The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

The day after signing the contract, Lin Che met Shen Nan at his residence.

The outcome of the battle in Africa is largely decided. But the chill from yesterday's encrypted message hasn't dissipated yet. Lin Che knows that winning this mine is just the end of one chapter; the thing taking shape across the ocean will come knocking sooner or later. Before that, he needs to sort out the cards in his hand, one by one.

What lay spread out on the table was no longer the compliance framework, but a pile of things that had been sorted out over the past few days. One of them was the very sentence that a local official had privately told Lin Che during the tea break that day.

Some people suggest choosing partners carefully.

At the time, those words were like a thorn stuck in his flesh, their origins unclear and their intent malicious. Lin Che kept them in mind but never bothered to investigate. Now that the dust had settled, Shen Nan had helped him figure out the source of that thorn.

"I've found it." Shen Nan placed a well-organized document on the table. "The source of that statement that advised the local authorities to be cautious about the glimmer of light is not local."

"Where is it?" Lin Che asked.

"It went through several twists and turns, and was quite well hidden." Shen Nan pointed at the document. "First, the message was delivered through a local middleman. Behind the middleman is a consulting firm. Dig further up the chain, and you'll find out who that consulting firm has been working for all these years."

He paused.

"The one who initially made this offer was that Western company's local network. To put it bluntly, it was themselves."

Lin Che was not surprised.

He had long suspected that the sudden reminder was likely backed by his opponent. Making trouble over someone's identity during the most intense negotiations was a common tactic used by the other side. The reason he had quietly noted the remark that day, instead of immediately questioning them, was to avoid alerting them and to investigate later.

Sure enough, upon closer investigation, it turned out to be the enemy himself.

Actually, he wasn't surprised at all. It's perfectly normal for someone who lost so decisively at the negotiating table to resort to such underhanded tactics. He hadn't rushed to investigate, not because he couldn't find out, but because he knew this thorn wouldn't hurt him for the time being; it was better to leave it unseen and see what it would eventually reveal. Now that the truth is out, it's even more valuable than he expected.

"They wanted to use that sentence to make the local government suspicious of us and create obstacles for the approval process." He Wei, who was listening nearby, understood. "This is a sneak attack targeting our identities."

"It's a hidden arrow," Shen Nan said, then changed the subject. "But this hidden arrow can't hit us anymore."

He pushed the document toward Lin Che.

"Quite the opposite," he said. "It is something we have in our hands now."

Lin Che looked at him.

"Think about it," Shen Nan said calmly. "What kind of company is Weiguang? From the first day we entered East Africa, every expense was reported, every step was documented, and we were subject to local supervision throughout the entire process. We are so clean that you can't find a single flaw in us."

"But this is the very company," he paused, "that has someone behind the scenes who went to the local government to warn them to treat us with caution. Don't you find that strange?"

Lin Che's eyes gradually brightened.

He understood what Shen Nan meant.

A company that operates with complete compliance and transparency has no inherent problems. The fact that it's impeccable is its greatest asset. Therefore, it becomes problematic when an external force, unable to find any wrongdoing, goes to great lengths to interfere with its normal operations and influence the local government's assessment.

If a compliant company is targeted, the fault does not lie with the compliant company itself.

It's obvious whose fault it is.

"This isn't our problem," Lin Che said slowly, finishing what Shen Nan hadn't finished saying. "It's their leverage."

"Exactly." Shen Nan nodded. "A compliant company is being maliciously interfered with and smeared by foreign forces. If this matter were brought to the forefront, if it were placed where it should be, they would be the ones who need to stand up and explain. In that case, it wouldn't be us who would be embarrassed, but them."

His tone was calm, yet it carried a certain confidence that he had calculated the whole situation perfectly.

"They tried to use our identity to pressure us, but they miscalculated from the beginning. The more a company is targeted and the more honest and upright it is, the more trust it can gain. Every time they do something bad, they are actually doing us a favor."

This is the most wonderful aspect of compliance documentation.

When you are perfectly clean, any dirty water splashed on you will eventually splash back onto the person who splashed it. The opponent thought he was delivering a sneaky arrow, but he didn't expect that the arrow would be caught steadily by Weiguang and turned into a weapon that could be drawn at any time.

The scheme they devised ultimately trapped them. This perfectly illustrates the old saying: "They lifted a stone only to drop it on their own foot."

He Wei stared at the document on the table, momentarily lost in thought.

She remembered clearly that when she heard the advice to be cautious at the negotiating table that day, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt that it was yet another troublesome matter targeting her status. In her mind at the time, this kind of targeting from the shadows was the most troublesome and headache-inducing thing in this game.

She never imagined that in just a few days, this trouble would turn out like this.

She had followed Lin Che for so long, witnessing him escape danger and turn adversity into opportunity. But this kind of skill—turning a hidden arrow shot by an opponent into an arrow in his own quiver—was something she had never seen before.

It turns out that true masters can not only block their opponents' attacks, but also turn those attacks into their own weapons.

The hidden arrows that the opponent had painstakingly shot out eventually became arrows in Lin Che's quiver.

Lin Che picked up the document and looked at it for a moment.

He didn't rush to use it, nor did he make a fuss. This hidden arrow, converted into ammunition, wasn't needed yet. The opponent's small actions locally were too insignificant to warrant a major fuss. But Lin Che knew in his heart that the opponent wouldn't give up so easily. The person who walked out of the meeting room saying he was going to report to headquarters would surely stir up a much bigger storm upon returning.

At that time, this seemingly insignificant thing may come in very handy.

A Chinese company that has been targeted by foreign forces but has always maintained a clean record—this identity may well become a shield in the future, or even a weapon for retaliation.

He simply placed the document gently into the file bag that had always been with him, along with a few other important items.

That file folder contained things he had accumulated along the way, things he didn't need for the time being, but which would eventually shine.

Then, he smiled.

The smile was faint, yet it carried a sense of composure, as if everything was under control.

"Keep this safe," he said.

"It will be useful later."