1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 198: A Little Knowledge of Boxing
After copying the original script of "God of Gamblers", Zhai Yuan never thought of getting involved in the gambling industry.

It was not until last night when Ye Zhiming called him and asked him indirectly whether he was planning to start a gambling boat business that he realized there was such a way to make money.

The Secret Garden was still in its profit period, but the monthly profit of around two million yuan was gradually unable to support Zhai Yuan's ever-expanding business.

1024. The labor and water and electricity costs of Jiuyi Entertainment and Yuen Long's VCD and CD factories alone exceed one million per month. There are also industrial R&D funds and Nishikie Yannan's arrangements in Japan...

After all the calculations, Zhai Yuan has started to use his wife's savings, otherwise it would not be enough to pay the rent of Zhao's four Longtou theaters.

No matter who you owe money to, you should never owe Uncle Zhao Liu. After all, if you offend him, it will be difficult to poach people from the wireless training class in the future.

In order to make some quick money to recover his losses, three pornographic films were released on May 1024 and . Now, with the preview of "God of Gamblers", a way to make money faster and more profitably than making pornographic films suddenly appeared. Zhai Yuan felt that if he did not seize the opportunity, he would be letting down Ye Zhiming's reminder.

I can't fucking tolerate drugs!
"Ayuan, gambling on a boat is not as simple as you think..."

Ye Zhiming glanced at Zhai Yuan who was pretending to be profound. He did not look down on him because of his young age. There was no shortage of young geniuses in the business world. His own net worth exceeded 10 million when he was a teenager, which was an example right before his eyes.

He hesitated, considering how to start.

From the bottom of his heart, Ye Zhiming is passionate about the gambling boat business. He has experienced ups and downs and can afford to lose or let go. He likes to enter new tracks the most and can be considered an alternative gambler.

But if he directly intercepted and snatched the business of a young man, Ye Zhiming felt that it would be embarrassing if the news got out.

Besides, you may not be able to snatch it.

"God of Gamblers" had a long period from project establishment to filming. Since Zhai Yuan was able to come up with the idea of a gambling ship on the high seas, he must have made sufficient preparations.

Under Zhai Yuan's guidance, Ye Zhiming's thoughts gradually became enlightened.

"Mr. Ye, I know the importance of this." Zhai Yuan saw that he was confused and didn't say anything for a long time. He knew that the show was almost over, so he took the initiative to ask: "To be honest, I am crossing the river by feeling the stones now, and I don't know how deep the river is. If you are interested, can we cooperate to run this business together?"

Ye Zhiming couldn't help but raise his thick eyebrows and look at the young man in front of him again.

He did not immediately ask Zhai Yuan how he wanted to cooperate, but instead stared at him and asked, "Why?"

The VIP room of any casino in Lisboa easily has a daily turnover of over 10 million. If the gambling boat is well managed, the turnover will definitely be more.

With such a big piece of cake, Zhai Yuan is willing to cooperate with me?
Ye Zhiming could tell from his film business that Zhai Yuan acted like a lone wolf.

If other film companies want to make a new movie, they have to go to great lengths to attract investment, which is called calling for money in the circle. Even the three shareholders of Xin Yicheng have to call for money from the big moneybag Lei Juekun and will never use their own capital.

However, Zhai Yuan has never looked for investors since his debut.

It is said that after "A Better Tomorrow" became a big hit, as long as he was willing to ask, there would be a lot of people coming to him with money. However, this young man seemed to be sure that his movie would never lose money. While taking all the risks, he ate up all the rice on the plate.

"Because this cake is too big, I can't eat it all by myself."

Zhai Yuan knew his own limitations and knew that he could not enter the gambling boat business with his current capital.

Buying a cruise ship only costs a few million, but this is just the most basic entry ticket. Not to mention other things, the dealers and security alone are far more important than the cruise ship.

Without a skilled dealer, a few cheaters can easily take over the bank.

Without reliable security, pirates can board the ship directly with machine guns.

However, Ye Zhiming is not responsible for the work on these ships.

The reason why Zhai Yuan invited him to join was simple.

Only the billionaire bridge king, the boss of Hongmian Garment Factory and BangBang Jeans, who claims to have a net worth of one billion, can personally endorse the gambling boat and attract wealthy people of at least the same class to board and place their bets.

Without Ye Zhiming's credit and reputation as endorsement, if Zhai Yuan took the lead himself, those rich guys probably wouldn't even dare to get on board.

God knows where you will take them.

“So I have been contacting other business celebrities recently, hoping to cooperate with them in this gambling boat business.”

Zhai Yuan said sincerely, "I had an appointment with Kwun Tong District Councillor Mai Zhaojun tonight, but your appearance, Mr. Ye, made me feel that there was no need to meet that councillor again."

After Zhai Yuan finished speaking, he used the excuse of Congressman Mai, whom he had never met, and he stopped talking and looked at Ye Zhiming with sincere feelings.

Ye Zhiming looked a little suspicious and asked, "Tell me the truth, before I called you last night, did you have the idea of running a gambling boat?"

"Heh~ Mr. Ye, you should have heard of Xin Ji? My Sanhe Studio is based on Xin Ji, so since 1024 opened, no one has dared to come to collect protection money."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said calmly, "Before the filming of God of Gamblers started, I had already booked the best dealers in Xinji's underground gambling den and asked them to be in charge of the gambling hall. So this time it's not just a collaboration between the two of us, but a collaboration between us and Xinji. We'll share this cake together. You don't think it was your phone call last night that inspired me to do this business on a whim, right?"

"Yes, you came up with the idea of sailing a cruise ship into the high seas. It's even more strange that you said you didn't plan to run a gambling ship."

Ye Zhiming shook his head and smiled, his face turned serious: "Don't worry about attracting customers. When I was doing the yacht rental business, I knew a lot of rich people. Although I didn't make any money in the past few years, I made a lot of friends. Many of them go to Macau to stay for three or two days every week. Once the gambling boat opens, I guarantee that there will be a lot of people supporting the first table and the first shop."

…………

"Brother Jun, have you heard of Ye Zhiming from BangBang Jeans?"

After sending Ye Zhiming away, Zhai Yuan asked Chen Lan to help him get Axe Jun out.

In the private room of the Rich Man Nightclub, Zhai Yuan and Huang Jun sat opposite each other.

When Zhai Yuan asked about Ye Zhiming, Huang Jun nodded and said, "I know him, the Bridge King! He is very familiar with the owner of my nightclub. They had discussed cooperating to turn the Rich Man into a chain of nightclubs, but it seems that the discussion did not go well, so he turned around and started the Ghost Resort."

Zhai Yuan felt that Ye Zhiming's nightclub was much more reliable than his development of the Qiaozui Island resort.

Why would you want to develop an island? If there was real money to be made, the real estate tycoons would have entered the market long ago, and there would be no place for an outsider to get involved.

"This bridge king wants to build a new bridge again. He plans to cooperate with me to build a gambling boat."

Zhai Yuan did not hide anything and told the temporary leader of Xinji in front of him the whole plan of gambling boat he and Ye Zhiming had made not long ago.

Huang Jun had not seen the movie God of Gamblers yet. Zhai Yuan explained to him how the gambling boat operated. The more Huang Jun listened, the brighter his eyes became.

"That's awesome! Boss Zhai, if you build this gambling ship, wouldn't it be the Las Vegas on the sea?"

Compared to the last time when Zhai Yuan asked him to do the pirated videotape business, Huang Jun looked uninterested, but this time the gambling boat obviously made him extremely excited.

He made money through illegal means and knew better than Zhai Yuan and Ye Zhiming combined how profitable such an open and legitimate gambling ship could be.

Zhai Yuan asked with a smile: "How about it, Jun brother, are you interested in playing with me and this Bridge King?"

Mention Xinji in front of Ye Zhiming, and mention Ye Zhiming in front of Huang Jun.

Zhai Yuan felt that he was a bit like Bill Gates' son-in-law in the joke.

Huang Jun leaned forward and asked, "What do you need me to do?" Zhai Yuan said, "Ye Zhiming will provide the customers, you will be in charge of the casino on the ship, and I will provide the cruise ship and security."

Huang Jun was startled: "You work as security?"

Zhai Yuan nodded: "That's right. Brother Jun doesn't trust me?"

Huang Jun gave him a meaningful look, with a smile on his face: "How could that be? I will have a meeting with my uncles tonight and pick out a group of the best dealers."

Send Zhai Yuan out of the rich man.

Huang Jun stood at the door and pondered for a moment, then took out his phone and dialed the number of super veteran Lin Shixia.

"Hey Uncle Xia, there is a boat with a very deep draft. With Xinji's strength, we can swallow it in one gulp, but we will offend two businessmen. One of them is Ye Zhiming, who makes clothes, and the other is the boss of 1024 who is very close to Shi Shao's family. I am not sure about it for the time being, so I would like to ask you for help and advice..."

…………

Even if Zhai Yuan couldn't hear the call from Huang Jun, he could guess that dealing with such a gangster was not that easy.

Ye Zhiming is a well-known person and can do things according to the rules and contracts.

People like Axe Jun talk a lot about brotherhood, but they are the most untrustworthy.

That's why he took the initiative to propose that he would be responsible for the security of the gambling boat and would never give Xinji a chance to interfere.

If you can't even control the military power, you will just become a fat sheep on the chopping board to be slaughtered by the other side.

"We have to ask the Five Masters of Shaolin to come out again."

Among the five Shaolin ancestors, only Shangguan Yonggan is still guarding his shabby martial arts school. The other four have moved out of the city, away from the imagination of Tong Lin Chuan, and are living a modern life.

Zhai Yuan arranged for them to get identity cards and home return permits last year, and now the five of them can return to the mainland during the holidays.

However, it is obviously beyond the ability of the Five Ancestors to guard a gambling ship alone, so Zhai Yuan plans to take this opportunity to recruit more soldiers and upgrade his weapons to eliminate all safety hazards at one time.

That night, Zhai Yuan borrowed a bunch of reference books about the high seas from the library, some of which contained information in English. He then pulled Zhou Haimei into bed and asked her to read to him.

Mr. Zhai hasn't worked so hard for a long time.

He leaned against the head of the bed and reached into the quilt to moisten his fingers.

Turning to a new page, he turned around and asked Zhou Haimei, whose face was flushed, "Cousin, what does this mean?"

Noon the next day.

Zhai Yuan returned to 91 Entertainment and pushed open the door of the Legal Department's office.

In the office, Shen Wei was working on documents at his desk. When he heard the door open, he looked up at him with a surprised look.

"Old Shen, let's chat for a while."

Zhai Yuan sat down opposite him and glanced at the materials on the table. It was a lawsuit involving infringement of the portrait rights of an actor from "A Better Tomorrow".

After this movie became a hit, many copycat brands appeared on the market, printed with stills of Wan Ziliang, Zhang Guorong, Di Long and others, which provided a lot of work for Shen Wei, who originally had nothing to do.

"What's up, boss?"

Shen Wei threw down his pen, pushed up his glasses and said with a smile, "Did Wu Yusen commit the counterfeit money case in Thailand?"

If he hadn't mentioned it, Zhai Yuan would have never remembered that Wu Yusen not only took the "Wushuang" crew to Thailand for filming, but also took on another promotional mission.

"It shouldn't be that fast. Wan Zi just came back to participate in the preview of God of Gamblers and said it will take some time to wrap up the filming there."

Zhai Yuan winked at Shen Wei: "But now the company plans to send you to other countries for a tour at public expense. Are you interested?"

Shen Wei looked at his smiling face and felt something was wrong: "I think it's good to stay in Hong Kong..."

Zhai Yuan said: "Broaden your horizons. Don't you want to get involved in overseas business?"

Shen Wei wanted to say that he didn't want to, because he was too familiar with Zhai Yuan's tone, and it was definitely not a good thing. But he also knew that he would not be able to escape if this guy came to him.

He sighed and asked, "Where to?"

Zhai Yuan nodded with satisfaction: "Not far, Panama."

Shen Wei was stunned for a moment, and after thinking for a long time, he asked, "Where is that?"

Panama, with a total land area of 70,000 square kilometers, is indeed inconspicuous on the world map. Not to mention Shen Wei at this time, even Zhai Yuan in later generations had only heard the name of this country in the news broadcast most of the time.

However, staying up until midnight last night to study for his lessons helped him understand more about this aspect.

The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that no country may effectively claim sovereignty over any part of the high seas. Simply put, as long as it does not violate international crimes such as piracy and slavery, other activities such as pornography, gambling, drugs, murder and arson have jurisdiction only over the country where the ship is registered.

Panama happens to be the most suitable country for registering gambling ships.

This country just launched a coup last year. After Noriega came to power, he tried to get rid of the influence of the United States and move closer to the Soviet Union. The United States in turn supported the opposition there. Although the two factions no longer waged war, the top leaders all wanted to make a fortune and run away quickly. As a result, corruption was rampant and the city even became an important port for Colombian drug lords to transport flour to North America.

The gambling ship is registered in Panama, and by paying some money to the other party, it can at least remain stable for a few years.

Zhai Yuan briefly told him about the situation in Panama, and said in a bewitching tone: "The newspaper said that in this country, you can marry two beautiful wives for only 100 Hong Kong dollars. Aren't you tempted?"

Shen Wei pulled the corner of his mouth: "It sounds very confusing, boss..."

"I'll let Shangguan Yonggan and the other five go with you. You'll have another thing to do when you get there."

Zhai Yuan paused and said, "Register a security company in Panama under the company's name, the kind that allows guns."

It was very troublesome to register a security company with guns in Hong Kong, but the Hong Kong government recognized the qualifications of foreign security agencies. Therefore, at this time, in addition to British banks in Hong Kong, other companies such as Chinese banks, jewelry stores, and gold shops mostly registered their security businesses in British colonies such as India.

Security companies in Hong Kong can only use two or three shotguns at most.

But once you reach the high seas and hoist the Panamanian flag, you can worship Namo Gatlin Bodhisattva.

When Shen Wei heard that they were going to use guns, he was surprised and asked, "A war?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "It's just buying an insurance policy."

But I was thinking in my heart, I hope Axe Jun can follow the rules, otherwise I also know a little bit of fighting.

(End of this chapter)