money player

"Mr. Stern, Mrs. Stern, welcome to Singapore."

At Kallang Airport, Sin Yiu-man was greeted by his waiting party: Itzhak Stern and his wife, Sofia Buckenrot.

The two men were Polish Jews and the first on Schindler's list. While Oskar Schindler was running the DEF enamelware factory in Krakow, Itzhak Stern was his accountant and "brain."

Prior to that, Stern ran an accounting firm and served as vice-chairman of the Jewish Organization in Western Poland and a member of the Central Committee of Zionism.

Sofia Buckenroth was a dentist and a key member of the Jewish youth organization (Akiva). She became engaged to Stern in 1938, but due to the war, the two married on May 8, 1945, the same day that the U.S. military liberated Brinnets, at Schindler's factory.

Stern met Sin's gaze for a moment, then lowered it to look at Sin's neck, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Hepburn, you said the investment company in Berlin needs a... trustworthy accountant?"

Stern's voice was like a typewriter, pausing between each syllable.

Sin Yiu-man smiled warmly at Buckenrot, then his gaze lingered on Stern's bald head for a moment before finally settling on his gray tie. "Yes, I need an accountant who can manage the books. I have faith in Mr. Schindler's social skills, but not in his business acumen or his ability to manage money."

"Why... Oscar?" Stern adjusted his round-framed glasses. "Mr. Hepburn and him... didn't know each other."

Xian Yaowen's face turned serious. "The reason is simple: Mr. Schindler helped the Jews, so he shouldn't be impoverished. And I'm not on Schindler's list, so I have no obligation to compensate him unconditionally."

All I could do was invite him to participate in the coin-carrying game. He simply had to push the cart and move the coins from point B to point Y to receive a generous reward.

"You must protect your own...interests."

“Yes.” Sin Yiu-man nodded, then gestured for them to proceed. “I’ll take you both to the hotel.”

After dropping the Sterns off at the Continental Hotel, Sin Yiu-man did not arrange a welcome banquet. The fifty-year-old man and the forty-three-year-old woman had long been worn down by the concentration camp into taciturn and easily frightened birds. Formalistic politeness and warmth were not as good as giving the two of them some space to relax.

After leaving the hotel, Sin Yiu-man went to his home on Oxley Road and checked the faxes he had received in the study.

Jennifer, a personal assistant at Brown Brothers Harriman, sent a fax stating that Li Zhiqing had used $200 million to buy 6.6 shares of Volkswagen stock at an average price of $30.07, with the remaining $1 spent on commissions and travel expenses.

The 6.6 shares represent 1.1% of Volkswagen's total share capital of 600 million shares, less than two days' worth of turnover.

He regretted that he didn't have enough money on hand. The company had 480 million shares in circulation, accounting for 80% of the total share capital, and 60 shares in off-exchange block trades. The total number of tradable shares was 420 million, accounting for 70% of the total share capital.

In theory, he could buy all 480 million shares of Volkswagen, but in reality, if he wanted to buy more than 30 shares, he would have to declare to the Allied Economic Division. If he wanted to buy more than 60 shares, it would trigger an antitrust hearing. Given his current status, it would be impossible for him to pass the hearing.

Theoretically, he can only hold 10% of Volkswagen's shares, but in reality, he can hold 20% through diversified purchases... Well, in reality, he currently has neither the money nor the guts to gamble everything on Volkswagen.

According to the latest data, the face value of his stock in Brown Brothers Harriman has reached $152.17 million. After deducting all capital costs, his paper profit is nearly $20 million. This is the limit, and he cannot increase it any further. Otherwise, if Bush were to strangle him, he would have no choice but to tear off the disguise of capitalism and resort to terrorism.

After reading the fax, I strolled around the garden, tending to the flowers and plants, and then slipped away before my brother-in-law got off work.

Logically, the first thing he should do upon arriving in Singapore is to visit his mother-in-law, followed by a visit to his brother-in-law's house. However, there are priorities, and this matter can be postponed. Everyone can understand this, but it would be best to avoid running into each other before the formal visit, so as not to break the tacit understanding between the two sides to maintain a proper appearance.

Hong Kong.

Jinji Trading Company, CEO's office.

Although Yuen Man-wai, who did not hold the title of General Manager of Friendship Film Company, essentially exercised the powers of one, he and Cheryl signed a contract: Golden Seasons Trading Company would borrow HK$200 million from Friendship Film Company, using a plot of land on Boundary Street in Kowloon Tong as collateral. If the loan was not repaid on time, the land would belong to Friendship Film Company.

That's how the contract was signed, but the reality was that Kam Kwai Trading Company bought a government-owned plot of land on Boundary Street—26 square feet, at a land price of HK$7.2 per square foot, costing a total of HK$187.2.

Then, Friendship Film Company bought the government land from Golden Company for HK$200 million, with the payment due within two years. The land would not be transferred to the owner until the payment was made.

The reason why Friendship Film Company was interested in this piece of government land was because there was a Yonghua Film Studio on this land, which was the "Yonghua" film studio of Li Zuyong's Yonghua Film Company.

It is said that most people earn their money penny by penny, but a few people's money is printed bill by bill. Li Zuyong belongs to the minority. When he was still in mainland China, his main business was running a printing factory to print legal tender. His side businesses included real estate, arms brokerage, and gold trading. Back then, he was rich, incredibly rich.

Li Zuyong had four great hobbies in his life: Hibiscus Longevity Cream, diamonds, Texas Hold'em, and crystal lamps.

He rarely used the diamonds he bought to set jewelry. Most of the time, after a tube of opium had gone down and he felt refreshed, he would spread a piece of black velvet on his opium couch, pour a whole jar of diamonds on it, examine and admire them in his hands, and then proudly put them back into the jar.

As for crystal chandeliers, whenever a new variety arrived in Hong Kong, the owner of the trading company under Gloucester would always call to report it to Li Zuyong.

Once, he went to the store to look at lamps wearing an old robe. The manager happened to be away, and the new clerk didn't recognize this young master. Seeing his shabby appearance and how annoyingly he touched and touched everything, the clerk impatiently pulled him away: "These are all very expensive. Don't touch them randomly. If you break them, will you pay for them or will I?"

This infuriated Young Master Li. Without arguing with the shop assistant, he simply pulled out a business card and threw it onto the glass display case: "Send everything hanging or displayed in your shop, big and small, back home."

Therefore, when Yonghua set up the Western-style hall, there was no need to rent crystal chandeliers from Las Vegas. As long as the director could tell them what he wanted, they could get it by sending a prop minibus to the Li Mansion in Kowloon Tong.

When the topic turns to Texas Hold'em, Young Master Li immediately becomes animated and full of energy.

Next to the former residence of Soong Ching Ling in Shanghai is the Xu Family Garden, which was owned by Xu Shihao. His ancestor was Xu Yingpin, the nephew of Gu Yanwu. While studying at Peking University, he studied under Hu Shi. After graduation, he became a teacher. However, his brother-in-law, Niu Huisheng, the cousin of the three Soong sisters, told him: "Being a teacher will keep you poor all your life. You are the eldest son in the family and have to support your family. You should become a lawyer."

Xu Shihao then resigned from his teaching position, started his own law firm, joined the Shanghai Bar Association, and gradually became a famous lawyer with extensive connections to high society.

Young Master Li frequented the Tak Kee Club on Hong Kong Island to gamble on Texas Hold'em. Occasionally, he would meet up with his old acquaintance, Tsui Si-ho. On one occasion, Cheung Sin-kwan was also playing at the same table, and Tsui Si-ho introduced Cheung Sin-kwan to Young Master Li.

At that time, the film and television king was no longer as successful as he was when he was the general manager of Huaying Film Company. He only wanted to use the name of Xinhua Company to make some independent films in Hong Kong, and he only planned to raise HK$400,000.

Xu Shihao and another lawyer, Zhong Kecheng, agreed to invest a total of 100,000. Adding Zhang Shankun's own 100,000, they were still short 200,000. So they thought of getting Li Dashao to invest. When Li Dashao heard this, he asked Zhang Shankun, "If it's just a small project, it'll cost 400,000. If it's a big project, how much will it cost?"

Zhang Shankun replied: "To make a big splash, you need your own factory, a studio, and working capital for production. Add to that the cost of building the factory and buying equipment, and it will probably cost two million."

"What copper coins?"

"Of course, it's Hong Kong dollars."

Upon hearing that two million Hong Kong dollars was child's play, Young Master Li immediately smiled and said, "Two million? No problem. Don't bother everyone. I'll handle it. But I'm no expert in movies, so you can help me."

So, Li wrote a letter to Grantham, applying for a plot of land in Kowloon Tong. However, the Hong Kong government designated a vegetable plot in Kowloon Tong, which had already been rented by an elderly Portuguese lady, so he had to rent it from her again.

Young Master Li used the character "永" (Yong) from his own name, and Zhang Shankun combined it with the character "华" (Hua) from Xinhua. Thus, they named the company solely owned by Young Master Li Yonghua.

When Yonghua first opened, it claimed to have invested US$500 million, but the actual budget was HK$500 million, and it was not solely funded by Li Dashao.

The screenwriter's agency has a screenwriter named Zhu Xuan, pen name Qin Yifu, who joined Friendship Film Company relatively early. Her father is Zhu Guangmu, a confidant of Zhang Xueliang, and her mother is Miss Zhu Meijun.

Zhu Meijun's ninth sister, Zhu Hongjun, was married to Wu Youquan, the son of Wu Junsheng, a confidant of Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Zuolin and Wu Junsheng were as close as brothers. They swore an oath, with Heaven and Earth as their witnesses, that "we do not ask to be born on the same day, month, and year, but we ask to die on the same day, month, and year." Wu Junsheng fulfilled this vow and died in Huanggutun. Zhang Zuolin felt that he could still be saved, so he cursed Heaven and Earth, and gave the Earth a good whack. He stayed in the ICU for two more days.

In 1948, a plane flying from Shanghai to Hong Kong crashed into Victoria Peak due to heavy fog, killing everyone on board. Miss Zhu Jiu was among those on the plane.

Miss Zhu left behind a considerable fortune, some of which was deposited in HSBC and some in American banks. These banks were fairly reasonable; with just a few witnesses and guarantors, the money could be accessed without Miss Zhu having to come in person.

So Wu Youquan approached Li Dashao to negotiate a guarantee, and Li Dashao readily agreed. At the same time, he felt that Wu Youquan was a rich kid who neither knew how to manage money nor run a business, so he advised him to deposit his money in Yonghua and become one of the shareholders.

Wu Youquan readily obeyed the advice of Li Dashao, a talented liberal arts student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Besides, since Li Dashao was in the business of printing money, Wu Youquan wasn't worried about losing his money. He not only invested himself but also brought in his sister-in-law, Miss Zhu Wu.

Strictly speaking, Yonghua Film Industry is a company jointly owned by Young Master Li, Wu Youquan, and Miss Zhu. However, the latter two do not manage the company, making it somewhat like a preferred stock. Young Master Li played a clever trick of using someone else's resources to generate profits.

With ample funds, Yonghua naturally intends to expand aggressively. (End of Chapter)