Chapter 996
: Choose 1 of 2
"Snapped!"
As soon as he hung up the phone, Li Ka-shing turned around and slapped his second son hard across the face.
"waste!"
Li Ka-shing glared and cursed angrily.
"dad."
Li Zekai covered the side of his face that had been slapped.
His eyes were filled with disbelief.
Especially the word "waste" that Li Ka-shing roared out.
It made him feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.
Did we lose?
Have all these years of hard work been in vain?
All his efforts have been solely for the approval of his father.
He is not inferior to his elder brother.
The older brother simply benefited from being born earlier than him.
But now,
His efforts were completely negated because of this trivial matter.
"waste!?"
Thinking of this, his eyes turned bloodshot, and he glared at his father across from him with gritted teeth.
"What? You're not convinced?"
Li Ka-shing slammed his cane to the ground. “Did I say something wrong? Aren’t you useless enough? You can’t even handle this little thing. I’ve taught you time and time again to be humble and cautious, but you wouldn’t listen and insisted on doing things your own way. I shouldn’t have trusted you, otherwise… well, now you’ve caused a huge disaster…”
After saying that, she didn't even glance at him again, and turned to look at the small flower garden outside the French windows.
"You go!"
"Go back to your own company and clean up your own mess."
"Also, you don't need to worry about things at home anymore. I've decided to have your older brother prepare to take over the family business in advance, starting with him taking over all the family's businesses in mainland China. You also have some businesses in mainland China, so starting today, you'll hand them over to your older brother as well."
Li Zekai's eyes were filled with disbelief.
"dad!"
He said excitedly, "You can let me go, but my own business is something I built up through hard work. Why should I have to unconditionally transfer it to you just because of your word?"
His businesses in mainland China are mainly concentrated in VCD projects and home appliance chain projects.
The reason for this is...
It's all because they want to challenge Lu Yang.
In the VCD project, he invested in more than a dozen companies in mainland China, the most famous of which are Lianxiang, BBK, and Xianke.
Lianxiang's VCD project failed.
As a result, SANKO has fallen from being the second largest player in the industry to the fifth largest.
As for BBK, under Duan Yongping's leadership, it has developed quite well in the past two years.
Unfortunately, of these three companies, BBK is the one in which Li Zekai owns the fewest shares and has the least say.
Although Duan Yongping accepted the goodwill from the Li family, a wealthy family in Hong Kong.
However, he also expressed his opinion on the spot.
He could not possibly interfere in the feud between the Li family and the "Century Group".
In his words, "President Lu has treated me well. When I was down on my luck, it was President Lu who helped me out. The successful establishment of my current company was also thanks to President Lu's initial investment. Of course, I've also seen the goodwill of your Li family. How about this: I'll accept the money and give you the shares as they are due, but I won't get involved in your personal feud. As for the company..."
In order to gain absolute autonomy, Duan Yongping even abandoned the Little Tyrant Electronic Kingdom that he had built from scratch and started all over again!
Such people would naturally not allow outside capital to control the fate of BBK.
These are three of the most typical examples.
As for the others, after several years of market forces operating, with big fish eating small fish and small fish eating shrimp, and under the brutal price war, they have almost all died out. Those that remain can only barely survive, and after a whole year, there is almost no profit to speak of.
Even so.
Even if more than 80% of the sub-projects invested in this project face failure or even bankruptcy, Li Zekai still will not lose money.
The fact that BBK Electronics alone has reached its peak valuation in recent years is enough for Li Zekai to recover all the losses from his other failed investments.
Now, how could he possibly be willing to hand it over?
Furthermore, regarding the home appliance chain project, although it didn't quite achieve his initial goal of getting that kid surnamed Lu to kneel down and beg him to let him off the hook, otherwise he would have crushed the other party's project within the walls.
He accomplished half of it.
At his peak, he had invested in numerous chain enterprises all over the country, from north to south and from west to east, forming an absolute advantage. Back then, Lu Yang's Century Home Appliance Plaza was only available in first-tier cities or provincial capitals. The other second- and third-tier cities were all Li Zekai's territory.
In the end, he lost again, but not completely.
You could say that he failed to encircle the enemy and was instead encircled himself.
You could also say that he failed to besiege the enemy and is now facing his own siege.
His investments in Northern Dazhong Appliances and Southern Suning Appliances have faced increasing pressure from Century Group home appliance plazas in recent years, with market share hitting new lows year after year. They should have been struggling to survive, but luckily, the mainland real estate market was booming in recent years, with housing prices rising day by day and store rents soaring.
When Lu Yang decided to start a home appliance chain brand, he said something like this: "The biggest taboo in this industry is renting. Either don't do it, or you must buy the property first. Otherwise, just wait and see. If your business is good, I guarantee the rent will double in the second year and double again in the third year. Will you leave then? If you don't, you'll be working for the landlord."
Even Lu Yang understands this simple truth.
There's no reason why others wouldn't understand, right?
So it is clear that people who can build such a large business in this era, whether it is Zhang Dazhong, the former founder of Da Dong Electric Appliances, or Zhang Jindong, the founder of Suning Appliances, have all made the same decision as Lu Yang, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
While operating home appliance stores, they are also frantically accumulating a large amount of high-quality commercial real estate.
Now, with the booming domestic real estate market, this wave of dividends is here!
They've certainly tasted the sweetness of success.
A few days ago, Li Zekai personally calculated that, based on the current valuation of the projects he has invested in in mainland China, his total wealth on paper far exceeds his total wealth in Hong Kong!
No,
Make him hand it over?
Why?
Li Zekai's anger was written all over his face!
He won't agree!
"Why?"
Li Ka-shing turned around, stopping his eldest son from interrupting. He raised his cane and pointed it at his youngest son, saying, "Have you forgotten who agreed to let you invest in the mainland? And who provided you with the financial support? Otherwise, it's a joke that any project that's supposed to make money would be recognized by them."
After saying that, he slammed his cane heavily on the ground.
He snorted coldly, "Isn't it all because of my old face!" Li Zekai's face grew increasingly ugly.
I should have known sooner!
He certainly wouldn't have accepted help from his family back then.
The VCD player and home appliance chain projects were projects that he fought hard to gain his father's support for, and he was the one who built them up by hand. He spent a lot of money on them, and almost emptied the cash flow of his own PCCW Electronics account.
Now, all we get in return is this dismissive remark from the old man.
So, all along, I've been used by my family?
He didn't want to admit that the old man was so biased, but the truth told him that the old man was indeed biased. No matter how hard he tried or how he performed, in the end, not only did the old man not see it, but he also had to take away the rewards he had worked so hard for and leave them all to his older brother!
Thinking of this!
He closed his eyes in pain!
He said, word by word, "Dad, I beg you, can you please stop? I don't ask you to treat me the same way you treat my older brother, and I never expect fairness from you. You are the head of the family, and you have the final say in this family, but do you have to be so ruthless?"
Losing business in mainland China is not just a matter of asset shrinkage.
He has already received the news.
In retaliation, that man is ruthlessly crashing the market, doing something that hurts his enemy eight hundred while hurting himself a thousand. It's said that the entire Cyberport port is now paralyzed. Although the logistics companies are still operating, there are hardly any workers or goods being loaded onto ships. It's visibly that the pedestrian shopping streets he built around the area are seeing a decline in foot traffic day by day. If he doesn't find a solution, not only will the businesses of the physical stores on these pedestrian streets be affected, impacting his rental income for the next year, but even the surrounding commercial and residential properties, apart from some that have been pre-sold, will probably no longer be able to sell at a high price. It would be good enough if they didn't end up with unsold inventory.
It's ridiculous. The old man was just telling him to go back and clean up his own mess first.
But I don't have any money?
How do I wipe this butt?
Li Ka-shing probably never expected that simply asking his youngest son to hand over his business in mainland China to his eldest brother for temporary management would backfire so spectacularly, prompting his son to utter such disobedient and unfilial words.
In an instant!
The richest Chinese man's face turned extremely gloomy.
Li Zeju observed the old man's emotional outburst.
A hint of smugness flashed in his eyes.
Therefore, he said with difficulty: "Dad, since my brother is unwilling, why don't you take back your decision?"
Li Ka-shing was clearly in a bad mood, and it would have been better if he hadn't said those words; they were like adding fuel to the fire.
"Nonsense!"
Li Ka-shing was furious, "Stop being so soft-hearted!"
After scolding his eldest son.
He then turned his gaze to his second son, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes, but his voice grew increasingly icy. "You think you're all grown up now, and you won't even listen to me anymore? Fine, if you really refuse to listen, then you might as well not acknowledge me as your father anymore. Let's publish a notice to sever ties. Of course, you won't owe a single penny less."
Upon hearing the words "severing ties with relatives".
Li Zekai gritted his teeth, even tempted to impulsively agree.
However, the old man not only wanted to sever ties with him, but also wanted to recover the money he had taken from the family. He had already spent all that money and converted it into shares of companies in mainland China. In other words, no matter how much he pursued the matter, the old man's ultimate goal was still the shares of the companies he had invested in in mainland China.
"Dad, do you really have to do this for my brother's sake?"
“I told you, if you’re not willing, then we’ll sever ties, and I’ll pretend I don’t have a son like you.”
If not, even if the relationship is severed, the money still needs to be repaid.
Do you really think Li Zekai wouldn't dare sever ties with his family?
Break!
It should have ended a long time ago.
The cleaner the break, the better.
But... how will he repay the money?
Given the power and influence of the Li family, the old man has even said such cruel things as severing ties with them and forcing them to repay the money. If the ties are really severed, I'm afraid I will not only lose my business investments in mainland China, but I will also lose the company I currently own, Yingke Electronics.
"I agree!"
Li Zekai said, word by word, "I am willing to... hand over my business in mainland China."
finished,
He knelt down.
He silently kowtowed three times. "Dad, please, for the sake of me being your son, use your influence to help me out. PCCW's project in Cyberport cannot end so hastily. It involves not only billions or even tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, but also the reputation of our Li family. Dad, I beg you."
Hearing his second son agree to hand over his business in mainland China.
Then he saw that his second son was willing to admit his mistake and kowtow to him.
Superman finally softened.
Everyone has the love and affection for their child.
It wasn't activated before, but it's finally being activated now.
His eyes were filled with complex emotions, and he said with a hint of pity, "Get up. Since you know you were wrong, you are still my good son. Go. Don't worry, with your father here and the Li family supporting you, the Cyberport project will not collapse."
"Thank you, Dad!"
Li Zekai obediently got up from the ground.
Li Zeju, standing nearby, was displeased, but dared not show it on his face. He even had to say a few nice words about it, "Dad, look how much more sensible my brother has become after your guidance! Don't worry, we brothers will definitely get along well from now on and will never make you angry!"
They even started acting out this.
Needless to say, what followed was a heartwarming scene of a loving father and filial son.
Even if you know it's fake, no one is foolish enough to expose it.
Lu Yang was unaware that his adversary on the mainland had quietly changed.
Of course, even if he knew, he wouldn't take it seriously.
If you replace Little Superman with his brother, they are both from the Li family and both rely on the power of the wealthy Li family. Is there any difference?
"I have reached an agreement with the senior management of the telecommunications company. They are willing to accept our full range of services. They will pay a 30% deposit upfront, and we will advance the funds for the remaining construction. Once the network signal coverage reaches the city's 85% standard, they will settle all subsequent payments within one year."
That day, Lu Yang summoned both Lu Hongliang and Wu Ying to his office.
He informed the two of the results of his personal visit to the leaders at the telecommunications headquarters.
How did they manage to do it?
He didn't say!
However, both Lu Hongliang and Wu Ying had their own guesses.
That boss is ruthless... He actually went and threatened a senior executive at a telecommunications company... Tsk tsk tsk... He even forced them to choose between two options... (End of Chapter)