Chapter 1219: Return

The reason many women dislike post-coital time is that after that moment, men are often extremely tired, even unwilling to speak.

Actually, if you think about it, men aren't entirely wrong—they go to great lengths, sending flowers and chatting, all for that brief moment of pleasure, and after the intense release, it's naturally followed by endless fatigue.

When the party ended, Zhao Fusheng stood at the door watching Li Ruhai and his group leave. Chen Shijie was among them, but it was clear he had been marginalized; if not for his previous dealings with Zhao Fusheng, he might not have even qualified to be there.

But for Zhao Fusheng, that was enough. At least he knew Chen Shijie was safe, and next came Cao Jianguo's stage.

"Let's go, we're heading back," Zhao Fusheng said to the people behind him. He still had real work to do; the rest was no longer his concern.

According to Chen Shijie's later recollection, the arrest process was simple. The convoy of Li Ruhai and his men was stopped halfway.

The ones stopping them were, of course, legitimate traffic police. What followed was even simpler: they found an excuse to bring the group to the traffic police station. Li Ruhai and the others didn't react at first, but when they entered the station, they found armed anti-drug police waiting for them.

After that, Zhao Fusheng never saw Li Ruhai, Sun Qian, or the others again, except for a newspaper article over a year later where he happened to see news of a transnational criminal syndicate's downfall.

A week later, at Zhao Fusheng's home.

"So, this matter has nothing to do with me anymore?" Zhao Fusheng asked slowly, looking at Cao Jianguo sitting before him.

Cao Jianguo nodded: "All members of the Li Ruhai group have been arrested. We acted simultaneously in over a dozen locations; no one escaped."

"And Chen Shijie?" Zhao Fusheng asked curiously.

"He needs a new identity now and won't appear for a while," Cao Jianguo said with a smile. "And this time, when we arrested Li Ruhai, we got an unexpected bonus. In Sun Qian's club, we found a lot of secretly recorded content involving power-for-money deals, all handed over to the disciplinary committee."

"What does that have to do with me?" Zhao Fusheng frowned, looking puzzled.

"Here's the thing: we coordinated with the disciplinary committee. The official story is that during a raid on the club, they discovered Sun Qian's ties to the Li Ruhai group and arrested them. Understand?" Cao Jianguo chuckled, speaking to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was stunned for a moment, then understood what that meant.

After all, the case had huge implications. Even Cao Jianguo couldn't guarantee that Li Ruhai had no hidden backup plans. But under the current circumstances, pinning the matter on the disciplinary committee would conceal Zhao Fusheng's role, thus keeping Future Investment safe.

"Thank you," Zhao Fusheng said sincerely to Cao Jianguo after grasping the reasoning.

The man was looking out for him; he owed him gratitude, both emotionally and logically.

"No need to be so polite," Cao Jianguo said with a smile. "Actually, I should thank you. Without your help, we wouldn't have caught them so smoothly."

He meant it. Zhao Fusheng had played a significant role in this matter, and Cao Jianguo knew he owed him a favor.

Some things lose their meaning when spoken aloud. Both were smart people; neither would point it out.

...

...

After seeing Cao Jianguo off, Zhao Fusheng let out a long breath. The biggest benefit of handling this matter wasn't just that Li Ruhai and his men faced justice, but for Future Group itself.

With Cao Jianguo's help, the security company was officially established with all formalities complete. The staff were all retired military personnel, and Zhao Fusheng promised that if Cao Jianguo's department ever needed it, he could also hire family members of fallen officers and police injured in the line of duty to work at Future Group.

This was Zhao Fusheng's idea. On one hand, the families of grassroots police officers often struggled; solving their employment might be a small effort for him but could truly change many lives. On the other hand, Zhao Fusheng felt he should extend his reach a bit further, laying the groundwork for Future Group's development. After all, as the company grew, so did the number of shady characters, and he didn't want to be targeted one day.

Besides this, after news that Future Group had received a $350 million injection, many previously hesitant rivals and partners changed their attitudes.

The most obvious example was Ma Xiaoyun, who had been hesitant about contacting Future Group. He quickly got in touch with Dong Chenxi, expressing willingness to cooperate with Future Investment. Meanwhile, some members of Zheng Yao's advertising alliance, who had been wavering due to Perfect Oriental's dominance, also settled down. More importantly, Ono Masao could no longer sit still.

Zhao Fusheng had secured another investment of over 300 million. For others, this might just be shocking news, but for Ono Masao and SoftBank, it was definitely a bad omen.

Ono Masao was now 80% sure that Zhao Fusheng had seen through SoftBank's plans to enter the US market. So he felt he should have a serious talk with Zhao Fusheng.

Humans are the most basic creatures in the world; often, they judge others' actions by their own thinking, projecting themselves onto others.

Ono Masao now believed that Zhao Fusheng was flexing his muscles, forcing him to make a choice.

Choose between NetEase or Taobao.

Clearly, the latter had more potential, but the problem was that Ono Masao couldn't guarantee how far Ma Xiaoyun could develop the company. Although Ma Xiaoyun repeatedly claimed it would rival Yahoo, the US was the center of the global internet tech market, and Wall Street was the focus of economists and businessmen worldwide. Under the current framework where Japanese conglomerates were eyeing the US economy, Ono Masao knew he had to make a decision.

To that end, Ono Masao flew back to Japan to meet with SoftBank's founder, Son Masayoshi. They talked for a full three hours. When he set foot on Chinese soil again, Ono's face was full of confidence. He believed that this time, he would teach Zhao Fusheng a profound lesson...