Chapter 8 Danish Fairy Tales

  My sister saw me walking out of the customs passage first, and waved at me with all her might "Xiao Fu, Xiao Fu!", seeing her excited look, I ran to her with my luggage and hugged her tightly.

  Sister hugged me tightly and said: "Xiao Fu, I've missed you to death." I reached out to touch my eyes. "Sis, I know your strength has increased, but do you have to use me as an experiment... You're choking me to death!"

  My sister listened to my words, quickly loosened her grip and asked "Where's the pain? Let me see." While saying that, she stroked my body. I was so moved that I grabbed her hand and said: "Sis, I'm fine, let's go home." "En" She nodded vigorously, pulling me to walk outside, two men who looked like bodyguards came over, took my luggage and said something, probably meaning to help me.

  Sitting on my sister's "Silver Spirit", watching the bodyguards driving behind us, I sighed "Sis, you're too corrupt, a complete capitalist, going out with luxury cars and bodyguards, so sinful...I should have come to Hong Kong too."

  After I finished speaking, my sister looked at me seriously and said: "Xiao Fu, don't leave this time, why not study in Hong Kong?"

  I didn't dare look into her eyes and turned to look out the window "Who's looking? After '97, the whole of Hong Kong will be returned, what am I still doing running around this place?"

  "Sister, do you hate me?" I suddenly turned my head to ask her. "If it were just you at home, Dad and Mom would definitely not let you come to Hong Kong." My sister skillfully gave me a light slap on the forehead. "Are you stupid? Now that I'm living the life of a young lady, it's all thanks to you taking the fall for me, otherwise how could I have such a good life?" After she finished speaking, she turned her head and rubbed her eyes with her hand, staring blankly at the scenery outside the car window. A mature look flickered across her face, one that was unique to people who had left their hometown.

  My uncle's mansion is in Repulse Bay, which is a golden location in Hong Kong. It's said that after 97, Li Ka-shing sold a house here for over HK$5 billion, which shows how high the land price is here. I curiously asked my sister to take me on a tour of the villa, it was my first time seeing the legendary Hong Kong mansion, if not for my sister living here, I really wanted to take pictures as a souvenir. However, the atmosphere in the courtyard seemed a bit strange, why were there so many bodyguards?

  Uncle is really busy, he hasn't come back for dinner yet, I guess he's out socializing, even Li Ka-shing is busy, but he still has time to play cards with Li Zhongji and Kwok Hoi-sang. Looks like Uncle is busier than Superman.

  My sister and I had a big meal under the care of many "old mothers", fortunately, it was only for a few days. If I had to eat like this every day, I'm afraid I would go crazy soon. After dinner, lying on the sofa chatting with my sister while waiting for my uncle to come back, until my sister and I were both sleepy, my uncle finally "arrived late".

  I saw my uncle coming in, and I quickly cheered up to greet him. "Uncle, you're back! How's your body? My dad and mom asked me to ask about you?" He still looked the same as two years ago, full of energy. He walked over, excitedly holding my and my sister's hands, sat down and said: "Good, good! Little Fu has grown taller, how's everyone at home? Was the plane ride tiring? Did you eat enough tonight? Do you want your uncle to take you out for a midnight snack?" I guess Hong Kong people also speak efficiently? No wonder they can talk so fast in their dialect!

  I answered his questions one by one and also indicated that I was full, so he didn't need to trouble himself anymore. He patted my hand and said: "Xiao Fu, do you think Hong Kong is good? This time just don't go back, stay in Hong Kong with your sister to study together, okay?"

  I shook my head and politely declined, "Uncle, I'm still young, I'm a bit reluctant to leave the home in Yunzhou, let me come back when I go to college, then I'll accompany you every day."

  He didn't force me to change my mind either, and with a somewhat despondent nod, he said: "I know you must be reluctant to part with those little friends of yours in Yunzhou. It's okay, after '97 we'll be able to see each other often, and then you can come keep this old man company again."

  "Uncle, I want to take Xiaofu to the Ocean Park tomorrow, can I?" My sister sat on the other side of my uncle, her eyes sparkling with expectation as she said "I haven't been out for a long time."

  Grandfather nodded in agreement and said, "Tomorrow we'll go together. Xiaofu, if you want to go somewhere, just tell me in advance. Hong Kong has many places that are different from Yunzhou."

  "Thank you, Grandfather," I replied with a nod. "I don't know what's fun either... You and Sister can take me wherever, I'll be happy..."

  My uncle enthusiastically told me many interesting stories about Hong Kong, making me sigh that it's still a wonderful world after all. If I were a teenager, I would definitely want to stay in Hong Kong forever.

  In the following days, my uncle took my sister and me to play around Hong Kong's vibrant world, but unfortunately, we had to have a bodyguard protecting us wherever we went. My sister told me it was because the son of a wealthy family had been kidnapped and held for ransom for 2 billion.

  I stood at Victoria Bay and couldn't help but exclaim, "Cheung Tze-keung is indeed 'strong'!" From Li Ka-shing to Fok Ying-tung, he turned Hong Kong upside down, making the city's tycoons anxious. I reckon that if it weren't for the intervention of those "above" after 1997, this "King of Thieves of the Century" would still be at large today.

  One evening, I knocked on my uncle's study door to discuss the trip to Macau with him. My uncle was writing something and asked me to sit down first. I curiously looked around at the various porcelain and jade pieces on his bookshelf. These are all good things, I thought to myself as I stroked a piece of Qinghua porcelain, this old man definitely doesn't have any fakes here, just one of these casual pieces would be enough for those people rushing by on the streets outside who embody the "Hong Kong spirit" to struggle with for their whole lives.

  After Uncle finished, he walked behind me and stroked my head, asking: "Do you like it? If you like it, take it away!" I quickly shook my head, "I'm just curious to see, I don't understand this either. It's too valuable, I don't want it." Uncle looked at me with a profound meaning and said: "Then I'll leave it for you, anyway, these will all be yours and Xiaoni's in the future..."

  I smiled foolishly at the old man, for a moment I didn't know what to say. He pulled me to sit on the sofa and asked "So late and not sleeping, what's wrong?"

  I carefully replied: "I want to go to Macau with my sister for a day."

  "What are you going there for?" The old man asked strangely "Macau is a place where you young people go to have fun, you're not going to gamble, are you?"

  You really guessed it, I did go gamble and earned foreign exchange for the country. In my heart I was thinking but on my mouth I quickly denied "No, no. I heard people from above all went to Macau to have fun, so I also wanted to take a look."

  The old man shook his head and said: "Macau is not a place for you kids to go." Alright, it seems that we need to persuade the old man first...

  "Uncle, your company's main business is still real estate, right?" I asked suddenly: "Do you think Hong Kong's property market now is like Japan's in the 80s?"

  The old man was stunned after hearing my words, looking at me like an alien and asking "Isn't the property market doing well now?" I let him think for a moment before continuing, "In a few years it won't be good, the property market is too hot now. Have you thought about what would happen if there's a surge of hot money speculating in the property market and then suddenly withdrawing? It'll be just like Japan back then." I made him think again and continued, "Suppose a financial crisis happens, do you think the Hong Kong stock market will still hold up? When the stock market fluctuates, the first to suffer is always the property market!"

  I'm not exaggerating, historically Li Ka-shing's wealth was too concentrated in real estate, which led to a loss of nearly one-third of his net worth after 1997. On the surface, he still appears to be the "big brother" of Hong Kong's real estate industry, but he had no choice but to reluctantly hand over the throne of richest man on Hong Kong Island to Li Ka-shing.

  The old man pondered for a moment before asking, "Xiao Fu, how did you know all this?" Indeed, as people age, they become more astute and weren't fooled by a few words, immediately getting to the heart of the matter.

  "I saw it in the book, didn't you ask my sister to send me many books? 'The Wealth of Nations', 'Das Kapital', 'Kotler's Management', I read them and then thought about it myself..."

  The old man couldn't accept this excuse for the time being, and asked in doubt: "Have you finished reading those books? Can you understand them?" Oh my dear uncle! You clearly know that children of this age can't read it, why did you send me such a big pile? Are you trying to "enlighten" me? But fortunately, I'm also a student of Mr. Gao Hongye's economics class, and I still have some skills to show off in economics.

  He talked nonsense and I had no choice but to nod reluctantly, saying: "I don't quite understand it. Some functional relationships are beyond my calculation skills, but the text part is okay."

  He seemed convinced and asked me with some curiosity: "Then when do you think the Hong Kong property market will fall?"

  "I don't know, let's see when the hot money withdraws or when a financial crisis occurs." We can't be too obvious, otherwise we wouldn't be a prodigy, but a monster.

  The old man seemed very satisfied with my answer, and as if talking to himself, said: "I'm considering setting up a 'bridgehead' in Canada, Li Chaojun and the Guo brothers are already doing so."

  "Follow Li Chao's lead! Li Chao is a local, he has his eyes on Heskei's oil, while the Guo brothers are uncertain about the inland policy."

  From Li Ka-shing's compensation for the development of "Oriental Plaza", we can see his determination to march into the mainland, although New World Development also entered Shanghai in a big way after the millennium, but the three-year time difference is undoubtedly huge, so huge that it makes "Cheung Kong Group" stand out in Hong Kong.

  "Oh? How did you figure it out?" The old man may still be conservative about the prospects of those born after 1997, and asked me with great suspicion "You know, Old Li doesn't have the background of An Lao and Huo Lao."

  I let go of his hand and muttered to myself: "The child is capable, but the days away from parents are not easy"

  The old man fell into deep thought, perhaps thinking of his youth. Looking at his expression, I carefully said: "Uncle, I want to register a company in Hong Kong, can you lend me some experienced investors?"

  "What's the point of registering a company?" The old man ended his contemplation and said with profound meaning, "If you want to have fun, stay in Hong Kong. These few companies of mine are not enough for you to play with? This is more interesting than selling clothes at a small stall."

  "Heh heh, I was just helping a friend out, not selling it myself." I explained to the old man with a smile; "I want to set up an investment bank. Try my own luck."

  The old man said indifferently, "You haven't told me what you're going to Macau for yet. You made a lot of money from the German football team last time, which country's fan have you become this time?"

  "Uncle, you're wise!" I said with embarrassment: "This time it's Denmark! I just gave a little support and promised to stop when things go well?" When the time comes to speak clearly, one must speak clearly. The old man has been playing tricks on people for a lifetime, so of course he wouldn't be fooled by my little trick.

  "Any game has its own rules, and with rules come wins and losses. But there is always the biggest winner. If you want to play, I hope you're the one making the rules."

  The old man agreed to my request and instructed me with a sentence that I didn't quite understand. That night, neither of us slept well, the old man pondering his genius grandson, while I pondered the sentence.

  My sister and I chose to buy lottery tickets in Macau, mainly because it's close to Hong Kong and there are many betting companies. A small area around the Ou River gathers nearly a hundred large and small betting companies, worthy of being called the "Monte Carlo of the East". We specifically choose foreign betting companies to buy from, my sister asked me why, I made up some nonsense with her, saying that Chinese people don't fight with Chinese people.

  Macau has just opened its casino industry to foreign capital, and local casinos still dominate the market. However, after 1999, I'm afraid "Mr. Ho" will have to complain about the entry of foreign casino giants disrupting Macau's "order". Now, I'll give these foreigners a "head start", and we can consider it a way of saving the country in a roundabout way.

  In the prayers of my sister, in the homeland of windmills and tulips, the Danish football team wrote a beautiful page in the history of football. This team, which only had "three people" who could play football, finally came to Holland and ate the biggest piece of cake.

  Schumacher won a European Cup that summer, and my sister and I won ￡100 million. Gambling has the effect of extremely exciting people's central nervous system, so this world is full of gamblers, both in casinos and outside...