Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

If Qi Long’s previous collaborations with Li Chang’an had been based on the simple philosophy of ”more friends, more opportunities,” the Gu Family’s repeated attempts to cause trouble had, conversely, made him take these recent deals far more seriously.

After all, the Gu Family was one of the top Reincarnator Families for Energy Particle Beam Cannon production technology, controlling at least twenty percent of the entire military-industrial market.

To a colossal family like that, ordinary profits were nothing more than chump change.

Under normal circumstances, they would never harbor such intense Malice toward a fledgling military tech company, let alone go so far as to leverage their monopoly to stifle its development.

But now, that was exactly what they were doing.

It wasn’t just Qi Long who found this surprising; many families in the military-industrial sector were also baffled. They couldn’t understand what would drive such a major family to relentlessly target an obscure, little-known company.

After thinking it over and over, Qi Long could only come to one conclusion: the weapons Li Chang’an was producing must pose a massive threat to the Gu Family. That was the only explanation for why they were so enraged, willing to expend so much influence just to cut off Li Chang’an’s supply lines and prevent him from delivering his scheduled shipment.

As a businessman, Qi Long’s instincts for this sort of thing were naturally sharp.

The fact that the Gu Family was targeting Li Chang’an so intensely proved two things. First, he was a tremendous threat to them. Second, the performance specs of the military hardware he possessed were likely even more impressive than Qi Long had initially anticipated.

Under the current pressure, other suppliers probably wouldn’t dare to engage with Li Chang’an.

But Qi Long thought the exact opposite.

’If I can help Li Chang’an weather this storm and earn his friendship and trust, then as a supplier of raw materials for military hardware, couldn’t I seize this opportunity to land a massive client for the future?’

’Li Chang’an can threaten the Gu Family, which means he has resources they’re wary of. In the future, even if he only grows to a third of the Gu Family’s size, he would still be an enormous business partner for me.’

Thus, after careful consideration, Qi Long finally spoke. ”My friend, if you make it big in the future, our business partnership must be a long and prosperous one!”

Hearing his response, Li Chang’an was slightly surprised but couldn’t help but say, ”President Qi, from this day forward, you are a founding partner of our Night City Military Technology Group. I guarantee you will be glad you made this decision today!”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Li Chang’an ended the call.

At the dining table, Su Ruobing saw Li Chang’an hang up his communicator. She wiped the juice from her hands and asked, ”What’s the word from the supplier?”

Li Chang’an answered honestly, ”They promised to deliver the goods on time.”

Su Ruobing nodded and let out a sigh of relief. ”That’s good. But we can’t let our guard down until the second batch of raw materials is actually in our hands...”

At this, her voice trailed off for a moment before she asked tentatively, ”You just called him President Qi... Don’t tell me your supplier is Qi Long from the Qi Family in Shanghai?”

Normally, this was the kind of information Su Ruobing shouldn’t have asked about.

But since Li Chang’an had brought it up in front of her, she didn’t feel the need to be overly discreet and went ahead with her question.

Li Chang’an raised an eyebrow, surprised. ”You know him?”

Su Ruobing first nodded, then shook her head. ”We’ve met once, at a banquet, so I suppose you could say we’re acquainted. But he’s in Shanghai and I’m in Kyoto. We operate in different circles, so I don’t know him very well.”

Li Chang’an was surprised that Su Ruobing actually knew him, but on second thought, it made sense.

’Right. The circles of these Reincarnator Families are only so big. Even if they don’t know each other personally, they’ve at least heard of each other. I guess I’m the one who’s a bit out of the loop.’

Because he was going to be working with Qi Long, Li Chang’an had someone secretly look into him and his family.

However, because the Qi Family held considerable power in Shanghai, he was only able to dig up superficial information, such as the corporations and territories under their control, and some of the businesses Qi Long personally managed.

Anything more was difficult to uncover.

He hadn’t expected that he would end up having to rely on Su Ruobing to learn more details about Qi Long.

Li Chang’an asked, ”Since you know him, you must know something about the Qi Family’s and Qi Long’s backgrounds, right? I met him on a forum, and even though we’ve done business a few times, I still can’t get a good read on the guy. Can he really withstand the pressure from the Gu Family?”

Su Ruobing pondered this for a long time before finally nodding. ”From what I know, he should be quite reliable. Shanghai is different from Kyoto. Shanghai is a purely commercial city. The bigwigs there don’t judge a person based on family status and lineage like they do in Kyoto. They’re more concerned with the value you can bring to the table...”

”The Qi Family is one of the top ten commercial families in Shanghai, and Qi Long himself is an exceptionally talented and capable businessman. He’s built his highly competitive military raw materials supply business to its current scale largely through his own efforts, with only a little help from his family. When you do business with him, as long as he sees enough potential for profit in you, he won’t betray you easily.”

She paused, then added, ”The Gu Family may be a level or two more powerful than the Qi Family, but as the saying goes, ’even a mighty dragon can’t crush a local snake.’ If Qi Long is determined to help you, things should be relatively secure.”