money player

"Guangqian, the memorandum was rejected by the governor." Tan Lark Sye stroked the lump between his eyebrows and said to Lee Kong Chian with a dark face.

Last year, the British colonial authorities amended the immigration law to stipulate that people who were not born locally were not allowed to obtain citizenship, which caused extreme dissatisfaction among the Chinese. The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of the Chinese, submitted a memorandum of understanding on the relaxation of citizenship rights to the Governor's Office in February this year, requiring non-British Chinese to obtain citizenship.

"Expected."

Li Guangqian took two puffs of his pipe, then turned the pipe over, knocked it on the ashtray twice, shook out the burnt tobacco, and put the pipe aside.

After taking a sip of tea and rinsing his mouth, he said slowly, "Sixth brother, if it doesn't work this time, prepare to submit it next time. If it doesn't work next time, prepare to submit it again the next time. Don't stop submitting it. We must let the British colonial authorities and our Chinese compatriots know that we have not given up."

"Guangqian, there is no problem with submitting it again." Tan Lark Sye knocked his fist on the table, "But the British are hateful. They have always been against us Chinese. They will most likely reject it next time."

"Not necessarily." Li Guangqian waved his hand. "Sixth brother, have you heard of the name Xian Yaowen?"

"The one whose wedding all the powerful Brits in town went to?"

"Yes, that's him." Lee Kong Chian nodded slightly. "Yao Wen is an amazing young man. He joined the Anti-Japanese War at the age of ten. At the end of the year before last, when he was eighteen, he came to Hong Kong from the countryside and founded the Chinese Garment Company. Last year, he came to Singapore, bought a rubber plantation, and bought a large amount of rubber futures to increase the price, making a huge profit of 850 million..."

Chen Liushi interrupted, "I have heard about this matter. I am very curious about how Xian Yaowen guessed that the price of rubber would rise."

"I didn't guess it, I calculated it. His rubber plantation and futures were bought by our Li family, so we got in touch. After we got to know each other, I asked him this question, and his answer shocked me."

Having said this, Li Guangqian paused.

"What are you shocked about?" Chen Liushi, who was impatient, asked hurriedly, "Tell me quickly."

Li Guangqian chuckled and continued slowly: "Yaowen told me that he has been paying attention to the development of the Cold War situation between the United States and the Soviet Union since the Berlin Airlift. The Soviet Union will consider opening a second front after its defeat in Europe, and apart from Europe, only Asia meets this requirement.

The situations in China, Vietnam and North Korea have changed greatly since the end of 1948 or the beginning of 1949, indicating that the Soviet Union was exerting its strength.

Yao Wen said that people who leave their hometowns are despised, and if they can stay, he doesn't want to leave. He wants to stay in the countryside to be a teacher, teach and farm, marry Shui Mo and have a bunch of children. "

"Who among us Chinese who have come here wants to leave home? We have to stay here. If we don't starve to death in the countryside, we will die of poverty." Another guest interrupted.

"It was only when he could no longer stay that Yaowen left for Hong Kong. With convenient channels, he ordered all the newspapers he could, both Chinese and Hong Mao. In order to read the newspapers, he even learned several Hong Mao languages."

Li Guangqian paused and praised: "Yaowen is an amazing young man. He can learn the Red Hair Language very well by himself. He is no worse than me who studied abroad."

"I know you can speak red-hair language, so go on." Chen Liushi's temper flared up again.

Having known each other for decades, they knew each other very well. Lee was not annoyed by repeated interruptions, and continued, "With more abundant sources of information, Yaowen's judgment of the current situation is more accurate. In February last year, he was certain that North Korea and South Korea would have a war, and that the United States would be involved."

"Because he foresaw the war, did Xian Yaowen know that rubber prices would rise?"

"Yes, that's what Yao Wen said." Lee Kong Chian said sincerely: "Yao Wen's vision is not what I admire most. What I admire most is that he knows when to advance and when to retreat. He started selling rubber plantations as soon as the rubber price started to rise."

"Of course you say that because you got the advantage." Chen Liushi muttered.

Although Yik Wo and Nam Yik were equally dominant, there was still a gap in scale between them. Chen Liushi was naturally unhappy about lagging behind others. As he was no match for Lee Kong Chian in the rubber industry, he had already planned to diversify his operations and enter other industries.

Lee Kong Chian smiled faintly and said, “Sixth brother, Yao Wen and I once discussed the topic of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. He said that the problems of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia must be considered in the context of the international situation.

In 1946, the colonial authorities took over Singapore again and began to restore the devastated Singapore economy. At the same time, war broke out in Tangshan, and a large number of Chinese chose to immigrate to escape the war. The demobilized overseas Chinese also wanted to return to Southeast Asia. The colonial authorities took relevant measures to receive Chinese immigrants and demobilized overseas Chinese.

In order to absorb overseas Chinese labor to rebuild Singapore, the colonial authorities at that time adopted a relaxed entry policy for Chinese immigrants. They "did not care about the presence or absence of certificates or the address investigation in Singapore". They also prepared a series of reception measures for demobilized overseas Chinese, such as vaccination, establishment of guesthouses, and purchase of tickets.

With the influx of a large number of immigrants, Singapore faces a prominent housing shortage problem, especially in urban areas.

Singapore's overcrowding and housing shortage problems appeared as early as the beginning of the century. The situation has been exacerbated with the influx of Chinese, Indian and Malay immigrants in the past two years.

Chinese immigrants have a tradition of relying on relatives and friends. After gaining a foothold in a local area, they often bring their entire family to the country of residence. For Singapore, this means that the local housing shortage will be further exacerbated.

The housing shortage is clearly one of the important reasons that prompted the Singapore Immigration Department to tighten its entry policy to reduce the scale of immigration.

Faced with the increasingly serious housing shortage, the colonial authorities did not choose to increase revenue. After the war, colonial independence movements occurred frequently, and the colonial authorities were unwilling to invest large amounts of money in Singapore's infrastructure. Therefore, the colonial authorities could only choose to cut costs and control the influx of foreign immigrants into Singapore.

This was one of the reasons why the colonial authorities promulgated the Emergency Ordinance. The second reason was the well-known issue of the Malayan Communist Party.

The struggle of the Malayan Communist Party directly led to a sharp change in the immigration policy of overseas Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. On the one hand, the Malayan Communist Party was composed of Chinese people, and on the other hand, due to the suppression, the Malayan Communist Party was forced to move its activities underground or in the countryside, and the overseas Chinese whose interests were damaged sympathized with the Malayan Communist Party.

The Chinese living in remote areas were most receptive to the Malayan Communist Party's propaganda, and they provided food, intelligence and recruited members to the guerrillas.

The Chinese's help to the Malayan Communist Party, and even some of them joining the Malayan Communist Party in the anti-British movement, were unacceptable to the British colonists.

In order to safeguard their colonial interests in Southeast Asia, the colonial authorities exercised strict control over overseas Chinese in the colonies. Restricting the entry and exit of overseas Chinese was one of their means. The main purpose was to cut off the connection between overseas Chinese and Tangshan and prevent the Malayan Communist Party from posing a greater threat to the colonial authorities.

In order to fight against the Malayan Communist Party, the colonial authorities adopted the policy of "rather kill the wrong people than let them go", treating all the Chinese living in rural areas, forest edges and suburbs in Singapore and Malaysia as supporters of the Malayan Communist Party. They even wanted to deport 50 Chinese back to Tangshan.

However, since the colonial authorities did not have such economic strength and under the new changes in the world situation, they had no choice but to keep the overseas Chinese where they were and strictly control their entry and exit.

After the founding of New China, it became more difficult for the colonial authorities to repatriate the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. Then, the Korean War broke out, and the export volume of the rubber and tin mining industries in Malaya soared.

Due to its geographical limitations, Singapore's economic development mainly relied on re-export trade. As re-export trade was lucrative, the colonial authorities vigorously supported re-export trade in Singapore.

The tin and glue industry, which was mainly staffed by Chinese workers, was not only the lifeline of Singapore's re-export trade, but also one of the important economic sources for the colonial authorities.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, overseas Chinese were jubilant and many returned to China to participate in the construction of the new China. In particular, there was a wave of returnees from Singapore and Malaysia. In order to ensure a continuous and stable supply of labor, the colonial authorities further strengthened the control over the exit of overseas Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia.

Lee Kong Chian paused and continued, “On the one hand, the colonial authorities wanted to maintain their political status and absolute voice in both Singapore and Malaysia, and on the other hand, they forcibly separated the overseas Chinese from Tangshan in terms of geographical space to prevent the two from connecting with each other and promoting the local anti-colonial movement.

On the other hand, they had to safeguard their economic interests in Singapore and Malaysia, strictly restrict the outflow of overseas Chinese from the two places in an emergency, ensure the overall scale of human resources consisting mainly of Chinese workers, maintain the production and export of the tin and glue industry in the two places, and thus obtain high US dollar income.

As a city with a predominantly Chinese population and a large-scale re-export trade center, the colonial authorities had to implement the same strict policy of restricting the entry and exit of overseas Chinese as in the Federation of Malaya.

Lee Kong Chian picked up his pipe again and filled it with new tobacco. "Yao Wen said it well, we can't just think about the Chinese, what the Chinese think, what the Chinese want.

The issue of the Chinese has never been an independent one. If we want to fight for the rights of the Chinese, we need to pay attention to the development of the world situation. When the situation is most favorable to us, we should focus our efforts, and then the rights we want will be easier to obtain. "

"In this case, is it necessary for us to submit it again and again? It is better to wait for an opportunity and launch a general attack." Chen Liushi said.

Another guest laughed and said, "Six Envoys, that's not the case. Just like your proposal to sponsor the University of Malaya and build the new Guanghua School and Nanyang Girls' High School, other Chinese people have seen it and know that the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Fujian Association are doing things for the Chinese. That's why they will let us represent them and their hearts will not be scattered."

Lee Kong Chian said: "A Xia is right. We should still work hard even if it means nothing. We should let our compatriots see that we are doing something. Let's not talk for now. Let's eat. Today's black pot braised chicken is good. Let's all try it."

……

New era.

Shui Xian said to Xian Yaowen who was playing finger-guessing with Pei Lan, "Master, I want to get my hair done after dinner."

"Eight horses, six straight, you lose, drink." Xian Yaowen won over Perrin and turned to look at Narcissus, "Is there a rest area in the barber shop you often go to? I want to take a rest."

Narcissus lifted the ends of her hair and said, "I just want to trim it. It won't take long. And the barbershop I'm going to is on Mount Washington, where the scenery is beautiful."

"Yeah." Xian Yaowen nodded, "In fact, you can hire a barber to serve you exclusively. It's troublesome to go to the barber shop frequently."

"That's fine. I'll talk to a barber I know."

The two men left the dancers and chatted about trivial matters until the end of lunch.

In the afternoon, the two changed places and had a cup of coffee to digest the food, and then went to Mount Washington opposite the Red Light Pier.

It is called a mountain, but in fact it is just a small hill, but it is adjacent to Pasir Panjang and Tanjong Pagar. It is called Silat Gate in Hokkien, which means Singapore Gate.

After getting off the car at the gate of Washington Villa on the mountain, Narcissus immediately presented the treasure and said, "Master, I bought this villa for only 10 yuan. I think it will appreciate in value soon."

"Only 10?" Xian Yaowen smiled faintly and said, "You used this word well, it's worth tens of thousands."

Xian Yaowen probably knows more about Mount Washington than Narcissus. Mount Washington was later called Mount Faber, and was later called Telok Blangah. It has a special meaning in Singapore, and the Olympic flame will be lit on the mountain.

Washington Villa would later be called Acuff Villa, which was said to be the surname of the owner before it was expropriated by the government. He had been here before. When he came, it was a high-end restaurant. The history of the villa was displayed in the restaurant lobby:
The first owner and builder of this place was Wang Shengyin. Due to financial difficulties, the villa was mortgaged and later fell into the hands of the Akaf family from Arabia. Because the Akaf family believed in Islam, they turned the villa into a holy place for Muslims in Singapore. It is said that it once hosted Ma Lin, the chairman of QH Province and Ma Bufang's arch-enemy, who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Before the war, the ownership of the villa fell into the hands of the Yang family, who used it as a gathering place for members of the Yang Clan Association for a period of time. It was occupied by the Japanese invaders during the Shonan period. After the war, the ownership returned to the Acuff family. Later, the villa was donated to the World Buddhist Society. The donor was not the Yang family or the Acuff family, but the British military. No one knows what happened.

Narcissus said with a smile: "Master, you don't know, but the villa is not just this house, it also includes 34 acres and 28 rods (14.92 square meters) of land."

Xian Yaowen thought for a moment and came to a conclusion - no matter how cheap the land in Mount Washington is, it can be sold for 8 cents to 1 cents per square foot. With 160.66 square feet, the land is worth at least $12.85. Moreover, the land is not bare, but planted with coconut trees and rubber trees, so it is worth around $2. The building is worth $6 to $8.

Narcissus was bought at less than half the price, and there is something to it.

"You want to give me a surprise?"

Narcissus held Xian Yaowen's hand, raised her head and pointed at the second floor of the building, "This place was bought with my own private money. There is a room upstairs that can be converted into a study. When the master doesn't want to live in the city, he can live here. You can see the sea all year round, and you can pick fresh coconuts to eat in the summer."

Xian Yaowen patted Narcissus's little face and said, "You are thoughtful, but I still want to know how you bought it here for less than half the price."

Narcissus hesitated for a while and said, "The original owner of this place is an acquaintance of mine. He was in urgent need of money, so he sold it to me at a low price."

"Is your friend's last name Yang or Akafu?"

Narcissus looked up at Xian Yaowen's face and asked, "Master, do you know this place?"

“Somewhat.”

"Oh." Narcissus nodded gently, "My friend is Sai Yawi Akaf, the grandson of Abdul Rahman Akaf, the former owner of this place."

Xian Yaowen pulled his hand out of Narcissus's palm, held her arms with both hands, looked straight into her eyes, and said in a deep voice: "Do I need to be jealous of your friend?"

Narcissus smiled and shook her head, "Master, you don't have to be jealous. Sai Yawei and I met at the Pipa Hall. He is not my guest... Well, he is also my guest. I have helped him before."

"Oh..." Xian Yaowen said in a long tone: "Do you have something on him?"

"No, Sai Yawei wants to develop in Egypt and needs money urgently. Also..." Narcissus glanced at Xian Yaowen cautiously, "and he asked me for a favor."

"Is it the kind of busy I thought it was?" Xian Yaowen said with a straight face.

"Ah."

"I won't say anything to you this time, but don't let it happen next time." Xian Yaowen patted Narcissus's little face, "Your background as a gangster is nothing, as long as I don't mind, others won't care too much. But your identity as a secret society member is very important. Secret societies are just chamber pots, which cannot be put on the table. If people know that you were a member of a secret society, they will exclude you.

I'll tell you again, let your subordinates do the shady things, and you should stay away from them. You should do the bright and beautiful things, do you understand?"

Narcissus nodded timidly, "Master, I understand."

"Yeah." Xian Yaowen hugged Narcissus and walked towards the door with the sign of Nandu Barber Shop, "How long is the lease here?"

"The lease for the first floor ends in June, and the second floor has been vacated. I'll have a few red-turbaned people come over to clean it up in a couple of days."

"The rubber tapping season will begin in two months. Have you found workers yet?"

"The rubber trees were contracted to Nam Yik Company a few years ago, and the contract expires at the end of the rubber tapping season next January. Nam Yik's people came to me and asked me if I wanted to renew the contract. Master, do you want to renew it?"

"This is your private property, you make your own decision."

"All mine belongs to the master, so of course the master has the final say here."

"What's yours is yours. I can only stay here occasionally." Xian Yaowen tightened Narcissus's arms. "However, I have a good relationship with the Li family. The rubber trees will continue to be contracted to Nan Yi, but the contract is signed for one year. You don't have to breach the contract if you have new ideas.

You can clearly tell this to the person who comes to contact you.”

"What about the coconut trees? We estimate that we can harvest 5 kilograms of coconuts this year, but we haven't contacted the buyers yet."

"30 tons, not too much, not too little. No need to find a buyer. Just sell it to me and I will ship it back to Hong Kong to make coconut chicken."

Narcissus smiled and said, "Coconut chicken should be made with yellow coconuts. The coconuts here are all green. Besides, 5 kilograms, can you finish them, sir?"

"If you can't finish it, you can ship it to London. I met a friend who owns a restaurant there, and I can make a coconut chicken rice dish out of it."

The two of them talked as they entered the barber shop. Narcissus was getting her hair done while Xian Yaowen was reading a newspaper in the rest area.

While waiting, the idle barbers talked about the union struggle, which was to further improve the treatment of barbers - on the basis of the 30-70 split between boss and barber achieved in the last struggle, they would strive for a 28 split, shorten the working hours by two hours again, to an eight-hour work system, and strive for a double day off instead of the original single day off.

Xian Yaowen shook his head when he heard this. If the barber shop owner adopted a 20:80 split and reduced business hours, he didn't know if he could make the rent. If the boss didn't make as much as the employees, who would be the boss?

This also made him alert. It seemed that the influence of the Malayan Communist Party had been deeply involved in the trade unions. He wondered whether the female workers of Jin Mantang Clothing were ready to make a move.

After reading half of the newspaper, his mind started to work. After the female workers recruited by Jin Mantang Clothing in Singapore become skilled workers, it might be necessary to upgrade their status from garment workers to garment workshop owners.

Jin Mantang no longer pays wages or benefits. It regards each female garment worker as the owner of a OEM garment workshop and outsources the cutting process to them. It signs a contract for each batch of goods, sets a delivery time and penalty, and charges sewing machine rental fees.

It doesn’t matter if the female bosses only work for three minutes a day, but if they fail to deliver on time, they will have to pay the penalty.

In addition, in order to solve the troubles of commuting for female bosses, they can also ask Jin Mantang to buy sewing machines in installments, and use part of the initial processing fee to pay for the sewing machines. In this way, female bosses can start working at home and make money and take care of children at the same time.

There will always be a few female workers with the potential to be garment factory owners. We should place more orders to them, support them in setting up their own garment factories, further expand the Malayan OEM factory cluster plan, and prepare for the next step of full OEM.

"This plan is called the 'Beauty and Reunion Together' plan, or the Meituan plan for short."

Xian Yaowen stroked his chin, thinking that next time he went to Tokyo, he would have to visit Brother International Co., Ltd. Chairman Masayoshi Yasui to discuss the issue of shares. Once the Meituan plan was implemented, the sales of sewing machines would definitely increase a lot, and it would be meaningless to just make a little profit from the price difference.

At some point, Narcissus had her hair done and was standing in front of him. She shook her hair and asked with a smile, "Master, does this hairstyle of mine look good?"

Xian Yaowen looked in the direction of the voice and saw that Narcissus's original bun had come loose, with her hair hanging naturally in the middle and the ends forming fluffy curls, a bit similar to Rita Hayworth's classic hairstyle, but overall more inclined to the retro style of later generations.

"It looks good and suits you very well." Xian Yaowen looked at Narcissus's top and said after a moment's consideration, "But this dress doesn't match your hairstyle very well. Change it to a short-sleeved shirt with a white background and large black polka dots, and match it with a skirt with a black background and small white polka dots. Hmm, wait."

As he spoke, Xian Yaowen took out a notebook from his briefcase, quickly drew a simple diagram, and showed it to Narcissus, "Here, that's it."

Narcissus came up to him and took a look at the picture. "It looks good. Master, can you accompany me to the cloth shop? I want to buy some cloth and make it today."

Xian Yaowen glanced at his watch and said, "There's still time. Let's go now."

"Ah."

Xian Yaowen accompanied Shuixian to several cloth shops and bought the two kinds of cloth they needed. They then went to a tailor shop to have their measurements taken and to be taught the sewing process. Afterwards, they went to the coffee shop where they had an appointment with Li Yueru.

Compared to the last time they met, Li Yueru looked much better, but her complexion was dull and covered with spots, indicating that she had endocrine disorders.

Xian Yaowen asked knowingly, "Ms. Li, are you and Mr. Zhang okay?" (End of this chapter)