Chapter 1 The Gathering

The next day, a little after six in the evening, at the Yu family's villa, Su Tianyu, Su Tiannan, Bai Hongbo, Yu Mingyuan, Su Miaomiao, and others had all gathered.

In the courtyard, Da Bai eyed Su Miaomiao and asked, "Oh, Sann Sann, you're going too?"

"Could you please call me something that isn't so nauseating?" Su Miaomiao retorted speechlessly.

"...Dare you love me one more time?" Da Bai asked shamelessly.

"I love your ass," Su Miaomiao rolled her eyes and turned to walk out of the courtyard.

Da Bai followed Miaomiao, chasing after her and asking again, "Are you going this time because of Gui Mengjun? I've heard a lot of rumors now, saying he was at the cocktail party before..."

"Yes, that's right, that's exactly it. He wants to chase after me, and I agreed," Third Sister replied cheerfully. "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"Shameless, depraved!" Da Bai said anxiously, his face flushed, and he sourly cursed, "What happened to childhood sweethearts and perfect matches?"

Su Miaomiao was actually going to the expo this time not just because Gui Mengjun had invited her, but also because she hadn't been out traveling for a long time. At the last cocktail party, Gui Mengjun had said that the island hosting the expo had many unique geological landscapes, so she wanted to go and see them for a few days.

Last time, Su Tianbei and Zhou Tonghui had both participated in the trip to the Old Tri-Region, so this time they gave up their spots, so that Tiannan and Third Sister could go and broaden their horizons.

As for Kong Zhenghui, he hardly had time to go out now because, ever since Su Tianyu had gotten involved with Li Mingsheng and Yu Mingyuan had started cooperating with You Yifan, the Tongji Association hadn't encountered any obstacles. Recently, taking advantage of the "returning home" trend of laborers, they had started frantically recruiting members, so he had to stay in The Dragon City Rises to watch over things and control the direction of the association.

While Third Sister and Bai Hongbo were bickering, Yu Mingyuan and the others finished packing their things, then said goodbye to Zhou Tonghui and Su Tianbei, and headed straight to the airport in an SUV.

...

All expenses for this trip were paid for by Young Master Fan, and all the plane tickets were first class.

When Su Tianyu and the others arrived at the airport, You Yifan and his group had just arrived. There were about a dozen people in total, all looking refined and courteous, presumably either from You Yifan's family company or from his backers.

In addition to these two groups, Wen Zhanbo's garrison also sent three people. But their role in this trip was not significant, because You Yifan was solely responsible for the distributors, so they were just going along for the ride, waiting for the final outcome of the expo.

Once everyone had gathered, they entered the airport together and waited in the VIP lounge for less than half an hour before boarding the plane.

At a little after eight in the evening, the plane took off, heading straight for Hanoi, the capital of the Old Tri-Region in the Asian Alliance.

Inside the cabin.

Yu Mingyuan, wearing slippers, frowned as he looked at the expo quote given to him by You Chengcheng, and said in a low voice, "With Lao Wang getting kidnapped, our final quote might have been leaked. Once we get to the island, find a chance to meet with Gui Mengjun alone and probe him, see if we can find out the quotes of other competitors."

"Okay," You Chengcheng nodded.

"Phew!" Yu Mingyuan let out a long breath, turning his head to look at the scenery outside the cabin: "After working on this for so long, I hope everything goes smoothly!"

...

Outside the waters of the Old Tri-Region, there is an island with high military strategic value called Salt Island.

Salt Island is the main island, surrounded by seven or eight attached islands, one of which is a small island that focuses on the tourism and resort industry called Little Twin Cow Island.

This island is the final location for the "Trade Expo." During the preparation period, the Pu-affiliated government in the Old Tri-Region had isolated the place, designated the expo site, and allowed the island's functional departments to cooperate with the Gui family and other distributors to prepare for this event.

At a little after five in the evening, inside the five-star Cabin Coastal Hotel, Gui Mengjun led four people and walked into the executive conference room.

Inside the room, more than twenty middle-aged men and women were already sitting around the conference table. These people were all distributors participating in this expo, in other words, wealthy families engaged in the production of military supplies.

It is necessary to introduce here that although the Gui family has made its industry very large in the Old Tri-Region, they have not formed an industry monopoly. Instead, they and other suppliers have worked hard for several years to expand the size of the industry together.

The production of military supplies cannot be done without the tacit consent and secret support of the upper-level government. And if the upper-level government wants to do it, it is impossible to only find one front man to operate it. Because such a big pie cannot be eaten by only one family. Local wealthy families with connections in the Old Tri-Region will naturally want to get a piece of the pie, so the current situation has formed.

The Gui family is one of the leading families, and they control the general direction of the entire industrial chain. However, the small distributors that surround them, as well as other leading families, also have some say.

With the expo about to begin, Gui Mengjun wanted to warm things up internally in advance, which is why he held this closed-door meeting today.

After entering the conference room, Gui Mengjun bent down and sat in the first chair, smiling and saying, "The expo is about to start, let's chat internally and determine the basic guidelines and the distributor quotas for each region."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent and looked at Gui Mengjun with their hands folded.

"Let's talk about the quotas first. We also discussed it before," Gui Mengjun looked down and opened his work notebook, reading from the list: "South America, the number of distributors is tentatively set at five this time; Sinaloa, Casar, tentatively set at one; and the Asian Alliance..."

"Wait a minute, Director Gui!" At this moment, a young man in his thirties suddenly interrupted and asked, "Only one distributor quota for the Sinaloa and Casar regions in northern Mexico?"

Gui Mengjun looked up at him: "Yes, tentatively set at one."

"...That's not reasonable, is it?" The other party asked somewhat puzzled: "The First District and The Dragon City Rises have just issued a border closure order to the Mexican region. The local government troops, rebels, and private armed forces can't get any supplies now. Are we going to give such a huge market to one distributor?! I don't understand this very well...!"

Gui Mengjun looked at him and replied, "I went to The Dragon City Rises a few days ago to learn about the local situation. I personally think that it is precisely because the First District issued the No. 1 Decree that the political situation there is more complicated, so we must cautiously look for distribution partners, tentatively connect with them first, try to do it, and then decide whether to increase the number of quotas."

"Since it's a trial, it wouldn't hurt to add a few more quotas, right?" The young man continued to reply: "...A lot of people from the Sinaloa and Casar regions have come to this expo! In the end, only one quota is given, which is a bit...insulting."

Gui Mengjun looked at the other party and tapped the table lightly, replying, "We are the suppliers, the leaders! We have the right to decide who to cooperate with and how many people to cooperate with. There is no need to consider too much. And I said, the political situation there is complicated. It's better for us not to be reckless. This is also the meaning of the Pu faction and the Western King's Mansion."

When everyone heard about the Pu faction and the Western King's Mansion, they all fell silent, including the young man who had questioned him earlier.

"If there are any objections, we can also resolve it through a secret ballot," Gui Mengjun said with a smile, "That would be fairer."

...

An hour later.

The plane carrying Su Tianyu and the others arrived at Hanoi Airport, the capital of the Old Tri-Region.