Rebirth: Rising Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island, the top floor of Wing On Building.

An old man in a blue gown sat on a rocking chair, the sun shone down and shone on his lean face.

With his legs crossed in a leisurely manner, he took out a cigarette from his arms, lit it with a match habitually, then shook the match and threw it to the ground.

Not far away, a group of young people dressed in bunts were practicing Wing Chun. Some people practiced wrapping their hands, and some people beat wooden piles. The whole balcony martial arts hall was very lively.

"Master Ye, you promised me that you would never eat cigarettes again!" A voice came from the old man's ear, his mind was slightly startled, as if there was a tall and beautiful woman in front of him, that was his wife, and his wife always urged him Quit smoking, but he just can't quit.

He woke up and remembered that his wife had died of illness many years ago, and standing in front of him was his new female apprentice Zhou Mulian.

The old man smiled and said to Zhou Mulian, "I didn't smoke, just lit it."

The old man hurriedly crushed the freshly lit cigarette with his fingertips, but instead of throwing it away, he took out the cigarette case and put the crushed cigarette back again.

Now the economy is difficult and prices have risen sharply. A box of Lucky cigarettes has risen from seven yuan to ten yuan, and a box of cheap Double Happiness cigarettes has also risen from two yuan to five yuan now! Five yuan can buy a pound and a half of pork, 15 pounds of rice, and pay half a month's tuition for children. For many old smokers, it is simply forcing them to quit smoking.

Zhou Mulian is fifteen years old this year, with short hair and dark skin, wearing a patched school uniform, full of youth and vitality.

She is a student at a nearby girls' school. That school is not a public school, nor is it a high-level private school, but like this martial arts gym, it is also a balcony school!

In this era, many people send their children to such schools because their families are poor and cannot afford education.

This kind of balcony school is cheap to rent. The huge balcony is both a playground and a classroom. Children can learn and play on the balcony.

As for the teachers who teach, most of them are old pedants who have a good command of literature and calligraphy, or they are teachers from common people. They can't get into those public and private schools, so they can only use their waste heat in such a humble balcony school and buy a meal by the way!

Zhou Mulian put down the schoolbag she was carrying, went to the side and picked up the teapot, poured herself a glass of water, raised her neck, and took a few sips.

Master Ye asked her, "Why do you leave school so early today?"

Zhou Mulian wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, "School is closed."

"Why are classes suspended?"

"Can't pay the rent."

Master Ye was stunned for a moment, "Have the rent increased again?"

Since January, the rent in Hong Kong, which has just entered 1970, has started to skyrocket, and it has tripled in just half a month.

There are many balcony schools organized by the poor in Hong Kong, but they have also closed down because they can't pay the rental fee for the balcony.

Not to mention the restaurants, factories and shops that have rented large venues, many of which have closed down due to increased rental fees!

In this regard, the people are full of complaints, complaining that those rich landlords are vampire capitalists, so that the poor cannot survive!

"Not only that, the rent of the tenement building we live in has also increased. Zhang Sanwang's house next door to me was kicked out by the landlord because he couldn't pay the rent, and now he sleeps on the street! Also, many toilets in bridge holes and parks are now occupied by refugees, even if you If you want to wander the streets, you can't find a foothold!"

Zhou Mulian is young, but she likes to care about people's livelihood very much. This is related to her teacher. Her teacher is from the mainland and is upright. Most of all, she despises Hong Kong's capitalist system with a large gap between the rich and the poor.

Master Ye stopped talking. At this time, Zhou Mulian suddenly remembered something and pulled out a letter from his schoolbag and handed it to him: "By the way, Master Ye, I just happened to meet the postman downstairs, and this letter is for you. Yes! It seems to have been mailed from the United States—do you still have apprentices in the United States?"

After Zhou Mulian finished speaking, she quickly covered her mouth. She just accidentally glanced at the envelope. The signature on it was Master Ye's apprentice. Remembering that Master Ye is not an ordinary person, he was a famous Wing Chun master of the generation before he came to Hong Kong from the mainland!

Especially in Hong Kong, there are many apprentices, everyone has them, and it is not surprising that one or two are in the United States!

Master Ye smiled and looked at the envelope that read: "My teacher, Ye Wen, personally, and my apprentice Bruce Lee!"

"It turned out to be Aaron's letter." Master Ye muttered and opened the envelope.

Zhou Mulian looked curious and stretched her neck to look.

The content of this letter is not very long. In the letter, Bruce Lee told his master Ye Wen that he has developed well in the United States. He has opened several martial arts gyms and taught foreigners to learn boxing. He also made movies and became an actor. .

If nothing else, he plans to return to Hong Kong in April and will bring his wife and children to visit Master Ye.

"Aaron has a heart too." Master Ye was about to fold the letter and put it back into the envelope, but found that there was something in the envelope. When he shook it out, it was three hundred dollars.

"Wow, US dollars!" After Zhou Mulian finished speaking, she quickly covered her mouth.

Master Ye's face changed slightly. He was stubborn in his life, and he didn't like other people's help or relief, even if the other party was his own apprentice.

Seeing Master Ye's strange expression, Zhou Mulian said, "Master Ye, take it, this is also his kindness! It is estimated that he brought too many things when he returned to Hong Kong, and he is not going to buy gifts, so I will send you the money first! Three hundred US dollars ,not much!"

300 US dollars is almost 1,600 Hong Kong dollars, how can it be not much? !

Just as Master Ye was about to put the money back and find time to return it, a broken gong said, "Is Master Ye here?"

A fat woman came in from the balcony door with a fan in hand. She wears heavy make-up, has the trendy dovetail curls, and has large nostrils with exposed nose hairs.

"Sorry, Master Ye, are you teaching boxing?"

"Yes, the landlady, what are you doing here?" Master Ye stood up from the rocking chair, put his hands behind his back, and asked the other party with a smile.

"Oh, it's like this!" The landlady shook the fan, "You know Master Ye, the rent has been rising recently. Although you and I are old friends, I also want to eat, so—"

Master Ye hurriedly said: "I know this! You haven't increased the rent for half a year. To me, you are a good person!"

The landlady hurriedly covered her mouth with a round fan and smiled: "Master Ye, you really know how to talk! But good people don't make money. If I rent such a big balcony to someone else, I can earn at least twice as much a month!"

"Yes! Yes! My apprentices and I are very grateful to you!"

"No thanks! I can't live without a rent increase!" said the landlady.

"Then how much are you going to add?"

"Not much, an extra 100 yuan a month! It's 1,200 yuan this year! Master Ye, do you want to rent it?" The landlady's eyes turned darkly, but she actually had the heart to keep Master Ye and others. Drive away, now all the rents in Hong Kong are skyrocketing, she plans to clean up the balcony and rent it out to make a lot of money!

"The landlady, are you too embarrassing?" Zhou Mulian couldn't help but said before Master Ye answered.

"When your husband encountered robbers on the street, it was my master who came to the rescue! Otherwise he would have died! Also, when my master rented this balcony, you agreed that the rent would not be increased for three years. Now You have to add a thousand yuan just after a year, and it's still unreasonable?"

The landlady's face was flushed red from being choked, and she pointed at Zhou Mulian's nose with a fan, "Little girl, what are you talking about? What are you talking about, my lord? Believe it or not, I will tear your mouth apart?"

"Come on, give it a try!" Zhou Mulian put on the air of Wing Chun and provoked the landlady.

"Stop!" Master Ye stopped in time.

Zhou Mulian snorted, wiped the tip of her nose in dissatisfaction, and stared at the landlady fiercely.

The landlady was a little scared.

Master Ye sighed, took out the three hundred dollars that his apprentice Bruce Lee had mailed to him from the envelope just now, handed it to the landlady and said, "I'm sorry, there just happens to be a little money here for you to accept first!"

The landlady hurriedly took it and saw that it was US dollars. She even took a picture of it in the sun, and then she said with a wide-eyed smile: "I already told you that Master Ye is kind and easy to talk to! Our boss is too embarrassed to speak! I'll remember it for you. Come on, extend it to one year!"

The landlady Mei Zizi went downstairs with the money in her hand, and Zhou Mulian spat at her back very rudely, "Black-hearted ghost! The conscience was eaten by dogs!"

But Master Ye was in a bad mood. He looked at the huge Wing On Street with his hands behind his back. The rent in Hong Kong has risen so hard that he can't handle it, and how can those poor people live? Seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, how many people will be homeless? !

...

Hong Kong, Yau Ma Tei Grand Theatre.

Yau Ma Tei Cinema is the only surviving pre-war cinema in Kowloon. It is the oldest surviving cinema in Hong Kong. It was built in 1925 and has a history of more than 40 years. It is located at the junction of Shanghai Street and Waterloo Road.

In the early days of the theater's opening, it was the main entertainment venue near the dock workers and coachmen. As one of the five largest theaters in Hong Kong, the Yau Ma Tei Theater not only played movies, but also performed Cantonese opera, and it was often full.

Today, with the gradual increase of new theaters, the Yau Ma Tei theater has gradually declined, and the once-splendid Cantonese opera performances are even more rare.

But today, when the Chinese New Year is approaching, the entire theater is under wraps, and the troupe sings the best excerpt game "A Dream in the Garden".

As one of the four major ship kings in Hong Kong and a godfather figure of Hong Kong real estate developers, Huo Yingdong is holding a tea cup at the moment, listening to the opera attentively.

At the table next to him, Li Zhaoji, Guo Desheng, and Feng Jingqi of the three major real estate tycoons in Hong Kong, like Mr. Huo, are also listening to the opera with tea cups, but from time to time they look at Mr. Huo with a desire to Stop talking.

As we all know, when Mr. Huo started to play real estate, people like Li Zhaoji were still engaged in gold shops and other businesses.

Mr. Huo has made great achievements in real estate development. Not only has he built cheap civilian buildings, but he has also been pushing the British Hong Kong government to promote the construction of public housing. The poor who have no money to buy a house can repay the loan slowly.

It's just a pity that this method was later criticized by many capitalists and turned into a means of exploiting ordinary people.

In short, in the real estate industry, Mr. Huo is the first person to eat crabs.

It's just a pity that because Mr. Huo is so close to the mainland, the British Hong Kong government has imposed a ban on him, especially in the real estate field, which restricts the development of Huo's real estate industry.

Even so, Mr. Huo is still the chairman of the Hong Kong Real Estate Development Association, and has a strong voice and influences the development of Hong Kong's real estate industry.

Recently, there has been a lot of chaos in Hong Kong's real estate. In order to make quick money, many real estate developers are frantically increasing rents regardless of morality. In just half a month, the rents in Hong Kong have tripled! It reached a crazy level!

Mr. Huo was anxious when he saw it. He was also born in a poor man, and he knew what the house represented to the common people. The traditional Chinese family-state thinking makes people yearn for a home all their lives, where they can have a place where they can stand an inch, and a place to cover themselves with tiles!

Especially those poor people who can't afford a house can only live in rented houses, no matter how good or bad, tin houses, low-cost houses, public village houses, etc.!

Now that the rent is skyrocketing, those who can't pay the rent for the New Year can only sleep on the streets. This is what Mr. Huo does not want to see, and it is also what many conscientious businessmen do not want to see!

Today, Mr. Huo invited Li Zhaoji and other real estate tycoons to gather here to listen to the show. In fact, it was to discuss rent reduction together.

In addition to Li Zhaoji and others, there are more than a dozen other big real estate developers in Hong Kong outside the VIP room of the theater.

Mr. Huo has been in business for so many years, and he deeply understands the truth, shoot a man first, shoot a horse, and capture a thief first, capture the king!

Although it is inappropriate to describe Li Zhaoji and others as "catching a thief", Mr. Huo can only do this now.

On the other hand, for Li Zhaoji and others, of course they understood what Huo meant by inviting them to watch a play together today.

However, they are not alone in the real estate business, especially for things like rent.

These big real estate developers own one-fifth of the number of rental houses in Hong Kong. Even if each house is rented for ten yuan less, it will be a loss of tens of millions!

So today they can't be frightened by Mr. Huo no matter what, and promised to reduce the rent!

"President Huo! We all know what you mean by inviting us over today, rent reduction, everyone knows it! But you don't do real estate very much now, and you don't quite understand how difficult this industry is now! Building materials are soaring. , labor is soaring! Not long ago, Ricci Construction went on strike for what? Isn’t Li Zhaotian unable to pay wages? So we are also very hard! To pay wages for buying materials, we all tightened our belts!”

Just when Li Zhaoji and others were thinking about how to speak first, a real estate developer in his thirties couldn't bear his temper and came over and said to Mr. Huo.

Mr. Huo glanced at the real estate developer and seemed to have some impressions. His name was Zhuang Jiajun, the brother-in-law of Li Jiacheng, the boss of Cheung Kong Industrial.

Recently, Li Jiacheng swallowed Li Zhaotian's power project in Tsuen Wan and rushed to become Hong Kong's "King of Hydropower", so today such an important private party did not come, but Zhuang Jiajun instead.

Zhuang Jiajun has always wanted to perform well in front of his brother-in-law. Since he took charge of Changjiang Real Estate, he has developed real estate projects such as "Emerald Garden", "Changjiang Garden", and "Dragon Garden". Newly emerging young talents.

As soon as Zhuang Jiajun's voice fell, he felt a sudden silence around him, and he turned his head to look. The old foxes were all laid-back, drinking tea, drinking tea, listening to music, and the actors on the stage were babbling.

Only Li Zhaoji raised his head and couldn't help but cast a ray of approval at him, which was regarded as encouragement, which made Zhuang Jiajun feel a lot more at ease, thinking that he should not be a "early bird".

Who is Mr. Huo?

Doing business is all about scheming!

He saw that Zhuang Jiajun stood up stupidly with a machine gun fire, and did not directly refute him, put down the tea cup, took out a handkerchief and dipped the corner of his mouth, and then looked at Zhuang Jiajun with a kind smile.

"Jiajun? Since you asked, then I'll answer you! Why will building materials rise? Why will labor rise? Because rents have soared, people see that real estate is so expensive, and they think we have a lot of profit. , they also want to get money, so they raise the raw materials and raise the labor! This is a very bad endless cycle! If you don't get rid of it for one day, the people will not be able to pay the rent and live a good life! As a result, the Hong Kong Congress will There are a lot of empty houses, vacant houses, and the bridges and parks are full of people! People are crowded, people are crowded, and people are sleeping on the streets!"

Zhuang Jiajun smiled, "President Huo, you and I are both in business, not charity! It is true that I don't want to see the scene you just described, but rent increases are the general trend, and we don't need it or the trend. Opposition, isn't it? Every businessman who opposes the trend will eventually either go bankrupt or perish!"

"Mr. Zhuang, that being said, but President Huo is also kind!" Li Zhaoji finally spoke up. Since someone was throwing bricks at him, he stopped hiding and prepared to show off with Mr. Huo.

"Everyone knows that President Huo once said at the Hong Kong Real Estate Development Association that there are thousands of mansions in the Ander, and the world is full of joy! This is his ideal and the direction he pursues! We have no reason to, I don't have the right to criticize his old man!"

"Of course!" Li Zhaoji changed his words~www.readwn.com~ Times change, many things are not forever! Especially in the recent years of real estate development in Hong Kong, many business models have undergone tremendous changes, and President Huo is not among them, so it is inevitable that he will not feel it! We have to understand him! "

Li Zhaoji's remarks made Mr. Huo's face darken, and he couldn't help but look at Li Zhaoji and others a few more times.

These real estate tycoons also have the same eyes as Huo, and are not afraid at all!

Get the most money!

No one wants to get in their way!

Just when the atmosphere was a little embarrassing, a voice said: "Having said that, in business, especially in real estate business, you still need to have a little conscience!"

While talking, I saw Shi Zhijian walking in from the door with a cup of tea and smiling, and said with a smile, "This VIP room is better. You can watch the show clearly and hear it comfortably!"

At this time, on the stage, the Hua Danzheng sang in a loud voice: "I lowered my head and secretly borrowed the mirror in the pool, and peeked at the person in front of me several times. He was graceful and handsome, and he was a suave, beautiful young man."