Chapter 1218: The Last Bit of Use

The next day, Zhao Fusheng personally called Li Ruhai to invite him to the evening banquet. In Zhao Fusheng's words, since the two companies had reached an agreement, they were now on the same side. Li Ruhai was about to leave the capital soon, so this meal would serve as a farewell dinner.

Li Ruhai gladly agreed, saying he would bring Sun Qian and others to the banquet.

Zhao Fusheng didn't waste words; after a few pleasantries, he hung up. To be honest, if it weren't for the plan with Cao Jianguo to catch Li Ruhai's group in one fell swoop at the reception while extricating himself, he wouldn't have had the patience to deal with Li Ruhai. It wasn't that he didn't want to keep up the act, but because Zhao Fusheng felt it was unnecessary.

When a person has experienced many things, their heart becomes cold and hard, and ordinary emotions find it hard to affect them. Zhao Fusheng didn't consider himself a cold-hearted person, but for someone like Li Ruhai, he felt not a shred of sympathy.

In fact, ever since Cao Jianguo once casually mentioned how Li Ruhai had treated an undercover police officer from China, Zhao Fusheng had always believed that execution by firing squad was too merciful for Li Ruhai—they should bring back death by a thousand cuts.

Time passed quickly. In the evening, at the banquet hall of the Guomao Hotel, Zhao Fusheng stood at the entrance with a beaming smile, accompanied by a group of Future Group executives, welcoming Li Ruhai and his party. Even Zheng Yao attended in person.

After all, an investment of 350 million US dollars was no small sum.

"Mr. Li, welcome, welcome." Zhao Fusheng saw Li Ruhai get out of the car and extended his hand with a smile, looking at him like a lamb to the slaughter.

Though Li Ruhai found it a bit odd, he thought that since he had invested over 300 million US dollars in Zhao Fusheng, it was only natural for the man to be a bit more enthusiastic.

"Chairman Zhao is too kind," Li Ruhai said with a smile.

"Not at all, it's only right," Zhao Fusheng replied with a laugh. "Let me introduce you. This is Ms. Zheng Yao, President and CEO of Future Group."

"This is Ye Jing, General Manager of Future Film and Television..."

Li Ruhai was quite surprised. The people Zhao Fusheng introduced were all senior executives of Future Group, clearly brought here specifically to meet him.

"Who would have thought that this Zhao guy would hold the old man in such high regard," Sun Qian whispered, holding a young man's arm.

The young man, pale-faced and clearly worn out by wine and women, chuckled and said, "The old man said he gave up most of the profits to integrate into the domestic scene. Zhao is just returning the favor."

Sun Qian nodded slightly. She understood the nuances well enough, but given the young man's special status, she had to ingratiate herself with him to survive and avoid being discarded by Li Ruhai once he was done with her.

For this banquet, Zhao Fusheng had specifically asked Zheng Yao to invite many people. Many companies with cooperative relationships with Future Group attended the reception. As for the reason, Zhao Fusheng didn't hide it: he announced that the company had received an injection of 350 million US dollars.

In the current economic climate, when Ma Xiaoyun had raised 80 million US dollars earlier in the year, everyone was optimistic about his company's prospects. Now Future Group had raised 350 million US dollars—everyone who heard the news went crazy!

When Zhao Fusheng introduced Li Ruhai, Masao Ono glared at him so fiercely that Li Ruhai was baffled, wondering what he had done to offend this big shot from SoftBank Asia.

The appearance of others like Han Bin and Zhu Yushi further surprised Li Ruhai and made him proud of his decision. After all, Future Group's excellent development was nothing but beneficial for his money-laundering plan.

Moreover, Li Ruhai had long planned that after a few years, once he had a foothold in the country, he could withdraw the investment and establish a new foundation in China—not an impossible feat.

If Zhao Fusheng knew what Li Ruhai was thinking, he would sneer inwardly. This old fox really was accustomed to betraying others.

…

…

There were many guests today. Besides those brought by Li Ruhai, most were partners of Future Group. In fact, a large portion of the businesspeople in the capital who had cooperative relationships with Future Advertising were present, including big shots like Zhu Yushi and Liu Qiangdong, both current and future tycoons. However, Zhu Yushi came because of his previous cooperation with Zhao Fusheng, while Liu Qiangdong was brought by Han Bin.

Watching these figures, Zhao Fusheng felt quite emotional.

Chinese merchants have long had the concept of "red-top merchants." Similarly, there were distinctions between sedentary merchants and traveling merchants, and even more divisions based on region. For example, in the late Ming Dynasty, the reason the masters of bondservants could enjoy life happily was mainly because the great merchants from Shanxi, for their own interests, desperately smuggled iron, salt, and other goods banned by the court from the Datong front to the outside of the pass.

After the founding of the People's Republic, merchants could be roughly divided into four types, or more precisely, four periods.

The first period was naturally the merchants around the time of the founding. Most of them had started business activities before 1949. Until the wave of public-private partnerships in the 1960s, this group experienced the transition from a feudal society to socialism, and the economic system shifted from private to state-owned. Before the reform and opening up, most domestic merchants were labeled as tumors of the old society; back then, doing business could get you a big hat.

The second period was from 1978 to the early 1990s. During this time, with the proposal of "crossing the river by feeling the stones," many people plunged into business. Those who engaged in commerce during this period were mostly called self-employed individuals, and some were called "profiteers." For instance, a certain tycoon who famously traded daily necessities for four planes and later claimed to be China's richest man was actually a profiteer.

At that time, those who could become profiteers usually had some connections at home. Even if they had no background and were just small self-employed individuals, they were bold and quick-witted. After all, in that era following the end of the turmoil, people suddenly found that the market lacked everything. As long as one worked hard, even just reselling clothes or TVs could make a fortune.

Of course, there were also formidable profiteers, such as a certain big shot in Shenzhen today, who relied on family connections in the railway bureau and Guangdong Province to resell scarce goods. Other items like approval documents and steel were too numerous to mention.

Of course, as the market economy expanded, such business practices gradually lost their soil for survival, which is why profiteers gradually faded from the historical stage. The root of their existence lay in the asymmetry of power and information, as well as the chaotic state during the restructuring of the two northern socialist powers. Once the situation stabilized, such野蛮 business practices naturally could not continue.

The third period is known as the "92 Generation." Starting in 1992, many so-called elites who had received higher education, held public office within the system, and had vision, ambition, connections, and means, threw themselves into the tide of the commodity economy with a desire for wealth and freedom, along with their so-called ideals. Many of these people later became leading figures in their respective industries.

The fourth period was around the turn of the millennium, marked by the rise of the internet. A large number of internet companies were emerging, and the internet economy became an important part of domestic economic growth. It spawned many new industries and, likewise, made a large number of people wealthy.

Of course, even though the internet economy developed rapidly in the following decade or so and even exerted some pressure on the real economy, it still failed to replace the real economy.

The reason is simple.

No matter how much economic value and social impact internet companies can create, in the final analysis, they have fatal limitations.

Some internet giants like to claim they change the world, but the problem is that although we can pay bills anytime and anywhere with our phones, and solve dating and physiological needs through various apps, in terms of safeguarding social economy and people's livelihoods, the internet economy's impact is far less than that of the real economy.

The simplest example: a high-tech company like Didi creates considerable value but cannot drive a region's economic development. In contrast, a large manufacturing company of similar scale can create thousands of jobs locally and affect the lives of tens of thousands of people.

"What are you thinking about?" At that moment, a figure appeared beside Zhao Fusheng, dressed in a suit, looking like an ordinary person attending the reception.

Zhao Fusheng turned his head, quite surprised: "Are you planning to make a move now?"

The visitor was, of course, Cao Jianguo. Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, he was a bit baffled and smiled: "Of course not. Didn't we agree? When Li Ruhai and his people leave, I'll intercept them halfway—uh, check for drunk driving."

Thinking of Zhao Fusheng's suggestion, he couldn't help but want to laugh. It was so creative; no one would expect the police to make arrests at that moment. After all, even a sly old fox like Li Ruhai wouldn't imagine that Zhao Fusheng was cooperating with the police.

"Then I wish you all the best," Zhao Fusheng said with a nod.

Cao Jianguo smiled slightly, his face beaming with a bright smile.