money player

“That’s fantastic. I’ll definitely visit again next time I travel to Asia.” Kennedy took out his cigar pouch and handed one to Sin Yiu-man.

Sin Yiu-man waved his hand, "In order to get my body into the best condition, I have given up cigars."

Kennedy put the cigar back in the cigar pouch and said candidly, "I don't smoke cigars, but I often have to use them as props."

Sin Yiu-man shrugged and laughed, “The marketing of cigars is quite successful. Smoking cigars has become a symbolic behavior of a certain social class, as if not smoking cigars means you are not a confident, successful, and authoritative male figure at the top of society. I used to smoke cigars because I was bound by this statement.”

“Me too,” Kennedy said with empathy. “A Kennedy who smokes a cigar is more likely to gain acceptance.”

“To hell with cigars,” Sin Yiu-man muttered. “John, if it weren’t for your party, I would probably be on my way to Boston by now. Today is the day the Red Sox play the Indians.”

"Adam, are you a Red Sox fan?"

"No, I am the future owner of the Red Sox. I have a sports brand and I am in contact with Tom Jokic."

Kennedy frowned and said, "Tom Jokic has run the Red Sox very well."

"John, are you a Red Sox fan?"

"A loyal fan."

"You can trust me. My motivation for acquiring the Red Sox is twofold: first, I love the team, and second, I want to promote my sports brand. The better the Red Sox performs, the better the promotion will be. I will invest heavily to improve the Red Sox's performance."

"Adam, a team's performance is not necessarily related to the amount of investment."

"On the contrary, I think it's very important. If I successfully acquire the Red Sox, it will greatly increase the income of stars like Ted Williams, possibly up to $30 a year. That's just their salary; I'll also give them additional income."

"You want to increase player revenue to improve their performance?"

"uh-huh."

"I don't think this is a good idea. When players play for money, baseball is no longer a pure sport."

"Baseball is Ted Williams' livelihood. His wife and children depend on him to support them. As long as he works hard and achieves good results, his and his family's lives will get better and better."

Sin Yiu-man shrugged. “John, this is the true American value system. Only when people are materially well-off and their lives are secure can they pursue purity.”

Kennedy reached his left hand behind his back and rubbed his spine up and down as if deep in thought.

Sin Yiu-man glanced at Kennedy's hand gestures, then turned his attention to the wine glass, picked it up, and gently swirled it.

In his previous life, Kennedy died under suspicious circumstances, and the federal government conducted a continuous investigation into the cause of his death. As the investigation progressed, his health condition was also revealed.

Kennedy suffered from Edison's disease, a condition considered to prevent him from performing public duties, as well as severe chronic back pain, congenital scoliosis, sacral abnormalities, and a left leg shorter than his right, which caused him to walk incorrectly.

During World War II, the PT-109 torpedo boat he commanded was sunk by a Japanese destroyer, and he suffered a severe back injury, which aggravated his pre-existing condition.

Because of this, Kennedy did not hide his back pain from the public, but attributed the cause of the pain to "heroic acts".

The main symptom of Edison's disease is extreme fatigue, making one look listless all year round. However, Kennedy was not like that. He looked energetic and showed no signs of fatigue. If Edison's disease were true, he should have been injecting corticosteroids and testosterone for many years.

To suppress the drowsy side effects of steroids, he should take stimulants year-round; currently, the most readily available stimulant is amphetamine.

To suppress the anxiety and psychotic symptoms caused by stimulants, he estimates he will need to take sedatives and sleeping pills regularly to help him sleep.

To relieve back pain, codeine and pethidine are probably indispensable.

The combination of multiple medications in cocktail therapy can lead to extreme emotional instability and health risks. Kennedy could have suddenly collapsed and never woken up again at any time. The uncertainty of life made his emotions even more unstable.

Testosterone combined with stimulants can cause extreme sexual arousal, which provides a physiological explanation for Kennedy's philandering, making his extramarital affairs understandable and deserving of sympathy.

However, someone with such unstable emotions must have had a truly ugly private side. Marilyn Monroe probably saw his true face and may have used it to blackmail him, which is why she died under mysterious circumstances.

Sin Yiu-man didn't have a good impression of Marilyn Monroe, but he always had some connection with her. Firstly, he wanted to ride on her coattails and benefit from her likely rise to fame. Secondly, he was curious about the cause of her death. He kept a distance from her, receiving most of the information about her, which narrowed down the scope of speculation and made it easier to guess in the future.

Yes, it's merely for the sake of speculation; he wouldn't waste resources monitoring Marilyn Monroe around the clock for a trivial curiosity. Besides, he might have already changed Monroe's life, and she might not have met Kennedy as she did in the original timeline.

With a jumble of information swirling in his mind, Sin Yiu-man weighed whether he should get closer to Kennedy. People with unstable emotions are prone to losing control, and if Kennedy falters at a crucial moment, who knows how much damage it would cause.

You should place your bets on Kennedy, but don't get too close. Instead, try to befriend the Kennedy family and keep up with that old fox, John F. Kennedy.

However, before making a decision, it's best to observe Kennedy further and confirm that Edison's disease is indeed the case.

He decided on the strategy of befriending Kennedy, and Kennedy finished his deliberations.

"Adam, your words have given me great inspiration. In Indochina, I observed that the reason why the Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh was so powerful was not only because it was communist, but also because it successfully utilized the strong anti-French colonial national sentiment of the Vietnamese people."

In Indochina, we are mistakenly allying ourselves with a dying colonial empire against a powerful nationalist movement, which makes us appear in the eyes of Asians as complicit in colonialism, thus handing over this powerful force of nationalism to communism.

Kennedy spoke fluently, his face radiating confidence.

“I believe that the struggle against communism is not just a military struggle, but also a political and economic struggle to win the hearts and minds of the people. We should support genuine nationalist and non-communist forces and provide Asian countries with a more attractive development path than communism by offering economic aid, technical support and social reform programs.”

Sin Yiu-man muttered to himself, "Shouldn't we talk about material and spiritual pursuits first, and then steer the conversation toward ideologies?"

He took out three prepared checks from his suit pocket and handed them to Kennedy, “One for the Jews, one for the Chinese, and one for Grace.”

Kennedy looked at the amount on each check, put them away, and said, "Where should the documents be sent?"

Once a campaign team receives a donation, it must issue a formal legal document, a "donation confirmation letter," which includes information about the donor, the donation, the campaign committee, a disclaimer, tax details, and clarifies the source of the donation.

"Anonymous donations" only exist for negligible small amounts, and the accumulated amount cannot be too high, otherwise it will become a point of attack for competitors.

"The office of Jorge Guinno Company".

“OK.” Kennedy nodded to Kelly. “I’ll host another party in September and invite you both.”

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Kennedy left for the next booth.

After sitting for another half hour, Sin Yiu-man and Kelly left. Xie Tingyun escorted Kelly back home, and Sin Yiu-man returned to his room and called Ava Gana, inviting her to come over for an all-nighter. She replied that she would come right away.

Jia Na arrived quickly; before Xian Yaowen could even get out of the bathtub, half of it was already occupied.

Looking at the beautiful woman nestled in his arms, Xian Yaowen said, "So, you and Frank are over?"

Jia Na crossed her legs and gently stroked them. "Our marriage is over, but I will never stop loving Frank."

"Wow, what a modern way of expressing love."

Jana picked up a towel from the side to wipe her hands, then lit a cigarette. "The problem between Frank and me is that we love each other madly, but most of the time, we want to kill each other."

"So, you've separated and want to cool off?"

"Yes, he moved to the guest room and went in and out through the back door, while I went in through the front door. We lived in the same house, but we never saw each other or spoke to each other."

Xian Yaowen gently touched the bruise near Jia Na's collarbone. "You two had a fight?"

“We’ve been arguing non-stop since the day we got married. We always end up throwing things at each other. Yesterday, I used a knife and cut his palm.” Jia Na frowned and smoked. “I regret it every time we argue, but we still end up arguing again next time.”

"Your words are contradictory."

"Isn't it contradictory? We want to put on a show of affection in public, and we want to go back together, don't we?"

"Oh, so the reason you two were arguing yesterday was because Frank took too long in the bathroom?"

"No, but pretty much, it's just a small matter." Jia Na stubbed out her cigarette, turned over, kissed Xian Yaowen on the lips for a while, and then looked at him with seductive eyes, "Let's change the subject, I don't want to talk to you about Frank."

"What to talk about?"

"For example, money, cash."

"You received cash from New York?"

"uh-huh."

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'll have 15 left over from this money, and I plan to do something with it."

"Business?"

"Hmm, I'd like to hear your advice."

Is it related to the movie?

"Adam, I'm just a tobacco farmer's son from Grubbtown. I know nothing but movies."

Sin Yiu-man gently patted Ka-na's back to comfort her, "15 is a lot. There are many things you can do with it. You can open a restaurant or a bar and use your connections in the industry to gain recognition."

"This is not a good idea; I don't actually like socializing."

Sin Yiu-man shrugged. "Okay, you missed the simplest and least risky investment model. The others are more complicated and require some time to explain to you. It's not convenient to talk about them while you're in the water. Get up, let's go to the living room."

"uh-huh."

The two got out of the bathtub, put on their bathrobes, went to the living room, and sat facing each other across the phone.

"My first, more complicated suggestion is to set up a company that specializes in producing TV movies. TV stations are facing a serious content shortage and urgently need a lot of programs to fill their daily broadcast time. If you negotiate with the TV stations yourself, you should be able to get a good cooperation agreement."

"Me?!" Jana exclaimed. "What a brilliant idea! Don't you know that television is Hollywood's number one enemy? Louis will strangle me."

Sin Yiu-man smiled faintly: "If you don't step in, you can only put more effort into the content of the film. TV movies are much easier to produce than movies. A film can be made for ten or twenty thousand US dollars. Once the production team is mature, they can shoot several films a month. They can make a profit from product placement and another profit from film sales. Making thirty or forty thousand US dollars per film is not a problem."

Jia Na asked suspiciously, "Is it that simple?"

"Is it simple?" Sin Yiu-man shook his head. "It's not simple. Television viewers and movie viewers need different content. Even if it's the same person, before you start, you need to do market research, figure out the main television audience, and investigate what they like to produce, and then produce according to their preferences."

Even with thorough pre-production work, the content produced may not necessarily be liked by television viewers, and a bit of luck is needed to achieve high ratings.

"That sounds complicated. Do you have a simpler suggestion?"

“There are currently 42 drive-in theaters in Los Angeles. I’ve calculated that this number is not yet saturated. $15 is enough to open two theaters. If you have the right experience, you can make about $250 a day. It will take about a year to break even and make a profit.”

After operating for a year, you need to constantly monitor the number of drive-in theaters. Once you reach 55, that's a saturation point, and business will become much more difficult. You'll need to immediately find a buyer to sell the theater and exit the business in time.

"It still seems quite complicated, doesn't it...?"

Sin Yiu-man quipped, "How about you rent a long-term room in a hotel, and I'll help you find guests? $2000 a night?"

“Fuck you!” Jia Na shouted angrily.

“Fuck you, fuck you, and especially fuck you,” Sin Yiu-man retorted directly.

Jia Na leaped onto the table, and as soon as she regained her footing, she raised her right foot and kicked Xian Yaowen in the chest.

Xian Yaowen didn't dare to pull her calf, so he tilted to the right to avoid it. He reached forward with his left hand, grabbed her thigh, and pulled her towards him. Just in time, he reached out with his right hand to support her waist. Once he was steady, he grabbed her bathrobe and turned her over, pressing her face down on the table.

He stood up, pressed his left hand against her back to immobilize her, and slapped her buttocks with his right hand, teasingly saying, "You'd better control your temper here, or I'll hang you up and beat you."

"Fuck you."

“Okay, I like wildcats too,” Xian Yaowen said, lifting his robe.

"Fuck..."

The next day.

At 7:30, Sin Yiu-man, Kelly, and Bill had breakfast together.

The three of them chatted about matters related to BigDog, such as share distribution, recruitment, and operation. They talked for more than three hours, and the time directly transitioned to lunchtime.

Lunch with Hedy Lamarr to discuss patent matters related to frequency hopping spread spectrum technology.

The result of the negotiations was that Rama would hand over the patent operation to the parrot, and she would receive 30% of the profits obtained through the patent during the patent period.

At noon, while I was at Jorge Guinness's office, I received a call from Doris Duke. She said she liked Ogilvy's advertising proposal and would mention it to the board of directors of American Tobacco. She said it was just a mention and she wouldn't strongly recommend it. I replied that I was very grateful.

Mentioning it is like getting into a temple; it gives you the opportunity to make a proposal. Last year, the advertising budget for the entire US tobacco industry was about $3 million, and this year it will remain roughly the same. The US tobacco company's budget is about $8000 million, with the Lucky Strike brand accounting for one-third of it.

According to the unspoken rules of the advertising industry, excluding the portion that advertising companies cannot share, if Ogilvy had acquired Lucky Strike, he could have guaranteed roughly $300 million in revenue per year. This figure is already quite considerable, not to mention the prestige boost and advertising effect of acquiring Lucky Strike. Roughly estimated, there would be at least another $300 million.

Sin Yiu-man called Christina to Jorge Guinness and gave her a part-time job as an "advertising liaison" for a supermodel agency, so that she could better access model resources in the future.

Regardless of company size, the cost ultimately comes from the customer. However, as the company grows larger, some of the profits will end up in the hands of the underlings, and the decision-making power for most matters also rests with them. When several advertising companies are capable of "smoothly delivering," using any of them becomes irrelevant, and the underlings will naturally sit back and watch the sycophants fawn over them.

On the lawn in front of Jorge Guinness's house, Sin Yiu-man gave Christina a four-word motto: "Talk, sing, and boast."

Afternoon tea time.

I talked to Clay Simpson about the development strategy of the YMCA. We started by discussing personal compensation. Simpson's acquisition of management shares was put on the agenda, and the corresponding number of shares he could receive for different performance levels was clearly defined.

Then we talked about the entire process of the blonde bombshells from rehearsals to their market launch, as well as the McGuire sisters' and Dorothy Dandridge's record releases and charting, and how they recruited new talent.

The good songs are ready. He has fully considered the limitations of the times when preparing the songs. Even if he is unlucky, not every song will fail. Even if he is really unlucky, he doesn't need to worry too much. In addition to what he considers to be "good songs", he has also prepared dozens of other good songs. The best songs have become part of the bombardment. He can still fight his way out.

For several of Jorge Guinness's major projects, such as "Roman Holiday" and "Titanic," Simpson wasn't qualified to drive them; he had to remotely manage them and sometimes even fly around in the air.

In one afternoon, everything that needed to be explained was explained. At the end, he gave Simpson a little nudge, telling him to keep his crotch a little more in check.

Over the next day and two nights, he went through all the Hollywood-related matters, made a call to his lawyer, Sidney Kosark, to subtly urge the investment progress, and before boarding the plane, he met with Wu Yimei again to tell her how to seek help in case of a mishap. Then he flew back to New York, leaving Los Angeles behind.

……

At the end of Kanda Jimbocho, there is a Matsunaga Suzaku-so restaurant, which is undoubtedly owned by Yoshiko Matsuda.

In 1951 Japan, operating a gambling den was illegal, but the supervision was very lax. In addition, high-ranking officials of the Metropolitan Police Department would occasionally find books bound in Japanese yen outside the gambling dens. The poem "Exhortation to Learning" says that there are three vulgar things in books: money, beauty, and power. In this world, apart from the fat guy who tells crosstalk, who doesn't like these three vulgar things?

As a result, underground gambling dens have sprung up all over Tokyo, discreetly flashing neon lights to attract gamblers.

Yoshiko Matsuda did not open the mahjong parlor to profit from providing mahjong tables and taking a cut. In fact, Matsunaga Mahjong Parlor had no front and did not welcome gamblers. It only entertained some special guests and played riichi mahjong, which was also a business mahjong game.

Mahjong parlors in Tokyo are generally controlled by yakuza groups. For example, the Yamaguchi-gumi has many mahjong parlors in Tokyo. They provide gambling tables to ordinary gamblers and charge winners a 20% to 30% table fee. Then, with a bang, a single yen bet can turn into a thousand yen bet in a flash. They can record as much table fee income as they want.

Like a movie theater in a certain country, it is strangely polite that even on days when the gates of hell are not open, it will arrange midnight screenings for wandering ghosts. At first glance, the theater looks empty, but every chair is occupied by a ghost.

Ghosts have more free time than humans, and it's common for them to watch a good movie three or four times, so it's not surprising that some cinemas have exceptionally high revenue from midnight screenings.

However, ghosts are a difficult thing to explain, so it's best not to let ordinary people know about them. The movie theater had no choice but to swallow its pride and silently endure the accusations of money laundering.

This example is not very good. Mahjong parlors in Tokyo are not haunted. The purpose of recording table fees is to launder money by turning income from illegal businesses such as drugs and smuggling into legitimate income.

Money laundering is only one of the businesses of the club; in addition, there are two other major businesses: money transfer and bribery.

These two business operations are similar, both involving losing money to designated people through a card table. Such operations usually require the presence of an unrelated third party as witnesses to prove that the money was won at the card table and that its source is legitimate.

Yes, it means innocence.

What is legal and illegal often varies from person to person. At a certain level, playing cards is a trivial matter. Winning a little or a lot of money is not a big deal. It is losing too much that becomes a problem.

When playing cards, skill levels naturally vary. Sometimes, if the recipient of the winnings has poor card skills, or if a third party has exceptional card skills, it can affect the progress of the operation and even lead to failure. To ensure smooth operation, a skilled player is needed to take the lead at the table. This type of person has a specific name – "substitute player".

Ono Shinichi was a substitute player, and at this moment he was sitting at the table at Matsunaga Mahjong House playing cards, not operating one of the three major businesses, but rather paying for a game.

The substitute players are paid by the mahjong house and receive a fixed salary. They also receive bonuses when they go on missions. Their overall income can put them in the ranks of the elite. But to put it bluntly, substitute players are cheaters. They have honed their skills over many years, but who would be content to just be an elite? They always dream of getting rich through the mahjong table.

It just so happens that some wealthy businessmen want to play high-stakes mahjong for a bit of excitement, and some politicians who have lost themselves in playing the role of gambling gods want to test their "real skills" at high-stakes tables. Sometimes, mahjong parlors will also organize non-business games, letting a bunch of novices fight each other, in order to remind certain superiors of where the money comes from.

However, although the person was enlightened, he was reluctant to part with the money. The money came and went, and he had to realize his mistake. So, with a twisted face, he said with a righteous air, "I'll give you two choices: either lose to me double in the future, or help me win back double in the future."

In this way, the skills of the substitute player have a legitimate place to be used. They sit at the card table and dominate, with every few minutes they get "Rude, Glory, Four Concealed Pieces" or "Rude, Self-Draw, Unparalleled Hero".

The substitute players stormed into the newbie village and shoved them like butter. But while the newbies in the village weren't good at playing cards, they were all quick-witted. After a couple of times, they figured it out. So, everyone started hiring substitute players, and substitute players became rampant. Gradually, the gambling-like card game took on a strong competitive element.

A group of professional poker players battle it out at the poker table, vying for the title of Mr. Gold Sparrow. The boss behind the scenes sits in the VIP section watching the game, his blood pressure fluctuating wildly, and he adds insult to injury by saying, "If you lose, I'll cut off your finger." You should know that if the poker players he employs win, they will do all sorts of vulgar things.

With the competitive aspect established, some evenly matched disputes that could easily escalate to a fight were resolved at the mahjong table through a proxy match. This not only settled the dispute but also allowed them to win extra prizes, making mahjong proxy matches one of the ways that Japanese yakuza groups negotiated deals.

Regardless of how the nature of the Alliance changes, and regardless of whether the occupying forces change their name, the economy of the occupying forces will most likely continue to prosper, especially in Panpan.

Panpan is a lucrative target, and no yakuza group wouldn't want a bite. The Yamaguchi-gumi and the Sumiyoshi Federation had a dispute over this, but since it involved American soldiers, neither side wanted to fight in the areas where American soldiers often frequented, such as Ginza, Yurakucho, Hibiya, and Kabukicho. So they opted for a more peaceful mahjong tournament.

Ono Shinichi was just there to make up the numbers at the table, taking the clockwork fee and the winnings. The Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyoshi-renkai each had substitutes at the table, vying for the Panpan's benefits and an additional 3 million yen prize.

Of course, Shinichi Ono wasn't aiming for that prize, but rather for the prize itself. The player with the highest score would win 60 yen, and the second-highest score would win 20 yen. The two players who came in last would contribute to the prize.

Another substitute player at the card table was Sakurai Shoichi, a young man who was considered Shinichi Ono's apprentice. He was just there to make up the numbers, so he could focus on playing his own cards and didn't need to worry about anything else.

In the south-facing position, which is behind the substitute player from the Yamaguchi-gumi, Yoshiko Matsuda and Kazuo Taoka sat side by side.

"Taoka-kun, the freshmen can provide a large amount of heroin."

"military?"

Yoshiko Matsuda nodded slightly.

Taoka Kazuo pondered for a moment, “Daitoyo is dominated by assault pills, there is no market for heroin.”

“Taoka-kun, the South Korean military put pressure on me. The Yamaguchi-gumi doesn’t want me, so I can only ask others.” Matsuda Yoshiko said, her gaze turning to Abe Shigesaku, the third generation of the Sumiyoshi Federation.

Her movement caught Kazuo Taoka's eye, causing a tremor in his eye. (End of Chapter)