money player

Shilin Official Residence.

Soong Mei-ling sat in her private studio, holding a brush and concentrating on creating a peony painting.

Since moving to Taiwan, Soong Mei-ling's political and social activities have decreased sharply. She has turned to painting as a new way to fill her time and regulate her emotions. She received guidance from Zhang Daqian, Huang Junbi and Zheng Manqing, and practiced painting for several hours every day. Her skills improved rapidly and her painting level reached that of a professional painter.

As she was painting the yellow stamens of the peony, there was a knock on the studio door.

Upon hearing the noise, she knew who was outside. Shaking her head helplessly, she put down her brush, turned to the door, and softly called out, "Baby, come in."

The studio door opened, and Kong Lingwei, dressed in a sharp suit, stepped in.

"Mommy."

Soong Mei-ling stared at Kong Lingwei and scolded him, "How many times have I told you? You just can't learn. Don't knock on the door so loudly."

Kong Lingwei disagreed, "Mommy, I've explained it many times. My knocking has its own tone and rhythm. You'll know it's me as soon as you hear it. It will be very effective at crucial moments."

Soong Mei-ling said helplessly, "You always have a reason. What do you want from me?"

“Xin Yaowen called me.”

“Xian Yaowen is quite composed, only calling you now.” After saying this, Soong Mei-ling got up and walked out, stopping in the garden.

Following behind, Kong Lingwei took out a cigarette case from his suit pocket, flicked out a cigarette and handed it to her. As soon as Soong Mei-ling took it and put it in her mouth, the lighter immediately followed.

Soong Mei-ling took a drag of her cigarette, glanced at it in her hand, and asked, "Why is it August 14th?"

"I just finished smoking, so I asked the guard for some." As he spoke, Kong Lingwei lit a cigarette, took a big drag, and a moment later, smoke came out of his nostrils.

"The August 14th incident was a bit too aggressive." After commenting, Soong Mei-ling put the cigarette back in her mouth and took another puff, then slowly said, "Xian Yaowen is the best partner, but we can't give him the initiative on the Taiwan side."

“Mommy, he can’t take away the initiative in Taiwan.”

"It's best to be careful. What time did you agree to meet?"

"No time has been set yet."

"We've arranged a time to go with Jingyi."

"Should we still put her at the front?"

"It's better to be careful."

The Xian family.

Sin Yiu-man then sat comfortably in the pavilion.

Two hours ago, he called Kong Lingwei, but she didn't answer. However, some obvious details suggest that she was at home at the time, clearly intending to leave him hanging.

That's good; it shows the other party is also anxious, making it easier to negotiate later.

If Kong Lingwei doesn't call today, he plans to call again first thing tomorrow morning, making it clear that "I'm very anxious," so that the other party will keep him waiting and he'll have a way out.

Little Xian Yaowen is even more composed than Young Master Kong, which is not good.

The day passed by while reading. The next morning, Sin Yiu-man called Kong Ling-wei again. This time, Kong Ling-wei answered, and the two arranged to have lunch together.

A restaurant on Fulin Road, Shilin District.

There was no signboard, and the storefront was inconspicuous. The main entrance was tightly closed, and there was only a small door for entry and exit. Xian Yaowen entered the restaurant through the small door and did not see the cramped feeling of other restaurants. The huge space only had three tables arranged in a triangular shape. Two of them were unoccupied, and one person was sitting at the other table with another person standing next to it.

Sitting there was Kong Lingwei, with his hair slicked back, wearing a suit and a tie that was tied perfectly. He was holding chopsticks and picking food from the copper hot pot on the table. It looked like mutton hot pot, with the meat rolls being reddish in color and coated with chili oil.

Standing to the side was Miss Wang, with her hair in a bun and wearing a plain cheongsam. Her figure was similar to Su Lizhen's, and she was the kind of plump woman who could best fill out a cheongsam.

Xian Yaowen walked to the other side of the dining table opposite Kong Lingwei and said with a smile, "Mr. Kong, I'm sorry I'm late."

Kong Lingwei looked up at Xian Yaowen and said, "You're not late. Have a seat."

Although he had guessed that Kong Lingwei's voice would be masculine, Xian Yaowen was still a little surprised when he actually heard it. Kong Lingwei's voice was deep and hoarse, lacking the high notes and softness of a woman's voice.

His tone and manner of speaking are so distinctive, I don't know who he learned them from. They are decisive, direct, and have a touch of authority, like the stereotypical patriarch of this era. When middle-aged businessmen are shown educating their sons or disciplining their subordinates on the big screen, they basically act in this style, which feels familiar yet unreal.

As soon as Xian Yaowen sat down, Miss Wang brought him a set of cutlery from the table next to him. She then brought two more plates: one was a garlic oil plate, made with Chongqing sesame oil, minced garlic, and salt; the other was a dry plate, made with chili flakes, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and salt.

I once heard Chu Fei mention that these two are the dipping sauces that respectable people in Chongqing use when eating hot pot. Those who are short of money can only eat salt water, which is made by dissolving well salt in boiling water and sometimes adding a few peppercorns, with the emphasis on bringing out the original flavor of the broth.

He thanked Miss Wang and looked at the copper hot pot, taking a closer look at how many chilies were in it. There were quite a lot, a dense mix of red and green, towering over the rim of the pot. Among the long, red chilies, he could also see short, stout ones. The more he looked, the more something seemed off. One and a half seconds passed, and he wanted to curse.

Damn it, ghost peppers! No wonder he could smell the spiciness even from the floating steam.

When he saw that the copper hot pot wasn't a single piece, but rather had partitions on both sides, like a divided pot, he wanted to curse even more harshly. It turned out that this little wench wasn't just good at eating spicy food; she was just giving him a hard time.

Kong Lingwei swallowed the mutton hotpot in his mouth, pressed one hand against a can of cigarettes on the table, pried open the cap with his fingers, took out two cigarettes, tossed one to Xian Yaowen, and a moment later, a lighter slid over.

"smokes."

Sin Yiu-man pressed the lighter down and slid it back, saying, "I don't smoke."

Kong Lingwei picked up a lighter, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said expressionlessly, "Not giving me face?"

Xian Yaowen pointed at the copper hot pot and said, "Mr. Kong is indeed worthy of having lived in Chongqing. He is so familiar with the intimidation tactics of the Gelaohui. It's just that he went a bit too far with the ingredients. After eating the Indian Bhut Jolokia, you will not only see my tears, but also a pool of blood flowing under my butt."

Kong Lingwei remained expressionless. "Not giving me face?"

"No."

Kong Lingwei's face turned cold. He clapped his hands twice, and as the applause subsided, two people emerged from the shadows and stood behind Xian Yaowen.

Kong Lingwei asked again, "Aren't you going to give me face?"

Xian Yaowen turned his head to the left, memorized a face, then turned his head to the right, memorized another face, and then turned back to look at Kong Lingwei. "Mr. Kong, your tactics are really changing. Just now you were a member of the Gelaohui, now you've switched to the Green Gang. Will you be using the Northeastern bandits next?"

"You are not afraid?"

“Your mother and I are of the same generation.”

Upon hearing this, Kong Lingwei's expression changed drastically. The implication of treating her as an equal to her mother was that he would treat her like a nephew and tolerate her misbehavior.

This is what it means to slap someone in the face.

"You want to stay at the Security Command for a few days?"

“Mr. Kong, I’m very busy.” Xian Yaowen pointed to the copper hot pot, then to the two people behind him, “Remove it, remove it, replace it with something else that people can eat, we can talk while we eat.”

Kong Lingwei stared at Xian Yaowen's face for a long time, then waved his hand, and the people behind Xian Yaowen and the copper hot pot on the table disappeared instantly.

A moment later, Miss Wang brought over a new copper hot pot, without a partition and without much chili.

Kong Lingwei pointed and said, "Eat."

Xian Yaowen hadn't noticed the serving chopsticks earlier, and he was too lazy to mention them now. He picked up his own chopsticks, took a piece of mutton roll from the plate, dipped it in the pot, and then put his chopsticks back down, focusing his attention on the plate of mutton rolls.

Observe the texture of the mutton rolls and you'll recognize that they are from sheep from outside the Great Wall. People in Beijing also call them "big-tailed fat sheep." Forty years ago, the mutton used for hot pot in Beijing was all from this type of sheep.

This sheep is raised in the Xilin Gol and Chahar areas. During the hot summer months, it is driven to the Laershan Mountains outside the Great Wall to escape the heat, where it drinks from mountain springs and eats wild onions. By autumn, it is plump and its meat is fragrant. The whole sheep is transported to Fengtai Station via the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and then a shepherd is hired to drive it into the city. Restaurants in Beijing will hang signs that read "Fat Sheep from Outside the Great Wall" to indicate its authenticity.

Unsurprisingly, he would still make a profit from these mutton rolls, because only Su Lizhen in Hong Kong had the import channels for sheep from outside the mainland. Unless Kong Lingwei obtained them directly from the mainland, the source of the sheep was Su Lizhen, no matter who they came from.

A 70-jin (35 kg) sheep from outside the Great Wall has a listed wholesale price of around 150,000 RMB at the Madian Sheep Market outside Deshengmen. The meat yields about 30 jin (15 catties) of meat. Su Lizhen gets 15 USD for it and sells it for 300 HKD. With the price difference and shipping costs, it costs at least 800 NTD to Kong Lingwei.

Looking at the other hot pot ingredients on the table, they were mainly meat, with six or seven out of ten being from northern China, and all very fresh, having been killed on the spot. If they weren't specially prepared for him, it shows how particular Kong Lingwei is about food.

Thinking to himself, he picked up the hot pot lamb with his chopsticks and put it directly into his mouth without dipping sauce.

The base flavor is fresh enough, and it's flavorful even without dipping sauce. It has the flavor of Chongqing and Beijing, which is quite good. The only thing it lacks is a showy condiment: shrimp oil. You can skip it, but it has to be there, otherwise it would be too shabby.

This is what Tang Yiying told him. Back when the Eight Banners descendants were in decline, hot pot mutton had to be served with shrimp oil. They didn't eat it; they just displayed it to show that men could afford it.

After eating the mutton hotpot, add some mushrooms to the pot and simmer them slowly. Then add some "monk's head" (a type of mushroom) and scoop it out three times. The soul of Chongqing hotpot, offal, is cooked in rotation. Kong Lingwei doesn't say anything; he just focuses on eating.

Perhaps out of a desire to test his patience, Kong Lingwei remained silent, leisurely simmering the meat in the hot pot.

After eating until they were about a quarter full, Miss Wang brought out Johnnie Walker whisky. Kong Lingwei poured the whisky himself, mixing a quarter of a glass with soda water. Miss Wang then brought out a warming bowl and a small Jingdezhen famille rose covered bowl, poured two bowls of whisky, and placed them in front of Xian Yaowen and his companion.

After pouring the wine, Miss Wang stood solemnly and sang, "Drink with joy."

Kong Lingwei stood up, held up his bowl to greet Xian Yaowen, then took a sip of wine, put down the covered bowl, picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of mutton roll from the pot.

Sin Yiu-man picked up his plate, stood up, and handed it to Kong Ling-wei's chopsticks.

Kong Lingwei placed the mutton rolls on the plate. Xian Yaowen withdrew his hand, put down the plate, picked up the covered bowl to greet Kong Lingwei, took a sip, and sat back down.

Kong Lingwei then sat down, picked up a whiskey glass, and said, "I have a batch of gold that needs to be shipped out. Here, take it as payment for the goods."

"How many?"

"5 million taels."

How much is it worth?

"$180 million."

Sin Yiu-man compared this figure with the international gold price of US$175.8 million for the 5 taels of gold he had just calculated, and nodded slightly, "Okay."

"50 tons of flour per month."

"In or out?"

"out."

"How much?"

"$8 a bag."

"Flour bag or CWT bag?"

The standard weight of a flour bag in the international market is 196 pounds, and a CWT bag is 100 pounds.

Kong Lingwei glanced at Xian Yaowen, "Playing dumb?"

“Mr. Kong, the most common source of disputes in trade is ‘you think I know, and I think you know.’”

Kong Lingwei glanced at him again and said, "CWT."

"If flour can't fetch a high price in Hong Kong, why not sell it directly on the black market?"

台湾的面粉来源以美援为主，官方牌价在9-10美元波动，但黑市的价格高达15-18美元，而香港的市价在11.5-13美元波动。

"My surname is Kong."

Sin Yiu-man immediately understood: if you're going to be a prostitute, you have to maintain a facade of virtue. You can quietly siphon fifty tons from US aid every month, but selling them on the black market will easily lead to rumors.

The fifty tons of flour were worth less than $9000, and it's estimated that this deal was used to support people and allies.

"There's no profit in bringing flour to Hong Kong, so I'll bring it to South Korea."

Kong Lingwei remained noncommittal and continued, "The amount of American aid flour sacks, old tires, and car parts is hard to estimate; whatever amount there is, they will all be transported away."

Sin Yiu-man had a new perspective on Soong Mei-ling's current situation. They were bringing up even the most low-class items, and the best place to ship these things was the mainland. It seemed that Soong Mei-ling's situation was even more pessimistic than he had imagined.

"I'm not familiar with it, so it's hard to estimate the price. I'll take 20% of the profit after it's sold."

“Okay.” Kong Lingwei took a sip of whiskey. “What I need is 5 tons of milk powder per month, 30 tons of cotton cloth per month; medicines include penicillin and commonly used Western medicines; medicinal herbs include angelica, codonopsis, and musk; cigarettes include 555, 555, and Lucky Strike; rubber, chemical solvents, tinplate, and silver dollars.”

You arrange the goods yourself, spending all the gold and payment at once.

"I can't give you a quote right now, but I'll send the quote to your home tomorrow."

"Row."

“I have a batch of American cosmetics worth $70.”

Cash on delivery.

“Sure,” Xian Yaowen nodded. “I can supply on a long-term basis.”

"Let's talk again."

"The goods were handed over at sea?"

"Waters near Keelung Port."

"no problem."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kong Lingwei placed his finger on the wine bowl.

Xian Yaowen understood Kong Lingwei's meaning, stood up with the bowl in his hand, and greeted her.

Miss Wang sang: "Send off the gods!"

Sin Yiu-man drank the wine in the bowl in one gulp, put down the bowl, and bowed to Kong Ling-wei.

Kong Lingwei stood up and returned the greeting with a cupped-hand salute.

"Mr. Kong, I have some trivial matters to attend to at home, so I'll have to go now. I'll treat you to a meal another day..."

"No need for polite words."

Sin Yiu-man was about to curse again. "You fucking came up with a simplified version of the Three Offerings ceremony, and I'm just being polite, and you can't stand it anymore?"
"Farewell."

After leaving, Xian Yaowen went to Hengyang Road and found a hot pot restaurant with a Beijing-style sign. He ordered several plates of mutton rolls to cook slowly.

The mutton at the hot pot restaurant wasn't as good as the one at Kong Lingwei's, but it was more satisfying to eat there. He cooked the mutton and shared it with Xie Tingyun, while Xie Zhanran sat on the side, watching helplessly.

While eating, I pondered the origin of Kong Lingwei's gold. It's unlikely that he had it for personal use. If it could be transported to Taiwan, he could continue to store it. There was no need to rush to sell it. It's more likely that it came from the black market as "escaped gold".

Taiwan has enacted a gold savings certificate policy, which mandates the exchange of gold held by individuals exceeding the permitted limits. Those with connections smuggle gold and US dollars abroad, either selling them or storing them overseas.

It seems that there won't be just one batch of gold; there will be more later.

Finished eating.

Back home, he sent a fax to Cheryl containing a list of transactions and a notification to prepare 400 troy ounces of large delivery ingots.

Kong Lingwei's gold will be transported away, but 5 taels of gold will also be transported to Taiwan to offset the loss of gold to Taiwan.

We need to make money, but we can't afford to offend Comrade Jianfeng. We exchanged 5 taels of gold for Taiwan dollars through the Bank of Taiwan and invested it in Taiwan, making money honestly for the second time.

Comrade Jianfeng, who controlled the intelligence agency, was certain that Soong Mei-ling and Kong Lingwei's actions could not escape surveillance.

Smuggling is something that can't be done in the open or aboveboard. However, the smuggling of some goods is both beneficial and harmful. It can actually contribute to maintaining stability to some extent, but the loss of gold is entirely detrimental to Taiwan. Those who participate in it are likely to face repercussions later. (End of Chapter)