Chapter 299 Don’t blame me for bragging
Her hair is simply tied up and she wears a windbreaker on the outside. She looks simple and elegant, with a very European and American style. She is beautiful and looks good in anything.
Han Ye-jin came to the living room holding Hardy's arm. There were two middle-aged men and women standing there respectfully. When they saw Hardy and Han Ye-jin come out, they hurriedly saluted.
"I have met the master and the young lady."
They both bowed together, looking a little reserved.
"This is Chef Wang and Aunt Wang." Han Ye-jin introduced Hardy.
"We have come here specially to thank you for your reward, sir." Master Wang and Aunt Wang bowed to Hardy again.
Hadi smiled and nodded. "Your cooking is delicious. I like it very much. If I were at home, I would cook more of your specialties."
Hadi said this in Chinese.
The Wangs were not too surprised that Hardy could speak Chinese. They had met many foreigners in Hong Kong who spoke fluent Chinese.
"Don't worry, sir. We will do our best." The couple bowed together and replied.
Hardy and Han Ye-jin got in the car, and the convoy drove out of Victoria Peak and passed through the streets of Central, Hong Kong. Hardy saw Chinese signs hanging on both sides of the street, pedestrians hurrying by, and the atmosphere of the city was full.
Some buildings, however, are full of European flavor.
Since August 29, 1842, when the Qing government signed the unequal treaty "Treaty of Nanjing" with Britain, this place has been ruled by the British for a hundred years.
After taking the ferry across the sea, the convoy finally arrived at the foot of Lion Rock. Although Lion Rock is not high, it still feels majestic when standing at the foot of the mountain.
The stone lion on the top of the mountain stands tall, majestic and powerful.
There was a large construction site at the foot of the mountain where countless people were working busily. When the person in charge heard that Miss Han was coming, he immediately rushed over. When he saw Han Ye-jin holding Hardy's arm, he was obviously stunned.
This morning's newspapers reported that Mr. Hardy, the owner of a large American group, visited Hong Kong, and the newspapers also introduced the Hardy Group.
Banks, security companies, film companies, airlines, shipping companies, etc., with assets exceeding US$3 billion.
3 billion US dollars.
Many people cannot imagine how much money this is.
Not to mention the Hardy Group's industries in Hong Kong, even in Hong Kong, everyone knows this name. The Kowloon Tong Industrial Park is currently under construction, and some sites have already been put into production. It is said that the area will house hundreds of factories and accommodate tens of thousands of workers.
Moreover, not long ago, Hardy's boss also acquired HSBC. You have to know that HSBC is a bank issuing money in Hong Kong, and it is the purse strings of Hong Kong people.
The TV station is also owned by Hardy's company. They listen to the radio programs every day. ABC TV is definitely the most famous radio station in Hong Kong now.
He also knew that
This museum is also owned by the Hardy Group. Now Miss Han is walking with a young man, and the person in charge immediately guessed that this man might be Mr. Hardy.
Han Ye-jin introduced Hardy to the person in charge with a smile.
The person in charge hurried to greet him.
"Tell me about the construction," said Hardy, as he entered the site.
The person in charge began to introduce that the project involved more than a thousand people and multiple projects were started at the same time, which could save time.
The biggest project is the main building of the museum, and the most important is the underground vault below. The main building of the museum has two floors above ground and three floors underground. Han Ye-jin requested that this vault be made the strongest in the world.
At least it is the most advanced one now.
The vault is huge, with each floor being as large as half a football field, and each floor is divided into several separate safes. Each floor must undergo multiple security verifications.
The vault is surrounded by mountains, leaving no passages. The walls are built with reinforced concrete, 1.5 meters thick, and in the middle there is a 40 mm thick steel plate, as thick as the hull steel plate of a battleship.
A vault like this can even defend against nuclear bombs.
The total area of the three-story vault is over 12,000 square meters, and the cost of building this vault alone reached several million US dollars.
Hardy plans to place all his collections in this museum in the future, including the gold. When there is an opportunity, he will replace the gold with another batch and place it here.
Although gold appreciates very slowly and is not worth investing in for the time being, it holds its value better than anything else. When the Bretton Woods system collapsed, gold began to grow wildly, soaring from $35 per ounce to a peak of $1,900 an ounce, an increase of more than 50 times.
The most important thing is that gold can be collected and appreciated, and at the same time used as bank collateral, allowing Wells Fargo or HSBC to take out money, which Hardy can continue to use for investment, so buying gold has no impact on him.
You can also make money on both ends.
This is one of the benefits of owning a bank.
Steel bars, cement, and many building materials, including safe deposit equipment, were shipped directly from the United States.
The steel bars used in the auxiliary facilities outside were produced by local steel factories in Hong Kong. Hardy was very surprised at the time. Does Hong Kong also have steel factories?
There is indeed a steel factory in Hong Kong, called the Chiap Wo Steel Company. It was built in Hong Kong in the 1920s. It is said that it provided steel to the armies of Guangxi valiant Bai Chongxi and Guangdong valiant Chen Jitang for making military weapons and guns.
It currently mainly produces steel for construction and also provides raw materials for hardware factories.
Han Ye-jin held Hardy's arm and introduced the project as they walked. "It will probably be completed early next year. The main reason is that the safe is too complicated and needs to be renovated. It will probably be completed by the middle of next year."
"The entire museum covers a large area, and there are many auxiliary buildings, office buildings, living areas, etc."
"At the same time, I also plan to renovate Lion Rock, build a half-mountain road, and turn Lion Rock into a park."
Hardy kept nodding his head. He agreed with Han Ye-jin's arrangement.
In fact, later generations.
A residential area was built at the foot of Lion Rock, with dozens of high-rise buildings. If the value at that time was tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars per square meter, the value of these buildings would be estimated to reach several billion.
But it's still early now, and Hardy has turned this entire place into a museum, which can be described as a case of being rich and willful.
As for building buildings and real estate, many foreign banks and large companies are now fleeing abroad. Hardy asked Wells Fargo and HSBC to try their best to acquire land and assets. They have a large amount of land in their hands, so there will be no shortage of places for real estate development in the future.
After a tour of the museum construction site, Hardy and Han Ye-jin left and returned to their luxury home in Mid-Levels. When passing the ferry, Hardy saw a dense crowd of people on the pier, many of whom were wearing old-style clothes, either passing by or waiting for work.
When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, the population of Hong Kong was less than 1.5 million. But by 1949, in just four or five years, it had surged to more than 2 million, and most of them were young and strong, making Hong Kong's labor market very abundant.
And the momentum is still strong.
By next year, the population will grow to 2.5 million, a full million more than before. Hong Kong's prosperity is inseparable from its abundant labor force.
But the problem now is that with so many young people pouring in within a short period of time, many of them cannot find jobs, which has also caused a series of problems.
......
Night falls.
Hardy stands in the courtyard of his Mid-Levels mansion.
You can directly see Victoria Harbour in the distance.
There are various ships moored in the harbor. There are still lights on the ships, and workers are loading and unloading cargo. It is a busy scene.
Han Ye-jin came out of the house and asked, "Do you think this outfit looks good?"
Hardy turned around and saw Han Ye-jin wearing a plain woolen skirt, a fur shawl, and her hair was tied up with a small round hat on top.
Around her neck hung the jewel necklace given to her by Hardy.
“Very beautiful~!”
Hardy exaggerates.
Victor was waiting outside. When he saw the boss and his wife coming, he immediately invited them to get in the car. Although Victor's current status in Hong Kong is no less than that of a bank president, he has a clear understanding of his own position, that is, the boss's subordinate.
In front of Boss Hardy, he had no reason to be arrogant.
The convoy arrived at the Governor's Palace, which is actually also located in Mid-Levels. Hadi's residence is only a few kilometers away from the Governor's Palace. The Governor's Palace covers a large area of 24,000 square meters, with the main building covering an area of 7,000 square meters.
This is not only the Governor's residence, but also an important reception venue, so it is also called the Governor's Palace.
When Hardy's motorcade arrived at the gate of the Governor's Palace, the cars of the presidents of HSBC, Wells Fargo, Global Times, and ABC Radio were already waiting there, and then followed Hardy's motorcade into the Governor's Palace.
A group of people were standing at the entrance of the main building of the Governor's Palace.
Governor Grantham, the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary, the Attorney General, members of the Legislative Council, as well as the presidents of several major trading companies and some presidents of Chinese trading companies who were able to be dispatched.
Many people thought.
This welcoming gesture is comparable to welcoming the British Prime Minister to Hong Kong.
However, for Hardy, although he was just a businessman, his status was enough for Governor Grantham to treat him in this way. When the British Prime Minister learned that Hardy was coming to Hong Kong, he sent a secret telegram to Governor Grantham, asking him to establish a good relationship with Hardy.
Of course.
There is a purpose for building good relations. Britain hopes to obtain a US dollar loan from Hardy to alleviate the current severe funding shortage in the UK.
Hardy's car stopped.
Someone opened the car door, Hardy got out, and offered his hand to help Han Ye-jin get out. Victor, HSBC President Sanders, Wells Fargo President Sandy Weir, Global Times President and others stood behind Hardy.
Many people thought.
Without mentioning Mr. Hardy, the people behind him are all influential figures in Hong Kong today.
“Boohoo~~!”
There was warm applause from the audience.
Governor Grantham came forward and shook hands with Hardy. After shaking hands with him, Hardy introduced the girl next to him and said, "This is my girlfriend Han Ye-jin."
"Hello, Miss Han."
Grantham kissed the back of Han Ye-jin's hand in a gentlemanly manner.
Then Grantham introduced Hardy to the Hong Kong officials. These people smiled and shook hands with Hardy one by one. Finally, after the greetings, everyone went into the house together.
Before the cocktail party started, Grantham invited Hardy to say a few words. Hardy thought to himself, since you let me speak, don't blame me for bragging.
Hardy stepped onto the stage with a smile and said loudly to the audience:
"Twenty-five days ago, I arrived in the UK. Prime Minister Attlee hosted a banquet for us at 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence. Prime Minister Attlee, cabinet members and I discussed a lot about the future investment and construction in the UK."
The people in the audience looked at Hadi with even more respect than before, because he was someone that the prime minister and cabinet ministers wanted to invite.
"Fifteen days ago, I bought more than half of HSBC's shares with David from Rockefeller. I am honored to be the new chairman of HSBC. This time I came here to take a look at HSBC and the Hardy Group's industries in Hong Kong."
"Twelve days ago, His Majesty King George VI and Princess Elizabeth invited us to Buckingham Palace. I had an in-depth exchange with His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the Princess Royal. After the Second World War, I believe that Britain will return to its glory."
Many people looked at Hardy with different eyes. He was invited by the king and the princess. They were at most small officials of a colony under the British Empire. In front of Hardy, they had no status at all.
They didn't know that the in-depth communication Hardy was talking about was actually with Princess Margaret, but there is no need to explain here.
"Seven days ago, I returned to the United States to attend President Johnson's re-election ceremony."
"Today, I came to Hong Kong and was invited by Governor Grantham to hold a reception for me. I feel very honored. I would like to thank Grantham again and everyone who came tonight. Thank you all."
Wuuuuu~~!
There was another round of enthusiastic applause from the audience.