Chapter 18

In the early morning, as the sky over the capital city just began to brighten, the seven elderly men, who had dominated the business world for decades and were known to the outside world as the Seven Heroes of the Zhu Family, hurriedly gathered in the meeting hall of the Zhu Family's villa.

And it was only 6:03 in the morning!

"What major event has happened? Did you really have to send someone to drag me back at 4:30 in the morning?!" The last one to arrive at the meeting hall was Zhu Rongtao, the youngest of the Zhu Family's Rong generation, at the age of 68, with jet-black hair and a ruddy complexion, looking even younger than a typical 47- or 48-year-old middle-aged man!

As soon as he stepped through the door, he began to complain, "Is the sky falling? What are you three up to, Big Brother, Third Brother, and Fourth Brother?"

Being woken up from a deep sleep at 4:30 in the morning and then rushed back to the capital city from Zhangzhuangkou City in North River Province, it was no wonder Zhu Rongtao was angry. After all, such an event had only happened less than five times since the Zhu Family rose to prominence!

Every time the seven brothers had an emergency meeting, it meant that the Zhu Family's business was facing a significant challenge, a test that could potentially bring about a catastrophic disaster. Sometimes it came from a market crisis, sometimes from new policies issued by the central government, and sometimes from the pressure of competitors.

But the last time such a thing happened was in the early 1990s... Over the past two decades, the Zhu Family had steadily and smoothly developed, and with this development, the Zhu Family was no longer the same as it was back then.

They had weathered so many crises without falling, so how could they now, after growing and expanding, face a catastrophic disaster again?

Zhu Rongtao didn't believe such a thing could happen! At the level of the Zhu Family, any danger could not suddenly erupt, and even if a provincial or ministerial-level official suddenly made a move, it could not make the seven brothers of the Zhu Family so nervous!

Since it wasn't a major disaster, Zhu Rongtao's dissatisfaction grew even stronger.

He plopped down in his usual seat and said, "I had a small gathering last night, which went late. I have an important contract to sign with the British company Smet at 9:30 this morning, so I can't afford to be delayed. After signing the contract, I still have to go back and handle some personal matters... Let's get straight to the point, what's going on?!"

Big Brother Zhu Rongkang, Third Brother Zhu Rongyuan, and Fourth Brother Zhu Rongbing, along with the already arrived Second Brother Zhu Rongqiang, Fifth Brother Zhu Rongguo, and Sixth Brother Zhu Rongying, all turned their gazes to the youngest, Seventh Brother Zhu Rongtao.

The atmosphere in the meeting hall became somewhat strange for a moment. After a while, Fifth Brother Zhu Rongguo cleared his throat and said, "You're already an old man, and although Yin Fei passed away early, you should at least show some restraint, right?"

Zhu Rongguo's words immediately made Zhu Rongtao, who was full of dissatisfaction, cough dryly, his face turning red. Looking at the gray hair of his six older brothers, Zhu Rongtao responded with a mix of shame and anger, "I'm an old bachelor now. Although we are brothers, you can't control my private life, can you? Even my son Hongyi doesn't say anything. You guys bringing up this matter, isn't that a bit too low?"

"Ha ha ha ha..." Zhu Rongtao's reaction to being teased by everyone made Zhu Rongguo and the others burst into laughter.

After a long laugh, Big Brother Zhu Rongkang finally tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his smile gradually fading, and he said to Zhu Rongtao, who had just arrived, in a very serious tone, "The news came at 2:00 in the morning. This year's conference has been moved up."

"What conference has been moved up?" Zhu Rongtao was first stunned, but then his face changed abruptly as he stood up and said, "The Longmengze Trade Fair?!"

Zhu Rongtao's reaction was exactly the same as the other Zhu Family elders when they first heard the news!

Zhu Rongkang nodded slightly, confirming Zhu Rongtao's guess.

At the same time, Second Brother Zhu Rongqiang added, "The changes this year should be significant. The share ratios of each family will likely need to be readjusted. Big Brother is worried that this year will be like six years ago, when our Zhu Family could only attend as an audience."

"Every two years for a small conference, every six years for a large one... Six years ago, our Zhu Family got only the leftovers from the top people!" Zhu Rongtao gritted his teeth and said, "Are we going to repeat the same mistake after six years?"

"Six years ago, our Zhu Family paid more than twice the price of others but received less than half of what they got..." Zhu Rongkang sighed lightly and said, "But what can we do? If we don't bite the bullet and take it, there are still many others willing to pay three, four, or even five times the price to get one-third of the goods!"

"..." Hearing this, Zhu Rongtao slumped back into his seat like a deflated ball, and said weakly, "Six years ago, the Li Family from Guangdong Province, who were not as strong as our Zhu Family, took the lead. Six years later, the Li Family has risen to the ranks of the elite, with assets more than five times what they were, while our Zhu Family's efforts over six years have only resulted in a 63% increase in total value..."

Zhu Rongtao's words were not long, but this brief sentence, with a simple and straightforward set of data, felt like a heavy punch, striking the hearts of the other six Zhu Family elders, making them feel chest tightness and shortness of breath, as if a large stone had been placed on their chests!

The Longmengze Trade Fair is actually a trading conference held by various sects and schools in the Chinese metaphysical community on specific days.

The location of the biennial small conference is not fixed, with each session held in a different place.

However, compared to the biennial small conference, the large conference held every six years, which has a broader trading scope, involves more industries, and has richer and more advanced trading content, has been fixed in the Longmengze area in the middle of South River Province from the very beginning.

Therefore, the full name 'Chinese Metaphysical Promotion Association Longmengze Trade Fair' is commonly abbreviated as 'Longmengze Trade Fair'.

At the Longmengze Trade Fair, the participants are either people from the metaphysical community, including qigong masters, Daoist cultivators, feng shui experts, and Buddhist monks, or representatives of individuals or families with assets exceeding 10 billion.

The Longmengze Trade Fair has a very high standard, and the requirements for participants are extremely strict. Even the slightest deviation from the standards will result in rejection, regardless of the person's background, without exception!

The items traded at the Longmengze Trade Fair are mainly treasures provided by people from the metaphysical community.

For example, among the items that the Li Family from Guangdong Province successfully took away six years ago, the most eye-catching were the three thousand-year-old ginseng roots provided by the Chongyang Palace on Zhongnan Mountain, each said to extend life by 49 years.

The rapid rise of the Li Family to the ranks of the elite over the past six years was undoubtedly due to the benefits brought by these three thousand-year-old ginseng roots.

It was said that the Li Family had almost sold everything they owned, with the support of a feng shui family with over 300 years of history, to barely secure these three thousand-year-old ginseng roots, which were said to be once-in-a-millennium finds. The Li Family then divided these roots into six equal parts and distributed them over two years.

These six parts of the thousand-year-old ginseng roots were exchanged for an oil field in Saudi Arabia, a chromium mine in South Africa, a large factory in Germany, a top technology patent from a research institute in the United States, and a lifelong friendship with the royal family of an African country!

These thousand-year-old ginseng roots, which should have been priceless treasures, could be openly priced and traded at the Longmengze Trade Fair. Although the trading process was not simple, to gain something at the Longmengze Trade Fair, one must meet three conditions!

These three conditions are: one's own economic strength, the courage to sell everything, and most importantly, the strong support of people from the metaphysical community!

When the three thousand-year-old ginseng roots were announced, they immediately caused a sensation in the entire venue.

The Chongyang Palace set the base price at 4.5 billion in cash or a well-operating company with a market value of over 3 billion.

At the time, there were as many as 27 qualified competitors, and the highest bidder had already gritted their teeth and offered 93% of the shares of a chemical company with a market value of 7.8 billion.

However, everyone was eliminated, and only the Li Family, which offered the base price, obtained these three thousand-year-old ginseng roots... The reason was that a feng shui family with over 300 years of history, which had a very close relationship with the Li Family, also put forward an ancestral dragon wood compass as an additional stake, which moved the heart of the Chongyang Palace's abbot and the elders!

Therefore, at the trade fair, the money from the secular world is the basic condition for ordinary people to participate in the competition.

The strong support of people from the metaphysical community, however, is the decisive condition for ordinary people to obtain these rare treasures!

For example, half of a thousand-year-old ginseng root can pull a dying person back from the brink of death and extend their life by more than 20 years! This effect is truly priceless.

If given to a poor person, it might be worth only 100,000 to 200,000.

If given to a millionaire, its value could be 800,000 or more!

If given to a Saudi sheikh, it might be worth a medium-sized oil field that can be mined for another 20 years!

Any smart businessman understands the hidden value of these rare treasures and can maximize their value!

Moreover, any businessman who is qualified to participate in the competition is a top figure in the business world, standing at the forefront of the business sea for years, so they have the ability to maximize the value of these treasures more than anyone else!

Thus, businessmen get the opportunity to compete in the business world and reach higher levels; the sellers of family treasures smoothly convert a dead object into astonishing wealth or a large enterprise that can continuously print money, easily becoming a CEO;

And the people from the metaphysical community, who support the businessmen in obtaining treasures from their peers, use the things that are useless to ordinary people to obtain truly useful treasures... They also often receive a share of the businessman's profits for a certain period of time!

Of course, at the trade fair, there are also scenes where businessmen wave their money to help their metaphysical allies obtain treasures that are useless to themselves but beneficial to their allies...

Since the 1990s, the Chinese metaphysical community has held nine Longmengze Trade Fairs, and this year's is the tenth.

Although not every trade fair can feature rare treasures like the thousand-year-old ginseng roots, the items that the metaphysical masters bring to the conference each year are carefully selected, enough to make businessmen envious or even frenzied!

Over the past 50 to 60 years, the interaction between the metaphysical community and the business world has become increasingly close. While both sides meet their own needs, they have gradually developed a complete ecosystem that benefits all participants.

In essence, the metaphysical community has forcibly tied the rich businessmen to the internal trading of their own items, using a barter system to exchange treasures from their peers while also bringing in huge wealth that most of their peers cannot afford!

However, even if the businessmen see through the tricks, they still flock to it.

Because they can indeed benefit from it, even if these benefits require their unique business acumen to process and obtain, they don't care at all...

After all, who else can produce these treasures except the people from the metaphysical community?!