As dusk fell and the lights came on, the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong Island seemed to be even more lively than usual.
A piece of news that was enough to cause the entire Hong Kong economy to suffer a sudden cardiac arrest was like a boulder dropped into Victoria Harbour, sending shockwaves sweeping through every corner of the city. Kobayashi Tenmo, a young Japanese-Chinese man who had been in Hong Kong for less than two months and had become famous for his comic magazines and scandals, had quietly acquired a 27.5% stake in the Hong Kong Land Development, becoming the actual controller of this behemoth entrenched in Central and symbolizing the supreme authority of British capital.
Hong Kong Land Holdings! This name carries immense weight on Hong Kong Island. It's the landlord of the heart of Central, the controller of prime landmarks like Queen's Road and The Landmark, and a staunch fortress towering over Victoria Harbour, symbolizing a century of British rule. Its size and significance have long been woven into the daily lives and aspirations of Hong Kong residents.
The crisis that had mired Jardine Matheson in the quagmire had not yet subsided. All those who knew some inside information thought that the gluttons in this grand feast would be the long-dormant Henry Fok or the powerful Pao Yue-kong. However, no one expected that the person who would eventually ascend to the throne of Jardine Matheson would be the overly young "Kobayashi Tenmo".
The news seemed to have grown wings, soaring into the streets. Hong Kong Island, a city that believed in strength, was instantly plunged into unprecedented shock and uproar.
The shock brought by this news was like a silent thunder, which spread rapidly from major newsstands or news gathering places to every inch of Hong Kong Island, breaking through the cognitive bottom line of all classes.
In a tenement building in Sham Shui Po, Grandma Wang, who was cooking dinner, squinted her eyes and struggled to decipher the news headlines her grandson excitedly read out.
She didn't understand finance, but she knew that "Shanghai Land" was the owner of those glamorous office buildings and those unattainable foreign companies.
"What a loser! Such a big company was bought by a young guy? Those foreigners are so powerful that they can't handle it?" She murmured to herself, her cloudy eyes full of disbelief, and she felt that the sky seemed to have changed.
The once-imposing and impregnable foreign giants could actually be moved? And by a young Chinese man like him?
In front of the narrow stalls on Apliu Street, the radio broadcast an announcement whose calmness could hardly conceal the shock.
Old Huang, who was repairing the enamel basin with his hands outstretched, forgot for a moment and the dirty oil dripped from between his fingers, staining his trouser legs.
Landmark? The wealthy foreign company tycoon who owned countless skyscrapers in Central? His cloudy eyes were filled with disbelief and confusion, and he could only mutter, "Young man... how could such a big toad jump all over the street?"
The vegetable vendor next door, Old Li, had just rolled up a few wilted cabbage hearts in old newspapers and was about to close his stall. Upon hearing this, his hand shook and the newspapers fell to the ground.
He bent down to pick it up, clicking his tongue. "I can't believe it! A plate as big as Yihe's was actually eaten by a Japanese kid? Even more powerful than Bao Sheng and Huo Sheng?"
For those who have lived in Hong Kong for half their lives, Hong Kong South Land Development is like a god in the clouds, and the British financial conglomerate is an untouchable power. Now, however, a young man who is unfamiliar with the situation has shattered the sky.
In Wan Chai, Ah Qiang, a porter who had just gotten off the ferry, his sweat-soaked vest clung to his muscular chest. He took the special edition from a coworker and, under the dim streetlight, made out the familiar name and the bold bold letters "Master Land Development."
He gasped, "This Japanese comic book guy is so awesome? He can afford to buy the whole Central?!"
Several shirtless workers gathered around, discussing the matter. Some questioned where he got so much money, some speculated that he was backed by a major Japanese financial group, and many were dazzled by the seemingly unattainable wealth.
"Becoming the boss of a Hong Kong property... Tsk, I wonder if we'll get a raise in the future?" a young handyman muttered with a touch of unrealistic hope, drawing a wry laugh. The shock among the working class was mixed with awe at the world's upheavals and a sense of bewilderment at their own predicament.
Uncle Chen, who sells fish balls in Yau Ma Tei, had just set up his stall when he heard regular customers chattering away with newspapers in their hands.
"Uncle Chen, do you know? Hong Kong has a new owner! A young man from Japan!"
"He's accomplished something Mr. Huo couldn't? His father's a tycoon too?" Uncle Chen wiped the water stains from his hands, his face filled with astonishment and bewilderment. He knew about Jardine Matheson; it was a concept, representing a kind of wealth and power he could never grasp in his lifetime.
He didn't care about the process, he just felt that this change was too sudden and unbelievable. Why did a young boy do this?
In a narrow alley on the edge of Kowloon Walled City, a man wearing a flowered shirt was chewing on a pineapple bun. He almost choked on the newspaper headline handed to him by his subordinates.
"Damn! The Japanese are so powerful? Did they really succeed?" He recalled the feud between Kobayashi Tianwang and the Huo and Guo families that was circulating in the streets and alleys. He thought it was just a dispute between young wealthy people, and at most it would be a quarrel in the newspapers and a fight in the stock market.
Who could have imagined that this guy could quietly and directly take over the land? The scale of this move and the depth of his scheming far exceeded the imagination of these gangsters who relied on their fists and territory to make a living.
Three-legged Leopard smacked his lips. For the first time, he felt that the financial section of the newspaper made him more frightened than the gang fights.
In a tea restaurant where the elites of Central gather, Mr. Li, a white-collar worker from Asia Financial Services, put down the sandwich in his hand and stared at the in-depth analysis in the urgent supplementary issue of the financial edition of the Hong Kong Economic Journal.
"Unbelievable... It's simply unbelievable! His 7.5% is already obvious, but where did the other 20% come from? HSBC's pledged shares! How could Newbigin just let go? How on earth did they do this?"
The news about Kobayashi Tenmo in the past few months flashed through his mind: the creation of "Dragon Jump" which ignited the youth market, the shocking exposure of the Fok family scandal in "Asia Daily", and the fight with Jardine Matheson in the stock market which caused the share price of Hong Kong Holdings to fluctuate greatly... All these seemingly isolated fragments made him break out in a cold sweat at this moment.
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