The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 308: Opportunity for a Rapid Increase in Wealth

Buy a house as early as possible. Although China is attracting investment and attracting many overseas businessmen to invest, many of them are unwilling to return after settling abroad.

Many people do miss their hometowns, but only a small number of them actually come back. In addition, investing in China and living in China are two different things.

So the houses that were confiscated for some reasons have now been returned to those people. And those people who don't want to live in the country will sell them.

During the summer vacation, Jiang Cheng took his family to visit Sijiu City. They took a sleeper train. Now you don't need any identity to buy a sleeper ticket, you just need money.

However, there are often some soft sleeper seats on the train, even if they are not for sale. They are reserved for some leaders in case of emergency. There are not many seats, and if there are no leaders who want to take extra seats after passing certain stations, some people are allowed to pay extra to go to the soft sleeper seats.

When Jiang Cheng went there, he took a soft sleeper car with a door. A hard sleeper car has three seats, upper, middle, lower and one side, while a soft sleeper car only has two beds, upper and lower.

When Jiang Cheng went to Sijiu City, he brought Jiang Juan with him and asked Zhu Lan in the backyard to help reserve two private rooms with eight seats.

I spent nearly a month in Beijing, eating hotpot, Peking duck, stir-fried tripe, fried liver and the like.

In fact, Jiang Cheng had bought these things in Sijiu City and brought them back many times before, but the atmosphere between eating them at home and on the streets and in restaurants in Sijiu City was completely different.

This year, I went to the city of Sanjiu. BJ built a large amusement park with roller coasters and some water activities. In this era, taking children to the amusement park during the summer vacation is very enjoyable.

The key point is that Jiang Cheng bought three courtyard houses in Sijiu City, two of which were bought with Zhou Lingying's money, and one was bought privately by Jiang Cheng.

Many people have not yet changed their minds about the government distributing houses, and land and houses are not worth much. It is a bit difficult to explain the investment in houses.

There are many courtyard-style houses in Sijiu City. After coming to Sijiu City to buy a courtyard house, Jiang Cheng also got to know something about the courtyard houses.

This ordinary quadrangle courtyard is actually a yard with houses on all four sides. The north house is the main house, the south house is the back house, and the east and west houses are wing rooms.

A siheyuan is not big, but it can still have several courtyards.

The courtyard where Jiang Cheng lived in Changcheng had a front and back yard, but it didn't form a quadrangle. Some of the houses in the front and back yards were added, so if you don't count the added houses, it could barely be considered a two-entry, three-courtyard house.

Later, there was a TV show that told a story about a courtyard house. The courtyard house was really big, with more than 20 households living in it. According to the average number of people in a household at that time, it was over 100.

So it was a quadrangle with four entrances and four courtyards, with a front yard, a middle yard, a back yard and a cross yard. Like where Jiang Cheng lived, even with the additional houses, there were only nine households living there.

It is very difficult to buy a Siheyuan with four entrances, because it is difficult for one person to own it. You have to know that the person who first built the Siheyuan with four entrances must have been a person of high status.

A courtyard house with four entrances and four sides would be built only if the family had many wives and concubines, many children, servants and maids.

The courtyard houses that Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying bought were both two-story courtyard houses, that is, the kind with front and back yards. Two of them were near the Forbidden City, and one was around the second ring road.

The current housing prices in Beijing are not as high as those in Shanghai, where the average house price is 300-400 yuan per square meter. However, an average courtyard house in Beijing is only 10,000 yuan, and those close to the Forbidden City are only 20,000-30,000 yuan.

The two-courtyard courtyard house I bought is twice as large, but the price may not necessarily double, because few people need seven or eight rooms to live in.

Therefore, Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying spent a total of just over 100,000 yuan to buy three quadrangle houses. If they wanted to buy a larger quadrangle house, it would be difficult to buy a whole set in Sijiu City.

Many courtyard houses are now often occupied by many people. For example, a courtyard house with three entrances has at least 15 households living in it. To buy such a courtyard house, the most effective way is to buy it one by one, just like in TV dramas.

In the TV series, someone was able to take over the four-courtyard house because of the support of the people in the courtyard and the coordination of the street office. And the time period was also in 1993.

But based on the address and size, that courtyard house would be worth at least 500 million in later generations.

Jiang Cheng thought about it for a long time and felt that three courtyard houses would be enough. It didn't matter if one courtyard house cost hundreds of millions, as the comparison would be decades later.

To acquire the three courtyard houses, they had to spend money to renovate them. After the renovation, no one was living in them, so they rented them out to others. Jiang Cheng still thought it was too much trouble, and the current rent of 40% to 90% was not expensive.

It doesn't matter if I build dozens of courtyard houses, it's only tens of billions. If I find an investor named Ma in the future, I can earn more than that.

Moreover, it takes a lot of time and effort to acquire a large courtyard house. If Jiang Cheng really wants to invest in real estate, he will go to Hong Kong to apply for a large piece of land to develop a villa area.

If you don't sell the villas after they are built, you can rent them out. Many celebrities in Hong Kong like to show off and rent villas to live in. After 20 years, villas in Hong Kong may not be cheaper than courtyard houses.

The key is that the courtyard house is expensive, and its residential properties are not as strong as those of a villa.

After returning from the old city, Jiang Cheng made some calculations and decided to buy a few more houses in the future. Nanjing was Zhou Lingying's hometown, so he would also buy a villa there. As for other cities, it would depend on the situation. If his children were admitted to other cities, he could buy a house there temporarily.

It’s better to stay in a hotel on weekdays, because the houses we bought, especially the courtyard houses, need to be taken care of by someone special.

After returning from Sijiu City, Jiang Cheng began to live a life of lying down completely.

The Jiangdonglai supermarket has become a large chain of shopping malls and supermarkets. Many people from Hong Kong were transferred to the mainland on business trips, which means there is a shortage of management personnel. With more than a dozen supermarkets opened at once, they had to transfer some store managers from Hong Kong.

The store manager in Hong Kong earns over ten thousand yuan a month, and if he is asked to travel on business, he will earn twenty thousand yuan a month.

Jiang Cheng plans to slow down the pace of development. There are now more than 20 Jiangdonglai stores in China. When the next branch is opened in a year, the store managers in China can be transferred there.

Now there are more than 20 supermarkets, which have actually been noticed in China. Some people above even want to set an example for Jiangdonglai and give it more support.

Hong Kong will return sooner or later, and it will also be a compatriot enterprise in the future. You should know that some foreign companies in later generations also received support from the country to become large groups.

There is a company called Lotte Mart in South Korea, which also operates supermarkets and has grown in China. It has hundreds of stores, but unfortunately it is an ungrateful person and cannot be tamed.

Then, to borrow the words of a certain master, a white-eyed wolf can support you to become a big group in China, let alone a company of fellow Hong Kong people. Jiang Cheng also has things he wants to do, maybe just some evil things. Jiang Cheng has completed the main investment projects, and now he is 35 years old.

The "Jiangdonglai" supermarket only needs to be replicated in other cities according to the routine, occupying some water resources, which will become the main wealth of Jiangcheng's physical enterprises in the future.

In addition, if Jiang Cheng finds any business opportunity in the coming years, even if his wealth is already huge, he will still have the opportunity to multiply it.

For example, in the second half of 1985, an opportunity arose for Jiang Cheng to become rich overnight.

In Hong Kong, Jiang Cheng’s wealth is currently among the top, but he is not among the richest few.

If Jiang Cheng had not bought a batch of real estate in 1973, his meatball business would only make tens of millions of profits a year even if he occupied the entire Hong Kong market.

Jiang Cheng only bought at the bottom because he knew that the housing prices in Hong Kong would definitely rise in the future. But Lao Li from Hong Kong entered the real estate industry in the late 1950s. The key point is that Lao Li was quite extreme when he was young. He dared to buy at the bottom during several real estate fluctuations.

In 1966 and 1970, the land price in Hong Kong plummeted for some reasons, and Lao Li had stockpiled a large amount of land.

And this year, Lao Li directly took out 2.9 billion to acquire the Hong Kong Electric Company, which shows how huge his financial resources are.

From 1979 to 1985, Jiang Cheng had only invested 200 million yuan in a large hotel. Even in other projects, such as opening several factories and more than 20 supermarkets in China, the investment did not exceed 100 million yuan.

You have to say that people with an annual income of ten thousand yuan in this era are very impressive. People with an annual income of ten thousand yuan are considered to be millionaires in the future. In fact, people with an annual income of ten thousand yuan in this era are more impressive than millionaires in the future.

The investment of several hundred million is equivalent to tens of billions in later generations. It can't be considered a small investment, but it depends on who you compare it with. Old Li directly took out 2.9 billion, and he didn't do it in his old business. Jiang Cheng's net worth is at least one or two levels lower than his.

But Lao Li was too high-profile. It wouldn't be long before his son was kidnapped. Although nothing happened, his family would definitely not be able to experience the various aspects of life and could only live a "monotonous" life of the rich.

This year, there was an opportunity for Jiang Cheng to catch up with Lao Li in wealth, and he could keep a low profile, but this opportunity was not in China or Hong Kong.

In September of this year, when Jiang Cheng was in Hong Kong, he saw a news report in the newspaper that the island country had signed the Plaza Accord with four other countries.

Jiang Cheng may not be very clear about a lot of history, but for some things, knowing a little bit will be enough.

For example, the real estate prices in Hong Kong are very high in the future. Before 2025, if you see the real estate prices in Hong Kong falling, you can just buy at the bottom without thinking.

Since the 1990s, until the outbreak of the epidemic in China, you could invest in domestic real estate without any hesitation. Even if there are ups and downs, as long as you don't borrow too much, you can make a fortune if you can get through it.

Many things do not require you to know too much about history. You may not think of business opportunities before some things appear. But as a time traveler, after encountering some things, you don’t need to know the details at all. As long as you know one result, that is a huge business opportunity.

Jiang Cheng actually didn't remember much about the Plaza Accord, but he knew that there was a period in history when the island nation could buy the entire United States. So he paid a little attention to it before, and roughly knew that it started with this agreement.

Jiang Cheng had no idea about the content of the agreement, and it was good enough that he could remember that there was such an agreement.

Anyway, after this agreement, the island nation's currency appreciated and became valuable. Of course, if it was not valuable, then even if there were a lot of it, it would not be possible to buy America.

The island nation's economic bubble is about to appear, and the currency is appreciating. The dumbest way is to convert all your wealth into the island nation's currency. Doing nothing in a few years can at least double your wealth.

But in this case, Jiang Cheng will not be able to catch up with Lao Li in Hong Kong. A better way is to buy houses and stocks in the island country.

The key is that Jiang Cheng only remembered that the bubble of the island country started after the Plaza Accord, and did not pay serious attention to when it ended. He only had a general impression, but that was enough, and he could also pretend that he would not try to earn the last penny of the island country.

Since you can't remember the exact time when the bubble will burst, just evacuate it in advance.

But in this case, Jiang Cheng would have to wait a few more years to retire early. The key point is that this opportunity to earn money from the island country is rare. Other countries can give up, but the island country's money must be earned as much as possible.

Jiang Cheng is reluctant to go abroad, but in order to increase his wealth, he has to go to the island country.

Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong is obviously inferior to HSBC when it comes to exchanging large amounts of foreign currency. Jiang Cheng wants to exchange all currencies into the island country's currency, but of course he has to keep some currency for circulation.

Even so, Hang Seng Bank still needs a month to process. If it is HSBC, which has investors from many countries, it will only take a week at most.

However, Hang Seng Bank has one good thing, which is that it provides good services to local Hong Kong businessmen. If Jiang Cheng wants to go to the island country to do stocks or something, Hang Seng Bank can also introduce some traders.

Although the exchange of island currency was a little slow, causing Jiang Cheng to lose a lot of money, it also solved a lot of problems for him.

This so-called "not a small amount" of money is really a large amount, because from September 1985 to December of the end of the year, the island's currency appreciated by 20%.

Jiang Cheng's money was exchanged a little slowly, and the loss of wealth growth was calculated in billions.

Jiang Cheng had a hard time in the last few months of 1985. He didn't know how to trade stocks. He traveled back and forth between Hong Kong and Taiwan, spending a lot of time in Taiwan.

The main problem is opening an account. According to the trader, there is too much capital, and it is external capital. It has to be dispersed, and one person has to operate several accounts.

If Hang Seng Bank had not sent people to help and temporarily formed a large team, Jiang Cheng would not know how to make money.

Apart from the stock market, the other option is to buy land, but the stock market is just a matter of opening an account. The land does not belong to the islanders, so you cannot buy it whenever you want.

Not to mention buying land, even buying a house and transferring ownership would be difficult for Jiang Cheng.

So it is not wrong to say that during the crazy period, the price of the core area of ​​the island country can buy the United States. But that is just an analogy, it is true in terms of value, but will the United States sell it?

China in the future could easily buy the islands in the Taiwan Strait, but would they sell them?

(End of this chapter)