In Hong Kong, we build a global business empire

Chapter 191 The Real Top Circle of Hong Kong

On the rooftop terrace of the villa, brothers Lin Haoran and Lin Haoning sat on lounge chairs, admiring the dazzling fireworks around them.

At this moment, although they are two brothers, Lin Hao Ning has already known that his identity and status are no longer on the same level as his younger brother.

The assets that Lin Hao Ning obtained from his father Lin Wanan's division of the family property, those properties are now worth at least more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars. However, compared with his younger brother Lin Haoran, the assets he controls can really be said to be not worth mentioning.

In terms of wealth, the gap between the two is really too big, and it seems that the gap will become larger in the future.

Looking at his younger brother beside him, Lin Hao Ning was deeply touched.

"Brother, what do you want to talk about?" Lin Haoran looked at the gorgeous fireworks rising into the sky from the direction of Bao Yugang's villa, turned his head and asked with a smile.

"Actually, there is no specific topic. I just suddenly felt very emotional and wanted to be alone with you for a while so that we can reminisce about our childhood. Do you still remember those days when the four of us brothers and sisters set off fireworks together when we were young. I was not married yet and you were still young. We didn't have any burdens in our hearts and our lives were really carefree." Lin Hao Ning was immersed in his childhood memories.

Although Lin Haoran and Lin Haoning are brothers, one is the oldest and the other is the youngest, and the age difference between them is nearly ten years.

"Of course I remember, especially that time when the fireworks you set off flew to the villa next door and almost set the roof on fire. As a result, they came to our door to complain. Fortunately, we discovered it in time and no big disaster occurred." Lin Haoran laughed. These were the memories he read from his mind.

In a wealthy family, if the members are equally powerful, disputes are often unavoidable.

However, the current Lin family is an exception.

Lin Haoran, as the helmsman of the Hong Kong Electric Group with a market value of HK$2 to 3 billion, relied on his own strength to achieve this success in a short period of time. Lin Hao Ning was naturally very clear about how strong his strength was.

Therefore, even Lin Hao Ning couldn't help feeling inferior when facing this younger brother who had extraordinary strength.

This is the invisible sense of oppression brought about by Lin Haoran's status in the business world, and has nothing to do with family affection.

"How is the current situation of your Wanfeng Fan Factory?" Lin Haoran asked with a smile.

"As we enter the off-season, our orders have indeed dropped significantly. However, after entering the North American market last year, we still made a profit of more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars. This year I plan to further expand the scale. Do you have any suggestions?" Lin Hao Ning asked sincerely.

He was completely impressed by his younger brother's ability to make money.

"The North American market is different from the Middle East and other markets, where the hot weather doesn't last long. The good sales in the past two years are mainly due to the oil crisis, which forced people to rely on electric fans.

Moreover, since hot weather lasts for a short time, fans are used infrequently and are very durable, the market is easily saturated.

Now, more and more fan manufacturers are pouring into the North American market. Sales may be good this year, but market demand may gradually decline next year.

How to make a decision is up to you to weigh. "Lin Haoran didn't think much and gave his opinion.

The two talked for a long time on the rooftop, during which Lin Hao Ning always maintained an attitude of humility and seeking advice, while Lin Haoran generously shared his insights on the future and gave him valuable advice without hesitation.

After all, they are all members of the Lin family. Although Lin Hao Ran was very disgusted by what Lin Hao Ning did in the past, those were just common things among wealthy families.

Even in rural areas, there are cases where two brothers fight each other for petty gains and even come to blows.

But no matter how hard we fight, we are all members of the Lin family and we are all brothers.

Therefore, Lin Haoran now has a more open mind about what happened in the past.

But he was just giving suggestions. As for whether Lin Hao Ning listened or not, that was his own business.

Just like last year, Lin Hao Ning followed Lin Haoran's advice and started to enter the North American market, which made him a lot of money.

But if he had not entered the North American market and was still competing with numerous competitors in the Middle East, he would have been very successful if he could make a profit of several million Hong Kong dollars a year by relying on the fan manufacturing industry, even if he worked diligently.

Perhaps because he went to bed too late last night, Lin Haoran did not wake up until after 10 o'clock in the morning.

This is the seaside, and with the sea breeze blowing, the smell of fireworks is no longer in the air.

New Year’s Day is the day for family reunions, and it is rare for Lin Haoran to stay at home for the entire day.

It was not until the evening that he left the Deep Water Bay Villa and headed for the Governor's Palace in a Rolls-Royce.

When they learned that Lin Haoran had received an invitation from Governor-General MacLehose to attend the Spring Festival dinner held in the Governor's Mansion, both Lin Wanan and his wife and Lin Haoning and his wife were extremely shocked.

In addition to being shocked, as a father, Lin Wanan felt more proud and honored of Lin Haoran.

Their Lin family has finally become successful and was even invited by the Governor.

That’s the Governor, the highest-ranking executive officer in Hong Kong.

Lin Wanan has been in business for many years and has made some achievements, but he has never had such an honor or received such an invitation.

The car drove along the winding road and arrived at the Governor's House between Upper Albert Road and Lower Albert Road in Mid-Levels Central half an hour later.

At this moment, the Governor's Palace was filled with various luxury cars, including Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Maybach, etc.

Ordinary Mercedes-Benz and BMW are rare here.

After all, those who were invited by Mai Lihao were basically upper-class people in Hong Kong, powerful people in Hong Kong who were not short of money.

He took Li Weidong and Li Weiguo into the Governor's Mansion and handed over the invitation letter. Immediately, a staff member took him through several corridors and finally arrived at a luxurious hall.

As for Li Weidong and Li Weiguo, there were also staff members who took them to where they would be staying temporarily.

At this moment, there were already about twenty people in the hall.

As expected, among these twenty people, most of them are foreigners, and there are very few Chinese.

But it's too little.

Among the Chinese, there are only these two people, Pao Yu-kang from Wharf Holdings and Li Ka-shing from Hutchison Whampoa.

As for the famous Chinese financial group bosses that Lin Haoran knew, such as Zheng Yutong, Guo Desheng, Li Zhaoji, Zhao Chongyan, Run Run Shaw, and Mr. Huo, they were not there.

Obviously, these people either did not receive the invitation or have not arrived yet. Lin Haoran was also receiving this invitation for the first time, so he was not very clear about it.

On the foreign side, Lin Haoran knew quite a few, including Stephen Simpson of Bank of East Coast Bank, Niu Bijian of Jardine Matheson, Lawrence Kadoorie of China Light and Power, York Shi of Swire Group, John Madden of Wheelock & Co., etc. In addition to these people, there were also some political bigwigs, and many of them were unfamiliar to Lin Haoran.

Governor MacLihao was also among them. At this moment, he was standing in the circle, surrounded by some bigwigs, and they were talking about something.

Although this was the first time that Lin Haoran was invited by him, everyone in Hong Kong knew what Mai Lihao looked like.

After all, he often appears on TV news and in newspapers.

There are also some large-scale events where Governor MacLehose will also appear.

Although he was the governor, he was also a very people-friendly official. Regardless of whether he was pretending or not, at least others had done it.

Lin Haoran's appearance immediately attracted everyone in the hall.

There are not many people here, only about twenty people, and this spacious hall seems extremely empty.

Mai Lihao came out first and said with a smile: "Mr. Lin, you are the only one missing."

"Hello Mr. Mai Lihao, I'm so sorry. This is my first time here and I thought I was early!" Lin Haoran shook hands with Mai Lihao and said with a wry smile.

Unexpectedly, I was the last one to arrive.

He had arrived twenty minutes early. The time on the invitation was eight o'clock in the evening, but it was only around seven forty in the evening.

Before coming, he also had dinner with his family at home.

However, because he knew there would be a dinner tonight, he did not eat too much.

Otherwise, it would be embarrassing if you couldn't eat anything when you get here.

Lin Haoran looked at the time again to make sure he was not mistaken. It was indeed only around 7:40 in the evening.

"Haoran, we usually arrive half an hour in advance. The banquet hasn't started yet, so you're not too late." Bao Yugang, who was standing by, probably saw Lin Haoran's embarrassment, so he answered with a smile.

After all, they were invited by Mr. Murray MacLehose, so it was normal for these people to arrive half an hour early.

After arriving, these people can chat with each other about cooperation and the like. They are all people from the top circles in Hong Kong, and the cooperation projects are basically worth more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

After shaking hands with MacLehose, Lin Haoran then shook hands and greeted everyone present one by one, including Shen Bi, Niu Bijian, Shi Yueke and so on.

"You are really young and promising. I didn't expect that you would take over the Hong Kong Electric Group without any noise."

"No, no, Mr. Shiyoke, you are all business veterans, I am just a newcomer in the business world, and I still have a lot to learn."

"Mr. Lin, we can work together if we have the chance in the future."

"I couldn't ask for more. Mr. Kadoorie's China Light and Power Company and our Hong Kong Electric Group are both in the same industry. We have many opportunities to cooperate, for example in technology."

"Mr. Lin, it was a pleasure to work with you last time. Let's work together again next time if we have the chance."

"Of course, Mr. John, I am very satisfied with the purchase of these two commercial buildings."

……

It took me five or six minutes to greet these people, nearly twenty of them, and I exchanged a few words with each of them.

These are all big names, most of whom have only been seen in the news before.

After greeting these foreigners, Lin Haoran looked at the other two Chinese in the hall, Li Jiacheng and Bao Yugang.

"Haoran, come here quickly." When Bao Yugang saw Lin Haoran looking at them, he waved enthusiastically.

"Uncle Bao and Mr. Li, Happy Chinese New Year!" Lin Haoran walked towards them and greeted them with a smile.

"We Chinese finally have one more member." Bao Yugang said with emotion.

"Uncle Bao, why are there only two of you here? Zheng Yutong, Guo Desheng, Li Zhaoji, Zhao Chongyan, Run Run Shaw, Mr. Huo, etc. are all well-known business tycoons. Weren't they invited?" Lin Haoran asked curiously in Hong Kong dialect.

"Haoran, Mr. MacLehose actually holds several dinners every year, including Christmas, New Year's Day, Easter, and Spring Festival. You may not know that in previous years, I was the only Chinese invited. Brother Jiacheng was also invited for the first time, just like you.

This is a circle, the top circle in Hong Kong, and only those who are recognized by Mr. Murray MacLehose can be invited. When you came in, I was surprised. I didn't expect that you, Haoran, were also invited.

You should be at Deepwater Bay Villa today. If I knew you were invited, I would have informed you and come with you." Bao Yugang explained with a smile.

"Is there such a thing?" Lin Haoran was a little surprised.

The top circle in Hong Kong?
Is it possible that people like Zheng Yutong, Guo Desheng, Li Zhaoji, Zhao Chongyan, Run Run Shaw, Mr. Huo and others could not achieve it?

So, in Mai Lihao's eyes, these people are not considered top figures in the business world?
"Mr. Lin, I guess the reason we were invited is because I took over the Hutchison Whampoa Group, and you, Mr. Lin, took over the Hong Kong Electric Group. These are among the traditional big banks in Hong Kong. By acquiring these companies and becoming the bosses of these giants, we have already become one of the top people in Hong Kong's business community. This may be the reason why Mr. MacLehose invited us." Li Jiacheng said with a smile.

Lin Haoran nodded. Combining what Bao Yugang said, he guessed that this was the case.

He may not be qualified enough to acquire the Hong Kong Electric Group on his own, but he also owns the Ching Chau Cement Company and has just spent HK$10 billion to buy two commercial buildings from Wheelock & Co. All these combined are enough to compete with the Big Four trading companies.

Perhaps it was for this reason that he was invited by Mai Lihao.

"Uncle Bao, what are the benefits of entering this circle?" Lin Haoran asked curiously.

"Benefits? You can only experience this yourself. People from outside try their best to squeeze into this circle. Every year, it's people like us. You know, after all, it's the British who are in charge here, so naturally the people in the circle are mostly British.

The reason I was invited to join before was because I was named the world's shipping king that year and had a certain influence in the world. This year, you two were directly invited, which surprised me." Bao Yugang said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)