Chapter 523: Handling the Aftermath

He Yuzhu asked, "Sister, those goods in our warehouse, are they truly ours or do they belong to the clients?"

Zhao Ying replied, "Most of them are stored by clients at our shipping company; only a very small portion is our own."

He Yuzhu continued to ask, "Then do we need to compensate the clients?"

Zhao Ying shook her head: "We are already bankrupt, so what is there to compensate? This counts as force majeure. However, I estimate the Hong Kong British Government will auction off our assets and use that money to repay a portion of the clients' losses."

He Yuzhu nodded: "That makes me feel a bit better; otherwise, I would always feel like I had taken the clients' things."

Zhao Ying said, "For this matter, we can let Jin Hai talk to the Hong Kong British Government and have him acquire our shipping company as a whole. If that really doesn't work, we can obtain it through the auction. The benefit of buying it directly is that Jin Hai would assume the losses of those clients whose goods were lost, and for us, it would also allow us to change the name and quickly continue operating the shipping company."

"This method is not bad. I'm just afraid the Hong Kong British Government won't agree," He Yuzhu said.

As expected, the Hong Kong British Government did not agree to the 150 million Hong Kong Dollar acquisition offer for the Eastern Shipping Company proposed by Jin Hai, and subsequently, they could only proceed with an auction.

The atmosphere in the auction house lobby was oppressive.

The representatives of the Hong Kong British Government sat on the stage with expressionless faces, while the hall below was full of people, all whispering to one another.

Chief Inspector Li Yong, wearing a suit, walked back and forth in the auction hall; it appeared he was maintaining order, but in reality, he was on guard against uninvited guests.

The auction hall was basically filled with companies Jin Hai had invited to "make up the numbers"; they pretended to be nervous, but in reality, they did not care at all.

The auctioneer struck the wooden gavel: "Eastern Shipping Company assets, starting price 150 million Hong Kong Dollars."

"160 million!" The representative of the Asia Huayuan Shipping Company, sitting in the third row, raised their paddle.

Following that, no matter how the auctioneer called out, no one else made a bid.

The auctioneer asked three times in a row, the wooden gavel fell, the dull sound echoed in the hall, and the entire process took less than ten minutes.

The representatives of the Hong Kong British Government all had dark faces, feeling as though they had been played.

Jin Hai wanted to acquire the Eastern Shipping Company with 150 million Hong Kong Dollars and also inherit tens of millions of Hong Kong Dollars in debt, but this auction actually allowed Jin Hai to pick up a huge bargain.

The sea breeze of Pearl Island blew onto the villa's terrace with a salty, damp scent.

Jin Hai's residence was brightly lit, and outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, one could see specks of fishing lights on the pitch-black sea.

The long dining table was filled with roast goose, lobster, and abalone, and the foreign liquor bottles reflected amber light under the lamps.

Xu Tian's cheeks were already flushed from drinking; he draped his arm over He Yuzhu's shoulder and clinked glasses again: "Zhuzi, tell me again, that Tricycle Cooperative... what exactly is going on?"

He Yuzhu explained: "It's just that those hundred-plus vehicles of your father's were bought by the state. Your father has now taken a sum of money and retired early. The rickshaw pullers in your family have all become workers for the cooperative; they no longer need to pay the daily rental fee and receive a fixed monthly wage. Of course, if they work more and earn more, there will also be bonuses."

"Then what if someone slacks off?" Xu Tian asked curiously, his eyes wide.

"There are people who slack off in every era. In my opinion, four-wheeled automobiles will sooner or later replace three-wheeled rickshaws..." He Yuzhu said.

Jin Hai walked over at this moment, patted He Yuzhu on the back, and signaled with his eyes.

The two walked to the rattan chairs in the corner of the terrace and sat down.

Jin Hai handed over a cigar, but He Yuzhu waved his hand.

Jin Hai lit it himself and took a deep drag; the smoke dispersed into the night.

He lowered his voice, but his eyes were startlingly bright: "Zhuzi, tell your brother the truth. Last month... those warships at the port, was that your doing?"

He Yuzhu nodded lightly.

Jin Hai gave a thumbs-up and said: "Brother, in this life, I only admire you—you pay back every grudge. To tell you the truth, after I found out the Eastern Shipping Company had a major incident, I really wanted to take my brothers and fight those M Country soldiers to the death."

He Yuzhu smiled: "Thank you. I am deeply grateful that you have this heart. The shipping company will still need your support in the future."

Jin Hai said confidently: "Against a country, I truly have no way, but in this little patch of Hong Kong, I don't fear anyone now."

He Yuzhu nodded and said: "Master Jin, in the coming years, Hong Kong is about to enter the real estate era. If you have money, buy property; if you don't have property, buy land to build houses. Even if you build houses and can't sell them, keep them—they will be hot commodities in the future."

"Brother will remember that. The idea you gave us last time about getting into the entertainment industry was very good; it's still quite profitable now," Jin Hai responded.

After finishing his meal at Jin Hai's place, He Yuzhu went to find Lin Wanning, whose belly was now even more prominent.

The first thing Lin Wanning said when she saw He Yuzhu was: "You are getting bolder and bolder. You even dared to bomb and sink a fleet; aren't you afraid of being targeted?"

He Yuzhu smiled: "How could I not be afraid? Otherwise, I would have come to see you sooner; I was just afraid of causing you trouble."

Lin Wanning reached out her hand, "I am very short on money recently. I know you got quite a bit, so sponsor me a little!"

He Yuzhu took out a bankbook for 500,000 Hong Kong Dollars and handed it to her.

"Isn't that too little? This bit of money isn't even enough to buy equipment," Lin Wanning pouted.

"You run a hospital, why do you need so much money?" He Yuzhu asked.

"You don't know how expensive it is to run a hospital—you need X-ray therapy machines, radium therapy equipment, pathological microscopy systems, and complete sets of operating room equipment. To get it all fully equipped, it will cost at least 1.2 million Hong Kong Dollars," Lin Wanning said.

"Do you really want to make your hospital the best?" He Yuzhu looked at her.

"How can one just settle when doing things? Jin Hai's thinking is about the same as yours; he thinks it's enough to be able to treat external injuries. He also said that if I want to invest money, he will give me all his shares—the implication being he doesn't want to pay any more money," Lin Wanning explained.

"Alright, how much do you need?" He Yuzhu asked.

"Just give me another 1 million Hong Kong Dollars," Lin Wanning said with a grin.

"No problem, but I can only give you some gold. It's something I saved up years ago; you don't need to worry about the source," He Yuzhu said, as he did not want to get Lin Wanning into trouble as well.

"Done," Lin Wanning agreed readily.

He Yuzhu stayed with Zhang Shuying for a few days before returning to Guangzhou.

When he returned to Guangzhou, it was already March 1955.

The biggest event during that time was the issuance of the new People's Currency, with 10,000 yuan of the old currency being exchanged for 1 yuan.

He Yushui and a group of children came to Guangzhou to spend the New Year with He Daqing, but they didn't see He Yuzhu, so they went back after staying for ten-plus days.

Secretary Liu learned that He Yuzhu had returned and hurried over to see him.

He Yuzhu did not hide it from Secretary Liu; he told him about the bombing of the warships, but did not mention the bank part.

Secretary Liu stood in He Yuzhu's room and paced back and forth several times before saying: "Zhuzi, you really know how to cause trouble. Once those warships were bombed, the tension between our military and the M Military became very high. If it weren't for the fact that they had already suffered losses at our hands in Korea, we might have ended up fighting again this time."

He Yuzhu said slowly: "Secretary Liu, actually I didn't want it to be this way, but the Eastern Shipping Company is Liu Rusi's business. If she has the shipping company, she can help us do many things—transporting equipment, transporting food. Once it's gone, we will be very passive."

"I didn't mean to blame you!" Secretary Liu lit a cigarette and took a few puffs.

He Yuzhu smiled: "The harvest this time is not small either. The goods that were originally the Eastern Shipping Company's clients' were detained by the M Military. Zhao Ying's Security Team took advantage of the warships being bombed and transferred everything out. There are complete sets of textile machines and food processing equipment. She promised to transfer them to us at a very low price. The industrial park we talked about before now has a lead."

Secretary Liu stopped in his tracks, his eyes brightening: "Really? But that would require a lot of foreign currency!"

"She only wants twenty percent of the market price, and it can be paid in installments; we can pay it back slowly once the factory makes money." He Yuzhu took a stack of photos out of his leather bag, "Take a look."

In the photos, all kinds of machines were piled up in an exceptionally large shed. Secretary Liu flipped through them one by one and praised: "Good... good! I will file a report immediately. The Textile Factory can bring in master craftsmen from Shanghai to train the Apprentices."

"I will go to Huangpu Wharf to pick up the goods tomorrow."