Chapter Seventy-Nine Deep Blue Ocean Shipping Company

Liu Weijian spent nearly a month completing the paperwork for the Hope Charity Education Fund, and at the beginning of May, Father James obtained the foundation’s license. On May 8, 1980, Jesse, accompanied by a large group of bodyguards and several staff members from the American branch of Zenith Private Investment Company, arrived in Hong Kong by chartered plane. Jesse’s purpose in coming was to help Weihua implement his investment plans in Hong Kong. Since the company’s major investment in oil futures in 1979, Zenith’s U.S. branch hadn’t engaged in any significant new ventures, and most of the capital remained idle on the books. Weihua intended to deploy these funds into investments in Hong Kong, and Jesse brought both personnel and finances for this reason.

Weihua drove his newly purchased BMW to the airport to pick up Jesse. After meeting Jesse, he quickly made his escape, but fortunately Jesse was well-prepared; with the help of a guide, the rest of the company checked into the hotel rooms that had long been reserved for them.

Weihua brought Jesse straight back to the villa at Repulse Bay. There was no time for freshening up—the two couldn’t wait to be close. Weihua’s stamina was extraordinary; after two hours, Jesse lay draped across Weihua’s chest and asked:

“You didn’t drag me all the way from America just for this, did you? Come on, what’s your plan this time? You’re always like this—never planning anything out, leaving the rest of us to clean up your messes. Have you already spotted some profitable venture in Hong Kong?”

“No. I just want to shift our investment focus from venture capital to industry. Hong Kong is a great place, and since we’ll be living here in the future, I’ve decided to invest in real businesses here. Let me tell you my plans. First, I want to establish an ocean shipping company in Hong Kong, focusing on oil transport. I’ve heard that Christina, daughter of the Greek shipping magnate Onassis, is planning to sell off some of her ships. I want to acquire those vessels and set up our own deep-sea shipping company, which I’ve already named Deep Blue Ocean Shipping. You’ll be responsible for getting it up and running—and for negotiating with Christina to buy her ships.”

“Second, we’re going to invest in building a chip manufacturing plant and a wafer fab in Hong Kong. I’m also planning to set up an appliance manufacturing company in Bao’an County on the mainland, which will be managed by the Hong Kong company. So, we’ll establish an electrical appliance group in Hong Kong called Snowpool Appliance Manufacturing, aimed at squeezing out and challenging Japanese appliance manufacturers. The mainland is a huge market, and I can’t just stand by and watch Japanese companies gleefully sell shoddy products while raking in profits. The mainland appliance factory will mainly produce home electronics—black-and-white TVs for the next year or two, then color TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, and other household appliances. Changbai Technology Laboratory will soon release new technologies, and I think Japanese TV manufacturers will soon feel our pressure—we’re going to sell TVs to Japan. As for the chip and wafer plants, those are for the future. I believe computers have boundless potential, and their development depends on chip and wafer production. We must prepare in advance!”

“Third, we need to find a site to build a grand mansion. After all, my net worth is in the billions, making me one of the richest people in the Chinese community—and I have four wives besides. Clearly, this villa can’t meet our needs anymore. So, I think we should just buy a piece of land and build a luxurious estate of our own. It needs to be spacious, with a private dock, swimming pool, playground, and so forth. In a while, we should also buy a few yachts and a private jet. I’ve realized I don’t really know how to enjoy life—what’s the point of making all this money if I don’t? You all came from New York on a chartered plane, but if we had a private jet, your trips to Hong Kong would be so much more convenient.”

“Fourth, let’s buy a building to house all our company offices—including the Hope Charity Education Fund managed by Father James. You also need to get the framework for Deep Blue Ocean Shipping and Snowpool Appliance Manufacturing up and running as soon as possible. As for staffing, handle it as you see fit. If we don’t have the right people, we’ll recruit worldwide!”

“Anything else?” Jesse waited for a while, and when Weihua didn’t continue, she started tracing idle circles on his pale chest with her finger and asked softly.

“That’s all. Just those.”

“All right then, I’ll handle it! But, darling, you can’t just sit idle. Only you know exactly what kind of mansion you want, so the design will be up to you—I doubt that will be a problem for a top MIT graduate like you. And since this will be our own home, construction and materials must be the very best—you’ll have to see to that as well, understood?” Jesse instructed Weihua, who knew he couldn’t escape these responsibilities and agreed to take them on.

The next day, Jesse began leading her team to handle the tasks Weihua had assigned, while Weihua started collecting information to find suitable locations—both for the mansion and for the factories. For several days, his search turned up nothing satisfactory. Then, one day, just as Weihua returned home, someone came knocking. It was an acquaintance. Since there were no servants in the villa, Weihua answered the door himself, and as he approached, he recognized the visitor and greeted him with a smile:

“Director Sun! What brings you here today? Don’t tell me you’ve already spent the three hundred million dollars I gave you, and you’re here to borrow more?”

“Mr. Wei, you must be joking! How could I possibly spend three hundred million dollars in less than a year? That’s a billion yuan! I’m here mainly to discuss our cooperation agreement—there are some points we still need to negotiate. You know, there are people above who have questions and think we’re moving too fast. They hope we’ll slow down a little. There’s no problem with cooperation, but some conditions need to be revised,” Director Sun replied.

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