“Dad, that’s what happened. Can we arrange for the Fu Family’s staffs to undergo training at our China Shopping malls?” Li Zaikai told Superman Li what happened, hoping to get his father’s support.
“You are telling me that the people you sent wanted to see the Fu Family’s financial reports and development plans?” Superman Li asked.
“Ermmm… I also did not expect this to happen.” Li Zekai was ashamed. The staffs were handed to him, and he did not manage them well.
“Just because of this, you agree to let the Fu Family’s staffs come to our malls to learn?”
“Dad, is there anything wrong? We are giving training to each other staffs. It’s fair to both parties.” Li Zekai asked. He could not understand what was wrong.
“Stupid! Don’t you know what the real objective of this Tai Hua Supermarket Enterprise is? We are going to set up Hypermarkets with supermarkets as the core business! The Fu Family only know how to manage supermarkets and the people I gave you are all the managers of shopping malls. When we are choosing the position regional area managers in the future, they will have a great advantage. Now, you are letting the Fu Family’s people come to our malls to learn how to manage. We will all be back to square one in the future. You made us lose our advantage!” Superman Li knocked on the table hard.
Superman Li still had high hopes for this younger son. Although Li Zekai was not as mature as his elder brother, he was creative, and most importantly, he was friends with Feng Yu.
Since the late 80s, many Hong Kong businessmen had started to withdraw their investments from China. They felt that once Hong Kong was returned back to China, there will be changes to the policies and the situation would be risky.
But Superman Li did the opposite. He starts to focus in China and begins to buy over the a.s.sets of those businessmen. This included the land, factories, properties and many more. Among the a.s.sets, land, and properties were the most, and the factories were the least.
The past 3 to 4 years, the Li Family did not buy any land parcels in Hong Kong. All the land parcels in Hong Kong were purchased by a Hong Kong businessman, Mr. Lee, Fu Rongqi, Fu Rongqu, and other Hong Kong businessmen. The Li Family focuses all their resources in China, and the land they owned in China was 10 times more than what they had in Hong Kong. This was the same as the properties.
Superman Li had spoken to Mr. Deng. He knew that Mr. Deng would not make things difficult for the Hong Kong Businessmen. Instead, he would support and help to maintain Hong Kong’s stability. Hong Kong will continue as an Economic powerhouse of Asia.
Superman Li knew that after the first housing reforms in China, there will undoubtedly be second reforms within the next few years. When that happen, the property prices will skyrocket. The land and properties prices will start to rise. With all the a.s.sets in his hands, he would make a killing.
To show the Chinese Government that he was not buying the land and not doing anything, he starts to build some shopping malls and office buildings on a few land parcels. He also submitted the land development proposals for some parcels. But the proposals were full of errors. This way, the higher-ups will not approve the plans, and Superman Li can still hold on to the land, waiting for the land value to increase.
The Li Family’s business in China was Shopping malls. This was also the industry Superman Li wanted to focus in China. This had no conflicts with Tai Hua Supermarket Enterprise. Even if there were overlapping areas, it does not matter. The market segments they were targeting were different. Superman Li’s shopping malls were targeting more affluent demographics.
But no matter which demographics they were targeting, there will still be profits. If the Li Family’s staffs were in-charge of the regional area supermarkets, then they could influence the management decisions to prevent Tai Hua Supermarkets locations from being too close to the Li Family’s shopping malls. This would prevent compet.i.tions, and they could even pa.s.s the better sites to the Li Family.
But now, Li Zekai had disrupted all of Superman Li’s plans. Li Zekai had not kept his men in check and gave Feng Yu this opportunity.
Superman Li does not believe what Li Zekai said. Feng Yu suggested this to be fair. Feng Yu was China most wealthy person. Li Zekai estimates his wealth to be more than 6 billion HKD. But Superman Li felt it was much more than that. All of Feng Yu’s companies were not listed on the stock exchange. If the companies were listed, Feng Yu’s a.s.sets would increase by several folds. He would have the strength to go head on with the Li Family.
Feng Yu and the Fu Family was also very close. If both work together, then the vast China market might end up in their hands. Feng Yu must have made use of this opportunity to blow up this matter. He might even plan this with the Fu Family!
Li Zekai looked at his furious father. He realized that he had made a mistake. Although his ego was high, he would still apologize when he made mistakes.
“Dad, I still did not agree to this proposal. I told them that I need to discuss with you first. Why not I reject this proposal tomorrow and promise to keep our people in check?”
“Reject? How do you reject? You think Fu Rongbing will accept this? Don’t think that Fu Rongbing does not have many a.s.sets. No matter what, he is still someone from the Fu Family. If all 4 brothers of the Fu Family come together, it will be hard to deal with them. Furthermore, there is still Feng Yu! Feng Yu is still young, and he worked his way up from scratch. He can make his fortune all by himself, you think he is not full of pride? Offending him might be even more troublesome than offending the Fu Family!” Superman Li shook his head. His younger son still requires more training.
“Dad, do we need to be so cautious about Feng Yu? Yes, he is competent and is very wealthy. But there is no way he can compete with you. He might have met Mr. Deng personally, but you have met Mr. Deng many more times. He might have lots of a.s.sets, but his a.s.sets are nothing compared to our family. In terms of connections, experiences, strengths, our family is better than him. Why do we need to worry about him?” Li Zekai said.
“If you are talking about Hong Kong, we do need to worry. But what if it is in China? Feng Yu’s base is in China, and he is more powerful than us there. He also has investments in j.a.pan and Russia. If I guessed correctly, he should have invested in the US too. Lawyer Wilson had bought quite some properties in Hong Kong over the past 2 years. Those are all high-value properties. Where do you think he got his money from? Think about how much our lawyers’ charges and you will know how many contracts Wilson had gone through for Feng Yu.”
Superman Li sighed. If he did not pay close attention to these details, he would still be unaware of Feng Yu’s real capabilities. Feng Yu might be a super tyc.o.o.n, and his wealth might not be less than him. Even in Hong Kong, Feng Yu should be one of the top 10 tyc.o.o.ns.
The top 10 tyc.o.o.ns in Hong Kong had more than 10 billion HKD worth of a.s.sets. The businesses they controlled might even be worth more than 10 billion USD.
Most importantly, Feng Yu was only 20 years’ old, and Superman Li heard that he made all his fortune within 5 years. 5 years. From zero to someone with a.s.sets worth more than 10 billion HKD and he did not even own a listed company. This showed how scary Feng Yu was.
In Superman Li’s heart, Feng Yu status was on the same level as the Fu Family. It was the whole Fu Family and not someone from the Fu Family!
Li Zekai’s jaws dropped. He does not know what to say. Feng Yu was more powerful than he had imagined. He thought he had overestimated Feng Yu’s abilities, but it was the opposite. He had underestimated Feng Yu.
“Just agree to his proposal and let our staffs follow the rules. Know their places and undergo the training as told. This will be their last chance. You! Don’t disappoint me again!”
“Sorry, dad. I will go back to work. Have a good rest.”
Li Zekai walked out of the study and returned back to his room. He made some phone calls and sighed. In his heart, he was also feeling excited. He found out how powerful Feng Yu was, and they were friends. This would surely help him with his career!