Business Information Identity

Chapter 6: Business Empire

Yun Fei frowned slightly and asked, “What did you say?”

“I spoke the truth. When I was in college, I studied abroad in the UK for a year as an exchange student and was exposed to professional market information gathering.” Nie Zuo replied while eating his bento. “Young Master Lin also mentioned that my instructor happened to be an old hand from Escort 911, so I’m not unfamiliar with corporate espionage.”

“Did he believe you?” Yun Fei asked.

“I’m just a friend of Young Master Lin. He insists on giving me a consultant title because I took professional courses in the UK, and he even subsidizes my household expenses. I’m quite helpless about it.” Nie Zuo replied, “Yudi asked me if, since I’ve received some training, I’d be interested in staying with Dongcheng Escort.”

Yun Fei thought for a moment and asked, “What do you think of the prospects for escort services?”

“Leaving aside my personal relationship with Young Master Lin, without hugging a big shot’s leg, there’s no future.” Nie Zuo replied, “The relationship between companies, escorts, and corporate spies is like that of a victim, a bodyguard, and a thief. Brother, would you hire a bodyguard to defend against a thief?”

Yun Fei replied, “Escort 911 should be aiming for the high-end market.”

“It’s precisely this high-end market approach that’s hindering the escort’s development. The fees are too high. Last year, Young Master Lin invested in escort equipment, daily expenses, and staff salaries. After deducting the money he earned from casual commissions through his social circle, he lost 12 million. How much would Dongcheng Escort need to charge per commission to break even?”

Yun Fei said, “Young Master Lin isn’t comparable. He’s extravagant, with five-star suites, yachts, helicopters, and always provides the best conditions.”

“That’s exactly why Yudi was willing to leave Oulian Escort and join Dongcheng Escort.” Nie Zuo replied, “These people are all professionals. Take the twin brothers, for example. The elder brother is a computer genius, ranked in the top twenty on the FBI’s blacklist for hacking the U.S. Department of Defense. His younger brother has an IQ of 170, reads ten lines at a glance, has a photographic memory, and holds a bachelor’s degree in physics. How much salary would you need to offer these people to match their abilities?”

Yun Fei understood. “If you’re not elite, others won’t value you and won’t hire you. If you are elite, others might value you but may not be able to afford you. If no commercial information is lost, why spend unnecessary money to protect it? If the information is already lost, why spend unnecessary money just to understand your defeat? Conversely, if the goal is to make money, turning the escort into a predator, an elite corporate spy, means there’s gold everywhere.”

In the era of money, many people measure success by the amount of wealth they have. Many countries have agents and spies, individuals trained by the state to protect their own intelligence and gather information on other countries. Every year, some of these professionals leave their posts, and a portion of them, driven by boredom or financial reasons, transform into corporate spies.

These corporate spies are no longer ordinary market information gatherers. For market information gatherers, there’s still a legal red line. But for professional corporate spies, the law is just a fig leaf. From what Nie Zuo knows about the three groups in Dongcheng Escort, although they may not have reached the level of veteran agents, they have considerable potential. If they were to switch roles and become predators instead of escorts, making money would be a breeze.

Police always earn less than criminals—this is an iron law that cannot be changed. Unlike traditional crime, corporate espionage has low costs, high returns, strong concealment, broad targets, and is hard to convict. This profession has entered its golden age in today’s globalized economy. Born out of this trend, many prestigious foreign universities have established relevant courses. Some say this is just a part of market competition. If others have spies and you don’t, you’re bound to lose out. If Country A has spies and Country B lacks security personnel, the competition between the two nations is no longer on the same level.

Xiaoyun fiddled with his phone for a moment: “The shop’s account had twelve bucks last month, but today it’s up to 22,000. 10,000 has been transferred to your account.”

“Bro,” Nie Zuo said, “This is the money you earned from running the shop.”

“It doesn’t really matter whether we keep the shop open or not these days. Just supplying fruits to four yachts in East City is enough to live on.” After Lin Shao casually brought it up during a meal with friends, Xiaoyun’s shop landed a deal to supply fruits to eight yachts. Lin Shao and his group don’t keep fruits overnight, and they only eat organic food. They’ve also signed a two-year contract. Xiaoyun smiled and said, “Notice how important connections are? Even though you don’t get money directly from Lin Shao, a single word from him can ensure we’re well-fed. I’m happy to take it easy, and you don’t need to be polite with me. At your age, you should learn how to spend money. Learn to be frugal after you’re married.”

“Alright,” Nie Zuo didn’t say much. There wasn’t much need for formalities between him and Xiaoyun. After finishing his meal, Nie Zuo boiled water to make tea and asked, “How’s Sister-in-law doing?”

“Why do you ask?” Xiaoyun responded.

“Bro, it’s getting late and you haven’t even started closing up yet.”

Xiaoyun sighed and sat down to drink tea: “Damn it, because of these cursed TV dramas, your sister-in-law wants to upgrade to a school district house. She says it’s to cultivate the child’s study habits and provide a good learning environment to help with the child’s growth. If you don’t work hard today, what will your child have to rely on tomorrow? But a regular school district house costs 90,000 per square meter, and the best ones are at least 150,000 per square meter, and they’re practically unavailable on the market! Your sister-in-law is planning to sell the current house and borrow some more money to make a down payment.”

Nie Zuo said, “Bro, talk to Sister-in-law. You can arrange for your niece to study abroad later. There’s no need to make her compete from infancy in China.”

“Do you think your sister-in-law can just leave whenever she wants? It takes effort to get out too. If we don’t compete now, we won’t even have the** to compete later.” Xiaoyun said, “It’s fine. I know her too well. It’s just the influence of those TV dramas; she’s just being impulsive. I’ll work a bit later and tire myself out a bit more, and she’ll start to understand me.”

“Haha, it seems Sister-in-law isn’t ruthless enough yet.” Nie Yun looked at the time and put down his teacup, “I’ll be leaving then.”

“Going to pick up your girlfriend? Take my car.”

“There’s still public transportation.” Nie Zuo waved as he left.

……

District South of City A (the term “South District” is censored) is the commercial center of City A, filled with office buildings and corporate towers, hosting countless corporations and large conglomerates. Major financial institutions, huge enterprises—you name it, they’re all here. In this place, you can become rich overnight, or rise to fame in a day. The headquarters of national giants and behemoths in insurance, banking, venture capital, finance, securities, foreign exchange, and futures are all gathered here. This is the financial center of City A and a globally watched financial hub.

When talking about conglomerates, one cannot omit the leading local giant, Wanlian International. From steel to real estate, manufacturing to research and development, media to e-commerce, wet markets to luxury goods, Wanlian International is involved in everything. The founder of Wanlian International, Liu Ziping, famously said, “There’s no business that can’t make money, only people who can’t make money.” With unique insights and extraordinary courage, Liu Ziping has always stayed ahead of others. After over thirty years of ups and downs, he built Wanlian International into a massive business empire.”