Reborn with Consumption System-Chapter 545 - 247 Hello, everyone

Han Lie wasted no time. After sending Sister Bai off to shower, he immediately began looking for information on Old Gao.

In his network, there were roughly three people who could help.

The first was Liu Minghao, whom Han Lie called directly.

"Gao Yijin?"

Liu Minghao was puzzled. "I know him; he was quite active for a while. Why are you looking into him?"

Of course, Han Lie couldn't be completely upfront. He hedged, "A potential deal might involve him. However, Uncle Pan doesn't particularly like this person and doesn't trust him. I need this President Gao's information to study carefully."

The moment Liu Minghao heard this, he knew Han Lie wasn't telling the whole truth.

As a top-notch lawyer, he was all too familiar with the art of reading between the lines.

However, he didn't press further and simply agreed, "What kind of information do you need? I'll do my best to find it."

Han Lie blurted out, "All legal judgments involving Gao Yuan Real Estate and Hongye Apparel!"

The most straightforward way to investigate a company or an entrepreneur is through due diligence.

However, due diligence requires cooperation from the other party, so that was out.

The most effective method, then, would be an investigation by high-level authorities, directly through departments like taxation, industry and commerce, and public security.

Han Lie lacked that kind of power.

Failing that, one had to get creative at the civilian level.

For instance, as Han Lie suggested, examining legal judgments could reveal all sorts of information about both companies: appeals filed and responded to, instances of bad faith and default, conflicts and disputes, business rivalries, and more.

Combined with external evaluations of President Gao and others, personality analyses, and public business decisions, this information would allow one to form a fairly deep understanding of the leadership at both firms. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

In the hands of an expert skilled at gathering, processing, and analyzing data, such information could yield a wealth of useful insights.

The world's top business consulting firms all have specialized information analyst positions, with salaries easily reaching a million dollars annually.

When publicly available information wasn't enough, these giants would resort to bribing or personally contacting corporate spies.

General Motors, Oracle, Mitsubishi, and Ericsson all had histories of employing corporate espionage. Consulting firms like McKinsey and IBM were constantly, quietly treading the line between light and shadow.

Han Lie planned to learn from them.

He had no professional background in information processing, but he knew the steps involved:

Filter, organize, summarize, refine.

These four steps corresponded to foundational disciplines like literature, mathematics, statistics, and psychology.

Broadly speaking, it was roughly equivalent to a liberal arts college entrance exam:

Reading comprehension + logical analysis + statistical classification + summarizing and extracting key points + psychological profiling.

With his 79 points of Intelligence, Han Lie wasn't particularly adept at the task. However, Han Lie, with his 'cheats', possessed Level 4 Writing, Level 4 Literature, Level 4 Mathematics, Level 3 Statistics, Level 4 Psychology, Level 4 Finance, Level 4 Law, and other knowledge and skills.

Well now, isn't that convenient?

Brother Lie already had his corporate spy ready—no matter how hands-off Sister Bai might seem, the information she could access was always core-level, something ordinary corporate spies couldn't necessarily match.

Liu Minghao didn't beat around the bush and promptly agreed.

Not only did he consent readily, but he also displayed remarkable initiative and enthusiasm.

"Alright, just wait. I'll get it done as soon as possible. By the way, are there any other matters you need me to handle?"

Han Lie thought for a moment and spontaneously added another task for Liu.

"If you get a chance, try to find out about their company's legal department, or which law firms they frequently cooperate with… It's alright if you can't find out, but whatever you do, don't let anything slip."

"Haha!"

Liu Minghao suddenly burst into laughter, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Don't worry, I know what kind of information you're after. Wait for my good news!"

Good heavens, he really is a sharp one…

Han Lie smiled and shook his head, unconcerned that Liu Minghao had seen through his intentions.

For a considerable time to come, Liu would undoubtedly be a staunch ally. The smarter he was, the less Han Lie had to worry.

This is precisely the advantage of sharing the benefits.

If Han Lie had been petty, unwilling to share profits, hiding his abilities and developing in secret, where would he find such a considerate and reliable helper?

He would ultimately end up just a wealthy recluse, a mere nouveau riche.

A small fry looking to climb the ladder must remember one thing—never be a lone wolf.

Great men teach us to make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible—words of gold indeed…

Having read the treasured book and personally stirred up so much, Han Lie now had a rather profound understanding.

The smoothest path up the pyramid was to proactively share upwards, rapidly expand the pie, and then, once it was large enough, consolidate power, eliminate some of the old guard who couldn't keep up, and then proceed to the next round.

Studying successful individuals closely, Han Lie discovered that at every stage of their lives, their circles of friends and partners were different.

Even among Alibaba's "Eighteen Arhats," so celebrated by entrepreneurs, the final outcomes varied greatly.

Some were dismissed, some voluntarily retired, some changed careers, some were sidelined to titular posts to coast, and some fought their way to the very top…

Old Ma is truly formidable…

Another example was Ant Group, set to be established the following year, which developed from the independent Alipay.

I'm determined to break free from Yahoo and SoftBank; what can you two do about it?

Compare that to Zhang Lan of Jiangnan, ousted by capital. Isn't Old Ma, who built Alibaba, incredible?

Han Lie's current role model for learning and emulation was Old Ma, not Boss Ren, whom he admired most. Boss Ren's methods? Anyone who tried to copy them would be courting death. Times had changed!