Chapter 288: The Final Screw, Turned with Human Hearts!

I miss home.

Those three words slipped from Lu Qingshan's mouth, light as a feather, yet like a red‑hot branding iron, instantly scorching away all the restlessness and unease in Lu Qingjun's heart.

Indeed, no matter how great a storm we stir up on Hong Kong Island, no matter how much we aim to win at the London gaming tables, home remains the starting point and the end point.

For the next two days, Lu Qingshan became a complete hands‑off manager, dumping everything onto his subordinates—the already high‑speed "war machines"—while he mulled over every detail of returning to the Capital City.

And Lu Qingjun became the one tasked with screwing the final bolt onto that machine and greasing it.

Taigu City.

Below three brand‑new high‑rise residential towers, Lu Qingjun stood with arms folded, listening to a property manager's obsequious report.

"Mr. Lu, these three buildings contain a total of 180 units. We have, per your orders, replaced every unit with brand‑new Toshiba TVs, Hitachi refrigerators, and a full set of rosewood furniture, ensuring every Xinghan Group employee can move in with just a suitcase. The security system has also been upgraded to the market's top‑tier German equipment, with 24‑hour patrols to guarantee absolute safety."

Lu Qingjun nodded in satisfaction and entered one of the high‑rise model apartments.

Two units per floor, a layout open north‑south, bright lighting, and a massive floor‑to‑ceiling window that even shows a glimpse of the distant Shallow Water Bay. He ran his hand over the brand‑new leather sofa, opened the refrigerator, which was already stocked with chilled sodas and beer, and felt a flood of emotions.

Thinking back to Shanwan Village, his brother still lived in a drafty mud house where ears could freeze in winter; he never dreamed that one day he could own such a grand property on Hong Kong Island—a place where every square foot is priceless—and use it to house his own brothers.

Over 70 million Hong Kong dollars bought the three towers, a deal that would make every developer on Hong Kong Island green‑eyed, yet Lu Qingshan's purpose in acquiring them was not investment.

These are the Xinghan Group staff dormitories, the first home Lu Qingshan set up on Hong Kong Island for the core cadres who fight the world with him. He wants everyone to know that following Lu Qingshan brings not only profit, but also dignity and belonging.

Just then, Wang Yuyun swept in like a gust of wind, her high heels clicking "teng‑teng" on the expensive marble floor, a document in hand, her pretty face flushed with anger.

"General Qingjun, I quit! This job is impossible!" she slammed the document onto the desk with a "pa—" sound, her chest heaving, eyes reddening.

"What's wrong, Sister Yuyun? Who provoked you?" Lu Qingjun hurriedly poured a glass of water and handed it over.

Wang Yuyun gulped a large mouthful of water, her eyebrows nearly twisted into a rope: "It's all about recruiting! In the past two days I interviewed over thirty candidates, each one slick‑haired and pretentious, little skill but big mouths! Today I went to HSBC to poach a credit manager named Chen Jialuo. Do you know what he told me?"

She mimicked the other's superior tone, saying sarcastically: "'Miss Wang, I admire your boss Mr. Lu's boldness, but Xinghan… to be blunt, is just a troupe with a bit of luck. My future is the stars and the sea; I can't gamble on a stage that could be capsized by a wave at any moment.' Damn it!" Wang Yuyun slapped her thigh in fury, "I really want to slap him! What a joke! He's just a Cambridge graduate, what's so great about that!"

Lu Qingjun also laughed in exasperation, about to speak, when Lu Qingshan's voice drifted softly from the doorway.

"Being able to say that shows he's interested; it's just that the price isn't enough, he wants to be sold at a higher price."

Lu Qingshan, having slipped in unnoticed, glanced casually at Chen Jialuo's résumé on the table and tossed it back lightly.

"HSBC senior credit manager, Cambridge University economics master's degree, reached that position at thirty—he's a talent. Moreover, his résumé states he topped HSBC's Asia‑Pacific Chinese sales for three consecutive years, yet each time he was promoted to director, a Brit parachuted in from headquarters would push him aside." A sharp insight flashed in Lu Qingshan's eyes. "He isn't afraid we're a troupe; he's afraid the price we offer can't match his ambition and grievances."

Wang Yuyun pursed her lips, still angry: "Brother, it's him! I asked around; he's been whispering to friends, trying to poach him. He wants at least a million a year, plus 0.1% of the group's dry shares! This isn't a job search, it's a money grab! The Governor's annual salary is only…"

"Give him that," Lu Qingshan said lightly, as if mentioning a trivial matter.

"What?" Wang Yuyun and Lu Qingjun were stunned. A million‑dollar salary? In 1980s Hong Kong Island, that was a price only senior foreign‑firm executives could command!

Lu Qingshan looked at their shocked faces, his gaze calm yet piercing: "Yuyun, remember this. Xinghan Group now lacks not money, but people who can turn money into more money, talent who can safeguard our family business. HSBC can offer him stability and prestige, but it cannot give him fairness, nor respect, nor a sky beyond the ceiling."

He held up two fingers and waved them before the two.

"Go see him again. Tell him I'll double his salary to two million a year! I'll also give him the dry shares he wants. But I have one condition: I want the elite credit‑approval team of seven or eight people under his command transferred to me intact. I'm not buying a general; I'm buying his entire corps!"

A cold, mocking smile curled at Lu Qingshan's mouth corner.

"Finally, tell him this: what I, Lu Qingshan, can give him is an opportunity he'll never grasp under HSBC, under those British superiors who look down on him—a chance he can't even imagine in his lifetime—"

"—a chance to personally use our capital to smash the Old Order and create a truly Chinese Financial Empire!"

"Tell him: are you willing to gamble this hand? Bet your own future, and bet the future of our Chinese people! Continue as a golden retriever chained to a leash, or become a Lion forging new lands—let him choose!"

Wang Yuyun stared blankly at Lu Qingshan; after a moment she gave a heavy nod. The earlier fury had already been replaced by a hotter blaze—a War Intent capable of igniting the whole land!

"I understand, brother! I'm going right now! I don't believe that even the future of an empire can't knock out a Chen Jialuo!"

Watching Wang Yuyun's fiery departure, Lu Qingjun felt a surge of emotion.

Brother's weapon isn't just money; it's also the human heart, that long‑suppressed, unwillingness to stay beneath others—ambition and national destiny.

This fire is enough to burn through HSBC's seemingly impenetrable walls.