40: Routine; Qilin

Some matters are met with policy from above and countermeasures from below.

Some matters are met with a single command, to be completed even at the cost of one's life.

And for this new regulation, these CEOs tacitly chose the second option.

They decided to stand with the family forever, to love the family forever!

It was absolutely not because they saw the first CEO who asked a question, after leaving the conference room, present a pair of limited edition purple-gold bracelets to the people from the Police and Procuratorate Departments, and then have them dragged away...

In front of all the CEOs, the people from the Police and Procuratorate Departments put the bracelets on that fellow, the two guards on either side lifted him up, said nothing, and dragged him away...

Dragged away...

Yes, they love the family!

It's definitely not because they're guilty...

So, when these new regulations were publicly announced, all the CEOs obediently followed the new rules.

And some of their peers who weren't qualified to attend the meeting initially thought that after these new regulations came out, these CEOs would hint, suggest, or instruct them to oppose them together or do something.

But to their surprise, there was no movement at all!?

Some CEOs even immediately announced the dissolution of their companies after the new regulations were released.

They would dissolve them immediately, even if it meant losing money.

Without complaint, without hesitation, without a sound...

Therefore, those who had connections, or were smart, also obediently followed the new regulations.

They didn't say a word, just quietly did their work...

As for those who had neither connections nor were self-proclaimed smart, or who wanted to achieve certain goals, they kept picking out these new regulations sentence by sentence, word by word, to discuss.

The result was that within half a day of the new regulations being released, they had already sparked a nationwide discussion.

There were supporters;

There were opponents;

There were the lawful neutrals, who were content to quietly watch the show;

There were also chaotic neutrals, who constantly jumped back and forth, liking a topic today and then forwarding it to someone with opposing views.

Tomorrow, they would downvote something elsewhere and start spewing insults in someone's name.

Of course, there were also those with malicious intent participating in the discussion.

Their intentions are understood by those who understand, and it's useless to explain to those who don't.

Therefore, during this period, the melon-eating masses in the family were truly happy!

It was either someone's persona collapsing or someone retiring.

Of course, besides the gossip, everyone's ability to criticize had also made a qualitative leap through extensive practical experience.

In summary: centered around Mom, with Dad as the radius, encompassing all eighteen generations of ancestors.

If they win, their parents are still alive.

If they lose, their family tree goes to heaven.

So exciting!

Therefore, when Elder Zhou found Guo Yi, he discovered him in his room, with the family's various forums projected throughout the room.

And he was watching all sorts of gossip while eating sunflower seeds...

"Are you bored?"

Elder Zhou passed through the projection and sat with Guo Yi: "What's so interesting about these?

Have your universal treatment pod project and longevity project been completed?"

"Those don't matter for a day or two.

Let's watch the excitement first. Don't you think it's very interesting outside right now?" Guo Yi held a handful of sunflower seeds, cracking them as he looked left and right: "Look, look~ this person, on the surface he looks like a sissy, but in reality, he's letting people use him as cannon fodder..."

"..."

Elder Zhou looked at the excited Guo Yi and chuckled: "Alright, stop gossiping.

You're not one of the melon-eating masses, why are you paying attention to these things that distract you?

I came to find you..."

"Distract me?" Guo Yi immediately interrupted when he heard Elder Zhou's words: "Did the family orchestrate this?"

"Otherwise?" Elder Zhou looked at Guo Yi's very curious expression and knew that if he didn't explain clearly, they wouldn't be able to discuss anything else.

So, Elder Zhou also picked up a handful of sunflower seeds, cracking them as he said faintly: "Do you think this could have become a nationwide hot topic without the family's approval?

Not to mention, in less than half a day, it's almost a national discussion, and this heat has continued for so many days."

"!!!"

Guo Yi was so startled that he forgot to crack his sunflower seeds: "Tell me, what's going on!"

"It's simple," Elder Zhou explained casually to Guo Yi. "Didn't we submit the summary report for the twenty-year plan a while back?

After that, the family has been negotiating and making arrangements based on the summary document.

All the details were finalized a few days ago, and we immediately started taking action.

The signal for the action to begin was all this public discussion in the entertainment industry."

"???"

Guo Yi was completely bewildered by Elder Zhou's words. "What does what's happening in the entertainment industry have to do with our operation?"

"We didn't want the general public to be discussing corporate transformations or equipment upgrades, so we had the entertainment industry draw everyone's attention.

This way, those companies can quietly transform or upgrade their equipment.

As for those who would still pay attention to and investigate those companies during this time, the Special Operations Department will take care of them...

And didn't you say we were short on people?

This also serves to trim down the entertainment industry a bit, so not just anyone and everyone can go chase their dreams of becoming a star."

"As expected, people who play tactics have hearts as black as oil!"

After hearing Elder Zhou's answer, Guo Yi understood the situation.

Simply put, some companies were too large, so even the smallest move could attract the attention of the public.

If it were just a small group of people discussing it, it would be fine, but the worry was that it could lead to widespread discussion, or even investigation by "people with ulterior motives."

At that point, it would be fine if it could be suppressed, but if not, it would be a huge problem.

So, to prevent any accidents, they would create something trivial for the entire nation to discuss.

This way, they wouldn't have to worry about the public discussing things they shouldn't be discussing.

It could even help squeeze out some excess manpower from the entertainment industry.

It was killing multiple birds with one stone...

"Wait, Elder Zhou, how did you know?"

"We've done similar things before, just not on this scale..."

Looking at Elder Zhou's calm expression, Guo Yi could only think: This is so typical of the Rabbit!

"Alright, we've finished gossiping, let's talk business!"

Afterward, Elder Zhou pulled up an announcement from some obscure forum: The theme of this year's Wanjia Military Exhibition is: Individual Soldier.

Currently, several companies have announced that they will be showcasing their latest experimental individual soldier equipment – Exoskeleton Armor – at the exhibition...

"In a month, our Shuangshui City will be hosting the Wanjia Military Exhibition.

I wanted to ask if you have any simpler, less technologically advanced, and reasonably priced Exoskeleton Armor that you can sell."

Elder Zhou sighed and looked at Guo Yi, saying softly, "Originally, we had an Exoskeleton project team.

However, after your Qilin Armor went to their project team, they all started researching and developing your Qilin series.

The original Exoskeleton project has been halted..."

Guo Yi spread his hands. "Am I to blame? I wasn't interested, didn't want to do it..."

"The factory is out of money. I fought hard to get this foreign order.

The higher-ups were planning to just give them a perfunctory response, as other companies only had experimental prototypes at best."

Elder Zhou nodded calmly upon hearing Guo Yi's words, as if talking to himself, "Alas, since you don't want to take the order, we'll have to work hard for a year.

Once those companies have stabilized their transformations and their capital has returned, we can start full-scale production..."

"Wait, we're out of money?"

Guo Yi looked at Elder Zhou in surprise. "It's only been about a month, didn't we have that 5 billion yuan previously?"

"The lowest cost for a nuclear-powered, electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier is 50 billion.

How much do you think your Space Battleship will cost?"

"..."

Well, he dug his own grave again.

When they were planning the production schedule before, the Space Battleship was intended to be built slowly.

But Guo Yi didn't want to wait.

Anyway, for materials, site, manpower, and so on, as long as Guo Yi asked, the higher-ups would provide immediate support.

Except for money...

So, Guo Yi directly made the decision: eleven Gundams and one Gundam Space Mothership, manufactured simultaneously.

And this was the result...

In one month, the 5 billion yuan had been almost completely used up...

For this, Guo Yi gritted his teeth and said directly to Elder Zhou, "Of the money from the sales, after deducting costs, I want all the pure profit!"

Elder Zhou, hearing Guo Yi's words, had a strange expression, a half-smile on his face. "Alright."

Thank you to "Feng Yun Yi" for the generous tip!

Thank you very much!