Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

"Something quite interesting happened before."

During halftime, Wang Yaotang drank and chatted with the two families.

“I started out selling sexy lingerie. That was over a year ago. I had the company open three stores in Macau at once. The stores were all renovated and stocked with goods. We were just waiting for the auspicious time to open two days later when someone burned them down that night.”

"Who made this?" Bamboo Union's Wang Yu asked, somewhat surprised.

"Are you crazy?" Jia Runnian from Sihai asked.

“条冧摩顶平”

"Oh, I heard he was shot later," Wang Yu said with a smile, looking at Wang Yaotang.

Before coming, I naturally learned about the legends of this family in detail.

Wang Yaotang nodded, not explaining that he hadn't arranged the gunman; there was no need. "I only found out when we were talking about tea that this guy thought I was overstepping my bounds by opening a shop in Macau and provoking his Macau laws. Damn it, I was running a legitimate business. To die over something like this is insane."

Wang Yu's smile gradually turned into a furrowed brow, and when he turned his head, he met Jia Runnian's gaze. There was something more to Jia Runnian's words than met the eye.

"Is Brother Yao planning to open a shop in Taiwan?" Wang Yu pulled the young star next to him over and played with his hand.

“We already have a store there.” Wang Yaotang glanced at the two of them and continued, “I previously acquired Giordano Apparel. The company has 26 stores overseas, including 3 in the Taipei metropolitan area.”

"Brother Yao is truly a little money god; his legitimate business is booming."

“Making money through legitimate means is not easy. I’ll have to trouble you two to take care of things in Taipei.” Wang Yaotang shook his head with a smile. “I won’t go into details now. There will be a few more stores later, but don’t worry, they are all legitimate businesses.”

"Still selling clothes?" Jia Runnian asked.

"Yes, I won't hide it from you two. We're also planning to open a few lingerie stores to test the waters, and then there's the audio-visual store, Yaoxing Speaker Products Company. Hmm, they should have heard of it." Wang Yaotang pointed to the young star who was busy working on Wang Yu and the other woman.

Jia Runnian patted the little singer's bottom, "You know Yaoxing Audio-Visual Products, right?"

"I know." The young singer wiped his mouth. "It's said that it has shares in three major record companies: PolyGram, Warner, and EMI. It's the largest distribution channel in Hong Kong and Macau, occupying 80% of the market. Singers in the industry have to bribe the higher-ups at Yaoxing before releasing an album. The more prominent the album is on the counter, the more it sells. Whoever's song is played in the store, the better their album will sell."

Wang Yu's face was full of envy. "Damn, wouldn't the company's higher-ups be having a blast, able to do whoever they want!"

"Brother Yao, let's drink! I want to work at your company!" Jia Runnian shouted.

"The Shining Star God is here! Hurry up and serve him well, or you'll become famous with just one word!" Wang Yu egged him on.

The young starlet immediately crawled towards Wang Yaotang, calling out, "Master Yao—"

"Okay, okay." Wang Yaotang reached out and pushed the little star's head away. His mouth wasn't even clean yet; he didn't have that kind of hobby.

The young starlet was still not satisfied, so she stuck out her tongue and licked Wang Yaotang's palm. Wang Yaotang wiped it on her chest, patted her bottom, and told her to get lost.

“I’ll run my shop normally and pay my taxes normally. The tariffs in Taiwan are quite high, so the prices will definitely be in line with those in Hong Kong. The competition will be with other audio-visual stores in Taiwan, so it won’t have any impact on your two businesses.” Wang Yaotang smiled and raised his glass to clink with the two men. “Everyone in Hong Kong knows that I, Wang Yaotang, am not a stingy person. We should all make money together. The goods I supply to your two businesses will be cheaper than those from Malaysia and Indonesia, ensuring that you two make even more money.”

The two exchanged a glance, but did not nod immediately.

Who knows if you're just using this as a pretext to attack Guo?

Wang Yaotang didn't bother to explain. He picked up the bottle and poured another glass for each person. "Considering the high operating costs of the company overseas, there is absolutely no profit margin in small and medium-sized cities. Therefore, I will only operate in the Taipei metropolitan area. Of course, if the Taiwan market develops smoothly, I will consider Kaohsiung in the future, but that's about it."

"Could you please have that kind of face?" Wang Yaotang raised his wine glass again.

Since things had come to this point, with money laundering and smuggling involved, many of the two companies' businesses had to transit through Hong Kong Island. Now that Sheng Yi had replaced the soft drink factory, its influence was at its peak. Otherwise, the two wouldn't have come over. They couldn't very well say they'd "lose face," so they could only smile and raise their glasses to clink with Wang Yaotang's.

"This province is registered over there..." Wang Yu asked softly.

“You’re not even my Hongmen brothers.” Wang Yaotang smirked. “If I said I would never cooperate, I would be lying to you two. But you can’t sway me with less than 5000 million in profit a year. And I’m talking about legitimate income.”

"It's quite an appetite," Jia Runnian said, his teeth aching slightly.

If it were just bragging, he could laugh it off, but this guy was telling the truth.

They couldn't help but believe it; after only two or three days in Hong Kong, they had heard their associates mention more than a dozen times that Wang Yaotang had handed over all the small and medium-sized venues to his underlings.

The reason is that they complain about not earning enough and having too much work.

We're all just trying to make a living. Seeing others climb higher and higher, and become more and more successful, is more painful than losing money yourself!

Of course, as important figures in both factions, besides envy, jealousy, and hatred, they also have to devote some energy to thinking about how to make money.

Wang Yaotang was concerned about the high tariffs and opening costs, but these were not major issues for them.

The trend of black politics is growing stronger, and both companies are fully capable of selling smuggled goods legally, while the cost of opening a store is lower for them.

Therefore, the two companies will not only open stores in Taipei to compete with Wang Yaotang, but also open stores in other cities, learning from "Little God of Wealth" in all aspects, acquiring and establishing audio-visual chain stores, and opening stores to sell sexy lingerie.

Producing pornography is a traditional industry for underworld figures.

As they were chatting, Jia Runnian suddenly stopped talking and stared at the screen. Wang Yu noticed and followed her gaze, then exclaimed "Ha!" as he saw the housewife holding a grotesque, strip-shaped object in her hand...

His face was beaming with happiness!

It's so exhilarating!

Seeing this, Wang Yaotang smiled and said, "This stuff has a very high profit margin, should we get some?"

"I'll give it a try," Wang Yu said, panting and squinting.

Sha Ze looked up and gestured, then opened a small cabinet on the wall, inside which were dozens of items of various shapes and sizes, some even with tails...

"Brother Yao, you're really something!"

……

Taiwan has a more developed economy, a larger population, and a larger market. Even though they were both just testing the waters, Wang Yu and Jia Runnian placed orders that were double or triple the combined orders from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Two million videotapes of various colors!

The total value is US$3340 million, equivalent to approximately HK$2.7 million.

In the more than 100 large, medium and small towns under our control, the number of stores will not be less than 1000, and 200 million is just the initial stock.

Of course, profits were also somewhat compressed, with a single box costing US$1.5 and a profit of HK$2700 million.

In addition, the total price of the sex costumes and toys is around HK$4000 million. These items have low costs and high profits, with a profit of around HK$1200 million.

(According to statistics from Taiwan's Government Information Office in 1983, approximately 120 million videotapes were imported by customs that year.)

(According to data from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Hong Kong's videotape exports in 1982 were approximately 1200 million tapes.)

The underworld forces already had plenty of cash on hand, and as the two largest forces in Taiwan, HK$3 million in liquid funds was not difficult for them. Besides, it wasn't something they could come up with all at once. Even Wang Yaotang couldn't produce that many videotapes; it would take at least six months.

Wang Yaotang insisted that the money must be from a legitimate company, with a formal contract, and that the funds enter Hong Kong through legitimate channels. The two men readily agreed. Given their considerable influence in Taiwan, they could easily manage to mix in some illicit funds.

As for Wang Yaotang, as long as the money enters Hong Kong Island legally through the bank, that's all that matters. As for whether it's illicit or not... well, it's just a string of numbers in a bank account. How the hell am I supposed to know if it's illicit or not!
……

"How much have you negotiated?" The next morning, Wang Yaotang got up and ate a late lunch at home. While eating, the four-eyed guy asked with a smile, "It would be embarrassing for a big gang leader like you to personally negotiate so little business."

"Tch, you said it yourself, the gang leader is personally negotiating the business, of course it won't be cheap." Wang Yaotang drank a glass of milk, tilted his head, looked down at the four-eyed guy, and held up a four with his hand. "Isn't that impressive enough!"

"4 million?" the bespectacled guy exclaimed, "Wow! Damn, a top salesman!"

"What do you think?" Wang Yaotang laughed loudly, "There's still Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea that haven't been negotiated yet. Let's set a small goal, how about 10 billion?"

"Little God of Wealth, you're quite sharp."

"However, Yaoguang needs to continue expanding its production capacity, otherwise it won't be able to keep up," Wang Yaotang said somewhat indistinctly, stuffing a fork into his mouth.

Wang Yaotang pioneered the development of hand-to-hand combat videos and promoted them through his tireless efforts. The number of videotapes exported was much higher than in previous years. To achieve the goal of monopolizing more than 70% of the market, production capacity needs to be doubled to produce tens of millions of boxes per year.

"Holy crap." The four-eyed guy grinned exaggeratedly.

At noon, he had arranged to talk to the Koreans, but on the way to the hotel, he received a message from the command center that Raymond Chow of Golden Harvest was looking for him.

Without even asking, Wang Yaotang knew what was going on. Yaoxing hadn't obtained the rights to Golden Harvest films, and what they were selling now were all pirated copies.

"Go to the center of the peninsula," Wang Yaotang instructed.

In the center of the peninsula, at the headquarters of Yaoxing, in the conference room.

Upon entering, one sees Zou Wenhua with a gloomy face, and sitting next to him is a man with a large nose and a side parting.

However, Wang Yaotang was magnanimous and didn't mind at all. He smiled and reached out to walk over, "Zou Sheng, what brings you here today?"

Raymond Chow glanced at Wang Yaotang's hand. Despite cursing inwardly, he couldn't lose his composure, so he stood up and shook hands with Wang Yaotang. "Brother Yao, you're busy, haven't you forgotten that Yaoxing didn't get authorization from Golden Harvest? But Yaoxing's counter has been renting and selling our Golden Harvest movies all along."

“It’s really busy.” Wang Yaotang nodded in agreement. “I open my eyes to seven or eight thousand mouths to feed. There’s so much to do every day that I don’t even have time to sleep. And to top it all off, there are always some damn people who are blind and cause me trouble. They don’t know how annoying it is!”

The big-nosed man opened his mouth and silently shielded Raymond Chow in front of him.

This guy in front of me actually killed a boxing champion!
Raymond Chow was stunned for a moment, never expecting Wang Yaotang to be so rude. He immediately turned red with anger, "Wang Yaotang, who are you cursing!"

"Hey, old man, what are you doing?" Wang Yaotang's face turned cold. "Just because you're old doesn't mean you can act like an old man in front of me. I'm talking about the soda factory's Shenxian Jin, who arranged for a gunman to kill my grandfather. Everyone in the underworld knows I've been busy with this for the past ten days or so. What's wrong with what I said?"

Raymond Chow was speechless.

"What, you think I'm talking about you?" Wang Yaotang sneered, "Just because I called you Zou Sheng, you actually think you're someone important?"

"You...you...you..." Zou Wenhuai's lips were trembling with anger. If he weren't outmatched...

Turning my head, I found Big Nose standing three steps away.

"Manager Qiu, what was the total box office revenue for Hong Kong films last year? What was the box office revenue for Golden Harvest?" Wang Yaotang asked, looking at Raymond Chow.

"In 1981, the total box office was HK$1.2 million, with Golden Harvest accounting for HK$4700 million, taking a 40% market share."

“1.2 million, 4700 million.” Wang Yaotang chuckled. “Old Zou, do you know how many deals I negotiated with my branches in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan yesterday?”

"4 million!"

"Even I, Wang Yaotang, wouldn't dare call myself someone important. What makes you think you are? Just because you're old? Just because you're shameless?"

“I make hundreds of thousands a minute, and the time I wasted just to come here to see you is worth 4700 million.”

"And you, you came in with a sour face. I, Wang Yaotang, am magnanimous and won't hold it against you, but you still take it personally, huh?"

This tirade left Zou Wenhua's face alternating between pale and flushed, his heart pounding like a drum, his mind going blank, and he almost fainted on the spot.

He knew that Wang Yaotang had discussed big business deals with three parties yesterday, many of which involved the export of videotapes. That's why he rushed over, hoping to get a share of the profits from Wang Yaotang by discussing the authorization issue.

He brought the big-nosed dragon along because he's currently very popular, and he wanted to show Wang Yaotang his influence.

"Manager Qiu, what's the deal with the authorization issue that Old Man Zou mentioned?" Wang Yaotang walked to the head seat, and Qiu Dechang personally pulled out the chair.

“The Golden Harvest films that we at Yaoguang currently list for rent and sale were purchased from Jinzhen Film Company. When we signed the purchase contract, Jinzhen Film Company presented a complete set of Golden Harvest authorization documents.” Qiu Dechang said, pulling out a large stack of documents and pushing them towards Zou Wenhuai.

“We at Jiahe have never authorized any company!” Raymond Chow looked at the pile of contract documents and was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.

"The one who forged the authorization documents was also Jinzhen Film Company. If you have a problem, go sue them. What are you doing coming to me?" Wang Yaotang said coldly, waving his arm. "Are you bullying an honest person?!"

you?
Honest man?
Now, not only Raymond Chow and Big-Nosed Dragon, but even Qiu Dechang couldn't help but look over.

You deserve to be the boss, you're shameless!
“You, you, you…” Zou Wenhuai understood perfectly well that these were black gloves, but legally he really had no recourse.

As for disregarding the law...

Okay, let's talk about the law.

"Manager Qiu, what percentage of the company's sales revenue does Golden Harvest's films account for?" Wang Yaotang asked.

“About 5%.”

"Did you hear that? Only 5%." Wang Yaotang tapped the table. "Yaoxing accounts for less than 20% of all my businesses. There's no way your petty business would even reach my ears."

“Fang Long, there’s no future in following him.” Wang Yaotang looked over, and Big-Nosed Long forced out an ugly smile.

Boss, please have mercy! I'm just a nobody.

"Alright, Manager Qiu, you handle this. You're bothering me with such a small matter. I thought so many people had died." Wang Yaotang got up and walked outside. "Take care of him."

"One who's just trying to freeload."

Qiu Dechang quickly stood up. "Okay, boss."

Raymond Chow opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say a word. After a barrage of insults, the cold numbers hit him in the face, making him too ashamed to speak again.

I still remember how Wang Yaotang came to Jiahe looking for me a year ago, and I chased him away without hesitation...

In less than a year, everything has changed dramatically.

Thinking back to Cinema City's relentless pursuit and his failed attempt in Hollywood, Raymond Chow suddenly wondered if he was really getting old.

Amidst the flattery from insiders, he really started to think of himself as some important figure...

Looking at Wang Yaotang's back, Big-Nosed Dragon felt genuine envy. This was a true master!
I wish I could take his place! (End of Chapter)