There Is No Third Way, Make the Choice for Them

The interesting part is this.

The "guild" that Old Leng established this time is translated as the "Anti-Raw Material Daddy Fist, Anti-Raw Material Monopoly Guild."

That's the gist of it.

So,

our Young Master Cao has become the "Daddy Authority"?

This even made Cao Cheng chuckle.

This guild aims to rally all foreign competitors to pressure Young Master Cao and force Miracle Cosmetics to share a portion of its profits.

It’s no different from a forced abdication in ancient times.

Of course,

empty words alone wouldn’t be effective, so they even created a new product.

Called "Deep Sea Technology."

The raw material is named "Star Element."

They’ve made it sound quite mystical.

Cao Cheng suspects there’s an Asian influence behind this—frankly, he doesn’t believe Western folks could come up with such a fancy name.

This "Star Element" is supposedly extracted from newly discovered deep-sea meteorites, claiming its active ingredients surpass all existing cosmetic components.

In short, it’s touted as a groundbreaking discovery.

After research and testing,

it was confirmed that this new element is at least as potent as Miracle Cosmetics’ X-Essence, if not stronger.

...

The eldest sister explained, "You were on your honeymoon, so the company didn’t want to disturb you. Xu Qing sent someone to negotiate with the guild, but it didn’t go well."

Cao Cheng wasn’t surprised by their resistance.

After all, wealth stirs desire, and money moves hearts.

No one would willingly give up such a lucrative market.

Even though Cao Cheng had consolidated the global daily chemical market through strategic maneuvers, no one would just stand by and watch him amass staggering wealth worldwide.

Setting aside other products,

just the cosmetics division alone generates over $50 million in daily net profit globally.

Of course,

not all of it goes to Cao Cheng, but he takes the lion’s share.

What does that mean?

To put it bluntly, at this scale, his daily profits rival those of the domestic tobacco monopoly.

And that’s not even counting other products like shampoo, body wash, etc.

So,

if international capital didn’t fight back, that would be the real surprise.

Cao Cheng has been raking in profits these past two years.

Who wouldn’t be envious?

Who wouldn’t want to take his place?

"Alright, I get it. I’ll handle this," Cao Cheng said after a glance, not elaborating further.

No big deal.

"Deep Sea Technology"? "Star Element"?

Cao Cheng didn’t need to guess—this was still just X-Essence at its core.

After a year or two of research, foreign labs had cracked the formula.

But they probably couldn’t find herbal substitutes.

After endless trials, they likely settled for mineral elements or alternative herbs.

Then slapped on a fancy label like "deep-sea active ingredients" to make it sound premium.

At the end of the day, they just want a slice of the pie.

What does that tell you?

It means their product is all hype, still no match for X-Essence.

Otherwise, why bother negotiating with Miracle Cosmetics?

If they had something better, they’d just crush Miracle Cosmetics outright.

Why negotiate?

Because they’re still falling short.

That said,

this was just Cao Cheng’s logical deduction.

Whether "Star Element" actually works—and how it stacks up against X-Essence—would require testing the product firsthand.

...

While Cao Cheng was handling paperwork,

at the mahjong table,

everyone except the third sister was playing with Ren's mother.

Ren's mother kept insisting, "Don’t go easy on me, or it’s no fun."

Even so,

the sisters were filial. Aside from The Fourth, who was a bit reckless, both the second sister and Tang Xin subtly accommodated Ren's mother’s plays.

Ren's mother suddenly noticed something and pointed at the second sister’s hand—a bandage on her index finger. "What happened to your hand?"

The second sister glanced casually and shook her head. "Just a small cut. It’s fine with a bandage."

"Be careful," Ren's mother said before dropping it.

But Tang Xin shot the second sister a knowing smirk.

Sensing it, the second sister met her gaze.

Without a word, Tang Xin mouthed: Family tree!

Ren Fanxing flushed and rolled her eyes.

The sisters shared an unspoken understanding.

Just then,

Cao Cheng walked over, phone in hand, heading to the backyard to call Xu Qing for details.

As he passed behind Tang Xin,

she drew a winning tile.

It was a self-draw,

but she discarded it without hesitation.

Cao Cheng smiled, aware they were all humoring Ren's mother, and continued to the backyard without comment.

...

In the backyard,

Cao Cheng dialed Xu Qing.

"Hey, Qing-jie."

"Young Master!" Xu Qing sounded excited. "You’re back?"

"Come on, I’ve just been traveling domestically. You could’ve called me anytime—no need to wait for my return to handle things," Cao Cheng said.

Xu Qing chuckled. "Your marriage is the priority. Those foreign tricks are small potatoes."

Then she added, "Oh, and congratulations on the wedding! When’s the banquet?"

"That’ll take a while. I just got back to Zhonghai. First, tell me about this 'Star Element.' Did you get a sample?"

Xu Qing dove into the details.

Her explanation was far more thorough than the written report.

And just as Cao Cheng had guessed—

this "Star Element" nonsense

was nothing but a knockoff, a mimicry of X-Essence after they’d reverse-engineered it.

The X-Essence formula had leaked long ago.

Parts of it were deliberately leaked during the earlier strategic play.

The bet was that Earth lacked the immortal realm’s herbs.

But the leaked version was incomplete, missing key components.

After a year or two of deep research, they finally cracked it.

They even found countless herbal substitutes for certain elements.

They had the formula, the molecular structures—but no clue about the exact herbal essences.

That required trial and error.

Over 10,000 documented medicinal plants exist.

Countless undocumented ones, with unpredictable combinations, further complicate things.

It’s a marathon.

Thankfully,

modern tech helps. Computer models can narrow down candidates faster.

Still, it took nearly a year.

The catch?

After endless trials, their formula could approximate X-Essence’s effects—but never match its peak performance.

In other words,

after all that effort,

they could only substitute X-Essence in low-end markets, passing off "Star Element" as the real deal.

Since X-Essence’s concentration is reduced in budget products, the difference isn’t glaring.

But in the high-end market—

especially for premium lines like the Supreme Gift Set—there’s no substitute.

...

"Young Master, the other side is currently leveraging their market influence to rally many European companies to their side," Xu Qing reported.

"They want to negotiate profit-sharing with us."

Cao Cheng understood the situation perfectly.

No matter what, the European market had always been the dominant force in the region.

Moreover, there was an unspoken bias among Europeans—a general disdain for the Eastern market.

This mindset permeated from top to bottom.

As a result, whenever the European bloc proposed collaborations or innovations, the instinctive trust from European businesses leaned toward them.

If not for Cao Cheng's strategic counterplay, the European market wouldn’t have surrendered so easily.

Now, sensing an opportunity to retaliate, many of those foreign opportunists had turned into backstabbers, circling back to negotiate profits with Miracle Cosmetics.

Did they even have any leverage left?

This was a common flaw in the European market—acting high and mighty while holding nothing but scraps.

Cao Cheng repeated what he had just told his elder sister:

"Compile a list for me."

"Every company that joined that European alliance."

"Give them two options. First, I withdraw my shares and take my money out."

"Second, they renegotiate contracts with me—raising my cut by an additional 30% from their remaining profits as compensation for my troubles. On top of that, they’ll pay an annual €100 million raw materials deposit to ensure no leaks occur."

"No third option. Let them choose."

Xu Qing grasped the implications.

Originally, the Young Master already took the lion’s share. But now, he was demanding an extra 30% from their already diminished profits, plus a hefty annual deposit.

This was practically forcing them off a cliff.

She knew exactly what the outcome would be—total deadlock. No one would agree to these terms.

That left only one possibility.

Cao Cheng would sell his stakes in these companies, letting them buy him out and sever ties with the X-Serum formula.

From then on, it would be an all-out market war—survival of the fittest.

Xu Qing wasn’t keen on this approach.

Harmony breeds wealth—it was ingrained in Chinese business philosophy. There was always room for negotiation.

Why not sit down and talk things through?

Why burn bridges?

A full-blown conflict would hurt profits on both sides, not to mention the massive costs of marketing battles.

In the end, nobody truly won.

But a negotiated settlement? That could lead to mutual success.

However…

She also knew the Young Master’s temperament.

"Understood, Young Master. I’ll inform all parties."

"Thanks for your hard work, Qing-jie."

"If you really mean that, give me a few days off," Xu Qing huffed.

Cao Cheng chuckled. "Sure. Once this is settled, take all the time you want. I’ll just find a new CEO."

Xu Qing’s initial delight vanished at his last remark.

Her expression darkened. "You ruthless capitalist."

"Hahaha."

It was all in good humor.

Xu Qing wasn’t an autocrat, but she was undoubtedly second only to Cao Cheng himself.

And with her stake in the company, she was far from just an employee.

Cao Cheng was never stingy with his inner circle. Xu Qing was already a wealthy woman in her own right.

Her net worth? Conservatively, in the tens of millions—if not nearing a billion.

And her assets were multiplying at a staggering rate.

Such were the perks of being Cao Cheng’s right hand. A single tip about future trends from him was enough to set her up for life.