Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 130 Daily Life in Hard Times

"Boss, according to the data from the past three months, the loss of goods is about 2 percent. It's mainly due to petty thefts that are hard to keep track of. Sometimes when you turn around, there's a piece missing from the shelf." Huang Hongtu reported to Ma Qing.

Ma Qing stood in his second supermarket and watched Huang Hongtu and another employee taking inventory. This store was smaller than the first one, about 46 square meters. Ma Qing decided that the area of ​​future supermarkets should not exceed 50 square meters. They should mainly sell daily goods with a high circulation rate, and the number of similar goods should be controlled to less than three... These experiences were gained from running a supermarket for more than a year.

"How about this employee? Can he stand on his own?" Ma Qing pulled Lao Huang over and asked.

"I don't think he's suitable. He's honest, but he's a little bit stupid. I'm afraid he can't be a store manager." Huang Hongtu said regretfully.

"Then continue to recruit people. It's just a few more employees. I can afford the loss in salary. You have to select people carefully. If you find someone who can be a store manager, notify me and I will open a new store. Your main job now is to train store managers." Ma Qing also found it difficult. As for the store manager, talented people don't look down on this position, but it does require certain abilities.

Ma Qing added: "The recruitment conditions can be relaxed. As long as I have the ability, everything else is fine. Old Huang, if you work hard, as long as we expand to 10 stores, I will set up a head office and you will be the general manager. This is the opportunity for you, so you should seize it. I only have one condition: the new store will meet the standard if it breaks even."

"Boss, don't worry, I understand." Huang Hongtu ate the Ma Qing pancake and patted his chest to make a promise.

Ma Qing came out of the supermarket and looked back at the green facade of the supermarket. Ever since Ma Qing bought U.S. stocks, the money in his pocket had rapidly decreased. Ma Qing, who had no money in his hands, could only be frugal.

The large-scale expansion of supermarkets did not occur. As for the situation in Hong Kong in the next two years, Ma Qing finally gave up the plan of expanding stores regardless of cost.

Now, apart from going to university to attend classes, Ma Qing suddenly had nothing to do. Under the guidance of his university classmates, Ma Qing joined the Hong Kong Jingwu Athletic Association, which is simply a martial arts school.

The Hong Kong Jingwu Association has preserved all the martial arts schools that have been taught since the time of Huo Yuanjia, and has set up a wide range of martial arts courses open to the public. There are full kung fu courses every Monday to Friday evening and all day on Saturday and Sunday.

The Hong Kong Chin Woo Athletic Association is located on the 13th floor of the Wah Fung Building. The Wah Fung Building was completed in April 1964. It consists of one building and is a commercial and residential building. The building houses a hotel, a Chinese medicine clinic, a gym, a martial arts hall, a vegetarian restaurant, etc.

Because it is a newly built building, the conditions are quite good for this era.

Of course, for Ma Qing, now he basically understands why there are so many martial arts schools in Hong Kong. In its heyday, there were more than 400 martial arts schools in Hong Kong. You can't completely say that this is caused by the Hong Kong people's martial arts, but because the public security of this society is full of uncertainties, many people naturally stick together for warmth.

Many times when conflicts arise, people prefer to resolve them in their own way rather than looking for the sir, because they are the most evil ones.

In his previous life, Ma Qing grew up reading the stories of Zhang Zihao and was not afraid of this rich man's nemesis. But now, Ma Qing has already regarded himself as a wealthy man who is beyond his time. With his identity changed, the things he is afraid of are different.

So in addition to exercising, he also wanted to find some reliable talents here to lay the foundation for establishing a security company in the future.

The 120-square-meter training room of the Hong Kong Jingwu Athletic Association is filled with photos and plaques, including photos of the masters and members of various schools. A sandbag is hung on the right side of the hall, and behind it is a weapon rack full of swords, spears, swords and halberds. On the other side are several wooden mandrills. Next to the wooden mandrill is a statue of Huo Yuanjia, and behind it is a replica plaque with the words "Martial Spirit" written by Sun Yat-sen.

"Jinwu is one family, regardless of factions" is the most distinctive feature of the Jingwu Association. It does not distinguish between factions, but instead brings together the common origins of various schools and integrates the martial arts of different factions.

Quanzhen Longmen, Cailifoquan, Wudang Baguamen, Seven-Star Mantis Boxing…almost all the moves that can be seen in novels and movies can be learned here.

"Master Hong, what are we going to learn today?" Ma Qing asked his new master, Hong Tao, a master of Hong family boxing.

This was the boxing master that Ma Qing selected based on the reputation of the students after he had been hanging out at the Hong Kong Jingwu Athletic Association for more than a month. As for whether Master Hong is truly the successor of the Hong family, perhaps only God knows.

"I will start teaching you Tiger-Crane-Hung Gar today. Watch my demonstration first." Master Hong said and started practicing, quite straightforwardly.

Hung Gar, abbreviated as "Hung Gar", has always been a widely spread school of southern boxing. For example, Tieqiaosan and Huang Linying, two of the "Ten Tigers of Guangdong", practiced Hung Gar.

There are generally two theories about the origin of Hung Quan. One is that it originated from Southern Shaolin Temple and was introduced to Guangdong from Fujian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. The other is that it was created by Hung Hei-gun, a native of Huaxian County, Guangdong. Both theories are closely related to Southern Shaolin Temple, which shows that Hung Quan was originally a martial art of Southern Shaolin.

Hung Gar is based on "hardness", and it has two styles of martial arts. One is a martial art with long bridges, big horses, long hands and long attacks, and a wide-open and sweeping style; the other is a martial art with short bridges, narrow horses, short hands, close attacks, and close combat and defense.

Ma Qing did not learn the famous Wing Chun, but instead learned the Hung Gar which is mainly based on "strength". The main reason was that Ma Qing had a good development and his height and body length were suitable. Anyway, he did not think that he could really become a master of boxing. He just wanted to show off his youth when he had nothing to do.

In this way, he mingled with his classmates at school during the day, mingled with his classmates at the martial arts gym at night, and mingled with Yan Luoqing when he returned home at night.

Ma Qing's days passed slowly like this. Apart from Yan Luoqing often complaining about her stomach not moving, there were really no major events in his life.

Time passed slowly year after year, and in 1967, the "Anti-British Anti-Riot" movement broke out in Hong Kong. The British Hong Kong government dispatched military and police to suppress the masses. Hong Kong real estate fell to the lowest point in recent years. Ma Qing finally felt that he could take action.

Ma Qing went to Huifeng Bank and cleared out all his U.S. stocks, with a total capital of HK$123 million. After three years of hard work in Hong Kong, he finally became a genuine millionaire.

To be honest, it’s hard to say whether Ma Qing has worked hard or just been doing nothing in the past three years.

Ma Qing was in his own supermarket, holding the phone and calling Liang Haowen: "Brother Liang, are you interested in getting rich together?"

(End of this chapter)