Mixed in 1980

Chapter 282 Another conflict
"Hua San Shao" is a nickname used in the entertainment circle.

Seeing Chen Fan's puzzled expression, Li Hongying explained, "Zhao Shizeng, the third son of the Zhao Ship King family, is Hong Kong's number one playboy."

"It's him!" Chen Fan realized.

This man is the real "iron kidney master". He started frequenting the entertainment industry at the age of eighteen and had beautiful women by his side until he was over eighty. He once changed 178 female companions in one year.

According to later generations, he had relationships with tens of thousands of women.

Fueled by the Hong Kong media, Hua Sanshao became a legendary figure in social circles, a patron of countless women, and a charming gentleman with confidantes all over the world.

Compared to him, Liu Jianxiong is just a little brother!

Despite his playful and mischievous nature, Hua Sanshao is no mere figurehead; he possesses exceptional abilities. He was the one who spearheaded the Zhao family's entry into the real estate industry, which ultimately led to their tremendous success.

"Want to go have a look?"

Li Hongying put down her teacup and looked at Chen Fan: "You've been in Hong Kong for so many years, but I've never seen you attend a business cocktail party. You should show your face at least once."

“In business, it’s all about giving each other face. If you don’t even show your face, people will think you look down on Hong Kong’s business district.”

"Then let's go take a look," Chen Fan agreed.

Li Hongying is right. That's how the business world works. Business parties like this often provide a lot of business information.

Chen Fan's subordinates frequently attend various business banquets, whether they are from Xinghuo Investment, Xinghuo Real Estate, or other companies.

As for Chen Fan himself, he dislikes socializing.

However, it is indeed inappropriate for him to remain out of the public eye. As Li Hongying said, people who don't know the situation might really think that he looks down on Hong Kong's business district.

"Come pick me up tomorrow, we'll go together."

Li Hongying refilled Chen Fan's tea, then changed the subject: "Do you think it's feasible for our Yipin Fish Restaurant to expand into the mainland?"

The development of Yipin Fish Restaurant reached a bottleneck a long time ago, as the market was already saturated in both Hong Kong and the island.

A large number of competing products have also emerged, making the competition particularly fierce.

If it weren't for the good environment, good service, and good food, which create a brand effect, chain restaurant brands like these would usually decline over the years.

In 1986, Li Hongying planned to expand overseas and first set her sights on the Japanese and South Korean markets.

After entering the Korean food scene, it became very difficult to promote the dishes, resulting in significant financial losses. Now, only two stores remain, and business is barely surviving. They are planning to close down.

Business in Japan is doing quite well; there are currently over a dozen stores, and overall revenue is decent, so it's worth considering expanding the number of stores.

But the core for the future still lies in the mainland.

With a large population base and shared tastes, the catering industry will inevitably boom as the economy develops, and making money is a given.

"Now is the perfect time to enter the mainland market. KFC has entered the mainland market, so there's no reason why our fish restaurant can't."

Speaking of KFC, Chen Fan suddenly remembered: "Sister Ying, why don't we try starting a Western fast food chain? It's really popular in mainland China."

"Forget it, that thing is disgusting!"

Li Hongying rolled her eyes. It's not like we haven't eaten there before. It's just that kids have good palates but no health at all: "It's enough that we can run Yipin Fish Restaurant well. I won't invest any more money in the catering industry in the future."

"The restaurant business is the most demanding, it takes up so much energy, but I really can't bear to give it up. These things are so annoying."

"Never mind what I said!" Chen Fan said sullenly.

The catering industry is indeed full of trouble. If Li Hongying is willing to do it, it's fine to invest some money and play around. But if Chen Fan wants to do it himself, he will only think that she has nothing better to do.

There are many industries where you can make money. Why do you have to work in a menial profession when you can make money in any other industry?

After thinking for a moment, Chen Fan said, "If you really don't want to manage Yipin Fish Restaurant, then delegate the authority to the rotating president, and the company can also go public."

"I'll think about it!" Li Hongying sighed, still reluctant to part with him.

That's a brand I developed from scratch. All the stores in Hong Kong are owned by the company, making them absolutely high-quality assets.

Going public now feels like a loss.

When Yipin Fish Restaurant was first established, the goal was to build a century-old brand. I never thought about going public to make a quick buck, which would have gone against my original intention.

However, fish farms do require a lot of effort; other industries are much less stressful.

Back when I invested with Chen Fan, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen, Guangzhou-Zhuhai, and Beijing-Tianjin expressways were already open to traffic, so I didn't need to worry about anything; I just needed to keep an eye on the finances.

There was also the Yangtze Ethylene Project. Li Hongying invested a large sum of money but only received a 2% stake, which she felt was not worthwhile at the time.

However, in 87, the 30-ton ethylene plant was successfully fed into the plant on the first attempt, marking the completion of the first phase of the project. The initial investment had at least doubled.

These are the truly high-quality assets!

Now that she's older, Li Hongying doesn't want to make any big moves. She just wants to accumulate more quality assets, leaving a portion to Li Hongbing and the majority to her daughter.

In fact, the best assets I've accumulated over the years are the properties in Hong Kong.

Li Hongying bought the property at its lowest point, at 300-400 per square foot, or 3,000-4,000 per square meter. Now she can recoup more than 2,000 Hong Kong dollars a month from the rent.

Li Hongying has no intention of selling. Being a landlady is great. Even if it becomes an old and dilapidated house in twenty or thirty years, she will still have plenty of tenants.

The entire Li family shared the same idea.

Of the four plots of land owned by the Li family, two have already begun development, but the progress is as slow as a snail's pace, as they are constantly monitoring the real estate market.

Since prices keep rising, we'll build slowly.

After completion, the plan is to sell some and keep the rest for rental income. Rental prices in Hong Kong are very high, making this a very cost-effective option. After chatting for a while, Li Hongying asked the maid to prepare dinner to treat the young couple.

The following afternoon!

Li Hongying began to dress up in her finest attire. Hong Kong's cocktail parties are known for their snobbishness, so it's inappropriate to dress too plainly when attending a business cocktail party.

Often, clothing represents one's image.

After they finished getting dressed, Chen Fan and Zhao Yuanyuan arrived. Li Hongying was speechless at their attire, while Chen Fan was a bit better off; after all, men don't mind being simple.

But Miss Zhao is too naive.

A simple dress, a simple bag, that's all; there are no luxury items on her.

"You are entitled to dress like this!"

After a moment of hesitation, Li Hongying finally uttered these words: "If someone else dressed like this appeared at a high-end cocktail party, they might be ridiculed."

But no one should dare to laugh at Miss Zhao.

The man standing next to Miss Zhao is her face, and he's also incredibly petty. There shouldn't be that many blind men in Hong Kong.

The cocktail party is scheduled for the Peninsula Hotel.

When they arrived, the host, "Young Master Hua," was greeting the guests at the entrance of the banquet hall with two female companions. There were already quite a few people gathered inside.

"Sister Hongying, it's been a long time!"

Hua Sanshao greeted them warmly, looking at Chen Fan and Zhao Yuanyuan: "Welcome, Mr. Chen and Ms. Zhao. Your presence is an honor to our humble abode."

Chen Fan extended his hand: "Mr. Zhao, you're too kind!"

Young Master Hua extended his hand and shook hands: "Mr. Chen, please come inside first. I still have to greet the guests. I'll offer you two drinks later."

"You go ahead and do your work!"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, leading Miss Zhao and following Li Hongying into the banquet hall, which was already very lively, with people chatting in twos and threes.

The three of them entered, attracting a lot of attention.

Some women's eyes fell on Miss Zhao, and they began to whisper among themselves. The men next to them quickly stopped them, saying, "Shut up! Do you know who that is?"

"Who is it?" the woman asked indifferently.

“That’s Chen Fan. If you don’t know, go back and read the newspaper. Don’t embarrass yourself here. If you dare to offend him, we’ll get a divorce tomorrow.”

The woman shrank back, not daring to utter a sound.

In Hong Kong's business districts, not many people have seen Chen Fan, but there are probably not many who don't know him either. In everyone's impression, Chen Fan is a ruthless person.

The kind that holds a grudge and seeks revenge!

However, he is a powerful figure who has crossed over from Hong Kong. Neither the local Hong Kong tycoons nor the British can control him. Once you offend him, you will suffer a fierce and violent retaliation.

Liu Jianxiong serves as a cautionary tale!

Li Ka-shing was also blocked. At the last land auction in 1984, Chen Fan prevented his company from acquiring any land and took all of it.

This forced Li Ka-shing to abandon the acquisition of Kwai Chung Port.

Everyone in Hong Kong believes that if Li Ka-shing does not give up the acquisition of Kwai Chung Port, Chen Fan's revenge will not be so simple, and may even continue indefinitely.

"Mr. Chen, it's been a long time!"

Shen, the HSBC executive, walked over from a distance with a wine glass in hand: "Young Master Hua has the most influence to be able to invite Mr. Chen to the party."

"I just happened to come across this place, so I came to take a look."

Chen Fan smiled and extended his hand to shake hands with Shen Bi: "Mr. Shen, I heard that some ports are going to be transferred recently. I wonder if the buyers have been decided yet?"

Shen Bi smiled slightly: "Mr. Chen's information network is truly impressive. At present, it's only a possibility, and it hasn't entered the circulation stage yet. Do you have any thoughts?"

“I am very interested in ports as long as the price is right. If your ports of Felicetown and Thames in England are willing to sell, I can also take them over.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Bi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Chen Fan's information network is quite extensive; these two ports were indeed poorly managed and had lost their former glory as Great Britain, and they had indeed considered selling them.

But selling it to Chen Fan? Don't even think about it!

British ports can only be sold to pro-British capital, and Chen Fan is not a pro-British person; on the contrary, he is quite resistant to Britain.

This is typical Chinese thinking!

This cannot be said aloud. If it is, it will definitely offend him. The last time Chen Fan went crazy was because someone said: "Make Chen Fan change his nationality to British!"

After thinking for a moment, Shen Bi said, "If you are interested in the port, I can introduce you to two people. I believe you will find them helpful."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Shen."

With Miss Zhao by his side, Chen Fan followed Shen Bi to a small group of people, all of whom were top Hong Kong tycoons, along with two foreigners.

One was the Governor of Hong Kong, David Trench, and the other was Ambassador Richard.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Shen Bi brought up Chen Fan's desire for a port. Richard's eyes lit up slightly: "Mr. Chen, if you are willing to change your stance, whether it is the port of Hong Kong or the port of England, it is up to you."

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(End of this chapter)