money player

It's a little past nine o'clock.

Xian Yaowen welcomed a guest, Liu Xinjie from Peony Candy, a pioneer sent by Cen Peipei.

Liu Xinjie came for the machines; producing chocolate requires rotary dryers, vibrating screens, steel roller grinders, longitudinal refining machines, manual ingot presses, and hand-cranked twisting packaging machines.

These machines are available in Taiwan and can be found on the black market, but Liu Xinjie had no connections and could only ask Xian Yaowen for help.

Xian Yaowen took over the matter and made a phone call to Cai Jintu. Cai Jintu was well-connected in the black market and could easily buy a few machines.

In reality, once the machines enter the black market, their price will exceed their actual value, saving almost nothing compared to importing new machines. However, it's virtually impossible to get foreign exchange approved under the guise of purchasing chocolate production equipment; one can only rely on connections and resort to unreasonable methods to resolve the issue.

The costs and favors involved are far less than simply smuggling. Smuggling is illegal, but smuggling machines for personal use is not a big deal. If caught, the worst that can happen is a fine, and the machines can usually be redeemed.

However, if it's legal to start, there's no need to cause trouble. Chocolate production won't get government support anyway, and future sales will involve dealing with all sorts of shady characters. Being illegitimate will inevitably increase unnecessary costs. If it's not necessary, avoid taking shortcuts.

After seeing Liu Xinjie off, Wang Chaoyun called. Lafayette was entering the interior design phase, and he needed to come over and take a look at some decorations.

He went to the construction site to discuss table layout and decorations with Executive Chef Paul Bocuse.

After the restaurant opened, Wang Chaoyun was in charge of public relations to make the restaurant more down-to-earth, while Paul Bocuse was in charge of the "technical aspects" to ensure the restaurant's French character.

From the very beginning, Lafayette was not intended to cater to all kinds of customers. Its service is not compatible with lower-class customers, and it does not welcome troublesome customers who ask for chopsticks. I'm running a French restaurant. If you want to show your national pride by asking for chopsticks, start a war, or fawn over foreigners, then get out of here.

Lafayette also has a biased view, favoring the rich and despising the poor. If you can't afford it, don't come. If you've saved up for a long time to splurge on a meal, you'd better not come either. This is a place where the rich feast on meat and wine. If it doesn't fit your spending habits, don't force yourself to come.

There's no need for pretentious or humiliating partnerships among guests. There's an invisible line drawn at the restaurant entrance: only those with sufficient status are welcomed in. In the short term, entrepreneurs who want to use their money wisely and build connections are not welcome.

This is his private plot of land, Sin Yiu-man's.

Don't underestimate this restaurant; there's a lot of little stuff to deal with. After taking care of the interior design, let's go check on the waiters' training.

Lafayette is positioned as a high-end French restaurant. Currently, it has 70 tables, but one or two may be reduced when it actually opens. The ratio of waiters to waitresses is one for every two tables. In addition to the four Frenchmen poached from Paris, a team of 35 waiters will be formed here.

In a nearby warehouse, Li Qiang was keeping time and giving physical training to the candidates.

Standing next to Xian Yaowen, Wang Chaoyun muttered, "This teacher charges too much. 300 yuan an hour, more than 2,000 yuan a day."

"You don't need to complain. If I hadn't called them over, they might not have come."

The Grammy Models team did not disband, but its members began to change careers. Li Qiang's career path is to become a model mentor.

"It's expensive, but you can hire someone from the airline to teach it."

"Enough with the nonsense." Xian Yaowen gestured towards the candidates opposite him. "Counting from the left, the third, sixth, and tenth in the first row, the first, fourth, seventh, and eleventh in the second row, and the second, fifth, sixth, and ninth in the third row, can be turned away; their physiques are not up to par."

"You're making a decision after just one glance?"

Xian Yaowen gestured towards Li Qiang with his lip, "She was taught by me."

"I know, but..."

“No buts. I don’t mind you taking care of Japanese people, but not ugly ones.” Xian Yaowen pointed to the sixth one in the first row. “That one, her pelvis is tilted forward, and her thighs don’t close properly. I don’t even need to watch her walk to know that she’s not very good-looking.”

And that one, he's so ugly, how can customers have an appetite after seeing his face?

Xian Yaowen pointed at Wang Chaoyun, "I'll be here to see the final selection. If even one of them doesn't pass, I'll spank your ass."

Wang Chaoyun said coquettishly, "I know."

Sin Yiu-man put on a stern face, “I am the only one who has put up real money to invest in Lafayette, but we are minority shareholders. The majority shareholders are others. As the manager, you are responsible for the shareholders. If you want to open a charity, use your own dividends to do so. Do not harm the interests of the shareholders.”

"Hai~"

Xian Yaowen pointed at Wang Chaoyun again, "This is the first time I've said this, and I'll only say it once. I'm just joking about spanking you, but if there's a next time, your managership is over."

"Hai." Wang Chaoyun's reply was more serious.

"go for meal."

in the afternoon.

Sin Yiu-man went to Jing Shu Zhai on Longquan Street.

It was an ordinary shop with no signboard. There was only a bamboo sign hanging on a door panel that was not removed on the right side of the shop door, with the three characters "Jing Shu Zhai" written on it.

The bamboo planks look quite old, like antiques.

Turn it over and take a look; the engravings look like they were taken from a bamboo recliner.

Upon entering the shop, there was no counter, only three large vats in the center, an eight-immortal table and four armchairs on the right, and Tang Yiying sitting on one of the chairs, wearing white gloves, cleaning a tattered woodblock print.

On the left was a workbench, and Jin Jingyan was carefully brushing a vase with a soft brush.

There are three antique shelves placed side by side against the wall, displaying various items. In front of the antique shelves is a screen that separates a small area.

A fellow sat on the floor in front of the antique shelf, rummaging through a sack to pull silver coins onto the floor. He picked up a stack, looked at it from both sides, and threw it into the basket next to him.

There were several baskets, presumably for sorting the quality.

Sin Yiu-man stepped into the shop and sat down at the octagonal table. “I said this place doesn’t look like an antique shop.”

"This isn't an antique shop," Tang Yiying said, putting down the engraving book in her hand. "Is the big boss here to inspect the shop?"

"Come and take a look. I'm afraid you old slut have run off with some other man and taken the shop."

Tang Yiying rolled her eyes at Xian Yaowen, "Then you're too late. The valuables have already been taken away."

Where is the shopkeeper?

"He went to the military dependents' village to check on the goods."

"Do you still offer door-to-door collection?"

“One of the people who used to run errands in rural areas switched to running errands and introduced several deals.”

"I've heard of runways, but what's the purpose of running through villages?"

Tang Yiying chuckled, "The 'runway' you've heard of is for deliverymen who run errands for others, right?"

"Isn't it?"

"No, the 'runner' is a matchmaker who introduces buyers and sellers, and the 'runner to the countryside' is someone who goes to the countryside to collect goods."

"Oh, shovel the soil."

"What do you mean by 'shoveling soil'?"

"It's nothing." Xian Yaowen thought that the nickname "shoveler" hadn't become widely known yet. "Why didn't you come along when you were collecting the goods? What if you came across some good stuff?"

“There aren’t many good items in the military dependents’ village, so there’s no need to go.” Tang Yiying said in a low voice, “We shouldn’t keep too close an eye on things, and we should also give the shopkeeper a chance to get some benefits.”

Sin Yiu-man immediately understood that in order to maintain its business in the long run, the runner would definitely give the shopkeeper a kickback. In turn, the shopkeeper could also keep some suitable items and make a profit from the price difference.

"This arrangement is good."

Tang Yiying took off her gloves and grabbed Xian Yaowen's hand. "Just came over to sit for a while?"

"I'll give you some business to do." Xian Yaowen grabbed Tang Yiying's hand and gently kneaded it. "Help me find a few small items, worth ten or twenty thousand or forty or fifty thousand."

"All the valuables are at home; you can choose whatever you like."

Xian Yaowen patted Tang Yiying's hand. "Jingshuzhai belongs to you and Baoshu. It has nothing to do with me. How can I be qualified to choose? Just keep an eye out for me and increase the profits as you see fit."

Tang Yiying smiled and said, "Since you're so clear about the difference and you're such a stick, don't blame me for giving you a good stab."

"Whatever." Sin Yiu-man glanced at the printed book. "You know anything about restoration?"

"I don't understand." Tang Yiying pointed to the printed book. "This is a printed copy of the Imperial Writings that came out of the palace. It was printed during the reign of Emperor Kangxi to promote the legend of the Qing Dynasty's dragon vein."

During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, the Imperial Security Bureau, in order to uncover the members of the Heaven and Earth Society hiding in Beijing, fabricated the legend of a Qing Dynasty treasure. It claimed that a large amount of gold and silver jewelry was buried somewhere outside the Great Wall, and that clues to the treasure map were found in several printed copies of the Imperial Edict. I want to find out how those clues were obtained back then.

"This is interesting. If we flesh out the story, it could be made into a movie."

"The story of arresting rebels?"

"During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Heaven and Earth Society attempted to dig up the dragon vein of the Qing Dynasty. However, the news was leaked and the group was hunted down. Xian Fengliu, the leader of the Qingmu Hall, fled into the Yong Prince's Mansion in a panic. He was rescued by Niohuru and hidden in a secret room."

Niohuru, lusting after Xian Fengliu's beauty, raped him one day while delivering food, and from then on, she was addicted to the pleasure..."

"Can you stop talking nonsense?" Tang Yiying said coquettishly.

“The audience will like watching it.” Xian Yaowen chuckled and continued to make up a story, “Niohuru raped Xian Fengliu for forty-nine days in a row. One day, she found out that she was pregnant, so she secretly sent Xian Fengliu out of the Yongwang Mansion and kept him in a large mansion.”

Unexpectedly, one night, Xian Fengliu took advantage of the guards' laxity and escaped. Several months later, Niohuru gave birth to a son weighing nine pounds and seven ounces. This child was Hongli.

After growing up, Hongli made several trips to the south of the Yangtze River, his real purpose being to find Xian Fengliu and silence him. However, he went in the wrong direction; Xian Fengliu had never left the capital and had married Lü Siniang…

"You're going too far with your words, stop talking."

Sin Yiu-man chuckled, "Alright, alright, I won't say, I won't say."

He doesn't have to tell the story, but he plans to have it written down, and it will be a series of stories.

The two chatted casually when, at some point, a young man entered the shop. He was wearing a sun hat, an open-collar shirt (commonly known as a youth shirt), a backpack, khaki trousers, and brown rubber-soled cloth shoes—a typical outfit for a male college student.

The college student looked around and asked, "Excuse me, which one of you is the shopkeeper?"

"Yes, that's me," Tang Yiying replied, waving to the college student. "Please come over and talk, sir."

As soon as the college student approached the octagonal table, Tang Yiying asked, "Sir, do you have something to sell?"

"I have something I'd like you to appraise, shopkeeper. If it's worth it, I'll sell it." The college student said, taking a small bowl out of his bag and placing it in the center of the octagonal table.

Tang Yiying stared at the bowl for a while, then said to the college student, "Let me take a look."

After speaking, Tang Yiying did not reach out. Instead, she stood up and looked around the small bowl. Then, she held the rim of the bowl with two fingers, keeping the bottom of the bowl on the table, and gently turned it around. Finding nothing unusual, she picked up the small bowl and examined it.

After a moment, she put the small bowl back on the table and said, "What price would you like to offer, sir?"

"Twenty thousand."

Tang Yiying said calmly, "I'm not sure about the Yongzheng enamel peony pattern small bowl."

The college student was taken aback. "The shopkeeper doesn't want it?"

"I can't see 20,000, I can only see 3,000. This is the price if you are sincere in your offer."

"Shopkeeper, this is a treasure passed down from my ancestors. Three thousand is too little. Please add some more."

"Sir, three thousand is the highest price I can offer. You can ask other places."

After a moment's hesitation, the college student opened one hand and said, "Five thousand."

Tang Yiying shook her head, "I'm sorry, I can only offer three thousand, not a penny more."

The college student was silent for a moment, then spat out a single word, "Sell," through gritted teeth.

"Hold on."

Tang Yiying took out a transfer book, then took a piece of blue-printed paper from a cardboard box, sandwiched it between the transfer books, wrote something quickly for a while, tore off a page and put it aside, then got up and went behind the screen. In no time, she returned with a stack of money in her hand.

She gathered the papers and money together and handed them to the college student, saying, "Sir, once something is in your possession, it's non-refundable. If there's a problem with the money, you can come back to settle the score later."

The college student took the money, simply flicked it with his finger, didn't count it, and stuffed it into his pocket without saying a word. He then turned and left.

After the person had walked away, Sin Yiu-man asked, "How much is this bowl worth?"

Tang Yiying opened her right hand, her face beaming with joy.

"5000?"

"5."

"Wow." Xian Yaowen exclaimed in surprise, "Your money is so easy to earn, you made 47,000 in just two minutes."

"In the antique business, the saying goes, 'Three years without a sale, then a sale that lasts for three years.' Once you've made this sale, you don't know when you'll be able to make the next one."

Tang Yiying picked up the small bowl, turned it over, and pointed to the inscription on the bottom of the bowl, "Back then, the palace was in dire financial straits. Many items in the palace collection were sold off through rewards, mortgages, and secret sales. This scratch is my masterpiece."

Sin Yiu-man asked in surprise, "What a coincidence?"

"It's not a coincidence. When the first batch of items was sold, that person still had the ambition to buy them back in the future. He made a secret mark on each item. This is the secret mark I made. I have encountered no less than fifty of them in the past few years."

"Oh, are items that came out of the palace more valuable?"

"It depends on what it is. This bowl is not limited to those inside or outside the palace. If you find a collector who appreciates it, selling it for HK$5 is not a problem."

"Tsk, if that college student had known what he was doing, how much would you have charged?"

"I'll offer a maximum of 40,000 NTD. Any more than that is risky. But he's a fool. I'm only offering 3,000 because you're here. Otherwise, I would have asked for 500."

Xian Yaowen chuckled and said, "So, I've hindered your ability to make money?"

Tang Yiying put down the small bowl and sat in Xian Yaowen's lap. "Mr. Xian, how about I sell this bowl to you for 50,000 Hong Kong dollars?"

"Go away, go away, go fool the real foreign devils, don't try to fool the fake ones."

“It’s probably not rare to find genuine foreign devils. Back then, foreign devils bought a lot of enamelware masterpieces from Beijing, and Japanese devils also bought a lot. Almost all the treasures in Prince Gong’s Mansion, except for calligraphy and paintings, were sold to Yamanaka & Co.

"I've heard of Yamanaka & Co., they specialize in buying and selling art. At first they sold Japanese goods, but later Japan enacted the Ancient Temples and Soil Preservation Law, which made it difficult to acquire art, so they turned their attention to China. Many Chinese antiques on the American market were sold by Yamanaka & Co.."

"You know so much about this?"

"Coincidentally, the Koryo Bridge flagship store of Yamanaka & Co. was sold to a man named Yamamoto Tamesaburo. I saw information about Yamanaka & Co. when I was looking through Yamamoto Tamesaburo's information."

"What does Yamamoto do for Saburo?"

"The beer seller, Asahi Beer."

"A big company?"

"Not very big, it's being crushed by a company called Kirin Beer."

"Oh."

……

Seoul, Xinhui Xiao Hotel.

In Kong Lingxian's office, Nan Yun Huizi sat in Kong Lingxian's executive chair, facing Kong Lingxian.

"Lingxianjiang, the chairman hopes to establish the Republic of Korea Liquor Company under Dong-A Foods, acquire the former Osaka Brewery Co., Ltd.'s subsidiary in Korea, Chosun Brewery Co., Ltd., to establish Dong-A Brewery Company, and merge with high-quality soju workshops in Seoul to establish Dong-A Soju Company."

"Chairman Nagumo, the best-selling liquor in South Korea right now is soju, and brewery production has stopped. Acquiring Chosun Beer Co., Ltd. at this time is not a good idea."

"The very fact that production has stopped is a good time to make an acquisition. Otherwise, Dong-A Beer will soon face competition from Showa Beer. Are you sure you can compete with Park Doo-byung?"

Kong Lingxian asked in surprise, "Chairman Namyun actually knows Park Doo-byung?"

“Park Seung-jik’s son, the second-generation owner of Park Seung-jik Stores,” Nami Hyeko said calmly. “Park Seung-jik Stores has been renamed; it’s now called Doosan.”

"Chairman Namyun, Park Doo-byung has taken refuge in Busan, and Doosan's business has shrunk significantly. It cannot be compared with the Dong-A Chamber of Commerce. Even Son's Dong-A Foods is stronger than Doosan."

Keiko Nagumo said seriously, "President Kong, don't underestimate any competitor."

"Yes."

"Continuous fermentation technology in the United States is nearing maturity. Before long, low-cost diluted beer will be widely launched on the market. The chairman calls it 'Watery beer,' or industrial watery beer."

Consumers' tastes need to be cultivated. Once Showa Beer resumes production and craft beer floods the market, consumers' tastes will be established, making it difficult for industrial lagers to gain market share. (End of Chapter)