Reborn Tycoon: Hong Kong's Entertainment Godfather

Chapter 42: A swift reversal, seizing all of the Li family's assets, and Li Xiaohe's son b

If you pay a lot, accommodation is free, and you can eat your fill for three yuan. That's three yuan a day.

Many Hong Kong residents are extremely envious. At this rate, it will only take two years at most for them to be able to afford a house in the suburbs of Hong Kong.

This slight comparison immediately reveals that Gu Yuhan is not just kind-hearted, he's downright ruthless. Hennessy Avenue, Lijia.

What is that?

Li Xiaohe looked at the newspaper in his hand, and his face immediately turned extremely ugly.

He really didn't expect that Gu Yuhan actually had this ability, that there wasn't a single bit of insider trading involved.

The dealings between these officials and the Gu family were far from innocent; they were practically platonic. "Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Li Xiaohe refused to believe it. How could there be no exchange of benefits whatsoever?

Such a large project, such a massive undertaking, is it really all clean and tidy?

How could Li Xiaohe have guessed that Gu Yuhan had already started catching up with the American version, and was also rapidly strengthening the "567" version?

After retirement, when they're no longer in their positions, it's all about free market competition. What difference would it make if I offered them a high salary?

"Has something gone wrong? Could it be that the ICAC has also been bribed by that bastard Gu Yuhan?" Li Xiaohe gritted his teeth.

He exclaimed, "This is impossible! This is impossible!"

Bian Lixiaohe's wife, Li Luyanqun, quickly spoke up, "Wasn't it because they were too discreet?"

Li Xiaohe nodded: "Very likely, this Gu Zhenguo is indeed not easy to deal with!" Originally, Li Xiaohe felt that Gu Zhenguo was not easy to deal with.

Although the Li family is wealthy and has substantial capital, they do not have much cash flow, and their relationship with HSBC is not particularly good.

To put it bluntly, although the Li family has invested in many things, they have converted more of their cash into real estate. Li Xiaohe has many titles, but in essence, he is still a miser, and his mindset is that of a landlord—simply put, he converts more of his money into fixed assets.

Bars, real estate, office buildings, and property management may not be the most lucrative businesses, but they offer the most stable income. Among Hong Kong's many wealthy individuals, the most adventurous and pioneering was the shipping magnate, but even he only engaged in transportation; he never considered building his own ships.

Moreover, they are becoming increasingly conservative, slowly starting to hoard land like other wealthy people and gradually taking the path of landlords.

On the contrary, Li Ka-shing did invest in communications and energy, but only superficially, without any long-term development or research plans. He then sold them at a good price at a crucial moment.

All I can say is... don't exaggerate their pioneering and enterprising spirit if there's no reason to.

If they can't focus on research and development, they're at best landlords or compradors; they don't really qualify as capitalists or entrepreneurs.

It's completely impossible for Li Xiaohe to attack the Gu family in the stock market. Furthermore, it's also unlikely that Li Xiaohe will be able to retaliate against the Gu family through triad means.

Who doesn't have a few gangs under their control?

"Mr. Wilson, look, this is all the intelligence I've gathered!" Gu Zhenguo smiled and handed the documents to Wilson. "This is the surveillance footage. Look, the guy who entered the ICAC is called Li Changtian. He used to work with the Li family!"

Wilson frowned: "That doesn't prove the Li family did it!" "They had a motive. Not long ago, TVB and Phoenix TV had a major battle; how's that going now?" Gu Zhenguo said calmly.

He began, "Li Xiaohe has every motive to do this. Furthermore, Mr. Wilson, if you require, I will bring Li Changtian before you so you can question him thoroughly."

Wilson's expression turned sour.

This kind of thing doesn't require absolute evidence. Who the hell is going to talk to you about legal evidence? In this kind of situation, it's enough to just keep it to yourself.

"Gu, I'm very grateful!" Wilson took a deep breath and continued, "That bastard, Li Xiaohe!" "He really is a bastard, he completely broke the rules!" Gu Zhenguo said with a smile, "Mr. Wilson, that's all we've done. What you do next is your own business!"

"I understand!" Wilson nodded.

After seeing Wilson off, Gu Yuhan came in through the other side door: "Dad, how did it go?" "Even if the Li family doesn't die, they'll be severely damaged. Although they've cleaned up their act over the years, it's impossible for them to be completely without problems!" Gu Zhenguo smiled and continued, "Take a look at this!"

As he spoke, Gu Zhenguo handed Gu Yuhan a photo.

"What is this?" Gu Yuhan looked at the photo in his hand, staring at his father with a surprised expression. "His name is Li Xianbin, he's Li Xiaohe's son!" Gu Zhenguo said with a smile, "He's smoking opium!" "Opium?" Gu Yuhan was slightly taken aback: "Impossible, right?"

"I've investigated carefully, and this kid picked up this habit in England!" Gu Zhenguo smiled and continued, "Now, he's addicted, I think he's completely addicted and can't quit!"

"Their family made their fortune in opium trafficking. I never imagined that the descendants of the Li family would also get involved with this stuff!" Gu Yuhan sighed, then asked curiously, "Didn't his father know?"

"He probably doesn't know. Why would his own father investigate his son?" Gu Zhenguo shrugged. "Everyone thinks their son is the best!"

"Dad, you didn't investigate me too, did you?" Gu Yuhan looked at his father with some surprise. "No way, no way!" Gu Zhenguo laughed heartily, "You're my son!" Gu Yuhan looked at his father suspiciously, and Gu Zhenguo coughed a few times, "Sleeping with women is fine, but you still need to be moderate with your body. You're still young now, you don't know the benefits of semen, but what will you do when you grow up!"

"Dad, are you saying that you didn't know what self-control was when you were young, and now..." Gu Yuhan looked at his father with a suspicious expression...

"Get lost!" Gu Yuhan laughed, then said, "Dad, I have a suggestion. Let's get a loan from HSBC, around 1.5 billion to 2 billion."

"Didn't you say we shouldn't alert them?" Gu Zhenguo couldn't help but ask.

"Things are different now. We're taking out a loan mainly to acquire the Li family!" Gu Yuhan smiled. "We're acquiring Li Hysan Properties. I don't think Li Xiaohe's relationship with his brothers is anything special!"

"The Li family is a traditional large family. After Li Xishen was assassinated, he left behind his first wife Huang Lanfang, second wife Zhang Menxi, third wife Su Xian, fourth wife Wu Peishan, and concubine Zhang Ruilian, but she had long since passed away. Li Mingqia is the eldest son of Zhang Ruilian. When it came time to divide the inheritance, the brothers Li Mingqia and Li Mingze did not receive the lion's share!"

"When Li Xiaohe is powerful, I believe their family will still be harmonious. But if Li Xiaohe isn't so powerful, do you think the brothers might want to take revenge on their own brother?"

Gu Zhenguo looked at Gu Yuhan: "You mean internal strife?"

"I'm just saying, it's a possibility!" Gu Yuhan smiled. "With a loan, we can gradually acquire Lee Hysan Properties. We can have a good talk with the Lee brothers, Li Mingze and Li Mingqia. I believe they're still very willing to cooperate with me!"

Gu Yuhan never considered the Li family as a unified entity. There was definitely internal strife within the Li family. However, Li Xiaohe inherited the majority of the inheritance, leaving Li Mingze and Li Mingqia with no choice but to swallow their anger. But if given the chance, they wouldn't hesitate at all.

Gu Zhenguo lit a cigarette, smoking as he pondered how to persuade them when he met them. He then stubbed it out: "I'll have a good talk with them then!"

"Acquire Lee Hysan Properties on the stock market!" Gu Yuhan thought for a moment, "Acquire Lee Hysan Properties' shares from their major shareholder. Sooner or later, Lee Hysan will find himself with nothing!"

Gu Zhenguo stood up, then smiled and said, "I know what to do!"

As night fell, the ringing of the phone startled Rihyo-wak awake from his sleep.

He clutched his heart; his heart had been weak for years, and the sound of the phone ringing made his heart ache terribly. He picked up the phone: "Hello, yes, this is Li Xiaohe!"

"What?" Rikyo, who had been feeling sleepy, suddenly widened his eyes and shouted, "What did you say? Say it again!"

"Boss, our bar and all our businesses have been raided by the police!" A panicked voice came from the other end of the phone. He swallowed hard, then cautiously added, "There's one more thing!"

"What is it?" Li Xiaohe felt a splitting headache and a strong sense of foreboding rose in his heart. "Your son has been arrested for suspected drug trafficking!" "What?" Li Xiaohe's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

Receiving this news in the middle of the night, Rikō Kazuya felt his head spinning. "When did this happen?" he gritted his teeth, speaking coldly, "Why was there no prior warning?"

No one notified me.

This gave Li Xiaohe a chilling feeling.

Does this mean that the government has completely abandoned itself?

It was indeed Li Xiaohe who reported the person, but it's unlikely that they would directly take action against him. Li Xiaohe was still very confident. After all, the Li family had been in Hong Kong for so many years, spent so much money, and supported so many people. It was impossible that they wouldn't have informed him first.

However, the fact is that Li Xiaohe did break the rules this time.

Moreover, Li Xiaohe still held the same old mindset: "I used to support you, so you're just dogs to the Li family." Although Li Xiaohe remained polite to them on the surface, his underlying thinking was still the same. However, times had changed.

The era is no longer the era of the former four great families. You, Li Xiaohe, have far too many leverages against us. It's fine if you don't take action normally, everyone's on good terms. But now that you've taken action, even though you didn't report us, who knows if you might report us in the future?

The matter escalated, and Li Xiaohe was abandoned.

The Li family's properties were seized, their bank accounts were frozen, all their bars ceased operations, and the Li family's office building and stage also shut down.

Everything happened so fast! At this point, even a fool could see that the Li family was being retaliated against. All the news, big and small, pointed to one thing: Li Xiaohe had reported these officials in retaliation for Gu Yuhan's takeover of TVB. Li Xiaohe had gone so far as to report a group of officials in a ruthless act.

This was a retaliatory strike by the entire bureaucratic system against Li Xiaohe. There was no other way; Li Xiaohe knew far too much. If they didn't teach him a lesson, he would become completely lawless. And Li Xiaohe quickly grasped this point.

They might not necessarily want to completely destroy him, but at least they could skin him alive. If they had really dealt with the group behind the Gu family back then, Li Xiaohe might not have been in any real trouble. With those people gone, there would be no one to take the lead.

However, if this problem isn't resolved, things could escalate significantly. After so many ups and downs, the Gu family is facing its second crisis. Gu Zhenguo, far from idle, quickly arranged meetings with the Li brothers, Li Mingze and Li Mingqia. Just as Gu Yuhan had predicted, the Li brothers definitely don't get along. There's no way around it; when the family fortune was divided, Li Xiaohe received the largest share of the profits. If things were fair, Li Mingze and Li Mingqia wouldn't harbor any resentment.

No, this is just a subjective opinion; there's no such thing as fairness in this matter. Li Xiaohe feels that as the eldest son, he should get the lion's share. Li Mingze and Li Mingqia also feel that they handled more, that when the family was in turmoil, they were the ones who stepped up to manage important matters and stabilize the situation. In the end, Li Xiaohe reaped the benefits. How can the other brothers in the Li family be satisfied?

They all felt they were getting a huge loss if they split it equally. Besides, these brothers were half-brothers.

When my father was still alive, we could still maintain harmony in the family. But now that he's gone, once the crisis has passed, another crisis immediately erupts.

When Lee Hysan died, his legal wife, Huang Lanfang, immediately sent Lee Hysan to study at Da Ying University, leaving the brothers Lee Mingze and Lee Mingqia to handle the situation. The brothers also put in a lot of effort, maintaining family relationships, stabilizing the business, and carefully avoiding being swallowed up by those around them.

Back then, the Li family was a highly coveted prize, and given their involvement in organized crime, many wanted to take them over. Li Mingze and Li Mingqia took a huge risk, and what happened? When the family fortune was divided, Li Xiaohe ended up with the lion's share. How could they tolerate that?

Li Mingze and Li Mingqia tolerated it, partly because they needed the Li Xishen family's status to get things done. However, they were very dissatisfied with Li Xiaohe, but on the surface, they still put on a respectful brotherly attitude.

At this very moment, Lee Hysan Properties suddenly ran into trouble, and the Lee brothers, Ming-tse and Ming-ch'au, were gloating on the sidelines. Over the years, they had accumulated a considerable fortune.

They would be quite happy to see Li Xiaohe run into trouble or fall into crisis. Li Mingze and Li Mingqia already have their own businesses and no longer need the big tree of Li Xishen Real Estate. It would be better if Li Xiaohe ran into trouble, the bigger the better, so they could watch the show from the sidelines.

The Zhou Yongtai family, one of the four most prominent families in Hong Kong, has begun to decline. Zhou Xinian's Dairy Farm was swallowed up by Jardine Matheson, and Zhou Junnian's bank experienced a run on deposits.

The Lee Hysan family, though seemingly powerful, is actually in decline and could crumble at the slightest push.

At this point, Gu Zhen began contacting them, proposing to acquire their stake in Lee Hysan Properties. "Mr. Gu!"

"Mr. Li!"

Jockey Club

Gu Zhenguo and Li Mingze rode horses for a while, then sat down to discuss business. Li Mingze was no stranger to Gu Zhenguo; in fact, he was quite familiar with him.

In just over half a year, he directly acquired Hutchison Whampoa. His son is even more capable of causing trouble. Although the film industry doesn't bring in much profit, Gu Yuhan is definitely the kind of person who can cause trouble.

The Gu family's reputation is growing.

Now that the Gu family is officially at odds with Li Xiaohe, Li Mingze is actually somewhat looking forward to it. Ideally, the Gu family would completely humiliate Li Xiaohe. "Want to acquire my shares in Li Hysan Properties?" Li Mingze smiled, looking at Gu Zhenguo, "Mr. Gu, you've certainly picked a good time. Now that the police have seized the property, the stock price has plummeted!"

"Mr. Li, you should know my style, and you should also know the style of the Gu family!" Gu Zhenguo smiled and said slowly, "I will acquire your shares at 1.2 times the previous share price. The Gu family prefers cooperation; cooperation is more important than struggle!"

"To be honest, it's not that we want to fight with Li Xiaohe, it's just that Ahe is the one who's making trouble for the Gu family, so there's nothing we can do but deal with it as it comes!"

Li Mingze fell into thought. Although Gu Zhenguo spoke sincerely, he was also calculating how much money Gu Zhenguo could actually come up with.

Currently, Li Mingze holds more than 12.5% ​​of the shares.

After a slight pause, Li Mingze spoke up: "If it's 1.2 times, that's 800 million. Mr. Gu, are you really willing to part with that?"

"Of course!" Gu Zhenguo smiled and said, "If possible, I also hope that Mr. Li Mingze can have a good talk with Mr. Li Mingqia again. He also holds eight percent of the shares. As for the price, we can discuss it slowly!"

Li Mingze was also considering his options when he slowly said, "This price is acceptable to me!" Overall, Gu Zhenguo was quite sincere.

After the split, Li Mingze joined the board of directors of Hong Kong Telephone Company in 1962 to participate in the company's management. At that time, there were only about 10 telephones installed in Hong Kong. Three years later, he was appointed chairman and began to vigorously promote the company's development, which led to a leap forward in Hong Kong's telephone communication network.

由他加入至1975年退任之间，全港安装有100万台电话，13年357间增长近9

In addition, Li Mingze, together with Wheelock and Hutchison Whampoa, formed Victoria City Development Company Limited to plan the construction of the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

In 1965, the plan was implemented, and the government approved a 30-year franchise. Li Mingze and others established the Cross-Harbour Tunnel Company Limited and began construction. By 1972, the overall project was basically completed, and the tunnel connected Kowloon Peninsula and Heung Kong Island. After passing inspection, it was opened to traffic and put into service.

However, these tasks were primarily led by Wheelock and Hutchison Whampoa, with Li Mingqia only undertaking a small portion. Li Mingze was very wealthy and could be considered a tycoon, but he was far less wealthy than Li Xiaohe. If he could strengthen his cooperation with the Gu family, he was confident that this sum of money could take his business to the next level.

Li Mingze's mind raced. He couldn't possibly swallow up all of the Li family's shares, so he might as well just convert them into cash. With that money, he could do many things boldly.

Lee Hysan Group is powerful, but what does that have to do with me?

Moreover, with Hutchison Whampoa now in the hands of the Gu family, their cooperation could be taken to a whole new level. After a moment's thought, Li Mingze said, "Mr. Gu, I still have a question I'd like to ask you seriously!"

"Please speak!" Gu Yuhan said with a smile. "Are you really confident that you can completely win over the third brother?"

Li Mingze said, "I want to know a precise answer!"

"The Gu family has already acquired Hutchison Whampoa, and you're well aware of Li Xiaohe's current situation. He's basically been abandoned. I can officially tell you there's no problem!"

Gu Zhen nodded: "I'm absolutely confident!" Whew!

Li Mingze let out a slight breath and said with a smile, "Mr. Gu, I wish us a pleasant cooperation!" "A pleasant cooperation!" Gu Zhenguo also shook hands with Li Mingze.