Chapter 190: Advancing Side by Side

In 1972, the British Hong Kong government developed a rural plan; to appease the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories, the government granted a special privilege to male descendants of the New Territories, known as Ding Rights.

From then on, every male descendant of the New Territories could build one three-story Ding House in their lifetime, with each floor not exceeding seven hundred square feet, exempt from land premiums.

Note that female descendants of the New Territories do not have this privilege.

At present, Lu Yongyu does not yet have great ambition; only when she has ambition will she desperately want to take the Lu Guo Group public, so that her power within the Lu Guo Group can be transformed into "Ding Rights."

That is why she would do many things that go against human ethics.

"Tuen Mun might not be a good place in your eyes, but I grew up here.

Brother Jun, I like it here; although Tuen Mun doesn't have female Ding Rights, it has the Lu Guo Group, and it has you."

What Chen Jiajun never expected was that Lu Yongyu would refute him.

At this moment, Chen Jiajun finally understood.

This sentence from Lu Yongyu resolved the last of Chen Jiajun's inner misgivings at this moment.

Chen Jiajun stroked Lu Yongyu's beautiful face.

"Huh?"

Lu Yongyu had not reacted at all, and her head was buried even lower; she did not dare to look into Chen Jiajun's eyes.

"Since you love this land, you should go and gain experience in a large listed group like the Bar Group."

"Mm..."

"I will stand by your side; feel free to do it, and tell me whenever you need anything."

"I know..."

Chen Jiajun pulled her into his arms: "I am not a good person."

"Don't belittle yourself; in the eyes of the people of the New Territories, you are a good person."

Lu Yongyu buried her head in Chen Jiajun's arms.

The next day.

When Lu Taigong got up, the figures of Chen Jiajun and Lu Yongyu were long gone.

He was so angry his beard trembled: "They didn't come back last night?"

"They came back."

"Then where are they?"

"They left after having morning tea; I saw them holding hands too."

"What?" Lu Hantao felt both heartbroken and gratified at the same time; what gratified him was that Chen Jiajun was, after all, a junior he valued.

What broke his heart was that his daughter had been snatched away.

"Bastard..."

In the top-floor reception room of the Guojun Building.

Chen Jiajun introduced them to Lu Yongyu and Lu Yeqiang: "This is Sir Deng Zhaojian's grandson, Deng Yongqiang."

"Young Master Deng."

"Young Master Deng."

Lu Yeqiang and Lu Yongyu greeted him.

"This is Lu Yongyu, Lu Hantao's daughter, and also my girlfriend. This is Lu Yeqiang, Lu Huangfa's son." Immediately after, Chen Jiajun introduced Lu Yongyu and Lu Hantao.

"Young Master Lu, Miss Lu."

Deng Yongqiang shook hands with both of them and said: "A Jun, these two are the ones you found for me to join the Bar Group together, right?"

"Yes."

"I am a straightforward person; since we will be working together in the future, there are some things I must make clear. My personality is relatively laid-back; you are both elites in the business world, so if I have requests of you in the future, please do not refuse."

Just like that, the future heirs of three wealthy families joined the Bar Group on behalf of the Guojun Group.

Zhan Peizhong announced the shares of the Bar Group held by the Guojun Group; as of now, the Guojun Group holds a total of 42.348 million shares, accounting for 40.02%.

Immediately after, the news that Deng Yongqiang, Lu Yeqiang, and Lu Yongyu had joined the board of directors of the Bar Group on behalf of the Guojun Group was announced, and the shareholders' confidence in the Bar Group actually increased instead of decreasing, with the stock price rising to 20 dollars.

In the afternoon, after the Bar Group finished its board meeting, a new leadership team was released, and Lei Juekun was swept out the door just like that.

Because there was no position of General Manager of the Bar Group, the triad forces that often surrounded Lei Juekun also dissipated in an instant.

"Mr. Chen's capital operation is truly an eye-opener for me, Lei; even if you leave the market now, you could earn two or three hundred million Hong Kong dollars.

I, Lei, am convinced; it was my fault, I shouldn't have let Shitian and Mai Jia defect."

In the Guojun Building, Lei Juekun looked at the young man in front of him and shook his head with a bitter smile.

"The business world is like a battlefield; I am not targeting you, I am indeed optimistic about the future of the Bar Group." Chen Jiajun sat with his legs crossed, smoking a cigar.

"I believe you, my foot." Lei Juekun muttered to himself; he still didn't know the style of Dalao Jun?

Whoever becomes an enemy of Dalao Jun will have bad luck.

If Lei Juekun were still the General Manager of the Bar Group, he wouldn't mind crossing swords with Chen Jiajun; after all, many triad members relied on him for a living.

Perhaps some people are curious why so many triads rely on minibus routes for a living?

To put it simply, if there were no profit margins stipulated by the British Hong Kong government, the two groups, Bar and Zhongba, could raise the ticket price by five or six times, and Bar and Zhongba could also leap to become large financial groups with a market value of several billion.

But because of the existence of this profit margin, Bar simply couldn't be bothered to manage some long-distance minibus routes from the New Territories to Kowloon, because operating these routes was a complete loss.

In Hong Kong, buses are divided into two types: one is the Red VAN, and the other is the Green VAN.

The Green VAN is the bus of the Bar or Zhongba Group; they have fixed routes, schedules, and fares.

Red VAN refers to red minibuses; they have no fixed routes, schedules, or fares.

In Hong Kong, where Gweilo run rampant, the half-native, half-foreign, half-Chinese, half-English terminology best reflects the international tone here.

If you are an outsider, once you get on a red minibus in Mong Kok, you will never be able to guess where the next stop will be.

The red minibuses shuttling through mountain roads and streets are the "death racers" of Hong Kong, and every driver is a "retired racer" with undying ambition.

It takes 70 minutes for a green minibus to travel from the southernmost part of Hong Kong Island to Mong Kok, while a red minibus only takes 20 minutes.

When waiting for a minibus by the roadside, the most important thing is to be quick-eyed and nimble-handed; the moment you see a minibus approaching, you must wave immediately, or if you are a second too slow, the wild red minibus will roar right past you.

In fact, only the minibuses heading to slightly more remote areas like Kwun Tong, Tuen Mun, and Yuen Long deserve the title of "death-defying minibuses." Sometimes the speed exceeds 100 kilometers per hour, and the drivers do not hold back at all.

The Wo Luen Shing Tsuen Wan Hall Master—Da D, controls many high-traffic minibus routes between Tsuen Wan and East Kowloon; this red minibus route alone brings Da D one or two million in income every year.

Those black-market buses that want to run this route must pay Da D an Entry Fee and a Management Fee; if they want to operate independently, they will be suppressed by Da D's top lieutenant, Zhang Mao, using all sorts of methods, making it impossible to survive.

And this minibus route controlled by Da D—how could it possibly survive without the nod and approval of Lei Juekun of the Bar Group?

Lei Juekun could send Da D straight to Stanley Prison with just a casual word to the Hong Kong government.

But now, Lei Juekun no longer has that skin; he has lost the capital to fight against Chen Jiajun.

Therefore, after the Bar Group board meeting concluded, Lei Juekun called Chen Jiajun to arrange a meeting.

Taking a sip of Pu'er tea, Lei Juekun set down his teacup: "Whether you are optimistic about the Bar Group or not, these things have nothing to do with me anymore.

Look, name a price for the Golden Princess Circuit in my hands."

Lei Juekun's decisiveness took Chen Jiajun quite by surprise: "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am serious; I have already lost the capital to fight with you," Lei Juekun shook his head and smiled.

Lei Juekun's decisiveness actually made Chen Jiajun feel a sense of favor toward him.

Chen Jiajun had spent 20 million to acquire the Jiahe Circuit back then, but that was because Boss Zou of Jiahe did not give him face, so he took it by force.

Since Lei Juekun was so sensible, Chen Jiajun did not want to sour the relationship: "The Golden Princess Circuit has 18 cinemas in total; how about a price of 40 million?"

Chen Jiajun gave what he considered a reasonable price.

However, Lei Juekun shook his head: "Boss Chen, the Golden Princess Circuit is not the Jiahe Circuit. I spent 50 million just to acquire the Lisheng Cinema Circuit plus a few other cinemas, and that was last year's price...

This year, property prices in Hong Kong have risen quite a bit."

"Ahem." Chen Jiajun was also a bit embarrassed; he was used to being in the triad, where everyone always showed him respect... He pondered for a moment and said: "How about 55 million?"

"???"

Lei Juekun's face was full of question marks; he only added five million?

The two sides sparred for a long time, getting tangled up over the price, until finally Chen Jiajun raised the price to 60 million and refused to add any more.

"Add another 2 million, 62 million. Pay 22 million as the first installment, 20 million after 6 months, and the remaining 20 million after a year. If you are not willing, Boss Chen, I won't be able to answer to my shareholders."

Lei Juekun was getting anxious.

His payment method actually hit the mark for Chen Jiajun.

Although Chen Jiajun could pay it all at once right now, he couldn't just shell it out so readily; after all, keeping that much money in the bank to earn interest every day was not a small amount.

"Fine, Boss Lei, I've made a friend in you." Chen Jiajun took the initiative to reach out his hand.

The next morning, both sides brought their Lawyers to sign the agreement, and Chen Jiajun paid the 22 million immediately.

From then on, both the Jiahe Circuit and the Golden Princess Circuit were merged into Chen Jiajun's Hong Hing Cinema.

Once the news broke, Hong Kong was stirred, and the entertainment industry was shaken.

On the day the Hong Hing Cinema was established, a press conference that shocked Hong Kong was held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui East.

"Welcome, reporters, to this press conference."

"Our Hong Hing Cinema has already acquired the Jiahe Circuit and the Golden Princess Circuit; the Hong Hing Cinema currently has a total of 37 cinemas and 160 screens."

This number had already far exceeded the Shaw Brothers Circuit; the cinemas under the Shaw Brothers Circuit company totaled 16, with 97 screens in total. From this moment on, a cinema chain hegemon was officially born.

"I hereby announce that starting today, the Hong Hing Cinema officially cancels the minimum guarantee fee. All films screened at the Hong Hing Cinema will no longer need to pay a minimum guarantee fee; we will only collect the actual box office split between the cinema chain and the theaters..."

"Wow..."

Before Chen Jiajun could finish his sentence, the press conference venue was already in an uproar.

The Hong Hing Cinema canceling the cinema minimum guarantee system meant the Hong Kong film industry was about to change. This was not just a matter of the changing landscape of the Hong Kong film circle; it would also have an extremely profound impact on the future production and screening of Hong Kong films.

Under the temptation of the Hong Hing Cinema not charging a minimum guarantee fee, countless production companies would inevitably risk offending Shaw Brothers to bring their films to the Hong Hing Cinema for screening.

It could be said that compared to the founding of the Hong Hing Cinema, the news of Chen Jiajun breaking the minimum guarantee fee system was even more capable of attracting the attention of filmmakers.

Before this, all cinema chains in Hong Kong implemented a minimum guarantee fee system. For a film to be screened at a certain chain, a minimum guarantee fee had to be paid; if the box office returns were good, the excess would be split with the cinema chain, with the film company taking the lion's share.

If the box office was poor and did not exceed the minimum guarantee, the film company would have no profit and would definitely lose money.

This model was very unfriendly to some small-scale film companies and some small-budget films.

Before the free Q&A session for reporters even began, Jing Kun threw out another piece of news: "To celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Hong Hing Cinema has designated the period around the New Year as the Christmas slot.

The film 【A Better Tomorrow】, written by Chairman Chen Jiajun and directed by Chen Jiajun and Wu Yusen, starring Zhou Runfa, Di Long, Zhang Guorong, and Zhu Baoyi, will be scheduled for full-scale release in the 37 cinemas of the Hong Hing Cinema on December 25th."

"Boom."

The press conference erupted into a huge clamor once again; no one expected that the final announced news would be this.

Wasn't Chen Jiajun the Underground Emperor of Hong Kong, the largest shareholder of the Bar Group, the mysterious Chairman of the Guojun Group, a charitable and enthusiastic citizen, the Hong Kong stock sniper, and the creator of the bloody night in Macau?

How did he suddenly go off to make a movie?

What?

He was actually the screenwriter too.

What kind of talent does Dalao Jun have?

When the time for the reporters' free Q&A arrived, dozens of reporters at the scene scrambled to ask:

"May I ask, after the Hong Hing Cinema cancels the minimum guarantee system, what methods will you use to avoid cinema operating risks?"

"Mr. Chen Jiajun, how did you end up making movies?"

《The Spring of Independent Film Companies—Hong Hing Abolishes Cinema Minimum Guarantee System》

《Chen Jiajun—Justice of the Peace, Entrepreneur, Screenwriter, Director? 》

《Thirty-seven Cinemas in Full-Scale Simultaneous Release, What Is So Exceptional About A Better Tomorrow? 》

The next day, all the newspapers in Hong Kong had headlines in their entertainment sections that were, without exception, all news about the Hong Hing Cinema.

The filmmakers in the industry were particularly sensitive to this; many directors and screenwriters, green with envy at the film's lucrative profits, were eager to try their hand at making independent films and then releasing them in Hong Hing Cinema to make a fortune.

As for the news about *A Better Tomorrow*, many people were also paying attention. After all, Zhou Runfa was a box-office poison who was currently a popular young actor, Di Long was a has-been hero, Wu Yusen was a director who had almost lost his job, Dalao Jun was writing the script himself, and with the addition of Zhang Guorong, what kind of surprises could this film bring?

Over the next few days, under the manipulation of Chen Jiajun, reports of artists visiting the set of *A Better Tomorrow* appeared from time to time in the entertainment sections of major Hong Kong newspapers and entertainment magazines.

As for Dalao Jun, he went into hiding once again.

Guojun Technology Building.

Banshou En had been summoned back by Chen Jiajun, and several buses of various types were parked at the entrance; these buses were all pushed into the Guojun Research Institute.

Ao En transformed into a tech fanatic, dismantling the buses in the workshop.

After the loading bar finished, he opened the workshop door.

A double-decker bus, 4 meters high and about 15 meters long, appeared before Chen Jiajun.

With eight wheels, a chrome silver paint finish, and large areas of transparent glass windows, it looked significantly more advanced than the double-decker buses currently on the market.

Chen Jiajun was stunned. He circled the double-decker bus again and again, climbed onto the engine cover, lay by the engine to observe for a moment, and listened to Banshou En's explanation:

"V8 turbocharged engine, 1L displacement, 800L fuel tank."

"800 horsepower; when the engine speed is at 10001 rpm/min, it can achieve a torque output of 1800/2 N. m."

"Equipped with auxiliary safety systems such as ESP, ABS, and ASR, and an 8-speed semi-automatic transmission."

Chen Jiajun entered the passenger cabin and observed it. The design of the center console did not have any particularly obvious changes compared to the buses in Hong Kong, and as Chen Jiajun had instructed beforehand, control buttons for the front and rear doors had been added.

At the same time, the center console could monitor tire pressure at any time, allowing the driver to understand changes in tire pressure in a timely manner to ensure driving safety.

The height of the lower deck was 1.9 meters, and the seats adopted a symmetrical layout that was more rational for travel.

The stairs to the upper deck were designed at the rear of the vehicle, using a compact spiral design; the wide steps would not make passengers feel that the vehicle was too high when boarding or alighting, and extended handrails were installed on the sides.

The height of the upper deck was also 1.9 meters, and the seats also used a symmetrical layout, while using more large-area glass than the lower deck, providing excellent lighting.

The passenger capacity was around 83 people, but as a passenger bus, there were many railings and handrails in the aisles of the first and second floors to facilitate passengers without seats.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Chen Jiajun specifically drove a lap around Butterfly Bay. The handling was far superior to the buses in Hong Kong, and the riding experience was also good; presumably, once it hit the market, it would definitely be able to occupy the bus market in Hong Kong.

That's right.

The next batch of buses purchased by the Bar Group would be produced by the Guojun Group.

But the problem arose: the Hong Kong colonial government had always only allowed Hong Kong bus companies to purchase buses from Commonwealth of Nations countries.

This restriction would not be lifted until 1983, and to get the buses on the market, Chen Jiajun had to have the relevant business licenses.

Obtaining a license to manufacture automobiles was not very difficult, but the problem was that specifically going to get a license just for the sake of the Bar Group's bus procurement was somewhat not worth the loss...

Thus, Chen Jiajun sighed and turned his gaze toward Zhongba.

As mentioned earlier, there were only two bus companies in Hong Kong: one was Bar, and the other was Zhongba. Zhongba was responsible for Hong Kong Island, and Bar was responsible for the New Territories and Kowloon.

Zhongba was also a listed group. The Chairman, Yan Chengkun, had chosen Hong Kong Island for Zhongba's franchise at the time because he had considered that the income of residents on Hong Kong Island was generally higher than in Kowloon and the New Territories.

But times had changed, and looking back, Yan Chengkun would definitely have chosen Kowloon and the New Territories.

The Zhongba Group was a group with a market value of nearly 500 million; for Dalao Jun, a group with a market value of 500 million was a piece of cake.

However, the Zhongba Group did not have dispersed equity like Bar; the equity of the Zhongba Group had always been very stable.

Setting these aside for now, for Chen Jiajun, there was a very serious problem: he was out of money.

Continue taking out a Loan from the bank?

Forget it.

Chen Jiajun had already borrowed 6.5 billion from HSBC in total; which bank in Hong Kong would dare to lend him money now?

Hongxing Finance had also been emptied by him.

Could it be that he really had to withdraw some of the funds from Japan?

At the thought of the Japan stock market, Chen Jiajun got an idea.

Although he didn't have liquid funds, his business friends did; those wealthy tycoons were all filthy rich.

Borrow money from them?

Borrowing money was naturally impossible.

If Hongxing's Dalao Jun borrowed from private individuals, what if the news reached HSBC's Chief Executive Shen Bi? Wouldn't that cause panic for Shen Bi?

After all, HSBC was his biggest creditor at the moment.

Nothing in this world was harder than making the other party willingly put money into one's own pocket, but for Hongxing's Dalao Jun, it was actually not difficult.

Thus, the next day, Chen Jiajun specifically visited his good friend, the Chairman of the Board of Kowloon Wharf—Bao Jueshi.

That's right, Chen Jiajun had set his sights on Bao Jueshi.

Bao Jueshi was super rich, extremely rich.

"A Jun, what wind blew you over today?"

As an independent director of HSBC, Bao Jueshi had heard about Chen Jiajun's financial strength.

As a pro-leftist businessman, Bao Jueshi also knew some inside information about Chen Jiajun's industrial base in Pengcheng.

Chen Jiajun took a sip of coffee, put down the cup, and said, "I want to acquire the Zhongba Group."

"Oh?"

"You want to monopolize the bus industry in Hong Kong?"

"But you are already the largest shareholder of the Bar Group; I'm afraid acquiring the Zhongba Group will meet with quite a bit of resistance."

Bao Jueshi was slightly surprised.

Chen Jiajun smiled and stated his true purpose: "So I want the Bao Family to establish a company, and we will jointly inject capital to complete this acquisition. When the time comes, the Chairman of the Board of the Zhongba Group will be a member of the Bao Family."

"Acquiring the Zhongba Group also has many benefits for the Bao Family."

"Although I have already dispelled the outside world's intentions regarding my coveting the land value of the Bar Group, in reality, whether it is Bar or Zhongba, their land value is immeasurable."

"Especially the land reserve potential of the Zhongba Group."

"Currently, the subway lines have already been laid out, and the bus group's operations are becoming increasingly conservative; their heyday has ended, and right now is the perfect opportunity to strike while they are down."

"If we wait until more and more people realize the land reserve potential of China Motor Bus, the difficulty of acquiring Bar Group will be immense."

"Additionally, I have another intention in acquiring Bar Group, which is to leverage the minibus lines of Bar Group to drive the land potential near the route stations."

"Bao Jueshi, you also know a thing or two: the passenger volume of Kowloon Motor Bus and China Motor Bus is enormous, and passenger volume represents money."

Hearing Chen Jiajun explain it in detail, Bao Jueshi nodded repeatedly: "Then how do you plan to divide this cake?"

"Advance side by side, a fifty-fifty split."

Even though there was hardly any liquid capital left in his pockets, Chen Jiajun still acted very lavishly.

(End of chapter)