I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

"500 billion..." Ma Hua gasped as this sudden scare threw out his back.

A demand for 500 billion in compensation for spiritual damage was unheard of, no wonder Ding Sanshi and his son still wanted to negotiate the price with him.

Even if it were only one five-hundredth of that amount, it would still be one billion. If this was a claim for spiritual damage, it was an astronomical sum!

Are they refusing to pay, so you'll drive their company into bankruptcy? Isn't that a bit too capricious?

"What did I even do?" Zhang Menglong said in a voice filled with grievance, "I was just bored with nothing better to do, so I decided to create a music platform for fun. I didn't kill, I didn't rob, I didn't commit arson, how am I being capricious?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"They themselves didn't have the money to buy the rights, and now the platform is struggling to survive. Is that my fault?"

"What does their trouble have to do with me?" Ma Hua was on the verge of tears.

Compared to Wang Ling Music Forest, Tengxun Music had been around for a much longer time. But no matter how established they had become over the years, they couldn't withstand this kind of impact. As its name suggested, a music platform needed music to be considered a music platform.

Through Zhang Menglong's maneuvering, he essentially monopolized the entire mobile music market!

Do you want to sue him for monopoly? But the music artists have already been paid handsomely and simply didn't want to sell to anyone else. Could you, as the law, force them to sell their rights?

Everybody knew that Zhang Menglong was monopolizing the market, but subjectively, he had ample excuses to justify himself, and you couldn't find any fault in his actions—what could you do to him?

"Is there no room for negotiation?" Ma Hua still hadn't given up hope. He knew that if Zhang Menglong followed through with this, unless they could outspend him, the platform's collapse was just a matter of time.

"I've already spent the money, what do you think?" Zhang Menglong said, "President Ma need not be so disheartened. If it comes to it and Music Forest starts charging, I'll gift you a lifetime VIP for free!"

"Do you think I'm lacking the money for a VIP?" Ma Hua felt a rage burning in his chest. Tengxun Music was valued at nearly 30 billion US dollars, and it had taken so many years of operation to get to its current size.

He could almost predict what level their stocks would plunge to when the market opened tomorrow. This downward spiral, unless Zhang Menglong chose to give up his current tactics, was irreversible.

A platform with no competitiveness, even if they wanted to sell it off, no one would be willing to take it over. Because whoever did, as long as they were up against Zhang Menglong, there was no chance of winning.

"Ding Sanshi, I curse your ancestor!" Directing his anger at Zhang Menglong was pointless, and provoking Zhang Menglong could lead to a retaliation of 5,000 billion, an even more thrilling prospect.

Therefore, he could only vent his anger on Ding Sanshi and his son.

"President Ma, don't be so angry," Zhang Menglong suddenly had an idea. While Wang Ling's Music Forest didn't have much in terms of foundation and many aspects were not perfect, Tengxun Music had the most complete supply chain. Merging the two companies would eliminate a lot of trouble.

If he could buy Tengxun Music, it would not only help Music Forest grow quickly, but he could also owe Ma Hua a favor—an act that would benefit him in two ways. Of course, owing a favor to Ma Hua seemed to be of little use to him.

"Ah!" Ma Hua sighed deeply. "It seems that Tengxun Music's days are numbered."

Although gaming and traffic were Tengxun's biggest sources of income, music was also an essential part. Its failure would result in significant loss of vitality.

"President Ma, I'm a rather kind person," Zhang Menglong said in an infuriatingly smug tone, "I understand that conflicts between 'gods' can impact mere mortals like you." He paused, "Oh, of course, Wang Ling can hardly count as a 'god'. They're just there for me to thrash."

"What on earth are you trying to say?"

"If President Ma is willing, I could buy Tengxun Music."

"Really?" Ma Hua's eyes brightened. If Zhang Menglong was willing to acquire Tengxun Music, it could be a way out.

Although the price would surely be pressed very low, it was still better than rotting away in his own hands, otherwise he might not even be able to recoup half of the funds!

"Of course it's true. It just so happens that I can also expand our team at Music Forest. After all, we don't have the deep roots compared to Manager Ma's team." Zhang Menglong wasn't bootlicking; this was a fact.

Of course, Zhang Menglong could also wait until Tengxun Music went under and then spend money to buy those people, but in terms of management, it would require a complete reset, which wasn't as convenient as an outright acquisition.

"As long as you're willing to offer 80% of Tengxun Music's current market value, I can make the decision to sell it to you, and I think our group's shareholders won't have any objections," Ma Hua declared.

As he spoke the "80%," Ma Hua actually felt somewhat uneasy because he was all too aware that Tengxun Music was like fish on a chopping board at this moment—once Zhang Menglong decided to make his move, it would be sliced up, and the price was entirely at Zhang Menglong's mercy.

This 80% price was rather a lion's mouth to open.

"Manager Ma, don't you think you're being a bit too bullying?" As expected, Zhang Menglong's voice took on a cold edge.

"It's indeed high," Ma Hua suddenly became very anxious.

"The price is negotiable," Ma Hua said, chuckling sheepishly.

"Fuck, are you looking down on me?" Zhang Menglong started to curse, "Am I, Zhang Menglong, the kind of person who lacks a few billion US dollars? You should ask around, when have I, Zhang Menglong, ever asked for a discount when buying something?"

"Ah? This..." Zhang Menglong's stance completely baffled Ma Hua. Wasn't he supposed to complain about the price being too high? But it seemed like he actually found the price too low?

"How about 90%?" Ma Hua tried again.

"Manager Ma, it's still too low!" At this moment, Ma Hua's assistant quietly showed him his phone.

It was a report about Zhang Menglong taking over an entire LV store in Wanda. Although its spread was not allowed, some people still had some photos and written information about it.

"Rounding up in reverse..." Ma Hua glanced at the content, which showed that after Zhang Menglong had purchased extremely expensive luxury items, the seller had actively offered to round down the price, yet Zhang Menglong insisted on an increase of several hundred thousand dollars, the reason being he disliked small change!

"This guy must have a screw loose!" Ma Hua labeled Zhang Menglong, "How about this, the market value of Tengxun Music is currently 27.8 billion US dollars, why not sell it to you for 28 billion US dollars?"

"I don't like spare change!" Zhang Menglong emphasized again, "Let's make it 30 billion!"

"Cough cough cough!" Ma Hua felt that his increase of 2 billion US dollars was already quite outrageous, but he didn't expect that Zhang Menglong would reverse round down by 20 billion US dollars on top of this!

Find your next adventure on empire

"Is this money toxic or what?" Ma Hua was almost in tears, his worldview nearly shattered today!

"Then it's settled!" Zhang Menglong declared, "I'll arrange for someone to handle the equity transfer tomorrow morning."

"Mr. Zhang, some of our shareholders are abroad; if they are to come back immediately, I'm afraid there are no flights. Maybe..."

"Where are they? I'll arrange a private jet to pick them up!" Zhang Menglong was impatient, "Can't we do things a bit more efficiently? I'm eager to have Ding Sanshi and his son come beg me!"

Ma Hua: "My mentality is collapsing again..."