1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 253 Reclaiming the Land
"Manufacturing has always been the mainstay of Hong Kong's economy. Before the founding of Hong Kong, the indigenous people here mined lime and made porcelain. After the founding of Hong Kong, they transformed into clocks, toys, and plastic flowers, and their products were sold all over the world."

Zhai Yuan sat on the steps of the Yuen Long factory, looking at the sunset, and slowly told his mother Zhao Meizhen: "It's been miserable in the past two years. Real estate developers have driven land prices sky-high, and local labor costs are also rising. As soon as they heard about the return, those foreigners immediately imposed trade quotas on Hong Kong. In short, it's okay to be an OEM factory, but it's very difficult to develop some technical products on your own."

At this point in time, Hong Kong's manufacturing industry has not yet completely declined.

Zhai Yuan knew what was going on. He waited two years before the foreigners were about to leave before he really started to stir up trouble in this city. He set up a number of charitable organizations headed by the "Harbor Protection Association" and frantically pushed for legislation before the handover.

Around the millennium, these charitable organizations began to emerge and flourish.

Land reclamation? No, the damage to the harbor would be too great.

Electronics industry? No, even if there are no jobs, citizens cannot be made to endure industrial noise and environmental pollution.

Entertainment printing? Chinese-owned companies are not allowed, but foreign-owned ones are. Even though there were nearly 2,000 Chinese-owned printing factories in Hong Kong in the 1970s, providing tens of thousands of jobs, they were later driven to the mainland because they did not meet emission standards. However, they all used the same equipment as foreign-owned printing factories.

The foreigners later allowed the gang to collect protection money, but compared to this kind of thing, it was nothing.

"Mom, you saw today that I have a lot of business now, but it's also scattered."

Zhai Yuan continued to say to Zhao Meizhen: "Making movies can actually be considered a foundation, but if you only focus on production and creation, you can only be second-rate at best, because you don't have enough distribution channels to compete with big companies. So I set up this optical disc factory. A small disc can break the current market monopoly of videotapes. In the future, we will have more bargaining power and more say. This is how we can truly enter the film capital market."

His words were very simple, but to Zhao Meizhen's ears, they sounded similar to what Peng Jiayan and her father said about empowerment.

Can't understand.

Zhao Meizhen smiled awkwardly and said, "Yuanzi, you should actually tell these things to those highly educated people in the factory. Ama has low education. If you ask me how much celery and rice cost per pound today, I will know, but I really don't understand anything about market and channels."

"I can't tell this to outsiders, or they might steal my bridge."

Zhai Yuan winked at Zhao Meizhen and said with a smile: "Two things now. First, I make a lot of money now, so you don't have to work as hard as before. Yaoyao said she saw you secretly wearing plastic flowers at home last time? I will be embarrassed if it gets out!"

Zhao Meizhen's face immediately turned red when she heard this, and she cried out, "I raised you two siblings wearing plastic flowers. This is a skill that you can use to make a living. You should learn it occasionally and don't get rusty. What if the world gets bad in the future and the foreigners turn against you and the boss above sends someone to attack you..."

"Ah!" Zhai Yuan quickly interrupted her: "Your idea is very dangerous!"

Zhao Meizhen said, as if she understood something: "I also heard it from Ah Chao, and now everyone is immigrating, so maybe there is some truth to it."

Zhai Yuan felt that he had to sew Liang Zhichao’s mouth shut and make some money so he didn’t even know his last name!

"His name is Sha Chao, he is stupid!" Zhai Yuan said, "Anyway, invite two Filipino maids to come over tomorrow, or invite three to play mahjong with you. Don't fire them this time."

Zhao Meizhen hesitated for a long time before finally nodding her head. She gritted her teeth and said fiercely, "Okay! After working so hard for half my life, I will be a landlord's wife for once!"

Zhai Yuan was very pleased. He believed that one still needed to change his mindset. No matter what staple food you eat, you can still be full with seafood!

"Now let's talk about the second thing."

Zhai Yuan looked at Zhao Meizhen and smiled, "You have seen the optical disc factory now. The technology is relatively complete. The attack by the foreigners has not yet reached the level of the electronics industry. This is the most suitable time to build a factory and develop it. Mom, will you support me?"

"Hold on!" Zhao Meizhen said and then asked, "But I don't know anything, how can I hold on?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "I need land to build a factory, but the price in the city is too high, so I have to put the factory in the countryside of Yuen Long. Fortunately, I am a native of the New Territories. Logically speaking, my old man and I have two rights in Xiawan Village. I want to get it back with interest."

Zhao Meizhen's smile froze on her face. The name Zhai Xiaosheng made her look a little unnatural.

She sighed, "Two Dingquan have only a few hundred square meters, how can they build a factory? Besides, so many years have passed, and the account from that year has been settled. There is no point in going to your uncle's house. Even if your father knew about it, he would not want to..."

Zhai Yuan interrupted her and asked, "I heard from Hai Mei's mother that you went to visit Zhai Xiaosheng when he had a stroke a few years ago. You also wanted my dead father to be reinstated in the Xiawan Village ancestral hall and have me change my name to Zhai Jingyuan?"

"Why does A-Ling tell young people everything? I'm afraid Hai-Mei will become a gossipy woman if she stays with her for too long."

Zhao Meizhen grumbled in dissatisfaction, and said frankly: "Yes, your dead father is a man of the Zhai family after all. Your surname Zhai has 16 characters for the generation name, 'Yuyuan Tongxin, Xiaojing Hemei, Shijiamianchang, Picheng Zuze'. He valued this the most when he was alive. I went to see your uncle in the first place because I wanted you to recognize your ancestors and give your dead father an explanation."

Zhai Yuan laughed and said, "And then he was driven out by Zhai Xiaosheng who had a stroke?"

Zhao Meizhen rolled her eyes at him and said, "The Zhai family has a lot of rules! But my son is successful now, so there's no need to get involved with them anymore."

Zhai Yuan lowered his head and smiled, then asked directly, "Do you know that your damned husband was killed by Zhai Xiaosheng?"

Zhao Meizhen was stunned when she heard this, then she frowned and cursed, "What the hell! Is it Luo Huiling, the gossipy woman, who is telling you this again? How can you make such a fuss about something without any evidence? Although your uncle is greedy for money and fame, he is not so unscrupulous as to do such a thing."

Zhai Yuan asked: "Really can't do it? Who was the one who caused the commotion in the Zhai Family Ancestral Hall back then?"

Zhao Meizhen subconsciously wanted to speak, but hesitated a few times when the words came to her lips.

It would be a lie to say that she had no doubts. When she was pregnant, she wanted to fight with Zhai Xiaosheng and make a scene in the Zhai family ancestral hall, but what was the result? Not long after Zhai Xiaokang died, he was cleared out of the ancestral hall and someone else took his place. Then, she and her widow were driven out of Xiawan Village, and only a tablet was taken away. After moving to the city, they lived in cage houses and public housing. Over the past ten years, her hot temper had long been worn away.

Zhao Meizhen sighed and said, "When Yaoyao and I lived in the cage house and saw that you could only sleep under the parking space of someone else's truck, I regretted having a big fight with Zhai Xiaosheng because of your dead dad. Otherwise, he would not have kicked us out of the village."

Zhai Yuan commented: “When people are in trouble, they tend to have fantasies.”

Zhao Meizhen smiled and said, "It was more than just a difficult situation back then. Hundreds of people lived in pigeon cages, and we wouldn't know if someone on the upper bunk had died until the body started to stink. If your mother hadn't had some integrity, she would have gone to work as a prostitute on the street. If that had been the case, I don't know how many more adopted brothers and sisters you would have had now."

When Zhai Yuan saw her sighing with a smile, he thought of a famous saying from Lu Xun or Zhou Shuren: One day you will talk about the things that once made you painful with a smile.

"So now we have to give up our illusions and start fighting."

Zhai Yuan said to Zhao Meizhen, "I asked someone to check it out. Your dead husband was indeed killed by Zhai Xiaosheng. It's actually very simple. He blocked someone's way to wealth, so he was killed."

Zhao Meizhen frowned and asked, "Really?"

Zhai Yuan said, "Really! I spent 10 million to hire someone to investigate this."

Zhao Meizhen was furious. She stood up from the steps and pointed at Zhai Yuan and cursed, "You idiot, Zhai Xiaokang is worth 10 million? He was not worth this much when he was alive!"

The voice was so loud that it startled a group of technicians in the factory, and they all leaned outside to look.

Zhai Yuan quickly signaled his mother to sit down and not embarrass herself: "Sister Zhen, it's your husband who was killed, and I'm not the murderer."

Zhao Meizhen stared and said, "So what? He's already dead and you're still wasting money. Or you give me 10 million and I'll kill Zhai Xiaosheng and his bunch of idiots right now! Your dad never saw a 1,000 yuan gold bull before he died. 10 million? I'll take it!"

It was the first time that Zhai Yuan saw Zhao Meizhen's emotions fluctuate so much. He didn't know whether she was heartbroken about the money or was hiding other emotions.

"There's no need to bother you, the Double-Flowered Big Red Stick, to kill Zhai Xiaosheng."

Zhai Yuan also stood up to stretch his muscles, waved his hand to dismiss a few technicians who were looking around to join in the fun, and smiled at Zhao Meizhen: "Zhai Xiaosheng took my two Dingquan. I only charged him 200 after the interest has accumulated over the years. There will be some small accidents in Xiawan Village in the next period of time. I will give you a shot in advance. You stay at home and learn to play cards with the Filipino maid, and don't listen to or ask about what's going on outside, okay?"

…………

The debt collectors from HSBC arrived very quickly.

Hong Bin left the Hong River by boat the night before. Early the next morning, several staff members in suits and ties came to Xiawan Village and began measuring the land with equipment.

The villagers of Xiawan Village thought they were people invited by Hongbin to plan the land, and they greeted them warmly.

"Young man, why didn't I see Mr. Dato come to inspect today?"

"Yes, he came here two days ago and distributed red envelopes to everyone. He wouldn't refuse to recognize his fellow villagers just because he got the land deed, right?"

"It doesn't matter if we don't get paid. Just let us be the foreman after the construction starts and pay us tens of thousands of yuan a month."

They were originally a group of unruly people, and after being spoiled by Hong Bin, the large group of people in Xiawan Village has now expanded extremely.

Until the HSBC staff said with a straight face: "Excuse me, everyone. The representative of Xiawan Village has pledged the land deed of this area to our bank. Now the land here belongs to HSBC's assets. Please do not hinder our work."

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment. A few of them stayed behind to argue with the HSBC hostages, while the others hurried to ask the village representatives and heads of each household to come forward. When Zhai Xiaosheng received the news, he took a plan sketch left by Hong Bin and looked through it carefully, looking forward to the prestige of being a councillor in the future with this achievement.

"HSBC sent someone to collect the land?"

When Zhai Xiaosheng learned what happened outside from the villagers who came to report the news, he was stunned at first, and then his heart suddenly sank.

He quickly walked to the phone and tried to dial Hong Bin's number, but he didn't know that the other party threw the entire phone into the high seas after boarding the ship last night.

The busy tone in the receiver three times in a row almost made Zhai Xiaosheng lose his balance, and his pupils were bloodshot.

He calmed himself down and called his son Zhai Jinghao.

He had a glimmer of hope in his heart: at this time in the morning, Zhai Jinghao had almost just got off the gambling boat, and if Hong Bin was still on the boat, he must stop him.

But there was still a busy tone on the other end of the phone.

"Uncle Sheng, what should we do now?"

The young villager who came to report the news asked cautiously.

Zhai Xiaosheng swallowed hard and took a deep breath: "I will go outside to communicate with the other party first, you go contact the second and third rooms and ask them to bring people over!"

When Zhai Xiaosheng arrived at the village entrance, hundreds of villagers had gathered there and surrounded the HSBC staff.

"Calm down, don't mess around!"

Zhai Xiaosheng pushed the crowd aside and scolded the villagers around him, but the situation was clearly out of his control.

When the villagers, who had always obeyed Zhai Xiaosheng's orders, saw him, they began to question him.

"Uncle Sheng! I signed the Ding Rights Transfer Agreement only because I trusted you! Why are you refusing to compensate us now that HSBC is here to take back the land?"

"Whether the new town is built or not has nothing to do with me. I want my three Dings back now!"

"Zhai Xiaosheng, did you collude with Hong Bin to cheat the villagers? Where is Hong Bin? Let Hong Bin come out and explain!"

Zhai Xiaosheng listened to the conversations left and right, and felt that his body, which had been well maintained over the years, was acting up again, and the corners of his mouth twitched frequently.

He tried his best to ignore it and walked straight to several HSBC staff members with a humble smile on his face: "Hey guys, I am the representative of Xiawan Village. May I ask what happened?"

The HSBC employee in the lead glanced at the villagers who looked unhappy around him and sneered disdainfully: "Mr. Zhai Xiaosheng, right? You signed a mortgage loan contract before, using 7 square meters of land in Xiawan Village to borrow a total of 2 million Hong Kong dollars from HSBC. Now we are fulfilling the contract and coming to collect the land."

The noise in my ears is louder.

Zhai Xiaosheng forced a smile and said, "Is there a misunderstanding here? Previously, there was a Malaysian Datuk named Hong Bin who said he wanted to develop a new town..."

The HSBC employee didn't have the patience to listen to him and directly threw a contract to Zhai Xiaosheng: "Hey! We don't know about Hong Bin. It's clearly written in black and white that it was you, Zhai Xiaosheng, who signed and fingerprinted to mortgage the land of Xiawan Village to our bank. It's very simple to get the land back now. Just hand over the 2 million Hong Kong dollars with interest."

The surrounding villagers were instantly in an uproar, and the questioning of Zhai Xiaosheng was endless.

The heads of the second and third rooms, Zhai Xiaowen and Zhai Xiaowu, were equally terrified. From beginning to end, they had only seen the 10 million Hong Kong dollars deposit that Hong Bin had paid in advance, and had never heard of a 200 million Hong Kong dollar loan.

Zhai Xiaowu said in horror: "Brother, could you do such a thing?"

Zhai Xiaowen scolded, "Are you stupid? If he cashed out 2 million, would he still stay in the village? Pick that mother! This time he was played to death by that Datuk!"

Zhai Xiaosheng held the mortgage contract written in English in his hand. His head was buzzing and he seemed to be unable to hear any sounds from the outside world.

Until a villager angrily snatched the contract paper from his hand, tore it into pieces in front of HSBC employees, and pointed at them and cursed them.

"You're my mother! What the hell is this 2 million mortgage? Just say you have it! This piece of land belongs to me from beginning to end. I don't care what bank you are. Get out of here right now!"

The act of tearing up the contract was like setting off a powder keg. Hundreds of villagers were instantly agitated and pushed several HSBC employees among themselves, with shouts and curses echoing throughout half of the village.

"Everyone calm down, if you have something to say, please speak slowly!"

Zhai Xiaosheng knew very well that if this matter got out of hand, it would only cause more trouble. He tried hard to stop it, but to no avail.

HSBC employees were pushed back again and again, and those who walked slowly were kicked several times.

"What a bunch of unruly people! Do you think it's okay to tear up a copy?"

The HSBC employee who had left the encirclement glared at the villagers not far away, patted his footprints on his body, and called to his colleagues: "Move the officials first!"

A colleague called the Yuen Long police headquarters and reported the HSBC Bank sign.

Just a few minutes later, from Tin Shui Wai Police Station to Qingshan Police Station, dozens of police officers carrying explosion-proof shields jumped off the assault vehicles to protect several HSBC employees and formed a pincer attack with the villagers of Xia Wan Village.

"Hey! Who's in charge here? Come over here and answer my boss' call!"

The leading HSBC employee frowned and looked around at the policemen, then asked around with his boss' phone.

An inspector policeman stepped out from the crowd of policemen, took the phone with a smile on his face, and chatted with Dai Johnson, the boss of HSBC head office, on the other end of the line.

After hanging up the phone, the inspector asked the HSBC employee for advice: "Mr. Zhou, right? Boss Dai just told us not to clash with the villagers, so as to avoid being photographed by reporters and affecting the reputation of the police force and HSBC. What should we do next?"

"Just keep us safe. Also, don't let these villagers get away. Do you have the guts to kick me in the street?"

The HSBC employee was furious. He picked up the phone and dialed another number, yelling at the other end of the receiver: "Xu Jiaqiang, I'll fuck your mother! Where are your Xinji people? Do you want me to give this business to Hutchison or Number Gang?"

…………

In the later movie "Young and Dangerous".

Big Head asked Chen Haonan: You make the underworld sound so powerful, why don’t you go to HSBC to collect protection fees?

Chen Haonan replied: No one dares to collect protection fees from HSBC, but what about the bad debts of the bank? Shouldn't we collect them? Should we let bank employees wear ties to collect the debts?

Zhai Yuan asked Ye Zhiming to contact Dai Johnson and give this lucrative position to Xinji.

It also gives the unemployed people in their community something to do and keeps them from disturbing social order.

"According to the time, Xu Jiaqiang should be here. However, it is not convenient for him to show up as the boss, and the current thugs of Xin Ji are dying, fleeing, and injured. I wonder who will be sent to take action."

Zhai Yuan curled his lips and leaned back on the lounge chair in the villa garden, too lazy to continue dwelling on this issue.

Zhai Yao, who was standing by, was attentive in massaging his shoulders and legs, and said, "Boss, I'm about to graduate from elementary school, and I want to buy a Ferrari to show off when I'm in junior high school."

Zhai Yuan glanced at her and slapped away her little hand that was rubbing his shoulders: "I knew you wouldn't be so kind, Ferrari, do you think I look like Ferrari?"

Zhai Yao laughed and said, "If you buy it for me, I'll give you some information about my mother?"

Zhai Yuan asked curiously, "What's the story? Is she looking for a foster father for us?"

Zhai Yao rolled her eyes at him and said, "Mom will tear your mouth to pieces if she hears this! This is what happened. She went out with you yesterday and cried for a long time at home that night. I was so scared that I couldn't sleep and I stayed at her bedroom door the whole time. Tell me the truth, what did you say to her yesterday?"

Zhai Yuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "My dear girl, I will think about the Ferrari matter. You don't need to ask about other things. Now go in and do your homework. Don't disturb me while I am doing my work."

Having achieved her goal, Zhai Yao was too lazy to serve Zhai Yuan anymore and skipped into the house.

Zhai Yuan lay in the chair and thought for a while, then picked up the phone on the table and dialed Ye Zhiming's number: "Hello, Brother Ming, the weather is nice today, which suits my mood very well. It's about time to let Guizai Tian take my cousin to his house to collect the gambling debt..."

(End of this chapter)