Courtyard House: Starting with a 28-inch motorcycle

In less than half an hour, the wheels rolled on, and the scene before us changed—we had arrived at Hong Kong Island.

As soon as the train doors opened, a man boarded and went straight to He Yuzhu and Lou's father: "Gentlemen, we've arrived. Hong Kong Island is just outside the freight yard. I can only take you this far. You'll have to figure out what to do next."

Lou's father stood up, nodded, and said, "Understood, thank you."

The two were then taken out of the cargo yard. This was a transit point for grain transported from the mainland to Hong Kong Island. There were many vehicles outside, but they were all freight trucks; there wasn't a single passenger truck.

They were still a long way from their destination.

Mr. Lou frowned: "This is troublesome, we can't even find a usable car..."

"Dad, let me ask."

He Yuzhu picked up his suitcase, walked straight to a parked truck, and knocked on the window: "Brother, how much do you make on a single trip?"

The driver squinted at him and said, "Why are you asking that? Just trying to make a living!"

He Yuzhu didn't mince words and bluntly said, "One hundred dollars, take us to Sassoon Road."

"one hundred?!"

The driver's eyes lit up, but after glancing at their attire, greed took hold, and he wanted to haggle the price down further.

He Yuzhu wasn't about to give him a chance, and sneered, "There are hundreds of vehicles of all sizes in this freight yard. If you don't want to do it, I'll go ask someone else. I don't know how much you guys earn a day, but it's definitely not a hundred—what do you say?"

The driver gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the steering wheel: "Fine, fine, fine! Boss, you're too shrewd. You don't seem like someone from the mainland at all!"

Despite his complaints, he was efficient, immediately getting out of the car, opening the door, and inviting the two people in. He could only earn a maximum of fifty dollars a day hauling goods, which was considered good in Hong Kong Island. Now, he could double that in two hours, and after finishing his deliveries, he could still catch up on his afternoon jobs.

Lou's father glanced at He Yuzhu, his eyes filled with worry.

He Yuzhu shook his head slightly at him: It's nothing.

Even if they were dragged into a den of thieves, they wouldn't be the ones to suffer.

The two squeezed into the passenger seat, which was so cramped that they couldn't even stretch their legs out, but they made do.

The driver kept talking the whole way: "Boss, you're from the mainland, right? Your Cantonese sounds pretty good, but there's still a slight difference in flavor. Visiting relatives or friends? Judging by your manners, you must have been rich over there..."

He Yuzhu's head was throbbing from listening. He hated this kind of gossipy chatter the most, but he had no choice but to put up with it.

Not long after, the car turned into the southern district, and the driver stopped: "We've arrived, boss. Sassoon Road is just ahead. You can walk the rest of the way yourself. I didn't know your relatives lived here. This area is full of rich people..."

Without saying a word, He Yuzhu threw out 100 yuan and pulled Lou's father out of the car.

The scene before me was indeed different. Tall buildings and clean walls, shady trees—it was a completely different world from the dilapidated shacks and alleys I had just passed through.

He glanced around and said, "Dad, your friend lives here? Looks like he's doing pretty well."

"Having a foundation in Beijing back then and being willing to take risks, it's not surprising that he was able to make a name for himself in Hong Kong."

Lou's father sighed softly, gave a house number, and the two of them went to look for it along the street.

After walking a few steps, I saw the villa.

"The pillar, this is it."

Lou's father's voice trembled slightly; he couldn't help but feel excited at seeing his old friend whom he hadn't seen for many years. He stepped forward and pressed the doorbell.

A moment later, a person in a servant's uniform appeared at the door. After looking the two people over, they asked, "Who are you looking for?"

Lou's father quickly said, "Is this Chen Yizhong's house? I'm his friend, Lou Aiguo."

The maid shook her head: "Master is not here; he won't be back until tonight."

Mr. Lou frowned and asked again, "Is his wife, Yu Qiaolin, here? She recognizes me, please let her know."

Back then, the Chen family often visited his home, and the two families were extremely close, almost like family friends. He remembered that the Chen family had a son, about the same age as Lou Xiao'e. If they hadn't been forced to leave Beijing back then, the two families might have already become related by marriage.

Upon hearing the name "Yu Qiaolin," the maid's expression changed slightly, and her attitude immediately became respectful: "Madam is here. Please wait a moment, I will go and inform her."

Before long, a servant led a well-dressed lady out the door.

Yu Qiaolin saw Lou Aiguo at a glance, froze, and blurted out, "Old Lou? Is it really you? You've come to Hong Kong Island too?"

After saying that, he hurriedly instructed the servants to open the door and personally welcomed the two of them in.

The two families have always had a good relationship; otherwise, Chen Yizhong wouldn't have personally written a letter inviting Lou Aiguo to Hong Kong Island.

Upon entering the living room, Yu Qiaolin went straight to the point, asking Lou's father why he hadn't brought Lou Tanshi over with him, and inquired about the recent situation in the mainland.

Mr. Lou was prepared and explained with a smile, "We're just paving the way now. Once we've established a solid foundation, we'll naturally bring the person over. As for my son-in-law, He Yuzhu... I've already decided on that kid. No other young man is good enough for me right now. If there were someone better than him, they might not even want my daughter."

Upon hearing this, Yu Qiaolin shook her head, clapping her hands and sighing, "Old Lou, if only you had come a few years earlier! What a pity, Xiao'e is already married."

She paused, then added, her tone tinged with regret.

After saying that, he asked Lou's father to sit for a while, and immediately sent someone to inform Chen Yizhong to finish work and come back early.

"Old Lou, you've finally arrived!"

Not long after, Chen Yizhong rushed back. Upon hearing that Lou Aiguo had arrived, he even left the company's affairs behind and headed straight home—after all, there wasn't any important medicinal herb business to handle that afternoon.

"Yizhong, it's great to finally see you. If I count on my fingers, it's been almost ten years since we last met, hasn't it?" Lou's father was also somewhat moved.

Over the years in Beijing, many old friends have left or scattered. It's truly rare to run into a close friend in Hong Kong.

After the two sat down, Chen Yizhong couldn't contain himself and asked directly, "Old Lou, what are you planning to do on this trip to Hong Kong Island?"

"Let's start with a small business," Mr. Lou smiled. "Since we're unfamiliar with the area, we have to start with what we're good at."

As soon as he finished speaking, he opened his briefcase, took out two bottles of medicinal wine and a few small pills wrapped in beeswax, and neatly placed them on the coffee table.

Chen Yizhong stared at the things on the table and asked curiously, "What's this?"

"This is the business I want to do," Mr. Lou said with a smile in his eyes. "Why don't you be my first customer and try a bite?"

He then began to explain: "This is called Ginseng and Astragalus Wine. The main ingredient is made from ten-year-old ginseng. One cup a day will refresh your mind, relieve fatigue, and boost your energy—it has a ton of benefits. It's no use just me saying it; you'll know once you take a sip, and you'll feel the effects within a few hours."

"And these wax pills contain ginseng tonic pills, which have similar effects to medicinal wine, nourishing yin and yang, and strengthening the body. I didn't bring all the other wines and pills, but this is the capital I'm preparing to establish myself in Hong Kong."

Chen Yizhong raised an eyebrow: "Is it really that miraculous?"

"If it were just ordinary stuff, would I be putting it in front of you? Bring two cups, let's have a drink together." Mr. Lou smiled frankly, "You can tell how good this wine is from the first sip."

"You've always been very steady in business. If you say it's going to work out, then it's almost certainly true." Chen Yizhong shook his head, his thoughts returning to the old Beijing.

At that time, the Lou family was one of the top merchants in the city, with a string of factories and businesses all over the place. There was even a saying among the people that "half of the city was Lou family".

He immediately instructed the servants to bring wine glasses, and also poured one for his wife.

"This fragrance is different. The medicinal smell is very faint. It's completely different from those overpowering medicinal wines on the market..." Chen Yizhong took a light sniff and slowly sipped.

The wine was clear and refreshing, with a slightly sweet taste on the palate and a lingering, pleasant aftertaste. Its aroma was intense and persistent, immediately catching his eye: "Excellent wine! Truly excellent wine!"

Lou's father smiled and said, "The taste is only one aspect. After all, this is a medicinal wine. You'll only know its true power once the medicine takes effect."

Chen Yizhong became interested: "The taste alone is top-notch. I've never tasted anything like this before in Beijing. Lao Lou, did you brew this wine?"

Lou's father glanced at He Yuzhu beside him and said with a smile, "This was all made by my son-in-law. He also developed the pills, as well as several different formulas of wine and pills, all of which he figured out himself."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yizhong's gaze immediately fell on He Yuzhu, and his expression became more serious.

What kind of son-in-law is this? This is clearly a golden catch!

If he had a daughter, he would definitely want to marry a young man like He Yuzhu without hesitation.

As a businessman, he could immediately tell the quality of these products. The small cup he'd just drunk had given him an immediate urge to take another sip. The taste far surpassed rice wine and spirits; mellow yet not cloying, fragrant yet not overpowering.

Let alone selling it as a medicinal wine, even if it were launched as a high-end beverage, there would definitely be people willing to buy it—especially those connoisseurs who know their wines.

Nowadays, alcohol prices are cheap in Hong Kong, with liquor and rice wine costing only a few cents a bottle, while red wine is popular at high-end banquets. But given the quality of this liquor, it would be easy to penetrate high society circles if handled properly.

Pricing it at twenty or thirty yuan a bottle is perfectly fine. Who with a monthly salary of over four hundred yuan is short of that little bit of money? It can easily become a hot commodity among the newly rich.

After a few cups of medicinal wine, Chen Yizhong quickly realized something was wrong—it felt like a warm fire was burning in his stomach, and a warm current spread through his limbs and bones. His body, which had been so tired that his eyelids were drooping, suddenly became energetic. He had thought he wouldn't make it past eight o'clock tonight, but now he felt that he could easily work for five hours straight.

Although Yu Qiaolin wasn't a big drinker, she could tell this wine was extraordinary. It was smooth on the palate, with a lingering sweetness, and more importantly, it made her feel light and airy after drinking it, as if all her fatigue had been drained away.

"Old Lou," Chen Yizhong's eyes shone, his tone confident, "if you promote this medicinal wine in Hong Kong, you'll be able to establish yourself within six months. In the future, you, Lou, will definitely have a place in Hong Kong's business world."

"The nickname 'Half-City' should have been thrown away long ago." Mr. Lou smiled. "Besides medicinal wine and wax pills, my Chinese medicine shop also needs to do business in high-end medicinal materials—ten-year-old wild ginseng, cordyceps, and snow lingzhi, all of them need to be on the shelves."