1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 751 1984!

The acquisition of Wheelock is proceeding smoothly. In fact, given the current state of the Hong Kong stock market, Li Changhe has very few competitors.

Currently, Hong Kong's wealthy individuals who are aligned with the mainland are doing their utmost to help the mainland, while those who are aligned with the British or other forces are observing closely, quietly waiting for the next changes in Hong Kong before considering how to shift their allegiance.

At that time, very few people dared to make large-scale acquisitions in the capital market.

Therefore, Li Changhe's acquisition of Wheelock was very smooth, with no competitors in the market, even though he used a US company.

On October 15th, John Madden announced the sale of his Wheelock shares to British Carret Capital for HK$13 billion. Although the news caused a stir in the market, it did not cause too much of a sensation.

Firstly, they didn't know what Carret Capital did, since Carret Capital was a company registered by Li Changhe in Europe, and it was normal that they couldn't get the information in Hong Kong.

Secondly, the market was quickly ignited by another piece of news.

After nearly two months of sharp depreciation in the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate, the Governor's Office finally introduced a new system for the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate, which is the linked exchange rate system adopted by the Hong Kong dollar in later generations.

The Governor's Office stipulated that the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate would be pegged to the US dollar at a rate of 1 to 7.8. This system completely tied the Hong Kong dollar to the US dollar. From then on, note-issuing banks such as HSBC had to deposit one US dollar into the Exchange Fund for every 7.8 Hong Kong dollars issued. In other words, from today onwards, the Hong Kong dollar has completely become a voucher for the US dollar.

But for Li Changhe, this exchange rate meant that he could now exchange his Hong Kong dollars back for US dollars.

Li Changhe's average exchange rate for US dollars to Hong Kong dollars was around 9.2. In total, including expenditures in real estate and other industries, he exchanged a total of 3.6 billion US dollars for Hong Kong dollars. This money included funds from investment institutions in the United States and Europe.

After deducting expenditures on real estate and stock market investments, the exchanged Hong Kong dollars now amount to US$3.3 billion.

This is because some of the funds were exchanged early, such as some loans from HSBC, when the exchange rate was less than 6. Therefore, his actual return was far greater than the exchange rate difference between 9.2 and 7.8.

However, after the funds were divided among various parties, and after deducting the repayment of bank loans and various expenses such as the acquisition of Wheelock, Li Changhe was left with only $8.6 million.

Of course, this does not include the market value of the real estate, stocks and shares of various companies that Li Changhe currently holds; it only includes the personal cash flow held by Li Changhe himself.

We don't have much money left!
Looking at the final accounts, Li Changhe frowned slightly.

However, he quickly relaxed again. He didn't have any major expenses after that. The funds in the US stock market had been returned, and the funds in Japan were ready. That was all.

As for the remaining money, Li Changhe thought about it and decided to keep it for his own use.

Actually, there are places to invest. Putting aside other things, once the Plaza Accord was signed, it wasn't just the Japanese yen that appreciated. The British pound, the French franc, and the German mark all appreciated against the US dollar to varying degrees, with appreciation rates all exceeding 50%. Li Changhe remembered that the German mark had also appreciated by about 100%.

However, after experiencing the Hong Kong incident, Li Changhe felt that speculating on foreign exchange was not very interesting.

Money is something you can never earn enough of. If you really want to get rich, there are opportunities all over the world all the time.

So, after sorting all this out, Li Changhe told his secretary that he was going on vacation, and then disappeared with Gong Xue.

Anyway, nothing major is going to happen next, and those real estate properties and stocks won't fluctuate much in the short term.

As for those who profited from Sun Hung Kai Properties, Li Changhe didn't bother with them. He had already made them rich, so there was no need to worry about the aftermath.

As for Wheelock, Li Changhe agreed with them to divide the assets in October of next year.

The reason is simple: China Resources will only begin large-scale acquisitions in Hong Kong after negotiations between the two sides have concluded, as they need to consider the impact on the country.

Li Changhe wasn't in a hurry. He used the time to have the people in the secretariat sort out Wheelock's assets and then gradually optimize them.

November, Beijing, 8B Mountain Revolutionary Cemetery

Wearing a black trench coat, Li Changhe, accompanied by Lin Yuan and another man, arrived at Liao Gong's grave.

"Changhe, your father speaks highly of your achievements. He is already very happy that you came to see him."

Liao Gong's eldest son, Liao Hui, was standing beside Li Changhe at this moment and whispered to him.

Actually, Li Changhe and Liao Hui were not particularly familiar with each other, but they had met a few times during the Spring Festival.

"Changhe, Brother Liao will be one of the heads of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. At that time, Brother Liao will be in charge of the official contacts at the national level. I will only contact you for special matters."

"What the higher-ups mean is that from now on, there are some things that we can do openly, which is also a form of protection for you."

At this moment, Lin Yuan also whispered to Li Changhe.

Li Changhe nodded. With Liao Gong gone, he definitely needed a trustworthy national-level liaison, and Liao Hui was the most suitable candidate.

After paying his respects to Liao Gong, Li Changhe returned home.

For the rest of his days, Li Changhe stayed at his home in Beijing, calmly keeping up with current economic news and making plans for his future business ventures.

In the blink of an eye, 1983 passed and 1984 arrived, a year also known as the first year of private enterprises in China.

Lenovo, Vanke, Haier, Kelon, Jianlibao and other companies were all founded in this year, and Li Changhe naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity.

In the blink of an eye, it was February 2nd, the Spring Festival. After not spending the Spring Festival at home last year, Li Changhe was finally able to spend it at home again this year.

Little Li Zheng, who is just over one year old, can already speak in simple sentences, calling out "Dad" and "Mom" incessantly, which became the source of joy for the whole family this Spring Festival.

After the Spring Festival, Li Changhe also began preparations for his domestic business.

At the same restaurant, Li Changhe invited Shen Juncheng to sit down together.

"You said you want to start a company?"

Hearing Li Changhe's words, Shen Juncheng was somewhat surprised, but considering Li Changhe's identity, he wasn't too surprised.

"Yes, I asked you to find a group of people for me before, now is the time to use them."

"However, I'm currently missing a visible agent. I originally wanted Zhu Lin to do this, but then I realized she's not suitable, and I don't think she's interested in business."

Li Changhe then spoke to Shen Juncheng.

In recent years, he has also noticed that his wife only enjoys the feeling of spending money and does not consider making money in business. He feels that it would be a bit difficult for her to become a business agent.

Li Changhe didn't want her to have a hard life, so he wanted to ask Shen Juncheng if there was a suitable candidate.

Hearing Li Changhe's words, Shen Juncheng thought for a moment, and then said, "You know what, I actually have a suitable candidate here."

"Little sister, do you still remember?"

"You mean Men San's younger sister?" After hearing Shen Juncheng mention her, Li Changhe remembered this girl. In his memory, she was thin and bony, but she was very capable in doing things.

"Yes, it was him. She was in charge of all the ideas you gave us, like making the bronze and iron Buddha statue and all that. She was in charge of all the accounting. In 81, she was admitted to our Beijing Business College, which is a junior college, and she studied accounting."

“Young Sister is very methodical in her work. Our Copper Iron Buddha business has never had any problems or disputes under her management. If you want to find someone to do things openly, Young Sister is very suitable.”

Shen Juncheng then spoke earnestly to Li Changhe.

After listening, Li Changhe hesitated for a moment: "Ability is secondary, the main thing is that this person has to be trustworthy. Do you think she is reliable?"

“It doesn’t matter now that she’s young, but I’m worried that once she gets married and starts a family, her mind will change.”

Actually, if possible, Li Changhe felt it would be better to use a man. Women are too easily swayed by emotions, except, of course, for women who have their hearts set on him.

Unexpectedly, after hearing Li Changhe finish speaking, Shen Juncheng smiled somewhat awkwardly.

"Don't worry, it's definitely reliable."

Li Changhe was speechless when he saw his attitude.

"Did you sleep with her?"

As soon as he saw Shen Juncheng's posture, he knew that something was definitely going on.

Shen Juncheng sighed.

"Sigh, it wasn't me who slept with her, it was her who slept with me."

“When Hongshao was pregnant, I was drinking with San'er and the others outside. After we finished drinking, we stayed in the courtyard house. You know, nothing had ever happened before, but that night, she crawled into my bed.”

"And then what happened?"

Li Changhe wasn't surprised. Shen Juncheng's style was actually very attractive to some women, especially some highly educated or reserved women. They had no resistance to his "Dragon King" style older brother. Qu Hongshao was like that, and he guessed that his younger sister was too.

"What else could happen? Although she said I didn't have to take responsibility, I'm not the kind of guy who takes advantage of others and then reneges on his promises. Besides, she's Men San's sister."

“I was thinking of arranging a job for her, but she was unwilling, saying that she was used to being free and didn’t lack money now, and that she was still in charge of that matter anyway.”

Shen Juncheng was filled with helplessness.

Li Changhe pondered for a moment, then asked Shen Juncheng, "What did Men San say?"

Li Changhe also had to consider Men San's attitude, otherwise he would be helpless if a dispute arose later.

“I talked to San’er, and he said he had seen through it a long time ago. He also talked to Yaomei, but Yaomei wouldn’t listen to him, so he stopped caring about it after that.”

“Changhe, since you’re planning to find someone to help anyway, I think we should use Yaomei. She’s capable, and she’s learned accounting now. With San’er and the others helping her, there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Shen Juncheng then spoke seriously.

Li Changhe nodded: "Okay, in that case, call her over another day, and I'll send her to Hong Kong Island for some further studies."

"And another thing, could you help me find some more people at the Chinese Academy of Sciences?"

As a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shen Juncheng would certainly not be spared by Li Changhe, who would seize this base of operations right at the entrance.

"Whom is the Chinese Academy of Sciences looking for?"

Li Changhe smiled and said, "I'll look for people who have technical skills, are bold, or come from very poor families. I'll poach them."

"Also, go back and tell your uncle to help me find out what the people who worked on the lithography machine project are doing now."

"I will probably get involved in the lithography machine field in the future."

"A lithography machine? What's that?"

Shen Juncheng was puzzled; he didn't understand any of these words.

"I'll write it down for you later. When you go back, ask your uncle. He should know."

In the 1980s, some industries in China were not actually lagging behind the West, but due to the reform and opening up, many things were halted, such as the famous Y-10 transport aircraft and the research on lithography machines in China.

There are issues of economic scarcity involved, as well as factors related to human struggles. After all, a new emperor brings a new court, and no one has foresight.

Take the Y-10 transport aircraft as an example. There are many factors involved, and it would be difficult for Li Changhe to get involved even if he wanted to. This industry is not something that can be done just by having money.

He thinks the lithography machine is a piece of cake he can take a bite out of.

Photolithography machines are still a niche industry. Before personal computers and mobile phones become widespread, their application prospects are really not great. In fact, not only does the Chinese Academy of Sciences not pay attention to them, but even abroad, there are not many companies that do.

Many technologies are developed step by step by leveraging existing knowledge and experience, and breakthroughs are achieved as markets expand. Before the market emerges, technology is not important.

Li Changhe wasn't aiming for instant success. The most important thing now was to accumulate technological expertise. Samsung became an international giant in the 1990s by playing with lithography machines, and Li Changhe felt that his current accumulation of expertise wouldn't necessarily be inferior to Samsung's.

Li Changhe's idea was simple: build a lithography machine R&D center in China and another one in Singapore, combining domestic and international resources to achieve breakthroughs through patents.

As for the future, Li Changhe will make further arrangements based on the actual situation.

"Okay, I'll ask someone to inquire for you and make a list for you later."

Shen Juncheng did not hesitate about this matter; it was nothing to him.

After making these arrangements for Shen Juncheng, Li Changhe spent a few more days in Shanghai before returning to Hong Kong.

However, he did not stay in Hong Kong Island for long before flying to the United States.

The reason is simple: this year is another US presidential election year. Although Li Gen's re-election is a foregone conclusion, as Li Gen's "good friend," Li Changhe has to show his support.

So, in mid-March 1984, Li Changhe landed at Los Angeles International Airport in his private plane and then returned to Beverly Hills.

Here, he saw the surprise that Isabelle Adjani brought him.

(End of this chapter)