“Huang Sheng, to be frank, the one who wants to buy Tao Da Foods is Zheng Bai Cheng. He’s a literature enthusiast like you. He’s currently on a trip abroad, and will be arriving in Hong Kong soon. He’s offering a higher price again, at HK$20 million or US$3.9 million, to acquire the entire Tao Da Foods.”
The visitor was Citibank’s Hong Kong manager. This wasn't his first visit. He met Mr. Huang, the head of the Huang family, a man in his fifties, and his attitude was sincere. The price was already very high.
“You know the situation in Hong Kong right now. Zheng Sheng’s sincerity is evident. Please consider it carefully.”
…
The Citibank manager left the Huang family, a wry smile on his face. The other party said they would give a final answer in three days, so he couldn’t push further. However, they had already communicated with Zheng Bai Cheng about this.
The Huang family moved from mainland China to Hong Kong, and they could sell Tao Da. They had offered a big price this time, surely they would be tempted.
The Chinese New Year was in three months, and he would be returning to Hong Kong. This was his busiest time. He needed to write a few more wuxia novels. Also, the Los Angeles publisher was pushing for more. “Interstellar Wars 1” was a big hit, with readers calling demanding “Interstellar Wars 2.” The sequels to other novels were also on the agenda.
He was currently working on the later episodes of “Interstellar Wars,” “Games in the Famine Years 2,” “Back to the Future 2,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 2.” He had seen all these movies, so writing them wasn’t a problem.
After finishing these, he was planning to come up with ideas for other movie and TV show plots, and write them. He could make them into movies in ten or twenty years. How wonderful!
“HELLO, this is Jason.”
Zheng Bai Cheng was busy writing, and the ringing phone interrupted his dictation. He was annoyed, like having to stop in the middle of… well, you know.
He was annoyed, but he still answered the phone patiently. If it wasn’t good news, he would FUC it.
“Oh, dear Jason, this is Wilson, the loan manager at Citi. I have good news for you. That AmFood company agreed to be acquired for only $3.5 million…”
The Citibank loan manager seemed to have done something incredible. He kept chattering away. As for the $400,000 less, it was due to the acquisition of a large amount of cheap stocks in the stock market, which lowered the acquisition cost. They would get a $100,000 commission on this acquisition, which made them very happy.
They were even happier to have a wealthy Chinese client who loved loans. Other wealthy people were too conservative with their businesses. Their loan amounts didn't satisfy their appetite. They were very puzzled by this.
They believed that this newly wealthy Chinese businessman would definitely take out loans again. By nurturing a wealthy person, they would gain more profits and expand their local influence – a win-win situation.
“That's great news, Mr. Wilson. I’ll remember your help…” You know, business niceties. Everyone had to play along.
After hanging up, Zheng Bai Cheng was also very happy. He had asked Citi to send some people to temporarily stabilize the management there. He wouldn’t fire those managers. He wouldn’t manage them, but he wouldn’t raise their salaries either. These were troubled times. Not laying off employees was already kind of him. Well, he was a man of letters, a kind heart was his hallmark.
Citi had also investigated and found that Tao Da had operating funds. This made him even happier. After the acquisition, these funds would be frozen temporarily, leaving only the funds for workers’ salaries. Currently, everyone was stopped, not sure when production would resume.
The acquired property, the industrial factory, was shut down and no longer rented out. There was no way around it. That was the situation in Hong Kong at the moment.
But this was good. It gave Zheng Bai Cheng time to direct things from here.
“Xiao Hua, you need to learn about managing things. You're going to be the boss lady’s woman.”
“I just acquired a company. That company has hundreds of people. Such a big company, tsk tsk, I can't manage it alone.”
…
Zheng Bai Cheng was there, urging Lin Xiao Hua to learn management knowledge. He even found some books for her to study. This made Amanda, who had been observing, fed up. She felt like this guy was just looking for a worker.
“Heh… Jason, capitalists will cry when they see you.”
While Zheng Bai Cheng was PUA-ing Lin Xiao Hua, he heard Amanda's sarcasm, but he didn’t mind. He said, “I’m going to build a big family, and as a member of the family, shouldn’t she contribute to managing the family business?”
“We in Hong Kong are different from you Westerners. Our Chinese women are naturally strong. Men handle outside affairs, women handle internal affairs. If I’m on a business trip, naturally someone has to take charge of the family business.”
“Humph.”
Amanda left. She didn't want to have anything to do with this guy. He was beyond reason. In her opinion, people should pursue their own ideals.
She had a higher education, and she was a lawyer. Her vision was naturally broad. Seeing this patriarchal society, she naturally felt a little ashamed, and she despised Zheng Bai Cheng’s habit of letting women do everything. Although he was a best-selling novelist, famous in both East and West, after a long time of contact, she found that Zheng Bai Cheng was lazy to the extreme, someone who would sit rather than stand, lie down rather than sit up.
Also, Hong Kong was a place where Qing Dynasty law intertwined with European maritime law. It made her speechless. This place was too feudal and too traditional. She had no FUC to give.
“Xiao Hua, don’t mind that foreigner. Let’s continue. Where did we leave off in the novel…”
Although Lin Xiao Hua felt that Amanda had a point, her point contradicted the family and social education that Lin Xiao Hua had received. Also, she felt that Zheng Bai Cheng had put the big hat of the family on her, making her feel valued. Nowadays, there were few women who participated in family management. In their view, women couldn't do great things, and daughters wouldn’t be involved. Daughters were supposed to be married off.