Manhattan Reborn 1978

Asia, Hong Kong.

8:30 am~

Hong Kong mainland, Ma Sha Street, Sheung Wan.

Zhou Liwen, wearing a neat suit and carrying a briefcase, looked like a middle-aged white-collar elite. He walked slowly on the narrow street of Masha Street with his "old lover" Ding Peishan and "goddaughter" Ruan Xiaoling.

He passed by the low and old houses on both sides and looked at the skyscrapers standing around Masha Street in the distance, laughing happily in his heart.

"The third floor of the Gold and Silver Commercial Building in front is the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Trading Center."

"Ok!"

Ding Peishan, who has lived in Hong Kong for decades, has long heard of this gold and silver trading place that has been established for nearly 70 years.

However, she certainly could not compare to Zhou Liwen, who used to be a detective and had a broad vision and extensive network of contacts, and she did not know how much unknown "wealth" was hidden in this building that looked inconspicuous from a distance.

After a while~

In front of the door of the trading floor, a burly Indian and two middle-aged men wearing purple waistcoats worn by employees of the trading floor were sitting leisurely on the steps, as if they were basking in the sun nonchalantly.

They all saw Zhou Liwen and the other two from a distance, and also saw confusion and curiosity in Ding Peishan and Ruan Xiaoling's eyes.

But they were all used to this and had no interest in approaching and talking to them.

Zhou Liwen knew that in their eyes, the three of them might just be passers-by who came here to take a look around to satisfy their curiosity. It was impossible for them to have membership and enter the trading field.

So, he led Ding Peishan and Ruan Xiaoling to the opposite side of the trading ground gate and waited quietly in the morning light.

. . .

About a quarter of an hour later.

The current patriarch of Hong Kong's Kadoorie family, Roland Kadoorie, and his son Michael Kadoorie, slowly parked their car in front of the trading floor.

After the two men got off the car, Michael Kadoorie adjusted the folds of his coat as usual, looked around casually, and was about to follow his father's footsteps up the stairs when he suddenly froze.

He turned around and looked at Zhou Liwen and the other two who were standing not far behind him. He frowned slightly and thought for a few seconds. With his extraordinary memory, he quickly remembered that he had seen Zhou Liwen before. He walked over with a hint of curiosity and said with a smile.

"Are you Mr. Zhou?"

"Um... I'm Zhou Liwen."

"Hello, Mr. Kadoorie!"

"Hello~ I didn't expect it was really you, I thought I was seeing things just now."

"It seems that you have changed a lot recently."

"It has changed a little bit. I have quit my job at HSBC and now work for Mr Coleman."

"Oh~ I remember!"

"The last time David stayed at our Peninsula Hotel, you..."

"Yes, I worked as a driver and tour guide for my boss for a few days."

"Hahaha~ I like David, and I really admire his courage and vision."

"Mr. Zhou, if you follow him, you will definitely have a brighter future."

"Thank you!"

"Before returning home, the boss told me that you took great care of him when he came to Hong Kong, and he regretted not being able to have a more in-depth chat with you."

"So he said that next time he comes to Hong Kong, he must ask me to make an appointment in advance and visit you!"

"Hahaha ~ Welcome, he is always welcome in my home." Mai Gao laughed heartily and stretched out his right hand to Zhou Liwen, but his eyes were glancing at Ding Peishan and Ruan Xiaoling intentionally or unintentionally.

The two people who originally had no chance of meeting each other were now standing on the street, talking and laughing, and "bragging each other about business".

This scene inevitably caused ripples in Ding Peishan's heart, which had long been calm, and Wu Bo's heart.

. . .

Two minutes later~

After Mike finished his polite conversation with Zhou Liwen, he asked directly, "Why are you here..."

"We made an appointment with Mr. Coleman's friend, his name is Luo Qingren."

"Luo?"

"Has he been to our Peninsula Hotel?"

"Yes." Zhou Liwen nodded with a more confident smile.

"He is Professor Bartlett's student and Mr. Coleman's senior."

"Oh~"

In fact, Mike had long guessed that Luo Qingren and David had this kind of relationship, but he had never found a suitable opportunity to verify it.

Now that he heard Zhou Liwen say it directly, the look in his eyes when he looked at Ding Peishan and Ruan Xiaoling changed slightly.

"If you're just waiting for someone, we might as well go in first."

"I'm very familiar with this place and can answer all your questions."

"How's it going? Two beautiful ladies!"

"..Okay! Thank you." Ding Peishan glanced at Zhou Liwen and saw that he was blinking at her continuously. She nodded hesitantly in agreement.

"OK, please." Mai Gao smiled, turned sideways and made a gesture of invitation, then took the lead to walk towards the door of the trading floor.

Zhou Liwen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and after quickly weighing the pros and cons in his mind, he walked over to Ding Peishan and her daughter, nodded slightly, and led them to the opposite side.

. . .

A few minutes later, inside the trading floor.

Mike found his father, Old Roland, first and whispered a few words to him. After getting a positive answer, he smiled and walked up to Zhou Liwen and the other two and said, "Let's go. The transaction hasn't started yet. I'll show you around first."

"Okay." Zhou Liwen moved sideways half a step a little nervously, letting Ding Peishan next to him move out and blocking Ruan Xiaoling.

Michael pretended not to notice his little move and said as he walked, "The Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society was established in 1910."

"It was called the Gold and Silver Exchange at the time, and was not officially named until after World War I. It was the earliest public trading place for precious metals such as gold and silver in Hong Kong."

"Except for the period from 1941 to 1945 when Hong Kong was occupied due to the outbreak of the Pacific War, it has remained open for business ever since."

Having said this, Maigao saw two staff members in front of him, so he politely asked them to lead the way and continued.

"The viewing room upstairs that we are going to now overlooks the entire trading floor."

"Look, the lobby of the trading floor is half the size of a basketball court. There are three layers of shelves around the floor, filled with hundreds of old-fashioned black telephones."

"So when the market opens and traders start to get busy, almost every one of them has an assistant by the phone to assist them in completing verbal quote transactions."

"Oral? Don't they need to keep records?" Zhou Liwen asked at the right time, looking at the empty trading floor downstairs.

"No need." Mike put his hands behind his back and said with a smile.

"Over the years since it opened, members have been trading in the venue through open outcry."

"If a dealer makes an offer, we can directly make a deal with the seller at the fixed price. The unit of measurement is Sima Liang."

(Note: The gold trading measurement units of each country vary according to their national conditions.

For example, in Hong Kong, 1 Sima Liang = 10 Sima Qian = 37.429 grams.

In Europe and America, 1 troy ounce = 1.097 avoirdupois ounces = 31.1034 grams.

我们国内是1市斤=10两，1两=1.6075金衡盎司=50克。）

. . .

Mai Gao turned around and looked at Zhou Liwen and the other two, waving his left hand and smiling.

"The trading method here is open outcry + dealer system. All transactions are decided verbally. There is no need to sign a contract. You only need to make a phone call to report."

"However, this is a spot gold trading market, and there are no gold futures contracts from the Chicago Board of Trade in the United States that can be traded."

“After the transaction is confirmed, the spot delivery of gold must be approved by the exchange and then arranged by the members themselves.”

“So in order to balance trading risk management, the trading venue has specially set up a trading margin system.”

"This system stipulates that each member will enjoy a credit limit of 1000 Sima taels or 35 kilograms of gold when they pay a trading margin to trade."

"For the excess amount, you need to replenish the margin at any time according to the daily changing margin regulations of the trading venue before you can continue trading."

"According to yesterday's trading floor margin regulations, the margin required for each Sima tael is about 1600 yuan."

"One thousand Sima taels, that's about 160 million Hong Kong dollars."

"..." When Zhou Liwen heard this number, his hand holding the briefcase shook subconsciously.

He looked directly into Mai Gao's eyes, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said frankly: "We asked Mr. Luo Qingren to come with us this time because we wanted to use his connections to buy some gold for investment."

"Oh? How much do you want to buy?"

"If it's not too much, I can help you with it now."

"Um... we brought 30,000 Miyuan, all here." Zhou Liwen raised the briefcase in his hand, raised his eyebrows and smiled at Mai Gao.

"Thirty thousand... OK!"

"I have 100 Sima taels of gold in my hand. I'll sell it to you directly and save you some handling fees."

"Wait a moment, I'll make a phone call."

After saying that, Mike turned around and left.

"Um... OK, thank you!"

Although Zhou Liwen was poor at mental arithmetic, he knew that according to the current exchange rate, 30,000 Mi Yuan would definitely not be able to buy 100 Sima taels of gold.

So after he made sure that Maigao had left, he quickly walked to Ruan Xiaoling and whispered a few words to her.

Ruan Xiaoling, with her high sensitivity to numbers, quickly gave an answer: "If the exchange rate you mentioned is correct, we have saved at least 8,000 Hong Kong dollars."

"Eight thousand!"

"Huh~ I get it." Zhou Liwen's frown slowly relaxed. He casually put the briefcase aside and smiled bitterly.

"I met a room attendant supervisor at the Peninsula Hotel a few days ago. His monthly salary plus tips was less than 3000 Hong Kong dollars."

"Mr. Kadoorie is willing to sell us gold at a loss, it must be because he cares about the boss's face."

"..." Ding Peishan and Ruan Xiaoling looked at each other, and both saw very complicated emotions in each other's eyes.

Zhou Liwen saw all of this, deliberately put his hand on the briefcase, and lowered his voice: "Just keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone."

"When the boss comes to Hong Kong again, or calls me, I will find a chance to tell him."

"Yeah!" Ding Peishan's face showed a trace of melancholy and relief. She lowered her eyes and nodded slightly.

At this time, Ruan Xiaoling was silent, staring at the briefcase, carefully hiding the passion and confusion in her eyes.

Eight thousand yuan for a face?

According to today's gold price, eight thousand yuan can buy five Sima taels of gold!

How long do I have to work to earn this money?

Half a year?

Half a year.

Ruan Xiaoling kept repeating these two words in her heart, and couldn't help revealing a hint of bitterness at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes slowly became clear from confusion.

She looked up at Zhou Liwen, clenched her fists, tried to control her breath, and said, "Uncle Zhou, I want to study English."

----

At the same time~

Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, an island country.