1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 144: Fierce Fire Cooking Oil
Ji Shanjian walked out of the door of Longchang Bank. The crowds of people outside made his heart beat violently.

There is no foreign currency on the books right now, and it would take time even if I sold my property.

If we delay for one more day, or even one more hour, more and more customers will come to withdraw money, and by then it will be too late to save the situation.

"Longchang's foreign currency is on its way. I have been doing business in Hong Kong for more than 40 years. The neighbors trust me and only deposit money in me. For this reason alone, I will never run away with the money. The bank is not closed today, and I will wait with everyone."

Ji Shanjian finished his speech in a tone as calm as possible, lifted the hem of his Tang suit, and sat down at the door of the bank.

This action gradually calmed the rioting crowd.

But only for a moment.

As time passed, citizens who still hadn't seen the cash delivery vehicle arrive at their doorstep began a new round of doubts.

"Go and urge Ajie again."

Ji Shanjian sat on the stone steps and turned his head to instruct the manager beside him: "The money must be delivered before 6 pm. Take as much as you can."

The manager walked into the bank.

The crowd of citizens gathered at the entrance of Longchang suddenly heard a burst of clamor from the back, and then quickly began to sweep away.

“Someone was exchanging US dollars for Hong Kong dollars outside the Kwun Tong Police Station!”

It was just a simple sentence, but it immediately touched the hearts of countless people like insider information in the stock market.

Citizens holding cash could not wait for Longchang's foreign currency to arrive, and rushed towards the Kwun Tong Police Station.

The crowd waiting at the bank entrance decreased by 30% in an instant, as if the tide had receded.

Ji Shanjian looked at the scene in front of him in dumbfoundedness.

“HSBC stepped in to rescue the market?”

Before he could even finish his thought, a Mercedes-Benz sedan escorted by private security pushed through the crowd and slowly stopped in front of the bank.

The security guards carried more than a dozen suitcases and wielded shotguns to clear the way, and swaggered into the bank in front of a crowd of citizens.

Ji Shanjian knew that among these dozen suitcases, at least half were empty, and they were used as props to reassure people.

He whispered to his assistant Ajie who came up to him and helped him up: "How much did you raise in total?"

"In addition to your three properties, our two shareholders, Mr. Wu and Mr. Zan, have transferred a deposit certificate from Singapore. Currently, there are more than five million US dollars on the books."

"enough!"

Ji Shanjian clenched his fist, turned his head and looked at the citizens who were eagerly waiting. His kind smile revealed confidence: "Before, the bank made technical adjustments, and the business processing was a little slow. Just now, we transferred 20 million US dollars of foreign exchange from the treasury. Customers who need to withdraw money can queue up now. If all the neighbors are willing to believe in Longchang's strength and continue to keep their money in the account, we will increase the interest rate by 5% this year..."

…………

Amid the panic, Zhai Yuan was also actively trying to save the market.

It’s just that the method is quite different from that of veteran Chinese businessmen like Ji Shanjian.

At the entrance of the Kwun Tong Divisional Police Station, a seven-seater pickup truck was parked in front of the police station with the windows rolled down. A long queue of people stretched from the front of the car to the end of the street, with no end in sight.

There was a sign next to the pickup truck with a striking slogan written in red paint.

'We won't accept big bulls, and we won't change small bulls. We are open four hours a day, and we won't wait after the time is up. We pay in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars. Today's special price is 12 for 1!'

Big Bull and Small Bull refer to the Hong Kong dollar notes of 1,000 and 500 respectively.

Such large-denomination banknotes are usually not circulated in the market, because once the loss is too great, it has become an unspoken rule among merchants not to accept or give change.

"Boss, I want to exchange 80,000 Hong Kong dollars. Can you give it to me according to the bank's exchange rate?"

A tall and thin man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses leaned in front of the car window, handed over a few stacks of Hong Kong dollars, and showed a gold Rolex watch on his hand.

"12 for 1, you can't even see the words outside with your glasses on?"

Zhai Yuan glanced at the other person while sitting in the car and spoke lazily.

The man in the suit forced a smile and pointed at an elderly person who had just left and said, "But when that old lady asked you to change money earlier, you gave it to her at the bank's 10-for-1 rate."

"Old people have privileges here with me, so why should I be kind? But you are different. I hate men wearing glasses, especially gold-rimmed glasses."

Zhai Yuan waved his hand at him, and said disdainfully, "If you're afraid of losing money, just leave. Don't block the customers queuing behind you. I'll come again tomorrow. Can you go home and think about it carefully? But hurry up, because who knows if this good price will still be there tomorrow."

The last sentence obviously worked. The man in the suit hesitated for a moment, and under the urging of the people behind him, a look of determination flashed in his eyes, and he took off the backpack on his back.

He handed the backpack into the car and said through gritted teeth, "Add the 400,000 here, a total of 480,000. Please change it all into US dollars for me!"

Zhai Yuan sneered, "You little brat, are you still trying to play hard to get with me?"

After punching in the numbers on the calculator in front of the other party and confirming that they were correct, Zhai Yuan counted the money in the newly purchased money counter before handing the 40,000 US dollars to the man in the suit. "Next!"

The four hours of business passed quickly.

Under the protection of the police, the whole process was peaceful and no one caused trouble.

The police officers in the Kwun Tong division also received special treatment from Zhai Yuan, with priority in currency exchange and a unified bank exchange rate.

The quick-witted policeman even made a profit from the price difference from him.

But even after leaving the police station, some people still kept an eye on Zhai Yuan.

"Boss! That guy is leaving. I estimate that he has at least a million dollars in his car. Do you want to follow him?"

Amid the citizens' pleas to stay, Zhai Yuan rolled up the car window without mercy and prepared to go home.

At this time, in an alley opposite the police station, several men with unfriendly faces were staring at the pickup truck that was returning with a full load.

"Follow! Ah Hu, drive a dump truck and find an intersection to force him to stop. The other brothers and I will be responsible for robbing him of his money!"

After extinguishing their cigarettes, several men walked out of the alley aggressively and headed towards a van parked on the side of the road.

"Hey!"

A rough voice suddenly sounded behind me, and then it was an awkward Mandarin accent: "Are you trying to rob the car that was used to exchange money just now?"

When the men heard the voice, they were all startled and stopped to look back.

What came into view was a tall man squatting on a wall. No one knew when he climbed up there, but he was looking at them with a silly smile.

Shangguan Yonggan, one of the Five Patriarchs of Shaolin!
"Who the hell are you? Mind your own business, or I'll destroy you!"

The man who was called Ah Hu just now looked unhappy. He took a step forward, pointed at Shangguan Yonggan on the wall and shouted at him.

"I am your father."

Shangguan Yonggan replied with a smile, and before he finished speaking, he raised his hand and threw out a hidden weapon!
Bricks just taken down from the wall.

The brick spun and hit Ah Hu in the face. Before he could fall, Shangguan Yonggan jumped off the wall and pounced on the men.

Two minutes later, looking at the wounded lying on the ground, Shangguan Yonggan patted the footprints on his body and shook his head in disappointment.

"You don't even have the energy to beat someone up, and you still say you're a gangster?"

He stuck his head out again to take a look at the pickup truck that disappeared around the corner, muttering, "Satellite and the others are really going backwards. I've been following you for such a long time and you didn't notice. You guys are so worried!"

…………

Kowloon Tong, Tang Lok Ling’s garden villa.

He didn't dare to return to Biliyuan with such a large sum of money, mainly because he was afraid of scaring Zhao Meizhen.

It was quite different for Deng Leling. When she saw Zhai Yuan pouring a bag of money on the table, the woman suddenly felt weak all over, her eyes were full of tears, and she couldn't help but stick to him and wrap herself around Zhai Yuan like a water snake.

"Is it all for me?"

“…Stop it!”

Zhai Yuan felt that she was somewhat ungrateful, so he pressed the woman down on the sofa and punished her twice before he hugged her and began to count.

Amid the humming sound of the money counting machine, the number of Hong Kong dollars collected today was also counted.

The expenditure in US dollars was about 32, and the recovery in Hong Kong dollars was about 352 million.

The ratio is about 11 yuan.

Although everyone is equal under the sickle, Zhai Yuan occasionally shows kindness and does not cut too harshly.

At this rate, the four million US dollars will be used up in no time. Then, we just need to wait for the Hong Kong dollar to be pegged to the US dollar and make a small profit from the price difference.

On the TV news, a white official from the Financial Secretary made an important speech.

“…No government in a free market system can control market trends. When the market becomes chaotic, all we can do is try to mitigate the irregularities of the market…”

To put it simply, it is shirking responsibility.

We can't and won't control it, unless you take back your sovereignty and leave the governing power to us and the British Empire.

These remarks are like adding fuel to the fire for the current market.

Zhai Yuan knew very well: tomorrow's market reaction would be more violent than today's.

(End of this chapter)