Debuted right after graduating from high school

The next day.

After getting ready early in the morning, Fan Wumian met up with the production team of "Walking with Fan Wumian" at his own mansion and briefly discussed some details of the program's setup.

For example, he cannot use his own bank card and is only allowed to ask colleagues or friends in the entertainment or business world to help pay the bill. This is mainly to make it reasonable to invite guests to make guest appearances and add a bit of highlights and fun to the show.

Other locations for recording the program, such as the experimental site for using black pigs to control desertification, the Deyunshe crosstalk base in Chaoyang Park, the Feile R&D center and production factory, and domestic resorts, are all worth visiting. You can visit these sites, advertise your products, and complete the recording of the program at the same time.

Fan Wumian made a last-minute decision to create a reality show tailored to himself. He was not sure if it would be broadcast on TV, mainly because it lacked a bit of entertainment value. However, the worst outcome would be that it could only be released on Tudou.com. Exclusive online release would also help attract a wave of traffic.

Without a script or plan, the photographers began shooting. Fan Wumian first gave them a tour of his home, during which he mentioned:

“Sometimes I feel sorry for the residents of Hong Kong. A small house of 30 or 40 square meters can cost two or three million Hong Kong dollars. That price can buy a brand new large apartment in places like Beijing or Shenzhen, with even higher appreciation potential.”

"There is no place in the world with high income and low prices. People in the port city have high wages and high daily expenses. A simple meal like pork chop rice or braised pork rice costs thirty or forty yuan."

“My mansion is already one of the best houses in Hong Kong, but I always feel that it lacks a sense of luxury. Even the western sea view is partially blocked by apartment buildings, so the view is not that open.”

"The two mansions on Pollock's Path that I co-developed with Stephen Chow are different; you can enjoy the Victoria Harbour night view. My house doesn't actually have much to offer, but let me show you the collection in the vault. I've never taken outsiders to see it before."

Go downstairs to the vault; the heavy door is blast-proof.

Items like 10-kilogram commemorative coins, Zhao Mengfu's "Three Scrolls of Running Script", jade jewelry and ornaments, and gold ornaments only occupy one space.

In addition, there are some collectibles that were either gifts from others or purchased casually, including calligraphy and paintings by Qi Baishi and Fu Baoshi, as well as some porcelain, including a Ming Chenghua doucai chicken cup, which was purchased for more than HK$3800 million.

Fan Wumian was on secondment to the Hong Kong Mountain Bandit King Foundation. The foundation bought this chicken cup as his compensation and saved several million Hong Kong dollars through a series of tax planning.

During his conversation with the director, he also mentioned that items such as Zhao Mengfu's "Three Scrolls of Running Script", the chicken cup, and several porcelain and jade ornaments and bracelets would be sent to the museum's special exhibition hall. However, he had been too busy recently and had forgotten to make the arrangements.

The real treasures in Fan Wumian's possession, including the Qianlong shroud and the Xijia Plate, are now displayed in a special exhibition hall in Yanjing. There are not many things in the vault.

One of the oil paintings, wrapped in tarpaulin, caught the director's attention, prompting him to ask:

"What's inside? It looks like a painting?"

Fan Wumian said with a smile:
"Well, on a whim, I commissioned two modern artworks based on the novel 'The Desolate Emperor' and asked American pop artist Jeff Koons and mainland Chinese oil painter Leng Jun to create them."

“I went on a long voyage at sea a while ago. This painting was delivered before I left. I took a look at it and decided to keep it to hang at home as a decoration.”

"Would you like to see it? Unpacking and repacking it is too much trouble. I'll send it to the special exhibition hall of the Yenching Museum in a while for a public exhibition. Leng Jun's 'Five-Pointed Star' sold for over a million US dollars this year, which is quite impressive among contemporary artists."

They kept us in suspense for a bit.

Fan Wumian took out the items that needed to be sent to Yanjing and packed them up in categories.

Afterward, he led the film crew on a tour of the area, and then personally drove a Range Rover to the location of the family trust charitable foundation.

Just last month.

Fan Wumian's family trust charitable fund, family office, and secretary's office have all completed their relocation to "Tai Kwun" in Central.

now.

He explained as he drove:
“The Tai Kwun project is a collaboration between me and the Hong Kong government. It used to be the former Central Police Station, the former Magistrates’ Court and Victoria Prison. After all the buildings were relocated last year, a businessman from an island nation planned to invest in its development, but the subprime mortgage crisis came shortly after the talks.”

“After the other party chose to terminate the contract, I happened to hear about it and then took over the place, planning to invest HK$20 billion in batches over the next 10 years for overall development.”

"There are currently 16 ancient buildings inside. In addition, a hotel and a high-end apartment building will be built. The prison will be transformed into an art gallery, and other areas will be planned as office buildings, bars and restaurants, shops and cafes."

“In mainland China, 1.36 square meters isn’t much. But in Hong Kong, especially in Central, it’s considered extremely large. After the renovation, the building area will be approximately 3 square meters. I imagine it would be very comfortable to work or relax there.”

The director, who was enjoying Fan Wumian driving for him in the passenger seat, asked, "So, did you buy it directly, or did you cooperate with the Hong Kong government to develop it? Is it convenient to ask how much it cost?"

If you don't want to answer, you can simply cut this entire segment out during post-production editing.

The director wasn't worried that asking some sensitive questions would upset Fan Wumian and affect his future.

"Many things have already been publicly disclosed, there's nothing to hide," Fan Wumian replied.

"Because this place can only be used for cultural, public welfare, or low-intensity commercial purposes, such as restaurants, retail, and hotels, it cannot be developed into office buildings or luxury residences on a large scale. As a result, it was regarded as a 'cultural relic burden that requires huge restoration costs,' and no one competed with me at the time."

"Many of its buildings were constructed over a hundred years ago and have long since lost their historical value; they are now considered dilapidated. Subsequent maintenance and renovation would require a massive investment. Therefore, if it were to be developed into modern office buildings, the land, potentially worth HK$20 billion, has been transferred to me along with the buildings, and I am responsible for revitalizing it." "The total development budget of HK$35 billion, minus the estimated HK$200 billion in restoration costs, means I acquired the land at a residual value of HK$15 billion. The Hong Kong government highly values ​​the protection of these historical buildings and hopes to attract tourists and create a recreational space for citizens. They have specially granted me the option to defer payment: 30% in three years, another 30% in the fourth year, and the remaining 40% in a lump sum."

"To be honest, apart from the newly built hotel and a residential building that can only be built to 12 stories, the other old buildings can't bring me much profit at all. Otherwise, other businessmen would have been scrambling to invest. I'm only doing this out of consideration for public welfare and charity."

Given Fan Wumian's character of not acting until he sees a clear benefit, his claim of acting out of public welfare and charity is clearly just a polite formality.

He had just heard about the Taiguan project a few months ago, and after sending people to contact the relevant government departments, he lost interest in this costly development project.

Later, because the authorities relented and agreed to let him build a 12-story residential building, with the bottom four floors used as a "variety hall" including an art gallery, cinema, small theater, and leisure area, and the top eight floors where 32 residential units could be built, plus a 12-story hotel and deferred payment, Fan Wumian finally agreed to take on this mess.

The reason why the entire Grand Palace project is so expensive is mainly due to the newly built residential buildings and hotel. The project is located in the prime Central area, where land is extremely valuable, and the land transfer fees are not cheap.

In his view, those 32 large-sized apartments in Central could potentially earn him HK$15 billion. The hotel, shops, restaurants and other projects could also generate a steady stream of rental income. Including the tax-avoidance funds from developing the project under the name of the Mountain King Fund, as well as the reduced office rent, although investing in such projects doesn't yield much profit, it's quite interesting and suitable for long-term holding and rental income.

If he were required to pay a large sum of cash at once, Fan Wumian would definitely turn around and leave, but since the Hong Kong authorities allowed him to postpone the payment, there was no problem.

If you borrow bank funds and coordinate the timing well, you might even have the opportunity to make a fortune out of nothing. A few years later, when the Hong Kong property market booms, you can sell the entire project and make a profit from the price difference, easily raking in hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars in net profit.

But when wealth accumulates to the scale of Fan Wumian, what he values ​​is no longer just money itself.

In his eyes, similar projects are like playing a real-life sandbox game, suitable for killing time. In the future, restaurants, hotels, galleries, wedding and art exhibition venues, film crew venue rentals, and other businesses can also generate a steady stream of rental income, attracting tourists to come and spend money.

The film crew arrived at Tai Kwun, an area covering 1.36 square meters, separated by walls and streets. Barbed wire and electric fences could be seen on the towering prison walls.

The old magistrate's quarters and barracks are planned to be converted into a shopping mall and restaurants, while the three police quarters next to it are planned to be converted into bars or restaurants. The headquarters building along the street is relatively intact and will be used for offices after simple renovations.

As the only remaining building in Central dating from the mid-19th to early 20th century, the interior of Tai Kwun is dilapidated. However, like many Victorian and Edwardian buildings, it easily creates an atmosphere of "gold on the outside but jewel on the outside" and still looks quite impressive.

Fan Wumian didn't mention anything on camera about things like mortgaging the land to a bank to avoid tying up a lot of capital after paying off the transaction and getting the certificate, or that he didn't plan to start construction in the short term.

He only gave the film crew a brief tour before heading to the headquarters building, where he introduced the family office, which had been the subject of much speculation.

As the core department assisting Fan Wumian in managing his assets, his family office currently has only 31 full-time employees, but their average annual salary exceeds HK$300 million.

Some truly capable professional managers can sometimes earn millions of Hong Kong dollars by completing a single project. For example, a former Hong Kong government official helped the Hong Kong Mountain Bandit King Foundation secure HK$20 billion in escrow funds from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Fan Wumian rewarded him with HK$888 million in a lump sum.

The other two managers, who are mainly responsible for acquisitions, restructuring, financing, and venture capital, also earned more than ten million Hong Kong dollars this year.

Other wealthy individuals rely on family office members to find quality investment channels for them, but Fan Wumian's family office was specifically set up to "save time and energy." It directly and indirectly holds shares in hundreds of companies of all sizes, and he certainly couldn't manage it all by himself.

Upon learning that Fan Wumian was filming a reality show, Manager Qi, who frequently dealt with him, gave a brief introduction to the operation of the family office.

The program director asked with interest:

"May I ask, Manager Qi, what have you been busy with lately? My cousin lost over a million yuan in the stock market this year, and my sister-in-law almost divorced him because of it. With the minds of experts like you, you should be able to recommend some promising stocks, right?"

Manager Qi glanced at Fan Wumian, and seeing that he seemed not to have heard anything, he finally spoke:
“I am handling several acquisition projects. Last week, Mr. Fan was on a business trip in Europe and learned that Valentino’s red wine, ice wine and champagne were in short supply. He asked me to check the information of wineries that are for sale.”

“I have selected several suitable wineries, located in Rioja, Spain, Champagne, France, and Marlborough, New Zealand, hoping to provide more customers with different choices.”

"In addition, there are other projects, such as finding a designer to redesign the main building, which I am also in charge of leading. As for buying stocks, it's best to play it safe for now. You should know Mr. Fan's eye for opportunity; it's always been very sharp."

Fan Wumian thought the answer was fine and added with a smile:
"Actually, the wine regions in mainland China are quite good, but there aren't many ready-made wineries. Planting vineyards takes a long time, so we have to buy them from outside first."

"Including Manager Qi, everyone is exceptionally capable. The reason I have achieved what I have today is entirely due to their help in devising strategies. People always say how smart I am, but in reality, my energy is limited, and I am not like Sun Wukong who can be in multiple places at once. These strategists and advisors are the real heroes."

“When I get busy occasionally and do other things, I don’t need to worry about anything for two or three months at a time. It’s clearly inappropriate to attribute all the success to me.”

Upon hearing this, Manager Qi simply waved his hand modestly and said:
"The company's success is mainly due to Mr. Fan's keen eye for business opportunities. We are merely responsible for execution and implementation; you flatter us greatly."

During a tour of the family office, several screens on the wall displayed real-time data such as the company's market capitalization, currency exchange rates, and global stock market indices.

Then she went to the secretary's office, which also had more than 30 employees, mainly young women who were responsible for helping Fan Wumian connect with the various companies under his command, arrange schedules, and process documents. They had to deal with a lot of trivial matters every day, and there was someone on duty 24 hours a day.

The head of the family trust fund company downstairs introduced some ongoing charitable projects, including donating to Hope Primary Schools, investing in the research and development of new drugs, planting trees, and supporting green technology.

After visiting all of these places, one episode of the reality show will be over.

Immediately afterward, Fan Wumian didn't rest; he immediately started filming the second episode and called Feng Ying'er, asking her to treat everyone to dinner. (End of Chapter)