A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 198: The Entire City of Hong Kong is Shocked!

The entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Lin Jianyue's mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were wide open.

This address of "nephew" is a bit too frightening—in terms of age, Lin Jianyue is already middle-aged, forty years old, while Lin Jianlu was born in 1976 and is only twenty-one years old this year!

The key point is that this counterattack strategy is so absurd that it completely exceeds Lin Jianyue's normal thinking. For a moment, he was completely stunned by the address of "nephew".

Who is qualified to call him "nephew"?
The Chaoshan business community, the Shanghai business community, and so on, are all prominent figures in Hong Kong's business world. These include Li Ka-shing, Li Zhaoji, Zheng Yutong, the gambling king, and the late Guo Desheng, the king of foreign goods, and Bao Yugang, the shipping king. Each of them is a well-known super-rich person.

A net worth of tens of billions, or even hundreds of billions!

What is Lin Jianlu anyway?
An actor!
Even if he sings well and is very famous, even if he becomes famous overseas and becomes as famous as Michael Jackson, he is still just a famous actor at best!

An actor is just an actor!
Even if he were twenty years older than me, let alone the fact that he himself is so young, I would still have to, and could only, respectfully address him as "Hello, Chairman!", "Hello, President!", or "Hello, Mr. Lin!"—an actor is just an actor!

Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, Li Lianjie, Stephen Chow—they're all famous enough. No matter which one of them, wouldn't they all treat me with utmost respect? Wouldn't they all address me as "Mr. Lam"?
My dear...nephew?

For several seconds, Lin Jianlu stared at Lin Jianyue with a contemptuous, flippant smile. Lin Jianyue gradually came to his senses and finally realized the humiliation and beating this man was inflicting upon him—he instinctively raised his arm, his face contorted with rage, "I'll fucking swear to you..."

But the next moment, his hand didn't fall. Lin Jianlu stood there, neither dodging nor avoiding, but instead grabbed Lin Jianyue's wrist—and then, he squeezed it tightly.

"Ah...ah...it hurts! Ah..."

In an instant, Lin Jianyue's face contorted in pain, his whole body went limp like a noodle, his body hunched over, and he kept wailing, "Let go! Ah... let go! Let go!... It hurts so much!"

The entire studio was so quiet that only Lin Jianyue's screams could be heard.

Everyone stared in disbelief at Lin Jianlu, whose face was contemptuous and whose eyes were sharp, and at Lin Jianyue, the second young master of the Lin family, who was so hunched over that he looked as if he were kneeling in front of Lin Jianlu.

The address "nephew" had completely stunned most people who knew Lin Jianlu and who Lin Jianyue was. Even now, when Lin Jianyue raised his hand to hit someone, Lin Jianlu grabbed his wrist and subdued him. Most people were still in shock.

So much so that no one remembered that they should have gone over and offered a few words of advice at this time, in order to gain some favor in front of the second young master of the Lin family. Some people didn't realize it yet, and those who did were extremely perceptive and dared not, for fear of offending Lin Jianlu instead!
What does it mean for Lin Jianlu to call the second young master of the Lin family his "nephew"? It's equivalent to Lin Jianlu placing himself on par with Lin Baixin, a famous super-rich tycoon in Hong Kong! That's... incredibly impressive!

Even if it's just in front of Lin Jianyue, it's impressive enough to boast like this!

For a good ten seconds, Lin Jianyue was in so much pain that he almost knelt down, his face deathly pale. Only then did Lin Jianlu gently release his grip, take a step back, and look at Lin Jianyue.

Lin Jianyue clutched his wrist as if his arm had been broken, groaning for a long time before his face gradually regained some color. He struggled to his feet, his hand trembling as he pointed at Lin Jianlu. But ultimately, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, and he didn't dare to utter any more threats, only saying, "You wait! You wait!"

Then he staggered out of the studio.

…………

Throughout the entire photography studio, everyone looked at Lin Jianlu with a mixture of respect and awe.

Calling Lin Jianyue "nephew" is tantamount to a complete break with him, leaving no room for anything else. However, almost everyone present had heard what Lin Jianyue had said earlier!
Lin Jianlu has already made an offer to acquire ATV!

The Lam family has always placed great importance on ATV – the only ATV in Hong Kong qualified to compete with TVB!

Moreover, judging from what Lin Jianyue said, although he was completely against selling, it seemed that his father was talking to Lin Jianlu and was very interested in selling ATV to him!

If ATV acquires the company, Lin Jianlu will have Media Asia Films on one hand and ATV Television on the other!
On one hand, he is a Mandopop king, an Asian king, and a global pop king; on the other hand, he is already a Hong Kong film and media tycoon—it is said that he also has many investments in the mainland film and television industry!

The crowd was as quiet as a chicken.

Lin Jianlu watched as Lin Jianyue staggered out of the studio, smiled, and turned around to meet Wang Zuxian's concerned gaze. She smiled back at her, then looked at Tang Jili, Hong Jinbao, and Yuan Heping, whose expressions were complicated, and clapped her hands, "Alright, clear your mind, let's get to work!"

…………

Three days later, at 11 p.m.

Lin Jianlu was swimming in her own swimming pool wearing only a pair of swimming trunks.

As soon as Jiang Wen arrived, he suddenly became an actor. This guy is a genius at teaching acting, especially teaching Lin Jianlu. After reading the script, he would start rambling on and on, saying things like "I want to change this" or "That's not deep enough." But when it comes to actually filming, he can precisely teach Lin Jianlu what this expression should look like, how to do that look, and he can demonstrate and inspire scenes. He's simply amazing.

Moreover, he is very good at designing and using micro-expressions and small gestures. With the help of him to design those things, Lin Jianlu seemed to be transformed into an actor, and he started to rush the schedule!

Whether it's Tang Jili or Hong Jinbao, the directors are absolutely thrilled!

Sure enough, they didn't finish filming until 9:30 p.m.

The production schedule that was delayed before has been caught up without us even realizing it, and even exceeded it—well, Comrade Lao Jiang was, after all, an ambitious person who wanted to try playing Cheng Dieyi back then!

After finishing work at night, Lin Jianlu treated the entire crew to a late-night snack as usual. Everyone ate and drank, and by the time they got home it was already 10:30. They were all quite tired, especially since they had been suspended by wires for half the day. Their shoulders and backs were a bit sore. After getting home, Lin Jianlu simply went into the water and swam a few laps to loosen up their muscles.

As a result, none of the women slept and insisted on swimming with them.

But they only swam a few laps before leaving, mainly sitting by the pool, drinking beverages and gossiping—mainly pressing Lin Xilei about Lin Jianlu's plan to acquire ATV.

Lin Xilei can no longer be considered a personal assistant or an administrative assistant. In any case, she is trusted and follows Lin Jianlu around every day. At night, she even stays in the guest room on the first floor of Lin Jianlu's big villa.

Therefore, she knew almost all of Lin Jianlu's secrets.

Including trade secrets.

The women asked Lin Jianlu, but Lin Jianlu wouldn't let them ask around. So they turned to Lin Xilei instead. Lin Xilei would always give them a little bit of information at just the right time, which often made them even more curious!
Well, it's not exactly a leak, because it will most likely be in the newspapers tomorrow.

Just this afternoon, with Mr. Chiu from Taiwan acting as an intermediary, Lin Jianlu officially met Lin Baixin, the legendary businessman from Hong Kong and the father of Lin Jianyue. They signed the papers, drank and chatted, and no one mentioned the trivial matter of Lin Jianyue barging into the photography studio and clashing with Lin Jianlu, or being addressed as "nephew" by Lin Jianlu.

Only Lin Jianyue, though already forty years old, was still "ignorant," believing that his reputation, or rather, his favorite ATV, was more important than the life and death of his family—Lin Baixin was not confused!

Lai Sun Development's current predicament is reportedly due to over HK$80 billion in loans, including a HK$69 billion high-interest loan obtained through shady dealings by Lam Kin-yuet. The acquired Furama Hotel is barely profitable, even incurring daily losses. The stock price is sluggish, drawing daily criticism from shareholders, pressure from major shareholders, and constant media "exposés." All of this weighs heavily on the head of the Lam family. It's said that since returning to Hong Kong, he's been constantly rushing around seeking favors and putting out fires. He's dealing with shareholders, banks, and old friends—no aspect is easy or comfortable… This has caused him to "age ten years overnight!"
Given this situation, how could he still care about the vow he made a few years ago to "never sell ATV"?

What does it matter if my good-for-nothing son loses a little face?
However, once the contract was signed, the old man still seemed relieved. Although he couldn't hide his fatigue in his speech, he still had the aura of a big shot. Lin Jianlu respected him quite a bit. The old man was over eighty years old, older than his own grandparents. Lin Jianlu just couldn't bring himself to call him brother, so he always addressed him as "Mr. Lin" and tried to say nice and comforting things in his words.

Well, the price didn't increase by a single Hong Kong cent. HK$700 million was used to acquire 67.08% of ATV's shares from the Lin family, making him the absolute majority shareholder. In addition, HK$80 million allowed Lin Jianlu to successfully acquire the land on Man Yiu Street in Central, adjacent to the under-construction International Finance Centre.

We are still in contact with the Hong Kong government, but the government has agreed that the price is "negotiable"—as long as they show a willingness to negotiate, it means that the Hong Kong government is also really short of money, especially rice!

Lin Jianlu countered with a price of 40 million US dollars to renew the land use rights for 50 years. Compared to the 540 million Hong Kong dollars that the Lin family had negotiated with the Hong Kong government in 1994, this was basically a 50% discount. Surprisingly, the Hong Kong government was not angry and was very willing to continue negotiating with Lin Jianlu's representatives. Therefore, Lin Jianlu roughly knew that around 50 million US dollars would be enough to settle the matter!

Including the corresponding taxes and fees, acquiring the ownership of the land from the Lin family, and negotiating the extension fee with the Hong Kong government, the land approved for the construction of a 15-square-meter commercial complex will cost approximately HK$4.8 million in total—I'm quite satisfied, as the usage rights I obtained are extended all the way to 2054!

Even if it's just left there undeveloped, the land will continue to appreciate in value over the next ten or twenty years! If the market is really good in the future, we can wait for the land price to rise, then use the land as collateral to get financing from the bank to start construction—let's see how the rental situation is after Li Zhaoji's International Financial Center opens. If things go well there, we can ask the design institute to produce blueprints for this land at any time!

Furthermore, in less than a week, Vantone Insurance also readily agreed to Lin Jianlu's offer of HK$2.75 million in cash for the remaining 60% equity in the Vantone Building—now all that's left is to sign the contract! And the contract can be signed tomorrow.

Because Lin Jianlu is not short of money.

He was simply buying up all the goods at the market!
However, Henderson Land Development was a bit firm about Lin Jianlu's proposal to invest HK$8 million to acquire a 40% stake in the under-construction International Finance Centre, replying that it had to be HK$10 billion!
It doesn't matter, I can just miss out!
With the acquisition of Wantong Building and the plot of land next to the International Financial Center, Lin Jianlu's intention to snap up commercial buildings at low prices has been basically fulfilled!
He's still willing to buy other properties if he can afford them, as he has plenty of money; and he doesn't care if he can't buy them.

In short, everything went smoothly in just over ten days.

Not to mention at the beginning of his transmigration, even after he became famous and started making a lot of money, Lin Jianlu never imagined that he could rise to his current position so quickly—the financial crisis was just too fierce! In the years before, the businessmen, tycoons, and real estate moguls in Hong Kong relied too much on real estate and liked to use financial means to quickly acquire land and accumulate wealth. So when the financial crisis came, almost every one of these wealthy people had a mess of unresolved debts.

He used to be very extravagant and wealthy, spending lavishly on land acquisitions and on winning the favor of women, throwing away tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars without batting an eye. Now, his enormous business empire may be forced to lower his head and sell off assets and properties just for a few hundred million or five hundred million in cash.

Just today, Lin Jianlu actually met a woman who came to visit him on set.

Her name is Wu Minghua, a Taiwanese. After some investigation, it was found that she is the granddaughter of Wu Sanlian, a bigwig in the Tainan gang in Taiwan. She graduated from Stanford University and has an MBA from Harvard. In short, she is a strong woman. She is married and lives in Hong Kong. Her husband is a lawyer who has now switched to private equity. His name is Cai Zhongxin. She was recommended by HSBC to apply for the position of finance and investment assistant to Lin Jianlu. In the future, if Lin Jianlu wants to set up a company to integrate his series of business investments, this position may be the general manager.

In short, she is a very shrewd and capable woman, and she came to apply for the job with great determination. She even brought a small gift with her – the son-in-law of the late shipping magnate Pao Yu-kong, Wu Guangzheng, whose Wharf Holdings is currently considering selling two of their projects under construction in mainland China.

These are the Capital Times Square, located on West Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, jointly invested and built by Wharf Holdings and the Xidan Commercial District Development Company; and the Shanghai Times Square, located on the eastern section of Huaihai Road in Shanghai, solely invested by Wharf Holdings. The former covers 13100 square meters, with a 17-story building. In addition to the underground parking garage and the commercial space on the first three floors, it also includes 60,000 square meters of office space. Construction began in 1994, and it was planned to be operational in 1999. The total investment for the entire project was HK$220 million, with Wharf Holdings holding 87.5% of the shares. It was proposed to be sold for HK$200 million. Essentially, it's assumed they worked for free for three years and are selling at break-even.

The latter project, which just broke ground last year, is scheduled for completion and opening in 2000. It comprises a 7-story shopping mall, a 30-story Grade A office building, and a 26-story serviced apartment building, with a total construction area of ​​approximately 10 square meters. The total estimated cost is HK$3.2 million, with over HK$1.5 million already invested. Wharf Holdings has proposed two sale options: one is for an investor to contribute HK$1.6 million to assist in construction and delivery, with each party holding a 50% stake; the other, naturally, is for Wharf Holdings to sell the entire project as a package for HK$1.6 million.
Wu Minghua's little gift for applying for the job was that, if Lin Jianlu was interested, she could guarantee to secure these two projects for him—a total acquisition of approximately 3.6 million or 5.2 million Hong Kong dollars.

Yes, Lin Jianlu was very tempted.

Lin Jianlu had never been to Times Square in Shanghai in his previous life, but he had been to the Times Square in the capital city many times—even in the years before his transmigration, when the market was somewhat depressed, Times Square, which stood opposite Xidan, was still a large property of considerable importance.

If you acquire it and hold it until 2012 to sell it, wouldn't it be worth billions?
A tenfold profit is definitely possible!

Therefore, Lin Jianlu recognized Wu Minghua's interview performance, agreed to let her negotiate the matter, and gave her a clear bottom line price—87.5% equity of Capital Times Square, bottom line price 1.8 million, target price 1.5 million, Shanghai Times Square, full acquisition, 1.2 million!
However, Wharf Holdings must provide a guarantee that, after Lam Kin-lu takes over, both projects will be completed and delivered on time with high quality and quantity, in accordance with the original plan, schedule, and investment scale!
Otherwise, Wharf Holdings will have to step in to bail them out!

Simply put, Lin Jianlu is willing to pay to take over the property and help Wu Guangzheng out of his predicament, but he must buy a completed and mature property and will not take any risks during the construction process!

"Of course, that includes that building! Otherwise, ATV wouldn't be worth a billion! Brother Lu wrote Mr. Lin Baixin a check for seven hundred million Hong Kong dollars! 67.08%, that's absolute control!"

"Lin Baixin... he's so old, he's over eighty! Anyway, I don't see any great aura about him. I think he doesn't have as much of an aura as Lu Ge, hehe!"

"I don't know. Mr. Li Baoan was there today, but he can't possibly continue as the CEO of ATV. He's from Lai Sun Group, but he didn't grow up from ATV. Lai Sun Group has already sold ATV, so there's no way he can stay!"

After swimming for a while, feeling her muscles and bones loosen up, Lin Jianlu swam to the edge of the pool. As she got out, she heard Lin Xilei answering a bunch of women's questions.

Yes, everyone was incredibly surprised.

Basically, everyone knows that Lin Jianlu is quite wealthy. His records sell like hotcakes, he's inundated with endorsement deals, and his commercial performance fees are exorbitant. Now, his English album has sold over 20 million copies. Of course, he's rich. But strangely enough, nobody really cares how much money he has, at least not his women. This brings us to something quite rare for a rich man: none of Lin Jianlu's girlfriends or lovers to date have ever been after his money!
Of course, everyone has to admit that he has money; that's the premise.

But that's just a prerequisite.

Almost all of Lin Jianlu's wives, lovers, and girlfriends were captivated by his good looks, talent, his unique, powerful, and sharp aura, and his masculine hormones—with occasional exceptions, such as Jia Jingwen. For her, Lin Jianlu's wealth, talent, fame, and good looks were actually prerequisites. The care, warmth, and sense of security he brought her during a very special time in Jia Jingwen's life were the absolute key to making that girl take the initiative to throw herself into his arms.

Of course, going to bed is simple, but getting into it, or even staying in it, is closely related to many other things, aspects, and even one's ability in bed.

In short, no girl is attracted to a man because he's rich!
Even Jiang Qinqin and Zuo Xiaoqian, those two girls, were basically half famous, half talented, and half beautiful, yet none of them were directly after Lin Jianlu's money. As for Chen Hong and Yu Feihong, perhaps they initially coveted Lin Jianlu's fame, status, and money, but their later obsession was again unrelated to money.

In the past, when Lin Jianlu bought villas or took out mortgage loans, basically only his two wives in Taiwan noticed his "financial irregularities." However, they subsequently handed over their entire fortunes to Lin Jianlu—it would be unreasonable to say that they were after Lin Jianlu's money.

Moreover, even they are unaware of Lin Jianlu's large-scale purchase of US stocks.

It can be said that, up to now, only Zhang Aijia and Lin Xilei have some idea about Lin Jianlu's true financial situation—they only learned about it later when American media wanted to report on it and Columbia Records relayed the information to them.

Suddenly, HK$700 million was spent to acquire ATV, one of Hong Kong's two major television stations... This was quite surprising for Brigitte Lin, Leung Wing-ki, Rosamund Kwan, and Wong So-yin!

That's close to one hundred million US dollars!
That's an absolutely huge sum of money!

With a splash, Lin Jianlu pulled himself ashore, and Wang Zuxian was the first to notice him. He immediately picked up a robe and gently helped him put it on.

It's already early November, and while the outdoor temperature in Ganggang isn't low, the night breeze is still a bit chilly.

"Honey, who do you plan to appoint as the CEO of ATV?"

It was Brigitte Lin who asked this question, but Lin Jianlu waved her hand, went over to the group of women, found a recliner and sat down, and then said, "Why worry about this? Do you want to do it?"

Lin Qingxia immediately sat up straight, "Of course I want to! Why wouldn't I want to!"

Before anyone else could speak, Rosamund Kwan chuckled. That's just her personality; there was no mockery or sarcasm in her words, just a straightforward and naive remark: "Everyone in Hong Kong knows that Mrs. Fong is in charge of TVB and has immense power. Ching-ha, do you want to be Mrs. Lam?"

Lin Qingxia laughed too. She hadn't been like that before, but in recent months, she seemed to have developed a stronger career drive and was starting to enjoy participating in the rivalry between women. Even so, she still retained her cheerful and carefree personality. "Oh no! You guessed it! Hahaha..."

Lin Jianlu smiled, but spoke with unusual seriousness, “This job is not easy! You’re used to being carefree, I’m afraid you won’t be able to do it! That’s not our territory, it’s just been bought. When you go there, it’s like going to a completely unfamiliar place. You need to get familiar with it, with the things and the people, and try to get both the things and the people under your control… Can you do it?”

Lin Qingxia thought for a moment and replied, "If you already have a suitable candidate, I don't mind. But if there isn't another suitable candidate, I'll go and give it a try. If it doesn't work out in a year, at least I can get a feel for the situation for you."

Lin Jianlu thought for a moment, then slowly nodded, "Let me think about it."

…………

1997 11 Month 2 Day.

The news, which had been circulating in Hong Kong for several days, finally revealed its answer in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper on this day—Lam Pak-yan and Lai Sun Group jointly issued a statement indicating that they had officially sold their 67.08% stake in Asia Television Limited to Lam Kin-lu. Lam Kin-lu, his family, and Lai Sun Group no longer hold any shares in Asia Television Limited.

The report sent shockwaves through Hong Kong!

ATV was founded in 1957, originally named "Rediffusion Television," and operated as a pay-TV cable channel. In 1973, it switched to free-to-air broadcasting and was renamed "Rediffusion Television," officially beginning its competition with TVB. In 1982, it was renamed "Asia Television." Although it suffered repeated defeats in its competition with TVB, it persevered and occasionally displayed remarkable talent, earning widespread praise throughout Hong Kong—everyone wanted to have multiple free-to-air television channels to watch!

In 1988, Lam Pak-yan took over the company. Despite years of losses, he remained steadfast in his commitment until 1996, when he finally turned ATV around. Over the years, the Lam family invested heavily in ATV, consistently challenging TVB in both variety shows and dramas. They produced many classic works, popular programs, and hit dramas. Although ATV still cannot compete with TVB, it holds a special place in the hearts of Hong Kong people.

Now that the ownership has changed hands, everyone understands – the Lin family suffered greatly in this financial crisis, and that spendthrift son of the Lin family ruined Lai Sun Development. The stock price speaks for itself, and all the people of Hong Kong can see it clearly. Naturally, no one can blame Uncle Lin for cutting his losses to survive.

However, the next person to join the company was actually a singer... which is quite surprising!

Rumors circulate that the transaction price for 67.08% of ATV's shares is as high as HK$7 million. So, a question arises: how could Lin Jianlu, who has only been famous for less than two years, already be so rich?

How much money does he have now?
(End of this chapter)