Transmigrating to the Song Dynasty: Water Margin Business Management

After Gao Qiu came out of the imperial study, Gao Yanei couldn't wait to come up to him.

"Father, what did His Majesty say?" Gao Yanei asked expectantly.

Gao Qiu glanced at him and said irritably, "Hmph, what else can I say? He told me to make sure this competition is a success."

Gao Yanei quickly agreed, "That's right, Father. His Majesty will certainly trust you to handle things."

Gao Qiu continued, "I have reported the progress of the preparations to His Majesty, and His Majesty is quite satisfied."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yanei's eyes lit up: "Father, Wang Zhiqiang is still waiting for news."

Gao Qiu frowned: "Go and talk to him."

Gao Yanei nodded in agreement and then went to find Wang Zhiqiang.

Upon seeing Gao Yanei arrive, Wang Zhiqiang hurriedly greeted him with a smile: "Young Master, what did Lord Gao say?"

Gao Yanei relayed Gao Qiu's words to Wang Zhiqiang.

As Wang Zhiqiang listened, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and he was filled with resentment. He cursed inwardly, "I spent a lot of money to ask Gao Qiu for help, and this is the result. Not only did I fail to bring down Zhao Tianming, but he also expanded his business."

But on the surface, Wang Zhiqiang still pretended to be amiable: "Young master, what should we do? I can't let this money go to waste."

Gao Yanei's eyes darted around, and he said, "Manager Wang, don't be in such a hurry. There will be plenty of opportunities to deal with Zhao Tianming."

Wang Zhiqiang suppressed his anger: "Young master, you should quickly show me the way out."

Gao Yanei leaned closer to Wang Zhiqiang and whispered, "Think about it, this football match against Japan is a great opportunity. If we could rig the game and embarrass Zhao Tianming, wouldn't that relieve your anger?"

Wang Zhiqiang's heart skipped a beat, but he still hesitated: "Will this work? What if we get caught..."

Gao Yanei patted his chest and assured him, "Manager Wang, don't worry. As long as the plan is meticulous, no one will find out. We can make some moves in the competition preparations, such as tripping up the part that Zhao Tianming is in charge of."

Wang Zhiqiang gritted his teeth: "Fine, I'll do as you say, young master. But how exactly do we do it?"

Gao Yanei chuckled: "We can do it like this..."

The two huddled together and whispered their secret plot for a long time.

The more Wang Zhiqiang listened, the more feasible it seemed, and a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes: "Zhao Tianming, let's see how smug you are this time."

Gao Yanei said smugly, "Manager Wang, don't forget my reward after this is done."

Wang Zhiqiang nodded repeatedly: "Of course, young master, just wait and see."

After the discussion, Gao Ya left, satisfied. Wang Zhiqiang sat alone in the room, his teeth itching with resentment as he thought about the money he had spent and the losses he had suffered.

"Zhao Tianming, I'm going to make you pay this time," Wang Zhiqiang vowed to himself.

In the days that followed, Wang Zhiqiang and Gao Yanei began to secretly plot their scheme, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to Zhao Tianming during the football match.

With Li Shishi's help, Zhao Tianming successfully secured a food stall in a corner of the venue. Although the location wasn't ideal, Zhao Tianming believed that his hard work and unique snacks would attract a large audience.

However, after learning of this news, Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang decided to take action against the stall.

"Hmph, Zhao Tianming actually set up a food stall. We can't let him have his way," Gao Yanei said viciously.

Wang Zhiqiang chimed in, "Young Master is right, we should teach him a lesson."

So they began to plot despicable means.

First, Wang Zhiqiang sent people to spread rumors near Zhao Tianming's food stall, saying that his food was unclean and would make people sick. This caused some customers who originally intended to patronize the stall to give up.

Zhao Tianming noticed that business had suddenly become much quieter, which puzzled him greatly. However, he firmly believed that there was nothing wrong with his snacks and decided to observe the situation first.

Then, Gao Yanei instructed some local thugs to cause trouble in front of the stall. They deliberately made loud noises, drove away other customers, and occasionally overturned some tables and chairs.

"Get out of here, get out of here! What good food is there in this godforsaken place!" the thugs shouted.

Li Shishi tried to dissuade them, but they pushed her to the ground.

Seeing this, Zhao Tianming was enraged and clashed with the thugs. However, he was outnumbered and suffered minor injuries in the chaos.

"You bunch of scoundrels, how dare you be so arrogant in broad daylight!" Zhao Tianming shouted angrily.

The thugs laughed and walked away.

Not only that, Wang Zhiqiang also bribed the official in charge of site sanitation to deliberately inspect Zhao Tianming's stall frequently, picking out some insignificant minor problems, ordering him to rectify them, and even threatening to shut down his stall.

"Your stall is not hygienic enough. You must shut down immediately for rectification!" the official said sternly.

Zhao Tianming argued forcefully: "Sir, this is clearly a deliberate attempt to make things difficult. I have always been very careful about hygiene!"

But the official ignored him and turned to leave.

Meanwhile, Gao Yanei had his men tamper with the ingredients for Zhao Tianming's snacks. They secretly added some spoiled ingredients, causing the snacks to taste worse.

Many customers complained after eating there: "This tastes different from before, it's awful!"

Zhao Tianming was baffled. He checked the raw materials and discovered that someone had tampered with them.

Faced with this series of despicable tactics, Zhao Tianming and Li Shishi found themselves in a predicament. But they did not give up; instead, they decided to find a way to deal with it.

Li Shishi inquired everywhere and finally learned that it was Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang who were behind it all.

"Tianming, it was Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang who went too far!" Li Shishi said angrily.

Zhao Tianming clenched his fist: "They think they can defeat me like this? It's not that easy!"

Zhao Tianming decided to change his strategy. He personally explained the situation to some of his regular customers, salvaging some of his reputation. At the same time, he strengthened security at his stall to prevent local thugs from causing trouble again.

However, Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang did not give up. They continued to come up with more insidious tricks in an attempt to completely destroy Zhao Tianming's snack stall.

Gao Yanei received news from Gao Qiu that the Emperor would be coming to the competition venue to observe in two days. He hurriedly found Wang Zhiqiang.

"Manager Wang, let's stop what we're doing for a few days and calm things down," Gao Yanei said, looking slightly nervous.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhiqiang's eyes widened immediately, and he said urgently, "What? Shouldn't we take this opportunity to kick a man when he's down? How can we give Zhao Tianming a chance to catch his breath?"

Gao Yanei frowned and lowered his voice, saying, "What do you know! His Majesty will be inspecting this place in two days. If we openly deal with Zhao Tianming at this critical juncture, it will be troublesome if His Majesty finds out."

Wang Zhiqiang's face showed a look of resentment, "Are we just going to let him go like this? I'm not willing to accept it!"

Gao Yanei's eyes darted around, and a sinister smile curled at the corner of his mouth. "Of course I'm not letting him go. I'm going to send him to his doom."

He then said to Wang Zhiqiang, "His Majesty will be arriving at this place in two days. If he sees Zhao Tianming's food stall in such a chaotic state, what do you think will happen?" After saying that, he looked at Wang Zhiqiang with a sly expression.

Wang Zhiqiang was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized, "Young Master is brilliant! If His Majesty sees that food stall is smoky and unsanitary, Zhao Tianming will definitely be in deep trouble!"

Gao Yanei smiled smugly, "That's right. We'll hold back for the next two days and let Zhao Tianming lower his guard. Then, before the Emperor arrives, we'll deliver a fatal blow to him."

Wang Zhiqiang nodded repeatedly, "Alright, we'll follow your plan, young master. However, we must make thorough arrangements to avoid any mistakes."

Gao Yanei patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, I have a complete plan. We'll first send someone to keep an eye on Zhao Tianming's food stall and see what he does. Then, we'll find a few quick-witted people to mess up his stall and destroy all his ingredients the night before His Majesty arrives."

Wang Zhiqiang chuckled sinisterly, "Hehe, even if Zhao Tianming has extraordinary abilities, he won't have time to clean up this mess."

Gao Yanei continued, "Furthermore, we'll arrange for some people to deliberately speak ill of Zhao Tianming's snack stall while the Emperor is inspecting it, so that the Emperor will develop a dislike for him."

Wang Zhiqiang gave a thumbs up, "Young Master's move was absolutely brilliant! Zhao Tianming is definitely doomed this time."

Gao Yanei said smugly, "Hmph, Zhao Tianming is still too green to mess with me. After we deal with him, we'll slowly take care of the others."

For the next two days, Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang made no apparent moves, and Zhao Tianming and Li Shishi indeed lowered their guard.

Zhao Tianming thought that Gao Yanei and his gang had stopped, so he devoted himself to running the snack stall, hoping to get the business back as soon as possible.

Li Shishi was also busy helping to greet the guests and prepare ingredients.

However, unbeknownst to them, a much larger conspiracy was quietly approaching.

Gao Yanei secretly instructed people to keep a close watch on the food stall's every move, waiting for the best opportunity to strike.

Finally, on the night before the emperor's arrival, under a dark and windy sky, several shadowy figures quietly slipped into the food stall.

They overturned all the tables and chairs, threw food everywhere, and smashed the stove.

Having done all this, they quickly disappeared into the night.

The next day, Zhao Tianming arrived at the stall and was stunned by the mess it was in.

"What, what's going on?" Zhao Tianming asked, both angry and anxious.

Li Shishi panicked too, "Tianming, this must have been done by Gao Yanei and his gang, what should we do? The Emperor is coming!"

Zhao Tianming took a deep breath. "Don't panic, let's pack up quickly."

However, the stall was severely damaged and almost all the ingredients were destroyed, making it impossible to return to normal in a short period of time.

While they were frantically packing up, the Emperor's entourage was already heading towards the competition venue...

Surrounded by a crowd, Emperor Huizong arrived at the competition venue. He had been eagerly anticipating a thrilling match, but instead, he was met with the chaotic state of Zhao Tianming's food stall.

Emperor Huizong was furious. His face darkened instantly, and he pointed at Zhao Tianming, shouting, "You audacious Zhao Tianming, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? This chaotic scene is utterly disgraceful!"

Zhao Tianming immediately knelt down, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, and said in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, please calm down. I don't know why things have turned out this way. Someone must have framed me."

Emperor Huizong sneered, "Framed? I think you're just incompetent! On such an important occasion, you've made such a fool of yourself, utterly disgracing me!"

Zhao Tianming hurriedly defended himself: "Your Majesty, I have always worked diligently. It must be someone who is jealous of my business and is doing this on purpose."

Emperor Huizong ignored his explanation and roared, "Shut up! I don't want to hear your sophistry. You incompetent fool, get out of here right now! I don't want to see you make a fool of yourself again!"

Zhao Tianming's face was ashen, but he dared not say anything more, only kowtowing repeatedly to apologize.

Emperor Huizong continued, "Furthermore, all your restaurants and other businesses must be shut down! My territory cannot tolerate someone like you who corrupts morals!"

Having said this, Emperor Huizong flicked his sleeves and turned to leave, leaving Zhao Tianming collapsed to the ground, his heart filled with despair and resentment. The people around him pointed and whispered among themselves.

As Zhao Tianming watched Emperor Huizong's departing figure, he secretly vowed, "If I don't avenge this, I, Zhao Tianming, will not be a man! It must be those two despicable villains, Gao Yanei and Wang Zhiqiang, who are behind this. I will never let them off easily!"