Chapter 249: A Beautiful Misunderstanding!

It was already very late when leaving the Huo family's large villa.

Earlier, at the invitation of Huo Lao, a dinner had been eaten right there at the villa.

Ahem, Huo Lao had called his eldest son out to keep company, and the conversation could be considered quite pleasant.

The content of the chat had nothing to do with the underworld or outside disputes, but rather football.

Clearly, what Wu Feng had done had already gained the approval of this Hong Kong Big Brother.

Otherwise, it would have been difficult even to meet, let alone eat a dinner at the Huo residence and chat about football, a subject Huo Lao was very interested in.

Wu Feng was not the least bit reserved!

If it were about other things, he might have had many reservations, but when it came to talking about football, he feared no one.

Let's start with Hong Kong football!

The standard of Hong Kong football in the eighties was actually quite decent.

With the rapid development of the Hong Kong economy, plus the influence of Great Britain, the football atmosphere was considered quite rich.

Many wealthy people in Hong Kong had the intention and ideas to form football teams for fun.

Coupled with Hong Kong's special environment, it could not only absorb some European semi-professional or even low-level professional players, but also attract relevant football talent from the Mainland.

Huo Lao had already served as the president of the Hong Kong Football Association for many years.

In fact, at this time, Hong Kong already possessed a professional league.

Although the place was not large, there were quite a few professional teams!

The overall standard of Hong Kong football, placed in Asia at this time, could be considered top-tier third-rate, and occasionally bursting out, it could even reach a second-rate standard.

Truth be told, the football standard of Japan at this time could only be considered on par with Hong Kong.

Do not doubt it!

The *Captain Tsubasa* manga could be said to be explosive in Asia, but the author's common sense regarding football was quite embarrassing, about the same as a novice.

Among them, the most exciting elementary school football arc, the national football competition champion at the sixth-grade level, actually ended up with two teams; isn't that nonsense?

In his previous life, Wu Feng had also read the *Captain Tsubasa* manga and watched the anime when he was young.

At the time, it felt very strange!

The two teams that finally rushed into the finals, because the penalty shootout could not determine a winner for a long time, ended up both being champions; it was simply treating the rules of a football match as child's play.

For a big-name football manga author to be so lacking in the rules of football matches, one can see what the football atmosphere in Japan was like at that time.

The national football team at that time was still at an Asian first-rate standard!

Because of their height and physical strength, they also had a talent for specifically countering Japanese teams.

It was also because of this that the current standard of Hong Kong football was much better than that future state of being a non-entity.

Wu Feng had long had the intention to invest in football!

At the beginning of the year, he had even pulled a group of Hall Masters from Hung Hing to form amateur teams, all invited to Sai Kung to have a good go at the Spring Festival Cup attacking competition!

Because of the live broadcast on Asia Television, it had caused quite a stir in Hong Kong at the time.

At that time, even the Sai Kung District Government and the police station had temporarily formed amateur teams to participate.

In short, because of the "attacking" rule requested by Wu Feng in advance, even if it was just a temporarily organized amateur competition, it was played brilliantly and intensely, and was quite exciting.

It was also because of this that Wu Feng and Jiang Tiansheng, these two competition organizers and hosts, very smoothly entered the eyes of the big shots in the Hong Kong Football Association.

Jiang Tiansheng also used this to smoothly establish a relationship with the Hong Kong Football Association and, by leveraging the momentum, successfully gained a firm foothold in the so-called upper-class circles.

It was just that afterwards, both were tied up by other matters and did not take further action.

But this time, while Wu Feng asked Huo Lao to be the messenger, he also revealed an important piece of information.

Jiang Tiansheng would take out a portion of the profits from the gambling ship in the waters of Siam to invest in football and establish a professional football club.

Not only would they actively participate in the Hong Kong professional football league, but they would also find ways to organize a Champion Cup between teams from Hong Kong and Guangdong!

Hearing this, Huo Lao immediately became interested!

A Champion Cup formed by teams from Hong Kong and Guangdong, as long as it was facilitated, would definitely be a small football gala!

Seeing that Huo Lao was indeed interested, Wu Feng introduced it even more enthusiastically.

"The Mainland Guangdong football team has always had the nickname of 'South China Tiger'!"

"If a Champion Cup is formed, it certainly won't directly confront the Guangdong provincial team, but will invite city teams from various cities in Guangdong to participate!"

"As for the Hong Kong side, any professional team with ideas can participate!"

"The preparation for this event and the subsequent prize money are not problems!"

Speaking to this point, Wu Feng smiled very nonchalantly: "Jiang Sheng's enthusiasm for investing in football is still very great; the profits from the gambling ship in the waters of Siam can completely and easily cover all investments!"

"In fact, with Jiang Sheng's own financial resources, there is no need to go to such great lengths!"

"But for a large-scale investment in football, these funds must be able to withstand Zha!"

Hearing this, Huo Lao could not help but be moved.

He did not care about the large sums of money that Jiang Tiansheng and Wu Feng might invest in football.

To him, it did not count for anything at all.

The key was the attitude Wu Feng expressed, which made him feel quite satisfied.

Since Wu Feng dared to guarantee it, regardless of whether Jiang Tiansheng was truly willing or not, he would definitely have to pay this money, and it had to be in the name of gambling ship profits.

In this way, Huo Lao was quite satisfied.

It is still that saying: compare people and they must die, compare goods and they must be thrown away!

Back then, when Huo Lao helped that person in Macau get the gambling license and become a world-renowned big shot in the gambling world, it was not without conditions.

If nothing else, Huo Lao's dividends from the casino were basically all invested in public welfare undertakings.

In all likelihood, there were also relevant requirements for that person in Macau.

Not to mention investing all the profits into public welfare, at least a portion of the profits had to be donated!

Clearly, that person in Macau went back on their word and did not honor such a promise.

It was also because of this that the relationship between Huo Lao and that person quickly plummeted to freezing point; he sold off his shares in the gambling dens without hesitation and never again involved himself in the gambling business over in Macau.

Unfortunately, by that time, that person in Macau had already established their influence, and it was not something Huo Lao could suppress just by saying so.

Right now, when Jiang Tiansheng, a society Dragon Head, could agree to invest a portion of the gambling ship profits into the football industry in Hong Kong and the Mainland, how could it not move Huo Lao?

Wu Feng naturally would not spout nonsense, nor was there any need to!

Among the paths to going legitimate that he provided to Jiang Tiansheng, one of them was the path of becoming a Sports Tycoon.

Very clearly, ever since he made contact with the Hong Kong Football Association and received quite significant positive feedback, Jiang Tiansheng had already set his mind on becoming a Sports Tycoon.

In fact, at this time, the cost to become a Hong Kong Sports Tycoon was actually not high.

At the very least, one did not need to be like those wealthy people who bought English Premier League clubs later on, who would casually pull out hundreds of millions of Dollars for investment just to potentially reap the desired returns.

Right now, having ten million Hong Kong Dollars was enough to stir up great waves in the Hong Kong football circle.

For a tycoon of Huo Lao's level, could ten million Hong Kong Dollars even be considered money?

This was also the main reason why Wu Feng believed there was a huge difference in mindset between himself and the old-school Red Mansion of Hong Kong.

With Huo Lao's financial resources, even supporting the Hong Kong football team alone would be an effortless task.

Furthermore, if trained well and if a good head coach could be hired, who knows, they might even break into the World Cup finals; the feedback brought by that influence would be beyond description.

Even if breaking into the World Cup finals was difficult, what about reaching the Asian Cup main tournament or even placing?

If it were Wu Feng, being suppressed by the Hong Kong British Government, he would have to find some other way to hold his head high.

Yet, Huo Lao was only interested in football and might have invested quite a bit of capital, but he had not seen any obvious positive changes.

As for the other wealthy Chinese tycoons in Hong Kong, they might have one or even several professional football clubs under their Group Company, but they had no intention of investing heavy capital.

To Wu Feng, it felt like they were just following the trend, doing it for the ghosts of the Hong Kong British Government to see.

Even in later generations, those so-called Hong Kong elite families were still the same old thing!

Not to mention anything else, if they wanted to pay "security fees" to Great Britain, they could completely do so by investing in football clubs.

If the team performed well, even the locals in Great Britain would look at them with higher regard.

If one held a top-tier club in their hands and could easily possess significant influence and a say in Great Britain, that was no joke.

In later generations, that Hong Kong businessman who bought Bolton in the Premier League had quite a strong reputation for a period of time.

Unfortunately, if Bolton could have produced results at that time, it is estimated that even if this person ran into trouble in Hong Kong, it might have been handled lightly.

As for that super rich second-generation heir who bought Inter Milan, one can imagine how great his reputation in the football circle was.

It feels like the old-school Hong Kong tycoons all uphold the concept of making a fortune in silence.

It cannot be said to be bad, but when applied to the sports circle, it feels somewhat unsuitable.

It was also for this reason that Wu Feng did not proactively reveal the idea that he and Jiang Tiansheng both intended to go to Europe to buy professional football clubs; it would not be too late to talk about it after the matter was settled.

In short, the exchange regarding football alone made Huo Lao and Huo Da Gongzi quite happy, and other matters were not mentioned much.

However, when Wu Feng said his goodbyes and left, the meaningful look in Huo Lao's eyes made him feel a little bit of awkwardness.

After exiting the villa, he cast this bit of small awkwardness to the back of his mind and did not take it to heart at all.

Next, it was time to have some real fun with that person in Macau.

On the other side, when Huo Da Gongzi saw Wu Feng off and returned to the villa hall, Huo Lao was waiting with tea.

He hurriedly walked over, sat on the sofa nearby, and asked curiously, "Father, what is the matter?"

"What do you think of the person who just left?"

Huo Lao's tone was leisurely, his expression calm, showing no sign of emotional fluctuation.

"He can be considered an up-and-coming talent in the business world!"

Huo Da Gongzi was a bit confused, but still replied, "He is also quite witty and humorous!"

"Heh, you think he is witty and humorous!"

Huo Lao said quite bluntly, "That is because that kid was deliberately talking about topics that the old man is interested in!"

"Did you notice that from beginning to end, that kid only talked about topics related to football!"

"Is there a problem with that?"

Huo Da Gongzi was a bit bewildered and asked, puzzled, "I think he spoke very well!"

Speaking of this, his tone became a bit excited, "This person is also daring; he actually intends to require all teams to focus on offense in the Champion Cup; this is asking all teams to play an attacking game!"

"Just thinking about that scene makes one feel that such a competition would be very exciting!"

"The old man also thinks such a competition would be very exciting!"

Huo Lao chuckled, "It is just that how to persuade the participating teams, and how to contact the relevant football units in the Mainland, I am afraid these things will all have to be handled by this old man!"

"Oh, does Wusheng not need to come forward?"

Huo Da Gongzi asked suspiciously, "That is impossible, isn't he also planning to buy a team to participate?"

"Hmph, since he and Jiang Tiansheng have put up the money, they certainly won't continue to get involved in the troublesome matters that follow!"

Huo Lao said helplessly, "Otherwise, why would he explain it in such detail?"

Huo Da Gongzi then suddenly realized and said unhappily, "This kid is quite calculating!"

"Heh, if he didn't have the schemes and ability, could he have reached his current position in just a few short years?"

Huo Lao said slowly, "Do not underestimate this person's strength!"

"His industries here in Hong Kong are actually not core essentials; they can all be considered light assets!"

"His truly core assets are all over in the Mainland, and he also has power in various places in Southeast Asia!"

Speaking of this, he sighed lightly, "If it weren't for a careful investigation through connections in the Mainland, it would have been very easy to be fooled by this kid!"

Seeing Huo Da Gongzi's face full of confusion, he sneered, "This time, that person in Macau has kicked an iron plate!"

"It would be one thing if he didn't use those underhanded tactics; Wusheng probably doesn't want to make too much of a scene and end up causing dissatisfaction from the Hong Kong British Government, making it difficult to establish a foothold in Hong Kong in the future."

"But once you resort to underhanded tactics, you'll be poking a hornet's nest..."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but recall the shocking content in the investigation files.

Fenghua Group has nearly 30,000 formal employees in the Mainland, half of whom are military veterans.

Damn it, just thinking about it feels terrifying.

Even with Huo Lao's mindset, he felt a sense of dread; he knew very well what this concept meant.

If things go wrong, among the veterans under Fenghua Group, quite a few likely participated in the Two Mountains Battle.

In other words, among the employees of Fenghua Group, many have experienced the baptism of blood and fire!

What kind of concept is this?

Not to mention the firearm squads of the triads, it's hard to say whether even the garrisons in Hong Kong and Macau could defeat these veterans; this is a quite astonishing force.

It was also because he knew this information that when Huo Lao communicated with Wu Feng, he implicitly pointed out that Wu Feng was hiding something from him—was he planning to do something big?

Wu Feng, however, misunderstood Huo Lao's meaning, thinking that Huo Lao had seen through his inner thoughts and was pointing it out with hidden meaning.

What a beautiful misunderstanding!

Some things, if said out loud, might hurt someone's face; this is actually quite good.

Setting that aside, Asia Television publicly broadcast the intense conflict between that person from Macau and the number one triad in Hong Kong, Hung Hing, which instantly caused a huge sensation.

No one expected that Asia Television would broadcast it so bluntly.

For a time, the reputation of that person from Macau felt like it was plummeting three thousand feet down.

There is no other reason; no one likes someone like him who sends out hitmen whenever there is a conflict of interest.

No one can stand such a situation...

(End of this chapter)