Hong Kong: Rise of the Kings

HSBC Bank in Hong Kong——

"Mr. Cha, the loan application you submitted half an hour ago has received a reply, please take a look!"

In the VIP waiting area of ​​the bank, a HSBC manager came in and handed a loan application to Jin Yong.

Jin Yong took it and smiled at the other party: "Thank you, thank you for your trouble! Originally, this loan was also forced, but I have been dealing with HSBC for so long, I believe I can get help..."

His smile froze, because when he turned to the last page of the loan application, the HSBC manager did not sign the consent, but because of special reasons, this loan was temporarily postponed, and the decision would be made after the borrower's information and other contents were complete.

"I'm sorry, is there something wrong here?" Jin Yong asked the supervisor in front of him with the application form, "Why didn't you approve it? No, you asked me whether I wanted to borrow money before, but I didn't reply because I had sufficient funds. How come now..."

The bank supervisor also showed an embarrassed expression: "I'm sorry about this, but these are all conclusions given after approval from above. Although I am a supervisor, I don't know the specific content."

"No, you work in the bank, how can you not know? I have been waiting here for most of the day, but the result is like this?" Jin Yong seemed a little excited and questioned with the application form.

"Mr. Cha, please calm down." The bank supervisor comforted, "This kind of thing can't be rushed, right? Although you used to be a high-quality customer of our bank, but recently..."

The supervisor was about to explain-

"Ring ring ring..."

The phone rang.

The bank manager said, "Sorry!"

He went to the side and picked up the telephone receiver on the table. On the other end of the phone was Davis, the secretary of HSBC boss Shen Bi: "Hello, Mr. Shen Bi invites Mr. Cha Liangyong to his office."

"Okay, I'll notify Mr. Cha right away." The manager hung up the phone and turned to Jin Yong and said, "Mr. Cha, our boss invites you to his office. Maybe he can give you a reasonable explanation."

"Really? It seems that boss Shen is more considerate. He and I are old friends." Jin Yong stood up and straightened his suit, took a deep breath, adjusted his mood, then left the waiting room and took the elevator to the office of HSBC Chairman Shen Bi.

HSBC boss Shen Bi is 48 years old this year, just one year older than Hong Kong tycoon Li Jiacheng.

Today, HSBC's market value has reached 1.5 trillion Hong Kong dollars, with an annual revenue of hundreds of billions, making it one of the largest banks in the world. All of this is Shen Bi's credit.

It can be said that Shen Bi in front of him is the most successful and legendary boss in HSBC's history.

However, recently this bank boss has been troubled by one thing, that is, the Feng Shui problem of HSBC.

Feng Shui can be said to be a kind of metaphysics. Hong Kong people still believe in Feng Shui. According to the author's understanding, many Hong Kong residents will look at the Feng Shui pattern of the house before buying a house and moving in. Even some houses with good Feng Shui patterns can immediately raise the price.

Looking at the Feng Shui pattern of Hong Kong, many people believe that there are two dragon veins in Hong Kong, one is from the edge of Kowloon Peninsula, and the other is from Kowloon Peninsula through Victoria Harbour to Pingdingshan. The intersection of the two dragon veins is at the HSBC Building, so the best place for Feng Shui in Hong Kong is at the HSBC Building.

People believe that HSBC's business has always been good because it occupies a Feng Shui treasure land.

However, there is one thing about the construction of HSBC that goes against common sense. Generally, buildings are backed by mountains and face water, but the HSBC Building is backed by water and faces mountains.

In order to solve this problem, the HSBC Building has taken a series of measures, such as standing two big lions in front of the door, making a big step on the first floor, and leaving the lobby empty, etc.

Until recently, the establishment of the Bank of China Building opposite HSBC destroyed the Feng Shui pattern of the HSBC Building.

The architectural style of the Bank of China Building is also unique. It is composed of several large triangles. From a distance, it looks like a sharp sword rising from the ground, and one of the blades of the Bank of China Building is pointing directly at the HSBC Building.

Not long after the completion of the Bank of China Building, HSBC's stock began to plummet and lost a lot of money.

As a HSBC boss, Shen Bi did not believe in Feng Shui at first. He was from the UK and was a materialist, but the falling stock price made him believe it.

For this reason, he had to contact Du Yongxiao and asked Du Yongxiao to help find a Feng Shui master to help HSBC with Feng Shui.

There are only a few Feng Shui masters in Hong Kong. The most famous ones are Cai and Li, that is, Cai Boli, the future Feng Shui master of Li Jiacheng, and Chen Bo. Chen Bo is a respectful name in the underworld. His original name is Chen Lang. He was born in 1925. His ancestral home is Sichuan. He settled in Hong Kong before liberation.

He once claimed that his family was well-educated and that he was the grandson of Prince Gong of the Qing Dynasty and a disciple of the famous Chinese painter Pu Xinyu.

When he was a child, he passed by a fortune-telling stall and developed a strong interest in fortune-telling and metaphysics and feng shui. His father invited two masters to teach him this knowledge.

Back then, if Brother Hui was interested in this, his parents would have broken his legs long ago.

In 1958, 30-year-old Li Jiacheng and 33-year-old Chen Bo met by chance, and the two young men joked with each other intentionally or unintentionally.

At that time, Li Jiacheng was not a superman, but just an unknown small businessman. He was somewhat resistant to quacks.

Chen Bo: "How much wealth do you hope to have in the future, and you will be satisfied?"

Li Jiacheng: "I will be very satisfied if I have 30 million."

After carefully observing Li Jiacheng, Uncle Chen said without joking: "Your fortune is not flat, but overflowing. You will definitely become the richest man in Hong Kong in the future!"

Afterwards, Li Jiacheng, as Uncle Chen said, rose rapidly and accumulated huge wealth in several economic crises. I don't know how many 30 million he made. He has been the richest man in Asia for many years and is called "Superman".

The Mid-Levels villa where Li Jiacheng lives was also moved in after Uncle Chen looked at the Feng Shui.

Uncle Chen once told Li Jiacheng that he could live to at least 96 years old and that he should divide his property between his two sons so that they would not fight over property like other rich children. This would prevent his family from suing in the future.

As Li Jiacheng accumulated more and more wealth, he treated Uncle Chen as a guest of honor and asked him for advice on everything. He became Li Jiacheng's official Feng Shui master.

Uncle Chen also became famous.

Du Yongxiao had contact with both masters, and both masters also "failed" in "physiognomy" for the first time.

Cai Boli and Du Yongxiao first met at Lei Luo's mansion.

Lei Luo successfully took office that time and held a celebration banquet at the villa, inviting Du Yongxiao to attend. Du Yongxiao ran into Master Cai Boli on the lawn in the garden.

Master Cai saw that Du Yongxiao had a strange face and immediately helped him to read his face. When he was pinching his fingers to tell his fate, he almost went crazy and vomited blood.

In his opinion, Du Yongxiao was clearly a "short-lived face" and a typical "three-poor life". Logically, he should live in a slum like Shek Kip End and live no more than 18 years old. However, Du Yongxiao in front of him was in a high position. As the first Chinese police chief in Hong Kong, his wealth was even richer than a country, which was completely contrary to the fate he had determined!

"How could this be?"

At that moment, Master Cai Boli doubted his life.

For the first time, he had a deep doubt about his numerology. He felt that everything he had learned before was wrong. Otherwise, how could Du Yongxiao stand here alive and overturn all his judgments?

It can be said that Du Yongxiao dealt a huge blow to Master Cai that time, so Master Cai went into seclusion for three months, saying that he wanted to think about the true meaning of numerology, but in fact he was secretly reviewing to see where he was wrong?

Unfortunately, even after thirty years of seclusion, he still couldn't figure it out.

Compared with Master Cai Boli, Chen Bo's skill is obviously slightly higher.

This time, Chen Bo and Du Yongxiao met because of Li Jiacheng's plan. At that time, Du Yongxiao was fighting with Li Jiacheng. Every time Du Yongxiao could seize the initiative, making Li Jiacheng embarrassed.

So much so that Li Jiacheng thought Du Yongxiao was his "nemesis", so he found an opportunity to let Chen Bo help Du Yongxiao read his fortune.

It was during the Chinese Chamber of Commerce's New Year's party. Li Jiacheng invited Uncle Chen to come on the pretext of helping the Chamber of Commerce with feng shui. At that time, Du Yongxiao was about to replace Mr. Huo as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, so Uncle Chen had to meet with Du Yongxiao, the future president, first.

After the meeting, Uncle Chen followed Li Jiacheng's instructions and said in a playful manner that he would help Du Yongxiao with face reading "for free".

Du Yongxiao knew what he and Li Jiacheng were thinking, so he smiled and agreed.

Uncle Chen was shocked at first after asking Du Yongxiao about his birth date, and then said that he would read Du Yongxiao's face in disbelief. He also asked Du Yongxiao about his parents' birth date and other questions, and was shocked again. Then he said that his face reading skills were actually shallow, and he was good at touching bones, so Du Yongxiao let him touch them casually.

After Uncle Chen helped Du Yongxiao touch his bones, although he did not vomit three liters of blood in surprise, he was also terrified.

Just like the conclusion drawn by Master Cai Boli, Du Yongxiao was supposed to be a "three poor life", with no money, no power, no happiness, and a "short life". He would not live past the age of 18. It would be against heaven if he could live past the age of 18.

But Du Yongxiao was not only alive and well, but also in a high position and the richest man in the world. This, this, this---

This is simply incredible!

At that moment, Chen Bo, who could remain calm even when the sky was falling, was so shocked that he jumped up three feet and stared at Du Yongxiao with wide eyes as if he was looking at a monster.

In other words, Du Yongxiao's several contacts with these two Feng Shui masters, although not perfect, were impressive.

This time, the Feng Shui master that Du Yongxiao invited for Shen Bi was Chen Bo.

After Chen Bo helped to look at it, he gave HSBC an idea to let HSBC drive two cannons on the roof, and the two cannons pointed directly at the Bank of China Building.

Don't say, this method worked mysteriously, that is, as long as these two cannons were erected, HSBC was safe again.

Just after solving the Feng Shui problem, Shen Bi received another "loan application" from Cha Liangyong.

If Cha Liangyong was an ordinary person, it would be fine, Shen Bi would not have to care at all, but Mr. Cha was a famous martial arts master, a newspaper tycoon, and his pen name "Jin Yong" was even more famous.

Now he flatly rejected the other party's loan application, and he had to give the other party an explanation anyway to appease him.

Due to years of hard work, Shen Bi in front of him looked older than other British old men. He was wearing a well-made dark suit, a tie of the same color as the old-fashioned suit, and his silver-white hair was neatly combed. He sat behind his desk with a walnut cane next to his chair, like the best template of an elderly British gentleman.

Dong Dong Dong.

There was a knock on the door.

Then, led by the secretary, Jin Yong came in from outside.

"Sir, I brought Mr. Cha here." said the secretary.

Shen Bi was writing at his desk. Hearing this, he put the cap on the gold-plated pen in his hand, put it aside, and put the ink cartridge away carefully. Then he raised his head and said to his secretary: "Thank you, please help me get two cups of coffee."

After the secretary went out, Shen Bi looked at Jin Yong and said, "Hello, Mr. Cha, please find a seat and sit down."

Jin Yong sat on a velvet cloth seat, with an upright attitude waiting for Shen Bi to speak first.

Regarding Shen Bi, Jin Yong has a complicated heart. For this British banker who is extremely friendly to Chinese businessmen, Jin Yong would be lying if he said he has no favorable impressions.

Even many Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong are "grateful" to Shen Bi, because they have received help from Shen Bi on many occasions.

But Shen Bi just rejected Jin Yong's loan application, which made Jin Yong feel very unhappy.

"Mr. Cha, I know you have a lot of questions or confusion in your heart at this moment. Yes, not long ago, to be precise -" Shen Bi looked at his watch, "I read your loan application six minutes ago, and in Sign above to reject it. I think you must be curious about this..."

Jin Yong put his hands on his knees: "Yes, sir, I am very curious, why was the loan application I filled out rejected by you? Both me personally and my Ming Pao Group are guaranteed in terms of credibility and reputation. , based on this alone, I think it should be smooth to borrow money from your bank..."

"You are right. Your personal reputation and the company's reputation are both very good. But one thing you should understand is that our bank is also doing business. When doing business, we need to assess risks." Shen Bi smiled and continued. : "On that application, the loan figure was HK$30 million, which was pledged by Ming Pao Group and its controlling printing companies and transportation companies. But there is a saying in China that no eggs are left intact until the nest is overturned! Now you You know better than me what difficulties Ming Pao has encountered, and the Du Group is claiming HK$100 million from you, which is not a small amount."

"It's precisely because it's not a small sum that I came here to seek your help." Jin Yong said to Shen Bi, "We don't have that much funds now..."

Shen Bi smiled, "What if? What if I give you money and your company still can't be saved? What should I do?"

"Isn't there a mortgage? You can rest assured!" Jin Yong sat there and said in a neither humble nor condescending manner: "Although I am a businessman, I am also a scholar. Scholars still pay great attention to integrity and will never default on their debts!"

Shen Bi stood up, put his thumbs in his vest pockets, and looked at Jin Yong with his green eyes: "Sorry, Mr. Cha, I'm curious, how much is integrity worth?"

"Uh, this-" Jin Yong was stunned.

Shen Bi continued: "So let's get back to the point. You can borrow money if you want! I can also give you 30 million, but I don't want those subsidiaries, printing plants, and transportation companies you mortgaged. Our bank not interested……"

"Then what do you want?"

"What do you want?" Shen Bi smiled, "You clearly declare 50%, which is half of the equity!"

"Impossible!" Jin Yong refused loudly. "Thirty million is like taking away half of the equity? You HSBC are more ruthless than robbers!"

"Really? I just calculated it according to the market fluctuation price. If you can't get the money now, then Mingpao will go bankrupt and it will be worthless! Not to mention half of the equity is 30 million, even if it is 3,000 yuan, there will be no one want!"

Jin Yong stood up and looked at Shen Bi: "Don't forget, this is Hong Kong. In addition to HSBC, I can also seek help from banks like Citigroup and Standard Chartered!"

Shen Bi shrugged: "You can just go and ask for help! If my guess is right, their conditions will be more stringent than mine. Do you know why? Because they are all British, unlike me, although they are green He has yellow eyes and hair, but he has a Chinese heart that helps the poor.”

Shen Bi said this in a "joking" tone, but in Jin Yong's ears, it made him hesitate.

Because Shen Bi said a lot, whether it is Citigroup or Standard Chartered, those ghost bosses are more greedy than Shen Bi. They are not very friendly to the Chinese. If you go to them and beg them, you will definitely be slaughtered.

Hesitate for three seconds.

Jin Yong sat down again.

This time he was forced to do nothing.

He really didn't want to "please apologize" to that young boy Du Yongxiao, so he came to HSBC for help.

Who is Du Yongxiao?

Isn’t it just about being powerful and rich?

He is Jin Yong, Jin Yong!

The first person in the literary world!

The most talented person in Xiangjiang!

He is also famous as the number one tough guy in Xiangjiang!

Ever since he founded Ming Pao with 30,000 yuan and traveled across Hong Kong with thirty-six martial arts novels, he has been making great progress. Although he encountered many difficulties, he was able to overcome the thorns and break through the shackles!

His reputation is now resounding throughout Hong Kong. Who would not praise him as a "literary man" and a "model for the world"?

He would not bow down to Du Yongxiao or be soft to the powerful and say: "I was wrong!"

"How about it, have you thought about it carefully?" Shen Bi knew people's hearts very well. One look at Jin Yong's appearance and he knew that the opponent's defense line had been loosened.

"I..." Jin Yong's lips moved, and finally he closed his eyes and said, "I promise you!"