Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

The carved wooden door closed softly behind me, shutting out the faint noise of the banquet downstairs.

Inside the study, the soft glow of the crystal chandelier bathed the dark walnut furniture.

Sir Michael Kadoorie was conversing with a middle-aged man of short stature, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who looked slightly tired but still maintained the demeanor of a wealthy businessman.

This man is none other than Kazuo Wada, the former king of retail in Japan and now the king of retail in Asia, and the founder of Yaohan.

"Ah, Mr. Lu, you've arrived!"

Sir Michael immediately stepped forward warmly, interrupting his conversation with Kazuo Wada, and introduced Lu Yang as the absolute protagonist.

"Please allow me to introduce you to Mr. Kazuo Wada, whom I mentioned to you earlier."

"Your Excellency, this is Mr. Lu Yang, the outstanding young talent from the mainland and the founder of the powerful Century Group, whom I have mentioned many times."

Lu Yang nodded slightly, his gaze calmly sweeping over Kazuo Wada with the scrutiny of a superior.

Xue Lai took a deep breath, quietly stepped forward, and following Lu Yang's previous instructions, put on a well-trained professional smile. She began the conversation in clear and pleasant English: "...Mr. Wada, the situation is like this. My client, Mr. Lu, has taken a fancy to your property at 10 Pollock's Path on Victoria Peak and has asked me to inquire about the price with you. What is your opinion?"

Kazuo Wada, who spoke Chinese, bypassed the mixed-race white woman in front of him and looked directly at the young man behind Xue Lai. He said to Lu Yang, "You are young, but your wealth is indeed considerable. Very well, I can agree to sell No. 10 Pollock's Path, but the price..."

The implication is that they want more money.

When he bought this prime property on Victoria Peak five years ago, he was already a wealthy and undisputed retail king in Japan. However, in order to further expand his retail empire and make the name "Yaohan" go beyond Japan and dominate all of Asia, he made a bold decision: to move Yaohan's headquarters out of Japan to Hong Kong, the Asian financial center that is like the Pearl of the Orient.

And that's how the king of houses on Victoria Peak was purchased.

It cost him a full HK$8500 million back then.

However, the effect is also very good.

Because of this gesture, his act of goodwill, and his treating Hong Kong as his home, he received enthusiastic support and welcome from the local wealthy community, who truly regarded him as one of their own.

That same year, his retail empire, Yaohan, rapidly expanded its business from its port city base to mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, England, North America, and other countries and regions.

By this time, Yaohan had become one of the largest international retail groups in Asia.

However, the ensuing debt burden caused by rapid expansion has left him feeling exhausted in recent years.

There are already plans to sell 10 Pollock's Path on Victoria Peak along with its land to alleviate the company's financial pressure.

However, they haven't been able to find a suitable buyer yet.

He bought it for HK$8500 million in 1990, and now four years have passed. Even if the value doesn't double, it can't be too far off. At least according to his expectations, it shouldn't be less than HK$4 million. If it's lower than that price, he won't sell and would rather keep it. So, even in Hong Kong, a city full of wealthy people, there are very few people who can afford to pay that price.

However, today is a very good day, as he meets this young, wealthy Chinese businessman.

The incident originated from the Century Tower, a landmark building located in Shenzhen.

As soon as the project was launched and the news was broadcast, it immediately swept across the entire continent of Asia.

After all, once completed, this building is touted as one of the top three tallest buildings in the world and the tallest in Asia.

Although it is no longer the case.

However, at the time, all the media outlets seemed to have a unified message, giving this young Chinese tycoon extremely high praise.

Of course, there were also those who poured cold water on the situation, turning veiled sarcasm into overt mockery. But he had also read these news reports, most of which came from Taiwan, one of the Four Asian Tigers, and their local extremist newspapers in Japan.

There is some prejudice.

But some of what he said makes sense.

Just as he had predicted after reading these reports, this young Chinese man would inevitably suffer a major setback in his life. With so much liquid capital, he would have used it to expand his commercial retail empire, but this young Chinese man used it to buy land and hoard buildings, which were completely useless. In his opinion, they were just headquarters buildings that were at most for the local government's vanity projects.

Such reckless and impulsive behavior makes it impossible for a business to survive.

But what.

Three years have now passed.

He actually met the young Chinese tycoon in person. His initial skepticism and prediction of the other party's business failure did not materialize. Instead, the man was preparing to spend a huge sum of money, just as confident and ambitious as he had been four years ago, to loudly proclaim his purchase of a luxury mansion on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong.

For a moment, he felt a pang of sadness, but at the same time, he was filled with anticipation.

Because he has indeed encountered trouble, and if the other party can help him resolve this trouble.

The other party's identity is that of a Chinese citizen from mainland China.

But as long as the other party is willing to leave that authoritarian environment, move their businesses to the port city, and become a free trader like him, he wouldn't mind making friends with them and having them become the affectionate Mr. Lu in his eyes.

pity……

His flirtatious glances were practically directed at a blind man.

Lu Yang ignored him.

Why bother with such mundane matters?
With such broken Mandarin, all stumbling and stumbling, who could understand it?

Perhaps it would be better to leave it to a 1/8 mixed-race person...

She said that as long as he takes control of the overall situation, he doesn't even need to say a word, and she can handle it for him. Fine, let's just treat this as a test!
So Lu Yang turned around, leaving his back to Wada Kazuo, who was dumbfounded and a little angry.

He walked up to Sir Michael, the old foreigner, and said, "Old Michael, I can't understand what that little dwarf is saying, and his Mandarin is too non-standard. Let him talk to your niece. I won't say anything more. Just let me know the result after he's done talking."

After saying that, he casually plopped down on the luxurious sofa, crossed his legs, and gestured to the dumbfounded Sir Michael to pour himself a glass of red wine.

What are you standing there for? I'm your guest!

There was no one else in the room.

Lu Yang couldn't possibly do it himself, could he?
This was clearly the first time Sir Michael had been called "Old Michael."

Lao Gao, that's a good name!

Just the opposite of a short person!

He also figured out the future. This young Chinese tycoon in front of him didn't seem like a typical angry young man.

Hmph! He didn't even bother to pretend. But it's fine, isn't this the result he wanted?
It's even better than he expected.

So he readily agreed, "Okay, Lu, how about a glass of Château Pétrus? It's the king of wines from the Pomerol appellation on the right bank of Bordeaux, it should be worthy of your status..."

To appease Lu Yang, he actually poured him a glass of expensive red wine himself.

Lu Yang smacked his lips, but couldn't taste the saltiness. He smacked his lips twice more, then simply drank the whole glass. It still tasted like red wine, but compared to other red wines...

Excuse me.

He couldn't even taste what it was like; it was truly like Pigsy eating ginseng fruit.

But it is not important.

Important people and issues were the subject of heated debates over there.

Sir Michael watched with a pang of regret as Lu Yang downed the expensive golden liquid that looked so precious to him in one gulp, and then, still feeling the pinch, poured Lu Yang another cup.

He was a gentleman and a seasoned wine connoisseur. Although Lu Yang drank very heartily, in his opinion, it was an excessive waste of his treasured top-quality wines.

But what can we do?

If it were any other unimportant guest, he would have already called the butler in and had someone throw the man out.

But if it's Lu Yang...

Okay, he just pretended not to see it...

It is clear that there is an entire Pacific Ocean between distinguished guests and ordinary guests.

When you're out in the world, you give yourself your own identity.

"Well."

"This wine is good."

"Old Gao, don't be stingy, have another drink."

Lu Yang put down his wine glass and, seeing the old foreigner's expression, knew that the man was definitely unhappy at the moment, and might even feel that his bold way of drinking was a waste of his collection.

But I was just being myself. The bold way of drinking is a unique custom of the Chinese people. Why should I accommodate the restraint and elegance of you Westerners?
Haha, to hell with elegance...

The so-called Western aristocratic elegance is nothing but the elegance of slave owners, every drop stained with blood, just like the color red...

When he heard Lu Yang ask him to refill his drink, Sir Michael, though annoyed, reluctantly refilled Lu Yang's glass.

He thought to himself, "I hope the Chinese people I've befriended this time will be of some use, otherwise I'll have suffered a huge loss."

The Kadoorie family has been rooted in Hong Kong Island for over 100 years and has long been inseparable from it. Not to mention anything else, the Peninsula Hotel, which is currently generating huge profits every day, is an industry that the family cannot afford to lose.

97 is approaching.

Hong Kong Island is currently experiencing a period of undercurrents.

A wave of wealthy people emigrating is to be expected; it will definitely happen eventually.

However, unless absolutely necessary, the Kadoorie family will definitely not follow this wave of wealthy emigrants and leave, relocating back to their so-called ancestral homeland.
Because what would inevitably follow was the decline and decay of the entire family. As a fallen noble family that had moved here from the British Empire and settled here for a hundred years, no one understood better than them the greed of the native British nobles and their rejection of outsiders.

Fortunately, there's still a chance...

What about Lu Yang?
He was preoccupied with something and didn't notice the complex expression on the old knight's face at all.

That short guy's name seems to be Kazuo Wada, right? He vaguely remembered that name, but not very well. However, he did have a strong impression of the name "Yaohan" because this once-dominant retailer, Asia's number one, had even opened stores in mainland China.

They have their own chain stores in major inland cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing.

Why does Lu Yang remember it so clearly?
Aside from this life, most of his memories actually come from his previous life, where he went south and exiled himself to Lingnan...

Moreover, this exile lasted for more than 30 years.

Over these 30 years, some of the more profound events occurred in the 90s.

For example, he had a strong impression of the Yaohan Department Store because it was the first foreign-owned department store in China and once created the miracle of more than 100 million visitors on its opening day.

At that time, it had already broken the world record.

Even the People's Daily published extensive reports on it for several consecutive days.

However, for some unknown reason, within a few years, these Yaohan department stores, which had become incredibly popular in mainland China, began to close down one after another. In the end, not a single one could stay in business, and they were all sold off, their signs changed, and they were acquired by domestic companies.

"Thinking about it this way, it does match what the 1/8 mixed-race girl just said. This Japanese guy, Kazuo Wada, is probably already in trouble, and the countdown to the collapse of his company is about to begin."

Lu Yang thought to himself.

Then he sneered twice. The Japanese devils are about to be in trouble, why can't he sneer?
"By the way, I've heard the phrase 'sky higher than the sky' in my past life. I don't know if it refers to No. 10 Pollock's Path on Victoria Peak. But the owner of that mansion back then was definitely no longer the short Japanese man I know. According to what I saw in a short video on Douyin, it's not very accurate."

One theory is that the owner is Hong Kong comedy star Stephen Chow, while another is that the owner is Mr. Ma Yun, the richest man in mainland China who said, "I don't like money, I've never touched money."

But regardless of which two of them were the owners, I remember that this Victoria Peak mansion had been dismantled in later generations and was no longer the original building. I heard that the land at the foot of just a few of the dismantled villas was worth over 30 billion.

So no matter what price I buy it at now, I'm guaranteed not to lose money; I'll definitely make a fortune.

This is the advantage of having memories of the future. No matter what the reborn person does, it's as if they can foresee the future. Even if what they remember isn't very accurate and may not be precise to an absolute number, since it exists, it will definitely be close to the truth. In other words, Lu Yang has something to gain this time, and he'll make people extremely envious.

Just as Lu Yang was lost in thought...

Michael, the old man, couldn't bear to see his treasured red wine being wasted by Lu Yang, glass after glass.

Downstairs, Xiao Jun, after being persuaded and provoked by Mu Qizhong, gritted his teeth and decided to do it himself.

Buy it then.

Isn't it just about preparing at least HK$5000 million in funds?
I went to borrow, I went to ask people for help...

Even if it meant mortgaging part of their properties to a bank to secure a loan, they were determined to buy this luxury mansion on Victoria Peak...

Xiao Jun was never inferior to anyone in his life!
With one-eighth Chinese ancestry, Xue Lai swayed her slender waist and wore a victorious smile as she walked up to Lu Yang. She bent down and whispered in his ear, "120 million Hong Kong dollars. This is the bottom price I negotiated with Mr. Wada. What do you think, boss…?" (End of Chapter)