Hong Kong Tycoon: Starting from Delivering Dongfeng Express

Chapter 153 Dongfeng Express's New Business (Sorry, it's been revised)

"A secret mission? Me?" Li Xiangdong's eyes widened.

Da Da clapped his hands and gave a thumbs up, saying, "Mr. Ye's idea is brilliant! Uncle will definitely not refuse now!"

But seeing Li Xiangdong's downcast and silent demeanor, he grabbed him and asked:
"Xiang Dong, what's there to hesitate about? Could it be... you really are here in Hong Kong on a secret mission?"

Li Xiangdong shook his head with a look of shame: "I fled to Hong Kong, I really have no face to embellish my reputation..."

"Xiang Dong, it was just a little lie, nothing serious!"

Da Da was so anxious that he scratched his head. As a very practical Hong Konger, he couldn't understand Li Xiangdong and his father's stubbornness. Were they willing to risk their lives for the sake of face?

Ye Dongsheng glanced at Li Xiangdong:
"I've told you the situation; it's up to you what you want to do."

It's difficult to be both loyal to one's country and filial to one's parents, especially since you've already fled to Hong Kong. What if something happens to your father now...?

Li Xiangdong was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then gave a bitter smile: "Mr. Ye, you're right. I've already fled to Hong Kong, so how can I still talk about loyalty to the country..."

Ye Dongsheng patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "As long as you have the country in your heart, you can contribute to the country even in Hong Kong! But you'll have to protect yourself from now on."

Li Xiangdong wiped away his tears: "Thank you, Mr. Ye!"

At this moment, Li Xiangdong looked at Ye Dongsheng with deep gratitude, not only because Ye Dongsheng had helped his father come to Hong Kong, but also because he had felt respected and understood by Ye Dongsheng!

He had been in Hong Kong Island for more than half a year, and Superintendent Cheng had never given him a second glance. Even his close friend Da Da initially looked down on him and did not understand his complex emotions of feeling guilty towards the country while also harboring a deep love for it.

But Ye Dongsheng, who was standing in front of him, not only did not despise or insult him for being a fugitive from Hong Kong, but also understood him very well. Every word he said touched his heart, which moved Li Xiangdong, who was already in a state of great emotion!
"Mr. Ye, I know what to do. I'll need your help to bring my father over!"

Ye Dongsheng smiled and nodded: "No need for thanks. As long as your father is willing to come, I can arrange the hospital for him."

But it's you who seems to be in trouble. You should resolve these problems first, lest your father's illness is cured and you end up in trouble yourself.

There are plenty of opportunities on Hong Kong Island. The next ten years will be incredibly turbulent. If you make a name for yourself here, you might just be able to return home openly and honestly in the future!

Li Xiangdong bowed deeply to Ye Dongsheng again: "Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Ye! I will remember it in my heart!"

A moment later, after Li Xiangdong and Da Da got into the Dongfeng Express car, Da Da couldn't help but ask:
"Xiang Dong, I see that this Mr. Ye treats you differently. He's willing to help you even though he knows you're an illegal immigrant. Why don't you ask him for help with your identity issue? Maybe he can help you solve it?"

Li Xiangdong shook his head directly: "Mr. Ye has already helped me so much, I don't want to cause you any more trouble!"

"Sigh, you're just too principled! You owe favors to one person, and you owe favors to two people, so why not resolve your identity issue once and for all, and then repay them properly?"

Moreover, what's difficult for us might just be a word to these important figures!

Li Xiangdong raised his hand: "You don't need to say anything more. I, Li Xiangdong, would never do such a thing!"

"And as you yourself said, my identity is held by the Hong Kong Island Police Force. Do you think Hong Kong Island will so easily listen to Mr. Ye? I don't want to put Mr. Ye in a difficult position!"

Da Da sighed upon hearing this, but quickly changed the subject with a smile: "Anyway, your dad's matter is settled! Come on, let's go back and celebrate!"

Li Xiangdong smiled and said, "I'll make dumplings for you all myself!"

……

Watching Li Xiangdong's departing figure, Ye Dongsheng sighed. To be honest, he didn't know what had happened to this guy back home that led him to flee to Hong Kong.

He was also somewhat moved when he saw Li Xiangdong break down in tears in front of him.

Based on his interactions with Li Xiangdong, he can be described as a man of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness. However, sometimes reality forces people to take paths that are completely opposite to their own pursuits.

He wanted to help Li Xiangdong because he wanted the other party to owe him a favor, so that he could get Li to do something for him in the future. It was all out of self-interest.

But after spending the day with him, his feelings about that mattered lessened considerably. After all, they were both from the military, and a few months ago he himself had been an illegal immigrant, following Ah Hu into becoming a lawless criminal.

The difference is that he successfully laundered his identity, obtained a Hong Kong identity card, and was able to fully utilize his abilities and openly build his own empire.

However, the other party was unlucky and fell into the hands of the border police, and was constantly swept along by fate.

The same choice, different results, left Ye Dongsheng with some mixed feelings.

It's not easy for anyone to travel from the mainland to Hong Kong Island, so let's help each other out if we can!

Helping Li Xiangdong bring his father to Hong Kong Island, and even contacting a hospital for him, are not difficult tasks for him now.

Even if Li Xiangdong gets into trouble in the future, we can repay this favor by doing him a good deed!
Then he thought of what he had just said about making a name for himself and returning home with a clear conscience.

This wasn't him trying to comfort Li Xiangdong or making empty promises; it was genuinely true. After all, Hong Kong is still in a special era, and those who achieve success here are considered valuable for united front work.

As I said before, when you become strong enough, you'll find good people all around you!

Ye Dongsheng shook his head, putting Li Xiangdong's matter out of his mind; he had important things to do next.

A moment later, the office door rang again, and Ahua walked in.

"Ahua, how are you?"

"Brother Sheng, we've already sent them out! There are five stores in total so far. I don't know about the others that haven't opened yet!"

Ye Dongsheng then asked, "What did they say? Did they show any disrespect?"

Ah Wah chuckled: "No! Everyone said they would come to the first general meeting of the Hong Kong Island Express Industry Association!"

Ye Dongsheng smiled and nodded. He was going to hold this so-called first conference this weekend. If no one came and only his and Jiang Tiansheng's families came, then the conference would be meaningless.

So this time, Ye Dongsheng joined forces with Jiang Tiansheng, and had Ahua and Chen Yao represent their respective forces to jointly extend an invitation. So far, the result has been quite good. Those who sent invitations have generally given face and are willing to acknowledge the association's status and attend this conference.

Then Ahua asked with some concern, "Brother Sheng, in the past ten days or so, six new courier companies have opened. Did these people plan this all at once? How many more will come?"

Ye Dongsheng shook his head and said, "Because the express delivery industry is an emerging industry, in the beginning, they neither understood the prospects of the express delivery industry, nor figured out the ins and outs of it, and they were even less clear about the mainland's attitude towards cross-border express delivery."

However, after these past few months, seeing how well Dongfeng Express is doing and how long it hasn't been shut down, and having investigated everything they needed to, they naturally all stepped in!
As for how many more will enter the market, that's hard to say.

The world is driven by profit. As long as the express delivery industry is profitable, it will be hard to stop people who are attracted by money!

We only had the advantage of being an early adopter in the industry; now that the comfortable days are over, you need to be prepared!

"Don't worry, Brother Sheng. I've already told everyone. We must stay focused and keep fighting until we take down all the other opponents!"

Ye Dongsheng smiled: "So confident?"

"Haha, of course I have confidence following you, Brother Sheng!"

Ye Dongsheng nodded. It was good to have confidence. As long as Dongfeng Express could work together as one, he was quite confident that they could win this express delivery battle!

He then asked, "By the way, how are the preparations going in the Chaoshan region?"

Ahua immediately gave an OK sign: "Everything's ready. We've been getting a lot of inquiries from customers in the Chaoshan region. They're okay with our pricing, saying they just want fast and safe delivery!"

Ye Dongsheng smiled and nodded: "After all, this is our first time using water transport, so you need to put more effort into it! Communicate more with the shipping company, and make sure to coordinate well between the two sides!"

"Don't worry, Brother Sheng, I've been talking about these things with Manager Ma every day lately!"

The shipping company Ye Dongsheng mentioned was not just the one belonging to the Bao family; he also owned a shipping company under his own name.

On the one hand, the ship assets he bought belong to this company; on the other hand, the business in the Chaoshan area is not limited to express delivery. In order to make good use of the Haiyan hydrofoil ship brought from Russia, they have also started a real cargo transportation business!
Since we're going to do transportation, we naturally need to hire people, not just crew members, but also dockworkers, all of whom will be paid by the shipping company.

Ye Dongsheng is currently unsure how much he can earn from this, but as long as customers are willing to place orders, he will make a profit.

Since it was just a side job for delivering packages, he didn't want to have too high expectations and get disappointed, so he set a minimum goal of earning back the gas money for each trip!

Actually, the reason for delivering goods is to make it easier to deliver packages.

Why do you say that?

Because express delivery is a special type of cargo, much like going through Luohu Customs, the reason why Dongfeng Express's cross-border express packages can clear customs quickly is because they are treated as personal belongings rather than cross-border goods!
However, if you ship by sea and only send express packages, then the nature of these express packages changes, and they become cross-border goods!

Once it becomes cross-border goods, the procedures become complicated, not much simpler than those between the post offices in the two places, so where is the timeliness?
Therefore, the nature of waterborne express delivery must be changed to personal items in order to bypass these procedures, which is actually a way of exploiting loopholes.

How do I turn it into a personal item?

It's simple. Each crew member carries two carry-on suitcases, which are the suitcases used to carry packages. These packages are our crew members' personal belongings, not cross-border goods!
This makes it similar to crossing the Luohu border crossing before.

However, since this ship is a cargo ship, it wouldn't be appropriate to make every trip without carrying any cargo, just taking the crew and couriers along empty. That would be too blatant.

Therefore, Ye Dongsheng needed to haul some goods on each trip to disguise his delivery as a package delivery service. He didn't mind if the freight was low, but it was best if there was cargo on every trip!

According to Ye Dongsheng's arrangements, after the express delivery was collected from the store, it was sent to the dock. The dockworkers under the shipping company had already loaded the goods in advance, and then the goods were delivered to Chaoshan by ship on time.

In reality, the crew members replaced the deliverymen who were supposed to cross the border, essentially doing two jobs for one.

Of course, the company will also pay them more. Now that shipping is in a downturn, these crew members and sailors are naturally happy to earn more money!

Ye Dongsheng smiled at Ahua and said, "Alright, now that you and the shipping company have made preparations, you can officially list the cargo transportation business now!"

"Yes!"

After Ahua agreed, he immediately went out to take care of the matter.

……

In an office, a middle-aged man dressed in casual clothes was looking down at documents. He was Chen Qitong, the owner of Liling Clothing.

Chen Qitong's ancestral home is Chaoshan. Decades ago, during the war in China, his parents led the family to flee to Hong Kong Island, where they have been settled ever since.

A few years after China's reform and opening up, Chen Qitong and his family made a special trip back to the Chaoshan region to visit relatives.

It was during this family visit that Chen Qitong began to pay close attention to the development trends in mainland China. He then observed that the costs of raw materials, labor, and even land were extremely low in mainland China, so he decisively moved his Liling Garment Factory to the mainland.

As for the location, it's naturally Chaoshan, after all, it's about giving back to my hometown!
This decision enabled Liling Garments, under his leadership, to earn more profits and market share by leveraging the low costs in mainland China, transforming it from a small workshop-style company in Hong Kong Island into a medium-sized company in the Hong Kong garment industry!
Ten years ago, he only had a roadside shop, but now he has opened chain stores and rented office buildings!
dong dong dong...

Chen Qitong raised his eyelids slightly, and upon seeing that it was his secretary, he couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

"Mr. Chen, it seems that Dongfeng Express has launched a new service."

"Oh, you mean sending express deliveries to the Chaoshan region? Didn't I already agree to that?"

Upon learning that Dongfeng Express had launched its service in the Chaoshan region, Chen Qitong immediately instructed his subordinates to use Dongfeng Express from now on. He had been eyeing the one-day delivery service in Jinghai for a long time, as this would save the company a lot of time!

"No, Mr. Chen, it's not the express delivery business, it's shipping!"

"What? Shipping?!"

Chen Qitong was truly shocked.

"Wait, isn't Dongfeng Express a courier service? How come they've started a shipping business?"

"Mr. Chen, it's absolutely true!"

When I went there today, I saw that they definitely had shipping services. I even went into the store to inquire. They have a Soviet-made hydrofoil boat called the "Seagull," and they've opened shipping routes. It's not just for express delivery; they also deliver goods within one day! And they deliver every day!

Chen Qitong slammed his fist on the table and stood up, determined to personally go to Dongfeng Express to confirm!

P.S.: Sorry I was late today, something came up...

(End of this chapter)