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

"Well done, single ten days."

Upon receiving the message, Chen Xi smiled.

The whereabouts of the Ezubao hard drive remained a mystery in the previous life, and it was not found until Ding Ningwen was arrested. It was only discovered by chance nearly ten years later.

This time, Chen Xi directly instructed Shan Xun to lie in wait at the cemetery and claim that the clue was discovered by tracking Ding Ningwen's men.

"Half of the information is with Ding Ningwen; we have to get our hands on it," he muttered to himself.

Only a portion of the critical data was stored on the hard drive; the remaining core information was stored on Ding Ningwen's laptop.

Four days later, at the border, in a dense forest.

"Haha, I'm a real escape master. Who would have thought I would travel all the way from Xinlu to Huajing, then take a private plane to Yunnan Province, and finally smuggle myself here?"

When Ding Ningwen stepped across the border and onto the land of the neighboring country, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"The boss slipped away right under their noses, which was a resounding slap in the face to these people," a subordinate who came to meet him quickly flattered.

“This place is my territory now. How’s Xiaoyu doing?” Ding Ningwen asked, lighting a cigarette.

Zhang Yu was his most favored among his many lovers. As a law master's graduate, she was placed in an extremely important position in the company.

"Sister Zhang is still withdrawing money in the Australian area," the subordinate explained.

Ding Ningwen nodded upon hearing this.

He deposited a significant portion of his domestic funds in casinos in Australia, planning to launder the money by transferring it to casinos in mainland China, ultimately transferring a large sum of money without anyone noticing.

"Okay, let's go talk to those people first."

Ding Ningwen forcefully stubbed out his cigarette, then waved his hand, signaling to set off.

The people he mentioned were the four major local powers—Wei, Liu, Bai, and Xu.

Ding Ningwen has always maintained close cooperation with the Wei and Liu families.

Some of his funds were held in trust by the Southeast Asian United Bank under the Wei family's name in exchange for armed protection.

Another portion was sent to casinos for laundering, then transferred to the Liu family's company, and finally deposited into the Yizubao account through underground banks by the Liu family, creating the illusion of cross-border business.

"Hey, Mr. Liu. It's me, Ding Ningwen. I've arrived safely. Let's have dinner together tonight..." Ding Ningwen said excitedly from inside the car, using the encrypted satellite phone provided by the Liu family.

"No problem, I'll treat you to dinner tonight. By the way, about that 5X billion you transferred last time, of which 1X billion was pocketed..." A middle-aged man's voice came from the phone.

"That's easy to discuss, let's talk about it in person," Ding Ningwen replied with a smile, and hung up the phone.

A command center.

"Report! After intercepting the target's communication with Mexico to purchase a passport, we have just successfully intercepted another satellite phone call. The call clearly involved a specific amount of money laundering, amounting to over 5 billion, with over 1 billion being pocketed!" An officer was holding the phone, reporting urgently to his superior.

Meanwhile, in the conference room, a middle-aged man wearing a hat had just hung up the internal phone.

"This kid is truly beyond redemption."

He smiled and said to everyone present, "We have collected a lot of evidence of his crimes in the past few days. The target has been confirmed to have arrived abroad. We just contacted the local thugs there using an encrypted satellite phone and arranged to meet tonight."

"Boss, since it's an encrypted satellite phone, it shouldn't be so easy to crack and eavesdrop, right? To obtain such clear and detailed call content so easily, could it be... a trap?"

Cheng Yu, who was present, suddenly raised his hand and asked a question.

The leader smiled and waved his hand: "Xiao Cheng, you still need to learn more about the techniques for catching criminals."

In the evening, at the Hongmen Banquet Hotel.

"I'd like to offer you all a toast. From now on, I'll be relying on my four older brothers." Ding Ningwen stood up and raised his wine glass.

"Brother Ding, your factory here is all set up. What kind of business do you plan to do in the future?" Xu Tongtian, the head of the Xu family, asked with a smile.

"Of course I'll stick to my old profession, finance." Ding Ningwen finished his drink in one gulp and wiped his mouth.

"Finance? We're all in the same business, let's not try to fool each other. I heard you've also partnered with someone on an online game. This place isn't that big, and your arrival has only made the competition worse." Bai Rimen is the head of the Bai family, with a somewhat volatile temper, and his armed forces are the strongest.

"How could that be? No matter what, I would never steal my brothers' business," Ding Ningwen said cautiously.

Although he had a considerable amount of weaponry, he still didn't want to escalate the conflict with these local bullies. Otherwise, he knew he wouldn't stand a chance in a fight.

Among these forces, the Wei family is the richest, because they own mines and entertainment venues.

The second family is the Bai family, who deal in armed flour and ancient brave soldiers.

Then there's the Liu family, whose main businesses are cybercrime and human trafficking.

Finally, there's the Xu family, the weakest of all, who are involved in flour processing and underground banking.

However, the Xu family and the Bai family have close business ties, so Ding Ningwen does not dare to underestimate them.

“We’re not children, we won’t believe everything you say. If that’s not enough, let’s do this: let all four of us participate in your business, and we can all make money together!” Bai Rimen persisted.

“This…” Ding Ningwen naturally wouldn’t agree.

He's not afraid of a falling out now, since he has a large armed force outside.

If a fight breaks out now, none of those present will benefit.

"Don't rush, we'll give you a few days to think it over. After all, you'll only be doing business here for a short time, and you can't do it without the help of us locals," Xu Tongtian said with a smile, trying to smooth things over.

“Yes, Brother Ding, you should think it over,” Liu Yiming and Wei Wentong, who had always been on good terms with him, also chimed in.

Upon hearing this, Ding Ningwen was filled with rage.

Good grief, so the four of you planned this all along.

The Bai family has the strongest armed forces, followed by the Wei family and the Liu family. The Xu family has the fewest members and no heavy weapons, but they have a defector army.

Ding Ningwen's mind raced as she tried to calculate her own strength and that of the others.

He planned to use a strategy of private communication to unite the Wei and Liu families to resist Bai Rimen and Xu Tongtian.

“Okay, let me think about it.” Ding Ningwen readily agreed.

The atmosphere in the private room suddenly eased.

After the four people left, Ding Ningwen had just stood up when his subordinate rushed over in a hurry: "Boss, the director is here."

Director Liu is a relatively powerful leader in the area and has close ties with the four major forces.

Simply put, it's about collecting protection money from them.

He oversees all the businesses of the four major powers, as long as they relate to public security and immigration.

"Is this old guy here to make a quick buck? Okay, let him in," Ding Ningwen said after a moment's thought.

Not long after, a pot-bellied man in uniform walked in.

"Oh, it's the director. Come, have some tea." Ding Ningwen personally poured him a cup. Director Liu didn't stand on ceremony at all, and immediately put his feet up on the dining table.

He swayed as he lit a cigarette: "Boss Ding, what big deal are you planning to make by suddenly coming back here?"

"It's nothing, just the one that was built before..."

"I don't care what you do, I won't lose a single penny of my money."

"That's that."

"Don't agree so quickly. You have to give me at least this amount every year!" Director Liu held up two fingers.

"What? 20% profit? The Wei, Liu, Bai, and Xu families just approached me to discuss investing in my business." Ding Ningwen's face immediately darkened.

"I don't care how you negotiated, anyway, your industrial park is on my turf, so you can do whatever you want with it." Director Liu was still smoking.

"This……"

"Don't give me that nonsense about thinking about it. I'm here today to get your immediate answer. Give me thirty million US dollars first, and we'll forget about last year's money."

"I wasn't even open for business last year."

"This is your problem, not mine. What am I supposed to do if you don't even open for business next year?" the director sneered.

"I don't have that much money right now."

"Give me a break. You can't come up with a mere thirty million US dollars? Don't think I don't know your assets. You should have tens of billions of US dollars on hand."

"There aren't that many..."

"Alright, it seems you don't intend to pay today. I'm just here to let you know. You'd better watch yourself." The director didn't waste any more words with him and simply got up and left.

Looking at this despicable fat man, Ding Ningwen felt an urge to kill him.

However, due to his position as director, he ultimately did not choose to take action.

"Tattoo!"

"Da da!"

Contrary to Ding Ningwen's expectations, gunshots rang out just over ten minutes after the director left.

"What's going on outside? Is it the Bai family?" Ding Ningwen grabbed his underling's collar and questioned him.

"No...it seems to be the chief's men...there are their plainclothes officers in the hotel..."

"That old bastard, get out of here!"

Ding Ningwen released his underling and gave the order, then took out his notebook to begin destroying the evidence.

Five days later, Ding Ningwen was packed up and handed over back.

In return, the director received over a billion worth of jade stored locally by the other party.

An investigation revealed that in addition to the money Ding Ningwen had transferred, she also had over 10 billion yuan deposited in banks, and even luxury homes and cars worth billions that she had not sold.

All of Yucheng Group's senior executives were taken away for investigation by the task force. Chen Xi took the opportunity to acquire shares from others and successfully took over the entire big data center. Xinlu State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission also directly invested in it.

"Ah, experience really pays off," Chen Xi sighed as he smoked in his office.

Wu Wanrong really pulled off this brilliant move; he acquired half a big data center at a low price with virtually no effort.

"Of course, who are they? Everyone says scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with merchants being the last in line." Zhao Lingshan sat on the boss's desk with her arms crossed, swinging her legs.

"Sigh~" Chen Xi sighed again.

"What's wrong? You got such a great deal for free, why aren't you happy?"

"No……"

Chen Xi shook his head and looked at the calendar on his computer desktop.

It's already 2016, and Chen Yifeng's career has been on a complete downturn since then.

A financial company in Beijing.

"Secretary Shi, you guys are really efficient. I've already seen the news; Ding Ningwen and the others have all been apprehended." Chen Yifeng smiled and shook hands with the other party.

“Punishing evil and punishing the wicked is what we should do, so don’t be surprised,” the man said after sitting down.

"Secretary Shi, the reason for your visit today is..." Chen Yifeng poured the other party a cup of tea.

"It's nothing, my boss asked me to remind you. Financial companies will become increasingly difficult to operate in the future, and it's time to stop some things."

"Hmm? I don't quite understand what you mean. Our company only does legal business. Besides, the leader personally asked us to support small and medium-sized enterprises before... Is it because of Ding Ningwen's matter that the leader has a bad impression of me? Don't worry, I, Chen Yifeng, would never do anything illegal."

"The past is the past, and the present is the present; policies are constantly changing," the secretary said, somewhat displeased.

"We believe in doing business based on profit. Who wouldn't want to do something that makes money? I, Chen Yifeng, don't understand politics, and I don't really want to get involved in these things."

Chen Yifeng also got angry. He had worked so hard to build such a big financial company, and he had even given up his original business of factories, all because he had responded to the call to action back then.

If you tell me to close down now and I close down, who will pay for all the investments we've made over the years?
"I've said what I needed to say, farewell." Secretary Shi put on a smile and stood up.

"Then let me see you off." Chen Yifeng stood up and straightened his suit.

After seeing the person off, Chen Yifeng returned to his office alone. He sat in his executive chair and muttered to himself, "Why can't I do it? Aren't Feng Yun and his people all involved in lending? And what about JD.com, 360 Degrees Technology... I'm going to do it anyway."

Just then, a video call popped up, and he picked up his phone and pressed the answer button.

“Brother Feng, I’m playing with Yiyi. Come on, Yiyi, call me Daddy.” In the video, Wu Yan is at the amusement park with his daughter Nini.

"Dad!" the girl in the video greeted Chen Yifeng.

Because the sounds were too mixed, Chen Yifeng couldn't distinguish between Yiyi and Nini.

"Alright, alright, you guys have fun. Xiao Yan, since you love Nini so much, you should let her recognize you as her godfather in the future." After chatting for a while, Chen Yifeng joked.

"Haha, no problem," Wu Yan replied with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Wu Yan's smile grew even brighter.

Hmph, I don't want to be her godfather, I'm her biological father.

You should be the godfather!
Wu Yan and Chen Yifeng have now become close friends despite their age difference. They share similar interests and are both true 'great artists'.

With Ding Ningwen's arrest, Chen Xi's credit card users began to suffer one by one.

Because the funds obtained through credit card cash advances were all deposited into Yizubao, they were unable to repay their credit card debts.

(I deleted over a thousand words and spent a whole day revising it; it's completely unrecognizable now. I haven't been able to post it, so please bear with it.) (End of Chapter)