Chapter 70: Not Just Anyone Can Meet
The next morning, Lin Haoran first took Guan Jiahui back to her neighborhood, then leisurely had breakfast nearby. When the time was about right, he headed directly to the headquarters of Cheung Kong Holdings.
Over at the company, with Vice President Su Zhixue holding down the fort, there were no major issues that couldn't be handled in his absence.
Cheung Kong Holdings' headquarters was located in the newly completed Chinese Bank Building.
This building had just been constructed this year by Cheung Kong Holdings, and the company had moved its headquarters from the Changjiang Building on King's Road to the Chinese Bank Building only a few months prior.
Thus, Cheung Kong Holdings had been operating from its new headquarters for just a short time.
When Lin Haoran arrived so early, Li Jiacheng was genuinely surprised.
The transaction process was smooth — after all, Li Jiacheng effectively called all the shots within Cheung Kong Holdings. If he said to sell the Qingzhou Cement shares, no one would oppose him.
Besides, buying at a little over HK$5 and selling at HK$6 per share was certainly a profit.
In the end, Cheung Kong Holdings successfully sold its 3.915 million shares of Qingzhou Cement to Lin Haoran.
Lin Haoran paid HK$23.49 million for the purchase.
Thus, his available funds dropped from over HK$110 million to around HK$90 million.
However, his holdings in Qingzhou Cement increased to 15.374 million shares, accounting for 30.7% of the company's total shares.
After completing the transaction, Lin Haoran returned briefly to his company, where everything was running smoothly under Su Zhixue's leadership, with the traders methodically executing their strategies.
By now, the unusual activity in Qingzhou Cement's stock had become quite obvious. After more than a month of heightened trading volume, the board of directors surely knew something was happening. Yet, the fact that they had not reacted at all suggested that the chairman, Halier Centurion, had no intention of increasing his stake.
Sitting in his office, Lin Haoran called the chairman of Qingzhou Cement, Halier Centurion.
When he had previously gathered information about Qingzhou Cement, he had already noted down Halier's contact details.
"Hello, this is Qingzhou Cement. I'm Halier," came the voice of an elderly man over the phone.
Indeed, Halier Centurion was now 65 years old.
"Good day, Mr. Halier. This is Lin Haoran from Huanyu Investment Company," Lin Haoran introduced himself.
"Huanyu Investment Company? Lin Haoran?" the other side paused, clearly unfamiliar with the name.
"Given the major stir in Qingzhou Cement's stock over the past month, I assume you're well aware, Mr. Halier. I am the one responsible. As I am now a major shareholder in Qingzhou Cement, I would like to have a conversation with you," Lin Haoran said with a light laugh.
At this stage, he no longer worried about others knowing of his stake accumulation; otherwise, he wouldn't have ordered Su Zhixue and the others to step up their purchasing.
To Lin Haoran's surprise, Halier replied very calmly, "Mr. Lin, I'll be waiting for you at the Qingzhou Cement headquarters office."
"Alright, see you shortly," Lin Haoran said.
"OK," Halier replied.
With Su Zhixue holding the company steady, Lin Haoran had no worries. He left the company once more.
"Young Master, where are we heading?" asked Li Weiguo, turning his head from the driver's seat.
"To Hung Hom. I'll give you directions when we get closer," Lin Haoran said.
He was heading to Qingzhou Cement's headquarters.
Qingzhou Cement's headquarters was in Hung Hom, near Whampoa Dock and the China Light & Power Hok Yuen Power Station.
Originally, when Qingzhou Cement moved from Macau to Hong Kong, they had partnered with Whampoa Dock to reclaim land, leading to the construction of the current cement factory.
However, by the 1960s, due to the heavy dust from cement production impacting the city environment, part of the factory was demolished.
The demolished portions were then developed into three buildings: Castle Peak Tower, Tsing Yi Tower, and Qingzhou Tower.
Lin Haoran's destination today was Qingzhou Tower — the headquarters office of Qingzhou Cement.
About twenty minutes later, the Mercedes-Benz smoothly pulled up in front of Qingzhou Tower.
"Miss, I'd like to meet your company's chairman. Could you please notify him?" Lin Haoran said directly to the blonde receptionist sitting at the front desk of Qingzhou Tower.
Qingzhou Cement was a British-owned enterprise. Although the factory workers were predominantly Chinese, Lin Haoran noticed that the office staff were mainly Westerners, with very few Chinese faces.
Seeing this, Lin Haoran made a mental note: once he officially took control of Qingzhou Cement, he would replace many of these staff members with loyal Chinese employees. Those Western employees who proved capable could stay — the rest would be replaced.
After all, once he became the true controller of Qingzhou Cement, it would be him, not these Westerners, making the decisions.
"Sir, do you have an appointment? If not, I'm sorry, but our chairman is not someone just anyone can meet," the blonde receptionist said, her attitude rather dismissive upon seeing how young Lin Haoran was.
Qingzhou Cement was the largest cement producer and supplier in Hong Kong, and many property developers often sought meetings with their chairman.
However, most of these visitors were at least in their forties or fifties.
A young Chinese man in his twenties, like Lin Haoran, surely couldn't be an important figure in her eyes. How could he be qualified to meet their chairman?
Lin Haoran frowned. Was someone with this attitude really suitable to represent the company at the front desk?
The front desk is the face of a company — it must greet every guest warmly and professionally.
Yet the blonde receptionist's attitude was neither warm nor respectful; instead, it gave the impression of arrogance — completely against the essence of hospitality.
"I've already scheduled an appointment with your chairman. Just call him and tell him Lin Haoran is here," Lin Haoran said patiently, not bothering to argue further.
Once he took control of the company, this receptionist wouldn't be working here any longer.
Although still skeptical, the receptionist finally made a call to the chairman's office.
"Mr. Lin has arrived? Alright, I understand. Please receive Mr. Lin and bring him up to my office — actually, never mind, I'll come down personally to greet him," said the chairman, a hint of urgency in his voice.
The receptionist froze, stunned by what she heard, her face full of disbelief.
She had never seen the chairman treat a visitor with such urgency before. The respect and eagerness in his voice were unmistakable.
And just now, she had treated Lin Haoran so rudely...
At that moment, the blonde receptionist began to panic.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1