181: Chapter 181 Six-Line Divination: Wealth Being Harmed

At 8:30 in the morning, the sun shone through the sycamore leaves onto the folding table.

Jiang Feng took his seat right on time, causing the bamboo chair to creak.

He placed his thermos on the corner of the table; today, he had switched to Tieguanyin tea.

He wasn't in a hurry to open for business and first fished three fifty-cent coins out of his pants pocket.

In Six Lines divination, a hexagram is formed by tossing three copper coins six times; using modern coins follows the same logic.

Previously, he needed to rely on the system's help to see the omens clearly, but now he could arrange them with his eyes closed.

Jiang Feng folded his hands, calling up Lin Shuo's facial features in his mind.

The greasy, messy hair, the hunched shoulders, the lifeless eyes, the arms covered in old scars, and that top-tier fate with Zi Wei in the Temple position hidden behind that broken pushcart.

With his mind focused, he cupped the three coins in his palms, shook them three times, and tossed them onto the table.

Two heads and one tail.

Shao Yang.

He recorded the first line, retrieved the coins, and shook them again.

Two tails and one head.

Shao Yin.

The third time, all three were heads.

Lao Yang, a moving line.

The fourth time, two heads and one tail.

The fifth time, two tails and one head.

The sixth time, two heads and one tail.

With the Six Lines determined, Jiang Feng took a marker and swiftly sketched the hexagram on a piece of white paper.

Main Hexagram: Heaven-Thunder Without Falsehood.

Transformed Hexagram: Wind-Thunder Increase.

The moving line was at the third line.

He stared at the lines on the paper, his mind beginning to work at high speed.

The Self line belongs to Metal and is accompanied by the Brother line.

The Wealth line belongs to Wood; it is hidden beneath the second line and heavily suppressed by the Brother line.

The Official-Ghost line governs the Self, locking down the entire situation from its high position on the fifth line.

In layman's terms, it boils down to three points.

First, wealth was plundered by 'brothers.'

In the Six Lines system, 'Brother' represents peers, equals, or competitors.

Lin Shuo's money and business were swallowed up by a peer he trusted.

Second, the Official-Ghost governs the Self and weighs down the body.

This Official-Ghost represents lawsuits, debts, and mandatory rulings.

Lin Shuo is burdened with a massive debt that has been officially stamped through legal channels; this isn't a common private loan, but one backed by a court judgment.

Third, the Wealth line is hidden and does not appear.

Lin Shuo's truly valuable family assets haven't disappeared; they are being held down and hidden by someone.

Stringing these three points together, the framework of the story was established: a peer set a trap to swallow the business, used a lawsuit to solidify the debt, and is now holding the core assets as spoils of war.

A textbook-level predatory takeover of a family legacy.

Jiang Feng folded the white paper and tucked it into his pocket, then unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of tea.

At exactly ten o'clock, the building's glass doors were pushed open.

Old Chen strode out, a kraft paper envelope tucked under his arm, his expression full of professionalism.

He pulled over the bamboo chair opposite Jiang Feng and sat down, slapping the envelope onto the table.

"I found it."

Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow. "Good efficiency."

"It was a piece of cake." Old Chen opened the envelope and pulled out a stack of printed papers.

"Lin Shuo, thirty-one years old, a local of the Location."

"Fourth-generation heir of the century-old brand, Lins Shop."

"Lins Shop?" Jiang Feng set down his thermos.

"A living fossil in the Location's catering circle." Old Chen flipped to the second page. "Lins Shop was founded in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Republic era, it was the top brand in the south of the Location. After the founding of the People's Republic, it was converted into a state-owned canteen for a while during the joint state-private ownership period, and was returned to the Lin family in the eighties after the implementation of new policies."

"One hundred and twenty years, four generations, passed down to sons, not daughters."

"By Lin Shuo's generation, he took over at twenty-two and grew Lins Shop from a single small storefront into a chain of three stores, with annual revenue exceeding twenty million at its peak."

Jiang Feng took the documents and continued reading.

"The turning point was three years ago."

Old Chen's speaking pace slowed down.

"Ma Zhenkun, Chairman of the Location's Dingsheng Catering Group, took the initiative to approach him, saying he wanted to invest in Lins Shop to help Lin Shuo grow bigger and stronger."

"Ma Zhenkun set a condition: he would exchange Dingsheng's supply chain resources for a forty-nine percent stake in Lins Shop, while simultaneously signing a VAM agreement."

"The agreement stated that within eighteen months of signing, Lins Shop' revenue had to grow by two hundred percent; otherwise, Lin Shuo would have to transfer the remaining fifty-one percent controlling interest to Dingsheng for free."

"After Ma Zhenkun became a shareholder, he did one thing. Lins Shop' core seasoning had always been exclusively supplied by an old workshop in the Southwest; this supply chain was the lifeblood built up over four generations of the Lin family."

"Ma Zhenkun used the Dingsheng Group's purchasing volume to negotiate an exclusivity agreement with that old workshop, essentially contracting out the workshop's entire production line."

"Lin Shuo's supply channel was cut off overnight."

Jiang Feng leaned back against his chair.

"Without the seasoning, the quality of the dishes deteriorated, their reputation collapsed, and revenue plummeted."

"As soon as the eighteen months were up, the VAM agreement was automatically triggered."

"The controlling interest went to Ma Zhenkun."

Old Chen nodded.

"Lin Shuo didn't accept it and went to court. But the VAM agreement was signed and fingerprinted in black and white, and the court ruled against him."

"The judgment also included a clause: all of Lins Shop' tangible and intangible assets, including the brand, stores, equipment, and all original recipe documents, were to be transferred to Dingsheng Catering."

Jiang Feng pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The recipe documents."

"Yes." Old Chen pulled out the final page.

"Lins Shop' full set of secret family recipes, inherited over one hundred and twenty years—the original manuscripts, three volumes in total."

"The first volume was written by Lin Shuo's great-grandfather, the second was supplemented by his grandfather, and the third was an expanded edition by his father."

"Now, these three original volumes are locked in a climate-controlled vault on the seventeenth floor of the Dingsheng Group's headquarters."

Old Chen closed the envelope.

"Boss, there's one more thing."

"Speak."

"After Lin Shuo lost the case, he went to Dingsheng's headquarters to demand an explanation, but was intercepted in the underground garage by Ma Zhenkun's debt collection team."

"Four people used a wrench to strike both of his forearms once."

"After being sent to the hospital, he was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in the right ulna and severe bruising in the left ulna."

"During his hospitalization, not a single person came to visit him."

"After his discharge, the three stores were taken over by Dingsheng, his bank accounts were frozen, and the real estate under his name was foreclosed and auctioned to settle his debts."

"He ended up pushing a broken cart alone, going to the Linjiang Night Market to sell twelve-yuan fried rice."

Old Chen looked up at Jiang Feng.

"He's been selling it for three years."

Jiang Feng straightened the stack of printed papers and tucked them back into the kraft paper envelope.

He pulled the white paper with the hexagram he had drawn that morning from his pocket and spread it on the table, placing it side-by-side with the information Old Chen had handed over.

On the left was the Six Lines hexagram: Wealth line suppressed, Brother line stealing wealth, Official-Ghost line governing the Self.

On the right were the facts Old Chen had uncovered: Ma Zhenkun setting a trap to cut off supplies, the VAM agreement swallowing the stores, the court judgment weighing him down, and the secret recipes locked in a vault.

They matched perfectly.

Jiang Feng stacked the two pieces of paper together.

"Old Chen."

"Yes."

"What is the current scale of Dingsheng Catering Group?"

Old Chen recited some figures: "They own forty-six directly operated restaurants and over one hundred and twenty franchises. Last year's revenue was eight hundred million."

"And Ma Zhenkun's personal net worth?"

"He's been on the Location's Rich List. The exact amount isn't public, but rumors in the circle put it between 1.5 and 2 billion."

Jiang Feng slapped the envelope back into Old Chen's hands.

"Do two things for me."

"First, investigate all of Dingsheng Group's merger and acquisition cases and equity disputes over the past five years. Focus on whether there are any schemes following the same pattern as Lin Shuo's case."

"Second, check Ma Zhenkun's upstream and downstream networks to see if there's any larger capital backing him."

Old Chen took the envelope. "How fast do you need it?"

"Within three days."

Old Chen stood up and walked a few steps, then glanced back at the three coins sitting quietly in the sun on the table.

"Boss, that Ma Zhenkun you're going after this time has a professional debt collection team under him. He's not someone to be trifled with."

"I know." Jiang Feng picked up his thermos and took a sip.

"That's why I spent a hundred million to open a security company."

Old Chen's lip twitched.

Well, it seems that money was finally spent on something useful.

The glass doors closed, and Old Chen's footsteps disappeared into the elevator lobby.

Jiang Feng sat alone at his stall, his gaze falling on the distant skyline of the Financial Street.

Lin Shuo's causal chain had been cleared up; it was a single line from start to finish.

Dingsheng set the trap, performed a predatory takeover, and rose to power.

Lin Shuo was made the scapegoat.

To overturn this situation, simply helping Lin Shuo pay off his debts would be useless. If the secret recipes couldn't be retrieved, the roots would remain severed.

He had to tear an opening in Dingsheng Group.

This wasn't just a mission to change Lin Shuo's fate; it was also the best springboard for Xingchen Security to grow bigger and stronger.

Using business methods to crush business schemes, and using capital to strangle capital.

The sunlight was just right, and he had plenty of patience.