Tang Jiang scrolled through the messages in his Meibo account. The subject of Song Meilin had popped up every once in a while since she was adopted into the Song Family. There were always rumors about her being Song Gaode's illegitimate daughter, but the adoption wasn't known to the public. There was an unwritten rule in the media circuit, do not write about the 2nd and 3rd generation from the wealthy family. No media outlet possessed the nerve to write about them for fear of retaliation. The only type of reporting allowed was either business-related or pertaining to politics.

In Tang Jiang's chat, there was an ongoing discussion about Song Meilin's latest boyfriend, his occupation, his looks, and his salary. They were typical things that measured the worth of a person. The particular topic about her latest boyfriend caught his interest.

Aside from her parentage, many 3rd generation elites liked to gossip about her latest boyfriend. Everyone had a good laugh with Song Meilin's poor choices of boyfriends in the past. When she started her ZZ Live and showed off her boyfriends, everyone thought Tang Jiang would let go of his pursuit. They never expected that Tang Jiang would move his main office to Imperial City. As one of her suitors, Tang Jiang was aware that it was also a tactic to ward off suitors and cause problems for Song Taiji.

"There are other b****** out there, I don't get why you and grandfather need to align yourself with the Song Family," Tang Hutian remarked as he drank an expensive imported whisky.

Tang Jiang shrugged it off, looking over the city from his penthouse near the center of Imperial City. Few people knew of Song Meilin's company because she had used her States' name Chu Rouxi to start RoXu Group with Ning Xuxu. Although they started the company two years ago, they were able to buy many properties around the world and started a high-end fashion line.

The elites had looked down on her for starting the ZZ Live, but the numbers and increase of fans valuing her opinions were something people often overlooked. Influencers could sell millions of products simply by using something they like. The shrewd ones had caught on and started their own show, but they were behind the curve and had less real content.

His younger brother, Tang Hutian, had no head for business, so there was no need to talk to him about anything important related to the Tang Industry, which had real estate all around the world and manufacturing plants of raw materials. Tang Hutian was in charge of managing a dozen factories, but it was only in name. He barely knew what was going on and didn't even know what was manufactured in each of the plants. He was more interested in seeking pleasure and enjoying whatever wealth his family provided. Working was for commoners and the poor he would constantly complain.

Tang Hutian scrolled through the gossip in the chat. He thought the guy next to Song Meilin looked familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had seen the guy. If he wasn't drunk at the time, he would have recognized Li Yun as one of the poker players in Macao.

"He's a surgeon from Qinbei," said Tang Jiang's secretary.

"A surgeon?" Tang Jiang's interest suddenly peaked. It was certainly not the same type of guy Song Meilin used to date, so he wondered if it was serious. "Did Song Taiji make a move?"

"There is a report that Secretary Liang drove Dr. Li to see Song Taiji before he returned to Yide City."

Tang Jiang was suddenly deep in thought. "Investigate the surgeon and send me his files," Tang Jiang instructed.

The secretary nodded, bowed, and walked out of the penthouse.

"Bro, do you really have to go that far?" asked Tang Hutian. "Just some random boytoy she's fooling around with?"

"Hutian, if you don't recognize a powerful enemy when they are looking at you from below, you will never make it out alive when they are looking at you from the same level."

****

Upon returning to Yide, Li Yun started a business plan for his company. Before he could begin, he had to request additional time off from work. The Chiefs weren't thrilled, but Li Yun had a lot of vacation time to use.

The plan was to create the LY Group with Dong Xuan Clinic and Shennong Pharmaceutical underneath the umbrella. The purpose of the company was to fund all the materials he needed to study and consume knowledge. His surgeon salary wasn't going to be enough to cover a pharmaceutical laboratory or all his research needs.

With a name and goal in place, he needed land. The clinic wasn't enough for a pharmaceutical laboratory. Rouxi offered to find a property with an existing factory and greenhouses.

In order to create a proper company, he also needed people to run it for him. Luckily, Ju De was looking for a job.

"Seriously, you know I'm just an accountant major?" Ju De replied when Li Yun first asked him to be the CFO of the LY Group and CEO of the Shennong Pharmaceutical.

If Li Yun was honest, he would rather hire Wu Ling. Ju De may be brilliant at understanding people's motivation, but his business sense wasn't like his sister Xuxu, or even as ambitious as Wu Ling.

"I'll demote you to Executive Director when Wu Ling graduates," said Li Yun.

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Ju De shrugged, he would had done the  same.

"It's not like you have any other plans."

It was true, Ju De was currently doing nothing after graduation, just living off his parents. Even Ersan had started his internship in Magic City.

Ju De looked at Fatty Fang, "Bro, what are you supposed to be?"

"Head of security!" Fatty Fang gave him a thumbs up.

Ju De sneered, "So you basically get paid doing nothing while I have to do all the paperwork and hiring to get this company started?"

Fatty Fang stared blankly at Ju De, "You brat, I have two years of working experience filing and scheduling meetings!"

"So you're more like a secretary."

"Call me a secretary again and I'll beat your ass."

There were reasons why hiring and working with friends were not always a good idea. However, other times, there were too many advantages that it was common to see it happen at every level of business and politics.

There were reasons why nepotism existed despite it being frowned upon. The one thing that money cannot buy, loyalty. Li Yun hired them because he could trust and rely on them. As for skills, it was something that could be acquired. Everyone had certain abilities, it was a matter of proper training and motivation. It was the job of the manager to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Ju De was talented, but if it was not something interesting, his work performance was no better than the guy reading webnovel all day. As for Fatty Wang, he was the standard worker. He worked on getting tasks done and it would be between 80-90% quality, no more and no less. If he wasn't assigned a task, he would not take it upon himself to continue working. Li Yun regularly gave him a long list to work assignments, which he could typically finish. However, too much workload would irritate and demoralize him, so it was best to have a list of no more than two pages long.

These were things supervisors and managers needed to understand, but too many of them were workers themselves, either with no power or motivation to improve other than to watch and complain about their workers.

"You're going to need a lot of people," Ju De commented, looking at the initial outline of the company. "How much did you gather?"

"15 million yuan," Li Yun replied. "You and Bufu contributed the most. I had a lot of doctors chipped in."

His friends were wealthy, but he couldn't take too much from them. A lot of it was Li Yun's own personal funds from selling calligraphy and clinic fees. He had already discussed details with Professor Shao Shan, Ma Zong, and other doctors he had good contact with. Professor Yuan Yu could not be involved due to a conflict of interests with Berne Pharmaceutical but had warned him about possible sabotage from Berne Pharmaceutical and other companies.

"Why didn't you ask Xuxu or your girlfriend?" Fatty Fang asked.

"They recently cleared their debt, I don't want to interfere with their company," Li Yun also didn't want to ask Rouxi for money, it was a bit of pride. He mainly wanted to rely on himself to bring his company to the top.