Siheyuan (courtyard house): My name is Shazhu!

"We basically reached an agreement. We negotiated for seven months, and on the first day of the Lunar New Year, both parties officially signed the contract. It's a bit of a pity that we only got 40% of the shares in the new airport."

"Mr. He, you'll have to be there to sign the contract at 10 AM on the first day of the lunar new year. I'm not qualified enough." The other two companies didn't object.

"I'll go. Thank you for your hard work this time. Is the new airport still located on Chek Lap Kok Island in the outlying islands area?"

"That location is the most suitable for building the turbine yard. They have agreed, and we can officially start construction on May 1st."

The land we acquired in Wong Tai Sin was determined based on the number of people relocated from Kowloon City. We have already allocated 50,000 square meters of land to our company, with a plot ratio not exceeding 1.8.

According to our calculations, based on an average of 70 square meters per household, it can accommodate 27,400 households.

Because no land is required, the construction cost is between HK$2,000 and HK$2,500 per square meter.

The population of Kowloon Walled City alone would be less than 10,000 households, requiring an investment of HK$1.4 billion to HK$1.75 billion.

The others were sold as 'public housing,' and public housing units are mostly around 30 square meters in size. It was a favor to them; if they couldn't sell them, they could rent them out. I agreed.

In other words, we won't lose money if we have 18,000 housing units, but the profit will be small, or we'll just collect rent for the long term!

The plan I mentioned involves building public housing in Kowloon Walled City; any price increases will be borne by the buyers, not us.

"Does the new airport site not require land reclamation for the time being? Can we build the airport first and then reclaim land?"

"We could have built the new airport first and then reclaimed land from the sea. We built the new airport more than ten years ahead of schedule, so the pressure on the existing airport wasn't that great."

The new airport can be built in three phases; it doesn't need to be built in the same way as the original new airport.

"Draw up the blueprints based on the airport from my previous life, and start construction once they are satisfied. What's the point of May Day? As long as they approve the drawings, that's enough. There's no need to waste time with them."

Continue to give each participant who votes 100,000 Niu Niu coins, everyone else 10,000 Niu Niu coins, and those who cheer for us 500,000 Niu Niu coins.

Don't mistreat them; otherwise, what kind of trouble might arise in the process? These people are experts at it.

"I'll handle it. We don't need all three million Niu Niu coins, so let them take them again."

"Money is a small matter. As long as they don't cause trouble, it's fine. We haven't reached the point of breaking ties with them yet. It's better to have more friends."

Perhaps there will be unexpected surprises; some of the people who helped us with business back then are still doing it now, aren't they? These are all our good comrades!

"Haha, that's because they get kickbacks, but it doesn't matter who gets the kickbacks, right?"

"First, notify Bao Sheng and Ying Sheng to see how much they can take. We'll divide it up; give Niu Niu 1/4, and they need to ensure quality by using locals!"

"I'll go and inform them both!"

......

"Please sit and have some tea. I called you here because I secured two projects: the relocation of Kowloon Walled City and the construction of the new airport."

The relocation site for Kowloon Walled City is in Wong Tai Sin, covering 50,000 square meters. Mr. Zhao will discuss the details with you.

I've already started drawing up the new airport's floor plan and other blueprints, and Niu Niu has agreed that we can start construction no later than May 1st.

I can provide you with about 3/4 of the work, and I've reserved 1/4 for the Niu Niu team. How much of that can you handle? The construction fee can be discussed with Mr. Zhao!

"I admire you, Mr. He. You're really amazing to have secured two projects simultaneously. How many years will it take to complete both?"

"The sooner the better. Our plan is to complete it within three and a half years. There's no need to delay it too long, and we don't need to worry about price increases!"

"Two major projects are scheduled for completion in three and a half years. I need to go back and check on the progress. I'll get back to Mr. He tomorrow."

"I'll go back and ask. Could Mr. He sell me some of the old airport land?"

"Does Bao Sheng want to abandon ship and go ashore? This shows that the shipping industry has an overcapacity."

The oil crisis four years ago severely impacted the shipping industry, which relies on oil transportation, leading to a decline in demand for oil tankers and a sharp drop in charter rates.

"Even though Mr. Ho doesn't do shipping business, he is very clear about the shipping industry. Even in our port city, there are two companies that are still building ships like crazy."

There will be excess capacity, and given the oil crisis of the past few years, not being able to operate without repatriation is unacceptable.

"After the old airport is relocated, I can sell you a plot of land, but our two companies must work together to develop it; we can't just develop our own projects arbitrarily."

"Thank you, Mr. He. Joint development is a certainty; we will proceed according to your plan."

"Could you sell me a portion of it, and the three of us can work on this project together?"

"We can do it together, but everyone should follow the blueprints together. I don't want one place to be a mess."

"That's only natural; a place should ideally be well-planned and orderly, so that it's pleasing to the eye for visitors."

"Is Mr. Ho really not very interested in Hong Kong?"

"This place is still too small, far less than my hometown and Malaysia. I've always wanted to work in precision manufacturing, but it's not feasible here."

I tried it in Malaysia, but there was a high risk it might not work. I'd like to try again back in my hometown, where there's a much larger pool of talent. There, I also focused on developing talent first.

"In the past, these were poor areas with virtually no talent pool, which was quite unfortunate. They were large and populous, so the number of talented people there was much greater than here."

He Shengzhen plans to establish an education and hospital complex for thirty years, and his investment will increase dramatically in three to five years.

"If it's said to be 30 years of free education and affordable hospitals, then it's 30 years. No matter how much we invest, it doesn't matter. It's really bad if the next generation or the generation after that is uneducated. It's not good for anyone."

The US and Westerners are better than us in education; they have many universities. We just need to catch up. Hopefully, we can achieve that in thirty or forty years. Sometimes, money isn't the most important thing!

"You're the only one here who dares to say money isn't important. Even if the two of us had assets of five or six hundred billion with your help, we wouldn't dare say money isn't important."

"Make more friends abroad. For us, money isn't enough; we need talent too, especially here. I can get these two projects, but you can't!"

"Their hometown has problems!"

"Yes. Last time I took over the assets of the four major foreign firms, their families back home didn't completely agree. In the end, they were pressured by the argument that 'it's just a little bit of non-local company property, and there's no need to care too much about it.'"

No one objected to me taking on these two projects this year, because of my good relationship with my mother and son, and also because of the fact that the Iron Woman and I were very close more than ten years ago.

So I want it to be quick. If someone in the middle steps down, I'm worried about what might happen next; they're good at that kind of thing.

"This is a huge problem. These people never care about our feelings, my Starlight."

"Some things can't be helped. If I hadn't taken your Starlight Bank, perhaps Jardine Matheson wouldn't have died so quickly? How are they?"

"You really don't care whether they live or die. As long as there's no risk, that's fine. The key figures from the three foreign firms are going back to their hometowns, while the Jardine Matheson people are staying here."

They're barely surviving, just like Niuzha Bank. They don't have many projects, so no one is lending them more money. They can only rely on rent from their old properties to make ends meet, but that's no longer viable.

Mr. Ho doesn't intend to take over the Kadoorie family's power company?

"Niu Niu disagrees. Electricity is very important and shouldn't be controlled by one person. My electric lighting company, once its third phase is completed, will be able to handle 70% of the electricity."

I'm not very interested in his power company, but I am interested in the Peninsula Hotel. That family is like a thousand-year-old tortoise—difficult to deal with. I don't want to disrupt the board for personal gain!

"How many shares should their power company get?"

"There's not much hope for now. I had 22% of the shares at the time, which I could lend to you. He had 49%, and even after several years, he wouldn't let go. I just wanted to buy the Peninsula Hotel, but he still holds 49% of the shares."

"Don't you want to get rid of him?"

"It's best to drive them away, to avoid causing trouble later. Those who are not of our kind will surely have different intentions!"

I've driven away seven or eight companies, but I can't get rid of Niu Feng Bank and the other four. It seems I can only wait and see what happens in the stock market.

"The stock market has improved."

"Another crazy stock market!"