Chapter 778: Opening Up Territory

He Yuzhu didn't put the few thugs in his eyes at all and continued walking forward.

Nina was also in a nonchalant mood, happily looking over the scarf she had just bought.

When the two turned into a relatively secluded street, the six people tailing them finally stopped pretending.

They lunged forward, about to make a move.

He Yuzhu stopped, put down his shopping bags, looked at them, and asked, "Are you few trying to rob me?"

The black man in the lead stared at him as if he were a fool, gave a cold sneer, and too lazy to even speak, simply raised his hand to signal.

The rest of them pulled out Daggers from their waists in unison and surrounded He Yuzhu.

Their movements were practiced, and they even carried an air of deliberate showing off.

One look and it was clear they were habitual offenders who committed crimes year-round; they brandished their Daggers and closed in step by step, intending to scare him off.

He Yuzhu did not use his spatial ability, relying only on speed and strength far exceeding that of an ordinary person to deal with them.

He smashed a fist into one black man's face, the other's nose bridge collapsing instantly; then he kicked another in the abdomen, and that person flew backward more than ten meters.

Two more rushed up from behind, only to be swept by a whirlwind kick from him, breaking several ribs on the spot. Seeing this, the remaining two immediately turned and fled in a panic.

The four injured thugs lay on the ground, howling in pain. He Yuzhu couldn't be bothered to look again, took Nina's hand, and turned to leave.

Back at the hotel, Nina's eyes were sparkling: "I'm so happy today, it's as if I've returned to twenty years ago. The way you handled those little thugs was truly satisfying."

He Yuzhu smiled: "Since you're happy, we'll continue shopping tomorrow."

In the period that followed, He Yuzhu completely entered a mode of frantic purchasing.

The items he bought were varied in type, including both personal effects and supplies needed for factory production, and his purpose for doing so was only one: to consume the large amount of Mark and Franc cash he had hoarded.

He knew clearly that if this money wasn't spent, it would just be waste paper lying in his space; only through circulation and consumption could it be considered real wealth.

He didn't just shop in London; he traveled to various places to spend lavishly.

He Yuzhu stayed in the United Kingdom for nearly a month, and he hadn't even spent half of the Mark and Franc cash he had on hand; only then did he truly realize that sometimes spending money is also a difficult task.

The most critical point was that at the time, there were very strict controls on large-sum cash consumption everywhere; even when buying luxury cars, one could only use cash for half of the settlement at most.

During this month-plus stay in the United Kingdom, He Yuzhu did not rob any more banks.

Since the CIA had already concluded he was dead, he would take advantage of this fake death to lie low and live a stable, peaceful life for a while.

At the end of January 1986, He Yuzhu returned to Hong Kong from England.

The amount of Marks and Francs harvested this time was too massive; he couldn't properly digest and process it on his own, so he could only entrust Zhao Ying and Jin Hai to help divert and consume it.

He Yuzhu gave Nina assets worth twenty million US dollars directly—not cash deposits, but shares in an Asian shipping company.

After decades of steady development, the Asian shipping company had long since successfully gone public, with a market value exceeding twenty billion Hong Kong Dollars.

Besides this, Zhao Ying also controlled a listed real estate company, with a market value also reaching over ten billion Hong Kong Dollars.

In both listed companies, He Yuzhu held thirty percent of the shares.

At the same time, he handed over the large quantity of luxury goods and brand-name cars purchased from the UK to Jin Hai and Zhao Ying to sell and process on his behalf, while he returned to Si Jiu Cheng alone.

He had barely sat down after arriving home when the phone on the table rang.

Recognizing the voice of Secretary Liu on the other end, he immediately set off for the Second Reception House to meet.

Secretary Liu poured He Yuzhu a cup of hot tea and asked, "Zhuzi, you caused quite a stir abroad this time; did you encounter any danger along the way?"

He Yuzhu nodded and truthfully recounted his experience of being pursued by three helicopters and several cars.

Secretary Liu listened with his heart in his throat, pondered for a moment, and asked, "According to what you say, the outside world has already concluded that the 'Shadow' organization has been completely eradicated, and your suspicion has been completely cleared?"

He Yuzhu nodded slightly: "That should be the case. As long as I don't make any more extreme moves, even if the other side harbors doubts, they won't easily overturn the established investigation conclusions."

"Then, what were your gains from this long journey?"

He Yuzhu understood in his heart that what was meant to come would come; the other side was about to ask for benefits. He didn't hide anything and replied frankly: "I did bring back a large batch of supplies this time, among which various industrial equipment accounts for the most, mainly automobile manufacturing equipment. I intend to build an automobile factory. If the higher-ups are interested in investing and cooperating, I would be very happy."

Seeing He Yuzhu deliberately avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial, Secretary Liu simply asked directly: "Did you manage to get any gold this time?"

He Yuzhu nodded in response: "Yes, but the quantity isn't too large."

Secretary Liu sighed softly: "Currently, the country's gold reserves are in short supply... rest assured, we won't take it for nothing; we will purchase it all at the fair market price."

He Yuzhu said: "Leader, there is no need for such courtesy. I can provide ten tons of gold free of charge, only hoping to exchange it for a few plots of land in Si Jiu Cheng." Having said that, he took out a city map and circled several areas on it, "All demolition and construction costs for the plots will be borne by me."

Secretary Liu looked at the markings on the map and said slowly: "These few areas were originally old factory sites. With the city's expansion and renovation, the factories have long since moved away, so the plots can be approved for you. However, you must tell me truthfully, what do you intend to do with these plots?"

He Yuzhu explained: "In my view, if real estate continues to develop in an orderly fashion, housing prices will continue to skyrocket, which is not conducive to stable urban development. I intend to take these plots and build standardized rental apartments. You also know that these locations have convenient transportation; the apartments will only be rented and not sold, and the rent will be set at a people-friendly price. When necessary, it can also serve to suppress rent and stabilize housing prices."

After listening, Secretary Liu immediately showed a look of joy: "Your idea is very sound and feasible. As long as your affordable apartments provide a floor, surrounding merchants won't dare to arbitrarily inflate rents, and housing prices will naturally be constrained. I have also carefully studied the suggestions regarding government land storage in the materials you submitted previously; the feasibility is extremely high."

He Yuzhu smiled indifferently; he sincerely hoped that in this life, domestic housing prices would no longer be falsely high, and ordinary people could live and work in peace.

The two talked heart-to-heart until late at night before parting ways.

A few days later, He Yuzhu handed over the ten tons of gold as promised, and Secretary Liu also kept his word, successfully approving the several plots of land he had circled. The land transfer price was very favorable, basically offsetting the loss from the gold transfer.

He Yuzhu recently noticed that Chen Xueru had been unhappy, so he asked: "Did something happen on your end?"

"Recently, the textile and garment industry in Guangdong Province has been growing rapidly, and our garment export business is becoming increasingly difficult to do. Even if our designs are good, it won't be long before they are plagiarized and imitated by peers. If it weren't for the Liushi Trading Company helping and looking after us from the middle, our export business would have likely stalled long ago. Tell me, how should we respond next?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment and said slowly: "The rapid rise of the textile industry in Guangdong Province is primarily because a large number of Chinese businessmen shuttle between Hong Kong and the UK, easily securing large foreign trade orders from Europe and the UK, then turning around and subcontracting them to Guangdong factories, earning huge price differences in the process. You don't need to envy the fact that their garment factories seem to have exploding orders; in reality, when they make a shirt, the net profit is not even one yuan. In the long run, once local labor costs in Guangdong rise, these middlemen will immediately transfer the orders to low-cost regions like Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India..."

After hearing this analysis, Chen Xueru was instantly enlightened and cleared up the direction for subsequent development.

"What you said is so thorough! We cannot just do subcontracting; we must build our own brand and use advertising to make the brand famous."

He Yuzhu patted her shoulder: "Now is the golden period for brand layout; once major overseas brands fully enter the domestic market, it will be difficult for us to break through."

Chen Xueru nodded repeatedly: "That's right. I plan to recruit a large number of university students majoring in fashion design to comprehensively improve the garment factory's original design capabilities. From now on, design will be the core competitiveness of the garment industry."

He Yuzhu praised: "You are indeed naturally gifted at business. In the future, the scale of the domestic garment subcontracting industry will rank among the best in the world, but it will lack top-tier original design talent."

Chen Xueru echoed: "Nowadays, ordinary clothing with old-fashioned styles and no sense of design has long had no market."

He Yuzhu continued to urge: "You also need to start laying out in second and third-tier cities and secure prime storefronts in busy streets. This matter can be handed over to Xiao E; let her lead the establishment of a commercial real estate company..."