Chapter 57: Consolidating Holdings
The conference room gleamed with polished wood and steel, every inch designed to intimidate. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed the city below, its skyline glittering like a conquered prize. Liang Yue stood at the head of the long table, not needing to command silence—her presence did it for her.
Key stakeholders had gathered: men and women who controlled billions, each one accustomed to deference, each one cautious today. Their portfolios were no longer drifting toward Xu Liwei's empire; the tide had turned. Everyone in this room knew it, even if no one dared to voice it first.
Liang Yue broke the silence.
"Gentlemen, ladies. You've all seen the markets. The headlines. The movements in capital flow." She rested her fingertips lightly against the table. "What I offer you is not reaction. It's foresight."
One of the older investors, Mr. Chen, cleared his throat. "Ms. Liang, foresight is a strong word. Xu Group has been floundering, yes, but they've recovered before. Their liquidity runs deeper than most realize."
Her lips curved—polite, unreadable. "Liquidity is irrelevant when trust collapses. Numbers can be adjusted. Confidence cannot."
The words landed like stones in still water. Several investors exchanged glances, calculating.
She continued, voice even, almost conversational. "Xu Liwei overextended his holdings, betting on a shipping corridor project that was never viable. His assumption? That regional politics would stabilize. He gambled with your money. Now the corridor bleeds cash."
Mr. Chen hesitated. "And you?"
"I acquired three logistics companies in the last quarter," she said. "Smaller on paper, but each controls choke points that Xu Group depends on. Distribution hubs, transit nodes, customs clearances. Quiet acquisitions, barely publicized. Together, they strangle his supply lines."
Gasps rippled through the room—subtle but telling.
Liang Yue's gaze swept across them, steady and sharp. "So, while Xu Liwei's empire bleeds, mine consolidates. Not loudly, not carelessly. Precisely. And those who align with me now will not merely survive the storm. You will shape the next decade of this market."
Silence again, thicker this time.
Mr. Zhao, younger, bold, leaned forward. "You're speaking of a takeover war, Ms. Liang. Xu Liwei will not accept this without retaliation."
"Retaliation?" she repeated softly, almost amused. "He already tried. His board scrambled to secure emergency funding last week. You all saw the rumors. Half of it was smoke. The other half?" Her eyes glinted. "Rejected by international lenders who have quietly shifted their backing—elsewhere."
The implication struck home. Investors murmured.
Across the city, Xu Liwei sat in his office with a glass of whiskey untouched before him. His aides whispered nervously about falling stock values. Investors had called, once loyal, now hesitant. Each call left him colder. He imagined Liang Yue's calm smile, her stillness, and it burned.
Back in the boardroom, Liang Yue allowed the silence to thrum before she spoke again.
"You have choices," she said. "Stay with Xu Group, watch your investments corrode. Or pivot—align with a structure I've already secured. Every acquisition, every merger I make is designed to interlock, not compete internally. Efficiency and dominance. That is what I offer."
Ms. Huang, sharp-eyed and pragmatic, tilted her head. "And your proof?"
Liang Yue gestured toward the assistant at her side. A set of projection slides illuminated the wall—charts, maps, timelines.
"Three months from now," she said, "a new trade agreement will reroute cargo through three hubs: Shenzhou, Qingdao, and Port Ling. I control two of those hubs already. The third is under negotiation, with an announcement due within weeks. Xu Liwei staked everything on the corridor. I redirected around it. When the agreement finalizes, Xu Group's route collapses overnight. Mine becomes the artery."
Her tone never rose, but the conviction in it drew every eye.
One of the stakeholders whispered, barely audible, "She's playing ten moves ahead."
Huo Tianrui sat silently at the far end, watching. His expression betrayed nothing, but his gaze never left her. For all his power, he understood what few here did: she wasn't simply maneuvering. She was rewriting the rules.
Mr. Chen finally exhaled. "You... intend to dismantle Xu Group entirely."
Liang Yue met his gaze. "I intend to build something stronger. If dismantling him is the cost, then so be it."
The words carried no hatred, no personal vendetta in their delivery—only cold inevitability. That steadiness unnerved them more than anger ever could.
Xu Liwei, elsewhere, raged. He slammed his phone onto the desk after another investor refused his call. His once-steady foundation was dissolving. "They wouldn't dare abandon me," he muttered, but even as he spoke, his certainty cracked.
At the boardroom, Ms. Huang leaned forward. "If we align with you, Ms. Liang, what assurance do we have that you will not overextend as Xu Liwei did?"
Liang Yue's answer was immediate. "Because I do not gamble. I calculate. Every acquisition I've made was profitable on its own merit, even before integration. Integration merely magnifies profit. That is the difference between me and him."
Her assistant shifted to the next slide: profit projections, trend lines. Numbers soared, precise and clean.
"And if," Mr. Zhao pressed, "Xu Group somehow recovers?"
Liang Yue allowed a pause, measured, before replying. "Then they will still rely on infrastructure I already control. They will pay me for every shipment they move. Recovery, for them, is dependency. For me, it is leverage."
The bluntness silenced the room.
Finally, Mr. Chen nodded slowly. "I will transfer my holdings. Quietly, of course."
Others followed—Ms. Huang with a crisp agreement, Mr. Zhao with a grudging nod. One by one, they leaned toward her, away from Xu Group.
She inclined her head slightly, regal, never overplaying satisfaction. "Wise choices. In the months to come, you will see that today marks the turning point."
The meeting ended not with applause but with quiet, almost reverent acknowledgment. Chairs scraped, handshakes followed, but the undercurrent was clear: power had shifted.
As the investors filed out, Liang Yue remained standing, watching the skyline.
Behind her, Tianrui's voice was low, smooth. "They're yours now. You didn't just win them—you reshaped them."
She allowed herself a faint smile. "Consolidation is not about collecting pieces. It's about aligning them. One empire, one strategy."
"And Xu Liwei?" he asked.
She looked out at the sprawling city, lights flickering on like stars. "Already fading. He just hasn't realized how quickly yet."
Across town, Xu Liwei stared at the latest market report, hands trembling. Investors were moving, holdings slipping through his grasp. Every call unanswered was another betrayal. He cursed her name, yet even in his fury, he felt it—that creeping dread of inevitability.
Back in the quiet conference room, Liang Yue turned from the window, her composure absolute. "This," she said softly, "is how you build not just wealth, but permanence. Today, consolidation. Tomorrow—domination."
Her words lingered like a vow.
And as she stepped out, Huo Tianrui at her side, the path ahead felt unstoppable.