Chapter 118: Securing 350,000 Square Feet of Land and a Backup Plan for the Bank
That afternoon, Wei Zetao brought good news. "Mr. Yang, the Hong Kong government has finalized the land price. They've agreed to our offer—2.85 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. The total comes to HKD 996,000. As long as we pay, we can secure the land right away."
Yang Wendong was overjoyed and said, "Then let's go ahead and lock it down."
This land acquisition wasn't an auction, so there was no one-and-done hammer price. It was a matter of back-and-forth negotiation. Since there were no large factories nearby to use as references, land valuation became a lengthy tug-of-war.
Although expanding production capacity was urgent, the loan had not yet come through, so they still had some time to negotiate with the government.
Wei Zetao nodded and said, "I've already spoken with the construction company. We'll fund the industrial building ourselves at first and start construction immediately. Since Liao Chong Hing Bank's loan is taking longer than expected, we're not in a huge rush on that front.
Leveling the ground and constructing the industrial building will take at least two months at best."
"Two months?" Yang Wendong frowned. "That's still a bit slow."
Wei Zetao explained, "This is already pushing the limit. For a building like ours, the normal construction timeline is about six months.
What's more, we plan to place equipment on the upper floors. Even though the Post-it note machinery isn't that bulky, the structural quality of the building must be higher than a typical assembly-type industrial space."
"Alright. If all the construction firms are saying the same thing, then I suppose we have no choice. Safety comes first," Yang Wendong said, nodding. "What about the equipment? That's going to require a huge chunk of capital."
Wei Zetao replied, "Dongsheng has agreed to build an emergency workshop just for our order and hire a separate team, so they don't interfere with their other production lines.
However, they require us to place a large enough order upfront and pay 50% of the cost in advance. Otherwise, they'll only be able to manufacture according to their regular schedule—maybe slightly faster for us—but that would be too slow."
"Can we find someone else to manufacture the equipment?" Yang Wendong asked.
"It's possible," Wei Zetao said. "But there aren't many equipment manufacturers in Hong Kong to begin with. I did reach out to several. They're happy to take our order, but when it comes to such a tight schedule, they're making similar demands—either large orders or advance payments.
In that case, Dongsheng is still the better option. At least they're familiar with our product and can guarantee quality."
"That makes sense. After all, we're talking about a unique piece of equipment used only by us. Of course they'd need guarantees before scaling up production quickly," Yang Wendong acknowledged.
These equipment manufacturers had no way of knowing the company's future potential. Even if he explained it to them, they likely wouldn't believe it. Since they'd have to invest significantly in new facilities, their conservatism was understandable.
Currently, their factory housed 86 Dongsheng machines, each costing about HKD 5,000. Of the previous HKD 800,000 loan, more than half had been spent on equipment. Thankfully, over the past few months of production, they'd made back about HKD 200,000–300,000 in profit. After accounting for operational costs, they still had about HKD 500,000 in liquid funds.
However, the new factory would be 20 times larger than the current one. While they wouldn't need to fill it immediately, the initial plan called for purchasing around 300 machines. Even with a discount, that would still cost somewhere in the range of HKD 1.3–1.4 million.
Yang Wendong's USD $500,000 reserve would be split—half going toward purchasing and developing the land, and the other half for preparing the adhesive factory and other related expenses.
As for the new factory's machinery, materials, and early operating costs, they would have to rely on the new loan.
If the loan was delayed or reduced, they could slow down their plans. It wouldn't be fatal to the business, just less profitable. But with sufficient funds, expansion would move much faster.
Wei Zetao exhaled slowly and said, "I followed up with Liao Chong Hing Bank again yesterday. It seems the holdup is with Liao Baoshan. Liao Liewen promised he'd bring it up again."
"But Liao Liewen said earlier that Liao Baoshan was optimistic about our company. So why's it stalled now?" Yang Wendong frowned. "Even if she thinks HKD 4 million is too much, that can be negotiated—reduce the amount, raise the interest. It's not something that should drag on like this."
Wei Zetao hesitated, then said, "Could it be that Liao Baoshan put too much of the bank's money into her own real estate projects and now doesn't have enough liquidity?"
"You might be right," Yang Wendong muttered, thinking it over. "That actually makes sense."
Everyone in Hong Kong's business circles knew that Liao Baoshan was speculating in real estate using depositor funds. What they didn't know was just how much.
If she had overextended herself, it would explain why she couldn't come up with the HKD 4 million he needed. That was no small sum—enough to buy a decent piece of land in Central.
Wei Zetao added, "If that's the case, we may need to wait. Either Liao Chong Hing Bank has to pull funds from its own investments or attract new deposits. HKD 4 million is a lot. It's not something they can gather overnight."
"I heard they've started aggressively courting small depositors again," Yang Wendong nodded. "That probably confirms it."
At the time, it had been Liao Baoshan who first began targeting small-time savers—an approach that had helped fund Yang Wendong's early ventures.
The method was clunky, but it brought in a significant amount of capital for Liao Chong Hing Bank.
Wei Zetao agreed. "The problem is, we don't know how long we'll be waiting. If we got the loan earlier, we could go all-in on the super factory—order from Dongsheng now and have the first batch of equipment ready the moment construction finishes. That way, we could start production immediately.
If there are more delays, it's going to mess up our production schedule."
The "super factory" was what Yang Wendong had started calling the new mega facility. Its primary purpose was to meet Post-it note demand in the Americas and to begin developing the European and Asian markets.
But with limited production capacity, all they could do was wait.
After thinking it over for a moment, Yang Wendong said, "Whatever the reason for the delay at Liao Chong Hing Bank, it doesn't matter. What matters is—we can't keep waiting.
Here's what I want you to do: organize all our basic documentation, the transaction records between us and 3M, and a rough global market analysis for Post-it notes. Then send it to Hang Seng Bank and a few others. We can't put all our eggs in one basket."
Wei Zetao reminded him, "Mr. Yang, our only real collateral is that industrial plot we're about to buy, and its mortgage value isn't very high. Even if we approach other banks, it's going to be hard to get a large unsecured loan.
That means we'd have to start the unsecured loan application process from scratch—just like we did with Liao Chong Hing—and that's going to take time."
They'd originally chosen to work with Liao Chong Hing precisely because that bank was known to take risks. As long as the risk wasn't outrageous, they'd lend if the profit potential was there.
Other banks had their issues too, but they were generally stricter. Even if they approved a loan, it would probably be for a smaller amount.
Yang Wendong replied, "It's fine. Just go ahead and apply. We're already planning to shift our capital to another bank anyway. They'll need these documents eventually no matter what."
If it were just a matter of switching banks, providing documentation wouldn't be strictly necessary. But since the switch implied a desire to cooperate further, withholding those materials would be pointless. After all, handing the documents over early couldn't hurt.
"Alright," Wei Zetao nodded in agreement, then asked, "It's easy enough to gather our own information, but the transaction records with 3M—those we'll need to get from Liao Chong Hing Bank.
If we request them, it'll be the same as telling them we're preparing to apply for a loan elsewhere."
Yang Wendong laughed. "Exactly. Let them know. That might even light a fire under them. Even if they're short on capital, borrowing from other banks isn't hard. They're probably just dragging their feet because they don't want to spend extra."
Wei Zetao nodded. "True. It's time we reminded them we're not the same as we were a few months ago. Even if we still need to borrow, we have more options now."
A few months ago, Changxing Industrial's production capacity was still very limited, making them heavily dependent on bank funding—specifically on Liao Chong Hing Bank. Now, they might not be stronger than the bank, but they could certainly speak with more confidence. Applying a little pressure wasn't a bad idea.
"You don't think Liao Chong Hing Bank would refuse to provide the transaction records, right?" Yang Wendong asked.
"Unlikely," Wei Zetao replied with a chuckle. "Providing account statements is one of the basic duties of a bank. Sure, if they did refuse and forced us to take legal action, it'd be a pain.
But doing that would basically sever them from all future clients. Any customer who hears their bank refusing to release their own transaction records would immediately reconsider doing business with them."
"True enough," Yang Wendong agreed with a nod.
Big corporations often didn't fear lawsuits themselves—but rather the fallout, especially if negative publicity scared off other clients. It wasn't ethics that constrained capitalists—it was profit. If a customer had no influence, they were easily ignored. But if they did, the company suddenly cared deeply.
Just look at how shops in residential areas treat people versus those in train stations.
"I'll give Liao Chong Hing Bank a call in a bit," Wei Zetao continued. "I'll ask them to prepare the statements. I'll pick them up tomorrow, then head over to Hang Seng Bank to open an account while I'm at it. We were planning to do that anyway."
"Sounds good," Yang Wendong said with a nod.
In the short term, the development of Post-it notes, mouse glue traps, and flypaper products would all have to wait until the new factory and adhesive plant were completed. That meant he actually had some free time for now.
The next day, Wei Zetao headed to Liao Chong Hing Bank to retrieve the account statements. Given the company's size, he'd probably be treated courteously—after all, they were now a sizable client. As for Yang Wendong, he had somewhere else to be—Hong Kong University.
After all, the Rubik's Cube was the first product he planned to use to break into the toy industry, and he took it very seriously. Whether it succeeded in Hong Kong would impact how soon he could begin planning for exports. And the first battleground in the Hong Kong market was none other than HKU.
The car pulled up to the back entrance of the university. Yang Wendong got out alone, blending in with the students as he walked onto campus. Given his age, he would've passed for a lower-year student himself.
HKU's campus was beautiful in the spring. Flowers of all kinds bloomed, their names unknown but their colors vivid. The scent of spring hung in the air, fresh and uplifting.
Their meeting spot was, unsurprisingly, the cafeteria. When Yang Wendong entered, he immediately spotted the person he was looking for.
"You're still wearing your school uniform?" he said as he walked over and sat down without ceremony. "Wouldn't it be better to wear something nicer? Not everyone else is wearing uniforms either, you know?"
He didn't fully understand the dress code rules at HKU, but on his way in, he'd noticed that only about half the students wore uniforms—clearly, it wasn't strictly enforced.
"I like wearing the school uniform," Bai Yujie said with a smile, handing him a cold bottle of Coke. "It's blue and white, and I think it looks good. Don't you?"
Taking the chilled bottle—much needed after the heat outside—Yang Wendong took a sip and replied, "The uniform itself is average, but it looks great on you."
"Mr. Yang, you're such a smooth talker," Bai Yujie said with a grin. "What do you want to eat? We can grab food from the front. My treat."
"Sure," Yang Wendong said without hesitation. After all, anyone studying at HKU probably didn't come from a poor background.
In this era—or even in older times—formal education was a luxury, especially at the university level. Unless the family had significant government support, higher education was reserved for the well-off. And in Hong Kong, there was no such support. The colonial government prided itself on a "free market philosophy," so they didn't even regulate banks gambling on real estate—never mind funding poor students. If any financial aid was handed out, it would've gone to the British expats, not locals.
Their entire approach could be summed up as "all profit, no spending."
The food at HKU was surprisingly good, not unlike the fast-food model from his previous life. Students used stamped meal tickets at checkout. Yang Wendong even tried to pay with cash, only to be politely refused—he had to buy meal tickets first.
Bai Yujie noticed his confusion and laughed. "The canteen doesn't allow cash transactions. If they're caught accepting cash, they get fined. It's a rule our economics professor came up with."
"Makes sense. Hand someone cash, and it's easy for them to slip it into their pocket without anyone knowing," Yang Wendong said, nodding thoughtfully.
Tray in hand, he followed her to the seating area. A few nearby students looked their way, clearly curious.
Yang Wendong glanced around. "Looks like you're pretty popular on campus. A lot of people are watching you."
Bai Yujie turned her head with an awkward expression. "It's not me—my sister's the famous one. She's doing really well academically. Even the professors are suggesting she go to the UK or the US for further studies in economics."
"Studying abroad?" Yang Wendong's mind clicked. "But you're twins, right? Same age—but you're only in your first year?"
"She skipped a grade when we were kids," Bai Yujie explained with a hint of exasperation. "Her grades have always been better than mine. She's in her second year now, so she's considering graduate programs overseas."
"Impressive," Yang Wendong said with a smile. Skipping grades was no small feat.
At the time, Hong Kong had two universities—HKU, which followed a three-year system, and CUHK, which had a four-year system. After two years at HKU, students could apply to study abroad—but only if their family had the means.
Hong Kong's economy lagged far behind the West, and tuition fees at Western universities were astronomical by local standards. For many Hongkongers, studying overseas cost as much as buying a house.
Once they were seated again, Bai Yujie continued, "Actually, the person I mentioned on the phone who could restore one side of the Rubik's Cube—that was my sister."
"Really?" Yang Wendong was genuinely surprised. Solving even one face in such a short time was impressive.
"She's gotten kind of obsessed," Bai Yujie said with a shake of her head. "She's managed to restore one face multiple times, but she hasn't figured out how to do it consistently."
Yang Wendong nodded. "Yeah, it's difficult. Even managing it occasionally is already good."
Random success was one thing. Doing it repeatedly was another. But to develop a method that guaranteed success every time—that was a whole different level of difficulty.
Even for just one face, it had taken quite some time before mathematicians in his previous life figured out a repeatable method—after the cube had already gained notoriety.
"Mr. Yang," Bai Yujie asked, "restoring the Rubik's Cube—would you say it involves advanced math? Like breaking cryptographic codes?"
"Something like that," Yang Wendong replied with a nod.
"I knew it. My sister guessed as much too," she said with a smile. "Anyway, let's not talk about her for now. As a journalism student, I wanted to ask—could I interview the inventor of the Rubik's Cube? Would that be okay, Mr. Yang?"
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