Chapter 1601: Samsung!

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng really didn't know why Lee Boo-jin had come to see him, since he had no prior dealings with Samsung.

Moreover, Liang Jingyu's reports hadn't mentioned anything related to Samsung either.

In a sense, both Zhao Fusheng and Liang Jingyu understood that compared to Samsung, represented by Lee Boo-jin, Future Group was still a newborn calf.

Even if a newborn calf isn't afraid of tigers, that's just self-praise; a little calf facing a tiger head-on is undoubtedly impossible.

If the tiger opens its bloody mouth, the one to suffer will certainly be the calf.

“Ms. Lee, may I ask what brings you here?”

Zhao Fusheng asked Lee Boo-jin with a smile.

To be honest, although he was grateful that Lee Boo-jin had helped him out of a tight spot today, Zhao Fusheng knew well that there's no such thing as getting up early without a reason; if she didn't want something, she wouldn't have sought him out.

In this world, there is no hatred without cause, nor love without reason.

Zhao Fusheng didn't believe that Hanxing Investment or Future Group had anything that would make Samsung's eldest princess, Lee Boo-jin, actively seek his acquaintance.

Or, to be more precise, given Samsung's status, it wouldn't need to deploy Lee Boo-jin to talk to him.

“Hehe, Chairman Zhao is young and accomplished. Since you're in Korea, of course I had to receive you in person.”

Lee Boo-jin said to Zhao Fusheng with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

Clearly, Lee Boo-jin's attitude was unexpected.

“Chairman Zhao's recent investments have truly been impressive.”

Lee Boo-jin took a sip of tea from the cup in front of her, then looked at Zhao Fusheng seriously. “Especially those investments in the United States; I've studied them specifically.”

Zhao Fusheng's pupils contracted slightly, and he immediately understood.

So that was it—it was still about Facebook!

“Heh, Ms. Lee, it seems you know quite a bit about me.”

Zhao Fusheng said flatly, looking at Lee Boo-jin.

“Don't misunderstand, Chairman Zhao.” Lee Boo-jin shook her head. “I didn't deliberately investigate you. I just follow information on internet tech companies in the US, so when I learned you were in Korea, I came to visit.”

She explained this to Zhao Fusheng mainly because she didn't want him to think she harbored any hostility toward him.

After all, this guy was a major shareholder in Facebook and also held shares in Twitter.

“You're too kind, Ms. Lee.”

Zhao Fusheng laughed.

As they say, you don't hit a smiling face. Since she wasn't being aggressive, Zhao Fusheng naturally wouldn't show any hostility.

“To be honest, I've always been very interested in the internet industry, but unfortunately, I haven't made much progress.”

Lee Boo-jin explained, “I invested in a few projects before, but ended up losing everything.”

Zhao Fusheng nodded, finding her statement believable.

In this situation, she had no reason to boast in front of him, and historically, Samsung had always been very interested in high-tech industries.

Don't assume that the inner workings of wealthy families are all harmony.

Money is the most terrifying demon in the world; it can turn an ordinary person into a devil. Even someone who was kind-hearted can change when suddenly faced with a huge fortune or the temptation of one.

Especially for top-tier chaebols like Samsung, with assets worth tens of billions of dollars or more, the struggles within such families rival the palace intrigues of ancient China.

It's said that Koreans can't avoid three things in life: “taxes, death, and Samsung.”

Samsung Group is a massive enterprise in Korea. Its annual revenue alone accounts for one-fifth of South Korea's GDP, and by 2010, its revenue would reach $220 billion, surpassing the GDP of countries like Israel and Ireland...

And under the immense halo of Samsung Group, the Lee family's豪门 (wealthy and powerful clan) has been staging a never-ending drama of gratitude and grudges.

Where there are heirs, there is competition. Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung, probably never imagined that his ambition would bring not only power, status, desire, and wealth but also endless strife: brothers turning into enemies, fathers and sons at odds, and power struggles. A real-life Korean drama, even more clichéd than that.

The豪门恩怨 (feuds within wealthy families) in this empire—you might not believe it, but they really happened.

In the 1930s, Lee Byung-chul opened a rice processing plant called “Hyopdong Jeongmiso” and began his business career. Later, he established Samsung商会 (Samsung Trading Company), engaging in Sino-Korean trade, flour milling, and liquor production. He gradually built large industrial chains in sugar refining, textiles, and more. His business acumen made his ventures flourish.

On the family front, Lee Byung-chul had three sons and five daughters by then. When he finally realized he needed to find a successor for Samsung Group, he initially decided to divide the property equally, giving each son a position suited to his needs. But he changed his mind, perhaps out of caution, and ultimately followed tradition by granting inheritance rights to his eldest son, Lee Maeng-hee.

Unfortunately, Lee Maeng-hee was only the eldest son in name; he was incompetent and not at all like a businessman. His management yielded no results. Disappointed, his father revoked his inheritance rights.

Lee Maeng-hee lost everything and was unwilling to accept it. Watching the prize slip away, hatred grew in his heart. In the 1960s, a family scandal erupted at Samsung, known as the “Smuggled Saccharin Incident.” The “protagonist,” Lee Maeng-hee, learned that Samsung's saccharin was being smuggled disguised as construction materials, so he wrote to the president to inform on his father, Lee Byung-chul, exposing a series of issues including smuggling and tax evasion. This “suicidal” act naturally enraged Lee Byung-chul, who cursed his eldest son as unfilial and kicked him out of the house.

Lee Maeng-hee thus became the black sheep of the family. After leaving home, he lived in seclusion in Beijing until his father's death, when he returned to Korea. But even then, he received no sympathy; he was not allowed to pay respects to his father and received not a penny of the inheritance.

Bitter and unwilling, Lee Maeng-hee decided to join forces with his sister Lee Sook-hee to sue for his share of the equity and property.

At that time, Lee Sook-hee was married to Koo Ja-hak, the founder and president of LG Group. As relations between LG and Samsung deteriorated, Lee Sook-hee's life in her husband's family became difficult. After her father's death, feeling she hadn't received enough inheritance, she allied with her eldest brother and third brother to fight, but they ultimately failed.

Lee Chang-hee, the second son of the Lee family, was lazy and idle, learning nothing. When his father was betrayed by his eldest brother, he stepped forward to take his father's place in prison, hoping to gain favor. He thought he had a chance at inheritance, but after enduring prison and being released, he found that his younger brother Lee Kun-hee had been promoted by their father and had taken the position he wanted. He was completely dumbfounded. Brains are a good thing, but unfortunately, the second son didn't have them.

Soon, the “Prince's Rebellion” broke out at Samsung. Lee Chang-hee, imitating his eldest brother, collected evidence of his father's illegal activities and reported them to the president, but the plot was exposed. Lee Byung-chul was furious upon hearing this, immediately placed his second son under house arrest, and even threatened to send him to a mental hospital. A pity for his pure bloodline; his fate was quite tragic.

But the struggle wasn't over. Lee Maeng-hee's wife, Son Bok-nam, had been with him for many years, and they had a son, Lee Jae-hyun. Although Lee Maeng-hee received no inheritance, Son Bok-nam unexpectedly obtained shares in Lee Byung-chul's insurance and Cheil Jedang. She later turned Cheil Jedang into CJ Group, and during a Samsung internal system adjustment, she exchanged shares to secure her son Lee Jae-hyun's position as president of CJ.

On the other hand, Lee Kun-hee naturally wouldn't tolerate such a thorn. He secretly manipulated behind the scenes, obstructing CJ Group's operations, causing CJ to suffer huge losses in acquisitions. He also sent employees to monitor and even attempted to tail Lee Jae-hyun. Although both sides denied that the incidents were related to inheritance disputes, the hostility between the two companies easily evokes thoughts of “crossfire” between the two family branches.

These were the grudges of the previous generation. As for Samsung's next generation, Lee Boo-jin's generation, it was even more interesting.

Take Lee Boo-jin, sitting before Zhao Fusheng. In 1995, at the age of twenty-four, Lee Boo-jin met Im Woo-jae, who was in charge of security at a charity event.

Although he was mediocre, love is blind, and Lee Boo-jin developed feelings for him. Of course, some say that as a bodyguard protecting the young lady, he caught her eye.

After dating for four years, they decided to marry. Both sets of parents opposed the union, but Lee Boo-jin patiently persuaded them. With their parents' permission, they married in 1999, and their wedding caused a sensation throughout Korea.

The son-in-law from a humble background instantly gained status. After marriage, Lee Boo-jin sent him abroad to study; he earned a master's degree from MIT, then gained experience at Samsung subsidiaries, and upon returning to Korea, was promoted to vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

But the son-in-law couldn't handle the pressure, claiming suicidal tendencies and complaining that the Lee family wouldn't allow his parents to see their grandson. He filed for divorce, and Lee Boo-jin, utterly disappointed, kicked him out with nothing.

Of course, that was many years later.

As for Lee Boo-jin's younger sister, she wasn't famous at the time, but Zhao Fusheng remembered that she later became quite wealthy. How she rose was unknown.

Lee Kun-hee's youngest daughter, Lee Yoon-hyung, was a smart, excellent girl, pure and lovely, called by the media “the most beautiful rich girl.”

She once ran a personal website that was very popular among Koreans, even closing due to excessive traffic.

But heaven was jealous of her beauty. The year before last, she died by hanging herself with an electrical cord in her Manhattan apartment. There were many rumors about the cause of death; Samsung's spokesperson at the time announced her death as a car accident.

But rumors said that, like her eldest sister, she fell in love with a poor boy.

Unable to bear the coldness of home and the unbreakable rules, she took up racing, seeking thrills on the track, where the uncontrollable nature of racing gave her a sense of freedom. It was then that a young man named Jo Moon-woo appeared before her.

Jo Moon-woo was an ordinary person, good at making girls happy. Soon, Lee Yoon-hyung was captured by love. But her father, Lee Kun-hee, wouldn't accept it. He told his daughter, “I can give you as many sports cars as you want, but not marriage. Your marriage belongs to the family; that's your fate as a Samsung.”

While comforting his daughter, Lee Kun-hee offered Jo Moon-woo a breakup fee of 10 billion won to leave his daughter. The other party didn't accept it and returned it untouched.

Lee Yoon-hyung lacked the strength to defy her father's will. She grew increasingly desperate. Finally, when she met her beloved again in New York, tears streamed down her face. Her life began to spiral out of control, like a wrecked race car. Under the heavy blow, she chose to end her meaningless life. Perhaps that was the unchangeable rule of being born into a豪门 family, the fate she was destined to bear.

To have power, one must endure more challenges. In the Samsung empire, people come and go, some happy, some sad. In this big dye vat, those who give their lives, those who suffer, are mostly lost in the torrent of time, flowing endlessly.

The grudges of the豪门 world are more dramatic than TV plots, but only those involved truly feel them.

As an outsider, Zhao Fusheng was familiar with the course of history, but he had nothing to say. After all, the woman before him was meeting him for the first time. Although Lee Boo-jin was beautiful and not much older than him, Zhao Fusheng still felt she was pitiable.

“How old are you, Ms. Lee?”

Zhao Fusheng smiled and suddenly asked Lee Boo-jin.

Lee Boo-jin was startled, a bit confused, but still replied, “I was born in 1970, so I'm thirty-seven. Am I getting old?”

As she spoke, she glanced at Zhao Fusheng. “And you?”

“I was born in '77.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Ms. Lee doesn't look like someone in her thirties. If I didn't know, I'd think you were about my age.”

“Haha, Chairman Zhao really knows how to talk.”

Lee Boo-jin laughed charmingly.

Women, no matter their age or status, like to hear that they look young. After all, for a woman, aging is undoubtedly the saddest thing.

Especially for someone of Lee Boo-jin's status, facing a man as young and handsome as Zhao Fusheng, who was even richer than her, and who complimented her—that feeling was undoubtedly very pleasant.

If at first Lee Boo-jin had intended to cultivate a relationship with Zhao Fusheng, now she found him much more agreeable.

“It's not that I know how to talk; it's the truth.” Zhao Fusheng smiled. “To be honest, when I invest in internet companies, I often rely on intuition.”

“That's not quite right.”

Lee Boo-jin blinked and said meaningfully, “I've looked at the materials. From the very beginning of your career, Chairman Zhao, you built your fortune on the internet, didn't you?”

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, not expecting Lee Boo-jin to know so much about him.

“Ms. Lee, I'm a bit surprised that you know so much about me.” Zhao Fusheng said to Lee Boo-jin. “Do you really want to enter the internet industry? Is this Samsung's idea, or your own?”

Lee Boo-jin was startled, frowned, but remained silent.

Clearly, she understood what Zhao Fusheng meant.

Zhao Fusheng's meaning was simple: if it was Lee Boo-jin's personal intention, they could talk; if it wasn't her personal intention but Samsung's desire to cooperate with him, then they would need to discuss it elsewhere.