Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 120 The business is gradually getting started

"Make three cargo platforms in the middle. Make the platform near the door into a stepped style. The two platforms at the back can be used to load goods underneath and place goods on top."

"Put the cash register next to the door. Make it with a marble top to make it look more elegant."

"..."

Ma Qing kept making requests, and the people from the two decoration companies kept taking note. The supermarket in Ma Qing's mind was taking shape. Yes, it should be called a supermarket, not a grocery store.

"This is basically the requirement. You two companies should give me a plan and quote me a price. I'll use the one that has the best plan. Let me make it clear first, I won't use the one with the lowest price. I want to look at the overall cost-effectiveness of the plan. Do you understand what I mean?" Ma Qing said to the people from the two decoration companies.

After the people from the two companies left, Ma Qing called Huang Hongtu and said, "Go find another advertising company to make the storefront first. Let's call it Baixin Supermarket. Ask the advertising company to make it look good. Come up with a plan for me. I'll leave the preparations before the opening to you. Do a good job."

Huang Hongtu, who was trusted, repeatedly assured that he would do things perfectly.

Ma Qing thought about it and realized that he had never opened a supermarket, so he had to find a lawyer to ask what procedures he needed to go through. He then ran to the law firm and found Liang Haowen.

"What, you want to open a supermarket and let me help you with the formalities? Well, since you have to go through the formalities to open an agency company anyway, I'll do it for you and I won't charge you any money." Liang Haowen said generously.

"We decided to open this agency on a whim last night, but now we have to come up with some rules and regulations," Liang Haowen added.

"You should definitely be the one to draft these rules. You're a lawyer, after all. But I'll give you a few opinions."

"First, we each hold 50% of the shares. If one of us withdraws, the other must also withdraw. That is to say, if one of us intends to sell the company, the other must agree to sell it together."

"Second, the two of us will take out 30% of the profits as stock dividends to reward those outstanding employees."

"These are just my two opinions. For the rest, just follow the general rules of an ordinary company. I have no objection." Ma Qing was straightforward. The purpose of opening this company was to buy a house for himself, but Ma Qing had deeper plans.

Ma Qing had no interest in the agency itself. Anyway, he had to sell both the house and the agency before the end of next year, that is, before January 1965, before the bank run in Hong Kong. For a company with a lifespan of at most one year, anything was fine.

Liang Haowen was very puzzled. "These two of yours are very unconventional. This is the first time I have seen them. Is there any explanation behind them?"

Of course Ma Qing would not tell Liang Haowen, because from 1965 to 1967, there would be a wave of bank bank closures, a real estate crash, and social riots in Hong Kong, so this company was doomed to be short-lived.

But it was not for the purpose of fooling people... In order to convince his partners to agree to these two rules, Ma Qing began to reason and present facts.

"The first one, you can call it the nuclear bomb clause. We both have the same shares, so there will always be disagreements. Don't say that whoever is right should be listened to. That's nonsense. There is no such thing as reason in the business world."

"But with this one point, both of us have the ability to overturn the table. To put it bluntly, if I don't live well, no one will live well. In fact, only in this situation can both parties really consider the interests of the other, because it also concerns their own interests. Don't you think this is the truth?" Ma Qing analyzed one by one. In fact, this was just a foreshadowing for Ma Qing to easily sell the company next year.

"The second reason is, of course, that the agency is actually an asset-light company. Whether it does a good job or not depends entirely on the salesperson. We make less money on each transaction to improve employee enthusiasm, but we can make more money in total. Besides, the two of us don't have time to really manage the company. We give the store manager an extra 10% dividend, and other employees also have dividends, so that they have to run around to do business." Seeing that what Ma Qing said made sense, Liang Haowen thought about it and felt that there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. "Okay, then let's do it this way, but Ma Qing, I see that you have clear ideas, and you really don't participate in the management of the company."

"Stop it. I have a lot of things to do. I don't have time to take care of this." Ma Qing refused directly.

"You are a landlord now. At most you can open a supermarket. What else can make you so busy?" Liang Haowen said bluntly.

"What? Opening a supermarket? Maybe I can open a chain of supermarkets all over Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. I can become a retail tycoon in Hong Kong and control the entire retail channels in Hong Kong." Ma Qing expressed his thoughts. Of course, this idea is just an idea. For the time being, these few years are not a good time to expand the business. Wouldn't it be better to wait until the real estate market collapses before expanding on my own?

"Actually, I have one main thing I need your help with. I think..." Ma Qing said.

"Stop, you really don't come to me for no reason. You come to me for something, how can I not help you?" Liang Haowen interrupted Ma Qing.

Ma Qing looked at Liang Haowen in front of him. He felt that this guy, who called him Ma Sheng a few days ago and called him Ma Qing after becoming a partner, was a little too proud.

"I want to go to college. Is there any way you can help me?" Ma Qing ignored Liang Haowen's refusal.

When Liang Haowen heard that Ma Qing wanted to continue studying, he thought it was a good thing. "Of course it's a good thing that you want to go to college, but it's November now. How can I get you into college? I don't have that ability."

Ma Qing also felt that this matter was a bit difficult to handle, but in order to integrate into the upper echelons of society and establish more useful interpersonal relationships, going to college was definitely a shortcut, "Is there really no other way?"

Liang Haowen thought for a while, "I think there are not many people in Hong Kong who can get a student status and become a college student directly. But..."

Liang Haowen gave two options. One was the University of Hong Kong, which was founded in 1910 and officially registered the following year. Its predecessor was the Hong Kong Jiangxi Medical College and it is the oldest institution of higher education in Hong Kong.

In its early days, Hong Kong University was very small, with only 1912 graduates from its official opening on March 3, 11 to its first graduation ceremony in December 1916. After April 12, 23, the university rebuilt its order and transformed its structure, entering a golden period of rapid development.

In 1956, in order to respond to rapidly changing social needs, Hong Kong University established the Department of Continuing Education to provide support for adult education.

The other is Hong Kong Polytechnic University, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Hong Kong, which can be traced back to the Hong Kong Government Advanced Technical College established in 1937. It is the first government-funded institution in Hong Kong to provide engineering education.

In 1947, the Hong Kong Government Advanced Technical College was renamed the Hong Kong Technical College, offering full-time and part-time courses.

Heungkong Polytechnic Institute was established in 1972; in 1994, the Hong Kong law "Heungkong Polytechnic University Ordinance" officially came into effect, and the school was renamed Heungkong Polytechnic University.

Liang Haowen said, "Which one do you choose, the adult education course at Hong Kong University or the part-time course at Hong Kong Technical College? I can help you with this."

Ma Qing looked speechlessly at the shameless lawyer in front of him, "I really need you to do this matter."

(End of this chapter)