The Way of Restraint

Chapter 154: Dinner Party Gone Awry

“This is the Inner Strength Wine from Minglun Martial Academy,” Su Jie did not hide it. “Drinking a little can promote dopamine production, increasing the body’s excitement level, but it has no side effects. However, this wine is very expensive and not sold to the public; you can only get it through connections. If you want, I can help you negotiate.”

In truth, with Su Jie’s status, it was also quite difficult to obtain Inner Strength Wine and the Natural Essence Ointment, which was that secret oil paste. However, Nie Shuang and Uncle Mang agreed to provide it for him because they needed to collect data from his body for research. For Uncle Mang, Su Jie was an invaluable experimental subject; even providing him with Inner Strength Wine and Natural Essence Ointment was a profit in itself.

Su Jie was not confident about being able to purchase extra for himself; he could only help Lin Tang make inquiries. Of course, if Lin Tang was willing to spend a lot of money, it would also be helping Uncle Mang attract business.

“How much?” Lin Tang asked.

Su Jie quoted a figure, and immediately, Tan Dashi and Wang Shun fell silent, their necks retracting. For them, it was an astronomical number.

“Money is not a problem, as long as the effects are really that good,” Lin Tang seemed unconcerned. “Can you get me some first?”

‘Another wealthy patron,’ Su Jie had just casually probed Lin Tang’s financial background and found that he seemed to be wealthier than Qian Zheng. It was unclear whether it was due to a strong family background or his own capabilities.

“I’ll have to ask for you; to be honest, I’m not very confident,” Su Jie did not make any promises. “You’re skilled in the internet; you might as well check the origins of this wine.”

“I just checked,” Lin Tang fiddled with his large-screen phone, the information scrolling rapidly. 

Su Jie had already noticed that his phone was not available on the market; it seemed to be a custom model with excellent performance and signal, even featuring some kind of encryption system. 

While speaking, Lin Tang kept his eyes glued to the phone screen, his hand swiftly switching between applications. Although he did not practice martial arts, his hand speed was incredibly fast, akin to those professional esports players.

Lin Tang was continuously operating on it. Su Jie could see that he was trading stocks, futures, and even some virtual cryptocurrencies, with both domestic and foreign markets.

Watching him, Su Jie felt he resembled a professional trader.

After finishing his operations, Lin Tang said to Su Jie, “Scan your account for me; I’ll transfer the money to you right now. If you can’t buy it, just refund me; if you can, I’ll pay you twenty percent as a commission according to the usual practice.”

“No need for a commission,” Su Jie waved his hand and took out his phone for Lin Tang to scan.

Ding dong! 

His account showed an increase of a million in the transfer.

“This is our rule,” Lin Tang firmly disagreed. “Otherwise, I’ll owe you a favor. Also, I’ll pay for practicing martial arts with you daily according to the membership of your Martial Arts App.”

While speaking, he quickly operated on his phone, downloaded an app, and registered, showing that his application was under review.

This Martial Arts App was developed by Su Muchen; it was very smooth, with a clean interface containing various martial arts combat information and video tutorials. Additionally, it offered membership registration, and if approved, users could go to the martial arts hall for learning.

Since Song Qiong invested in it, the app’s traffic began to increase, with daily visits not being few, thanks to the influx of resources. The Zhonglong Group also had enormous traffic online, especially with their mobile phone sales being tremendous; with just a bit of pre-installed app promotion, it could lead to exponential growth.

Of course, right now, this Martial Arts App did not have any genuine core content, and its user base was not very large. Some instructional videos were charged but not too expensive, yet it was still a source of income.

“Please help me pass the review,” Lin Tang said to Su Jie after registering his account. “I just studied your app; it’s very exquisite and smooth, the technical team is top-notch, and the content is quite good, but it still lacks fame. With your skills, why not participate in a few fighting competitions and win a championship? That would surely make your name known immediately.”

“I have the same thought. I will participate in the Haoyu Cup Fighting Competition in October,” Su Jie nodded, helping Lin Tang pass the review and becoming an official member. Then, it displayed in his backend that Lin Tang paid a membership fee of two hundred thousand. This membership fee was set by Huaxing, and the positioning of Diandao Martial Arts was to recruit only elite, high-status, wealthy individuals, avoiding the general public.

It wasn’t that Hua Xing didn’t want to appeal to the general public; rather, they couldn’t compete with some fitness entertainment venues in the low-end market. Additionally, the manpower management couldn’t keep up, requiring too much capital. It was better to gradually expand within a small circle, progressing steadily.

“Your app’s membership fee is too low. A genuine golf club charges over a million for an annual fee,” Lin Tang seemed unconcerned about money. “Some fitness and fighting clubs are far inferior to yours, yet their fees are higher than yours.”

“Right now, it’s a small profit with small costs; there’s no other way,” Su Jie said. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“At the moment, that’s all you can do,” Lin Tang replied. “I can’t really offer suggestions, but if you win the Haoyu Cup championship, we can strategize accordingly. At that time, I’d like to discuss investing; I don’t know if you would agree?”

“The major shareholder isn’t me; it’s Zhonglong Group. However, if you’re interested, we can arrange a meal together,” Su Jie said.

“What you guys are talking about sounds really impressive,” Wang Shun commented, smacking his lips. “As expected, our university has hidden talents; either martial arts masters or financial experts. You guys need to look out for me in the future.”

“Alright, we’re here for the meal,” Lin Tang said as the car stopped. The four of them got out, entering a narrow and deep alley. Outside, the street was bustling with traffic and voices, but deep in the alley, it was eerily quiet, a rare tranquility amidst the noise of the wealthy.

“This private restaurant has been around for hundreds of years; it used to serve the royal court. It’s hard to book a table,” Lin Tang explained. “But I have connections, so it’s quite easy.”

As they spoke, they arrived at the tightly closed door. No one came out to open it, but Lin Tang took out a VIP card and swiped it at the door, which then opened. There was no receptionist at the front desk; it was completely empty.

“This restaurant doesn’t have any waitstaff? That’s impressive,” Tan Dashi remarked.

“Indeed impressive. Moreover, you don’t get to choose what to eat; you eat whatever they serve you,” Lin Tang nodded. “The more it’s like this, the more people want to book because the taste is truly excellent.”

Su Jie looked around and noticed that the style here was different from that of the Nie family’s private restaurant. The four of them entered a large room where Lin Tang was familiar with the surroundings, sitting down at an ancient Eight Immortals table. Su Jie glanced and found that this Eight Immortals table was actually made of rosewood.

“Tsk tsk, this rosewood table is made from old timber; it must be at least several hundred years old, likely from dismantled houses,” Wang Shun suddenly spoke up. “It’s not like the fast-growing new rosewood; this table alone is worth over a million.”

“You can identify antiques?” Lin Tang asked.

“I studied a bit; I used to work in an antique shop during breaks, so I know a little,” Wang Shun quickly replied. “I’m not very proficient, but I can distinguish some items’ authenticity.”

“You worked in an antique shop?” Tan Dashi eagerly asked. “When can we go to the antique street and see if we can find any bargains? I’ve seen many news reports saying people found treasures at low prices and became rich overnight.”

“Nothing is that simple.” Wang Shun shook his head and said, “Although the antique street in B City is famous nationwide, everything there is fake. The counterfeiting techniques are too advanced now, and going to hunt for antiques is just asking to be scammed. However, there are some good finds in the foreign markets, but the travel expenses are too high. This sort of thing also relies on luck; if it were forty years ago, right after the opening up, there were many treasures in the countryside that could be exchanged for.” 

“Everyone in Q University is talented and speaks so well. I really like it,” Tan Dashi suddenly chimed in.

Su Jie, Lin Tang, and Wang Shun all laughed.

“Excuse me, are you Mr. Lin Tang?” After the four of them had taken their seats, a waiter dressed in a white jacket approached and spoke directly, “The table you reserved has been taken by someone else, and you will need to wait for the next table in three days.”

“What’s going on?” Lin Tang’s face changed, losing face and feeling very awkward. “I clearly made the reservation first.”

“I’m sorry, but you know our store’s rules; we serve according to the guests’ status.” The waiter was very polite in demeanor, but the tone was quite arrogant.

“It’s fine, we can eat at another place. There are plenty of restaurants; any one of them will do.” Su Jie saw that Lin Tang was about to explode and quickly intervened. Such matters could indeed be embarrassing, but thinking about it, it wasn’t a big deal; they could just not come back again.

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Wang Shun pulled Lin Tang, not fanning the flames but rather advising him.

“Alright.” Lin Tang swallowed his anger and said, “Let’s eat somewhere else.”

He was the first to walk out, and Su Jie hurriedly followed.

Just as the four of them reached the doorway, a group of people came in from outside.

This group was dressed in black suits, burly and strong, numbering six.

They were clearly bodyguards, there to clear the area. Upon seeing Su Jie and the others walking out, they immediately approached, shoving Lin Tang aside as if trying to herd them away to make way for an important person.

Lin Tang was pushed by one of the bodyguards and nearly stumbled.

Su Jie frowned and quickly reached out, pulling Lin Tang back to prevent him from falling. The ground was made of hard blue bricks, and one wrong move could easily knock out a tooth.

At that moment, the bodyguard who had pushed Lin Tang came back to shove Su Jie.

Su Jie shook his hand and executed a grabbing technique, seizing the bodyguard’s wrist and pulling it down, causing the bodyguard to fall directly to the ground. With a thud, his head hit the hard blue bricks, leaving a bump.

“What are you doing?” The remaining five bodyguards all surrounded them.

The leading bodyguard, wearing an earpiece, seemed to be reporting the situation. At the same time, he kicked out fiercely, aiming for Su Jie’s knee, while two other bodyguards each grabbed Su Jie’s hands, working in unison to pin him to the ground, as if dealing with a dangerous individual. The other two bodyguards blocked Wang Shun and Tan Dashi, all well-trained and adept at handling sudden incidents.