Elson is forty-two years old this year. He is tall and strong, with bright blue eyes. Judging from his appearance, he is definitely a handsome man.
"Mr. Elson, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Shen Dong smiled and extended his hand to Elson.
Elson, with an arrogant expression, pointed to the chair in front of his desk and said, "Sit."
Shen Dong was somewhat annoyed, but he didn't show it on his face.
He calmly withdrew his hand and said, "Thank you."
Seeing that Shen Dong's attitude was acceptable, Elson said, "Hong Kong Island is developing faster and faster, and the demand for taxis is also increasing. I heard from Luo that you own a taxi company and want to buy a thousand taxi license plates, is that right?"
Shen Dong nodded and said, "Yes."
Ellson said, "Don't you think a thousand license plates are too few?"
A thought struck Shen Dong, and he immediately asked, "Mr. Elson, how many license plates do you think would be enough to meet the demand on Hong Kong Island?"
Elson said, "Three thousand is about right."
Depend on!
Upon hearing Elson's words, Shen Dong couldn't help but gasp.
Why is this American so easy to talk to?
What exactly does he want to do?
Elson continued, "To promote the development of Hong Kong Island, I can sell you three thousand taxi licenses for HK$300,000 each, and you don't need to use 20% of the future revenue for the construction of roads on Hong Kong Island."
Shen Dong knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, so he asked, "What price do I have to pay?"
Elson stared intently at Shen Dong and said, "If you want these license plates, you'll have to pull strings. How? I'm sure you know."
Shen Dong understood Elson's meaning perfectly well, and said, "Mr. Elson, we have similar personalities; we both like to be straightforward. Tell me your price, how much would it cost for a license plate?"
Elson said, "Two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars, preferably in the form of a bearer cheque from Citibank."
Two hundred thousand for one, three thousand of them would be a full six hundred million Hong Kong dollars. These eagles are really damn greedy.
Fortunately, they're leaving; otherwise, who knows what kind of mess they would have made of Hong Kong.
Huh?
Could it be that Ellson is trying to make a quick buck before he gets fired?
Holy crap, that's actually possible.
The Hong Kong Island government now has a large number of local officials, and it is practically a foregone conclusion that Hong Kong officials will take office while American officials will step down.
Elson's decision to sell three thousand taxi license plates at once is clearly a scheme to make money.
Ellson's plan to make a quick buck before leaving was truly brilliant.
Shen Dong asked, "Aren't three thousand license plates too many? Won't it cause an overabundance of taxis?"
Elson said calmly, "There are at least 8,000 unlicensed taxis on Hong Kong Island. Your 4,000 license plates only fill half of the market. Next month, we will launch a crackdown on unlicensed taxis, and I guarantee you won't suffer any losses. Chen, I only have one question for you now: 3,000 license plates, 1.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, can you handle it?"
Shen Dong replied without hesitation, "Give me three days, and I guarantee I'll raise 1.5 billion. Of that, 900 million will go to the Department of Transportation, and 600 million will be given to you in bearer checks from Citibank."
Upon hearing this, Elson finally broke into a bright smile.
He extended his hand to Shen Dong and said, "Shen, it's a pleasure to work with you."
Shen Dong grasped his hand and said, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."
After leaving Elson's place, Shen Dong went directly to Tengfei Taxi Company and met Wei Jixiang.
"Three thousand license plates?"
Upon hearing Shen Dong's words, Wei Jixiang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and he exclaimed, "Have these foreign devils gone mad?"
Shen Dong glanced at him and said, "They're not only not crazy, they're actually very smart. They know they're about to leave Hong Kong Island, and if they don't take this opportunity to make a quick buck, wouldn't they be at a huge loss?"
Wei Jixiang said with a look of surprise, "Brother Dong, this is a golden opportunity for us. I'm confident that we can break even on the purchase of 3,000 taxi license plates for 1.5 billion within the next two years."
Shen Dong rolled his eyes and said, "Do you think I'm an idiot? In two years, the price of license plates alone will double."
Wei Jixiang chuckled and said, "We now have 5,200 license plates, which is almost 80 percent of the entire market. Given the current development of the taxi industry on Hong Kong Island, the Transport Department probably won't sell any more license plates in the next few years, and our Tengfei will be the only dominant player."
Shen Dong curled his lip and said, "What's the use of the taxi industry being dominant? It's not a monopoly."
Wei Jixiang said, "Brother Dong, are we really going to give those foreign devils 600 million Hong Kong dollars?"
Shen Dong raised an eyebrow and said, "If we don't give him the money, he won't approve our license plates. He's a government official, and we can't afford to offend him right now. But once Elson steps down from his post, we won't have to worry about anything. At that time, not only will we have to return the HK$600 million, but also all the public funds he embezzled during his years in office."
Wei Jixiang gave a thumbs up and said, "Brother Dong, brilliant."
Shen Dong said, "You go ahead with your work, I need to go raise funds."
In the past six months, Shen Dong has invested almost all of his money in real estate.
After the house was built, he only rented it out and did not sell it, which left him with less than 300 million yuan in cash flow.
Fortunately, all of his properties are high-quality assets. If he mortgages them to a bank, he could easily get a loan of 5 billion, let alone 1.5 billion.
However, the procedures for obtaining a bank loan were very complicated, so Shen Dong handed the matter over to Qiu Ti to handle.
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