Time passed quickly, and it was June in a blink of an eye, and Hu Wenkai hired two maids, one was responsible for cleaning and tidying up the room and washing clothes, and the other was responsible for buying vegetables and cooking. Hu Wenkai knew that only the managers of the concession had the power to make rules in Shanghai, and if he did it alone, it would be very smooth at first, and when the interests gradually increased, these European and American jackals would join together to gnaw at him.

On Sunday morning, Hu Wenkai invited James and Ivanov to No. 3 Lane 181, and the three of them sat on the sofa in the living room, the sunlight shining through the stained glass through the arched windows on the dark red floor between the trees in the alley, and the smoke they exhaled swirled in the air.

"Brother Wenkai, this is the first time you have taken the initiative to invite me to come, there must be something to say to me, I will listen to you"

"Judge, I should say that it was my first time inviting guests to visit at No. 3, Lane 181."

James frowned and thought for a moment: "Yes, you really never took the initiative to invite anyone."

"Let's not talk about the specifics for the time being, you can first look at the materials I prepared on the coffee table, and then we will talk," Hu Wenkai pointed to a thick document on the coffee table.

The document is a detailed description of the real estate in the Shanghai Concession from 1862 to 1920, with a detailed survey report on population growth, commercial development, transportation extension, management system, etc., and the ups and downs of housing prices are shown at a glance with a histogram timeline. James looked at the parts he didn't understand in the report, asked Hu Wenkai to answer from time to time, and when he saw the attraction, James stood up and lit a cigarette, walked back and forth in the living room, and then quickly picked up the report and sat down to continue reading. Hu Wenkai told Ivanov to guard the phone and refuse everyone's visits, and asked the maid Liu Ma to prepare a few more dishes at noon. It took more than three hours for James to read the entire investigation report, and this investigation report was too simple for Hu Wenkai, and it was hundreds of times more difficult to split the company's report into more than a dozen items, each of which had thousands of pages. James said in an almost adoring tone: "Wen Kai, you are a business wizard today, I have never seen an investigation report written like this, all aspects are considered real estate, and now I know that it is the product of a multi-faceted economy." Can I take it home and read it carefully? ”

"James, the documents can only be read in this room, you can look at them whenever you want, but the documents can't go out of this room, this is a trade secret, please understand."

"James, I know you have a lot of questions to say, so let's have dinner first and have time in the afternoon."

"Wen Kai, will you set up a company to invest in real estate, right? Let me state first, if you don't let me take a stake, I won't eat your meal, and leave immediately," James waved his hand excitedly.

"James, my friend, if you don't drink with me, you'll lose this opportunity," Hu Wenkai said, sitting down at the dining room table, pointing to the chair opposite.

At the dinner table, Hu Wenkai briefly explained the composition and operation of the company, Hu Wenkai 300,000 taels of silver cash shares accounted for 51% of the company's share capital, leaving James with 10,000 taels of silver shares and 10% of the shares, and Mrs. Ivano's shares were counted as 1% of the company's monthly salary. James and Ivanov looked confused, and what about the 38% stake?

Hu Wenkai helped them solve their doubts, the operation of this company needs the cooperation of the French Concession and the Public Concession, to put it bluntly, it is the support, 20% of the shares are reserved for those who have these powers, and 18% of the shares are reserved for those who have the strength to be in Shanghai for a long time. 20% are dry stocks that do not require capital investment, and 18% require actual capital investment. James shook his head and did not approve of the 20% dry shares, thinking that without paying, you can't get it for nothing, Hu Wenkai gave an example, after we took a piece of land with 30,000 silver, but the public board issued a plan that this plot of land can not build more than two floors, so it is difficult to sell this land for 10,000 taels of silver, or the public board of directors will build a public toilet next to your land, and your plot will also lose money. Ivanov patted the table and said that this is called collusion between officials and businessmen, and the future is bumpy for enemies with officials. James strapped to Hu's chariot and used the name of his cousin in Canada to take a stake in Hu's company.

The three of them decided to use Xingye Industry as the name of the company, drafted the articles of association of the company, the members of the board of directors, the rights and obligations of shareholders, Hu Wenkai as the chairman of the board of directors, Ivanov as the general manager, and after the three signed, Ivanov went to the concession tomorrow to apply for the establishment of the company, and James was responsible for opening the bank account, and the location of the company was temporarily set at Hu Wenkai's residence.

Ivanov was worthy of being a petty official in the Shanghai Concession in the past, and on Monday morning he handled the establishment of the company, and in the afternoon Hu Wenkai took out the remaining pounds and dollars from the safe deposit box and deposited them into the company's account, and the company was completely established.

Hu Wenkai and Ivanov were busy with the company's first business to acquire a five-acre plot of land next to Petain Road, and every day they went into the house to negotiate with the owner to negotiate the demolition of an old house. According to Hu Wenkai's estimate, this plot is worth 32,000 taels of silver per mu, and the company spent 27,000 taels per mu to buy four acres of land.

In the end, the lonely family visited the blacksmith for several days, locked the door, and asked the neighbors around, saying that the family had been an official in Nanjing for many years and had not returned, and only a distant relative came to take care of the house several times a year. After finding out the address of Nanjing, Ivanov took a one-day train in Nanjing and spent two days to find the head of the household, the head of the household was very happy, because the house was uninhabited for a long time, and he urgently needed money in Nanjing, 24,000 taels of silver was transferred to the company, and 13,200 taels of cabbage The company obtained the first piece of land.

Hu Wenkai asked the workers to mark the boundary with white lime on the leveled plot, and then erected a wooden sign on the vacant land with a few green characters written on Xingye Industrial Company. Within a few days, a company wanted to buy it for 35,000 taels of silver, and Ivanov came forward to receive it, saying that it could be negotiated, but the price needed to be further negotiated. After a week of delay, several companies expressed their willingness to buy, and the price was raised to 40,000 taels per mu, and finally sold to a British-funded company for 41,000 taels of silver.