Break out of the courtyard

February 1988, 2, the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Although the Tang family followed Zhang Heping into Shenzhen Peace College yesterday, they were still stopped by the college's gate guard the next morning. It was not until Zhang Bei came out to sign and take the people away that the guards at the gate let the Tang family enter the college.

When brother-in-law Tang Ren led his children and grandchildren to the Zhang family villa, Zhang Heping was in the living room, calling to wish everyone a happy new year on the landline.

It was not until the two teams of bodyguards from Hong Kong Island arrived to take over the shift that Zhang Heping put down the phone, went out to give red envelopes to the four teams of bodyguards, and sent off the previous two teams of bodyguards, allowing them to go home and spend the New Year with their families.

"Uncle!" After seeing Zhang Heping finish the handover of the bodyguards, the eldest nephew Tang Lie hurried over and said, "Second Uncle is planning to let Hutchison, CITIC, and Eagle Country Telegraph Bureau jointly establish a satellite company to cover broadcast and communication signals in Asia."

When Zhang Heping heard the words satellite and communication, he immediately thought of the 3 million yuan investment that Hong Kong Island Telecom made in Aerospace Group three years ago.

To this day, Hong Kong Island Telecommunications' satellite telephone business has not been developed, which makes him unhappy.

Seeing that Zhang Heping had no reaction, Tang Lie continued, "Now there are many foreign experts who are slandering your uncle's smartphone. Their main attack point is the network information transmission problem of smartphones surfing the Internet. They believe that the existing 2G communication network cannot support the Internet function of smartphones."

"They then concluded from this that the uncle's smartphone was fake."

Zhang Heping glanced at Tang Lie, frowned, and walked towards the artificial lake. "Just say what you want to say, don't beat around the bush!"

Tang Lie followed closely behind him, and after a moment's deliberation, he said, "Uncle, I definitely believe in the authenticity of smartphones. Today I want to ask you, after your smartphone comes out, will the network problem be solved through satellites or new communication base stations?"

"My second uncle wants me and Aqiang to invest in their satellite company and plan satellite network communication services in advance. Aqiang and I are a little unsure."

Zhang Heping looked at Tang Qiang in the distance. His third nephew was setting off fireworks with Zhang Nuo and a group of little kids. He was not as impatient as before.

"If you want to be a foreign 4G communication service provider, you can cooperate with the capital's telecommunications companies through Mr. Huang of Heping Investment's Shenzhen branch." Zhang Heping came to the lake and stood still, saying lightly:
"However, the 4G communication network will be eliminated by me in a few years. You should be prepared to cash out in advance."

Tang Lie on the right nodded hurriedly, "Thank you, uncle. I will go find Manager Huang when I go back to work after the holidays."

"Smartphones are just like computers. Heping Group cannot monopolize smartphone production." Zhang Heping continued, "By then, Tingmei Trading will only make high-end brand phones. Remember to save some money for building a factory and purchasing accessories."

After hearing these words, Tang Lie was stunned for a moment.

"Uncle, are you saying that we can make mid- and low-end mobile phones?" Tang Lie's tone was full of excitement.

"Mid-range phones make money, low-end phones sell in large quantities and attract traffic, crushing competitors." Zhang Heping said calmly: "I asked you to sell those mobile phone factories before because you created a bunch of messy mobile phone brands with no brand value at all."

"If you go out and ask how much a Peace computer costs now, don't many people know that Peace computers are very expensive, costing 1 yuan?"

"Go ask those mobile phone brands you sold before, how many people have heard of them?"

"Hehe!" Tang Lie scratched his head and grinned, "We listened to my uncle. You said to sell those mobile phone factories, so we sold them right away."

Zhang Heping turned around and saw his nephew pretending to be stupid. He raised his right hand and patted his shoulder. "You are the eldest of this generation of the Tang family. The younger brothers and sisters below you should take care of you. There is no end to the money you can make!"

Tang Lie didn't understand the meaning of Zhang Heping's last sentence. He didn't know if one of his brothers and sisters said something wrong. But when he saw Zhang Heping walking towards the villa, he hurriedly followed him and said, "Thank you for your reminder, uncle. I will pay more attention to my brothers and sisters in the future."

The reason why Zhang Heping asked Tang Lie to take care of his younger siblings was mainly because his second daughter Zhang Nan once complained to him that her grandfather had been talking to her about MP3, MP4 players, and digital cameras, and had been asking her, overtly or covertly, to take care of the Tang family and help her sell the products.

It’s not that Zhang Nan didn’t want the Tang family to sell on her behalf, but some people in the Tang family didn’t want to pay for the order, so they wanted to take the goods from her and sell them first. This was the most difficult thing for Zhang Nan to accept, because she was not without orders.

Zhang Heping did not speak for Zhang Nan, but just let her solve it herself.

Even when Zhang Heping said those words of care to Tang Lie just now, he said them very vaguely and had nothing to do with Zhang Nan. It was considered to save face for his father-in-law Tang Ming.

When Tang Ming and Tang Ren saw Tang Lie coming back with Zhang Heping with a smile on his face, they knew that Tang Lie must have agreed on some cooperation, which was why he was so happy.

Then, Tang Ren was seen holding a playing card and smilingly inviting Zhang Heping to go to the table outside the door to play bridge with his father Tang Ming.

In addition to seeking opportunities to make money, the main purpose of Tang Ren and his family coming here was actually to ask Zhang Heping about his views on the Japanese stock market.

As far as Zhang Heping knows, Tang Lie now controls trillions of yen worth of Japanese stocks in Magnesium, and the scale of Japanese stocks controlled by Tang Qiang in Hong Kong Island is also about to reach trillions of yen!
They made so much money that three generations of the Tang family felt a little uneasy!
But if they were asked to give up and stop making money like Zhang Heping, they would be very unwilling!

"Brother-in-law, say something!" Tang Ren put away his cards and stared at Zhang Heping. "You don't say anything, which makes me feel a little uneasy."

Zhang Heping glanced at his nephew Tang Lie, who was dealing cards as a dealer, and said calmly, "I have withdrawn from Japanese stocks. What do you want me to say?"

Tang Ren insisted, "Then tell me why you withdrew from Ri Island."

"The reason is very simple!" Zhang Heping tapped the table with his right index finger, signaling Tang Lie to deal the cards, and then continued: "I have invested too much money. If I don't withdraw early, how can I escape when the market ends? Will you support me? Or should I let Tang Lie pay for me to take over?"

"Everyone knows that the stock market can't keep going up, but they can't help but rush in out of greed. You ask me just to get some psychological comfort and to hear me say that I'm optimistic about Japanese stocks."

"Do you think I'm optimistic about Japanese stocks?" Zhang Heping threw a card and said calmly, "Or did the trillions of yen in the Stepmother Investment Company's account mislead you?"

Tang Ren randomly played a card and asked, "Brother-in-law means that stepmother's investment company will not buy Japanese stocks?"

Zhang Heping glanced at the cards that his father-in-law Tang Ming played next and said, "Last October, I helped the Japanese islanders to cover up and let them attack the magnesium stock market. Why didn't I take the opportunity to buy magnesium and Japanese stocks at low prices? Instead, I bought Hong Kong stocks?"

"I don't know!" Tang Ren shook his head in a very simple manner.

"First, it is for the positive image of Heping Group, and second, we don't want to be involved in the capital vortex of the Japanese and magnesium stock markets." Zhang Heping played another card and slowly said his prediction, "The Japanese did it on the first day last year, so won't the Magnesium do it on the fifteenth?"

"If you want to know when Japanese stocks will fall, you should always pay attention to when the Magnesium people plan to short Japanese stocks."

"After the stock market crash in October last year, Euro-Magnesium did not allow the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates. It was obvious that it was preventing the Japanese stock market from falling."

"If you were a Magnesian and wanted to avenge the Japanese for shorting Magnesium stocks, would you short Japanese stocks right away, or would you first push Japanese stocks up high and then kick them down from the clouds to the ground?"

Tang Lie couldn't help but interrupted, "I would definitely choose the latter. Push up the Japanese stock market, and then short it. This way, there will be a bigger drop, and I can make more money, thus recovering the losses from the sharp drop in magnesium stocks!"

"But, uncle!" Tang Lie immediately asked in confusion: "Since you have seen through the logic of the rise and fall, why don't you let your stepmother's investment company buy Japanese stocks? Or are you waiting to short Japanese stocks?" "I just said that I have to consider the positive image of the Heping Group!" Zhang Heping collected the small amount of money he had just won and signaled his nephew Tang Lie to continue dealing cards, "There is no end to making money, and it is not very useful to make too much money."

"Besides, I have many other ways to make money. I don't need to make money by shorting the stock market. That would offend people."

Zhang Heping said this without blushing, because he participated in short selling in the two stock market crashes last year but did not make any money in the process.

As for bottom fishing and making a profit from the stock price difference, that is a positive act of saving the market and is worthy of praise. Everyone in Hong Kong knows that the Hong Kong stock market has the Peace Group to maintain stability.

Zhang Heping said it so bluntly that Tang Ming, Tang Ren and Tang Lie, three generations of his family, obviously understood it.

How Tang Lie and Tang Qiang will manage the funds in their hands in the future depends on their own choices.

Zhang Heping first promised cooperation in 4G communications and smartphones, and then he made it clear that the magnesium giants had ill intentions towards Japanese stocks. This can be regarded as living up to the fact that his two nephews called him uncle.

When Zhang Heping saw his second sister and eldest cousin coming back, he stood up and said, "Alie, come and play. I'll go ask about the lunch arrangements at the restaurant."

Tang Ming saw his grandson Tang Lie shuffling the cards absentmindedly, and then saw Zhang Heping entering the villa, so he asked, "Now that we've come to this, what are you going to do? Are you going to withdraw the funds now, or wait for the action from the Magnesium guys?"

"Dad, you haven't been to Dongdu recently, so you don't know how crazy the stock speculators there are!" Tang Ren frowned and spoke excitedly, "Those people are crazy. The real estate speculators think that the house prices are rising too slowly, so they simply mortgage their houses to the bank and use the loans to speculate in stocks!"

"They are not crazy just because they only mortgaged the house to one bank. The key is that they took out multiple loans for the same house, even at high interest rates. Do you think they are crazy?"

Tang Ming frowned and looked at his grandson, saying seriously: "Alie, tell me what you think!"

Tang Lie thought for a moment and said, "My uncle told me before that I could work with telecom companies in the capital to become a 4G communications service provider abroad. I could also make mid- to low-end smartphones."

"He kept saying that there is no end to making money!" Tang Lie couldn't help but frown, as if he had made a big decision. He looked at his father Tang Ren and said, "Dad, for safety's sake, I want to withdraw half of the funds first."

"This half of the funds can be used to prevent a sharp decline in Japanese stocks, as a reserve fund for subsequent short selling of Japanese stocks, and to invest in 4G communications and smartphones,"

Tang Ming nodded slightly and agreed: "Alie's approach is more prudent! The reason why Heping did not advise you to withdraw from Japanese stocks directly is that he is afraid that Japanese stocks will continue to rise and you will blame him for delaying your making money."

"Like he said, there is no stock market that will always rise. Since you know that the Japanese stock market will plummet later, you should be prepared in advance."

"If our Tang family hadn't left a retreat in Hong Kong Island, we wouldn't be where we are today."

Tang Ren's right hand tightly grasped his left hand, frowned and said: "How about we let Aqiang withdraw half of his troops first? Alie is in Magnesium, so he can find out in time whether the Magnesium guys are shorting Japanese stocks!"

"The market is rising every day, even if it's only a few points, it can't stop us from investing a lot of money!"

"Dad!" Tang Lie reached out and held Tang Ren's right hand, shaking it heavily, "Have you noticed that we are very similar to those crazy Japanese people, who all want to bet their entire fortune on the continued rise of Japanese stocks!"

"Aren!" Tang Ming reminded him at the right time: "The purpose of your coming here this time is to ask Heping about his views on Japanese stocks. He has just explained it in an unconventional and thorough manner. Did you understand?"

……

Zhang Heping heard every word of the conversation between the three generations of the Tang family.

However, he is now concerned about the thoughts of his eldest cousin Ma Lili and his cousin-in-law Zhou Chengwen.

"How is it? The city is bustling, isn't it?" Zhang Heping sat on the sofa with a smile and said to his eldest cousin Ma Lili, "Wholesale clothes and sell them in the capital is too small a business. It is suitable for people like Zhou Laoer who have no skills to do it."

"You are different from my elder cousin. You know how to make clothes, but you just don't know the popular styles out there yet."

"Besides, my cousin's husband used to be a section chief in a large factory in the capital. Managing a small clothing factory shouldn't be a piece of cake for him."

Zhou Chengwen was so overwhelmed by Zhang Heping's praise that he selectively forgot that he was just a deputy section chief who ran errands.

Ma Lili said with some concern: "But we know nothing about running a factory. Even if you lend us money, I'm still nervous and don't dare to do it."

"Sister Lili!" Zhang Pandi, the second sister, comforted her from the side: "When Heping asked you to stay in the capital to learn tailoring, were you nervous?"

These words made Ma Lili suddenly think of the past, the first time she went to the capital with her grandfather, the time when Zhang Heping taught her how to make clothes, and the time when Zhang Heping helped her and her children get household registration in the capital.

"Oh!" Zhang Heping grabbed a handful of melon seeds, looked at Zhou Chengwen who was worried about gains and losses, and said with a smile: "Cousin, let me tell you, the things you are worried about are trivial in my opinion. As long as you agree, I will let Shu Ting arrange someone to help you with the relevant procedures, and you don't have to worry about the machine."

"The only thing you should worry about is that when you assign a secretary to Director Zhou in the future, you must not assign a female secretary, lest he develops feelings for the female secretary over time."

"No! No! Absolutely not!" Zhou Chengwen stood up hastily, blushing and saying, "I will never betray Lili!"

Zhang Heping laughed and said, "Men become bad when they have money, so we must be on guard against them!"

"Who says men become bad when they have money?" Chen Shuting came downstairs with her little son in her arms, smiling, "My husband won't do that!"

Zhou Chengwen and Zhang Yong pretended not to hear what was said. Zhang Heping has married two wives. If this is not considered as not bad, then what is considered bad?

After Chen Shuting came over and asked what Zhang Heping was talking about, she turned to Ma Lili and said with a smile, "How about this, Tingmei Trading will set up a Tingmei Clothing Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, with my eldest cousin's husband as the general manager and my eldest cousin as the chief designer."

"The clothes can be made by the clothing factory in Wancheng. They can be sold domestically or exported. Once you two are familiar with the business here, you can consider opening your own clothing factory."

Zhang Heping's proposal was to allow Ma Lili and her husband to open a factory and become rich in one step.

Chen Shuting's suggestion was more gentle, like boiling a frog in warm water, allowing Ma Lili and her husband to slowly discuss whether to set up a factory or go it alone and find a OEM factory.

As Shenzhen becomes more and more open, Ma Lili and her husband will inevitably be affected, and then they will begin to think about becoming their own boss.

However, the biggest difficulty facing the couple now is whether or not to go back and apply for unpaid leave!
Even though their factory hadn’t paid wages for more than half a year, the workers’ honor still deeply affected them… (End of this chapter)