January 9, 1979, the tenth day of the Lunar New Year.

At this time, the flavor of the Xiangjiang New Year has not yet passed, and the streets and alleys are still decorated in a festive manner.

This year, because Hutchison Whampoa has just started the new year, big news broke out one after another, which also gave Xiangjiang citizens a lot of things to talk about after dinner.

They can talk about this matter easily, because it is too far away from them. Not to mention jealousy, they cannot even be envious.

However, there are still some people who are paying close attention to this matter, especially today is the day when Hutchison Whampoa holds a board of directors meeting.

This is the first time that Lei Yunrong and Li Chaoren have attended a board meeting after becoming directors of Hutchison Whampoa. Everyone wants to see what kind of sparks the two Chinese elders will have when they collide.

At this time, the downstairs of Hutchison Building was very busy early in the morning. Even before dawn, reporters from the media came to the door of the building, trying to get a good seat first.

As one of the most popular things at the moment, if you come late, nothing will be as hot as it is.

The board of directors meeting was held at ten o'clock, and before nine o'clock, people were already arriving at Hutchison Company.

It was almost ten o'clock when Lei Yunrong arrived at Hutchison Building, and there was a commotion as soon as he got off the car. But this time Lei Yunrong ignored these reporters and walked straight to Hutchison Whampoa Company with the security guard leading the way.

Lei Yunrong came to the reception room. He didn't know if Li Chaoren was waiting for him, but he was the only one in there.

Lei Yunrong's expression did not change much, and he said with a smile:

"Li Sheng, you're really early."

"I've just arrived here not long ago, but Lei Sheng, you're not in a hurry at all."

"It's useless to be anxious. I did what I could, and the rest is to do my best and obey fate."

Li Chaoren smiled and said:

"It seems that Lei Sheng is very confident about today's board of directors meeting!"

"Li Sheng, the board meeting is about to begin. If you have anything to say, I think it's best to say it directly."

"Okay, in that case, I won't beat around the bush. Now we are all interested in Hutchison Whampoa. If we fight too hard, it will make others laugh. So I think we can sit down and have a good talk first."

"Then what are Li Sheng going to talk about?"

"We are all major shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa now. As long as we join forces, we can easily control Hutchison Whampoa with the shares in our hands. I think this is also our top priority."

"What about after taking over Hutchison Whampoa?"

Li Chaoren said sincerely:

"Although Leisheng is also involved in the real estate industry, Leisheng's main business is not real estate, nor is it a traditional industry. We, Cheung Kong Holdings, have been operating real estate for more than 20 years. If we cooperate with Hutchison Whampoa's huge assets, we can definitely make it happen.

What does Lei Sheng think about maximizing benefits for all shareholders of Hutchison Whampoa?"

"What Li Sheng means is that Hutchison Whampoa is left to you to run, and I only need to enjoy the dividends, right?"

"Yes, I think this is the best way to resolve our dispute."

Lei Yunrong smiled when he heard Li Chaoren's words and said:

"Li Sheng, someone said the same thing to me before. They also asked me to hand over the leadership of Hutchison Whampoa to you and let you run it, and I can pay dividends every year as an investor."

"Is it Shen Sheng?"

"Yes, so Li Sheng understands what I mean?"

Li Chaoren frowned and said: "Lei Sheng, if you and I fight, we will both lose. This will not benefit anyone. Some British companies will even try to fish in troubled waters."

"Li Sheng, actually there is another way to solve this problem."

"What can I do?"

"That means, Li Sheng, you can take a step back and hand over the leadership of Hutchison Whampoa to me, and Li Sheng, you can be a strategic investor."

"Don't worry about profits. Just because my net worth in just five years is several times that of Li Sheng, who you have worked hard for twenty years, you don't have to worry that I will be worse than you in running Hutchison Whampoa."

Li Chaoren's expression did not change at all when Lei Yunrong mocked him, and he said calmly:

"Lei Sheng, even if I agree, HSBC will not agree."

"In this case, I can purchase the Hutchison Whampoa shares held by Li Sheng at the current price. No, I can even purchase them at a price of 15 Hong Kong dollars. This nearly doubled profit is enough for you to give to HSBC."

An explanation."

Li Chaoren shook his head and said: "HSBC and I have already reached an agreement that it is impossible to sell stocks."

Lei Yunrong also laughed and said: "If that's the case, then we have nothing to say, we can only lose both sides!"

Even though Li Chaoren could bear it, his anger was rising. He came to you calmly, Lei Yunrong, hoping to solve the problem. However, you repeatedly said harsh words. If it can't be solved peacefully, let's start a fight.

"Okay Lei Sheng, it seems that we have great differences, but I want to remind you, Lei Sheng, that sometimes you can't be happy too early."

"It's time for you to worry about it, Mr. Li."

After saying that there was nothing more to say, Li Chaoren turned and left.

Lei Yunrong looked at Li Chaoren's leaving figure and smiled disdainfully.

Both parties have already made it clear that we are in a relationship, but you still come to me to talk about this and that, and even rely on your old friends. Since we are destined to never be friends, then I will not be polite in my words.

However, judging from Li Chaoren's last words, it seems that today's board of directors may also have twists and turns.

Before Lei Yunrong could think about it carefully, someone came over and told the board of directors that it was about to start.

Lei Yunrong also put aside other distracting thoughts, got up and walked to the conference room.

Hutchison Whampoa originally had nine directors, but now there are eleven in total including Lei Yunrong and Li Chaoren.

When Lei Yunrong came to the conference room, the table was already full, but he was the last one to come.

Seeing Lei Yunrong take his seat, Wei Li sat in the main seat and said with a smile:

"Let us welcome Lei Yunrong and Li Chao and Li Sheng to join us, and congratulate Hutchison Whampoa for adding two more directors today."

Everyone also applauded. After the applause ended, Wei Li said to Lei Yunrong and Li Chaoren:

"Lei Sheng, Li Sheng, it's your first time to participate in the company's board of directors. Do you have any ideas? Or if you have any suggestions for the development of Hutchison Whampoa, you can put them forward directly."

Lei Yunrong said with a smile:

"I have just joined the board of directors and do not know the specific situation of the company, so I will not express my opinion. Besides, Hutchison Whampoa has turned a profit under the leadership of Mr. Wei Li. I also believe that the current Hutchison Whampoa management will definitely

It can bring Hutchison back to the top."

"I don't have any objections either," Li Chaoren said concisely.

Wei Li said with a smile: "Both of them are elites from the Hong Kong Chinese community. Being able to join Hutchison Whampoa today, I believe our Hutchison Whampoa will develop more smoothly."

"Since neither of you has any suggestions, let's continue with some of the issues discussed by the board of directors today..."

The topic of the meeting was about the development of Kwai Chung Container Terminal and how to develop several pieces of land under it.

Wei Li is indeed well-deserved, and he is still quite capable. Now Hutchison Whampoa is running very smoothly. If it were not for the high debt, Hutchison Whampoa would really be reborn.

At this moment, Wei Li suddenly said to Lei Yunrong:

"Lei Sang, you are a representative figure of the Chinese people in Hong Kong. You also have a huge industry in the real estate industry. Moreover, the first and second largest construction companies in Hong Kong are owned by Lei Sang. Now you are also a shareholder of Hutchison Whampoa. Why don't we both do it too?

How about cooperation?”

Lei Yunrong shook his head and said:

"You're going too far. Although I have an industry in the real estate industry, I'm still at a relatively junior level, just collecting rent. So strictly speaking, I'm just a newbie in the real estate industry. I don't have the ability to develop

It’s not as good as Hutchison Whampoa. But if my construction company owns it, we can cooperate.”

"Lei Sheng, I think you don't like that most of the land owned by Hutchison Whampoa is industrial land." At this time, Li Chaoren interjected.

In fact, although Hutchison Whampoa has more than two million square feet of industrial land, it also has some commercial land. What Wei Li just said was obviously cooperation on commercial land. It seems that Li Chaoren is destined to quarrel after seeing the two.

I lost my face and stopped pretending.

"Li Sheng was joking. If I didn't like industrial land, I wouldn't go to all the trouble to acquire Qingzhou Yingni. Besides, the land owned by my own company has not yet been developed, and there are still several buildings in Central and Kowloon that have not yet been developed.

It’s time to rebuild, but now we really don’t have the time and energy to cooperate with Hutchison Whampoa.”

"Li Sheng, on the other hand, you are mainly developing industrial buildings now, so it would be a good fit to cooperate with Hutchison Whampoa."

"If Mr. Wei Li is interested in cooperating, we at Yangtze River Industries would welcome it."

Li Chaoren didn't care at all about the sarcasm in Lei Yunrong's words. Although he felt a little unwilling to do so, it was not shameful to develop an industrial building.

The others sitting there watched silently and said nothing. They had long expected that the two of them would most likely go head-to-head at the board meeting, but they did not expect that the two of them would butt heads just after the meeting began.

However, no one had the intention to speak. Even Shen Bi was sitting there with his eyes closed and meditating.

Wei Li said at this time:

"You two don't need to argue for now. We will shelve this matter at the meeting. If you have the intention to cooperate, we can discuss it after the meeting."

"We will adjourn the meeting for now. There is still an important issue to discuss later."

After Wei Li finished speaking, he walked out first, and everyone else filed out. Only Lei Yunrong and Li Chaoren were left in the conference room.

The air in the conference room suddenly became quiet, but it was Li Chaoren who broke the silence first:

"Lei Sheng, actually I really don't want to have internal conflicts with you. As long as we join forces, we can run Hutchison Whampoa well."

"Li Sheng, you and I are both smart people. Don't you and I know the true purpose of acquiring Hutchison Whampoa? Besides, I don't believe that you, Li Chaoren, will always tolerate an ambitious shareholder watching from the sidelines."
To be continued...