Hong Kong Island Was Returning to China

Longteng's affairs had basically been sorted out. All that remained was to focus on steady development.

Whenever he had nothing to do, Wang Yan would take a few of his men and wander all over Hong Kong Island.

Because the forces on Hong Kong Island had previously been tangled together, and because Wang Yan had been targeted by everyone and kicked around by encirclement after encirclement, he had kept a low profile and stayed home, cultivating himself.

Now that Longteng had thoroughly purged Hong Kong Island, it could be said that hardly anyone on this land could threaten Wang Yan anymore. He finally had the chance to take a proper look around Hong Kong Island.

As for Chen Yongren, Wang Yan had stopped concerning himself with him long ago. Whatever happened, happened. He had given up.

Quite a few people had seen Wang Yan, and there were photos of him in public places. If not for his identity, no one would have paid attention to his ordinary-looking face. People only took a second look because they were curious about what the tycoon who had shaken Hong Kong Island and changed their lives looked like. They only looked twice, then forgot him afterward.

It wasn't that no one followed Wang Yan's movements, but they needed enough courage to report on him. In truth, Wang Yan's wealth was no less than that of the people on the rankings, but no ranking had ever included any information about him.

So Wang Yan walked around outside without a care. If not for the few men following behind him, no one would have given him a second glance.

Wang Yan wandered down the street with his men, casually buying things whenever he saw something for sale, sampling food whenever he found something to eat, and staring at passing beauties while appraising them.

In the more than thirty years he had spent across two worlds, Wang Yan had never felt so relaxed.

This was also the life Wang Yan had dreamed of.

When he was young, he had always been full of grand ambitions. As he gradually grew older and experienced more, he stopped talking about his past bravery.

In the end, all he wanted was an ordinary life without having to worry about making a living.

Fortunately, Wang Yan had struck it lucky. With the abilities he currently possessed, he could live a stable life in the real world without having to concern himself with those petty schemes anymore.

After musing for a while, Wang Yan continued strolling the streets, eating, drinking, and admiring beautiful women.

These days, Wang Yan only looked at beautiful women for the pleasure of it.

Wang Yan himself had never been a particularly good person. Even in the real world, whenever he had nothing else to do, he would indulge himself a little, let alone now.

Over these past four years, even though Wang Yan had kept a low profile, his status and position naturally brought him a life of pleasure and luxury. Whenever his men found someone with good conditions, they would eagerly send her his way. There were also women of some status whom Wang Yan encountered in his daily life, women whose husbands left them alone at home. Everything simply fell into place. It was all perfectly normal.

In the past, Wang Yan had looked at women with ulterior thoughts. After all, he had been an ordinary man, and it was hard not to entertain some improper thoughts when he saw a particularly attractive woman.

Now Wang Yan had made a great leap forward. With so much more energy, he naturally viewed them with pure appreciation.

Happy times were always short.

Before long, news came from Dragon Ascending Technology: the mobile phone had been successfully developed and was ready for production.

Although the money could not be taken away, no one would ever complain about having too much money. Besides, the sense of achievement it brought was incomparable.

Wang Yan immediately took the engineers back to the mainland to debug the production lines and begin manufacturing.

They used the same approach as before: mailing finished products to their good brothers and launching overwhelming advertising campaigns across the world.

Over the past few years, his good brothers had made a fortune alongside Wang Yan. Wang Yan had never kept all the profits for himself, leaving them ample room to earn. The VCD and optical-disc industries alone had earned these people more money than they would normally make through one or two years of hard work.

It wasn't that Wang Yan didn't want to operate through direct sales. He couldn't stay in this world forever. As long as he could make money, why bother with all that extra trouble? It was more profitable to let everyone earn together. At the very least, Wang Yan had tremendous clout on the world stage. And it wasn't the kind of clout built on mutual flattery. Whenever Wang Yan said a word, these people really came running.

No matter what organization they belonged to, anyone hoping to earn a living alongside Wang Yan would have to show him some respect.

Who could blame them? Almost everything in Wang Yan's hands was a monopoly. Hadn't Longteng released DVD just a few months after VCD knockoffs had finally been produced? The people who had spent huge sums copying VCD were left bankrupt.

Naturally, the various conglomerates wanted to take such a profitable business from Longteng and put it in their own hands.

Wang Yan figured that if things truly reached that point, the mainland would come out to protect its own. He wasn't some rootless ghost. He had a powerful backer behind him, and he couldn't simply be bullied at will.

Thus, both sides acted with restraint, trying to play the game within the rules. The occasional transgression was harmless. If they crossed the line a little, Longteng would simply follow suit.

The international situation grew turbulent. Caught between internal and external pressures, the capitalists had no choice but to retreat a step. They could sell, but they had to impose additional tariffs. The move was completely useless. Longteng didn't care in the slightest. This was an exclusive business. If they raised the taxes, Longteng would raise its prices. In the end, the consumers would bear the cost. Longteng refused to let itself be pushed around. It added fuel to the fire, bypassed Longteng's involvement entirely, and loudly denounced the capitalists' ugly greed, exploitation, and heartlessness. It stirred the European and American countries into starting the activity they loved most: large-scale strikes, demonstrations, and protests.

Foreigners were all like that. Once Longteng stirred them up, they couldn't even hold proper demonstrations. After spending some money to find a couple of leaders and incite them further, the protests grew into large-scale riots involving looting, smashing, and arson. The scene quickly descended into chaos.

The incident continued to ferment and escalate. Although it was capitalism, where capital called the shots, the authorities still had to pay some attention to the emotions of the lower classes. After all, capital's assets were the lower classes. Thus came all kinds of sham meetings. In the end, the capitalists gave way, improving employee benefits and issuing a few insignificant policies. They also conveniently canceled the additional tariffs Longteng had imposed earlier and restored things to their original state.

In the end, everyone was happy. The lower classes cheered, "Long live freedom!" while the capitalists drank and celebrated having fooled another group of people. Naturally, even during the celebrations, they did not forget to study ways to deal with Longteng.

Wang Yan left the matter to his subordinates and stopped concerning himself with it. He couldn't possibly support such a large think tank for nothing. They could handle it themselves.

Next, Wang Yan began visiting masters of Chinese studies throughout the mainland, seeking their guidance and studying traditional Chinese scholarship to improve his cultivation and understanding.

These masters were scattered across the country, and most of them held positions at universities, teaching and passing on knowledge. Wang Yan began a journey of scattering money. Every time he arrived somewhere, he would directly present one million US dollars. Then he would study with a master of Chinese studies for a while before moving on to the next place and repeating the process.

Wang Yan's journey lasted more than two years. His pace was relatively slow at first. His foundation in Chinese studies was too shallow, and he couldn't understand many things. As he learned more and more, his understanding of Chinese studies continued to deepen. At first, he might only visit one master every month or two. Later, he could visit one every two or three weeks. His pace grew faster and faster, and so did his level of knowledge.

Now, two years later, Wang Yan had reached a proficient level. This field was simply too profound, and everyone had their own interpretation. After visiting so many masters, Wang Yan had never heard two identical answers to the same question.

Through all of this, Wang Yan constantly summarized and reflected, searching for answers of his own.

Over the two years, DVD players and mobile phones had been sold throughout the world. Although the major manufacturers had launched their own products one after another just three months after Longteng's mobile phones went on sale, they still had no way to compete with Longteng. As the saying went, people always remembered the first. With Wang Yan's guidance, Longteng was conducting targeted research and development. Although it had not yet released any new products for sale, its products were iterating extremely quickly in the laboratory, at least one or two years ahead of those of the other major manufacturers.

The war with the major European and American financial conglomerates continued. Neither side would stop until the other was destroyed. After more than two years, they remained evenly matched, trading victories and defeats. This was mainly because Wang Yan's advantage of foresight was too great. Otherwise, they would have been finished off long ago.

Longteng's development of Hong Kong Island had also gradually begun to bear fruit, and many of its employees had moved into the thousand-square-foot luxury homes developed by Longteng itself.

Longteng did have many labor-intensive industries, but they existed to support its employees' families and cultivate their loyalty. As long as they could remain self-sufficient, that was enough. Although the requirement was low, businesses were highly profitable in this era. Otherwise, Longteng could never have supported so many people.

But when it came to making serious money, it still relied on those high-end industries. Their profits were extremely high, so its cash flow was abundant.

The rules of the world had always been survival of the fittest. Whoever had the stronger fist got to speak, and having enough money could also count as having a fist.

Longteng's accounts held huge sums of money. It also had many financial experts stirring up waves in the global financial markets based on information provided by Wang Yan. Along with the profits from its various industries, every time one sum was spent, another came in. The think tank worried itself bald every day over how to spend the money and how to deal with the conglomerates' encirclement and attacks.

Wang Yan had been in this world for almost seven years. Hong Kong Island would return to China in another month.

Over the years, Longteng had vigorously developed various high-end industries in the mainland, continuously built up its industrial chain, created jobs, promoted regional economic development, and constantly supplied the mainland with cutting-edge technology. It had also carried out charitable work in the mainland without interruption.

Longteng could also be said to have made a tremendous contribution to maintaining Hong Kong Island's social stability.