Chapter Ninety-Two: Plain and Unadorned Business Warfare

Before Su Yinmo found Lin Fan, Su Mingxuan had already raised two hundred million.

Su Yinmo had originally intended to have Lin Fan invest five hundred million, after which she could firmly secure the post of general manager.

But after Lin Fan analyzed the matter for her, explaining that the position was nothing but a hot potato and that the money required to transform the entire hotel far exceeded five hundred million, she weighed the pros and cons and gave up on financing. Instead, she turned retreat into advance and voluntarily relinquished the position of general manager.

Headquarters office building of the Jitu Hotel Chain.

Lin Fan arrived at Su Yinmo’s office and saw her reading, and he could not help but feel admiration.

In the circles of the rich second generation, there were still quite a few people like Su Yinmo, true elites who did real work and possessed genuine talent. From the moment they were born, they had not only won at the starting line, but also worked extremely hard themselves, never wasting any spare time on drinking, eating, and pleasure-seeking.

In truth, he wanted to be such a person too, but he felt his own talents were insufficient; in both willpower and vision, he was far inferior to people like Su Yinmo and Wang Silai.

Besides, he now had a unique system at his side, so even without that kind of talent, he could still rely on cheating to obtain all manner of unimaginable skills.

In plain terms, ninety-nine percent of the problems he encountered could be solved with money.

After exchanging a few polite greetings, Lin Fan went straight to the point. "Is your office secure? Has someone installed bugs or anything like that?"

When he arrived, he had already told her on the phone about being followed and secretly photographed. Su Yinmo’s expression turned very serious as she nodded. "Anything you can think of, I already have. It’s absolutely safe."

With that, Lin Fan laid out the bold speculation in his mind.

"You mean the two people who have been tailing you are being manipulated by Su Mingxuan and Su Qianlong?"

Su Yinmo looked utterly incredulous, unable to believe he would suspect the two brothers.

"The only people I’ve offended right now are the three of them. Bai Jiahua is even more brutal than those brothers, and his methods are more straightforward—he’d simply send someone to teach me a lesson. But those two brothers are more subtle. To put it bluntly, they play dirty. I suspect they want to move against me and seize Starlight Entertainment..."

"Of course, it’s also possible that the three of them are working together. I came here to remind you to be careful, and also to ask: if it were you, how would you handle it?"

Lin Fan looked at her without revealing anything.

He did not want to get involved in the infighting of the wealthy. Right now he was only a nobody; if he got dragged into it, he might end up with a miserable death.

Of course, with the system protecting him, he did not have to worry about accidents.

What he feared was that the Starlight Entertainment he had spent two and a half billion to acquire would ultimately be taken from him through collusion between the two brothers.

That would be worse than killing him.

He had come specially to see Su Yinmo because he wanted to know her attitude.

If Su Yinmo did not care whether the brothers lived or died, he could go ahead and deal with them himself. If Su Yinmo still had familial feelings, then he would not interfere.

After a long silence, a trace of madness and ruthlessness flashed in Su Yinmo’s eyes.

"They’re the ones provoking you; it has nothing to do with me. What you want to do to them is none of my concern..."

Su Yinmo smiled faintly, neither warm nor cold.

Hearing that, Lin Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

Hidden in her words was the message that no matter how he dealt with the brothers, she would not care.

Her goal was to sit in the chairman’s seat.

"This woman really is ambitious, and ruthless enough too," Lin Fan thought to himself, while on the surface he smiled and said, "If something really happens, your old man won’t be furious, will he?"

"He only has the interests of the family in his eyes. As for us descendants, marriage, life and death, fortune and misfortune—he doesn’t care at all." Su Yinmo gave a soft laugh, a bleak look flashing at the corner of her mouth.

Lin Fan’s heart gave a jolt; he had not expected her to be so resolute.

It seemed she was always ready to fight the two brothers to the death.

"Then how do you think I should guard against them?" Lin Fan returned to the main topic.

"At Starlight Entertainment, don’t trust anyone except me. For all you know, they’ve already started making moves—buying people over, installing bugs in your office, or using any number of dirty tricks. A honey trap, poison, assassination... either work remotely like I do, or hire professional bodyguards to stay at your side."

Lin Fan’s heart thumped wildly at her words.

"So this is business warfare? Even more exciting than what you see on television? Sounds like they’re going straight for your life."

Lin Fan said with a bitter smile.

"Isn’t business warfare always like this? Endless schemes, or straightforward competition—buying hearts and minds, splitting the management team, spreading rumors, manufacturing news to drive the stock price down. Or else finding someone in the shadows to kill you and make your death seem mysterious. But such methods are forbidden in the business world; they are a red line. Whoever crosses that line, no matter how capable they are, will not get away with it."

Su Yinmo explained patiently.

Lin Fan nodded in understanding.

No wonder she had just said such alarming things.

So she was actually hoping in her heart that the brothers would touch the red line, so she could use his hand to eliminate them, and thus successfully rise to power.

"I’ll have two people come by later to inspect your company and see whether bugs have been installed. The same goes for your home. Anyway, be extra careful from now on. Once you enter this circle, many people will keep their eyes on you. Compared with a drop in the company’s stock price, the management being infiltrated, power being emptied out, and all that, those are still minor matters. Your health is what matters most."

"Also, don’t fool around. There are many women in Starlight Entertainment, so you need to control yourself a bit and don’t go creating any scandal..."

Su Yinmo studied him meaningfully for a moment.

"I’m not some dissolute young master who dabbles in pleasure everywhere. You can rest assured about that."

Lin Fan gave an awkward laugh.

Su Yinmo shot him a contemptuous glare and tossed him an expression that said for himself to understand.

After chatting for a while longer, the people Su Yinmo had arranged for arrived downstairs.

After Lin Fan took his leave, he went with them to Starlight Entertainment.

Only on the way did he learn that they were actually professionals from the relevant department, people Su Yinmo had specifically used connections to invite.

Once they arrived at the company, Shi Jie saw him bringing several friends over and casually asked a few questions, which made Lin Fan grow suspicious of him.

Fortunately, Lin Fan was quick-witted. He claimed those people were ordinary friends and sent Shi Jie away.

The group searched his office but found no bugs.

However, they did discover signs that his computer had been tampered with.

That made Lin Fan suspect that Shi Jie had been bought over.

Before those professionals left, they also seriously gave Lin Fan a lesson and handed him several devices that could help prevent eavesdropping and being followed.

In the evening, Lin Fan called Su Yinmo and informed her of the results of the inspection.

Su Yinmo said she would arrange for someone to keep an eye on Shi Jie and the two Su brothers in secret.

After returning to the seaside villa that night, Lin Fan discovered that the two people who had been following him were still there, only they had changed cars, which further confirmed that it was the Su brothers behind it.

According to Li Li, if they were entertainment-industry paparazzi, they would usually disappear immediately once discovered or warned.