Hong Kong Storm: The King of Jobs

Chapter 426, Part 7: Discovery Happens in an Instant

(It was raining and snowing on May Day, a first for Ah Xian!)
Thirty years ago, the Hongmen triads in Hong Kong fought over docks for a meal; thirty years later, the water houses are fighting over docks for the sake of their reputation.

All this fighting and arguing is for a bowl of rice!

Shenxian Jin always plans before acting; the fact that he has spoken out means he is already prepared to take action.

After clapping, Chi Mengli silently picked up her teacup and continued to sip her tea.

The Dragon Palace Nightclub is about to open for trial operation, but the profit distribution has not yet been settled. Little Mouth has agreed to bring a group of dancers and singers from Shanghai, but with more than two hundred insurance policies, Little Mouth's people cannot fill all the positions.

Thinking of this, he looked at Ma Wangjian, pondered for a moment, and then slowly said, "Brother Jian works in the adult entertainment industry. Can you handle things in the brothel?"

"I can handle it. If you want high-tech, I'll give you high-tech."

“I have a group of beautiful Eastern European girls. I’m currently finding someone to teach them Cantonese. It’s been almost three months, and these Eastern European girls have almost learned it. Since Brother Sheng’s new place is opening, I’ll give it to you first.”

Ma Wangjian was also very interested in the Dragon Palace Nightclub, which was clearly the new favorite haunt of the Shanghainese. The Shanghainese only supported their own people and preferred to go to safe places to have fun.

With the support of the Shanghainese themselves, the business is doing well. Since there's a way to make money, there's no reason not to get a share.

Handsome guy wins against the city's horse, he himself is a knife-wielder, and they are both core members of the water room, so it's easier for him to speak and do things.

"Shanghai guys like the vibe of the Paramount Ballroom. It's not enough to just have Eastern European girls; they're all upper-class people, so it has to be something high-class."

"I contacted Jack from the Meizi Group and replaced all the madams with top-tier madams from Edo Ginza. Selling meat and alcohol is too low-end; this time, we'll sell ambiguity."

“Brother Jian, the water room has its own rules, and Yau Ma Tei has its own rules. I’ll pay your people a HK$50,000 entry fee, and I’ll also pay your girlfriend’s younger brother a salary.”

"The guy who carries the bag and protects the girl will be assigned to the parking spot. He'll be well-fed and clothed. The number of your men who came here will be the same number who leave."

“But the girls you send in, Brother Jian, need to be managed by these madams.”

“If we continue selling pork skin, it would be much better for customers to go to Portland Street. Why bother coming to Dragon Palace?”

"Bands, lights, themed shows, striptease performances, Los Angeles, Chicago, Moulin Rouge—whatever's popular in the world, we'll do it!"

"Playboy magazine owner Hefner put on Playboy Bunny parties, so we did too. We took hedonism to its highest level."

"Let Dragon Palace Nightclub become a calling card for Hong Kong's entertainment scene."

To become a landmark in Hong Kong's entertainment scene, there are many conditions, the first and most important of which is that the venue must be large enough.

The Dragon Palace Nightclub is larger than the combined Shanghai City, Zhonghua City, and Du Laozhi Nightclub, and it even has a dedicated underground parking lot that can accommodate 700 cars at the same time.

Compared to the underground parking lots of later generations, this is nothing. After all, those behemoth-sized department stores have two to three hundred vehicles entering and exiting every hour.

But to be able to park 700 cars at the same time, and to have dedicated restrooms, is something that only the Jardine Matheson Centre and the new HSBC Tower can do in Hong Kong today.

To win over partners, you have to make promises big enough; only when the promises are big enough will partners be willing to listen.

Chi Mengli then offered Ma Wangjian a rosy picture, asking him to relinquish his management of Ma Lanmei's business and only be responsible for security and pumping water.

Competition for the position of coachman in Hong Kong is extremely fierce. A good coachman can support a small gang leader, and some corrupt triads even fight each other over who gets a coachman.

A pimp managed to hire a top courtesan and earn more money than a movie star.

Ma Wang Jian himself was a top-notch pimp, and he also had three other famous pimps under his command in Hong Kong: Four-Eyes Hunter, Sister Flower, and Son-in-law Bai. These three pimps had thousands of pimp girls, singers, and dancers under their command.

He also relied on his pimps and clerks to support fifty or sixty clerks, who made a living as blue lanterns, and the number of people in the housing estates was countless.

"Brother Sheng, your boasting is quite convincing. Aren't you afraid the wind will blow your kiss away?"

"After saying so much, isn't your tongue tired?"

They're all ancient foxes; there's no need to put on a ghost story here!

Ma Wangjian knew perfectly well what kind of tricks Handsome Sheng was up to, but he had been to the Dragon Palace nightclub before. Its architecture was quite unique, similar to the pyramids beside the Nile.

It is entirely constructed of tempered glass and has now become a landmark building in Yau Ma Tei.

With its unique appearance, excellent location, and ample parking, the large aircraft has become the headline news in entertainment venues.

While it may not surpass the three top-tier nightclubs—Zhonghua City, Du Laozhi, and Shanghai City—its immediate popularity upon opening was already foreseeable.

However, the management rights of the singers and dancers cannot be easily relinquished. Those who can afford to pay several hundred dollars an hour are not ordinary people, and those who chase after the top performers are all sons of wealthy families.

By building good relationships with these people, even the rich kids and big spenders can make a fortune from the scraps that fall from their fingers.

He can relinquish control of the singers, dancers, and princesses, but Handsome Sheng must give himself a little something in return.

Having made up his mind, Ma Wangjian coughed and then said in a serious tone, "Brother Sheng, your chain of sushi restaurants is good. It's a legitimate business, and I like it."

“There are several church schools in Mong Kok, all run by rich kids. I’ve already taken care of the stalls. As long as you agree, I’ll handle the rest. We’re all brothers, so everything is negotiable.”

The sushi restaurant is currently very popular, and many people have been asking about it. Ma Wangjian wanted to get a piece of the pie, and he was no exception. Chi Mengli thought about it for a moment and found that there was no harm in it, so she nodded and agreed.

But he had to make the unpleasant point clear beforehand, otherwise Ma Wangjian, that good-for-nothing, would definitely cause trouble.

“Sure, I can even give you the entire operating rights in Mong Kok. You find the stalls, and I’ll have a research company do the research. But the store manager will be assigned by the company, and the food will be made in a central kitchen, delivered once in the morning and once at noon.”

"The accounting firm checks your accounts once a month and makes payments to you on time every month."

"Each store has a franchise fee of 300,000, but since we're brothers, you don't need to pay it upfront. The company will deduct it every month. You only need to pay a 3% handling fee and a 2% management fee based on the monthly sales."

"The store managers are all college students, bespectacled, and I guarantee they all have clean hands and feet."

"Of course, these are the first three stores. For any new stores opened in Mong Kok, the franchise fee of HK$300,000, which includes the decoration fee, cannot be reduced by a single penny."

“We currently have ten stores in Yau Ma Tei, two in Sheung Wan, and one in Victoria Peak. Each store has an average daily turnover of HK$8,000, while the daily employee costs and stall utilities and rent are HK$600.”

"After deducting operating costs, stall rent, utilities, regulatory fees, and food costs, I can earn at least three thousand yuan a day."

"Three thousand yuan! You can earn that every day, and the profit is even higher on holidays. Brother Jian, you need to understand, this is legitimate business. Even if the cops come, they won't be able to cause any trouble!" "Brother Jian, you need to think this through carefully. Keep your eyes open; this is the right path!"

Hong Kong people love the warmth and atmosphere of a bustling city, but working people don't have time to enjoy that. They can't taste the smoky aroma of a wok, and can only eat convenient and quick meals for lunch.

Chi Mengli capitalized on the fact that people are busy and have to wait in line at food stalls, so they set up a central kitchen. Take the sushi restaurant's latest "Big Eater Bento" for example; it sells very well every day.

A large piece of cheese fried pork chop, a small portion of raw salmon, fried oysters, a fruit, vegetable and corn salad, two real shrimp balls, three slices of sweet and spicy radish, and a bowl of pre-packaged seafood soup.

All of the above can be heated in the microwave, and the flavor has been improved.

The most important thing is that it's cheap, only 18.8 yuan.

This is indeed quite expensive for ordinary citizens, as most of them only earn a little over a thousand yuan a month.

Ke Chi Mengli never intended to make money from ordinary citizens; he always opened his shops near private schools and high-end office buildings.

They're just making money off rich people. Not to mention the rich people in high-end office buildings, even the kids in private schools are all rich, they only have a few dozen dollars in pocket money every day.

Eighteen yuan and eighty cents is nothing to them!
In addition, the star product of the sushi restaurant is the juice. These freshly squeezed juices are all freshly squeezed every day, and a sushi restaurant can sell more than a hundred bottles a day.

However, as the saying goes, good fruit is not juiced. The fruits used for juicing are all inferior fruits with poor appearance, which can only be sent for juicing.

Other high-profit-margin products can also sell hundreds of units a day.

The first three stores don't need to pay franchise fees, which is indeed a good thing. It would be a fool not to take advantage of such a bargain. Ma Wangjian immediately beamed with joy, gave Chi Mengli a thumbs up, and nodded in agreement.

Seated in the main seat, Shenxian Jin nodded in satisfaction after the two finished their conversation. He then coughed to draw their attention: "Ahem, ahem, ahem."

"Ah Sheng, do you have connections with the drinks at Dragon Palace Nightclub? If not, I can get them for you. They're all private label liquors from Chung Ying Street, they won't kill you."

"The prescription is inaccurate; too much diuretic was added."

"Even a greenhorn who isn't good at drinking can drink more than a dozen bottles in one sitting, which guarantees profits. After all, the more beer you drink, the more you earn."

"I won't let you take this road for nothing. You get 30% of the profits from every bottle of alcohol that comes in each month. I don't care how much profit you give to your boss. The entry fee and bottle cap fee will all be yours."

"The rebate on drinks is calculated based on the number of bottles. You get five points, and the underlings below you also get five points."

"Saves you all the trouble, and you can make a fortune just by lying down!"

Shuifang has connections in the liquor distribution channel, after all, Shuifang's brand originated from a soft drink factory.

However, the beer at the water shop comes from Chung Ying Street and is considered a relatively good industrial lager. It is specially blended to taste like Heineken and Budweiser and is also branded with Budweiser and Heineken.

They transported the goods by truck to Macau, then loaded them onto ships and took them to Hong Kong. In addition, the companies under Shui Fang's name had the agency rights for Budweiser and Heineken. They sold genuine products mixed with counterfeit ones, making high profits.

As for imported spirits like whisky, Rémy Martin, and champagne, they go to their home countries, France, to find small distilleries, blend them to taste similar to the big brands, ship them back to Hong Kong in barrels, bottle them in Yuen Long, and then label them.

This is a very clever technique, far superior to counterfeit liquor made with alcohol paste.

The fake liquor produced by Xinji may seem fine while you're drinking it, but it will definitely give you a headache the next morning.

The alcohol is still legitimate, so customers don't ask for extra payment after drinking it, which increases the profit margin. Furthermore, contracts can be signed normally, and the company makes payments and pays taxes.

Chi Mengli nodded in agreement, since most of the rich guys who come to the nightclub have already been to two rounds and are mostly quite drunk.

Let alone alcohol, even if you serve them iced tea with sugar, these rich guys will treat it like the finest liquor.

As for major clients and VIP clients, they definitely need to be supplied with genuine products to avoid causing trouble for themselves.

"The sky is vast, the earth is vast, but the top is the greatest."

“Since you’ve spoken, how can I, as your younger brother, object?”

The allocation was good; even if they found other partners, the salary wouldn't be much higher than it was now. Chi Mengli readily agreed, indicating her willingness.

Next are the various ways to make money, such as parking attendants, waiters, and patrons, where there are conflicts of interest.

By the time everything was finalized, it was already noon.

Not only was the elderly Shenxian Jin unable to hold on, but even the two young people, Ma Wangjian and Chi Mengli, were starting to feel the strain.

But the Dragon Palace Nightclub is a treasure trove. If we don't discuss things carefully, there's bound to be problems. Nobody wants to lose what they've got.

Chi Mengli managed to retain most of her interests: the venue went to Ji Mi, the parking lot to Bo Cai Dong, and the waiter position to Hei A Hu.

Let the 49ers have work to do, and let the blue lanterns be open. This is a major event for the community.

Huang Silang is right. The big boss is just an empty shell. The moment he opens his eyes, hundreds of people below are waiting for him to eat.

“Ah Sheng, you always say I don’t help you. What Robin does is too despicable. I don’t even want to get involved with it. I’ve warned Robin before, but this scoundrel is greedy for money.”

"As the one in charge, I have no choice!"

"This is one of the clues. He is related to Robin's death, but this bastard is troublesome. We need to be careful."

Ma Wangjian's bladder was swollen, so he went to the restroom to relieve himself. Shen Xianjin took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Chi Mengli.

"There are too many inside stories that I don't know either, but you should find the answers you're looking for here."

"By the way! The collar around your neck was made by the Thunder God and Thunder Goddess. I heard that you were able to offer incense safely and those two bastards went to hide in Macau."

"If I step in and solve it for you, you'll definitely be unhappy, so I'm not going to be the one to bother you!"

After finishing her sentence, Shenxian Jin didn't wait for Ma Wangjian, who was going to relieve himself, and went downstairs to leave.

Looking down at the business card in his hand, Chi Mengli realized that the business card Shen Xianjin had given him was a public business card from an insurance company. He suddenly realized where the assassins in this game of real and fake Ruan Wen were recruited from.

(End of this chapter)