Year: I had a good time when I was young

Chapter 804: A helpless move to employ talents without regard to morality
Chu Xiangqian’s delaying tactics on Hong Kong Electric Company were not actually very clever. Many people could see that he just wanted to drag it out until the shareholders could no longer bear it and sold their shares on their own initiative.

After all, it’s not that these big and small shareholders are powerful, but that everyone can see his methods, which is related to his past record of never failing in business.

Not to mention that HK Electric is a 40% shareholder, even wealthy businessmen and company executives from outside have great confidence in his ability to lead HK Electric back to its glory days.

Now it depends on who loses patience first.

Moreover, HK Electric mainly supplies electricity to Hong Kong. With the progress of society, HK Electric's power generation has indeed failed to keep pace with economic development.

In the past few years, the number of power outages in Hong Kong has increased from less than five times a year in the 50s to at least once a month.

To solve this problem, either the two power plants in North Point and Lamma Island need to be expanded, or a new larger and more advanced power plant needs to be built.

Otherwise, if it drags on for too long, the Hong Kong government will inevitably hand over part of the electricity supply to other power companies.

Even a second card was issued to the power company that supplies electricity to Hong Kong.

At that time, Chu Xiangqian couldn't delay even if he wanted to, after all, he was the controlling shareholder with 60% of HK Electric's shares.

But Chu Xiangqian's purpose of dragging his feet, in addition to wanting to buy more shares, was also to plan to relocate the power plant in North Point.

Then use the land for commercial purposes.

If we build a residential community, we can make at least hundreds of millions based on the current housing prices.

North Point and Causeway Bay are not actually very prosperous now, but in ten years, the land in North Point and Causeway Bay will be valuable.

Therefore, Chu Xiangqian knew very well that if the North Point Power Plant was delayed until the 70s, it would take one or two years to relocate the power plant, and another two or three years to build a new residential area.

Moreover, the area of ​​the power plant is quite large, and the community construction can be developed in Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3.

By the mid-to-late 70s, the money that could be earned was definitely several times, or even 10 times.

Chu Xiangqian is now dragging his feet until the Hong Kong government comes to him, and then he will take the opportunity to propose temporarily rebuilding the North Point and Lamma Island power plants.

He also proposed to build a second power plant on Lamma Island, and once this power plant is completed, the North Point power plant will be moved away.

Seize the land development rights of the North Point Power Plant, and even spend more money to buy and monopolize the land in North Point from other shareholders of HK Electric.
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Le Yan glanced at his biological father Le Jimin who nodded to him, suggesting that he and Chu Xiangqian mention the plan for cooperation between the two families. While feeling a little excited, his eyes couldn't help but look at his eldest brother Le Wen.

Chu Xiangqian could tell at a glance that Le Wen was a taciturn guy.

It is correct to say that he is diligent and steady, but this also means that he is overly cautious or hesitant and timid.

And seeing that he let his own brother take the blame for him, we can also see that this person is irresponsible and selfish.

Only Le Jimin is the biological father, who only sees his son's strengths and deliberately ignores his shortcomings.

Otherwise, if someone else made the decision, he would definitely not hand over the family business to him.

Therefore, Chu Xiangqian didn't care about the thoughts of people like Le Wen at all. It was just like he just glanced at the other person and scared Le Wen so much that he swallowed the words in his mouth.

Seeing this, Le Yan sighed helplessly in his heart, wondering how come his elder brother had become so indecisive and timid?
But Le Yan is a good person after all, and he is still finding excuses for Le Wen in his heart.

Then he started talking to Chu Xiangqian about the cooperation between the two companies.

After listening to Le Yan's explanation, Chu Xiangqian looked at Le Jimin with more than just admiration, but also respect.

This is a bet that you will keep your word, otherwise you will definitely be inviting a wolf into the house.

No, it was that he took the initiative to deliver Lejia Department Store into his own mouth.

Chu Xiangqian had many ways to circumvent the agreement not to interfere with the management of the department store.

If Le Jimin's health deteriorates in a few years and he hands the company over to his eldest son, it will be easier to drive the Le family away.

That's why Chu Xiangqian admired Le Jimin. If it were him, he would definitely not dare to gamble on human nature.

Picking up the teacup, he said to Le Jimin, "Mr. Le, you are really courageous."

As soon as Le Jimin heard it, he knew that Chu Xiangqian meant that he dared to bet that he would not go back on his word.

He laughed, put down the cane in his hand, picked up the teacup, and saluted Chu Xiangqian across the tea table as a return gesture.

What the Le family father and son didn't expect was that the more Le Jimin dared to gamble, the more Chu Xiangqian felt that there might be something wrong with Lejia Department Store.

Moreover, even if Lejia has not encountered a crisis yet, not to mention the high valuation, I will definitely lose money if I invest in it.

As for why Chu Xiangqian invested in Zheng Yutong's Zhou Dafu at a high price, it was because he knew that Zhou Dafu's market value would be two to three hundred billion US dollars in the future.

Apart from the real estate, the department store brand is worthless in Chu Xiangqian's eyes.

Moreover, now that I have acquired shares in Lejiabao under Le Jimin's conditions, I owe the Le family a favor more or less.

Favors are worth a thousand gold if you recognize them.

If you don't acknowledge it, it's worthless.

But Chu Xiangqian is not short of money, so there is no need to ruin his reputation.

Moreover, in Chu Xiangqian's mind, his own electrical appliance city must directly buy the shopping mall, or start building the shopping mall on the land.

With the money from investing in Lejia Department Store, you can directly buy land or buy ready-made properties suitable for building a shopping mall.

Since you own 100% of the shares, why should you play with Lejia?

Moreover, there are many wealthy businessmen in Hong Kong who are eyeing Roca Department Store.

Not to mention others, just Hong Guidong, who used to work under Le Jimin and later became a partner, has been hiding in the dark and keeping an eye on the Le family's assets.

And successfully took control of the department store.

Since the Le family is likely to face a crisis, if I step forward at that time, I will not be owing a favor to the Le family, but the Le family will owe me a favor.

Chu Xiangqian didn't care whether the Le family father and son had repaid the favor or not. After all, he only needed to wait for a few years and he would be able to gain both fame and money.

Besides, Chu Xiangqian is young and can outlast Le Jimin.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Xiangqian found a reason to reject Le Jimin.

He had to open an electrical city on the one hand, clarify the internal situation of HK Electric on the other hand, and expand the power plants on Lamma Island and North Point.

He even refused to build another power plant, which immediately made Le Jimin and Le Yan frown.

The father and son quickly realized that either Chu Xiangqian was not interested in Lejia Department Store, or he was so ambitious that he wanted to swallow up Lejia Department Store.

But the father and son thought over and over again. If Chu Xiangqian didn’t take the opportunity to buy shares, how could he swallow up the Le family’s assets in the future?

Therefore, for the time being, the father and son just assumed that Chu Xiangqian really thought that the electrical appliance city had more prospects and there was no need to spend a high price to invest in a traditional department store.

As for Le Wen, a smile appeared on his face after hearing this.

The first round of negotiations quickly came to a halt.

After seeing off Le Jimin and Le Wen, Chu Xiangqian turned to Le Yan, who was staying and preparing to continue working at the shipping company, and said, "Ah Yan, Le's Department Store is the foundation of your family's hard work for two generations. No matter what reason I use to invest in your company, after the electrical appliance mall opens, people will inevitably say that I have partnered with your family to start a business war.

Disrupt the market environment.

They even said that I used coercion and bribery to get the shares of your family's business, and then my two families colluded with each other."

Le Yan was stunned. He thought Chu Xiangqian's ambition was to swallow up the entire Lejia Department Store.

But now after hearing what Chu Xiangqian said, it turned out that he was concerned about his reputation.

And if you think about it carefully, the valuation of Lejia Department Store alone is over 2000 million yuan, and his father proposed 15 million yuan to sell % of the shares to Chu Xiangqian.

The price seems reasonable, but if Chu Xiangqian does not recognize the brand of Lejia Department Store, the valuation of 100 million will have to be cut in half.

With these 4 million, we can build at least four large electrical appliance malls in the prosperous areas of Hong Kong Island.

Once the business of the electrical appliance city is booming, the brand of Chu's Electrical Appliance City will also be worth a lot of money.

One is to increase the price to invest, and the other is to create value by oneself. Le Yan sighed in his heart, thinking that if it were him, he would not cooperate with the Le family either.

When Chu Xiangqian saw Le Yan lowering his head and thinking silently, he felt happy and thought to himself that this boy is really a good person.

Once you become friends, even if you are just unfamiliar friends, you will take the initiative to find excuses for your friends.

Otherwise, in the TV series, Ling Feng cheated Le Yan so many times and even almost took his life, but the reason why Le Yan didn't kill him was simply because this guy was too loyal.

If it were Chu Xiangqian, after being betrayed once, he would kill the other party.

Therefore, Chu Xiangqian feels at ease when someone like Le Yan works by his side.

Not to mention that this time he just didn't agree to the cooperation between the two companies. It was just normal business competition, so Le Yan would not hold a grudge against him.

Maybe he would even find an excuse thinking that since he was working under a big boss like Chu Xiangqian, Chu Xiangqian would give his father some face in the future out of his kindness.

Don't push too hard.

Chu Xiangqian couldn't understand this kind of saintly person, but he was sure that Le Yan was this kind of person.

Of course, Le Yan might change in the future, but at this moment Chu Xiangqian is still very confident in him.

However, in order to prevent Le Yan from turning evil, he patted Le Yan on the shoulder and said, "Help me manage the shipping company, and work with Ling Feng on the plan for the electrical city.

When you feel you have the ability to start your own business, tell me and I will invest in you. After all, the Le family's foundation will basically only be passed on to your eldest brother.

Besides, your dad is only 60, so he can work for another ten or twenty years without any problem."

Le Yan was silent for a few seconds, then nodded helplessly. He would have to explain to his biological father that he was imprisoned for seven years because he took the blame for his elder brother.

Otherwise, I am really not qualified to inherit the family's core industry, so it would be better for me to venture out into the world.

If I help the boss make money and develop myself, there will be no reason for the boss to keep an eye on the assets of Lejia Department Store.

He nodded to Chu Xiangqian, "I understand, boss. I'll go back to work now."

Chu Xiangqian watched Le Yan leave, secretly cursing Le Jimin, the old fox, for almost ruining his plan.

But to be honest, if it were me, I probably wouldn’t have the courage like Le Jimin to invite potential competitors to invest in my core industry before the crisis comes.

Betting on human nature and whether the opponent will fulfill his promise really tests one's psychological endurance, wisdom, and skill.
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The next day, Chu Xiangqian went to work at the shipping company as usual and hadn't chatted with Zheng Shufen for a few minutes.

The secretary called to inform that Le Yan and Ling Feng were coming over.

Zheng Shufen knew that Le Yan and the others must be here because of the Electric City project, so she rolled her eyes at Chu Xiangqian and complained, "Master, you really can't stay idle.

We already have so many businesses at home, and we don’t have enough manpower. As for the project at the electrical city, don’t expect me to take care of it like before, just like you did before, after the project is built.”

Chu Xiangqian smiled awkwardly, patted Zheng Shufen's buttocks, annoyed the woman so much that she twisted his waist and left the office.

Chu Xiangqian couldn't help but wonder whether he should temporarily use Ling Feng's talent and ignore his character.

It only took Chu Xiangqian a few seconds to make a decision after hearing the knock on the door.

It is impossible for everyone around you to be like Le Yan. Just the fact that Ye Xiaoli will become a real estate tycoon in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia in the future shows that while he is very capable, he is basically not a good person.

The only reason why he was able to maintain his reputation was because the bad and ugly things Ye Xiaoli had done had not been exposed.

He despised Ling Feng from the bottom of his heart, not only because he knew that he was a bad man with extremely poor character, but also because he failed to be as successful as Ye Xiaoli in the end.

And think about Fei Bo, Lan Gang, Bai Fanyu, Deng Fei, Luotuo, and even He Chaosheng, all of whom are involved in prostitution, gambling, and drugs, but I don't see how I despise them or stay away from them.

The reason is simply that I know these people have achieved something in the past and will achieve something in the future.

Since I am short of people now, I will temporarily be Ling Feng's mentor. If anyone dares to embezzle behind my back or even gets sentenced to death, I will kill him.

Moreover, he had been on guard against Ling Feng from the beginning, so naturally he would not give him the chance to betray him.

When he has the idea of ​​being independent, we will let him go out and make his own way in consideration of his dedication to the electrical appliance city project.

You can even invest in him.

It is of course good to have both moral integrity and talent, but there are really too few such people.

Even in ancient societies with such strict moral codes, there were not many people with both moral integrity and talent. In modern money-oriented society, such people are even rarer.

To put it bluntly, when the emperor is powerful, even if there are villains among his ministers, they dare not act recklessly.

In fact, the more wise and enlightened a monarch is, the more he needs a few villains under his command.

Otherwise, being an emperor would be uncomfortable.

With this idea in mind, Chu Xiangqian's attitude towards Ling Feng did not change 180 degrees, but he dared to use his talents.

As soon as Le Yan and Ling Feng entered the door, they immediately greeted Chu Xiangqian.

After Chu Xiangqian nodded and signaled his secretary to bring tea, he took over the plan that the two of them had spent two days and two nights writing.

After reading it, Chu Xiangqian couldn't help but praise the two of them. This plan was written in accordance with his instructions.

There are also many problems that I haven't noticed.

Glancing at Ling Feng who looked expectant, Chu Xiangqian could see that most of the plan was made by him.

In the past, Chu Xiangqian would at most praise him a few words, but now, not only did he praise him verbally, he also asked his secretary to inform Zheng Shufen that Ling Feng would be given five times his salary as a bonus this month.

Ling Feng instantly felt that he had truly met a mentor and also a wise leader.

2 is not more or less, but for Ling Feng, not only does he earn much more money than before, but he can also get the recognition and sense of accomplishment from a super rich and super boss like Chu Xiangqian, which cannot be compared with money.

(End of this chapter)