Seeing that someone had spoken first, the other factory owners immediately turned their anger towards Tang Wenbao, whose face was blank with disbelief!
Tang Jingyuan finally showed some reaction, knowing he couldn't let anyone contradict his father. Forcing himself to adopt a semblance of his usual spoiled rich kid persona, he slammed his hand on the table and roared at the group opposite him, "What! Hair problems, Tang family's factory has no say?! We're victims too! Blame the India! Did my Dad force you to buy raw materials from the India?! When it was time to make money, why didn't you all jump out and complain about earning too much?!"
"Ah Yuan, what nonsense are you talking about! Isn't your Dad the president of the association? Wasn't it your cousin who introduced the India to everyone in the first place? Now that something's happened, you want to sever ties?" Luo Jiabao glared at Tang Jingyuan and retorted.
"Now that the head of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Office has called everyone here, I think he's just telling us to wait to die. Now look what's happened—we haven't made any money, we've even lost our initial investment. We should have been wary of the India a long time ago!"
"Tang Boqi isn't showing up, and this father and son are playing dumb. They should have sided with Song Tianyao from the start. Now look what's happened! Song Tianyao's wigs are sold to the Britain, so even if they use hair from mainland China, it won't affect them at all. Our wigs are sold to United States. If they really used hair from mainland China, it would be a miracle if they could be sold to United States. I think we should ask Chairman Chu to come out and meet with Song Tianyao to see if there's any chance he can give us Chiu Chow people a little special treatment."
The other factory owners also spoke up, and the meeting room became noisy.
"Director Shi is here." As a waiter helped open the meeting room door and announced this to the people inside, the meeting room immediately fell silent.
Shek Chi-yik, dressed in a dark suit, entered from outside accompanied by his secretary. Tang Wenbao, still the association's president, forced a smile and tried to rise to shake hands with Shek Chi-yik: "Director Shi..."
"President Tang, everyone, please have a seat." Before the other party could make a move, Shek Chi-yik waved his hand with a stern face and went straight to the empty head seat in the conference room.
After he sat down, he glanced around at everyone present, nodded slightly, and said in fluent China, "I think you all know what's going on. Although the Hong Kong Government hasn't issued any official documents to you, you should have already learned something through your own channels. That's right, the India, Xia Harry, was taken to the Marine Police Headquarters yesterday and confessed that he supplied the Hong Kong wig industry with a batch of up to 200,000 Braids from Mainland China for huge profits. And it has been confirmed that these are the raw materials currently being woven into wigs in your factories."
His straightforward words immediately caused the people in the conference room to whisper among themselves again. Most of the factory owners glared at Tang Wenbao and his son Tang Jingyuan with hostility. Before, everyone had only been speculating, but now Shek Chi-yik had brought confirmation that the raw materials their ten factories were currently using came from Mainland China.
"Director Shi, that Braid... we were victims too. If we had known, we definitely wouldn't have used it," Tang Wenbao said urgently.
Shek Chi-yik glanced at him, forcing a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Mr. Tang, could you wait until I've finished speaking?"
Tang Wenbao shut his mouth and lowered his head again, while Shek Chi-yik continued:
"Whether your factories are victims or not, we will investigate further. However, the immediate problem is that your factories' United States orders have been suspended by the United States Department of Commerce. This means that even if you fulfill your order amounts, you will be unable to ship the goods to the United States to supply your United States distributors. The United States government will not allow your goods to dock, and the final result will be that you face forced default. United States distributors will pursue default against Kimei International Trading Company will pursue default against its Hong Kong subsidiary, and Kimei's Hong Kong subsidiary will pursue default against your factories. As for you, you may want to hold the India, Xia Harry, responsible, but please allow me to say that Xia Harry used HSBC loans to purchase these mainland raw materials. Before you file a lawsuit, HSBC has already applied to freeze the Xia family's assets. The Xia family will go bankrupt before you can pursue his responsibility, sell all assets to repay the bank loans, and then be stripped of their Hong Kong permanent residency and deported back to India. I think that by the time the Xia family returns to India, they will no longer have the wealth to compensate you for your losses."
"It's because the Tang family has been in contact with the India that we should be responsible for Tang family losses. Tang Wenbao is the president of the association, and the Jimei Company is also his business. The Tang family has made all the money..." Huang Siqun couldn't finish her sentence, and just stared at Tang Wenbao with bloodshot eyes.
Unlike Luo Jiabao, a son of a wealthy family born out of wedlock, who could afford to lose hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars, Huang Siqun's success was built on the savings from selling bowls of wonton noodles. The four sets of wig-making equipment alone cost nearly 400,000 Hong Kong dollars. Add to that the expenses for the venue, labor, utilities, and raw materials, and the initial investment was already 600,000 Hong Kong dollars. For him, 600,000 Hong Kong dollars was the savings he had accumulated over decades selling wonton noodles in seven shops. The first month's income seemed to be 300,000 Hong Kong dollars, but after deducting all expenses, the profit barely exceeded 100,000 Hong Kong dollars. If the factory lost orders at this point, he would lose 500,000 Hong Kong dollars, not to mention the situation of having to pay penalties for breach of contract.
Hong Kong dollars 500,000 is enough for him to buy shops in three or four prime locations and open branches. If he can't recoup his investment, Huang Siqun feels that he shouldn't be forced to breach the contract any further; he might as well just hang himself!
"Calm down, Mr. Huang." Reminded by his secretary, Shek Chi-yik learned that the fat man's surname was Huang, so he began, "The Hong Kong Government and I are working hard to secure a chance for everyone to avoid being held liable for breach of contract. Let's address the current problems one by one. First, we need enough raw materials to supply ten factories, with verifiable legal sources, to ensure everyone can complete orders before the deadline. Do you have any suppliers besides the India, Xia Harry?"
All the factory owners present lowered their heads, focused solely on production. Previously, Song Tianyao had used raw materials from the Xia family in India, which were then introduced to the Tang family, Tang family in turn introduced them to various factories. Before this incident, none of the people present had ever imagined that India would use raw materials from mainland China, so they hadn't considered finding other suppliers. Moreover, with the association in place, this was naturally a matter for the association's president, Tang Wenbao, to consider.