I'm reborn and I'm an international student again?

"Today's grand prize is goldfish 888888, and the winners will split the prize money! Now, Mengmeng will put the fish into the pond, everyone watch carefully!" As she spoke, the girl took a golden fish out of the bucket, with an anti-counterfeiting label on its fin.

This practice aims to increase players' trust in the platform, just as a dealer shows each card to players before shuffling to ensure there is no cheating.

The golden fish was quickly thrown into the pond, and the splashing water soaked the girl's clothes.

She shyly wiped her chest with a towel; her soaked shirt clung to her body, vaguely revealing her bra underneath.

Wow, this is really interesting!

"Mengmeng is so great!"

A chorus of cheers immediately erupted in the live stream room.

The game started quickly, and the betting amount in each fishpond skyrocketed.

"Woooooooo~"

Suddenly, a police siren sounded, and several police cars surrounded the area from all directions.

The live stream chat exploded instantly, with the screen flooded with comments.

However, the female streamer Mengmeng remained calm. She put on a smiling face to reassure everyone: "Don't worry, everyone. The platform has a strong background. This little thing will be resolved in a moment. The game will be paused for a while, and we'll start streaming again as soon as the maintenance is done."

After that, the live stream screen changed to the four large characters "Under Maintenance".

The other live streams were in a similar situation, which caused the players who had placed bets to curse and swear.

A police car stopped, and a police officer in his early twenties got out. He waved his hand and said, "Cuff them all and take them away!"

"Officer, what law have we broken?" The fishpond owner was a fat man with a fleshy face.

"Operating an illegal casino!" the police officer said sternly.

"Where's the evidence? Is there any betting money?" The boss shrugged.

"This is the evidence." The police officer pulled out a phone, which showed a screen recording of a live stream, clearly recording the betting amounts and gameplay.

"This doesn't mean anything. It's just playing with in-game currency on the platform. If players don't cash out, it's not gambling. Tencent Games also has mahjong and Texas Hold'em, why don't you arrest them?"

This wasn't the first time the boss had encountered something like this, and he handled it with ease.

He looked at the unfamiliar policeman in front of him and tentatively asked, "This officer seems to be the first time I've seen him. This used to be Old Zhang's responsibility."

As he spoke, he took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it over.

However, the police officer didn't answer at all, and said coldly, "My surname is Cheng, and I'm in charge of this case. Take him away!"

"Let me tell you, I have someone protecting me..." the boss said threateningly, but before he could finish speaking, he was handcuffed and put into a police car.

The female anchor, Mengmeng, was so frightened that she almost wet her pants and was escorted into the car by two police officers.

At the same time, all the live-streaming gambling dens in Jiangcheng suspected of gambling were shut down.

Inside a residential building in Guanggu, Jiangcheng.

"Knock, knock, knock." There was a rapid knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" a man opened the door and called out impatiently.

"We're from the power company. Your electricity consumption is unusually high," said two men wearing baseball caps outside the door.

"I'm sensitive to both cold and heat. Is it not okay to leave the air conditioning on 24 hours a day?" the man said curtly.

“We need to conduct an on-site inspection.” One of them suddenly became serious.

"What are you doing? Who gave you the right to do this..." Before the man could finish speaking, he was shoved aside by several police officers who suddenly rushed out from both sides of the corridor.

As the crowd rushed into the room, they were shocked by what they saw: the room was filled with metal shelves, on which were neatly arranged, labeled circuit boards.

On the table next to them, several computer screens were displaying live streams from multiple live broadcast rooms.

A man carrying a bowl of instant noodles had just come out of the kitchen when he was so startled by the scene that his hand trembled, and the bowl of noodles crashed to the ground. The scalding soup splashed onto his foot, causing him to scream in pain.

"You are suspected of a series of illegal and criminal activities, including illegal business operations, fraud, damaging computer information systems, false advertising, defamation, and provoking trouble. Come with us for investigation! All equipment will be seized!" At the order of the lead officer, the two suspects were immediately put on silver bracelets.

"What's going on? We're a legitimate studio!" the person who opened the door tried to argue.

"studio?"

The police officer sneered, pointed at the equipment inside the room, and said sternly, "Using recycled second-hand mobile phones, disassembling motherboards, connecting to the network for unified control, and manipulating the comments in live broadcast rooms, forums, and news—this is what you call an online water army! Flashing ROMs to implant group control software, illegally cracking mobile phone IMEI codes, refurbishing motherboards to sell water army equipment, and spreading rumors and causing trouble online—these are all serious violations of the law, understand?"

Upon hearing these words, the man's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

Meanwhile, similar arrest operations were also being carried out simultaneously in several other locations in Koya Ward.

"Ha, Shi Tao! I just transferred from the SWAT team, and you've already given me a big gift." In the police station, Officer Cheng, who was previously in charge of the arrests at the fishpond, couldn't stop smiling.

Cheng Yu was Shi Tao's high school classmate, and also knew Chen Xi in his previous life.

"Those were all favors my college classmates asked me to help them with." Shi Tao sat in a chair, smoking a cigarette, looking somewhat preoccupied.

"You look so worried, what's wrong? Is business not going well?" Cheng Yu noticed his old friend's mood.

"Sigh, didn't I mention it to you when we were drinking last time? We just can't get the money back." Shi Tao sighed.

"Didn't you say you knew a classmate whose dad is a lawyer?" "Yes, she won the case." Shi Tao shook his head helplessly, "Unfortunately, the other party had already transferred their assets. Now, not only did we not get the money back, but the company also went bankrupt."

"Then what are your plans next?"

"What else could I do? I was broke, so I went to work. I found a job at a real estate company." Shi Tao shrugged.

"Didn't you say you were going to do business with your female classmate? But I don't think she's cut out for business. She talks nonsense all the time, and even asked me if there were any handsome guys in the police station." Cheng Yu had drunk with Li Yuqing before and didn't have a good impression of her.

"Ha, Li Yuqing told me to do business with her after I got the money, but now that I'm broke, she's ignoring me again." Shi Tao said casually, seemingly unconcerned.

Little did he know that his connection with Li Yuqing would not be easily severed.

Following the clues, the police uncovered a series of shady businesses, including online gambling platforms and money laundering companies.

A few days later.

Cheng Yu sat in the conference room. His immediate supervisor sat at the head of the table, presiding over the meeting: "We initially thought it was just a small case, but as we dug deeper, we discovered it involved a very wide range of people. A special task force has been set up to handle this case. Cheng, you will be responsible for assisting the two leaders of the task force throughout the entire process..." The supervisor's gaze turned to Cheng Yu.

On the projection screen in the conference room, photos of Yang Dan and Ding Ningwen appeared prominently.

Magic City.

Ding Ningwen's Yucheng Group has three main office locations.

First, Bengbu, where the company is registered; second, Huajing's control center (which seems to have been rented by Douyin later), which is where the company's capital pool operates; and third, the Shanghai Financial Building.

This branch in Shanghai was actually a shell company, specifically set up for Ding Ningwen to transfer funds overseas.

Ding Ningwen was very clever. He placed the senior executives in Beijing and then moved them one by one to Myanmar to set up the Southeast Asian United Bank. Then, he transferred a large amount of funds across borders to Hong Kong through his Shanghai company, and designed a big data center in Xinlu to pull off a clever escape.

If something goes wrong, following the legal procedures, Yucheng Group's headquarters in Bengcheng will be investigated first.

"President Ding, I heard that some of Yang Dan's businesses have been investigated. Do you think... this might implicate us?" Ding Ningwen, who was watching the news, was interrupted by his confidant's report.

"Hmph, that kid is notoriously unreliable, it's normal for him to get into trouble." Ding Ningwen put down the mouse, her tone still relatively calm.

"So far, everything's calm at the Bengcheng headquarters, no major problems. However..." He changed the subject, ordering, "Go and find a place to hide those shady documents right now, and be quick!"

"Where...where would be a suitable place to hide?" The confidant hesitated.

"Idiot! Of course, it'll be somewhere no one else would think of!" Ding Ningwen slammed his hand on the table impatiently. He was currently frustrated by the slow pace of the fund transfer. "Dig a hole in the middle of nowhere and bury it, or... the most dangerous place is the safest place, understand? Hide it right under everyone's nose. Use your brain and don't ask me everything. I'm very busy!"

“The most dangerous place…is also the safest place…” the confidant murmured to himself, as if he had suddenly had an epiphany.

"cough!"

Ding Ningwen cleared his throat irritably: "I just got the news that they're asking for money again, wanting me to go to the Myanmar region to get them some! They really know how to arrange things, having me set up an industrial park there while they're also thinking about fishing here!"

The thought of this made Ding Ningwen furious.

Huajing, Huahetong.

"Mr. Duan, the authorities just released a notice today, stating that they will crack down on illegal loans such as student loans." Chen Xi pointed to the news on his tablet computer with a smile.

"Hehe, Mr. Chen is really lucky! Even a bet has policy support!" Duan Yixiong's tone was clearly unconvinced.

"In business, you can't just focus on whatever makes money; you have to keep up with policy trends. Otherwise, if you invest a lot of money and the policy changes, all your money will be wasted, wouldn't that be a pity?" Chen Xi replied.

"Since Mr. Chen has so many ideas, why not give us some pointers on a few more projects and help us get rich together?" Duan Yixiong joked.

“I recently investigated the African market, and it has enormous potential. In the future, the products of the supply and marketing cooperatives can be sold there. Of course, this is inseparable from cross-border e-commerce platforms. The agricultural product platform we built earlier will come in handy. However, farmers generally have limited education, so we need to empower and guide them. The four major international grain traders, ABCD, have long controlled the grain and oil market in my country. It's time to launch a counterattack.”

"Counterattack? Mr. Chen, anyone can shout slogans. Look at the fate of the Xu family in Hengxiao. Without real strength, what's the point of a counterattack?" Duan Yixiong laughed, clutching his stomach, as if he'd heard a joke.

“Yes, Mr. Chen, the reality is indeed very tricky, this is difficult…” Fan Hongyuan also looked worried.

"While the challenges are significant, they are not insurmountable. Recently, the No. 1 Document explicitly proposed structural reforms on the grain supply side for the first time, and this is our opportunity! Breaking the deadlock requires a two-pronged approach: utilizing market-based methods while simultaneously leveraging policy incentives. The supply and marketing cooperative system has three core advantages: 96% coverage of county-level outlets, control over grain depot resources, and access to policy subsidies. Based on this, my first step is to revitalize grassroots grain depots by utilizing supply chain finance tools to activate dormant grain depot resources. The core objective is to solve the problem of farmers' difficulty in selling their grain and ensure their basic income."

The second step is to promote contract farming to break the cycle of low-price dumping. This involves signing standardized planting contracts with farmers through the supply and marketing cooperative system. This will achieve premium prices for high-quality produce, directly challenging the low-price dumping model relied upon by the ABCD (Agricultural, Agricultural, and Diversified) industry.

The third step is to penetrate deeper into rural areas and bypass foreign-controlled nodes. This involves leveraging the extensive agricultural supply network of supply and marketing cooperatives in rural villages to establish a direct distribution system reaching production areas, thus circumventing ports and trade hubs controlled by foreign capital.

For example, a county-level agricultural company could be jointly established by a private enterprise and a supply and marketing cooperative (equity ratio: 51% for the supply and marketing cooperative and 49% for the private enterprise). A guaranteed purchase price plus profit-sharing model could be promoted. Farmers would plant according to standards, and the company would guarantee to purchase the crops at a price 10% higher than the market price, with subsequent profit sharing based on the company's performance.

Furthermore, cost reduction and quality improvement are achieved through technological advancements. The purchase of domestically produced grain and oil pressing production lines from Huaguo First Heavy Industries has reduced costs to only 60% of imported equipment. Process efficiency has also been improved; soybean oil utilizes a low-temperature extraction process, significantly increasing oil yield. Rapeseed oil employs enzymatic detoxification technology, effectively reducing aflatoxin detection rates and enhancing quality and safety.

Another point is the futures market attack proposed by CEFC. ABCD's weakness lies in its reliance on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for pricing. We can short key contracts such as rapeseed in the futures market to suppress spot price expectations. Then, we can collaborate with China Grain Group and others to release positive news such as abundant domestic soybean harvests and improved quality. This will directly lower the expected landed price of imported soybeans, taking advantage of ABCD's high shipping costs. ABCD's oil mills have high financing costs, around 8% annualized. We can collaborate with large banks to launch special grain supply chain letters of credit. With guarantees provided by supply and marketing cooperatives, we can reduce loan costs for core links such as oil mills to around 4% annualized…

Chen Xi clearly and logically laid out the entire counterattack strategy.

"That's right, it coincides with our idea at Huaxin." The two CEOs of Huaxin nodded in approval and even clapped lightly.

“It is indeed feasible,” Sun Dixun agreed.

The three of them chose to support Chen Xi because his strategy could significantly amplify the profit margins of many of Huaxin's subsidiaries, bringing extremely substantial returns.

After the strategy was announced, even Duan Yixiong, who had previously been sarcastic and cryptic, fell silent.

If managed properly, his environmental protection fund can also gain a share in this grand scheme.

Chen Xi understood that the only way to shake a behemoth like ABCD was to share the profits and truly unite all forces. (End of Chapter)