he must have done that too in our families. We have to be careful. We do not even know when he will move the spies against us."

The silent Guan Gu Ri finally spoke. "You do not have to worry about that. If it is spies that you are worried about, then we can make our every move remain between us and our most trusted subordinates. If we want to be more certain, we can even bait him with false information."

The three elders looked at Guan Gu Ri with enlightened expressions. 

Mistress Tang nodded with a pleased expression. "That is a good suggestion. No, we actually should do that. The earlier that we root out the spies, the earlier that we can get out from his claws."

The other heads also agreed.

"My Xiong family had done a full purge before. After the incident with the Zhou family and that one with the traitors," Old Xiong said, referring to Xiong De and his minions, "We have become a lot stricter and thorough with our staff and security. I am confident that we have no spies within our midst."

Guan Gu Ri seconded. "I think the elders all know too. After everything that happened in my family and the empire, the spies have shown their presence and many left. The remaining ones, my brother and I uprooted them ourselves. I think my family has no problem when it comes to spies now."

Old Lu and Mistress Tang were not confident that there weren't any Ming Zhi Yi's people in their midst. Especially Old Lu.

"Following this logic, the Lu family must be more careful. Ming Zhi Yi has been integrated with your family for several years, a long time ago…"

"My people are selected through a competition. It's hard to say whether Ming Zhi Yi planted some people in the ranks of my organization..."

"So if we use the route where we bait them with false information…"

After their short discussion to bait the spies, the heads proceeded to discuss their next move towards those minor families who were now allied with Ming Zhi Yi.

The legendary families' chosen action was simple.

"Push them back further," Old Xiong said in bold confidence.

"If we do that, we will have to lose some of our business partners as well. Especially in my case, I have more than three subsidiary businesses that have partnerships with those families," Old Lu complained with a bitter smile.

Mistress Tang sighed helplessly. "In order to handle them, we have to handle the rebounding blow to ourselves. This is inevitable. After all, we all agreed to take him down at our full capacity, didn't we? This setback is completely reasonable."

The legendary heads were silent. 

But in the end, they settled on this decision.

Being in this industry meant being able to gamble well.