Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The third brother, Jin Yousheng, stayed in his hometown with his father, helping him with chores.

When Zhang Yaoyang saw that Jin Youlai and Jin Youwu had come looking for him, he immediately settled them in and then gave them medical treatment.

He brushed off the question about his appearance by saying he was his twin brother, and even took photos of them so they could write back and show them to Lao Jin to put his mind at ease.

After they recover and settle down, they will first go to Mixue Ice Cream and find a job to do for two months to see how it goes.

If you do a good job, you can become an accountant, accountant, or even a store manager, or you can become a manager at a "catering supplies company".

But if you don't do well, then you can work as a cashier or a front desk worker. At least that will be enough to support your family. We don't support idlers here.

When there isn't enough manpower, the best approach is to start with smaller industries, such as small shops, and strictly enforce a merit-based system where the capable are promoted and the incompetent are demoted, striving for fairness to ensure efficiency.

After settling things in Hong Kong, Zhang Yaoyang shook his head and returned to Beijing, where school was about to start.

I'm really tired.

------------

Once he returned to Beijing, he became Zhang Dabiao again.

Food substitutes began to be promoted in the city of Sijiu: due to food shortages, "artificial meat" (made from corn cobs and soybean cakes) was promoted throughout the city. Government canteens taught residents to make "double-steamed rice" (rice is steamed twice to increase its volume), but the taste was poor and children were unwilling to eat it.

Fabric was supplied by cloth coupons, with each person entitled to 15 feet per year. In summer, people mostly wore Dacron (but it was expensive, so ordinary families wore homespun cloth).

Soap was rationed, half a bar per person per month. Residents used alkaline soap to wash clothes and soap pods to wash their hair.

Open-air cinemas were popular, with war films such as "Tunnel Warfare" and "Mine Warfare" playing on a loop. Residents brought their own small stools, and the alley entrances and factory playgrounds were packed with people.

The library was packed with people, and revolutionary novels such as "Red Crag" and "Song of Youth" were the most popular. Children passed around handwritten copies (mostly excerpts from "Tracks in the Snowy Forest").

Beihai Park and Shichahai are popular swimming spots. Citizens need to present a health certificate to purchase tickets, which cost 5 cents each. Students get a half-price ticket. After swimming, people often buy an ice pop to cool off.

He Yushui had originally planned to go swimming with Mu Wanqing and Zhang Dabiao, but...

Zhang Dabiao's eyelids twitched. He Yushui, that skinny girl, was one thing, but Mu Wanqing's figure was simply criminal!

She was going swimming, and something bad was bound to happen, so Zhang Dabiao stopped them. They hadn't even started school yet, so safety was the top priority.

Don't go this year, at least not this year.

Aren't we going swimming?

I'm going to turn the fishpond into a swimming pool!

Without saying a word, Zhang Dabiao called Master Lei over, and in three days, the fishpond was cleaned up and turned into a swimming pool made of cement bricks, and tiles were laid on it.

It's not very big, only 4*4 meters, and the water is 1.5 meters deep. In the summer, it'll be used as a swimming pool and water storage. In the fall, we'll put the fish from the adjacent aquarium in there. Or, if someone reports it, we can just release the fish—is it illegal to swim in my own fishpond? Is it illegal to fix up my fishpond a little?

This small courtyard is surrounded by walls on all four sides, as well as a lot of plants and vertical planting racks, forming its own little world.

He Yushui and Mu Wanqing also invited Qin Jingru and Xu Xiaoling to come over and play from time to time. A group of girls were playing in the pool, which made Zhang Dabiao a little distracted.

Even Yu Haitang came!

Having no other choice, Zhang Dabiao placed more vertical planting racks around the pool to completely enclose it, essentially creating a planting rack screen partition, and then went to the gate of the courtyard to act as a gatekeeper.

Wait a minute, I paid for this swimming pool, why can't I use it?!

But this is for the best, so as to avoid being accused of having illicit relationships.

But why is swimming in Beihai Park or Shichahai not considered promiscuous, while swimming at home is?

This is a serious issue...

In fact, Zhang Dabiao doesn't have much to do all day. As for making money, he currently has more than 400,000 RMB in the bank and more than 300 RMB in his pocket.

There are enough houses already.

Even with the opening of three new stores in Hong Kong, he still had over HK$100,000 in savings. Moreover, with the four Mixue Ice Cream stores and orders from the catering supplies company, he estimated that he could easily earn HK$50,000 to HK$60,000 a month, and HK$600,000 to 700,000 a year. So Zhang Dabiao was a little bored.

Due to water shortages in Hong Kong, it's difficult for milk tea shops, food businesses, and factories to operate. Even Lou Yufan's factory is facing difficulties in securing industrial water.

So at this point in time, let's take it slow and not rush things.

For Zhang Dabiao, money is just a number; he can't spend any more than that.

What should we do then?

Mu Wanqing and He Yushui were naturally full of anticipation for their upcoming university life, but Zhang Dabiao was helpless. He was surrounded by a bunch of kids, and for him, vocational school art was no different from the basic courses in his first and second years of university. He just wanted to get a degree.

For the time being, Zhang Dabiao didn't really have any particular ambitions.

After all, it's impossible to completely abandon the mainland. Although if he did, he would have plenty of time and energy to dominate Hong Kong, the mainland is still his root.

Well, let's just take it one step at a time.

------------

At the end of August, Cheung Tai-piu (Roy Cheung) happened to see a copy of Jin Yong's martial arts novel in the Ming Pao newspaper on a street in Hong Kong. He suddenly started thinking, if he bought the rights at this time, he could make TV series and movies later...

So Zhang Yaoyang went there in a flurry of activity with sincerity, and then quickly returned.

He didn't even see the person!

In the 60s, the Hong Kong and Wawa martial arts copyright transactions were mainly based on split licensing, with full copyright buyouts being rare and expensive. Jin Yong had strong bargaining power due to his status as a top serialist in Ming Pao, while Gu Long's prices jumped from "selling at low prices" to "licensing at sky-high prices" as he progressed through his creative stages. Film and television copyrights were the most important monetization channel at the time, with prices ranging from HK$3 to HK$30 (depending on the popularity of the work and the author's status).

Most importantly, the "splitting licensing" model that was common in the industry in the 60s followed the principle of meticulous splitting, and there were very few full copyright buyouts (unless the author urgently needed cash).

Moreover, you need to produce it within 1-3 years, otherwise the copyright will be lost.

In other words, even if Roy Cheung spent a huge sum of money to buy it, he would not be able to sell it and cash in within three years, which means that the purchase was useless.

The only thing he could do was create comics, but the comics market in Hong Kong wasn't doing well these days, and how could Roy Cheung create comics all by himself?

So there's nothing we can do.

Jin Yong founded the Ming Pao newspaper and considered copyright as its core asset, selling only film and television adaptation rights, not full copyright. So simply put, don't touch anything by Jin Yong; it's out of the question.

Moreover, it was Jin Yong's decision to kick Roy Cheung out of Ming Pao. He had already been wronged, so how could he possibly continue to cooperate with Jin Yong?

Looking at it again, where did the poem "Flying Snow Connects the Sky and Shooting White Deer" end?

He had just started writing "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" in 1961.

Well, I'm sorry, Roy Cheung. I was originally planning to collaborate, but now...

Hehehe—

Roy Cheung grinned wickedly!