money player

Sin Yiu-man turned his head to look at Liao Ke-xin, whose steps had suddenly frozen, and asked softly, "What's her name?"

Liao Kexin felt a chill run down her spine, her voice trembling as she spoke slowly and deliberately, "Lin Meiqi."

“She is far inferior to you.” Xian Yaowen looked at her gently with a soothing look in his eyes. “Stay calm. There’s no need to feel embarrassed or guilty. Let’s go over there.”

The two men stepped forward slowly. Xian Yaowen, with a calm and composed expression, nodded first, "Brother, are you busy receiving guests?"

Zhou Xiaoyun caught a glimpse of Liao Kexin out of the corner of his eye, his expression momentarily faltering. He quickly composed himself, maintaining a gentle and polite smile, and nodded slightly in response: "It was just a casual chat."

Beside her, Lin Meiqi feigned gentleness, her gaze seemingly casually sweeping over Liao Kexin with a hint of provocation and boastfulness, yet she dared not be too ostentatious.

Liao Kexin suppressed the bitterness in her heart, lowered her eyes, and calmly nodded slightly to him without saying a word.

Sin Yiu-man nodded slightly to the capable-looking Englishman with the air of a civil servant. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Adam, Adam Hepburn."

The Englishman paused for a moment, then politely nodded in return, "Kenneth Barnett works in the Food Supply Department."

Upon hearing this, Sin Yiu-man was momentarily stunned. Kenneth Barnett was the Director of the Food Supply Department, the top official in charge of food control in Hong Kong. He held the reins of Hong Kong's rice import and export quotas, license approvals, and market control.

The Hong Kong government has always maintained extremely strict control over rice and grain over the years. Grain imports are strictly limited by licenses and quotas, and no single business is allowed to monopolize a large share. Rice merchants and rice shops are divided into operating shares by region, and cross-regional hoarding and malicious collusion to control the market are strictly prohibited. Furthermore, large capital is strictly prohibited from acquiring and integrating rice shops to prevent the formation of chain monopolies in the grain industry.

If a foreigner dares to boast that he owns two rice shops, or if a wealthy Chinese family dares to openly claim to own four rice shops, the Food Supply Department will immediately come to investigate and punish them without anyone reporting them. They will impose hefty fines, revoke their business licenses, and in serious cases, directly pursue criminal liability without showing any leniency.

To put it bluntly, food, especially rice, is a piece of land reserved for Chinese businesses by the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong has experienced many rice shortages and riots throughout its history. The Hong Kong government has long seen through the character of its "own people" and knows that food is more suitable for yellow-skinned people, while white-skinned pigs should stay away.

Especially at this time, with the high pressure of Cold War politics and embargoes, food is unstable and easily attacked by the mainland's media and its people's hearts are infiltrated. The Hong Kong government is determined to ensure that "only individuals cannot afford it, not that everyone cannot buy it." There is almost no room for speculation in food, and it is impossible for a food trust to emerge. Doing food business can only bring small profits.

It seems that Zhou Xiaoyun, this brave warrior, has been busy acquiring rice shops. He hasn't paid attention to it for a long time and doesn't know what the current situation is.

He nodded to Kenneth Barnett again, and the two exchanged a few polite words of trivial conversation before calmly leaving with Liao Kexin.

He doesn't need Barnett's help right now, and besides, Liu Wanqing knows Barnett's influence. It's best to get to know him casually for now, and if he needs anything in the future, they can deepen their relationship.

In Hong Kong, there is a secret circle called "foreigner concubines," who are Chinese mistresses kept by British civil servants, managers of trading companies, and military officers.

They do not associate with the wives of the first wife or the concubines of wealthy Chinese families. Instead, they form their own exclusive little circle of foreign mistresses, visiting each other, playing cards, drinking tea, shopping, playing mahjong, buying gold jewelry, and comparing whose foreign husband is richer and has a higher status.

They would never sue Roster, the Peninsula Hotel, the foreign club, or the high-end hotels in Central. Showing themselves would be tantamount to revealing their identities, causing the foreigners to lose face, and the men would immediately stop paying their bills.

They were clearly divided into classes: the wives of high-ranking officials and tycoons were in the upper class, while the wives of foreign firm employees, police officers, and soldiers were in the lower class. The two groups hardly interacted and looked down on each other.

There is a private teahouse in the back hills of Kennedy Road, which is the usual gathering place for the "upper class". A few days ago, it was bought by Liu Wanqing and renamed Qingqing Teahouse. These days, she spends her evenings in the teahouse.

"Eight of Coins." Yuechan played a card. "These past few days, a filthy bitch has been showing up in front of my husband all the time."

"Did you remember what they looked like?" Yu Ying glanced at the two cards in her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then played one: "Eight of Bamboo."

"A pair." Qiling played two cards, then drew an eight of bamboo. "Nine of characters. Yuying, the matter of our fight last time hasn't settled down yet, so don't act impulsively this time."

Yu Ying slowly arranged the cards in her hand, a cold smile spreading across her lips: "No need to do it yourself. Find two cops to kidnap her and take her to Kowloon Walled City. Doesn't she like to seduce men? Send her to a brothel and let her seduce to her heart's content."

"Yu Ying, can you call the police?" Ruo Bing, who was sitting behind Yu Ying, asked.

Everyone knew perfectly well that Yu Ying had a foreign police chief backing her, but no one dared to ask who that important person was.

Their circle has always had an unwritten rule: they never pry into the names of their husbands' backers, but only reveal the positions their respective men hold, so as to facilitate future networking and resource gathering.

Yu Ying lit a cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled a thin wisp of smoke. "Someone found their way here."

Yuechan took out a packet of Bauhinia flowers from the drawer and handed one to each of the smokers. When she handed one to Yuying, she said, "Yuying, I owe you this favor."

Yu Ying picked up a cigarette, brought it to her nose and sniffed it. "White-shelled Bauhinia flowers smell so good. Sister Wanqing is so biased. I just asked her for one, but she didn't give it to me."

"How am I being biased?" Liu Wanqing walked over with a plate of peeled Guangxi pomelos, placed the plate on the Sparrow Coffee Table, and then punched Yu Ying on the back. "You little ungrateful thing, you always take the most."

Yu Ying paused, her hand holding the cigarette tucked behind her ear. She glanced at Liu Wanqing, the smoke drifting from her lips, her tone carrying a hint of nonchalant grievance: "Aren't you biased? You always think of others first when it comes to good things, but when it comes to me, all I get is criticism."

She gently rubbed Liu Wanqing's palm, the cigarette butt on her fingertips slightly reddening. "This pomelo is sweet, but it can't warm up the awkwardness in my heart."

"You're such a charmer," Liu Wanqing said reproachfully. "I just brought back two baskets of American green grapes from the dock. When you leave later, each of you can take a few pounds back with you."

"Sister Wanqing is the best; she always thinks of us when she gets something good." Yuechan exhaled a puff of smoke.

Yuechan exhaled a smoke ring, her eyes crinkling with a smile as she replied, "Sister Wanqing is the most thoughtful. Whenever she has something rare or good, she never forgets us sisters. Sister Wanqing, has your friend's rice shop opened yet?"

"We've opened, and business is pretty good. Thanks to you, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get the license."

"It's no big deal," Yuechan said nonchalantly. "Sister Wanqing, when will the fundraising you mentioned last time start?"

"In two days, I just signed the official deed this afternoon. Tomorrow I will take an authorized person to see the land. Once the plans are released, I will bring them over to show everyone."

Sitting behind Yuechan, Ruobing asked, "Sister Wanqing, how long will it take to break even?"

"We agree to start selling off-plan units as soon as we get the project permits, and aim to sell them all before we get the completion certificate. We expect to break even in about seven months."

"It hasn't been long, but it's a thousand dollars a share?"

"Ah."

"I'll take thirty shares first."

"Okay."

"Fifty shares."

"I'm short on cash, so I'll take ten shares."

Liu Wanqing is an old hand at fundraising, a seasoned and well-known figure. She used to handle schemes involving millions of dollars, but now she can easily raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign concubines and keep raising money repeatedly.

"Xian Sheng".

Sin Yiu-man and Liu Ho-yan walked up to the group from Swire Group, and the head of the company, Schjoker (John Kiddston Schwayer), was the first to greet them.

"Good evening, Mr. Swire," Sin Yiu-man replied with a smile.

Good evening, let's chat for a bit.

"OK."

The two walked to a secluded spot within three meters of each other, leaned closer, and whispered to each other with their heads close together.

“Swire has taken on a deal for 50,000 tons of white sugar, but there are some problems with the payment process.”

Swire Group owns its own sugar mill, and its Swire white sugar has always been primarily sold in Hong Kong and Macau, while also being secretly smuggled to the mainland. If there's a problem with the financial settlements, it's almost certain that the orders are from the mainland.

"what happened?"

“The other party wants to exchange rice for sugar, but Taikoo doesn’t lack rice right now.”

"I have not received any messages."

"They should contact you soon."

"Perhaps."

“If this batch of rice needs to be shipped out of Hong Kong, Swire Shipping is ready to serve you at any time.”

"I hope there will be opportunities for cooperation."

Schjöck raised his glass in a toast.

Sin Yiu-man raised his glass in return, and the two of them each took a small sip.

"I've heard that Mr. Sin has good relations with the US military. Could you perhaps introduce some business opportunities to Swire Shipyard?"

“Mr. Swire, it’s impossible for the US military to bring its warships to Hong Kong for repairs.”

"I wouldn't dare think about warships, I'm talking about civilian merchant ships. The order was recommended by Mr. Xian, and the maintenance fee can be reduced by 20%."

"30%."

"25%."

"30%, it's only 165 nautical miles from South Korea to Sasebo, so it's not easy to convince customers."

"make a deal."

"I want dollars."

"no problem."

The two clinked glasses and then went their separate ways.

Sin Yiu-man spotted Michelle and Judy standing side by side with John Keswick from afar and immediately walked over.

His left arm naturally encircled Judy's waist, their fingertips lightly intertwined, a gesture both intimate and somewhat controlling. His right hand steadily held up a wine glass, raising it to his chest, and he gave Keswick a slight nod in greeting.

"Mr. Keswick."

Keswick raised his glass in a nonchalant reply: "Just call me Tony."

“Oh, Adam.”

Keswick took a small sip of his strong liquor and slowly said, "Adam, the building under construction by Landsea needs a hardware supplier. Ms. Fang, you can go to Landsea to discuss this when you have time."

“I’m mainly in Taipei lately. If you need to contact me, you can call my family and they will pass on the message.”

"OK."

Sin Yiu-man raised his glass again to signal the end of the pleasantries, offered a brief apology and took his leave. He then turned and left with Liao Ke-xin to socialize and meet other people.

Sin Yiu-man happened to run into Chi Tak-zun, who had just finished a conversation, and went straight up to him.

"Foreigner".

"Little foreign devil."

"Time is precious now, I don't want to waste it on you. Sha Jin Lou for morning tea the day after tomorrow?"

Qi Dezun laughed heartily and said, "No problem."

Sin Yiu-man raised his glass, "Take your plans with you."

"OK."

Qi Dezun was in a great mood and was able to talk to the foreign devil about some substantive topics.

"Don't be late, it's seven o'clock in the morning."

He met one person after another, conversed with them repeatedly, and talked to every important figure in the hall, yet he never spotted Stanley Dodwell of the Tianxiang Trading Company. (End of Chapter)