After divorce, I can hear the voice of the future

Chapter 845 Helping Old Xu Maintain His Respect
"Bye, remember to send me a message when you land."

At the boarding gate of Hong Kong Airport, Lu Liang smiled as he saw Li Manli off and began a series of personal interviews.

CCTV's "70 Years, 70 Enterprises, 70 People" documentary project, intended as a National Day tribute, was also considered a political task, requiring the filming of some veterans from the early days of reform and opening up.

For example, interviews with Lao Liutou, Ren Feizheng, Ma Yun, and others required special care, which slowed down the filming process.

If we get to Luliang, it will probably be after the Spring Festival.

Therefore, Lu Liang decided to first accept an exclusive interview with Forbes.

Upon learning of this good news, Forbes immediately dispatched its most professional filming team to Hong Kong.

That afternoon, Lu Liang arrived at the foot of the Tianxing Financial Building to greet the Forbes interview team.

The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties named Zhang Zhiyuan, accompanied by six people including a director, cameraman, and lighting technician.

The group exchanged greetings and introduced themselves.

With a smile on his face, Lu Liang asked as he walked, "Director Zhang, how should I cooperate?"

Zhang Zhiyuan was flattered and quickly said, "President Lu, just do your usual work routine. We'll shoot some establishing shots first. Please rest assured, we'll just follow you from a distance and won't leak any business information."

"That's fine."

Lu Liang beckoned Sun Zheyuan over and asked him what other work was scheduled besides the Forbes interview.

He arranged all the work, but there was too much and too varied, so Sun Zheyuan had to compile and categorize it, and then analyze the focus of each task.

Important and crucial matters should be prioritized, while less urgent and less important matters can be postponed.

This is why every secretary Lu Liang has had has been able to work independently, even Xu Jiawei, whom he considered the least responsible, has managed to do very well in Japan and South Korea.

"Mr. Lu, you had a meeting with Mr. Xu of Hengtai, mainly to discuss how to settle the remaining $90 billion loan."

Hearing Sun Zheyuan's words, Lu Liang nodded and smiled at Zhang Zhiyuan: "Director Zhang, please make yourselves at home, I won't entertain you any further."

"President Lu, please just pretend we're invisible," Zhang Zhiyuan said with a forced smile, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

The thought of Lu Liang meeting Xu Jiayin is thrilling, after all, Xu was the richest person in the previous year and had a very good chance of retaining the title, but Lu Liang took it away.

"Okay, let's go."

Lu Liang smiled and didn't say anything more. He told Sun Zheyuan to prepare the car and head to the New World Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

That place used to be the New World Development, which belonged to the Cheng family, but now it has become the headquarters building of the Hengtai Group in Hong Kong.

Recently, in addition to receiving news that the US stock market would be halted by circuit breakers, Lu Liang also received news of Hengtai Group and Boss Xu's bankruptcy.

To be honest, he wasn't surprised, because even before receiving news of the flu outbreak, he knew that Hengtai was heavily indebted and on the verge of collapse.

Now, with more and more information about the future being received, and piecing together all the clues, Lu Liang can already foresee what will happen in the future.

The real economy was severely damaged, the national real estate market cooled down overnight, many real estate projects were abandoned, Hengtai Group became insolvent and eventually went bankrupt.

After all, even the US stock market, which had been thriving for 40 years, experienced circuit breakers four times. How much more so for Hengtai Group, which was already teetering on the brink of collapse.

It will fully erupt within a year at the latest.

With time running out, Hengtai must emulate Wanda's actions in the past to survive by proactively cutting some heavy asset projects and selling off some assets to generate enough cash flow to face the upcoming crisis.

Otherwise, even if they possess the entire Hong Kong real estate market, they still cannot save Hengtai Group.

Lu Liang's trip was solely to help Lao Xu and Heng Tai maintain their dignity; there was no choice for him to maintain his own dignity.

This is not a discussion, but an order, unless Hengtai can settle the remaining $90 billion loan in one lump sum.

Lu Liang didn't want his undefeated myth, built up over several years, to fail not in the financial market, but instead be ruined by Hengtai Group.

Forty minutes later, Lu Liang arrived at the New World Building in his Rolls-Royce.

Xu Jiayin was waiting at the door early in the morning. She greeted him with a smile and said, "President Lu, congratulations on becoming the richest man in the country at the age of 34. There is no one like him before and there will probably be no one like him in the future."

He might be upset if someone else took his title as the richest man.

After all, compared to the previous year, his wealth increased by nearly 100 billion RMB last year, and he also successfully entered the Hong Kong real estate market that he had longed for for many years. However, the person who took the title of richest man was Lu Liang, which is a different story.

Hengtai Group's market value has remained stable at 5500 billion yuan. The group can also raise funds and has abundant cash flow. All of this is because Lu Liang helped them acquire New World Development.

"Mr. Xu, you're too kind. It's just some empty title." Lu Liang said with a smile, as if he didn't care about the matter at all.

Xu Jiayin smiled without saying a word. He was an experienced person and knew the principle that even if you were very happy inside, you couldn't show it.

At most, he would flick his suit jacket, revealing an even more gleaming and spirited Hermes belt at his waist. Just then, several people carrying video cameras got out of a van parked behind Lu Liang's car.

Xu Jiayin asked in confusion, "President Lu, are these your friends?"

Lu Liang said, "The Forbes filming team said they want to film my daily work routine. Mr. Xu, you don't mind, do you?"

"do not mind."

Xu Jiayin bowed to Zhang Zhiyuan and greeted him, saying, "No wonder Director Zhang looked familiar just now."

If he remembers correctly, the same team filmed his personal interview with the richest man last year.

"Mr. Lu, this way please."

Xu Jiayin invited Lu Liang into the building. He was also a former richest man and had been interviewed by Forbes.

Knowing full well that this team is very professional, they only bring eyes, not mouths or ears.

They can do their thing. Anyway, Lu Liang will review all the original footage afterwards, and the footage will only be edited and released after his approval.

The two went to the office on the top floor, leaving only a crack in the door so that the photographers could record the event.

Xu Jiayin brewed tea and said with a smile, "President Lu, Hengtai Group's stock price suffered a slight setback before the Lunar New Year, making it difficult to raise funds in the market in the short term. The first phase of the $30 billion loan may need to be extended for a while."

Lu Liang smiled calmly, did not drink the tea, and went straight to the point: "President Xu, you should try your best to find a way to get this loan."

"Mr. Lu, you...you're not joking, are you?" Old Xu was taken aback, suddenly stammering, a little confused.

He spoke so casually because he genuinely believed that Lu Liang would agree to postpone the loan.

After all, since acquiring New World Development, Hengtai Group has launched two rounds of financing totaling US$150 billion.

A portion was given to the Zheng family to persuade them to give up their resistance, and the majority of the remainder was used to repay Tianxing Financial Group.

Lu Liang also said that there was no rush regarding the loan; three years or five years, interest first and then principal, or principal first and then interest were all acceptable.

Why the sudden change of heart?

"Mr. Xu, I did say that, but you haven't forgotten my conditions, have you?" Lu Liang's tone grew colder.

His initial condition for helping Hengtai was that the mainland business would remain in the mainland and the Hong Kong business would remain in Hong Kong.

Hengtai Group must distinguish between the two until the loan from Tianxing Financial that helped Hengtai acquire New World is settled.

Even Lu Liang couldn't force himself to help Lao Xu and save face for Hengtai without explaining the whole story.

So he had someone investigate a bit and found that Lao Xu was indeed dishonest. In the Sai Wan Ho development project in the eastern district of Xiangjiang Island, Xiangjiang Hengtai had secretly introduced mainland Hengtai in an attempt to share the development profits.

Although Hong Kong Evergrande did not offer much profit to mainland Evergrande, and the total revenue should only be a little over a billion Hong Kong dollars, it still gave Lu Liang a reason to make trouble.

Xu Jiayin smiled bitterly, knowing she was in the wrong, and did not argue. She could only appeal to his emotions and reason: "President Lu, why be so unreasonable? You know the situation of Hengtai. It's hard to survive by relying solely on mainland business."

In the past, before entering the Hong Kong market, even if it was difficult to survive, we would rob Peter to pay Paul and grit our teeth and persevere. But now, with Lu Liang's support, we also have access to the goldmine of the Hong Kong real estate market.

Every human being has a tendency to be lazy.

After all, if Hong Kong loosens its grip even slightly, Evergrande on the mainland can breathe a sigh of relief. Why go through all the trouble of holding on?
Moreover, Xu Jiayin believes that Lu Liang knows about the situation of Hengtai in mainland China, and even if he does, he will not blame them and will probably choose to turn a blind eye.

Lu Liang said in a deep voice, "President Xu, rules are rules. If there are no rules and we rely solely on personal connections, can anything be accomplished?"

Xu Jiayin was speechless, rendered speechless by the rebuttal, and her expression turned somewhat unpleasant, after all, he had already been so humble.

At that moment, the cameraman filming outside the crack in the door widened his eyes and muttered to himself, "Is this really not just a show?"

"Director Zhang, we're going to be a sensation! You have no idea what I've filmed!" He couldn't hide his excitement.

In the past, they have interviewed many business tycoons and filmed the daily office work of many business leaders.

The most explosive scene ever filmed so far is probably the one where a pregnant female executive at JD.com forces Liu Qiangdong to resign.

However, that was, after all, a superior to a subordinate, or vice versa; their statuses were completely unequal.

In contrast, now, in the office, one is the newly crowned richest man in the country, and the other is the previous richest man in the country.

Neither of them were unknown figures; their combined assets were enough to sweep the top twenty on the list.

Although we can't hear what they're saying, judging from the content of the video, the two seem to be having a very unpleasant conversation.

It also revealed that Lu Liang was in an absolutely dominant position, and Lao Xu's powerlessness was clearly visible.

(End of this chapter)