Rebirth of Hong Kong Island, leading the technology war

Chapter 559 The Conspiracy of Li and Guo

Huo Jiangting whispered, "Is Catherine Guise also connected to Ah Shan?"

Seeing Huo Jiangting's expression, Hu Wenxin smiled: "Chairman Huo, I didn't expect that even you had heard about this."

Huo Jiangting raised an eyebrow: "Absolutely. Ah Shan is quite famous in Hong Kong now. Many people are inquiring about him. It is said that some media and professional organizations are involved, including some of his partners who are also investigating him."

Hu Wenxin thought for a moment and said, "Ashan does have some connection with the Guise family. The Tenglong Island Resort is operated by Kathleen Guise."

Huo Jiangting suddenly realized: "So that's how it is, I understand now. I knew Ah Shan was really capable, getting in touch with the Guise family. Catherine Guise is Mr. Gates's darling daughter, and the resources she can mobilize are incredible."

Hu Wenxin smiled without saying a word. As a father, he was naturally happy to see Hu Jiangshan's relationship with the Gas family come to fruition.

Huo Jiangting then said, "Chairman Hu, in this way, wouldn't Ah Shan be able to speak with Catherine Guise?"

"You mean..."

"Why don't we call Ah Shan over and give it a try? It might work."

Hu Wenxin nodded: "Okay, then I'll call Ah Shan in a bit and ask him if he has time to go back to Hong Kong Island."

Huo Jiangting glanced at Li Ziji and said, "Chairman Hu, Ah Shan must have time; this matter is of utmost importance."

"Understood, I will tell him."

Hu Wenxin knew the current situation. Even if Hu Jiangshan had some urgent matters to deal with, he should return to Hong Kong Island unless the rocket was about to be launched.

This project by the O'Leem Group is of great importance to both Hop Chung and the Fok family, as well as to Hong Kong Island.

To put it more bluntly, if Singapore were to snatch away the O'Leem Group's investment project, Hong Kong's status would likely be further diminished.

If this trend continues, the gap between the two places will narrow, and Singapore will eventually surpass Hong Kong Island to become the third largest financial center.

As Hong Kong Island's status declines, the businesses on Hong Kong Island will naturally decline as well.

Companies like Hop Chung Group and Fok's are highly integrated with Hong Kong Island.

We are all in the same boat, inseparable, sharing both prosperity and adversity.

On the contrary, Changhe Group and Songming Group have quite a few overseas businesses.

In recent years, in particular, several top families have changed their strategies and transferred a large number of industries overseas. Now the ratio between China and overseas is about 50/50, and even less in Hong Kong.

Therefore, for the Li and Guo families, the interests of Hong Kong Island are not very important, at least not that important.

The reason these two companies pursued the investment projects of the Oleum Group was entirely out of consideration for their own family interests.

The next day, at Fu Lan Xiang Food Shop.

This is a restaurant.

The location is quiet despite being in a bustling area. The shop itself doesn't look big, but it's quite famous on Hong Kong Island.

Especially in recent years, the wealthy and upper class in Hong Kong Island often mention this restaurant because it takes a boutique approach, which is the recently popular private kitchen style.

Fulanxiang Restaurant operates on a membership system, with limited availability of only a dozen or so tables per day. As a result, wealthy people flock to it and go to great lengths to reserve a table, just to experience this upscale and sophisticated atmosphere.

Of course, for Hong Kong Island's top wealthy class, getting a reservation at any restaurant is never a problem.

Fine dining restaurants like Fu Lan Xiang are no exception; they often reserve seats for distinguished guests.

Moreover, these are all luxury private rooms reserved for the wealthy, and they are generally not open to the public.

Of course, the prices for these services are absolutely astronomical in the catering industry; this is the so-called pleasure of the privileged class.

The most prestigious part of Fu Lan Xiang Food Court is its backyard, which is open-air, spacious, and filled with flowers and plants, creating a beautiful environment.

Meanwhile, an important meeting is taking place in the backyard.

This was arranged by Guo Pingjiang, who invited the Oulaim Group delegation here and treated them to a good meal.

Li Ziji was of course indispensable, and his son, Li Changxi, who had not appeared in public for a long time, also came out to accompany him.

Given the special occasion, Li Changxi naturally had to make an appearance, even if it meant becoming a familiar face to the people from the Oulaim Group.

Moreover, an important guest is coming today, which is the most important reason why Li Changxi is here.

At this moment, the Oulaim Group group was enjoying their meal, and they were clearly very satisfied with the food.

This is normal. Fu Lan Heung Restaurant can tailor-make dishes to suit the tastes of its customers, whether it is Hong Kong style, Western style, or even various cuisines from the mainland, including Yunnan cuisine. Moreover, the flavors have been modified to be very palatable.

Compared to purely Western-style white food, even though Fulanxiang's dishes are Western-style, the flavors are quite rich.

These gentlemen, who called themselves European nobles, ate with great relish, constantly giving a thumbs-up.

Li Changxi skillfully used his social skills to chat with these European guests, handling the situation with ease.

Li Changxi's British English is quite good, even better than Li Ziji's.

Guo Pingjiang felt somewhat envious when he saw this situation.

To be fair, Guo Pingjiang's son doesn't have that ability.

He said to Li Ziji, "Changxi is truly capable. I admire him for cultivating such an outstanding young man."

Li Ziji waved his hand: "What's the big deal? He's just a little clever, nothing special."

"Changxi isn't that talented? You're being too modest. If he wasn't talented, how could he have caused such a big incident?"

At this point, Guo Pingjiang glanced at Li Changxi again and said, "Changxi's cooperation with SpethX and the Gas Group, that rocket launch site should be completed soon, right?"

Li Ziji waved his hand: "It's still a long way off. The infrastructure won't be completed until the end of this year, and that will still be the prototype of the launch site. It's possible to conduct a test launch next year."

"This is fast enough. I've heard that rocket launch sites are quite difficult to build, requiring very high levels of technology. It's truly remarkable that they can be built."

Li Ziji sighed: "If you say rocket launch sites are difficult, then they are indeed difficult, but that kid from the Hu family seems to have done it with ease. Isn't that strange?"

Guo Pingjiang paused for a moment, then thought about it and realized it made sense.

Last year, no, it should be the year before last, Hu Jiangshan was a spendthrift, good-for-nothing rich second-generation who was always causing trouble, and everyone was watching him laugh. But starting last year, he suddenly rose to prominence and made a complete 180-degree turn, changing his style.

Moreover, Hu Jiangshan accomplished several major feats in a short period of time.

First, they bought two islands, General Island and Tenglong Island, and then established Jiangshan Fishing Ground.

They even developed these two islands into a paradise.

That's not all; Hu Jiangshan even built a space launch site on the island.

Li Ziji said that Hu Jiangshan did it with ease, and that's no exaggeration at all.

In less than a year, the Tenglong Island space launch site seemed to have been built all at once.

Li Changxi had previously consulted with aerospace experts at SpaceX. When the experts heard that someone had built a space launch site in just one year and even conducted a rocket launch experiment, they were incredulous, staring wide-eyed and shaking their heads, saying it was impossible.

To the aerospace experts at SpeyX, that was utter nonsense.

If a space launch site could be built and put into use within a year, that would be a miracle, something no human could accomplish.

But Hu Jiangshan managed to do it anyway, and no one would believe there wasn't something fishy going on.

However, even after Li Changxi gathered a group of people to analyze the situation, they still couldn't figure out how Hu Jiangshan had managed to do it.

Li Changxi even asked someone to inquire with Hu Jiangshan, trying every means to get information out of him.

Hu Jiangshan simply smiled faintly and brushed it off with a few words.

This is normal. Hu Jiangshan can't possibly tell others how he did it. If he did, he would expose the secret. He probably only knows the tricks behind it.

Guo Pingjiang said, "We still don't know what's going on with the Tenglong Island space launch site. I suspect that the space launch site was put together temporarily."

Li Ziji paused, then asked, "Spelled out? What do you mean?"

"It's possible that each department prefabricates the parts and then transports them to Tenglong Island, where they are assembled like building blocks. I've heard that many buildings in mainland China are constructed this way, which speeds things up."

Li Ziji frowned. Guo Pingjiang's statement did have some logic, but it wasn't that easy.

If such a method existed, they could use it when building the launch site, but they can't do it.

Moreover, this kind of prefabricated construction is not a rare technology.

We're in the real estate business, so we know this technology, but it seems to be only used for building skyscrapers. The possibility of using this method to construct a special facility like a launch site is extremely slim.

Guo Pingjiang shook his head: "Let's put this issue aside for now. Let's focus on receiving these people from the Oulaim Group and ensuring the project progresses smoothly."

Li Ziji nodded: "By the way, Mr. Guo, have you made contact with those people in Singapore yet?"

Guo Pingjiang said, "I've already had someone contact them. They'll be here soon, and then we can all sit down and chat. Everything will be clear then."

Li Ziji chuckled: "You're right. We're sure we can win this project this time. There's no reason for the Oulaim Group to disagree. The terms we've proposed are so favorable, they can't possibly refuse."

Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang exchanged a smile.

There is no doubt that they are determined to win this investment project.

The Ho Chung Group and the Huo family will definitely get nothing and it will all be a waste of their efforts.

As they were talking, several people walked in, led by a shop assistant.

Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang stood up and went forward to greet him.

It was a business delegation from Singapore that arrived; they were a small group of only five people.

Leading the way was Liang Gaoyuan, an official from the Ministry of Commerce who had previously appeared in Singapore.

Yang Chendong's superior, Courtney, the Indian official, was also among them.

Singapore is following formal business visit procedures, and Fang Chenyang, as the Hong Kong Island official in charge of business reception, will naturally accompany him here.

Moreover, Fang Chenyang knew that Singapore had other purposes for coming here this time.

Their meeting with people from the Oulaim Group needs to be taken seriously.

If they were to meet privately, who knows what they might come up with? He has to keep a close eye on things now.

Fang Chenyang is no fool, otherwise he wouldn't have climbed to such a high position. He also brought Hu Wenxin and Huo Jiangting with him.

The more extensive the network of relationships among the people involved, the more chaotic the situation becomes, making it impossible for Singapore and the Oulaim Group to properly negotiate cooperation.

This was Fang Chenyang's decision.

After everyone met, they naturally exchanged pleasantries and then sat down.

As expected, the business representatives from Singapore sat very close to the people from the Oulaim Group, whispering and discussing amongst themselves.

Fang Chenyang couldn't hear what they were saying, so he seemed a little restless.

Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang didn't participate in their conversation, but Fang Chenyang joined in.

Fang Chenyang asked in a low voice, "Chairman Li, Chairman Guo, how are your talks with the people from the Oulaim Group going? Have you reached any conclusions?"

Li Ziji smiled and shook his head: "It's a pity, not yet. The people at the Oulaim Group are very tight-lipped, I don't know what they're thinking."

Guo Pingjiang also said, "Yes, we don't need to rush. Since the Oulaim Group wants to meet with the people from Singapore, we'll know their attitude after they finish their talks."

Fang Chenyang gave a wry smile: "We can't not be anxious. If they keep talking like this, the Oulaim Group's project will be snatched away by the people from Singapore."

Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang exchanged a smile, clearly not in a hurry.

Li Ziji said in a low voice, "Fang Sir, if the O'Leem Group really has its eye on Singapore, there's not much we can do, but there are compromise solutions."

Fang Chenyang's heart skipped a beat: "Chairman Li, what compromise plan?"

“It’s very simple. We can cooperate with companies in Singapore and then take over the financial investment business of the Oleum Group.”

Fang Chenyang's expression changed: "Cooperate with Singapore? How can we cooperate like that? Will they agree?"

"Why wouldn't they agree? I think they would if the conditions were right."

Fang Chenyang was a smart man with extensive experience in business operations, and he immediately understood what Li Ziji meant.

His expression shifted, and he couldn't help but ask, "Chairman Li, you don't mean to establish a joint venture with Singapore, do you?"

"That's exactly what I mean. This way, both sides benefit, and everyone's happy."

"But where should the partner company be located?"

Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang exchanged another glance.

"We can discuss this further; there's no need to rush into a decision."

Lee Ja-gil was clearly not telling the truth; he must be hiding something.

Fang Chenyang realized that he couldn't get anything more out of the two of them.

Moreover, Fang Chenyang could guess Li Ziji and Guo Pingjiang's thoughts, and he was probably right.

They want to establish a joint venture with a company in Singapore and then set up operations in Singapore, so they can benefit from both sides!
How can this work! ?

Fang Chenyang was both angry and helpless.

Changhe Group and Songming Group are too big; there's really nothing we can do about them right now.

(End of this chapter)