George McBian was a Scottish man in his fifties, brown-haired, blue-eyed, broad-faced, and tall, like most white men of his age, with a bushy beard on his upper lip.

He first worked for a British bank in Hong Kong, and later saw an opportunity to make a fortune in Shanghai on the Yangtze River, so he came to Shanghai in 1870 and opened a wholly-owned Mai Bien foreign company. Mai Bien started out as a shipping and tobacco business, so in addition to the main business of real estate, the company still retained a large fleet of ships and docks until a few days ago when it was packaged and sold to the Japanese.

However, unlike most Scots who started a business in Shanghai, he did not open the company in the public concession, but in the French concession at No. 1 West Bund, which is the first house on the south bank of the pidgin. This was of course due to financial reasons, but for Westerners, the French Concession at that time was far more remote than the Public Concession, sandwiched between the Public Concession and the traditional Chinese Concession in Nanshi, and the facilities and environment of all parties were definitely worse than those of the Public Concession, and the land price was naturally much cheaper. But it can also be seen from the uniqueness of his vision, because Hongkou at that time was also able to provide cheap land, even cheaper than the French Concession - in fact, the first wharf of Mai Bian & Co. was called Huishan Wharf, which later became the Fair Road Wharf, which was located in Hongkou, not in the French Concession, for the reason that Hongkou was closer to the exit of the Huangpu River and the land price was cheaper.

Of course, his behavior won the welcome of the French Concession, and during the subsequent Sino-French war, he traveled as a British citizen to communicate and mediate between the Qing court and the French Concession, so that the French Concession survived this extraordinary period safely, thus winning the respect of the French. Thus, from 1889 onwards, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the French Concession for eight consecutive terms. With the maverick character of the French, this is also the only one in the history of the French Concession Board of Directors – the other being Hartung, a British Jew who served ten terms on board from 1892. Speaking of which, except for one who is Scottish and the other who is Jewish, the two of them are surprisingly similar in terms of age, experience, and career, which can be described as a moment of brilliance. Even their choice of wives and houses is similar, Hartung married a Chinese-French woman, while Mai Bian's wife is Chinese-Russian, and they both live on Jing'an Temple Road.

However, the price of his success in the French Concession was his lack of power in the Public Concession, and although he was the chairman of the Real Estate Committee, he was never able to join the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry. In his opinion, Hartung, who was lucky enough to join the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, did not mix well, and the pidgin landfill project that he wanted to promote was rejected by the board of directors, not to mention, even some small proposals were difficult to pass. The board of directors even approved two consecutive proposals for the forcible acquisition of land under the name of Kazakhstan. Although he and Hartung do not deal with each other because of their similar business and overlapping power ranges, it inevitably makes him feel sad that a rabbit is dead.

The alienation from the Scottish community is probably the biggest failure in his life, which is the personal feeling after his business gets bigger and bigger, after all, the money bags in this city are in the hands of the Scottish people, otherwise he would not even need to take out a loan of more than 100,000 taels of silver.

The opposite of him was the young man in front of him who rose like a comet, the first time he heard the other party's name was in a sport that he was not interested in at all, and then he was looking for him to dredge up relations for a piece of land in the French Concession that cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, and the third time he heard this name, he was already wanting to buy the land worth hundreds of thousands of taels in his hands. It can be said that the accumulation of wealth that took him twenty years to achieve was completed in a few months. Why? In his opinion, it is nothing more than a foil for the Scottish community. As for why Anderson, Prandis, and Keswick would go so hard to support this young man, it is completely incomprehensible to him.

Mai Bian turned the wine glass in his hand and looked at Gao Yi carefully, and he couldn't see that the young little guy in front of him was anything to admire, except for a face that girls liked, it was useless.

"Eighty thousand taels of silver per mu, no two prices!" Mai Bian finished drinking the whiskey in his glass and slammed it on the bar.

At that time, although he chose the French Concession with the speculative intention of betting on the unpopular and burning the cold stove, in the final analysis, it was still a helpless move due to lack of funds, so once he had the opportunity, he was still willing to return to the Public Concession. This opportunity came in 1899, and who would have thought that the Hogg brothers, who were in full swing, would think so early about retiring from their homes and returning home? In his opinion, the two brothers can fight for at least another twenty years. At that time, it was simply a feast for their group of real estate predators, and he also grabbed his own rich share. The most valuable of these is the land on the other side of the pidgin across the water from his foreign company, which he thinks will be the future headquarters of the Maibian foreign company, and between this water, it can be said that he has been waiting for this for twenty years.

However, now it is time for him to make another choice, if he sells the land of the future headquarters, he can immediately return 200,000 taels of funds, of which the original 60,000 taels of land purchase cost is removed, and the net profit is 140,000 taels, and the capital will triple in five years. And if he doesn't sell this land, then he can get a loan of about 80,000 taels, but there is still a gap of 100,000 taels of funds he needs at present, because his other property can be mortgaged has been mortgaged, so for this 100,000 taels he must sell 300,000 or even 500,000 other land, not only to lose the hen that lays golden eggs, but also to break his balance of payments. The loss of income is likely to result in a lack of funds in the future, so he will have to sell the land again to make up for the shortfall. This is likely to form a vicious circle, which will completely break his capital chain and collapse the real estate kingdom he has built.

As a realist, Mai Bian's choice is self-evident. What's more, he raised funds for a new business - rubber planting, just like he was optimistic about the development of Shanghai when he was young, so he threw himself here without hesitation, he believes that this new business can give him wings and let him really take off. It's a shame to lose his new headquarters in Shanghai, but he might be able to move it to London!

Mai Bian's sale of land so happily made Gao Yi hesitate, if he didn't know that this land would be the famous Bund No. 1 and Asia Building in the future, he would definitely think that there was something greasy in it.

"Can you tell me about the tenants? Do you have long-term tenants? ”

Gao Yi remembered that most of the buildings on the Bund were rebuilt during the Republic of China, and this Asia Building should have been built in the same period. There was a gap of at least 15 years between Mai Bian's ownership of the land and the final construction of the building, and I don't know if it was because of the existence of some difficult tenants.

"There are two buildings on this property, the one by the river is an apartment building, which is occupied by some short-term tenants; Most of the tenants in the other building have signed one- to two-year leases, and there are not many long-term tenants of more than ten years, but a few are more than five years. As he spoke, he glanced at Gao Yi and said, "Are you worried that you won't be able to let the tenants move out?" If that's the case, for an extra five thousand taels, I can take care of getting all the tenants to move out. ”

Sure enough, he was a veteran of the shopping mall, and he saw through Gao Yi's intentions at a glance. Gao Yi's question just now is actually ambiguous, and he does not reveal his true thoughts, either he hopes to have long-term tenants or he does not want to have long-term tenants. However, if he can buy a clean one with 5,000 taels, it is still cost-effective in Gao Yi's opinion, and he doesn't want to touch a few nail households in his own industry.

"Two and a half acres in total?"

"In fact, it's a little more than two and a half acres, but even if two and a half acres are good, the total is 200,000 taels."

The reason why Mai Bian offered the price of 200,000 taels was because he knew that this should be Gao Yi's bottom line. Yesterday, Mai Bian received a call from Goitodd Gray, and he knew that his urgent need for funds had been leaked, and as for who leaked the news, there was no need to ask whether it was someone from HSBC. So he called Middleton, and figured out what was going on with a little side tapping, and by the way, he also checked Gao Yi's financial situation, knowing that the other party had just received 250,000, so he only opened 200,000, and he was afraid that the other party would retreat.

Gao Yi really felt that the price of 200,000 taels was a bit too high, but he looked at the problem from the perspective of later generations, so he felt that it was not unbearable. The reason why he hesitated was because he did not buy this land out of practical needs, but was influenced by the name of No. 1 on the Bund, which made him have a whim and suddenly had a desire to buy. To put it bluntly, this is no different from the chopper taking advantage of the discount to shoot a bunch of useless waste back.

"Deal!" Gao Yi shrugged his shoulders and made a decision. If these 250,000 yuan are not used to buy land, it is estimated that they will also be used to buy cars, boats, or build large mansions and the like. In contrast, it is undoubtedly the Bund 1 that is more worth investing in.

******

200,000 taels of silver plus 5,000 taels of tenant relocation expenses, and just went out like this?

Coming out of the British Consulate at No. 33 on the Bund, Gao Yi was still a little ignorant. However, the deed in his hand told him that all this was true, and the 250,000 taels of silver that had just arrived had not been covered yet, and the 200,000 taels of it had been spent.

"Let's go, go check out your new property!" It was Grissen, who had come to be a witness to the transaction.

In addition to Griffon, Gao Yi was also followed by Keswick, Landale, John Ridda, De Gray, Anderson, Hollid, and new friends Burkill and McGregor, so many people are naturally not needed to be witnesses, but there is a way to watch the excitement is not afraid of crowds, today is a Sunday, and these idle guys are all following to see the excitement.

"Shouldn't you go to lunch first?"

Gao Yi looked at the table below, just arrived at the meal, this transaction from the meeting between him and Mai Bian to the completion of the transfer, a total of two hours, can be described as a speed, is to go to the vegetable market to buy a vegetable, sometimes more than this time.

"Okay, then let's eat before we look at your land."

The meal is eaten in the Licha Hotel, which is across the Waibaidu Bridge, a few steps away, which is more convenient than going back to Shanghai to eat.

Gao Yi politely invited Mai Bian to eat together, but he politely declined. So the lunch meal has become a gathering and drinking for new and old friends, and after the meal, I went to the lobby of the hotel to drink the afternoon "wine", and drank until five o'clock in the afternoon.

Gao Yi drove Grissen and Burkier—both of whom were willing to buy a car, and wanted to experience what it was like to have a car—and the others were still riding in the carriage, and by the time the carriage arrived, Gao Yi had already visited both buildings and had already begun to talk about the renovation plan.

Two buildings, one of which is a four-story purely residential apartment building, only ten meters wide and forty meters long, spread along the pidgin like a wall; The other is a two-storey commercial building, 25 meters wide and 20 meters deep in the direction of the Huangpu River. The whole plot of land is 43 meters wide and 40 meters deep along the river, this business building only uses half the depth, and it is 10 meters lower than the Shanghai Association next door, which is short and small, and there are trees on the outside, so Gao Yi often passes by here but has no impression of this building.

"These two buildings should be demolished and the entire plot of land should be built into one building, which will be much more magnificent than the Shanghai Federation next door." Grissen said.

Gresheng's suggestion was similar to the Asia Building in later generations, but unfortunately Gao Yi was shy in his pocket, and the cost of building such a building was at least more than 500,000 taels, and even if he mortgaged all the family, he couldn't take out so much money. He is now thinking about how to make some changes to the business building without moving the structure, and as for the apartment building, he can only let it go.

"What are you going to do with these two buildings, it seems to me that they can't find a better tenant than to rent to their current guests." Keswick came to such a conclusion after visiting two buildings. In addition to buying the land, Gao Yi also signed a contract with Mai Bian to clean up the tenants, but Keswick felt that he could not find a better tenant with these two buildings, so it was better to keep it alone.

"That apartment building, I haven't thought about it yet, maybe open a hotel, anyway, it's all short-term tenants, and it's similar to tourists. The current hotels in Shanghai are either too high-end or too low-level, lacking in the middle grade, and do not need to be too luxurious, but the service should be high-grade. As for the source of customers, I want to make it a hotel with mixed Chinese and foreign accommodation, and there should be enough customers. ”

"That two-story building, I'm not going to rent it out, I'm going to use it for myself, I'm going to open a club here, a car club."

"Car clubs?" Everyone was amazed.

"Yes, don't you think Shanghai is outdated? As far as I know, Europe is now full of motorsports, and human speeds have exceeded 100 kilometers per hour last year, while our city's top speed is still stuck at 15 miles, and of course this figure is minus the car I drove. ”

"What's the benefit of joining your club?" Grissen asked.

"The benefits? You can get the latest information about automobiles and learn about the latest models. In fact, I am going to buy one car of every brand and model, and then put it in the club for members to try out, so that when I buy a car, I at least know which style I like and which brand I like. The club can also book a car on behalf of members for free, you know, it can be a hassle, and sometimes you don't even know the manufacturer's address. Another advantage is that if there are many members who buy the same brand, it is also convenient to negotiate and discount. Speaking of this, Gao Yi paused, as if thinking of something, and said:

"Of course, if we have enough members, we can even get manufacturers to produce cars the way we want them to. The Mercedes I am driving now is actually customized by Daimler's customer, Mr. Jelinek, who was originally going to produce a six-horsepower car with a speed of only 20 miles per hour, but Mr. Jelinek ordered fifty cars in one go, but he had a request, that is, Daimler had to redesign the high-horsepower engine, so this is my 35-horsepower car, which can reach a speed of 50 miles per hour. ”

The surrounding audience nodded their heads, which was obviously more attractive to them than the previous big road goods such as information and discounts.

"The club also offers free training, from the most basic level of driving a car to finally driving it on the track. Well, as for the training site, it's in my house for the time being, and as you know, I have more than a hundred acres of land there, and I can barely open a driving school, and it's also very empty, and there is enough space to hire for it. ”

Gao Yi's words were completely improvisational with a big brain, and to be honest, opening a car club or something was just an idea in his head, and he hadn't thought about it at all. As for why he thought of opening such a club, it is nothing more than the words "rich and capricious", he has no advantages in high-end sports of the gentry class, horse racing, and paper hunting, so it is inevitable that he wants to make a new gadget so that he can show off, and from horse racing to racing is a very natural association.

"How much are you going to set for the membership fee?" It was Gresheng who was questioning.

How much is the membership fee? Gao Yi himself didn't know, but that didn't prevent him from reporting a number.

"Ten thousand taels of silver." Gao Yi shrugged his shoulders and said.

"Count me in!" This time it wasn't Greeson, it was Burkier, the chairman of the board of directors of the Jockey Club.

"Me too!" Well, it's Anderson, the former football star.

"I ......" is a rare thing, and Keswick has never been very positive about these things.

"And I......" is McGregor, who is broad and harmonious.

"I want a spot too! I'd like to try something new like a car, and if it's more useful than a horse-drawn carriage, the International Merchant Group should consider buying a batch of cars to replace the horse-drawn carriage. Commander-in-Chief of the International Chamber of Commerce Hollid.

“……”

“……”

Almost everyone signed up, except for Grison and de Gray.

"Of course I'm signing up!" Grechen said.

De Gray looked around and said, "Well, since everyone is there, then count me in!" ”

******

At dinnertime, all the new members of the automobile club returned to the Licha Hotel for a meal, which was undoubtedly a better place to have a high party than the quiet Shanghai club. But they didn't drink much tonight, for Keswick had something to do for a few nights, so at eight o'clock the crowd dispersed.

Gao Yi also had something to do in the evening, and in order for Miss McBride to stay smoothly, some extra arrangements were needed. He was supposed to go in the afternoon, but it was delayed until the evening.

By the time he got home, it was almost ten o'clock. As soon as the car was steady, Mahan came up and said:

"Sir, there have been a lot of phone calls coming to you just now."

"Looking for me? What's up? Who are they? ”

"Mr. Raven of the Chinese Company, Mr. Schumacher of Chase Bank, Mr. Bulter of China Soap, Mr. Hackson of Haining & Co., Mr. Brand of Dekang & Co., these are all gentlemen with whom you have dealt with you, and many more gentlemen with whom I have never been in contact before, and I have written down their names. They seem to be looking for you for one thing, saying that they want to join a car association. ”

Gao Yi was a little stunned when he heard this, what is the situation? Why did you suddenly have a rush to become an overnight Internet celebrity?

Gao Yi first called Raven, who is in business in China. The English name of China's business is China Realty Co., Realty means real estate, real estate, although the main business of China's business is real estate, real estate, loans, mortgages, surveying and mapping, and construction, but in fact, it does the same thing as Gao Yi's Xintiandi, which is to take advantage of the expansion of the concession to acquire land and stock up on land. The founder of the China Business is Fu Kaisen, the school supervisor of Nanyang College, who is a missionary, educator, the majority shareholder of Shenchang & Co., the actual owner of the three major Chinese newspapers "Xinbao", and a "three-product topper" of the Qing Dynasty, which is inextricably linked to Sheng Xuanhuai. In 1899, when the public concession was expanded, it was he who signed the treaty with the concession party on behalf of the Qing government with the title of "Sanpinding", so it was difficult for China to do business without making a fortune.

Raven is the executive director of China Sales, and Gao Yi got acquainted with him precisely to investigate the way of running China sales, so that he could absorb the beneficial parts and transplant them to Xintiandi.

"Frank, I want to reiterate that the club only provides, free test drives, free agent orders, free driving instruction, these three free services, of course, we will help members negotiate prices with manufacturers, will help members customize vehicles, but we do not guarantee the specific negotiation results. Are you going to join in that way? The membership fee is 10,000 taels of silver, and first of all, I declare that I will not reduce a penny. ”

"Of course, Will, I reiterate that I do want to join!"

"Okay, then, welcome aboard! Buddy. ”

There are various membership systems, after joining the membership, there are those who can get various services or goods without paying during the membership period, there are those who sell goods or provide services at a lower price than those who are not members, and there are also those who join the membership and are only allowed to obtain membership, and all other services or goods are subject to separate charges.

Gao Yi's club actually belongs to the third type, this 10,000 taels of silver is just to buy a membership title, the so-called three free, basically the cost can be said to be zero.

Gao Yi made a few more phone calls, all asking to join the car club. Gao Yi hung up the earpiece and counted the list that Mahan gave him, and there were still twenty-nine who didn't hit, counting Keswick and them, and even Gao Yi himself had a total of forty-seven. That is, if these people finally pay in full, Gao Yi will get 460,000 taels of silver.

I spent 250,000 today, and I came back 460,000!

Money is really a bastard, it will only come when it runs out!