"Hey! A-Lok, don't stand here like an idiot. We haven't finished the drinking game yet. Come on, let's continue!" The atmosphere in the meeting room froze for a few seconds. Yan Hung quickly walked to Lui Lok's side and reached out to pull Lui Lok up.
Lui Lok turned his face away unhappily and glared at Yan Hung. Yan Hung didn't care at all, gave Lui Lok a wink, and increased the strength in his hand, pulling him hard. Lui Lok snorted coldly, and then obediently let Yan Hung pull him back to his original position.
"A-Yip, did I call you over here to strike a pose and act like Big Brother?" Seeing that Yan Hung had persuaded Lui Lok, Lam Kong greeted Zhao Wenye in a teasing tone, "It's rare for us to get together today, come on, let's have a drink first."
Land police officers often need to drink and socialize to maintain relationships, but most of the Marine Police are straightforward Shandong Lu Police who never bother with such things. After a few months, even Zhao Wenye was affected and gradually had less and less contact with the land police officers he used to be on good terms with.
However, Zhao Wenye still had to give Lam Kong face; otherwise, he wouldn't have made a special trip across the sea to attend this meeting today.
Zhao Wenye sat up straight and, at Lam Kong's prompting, picked up his wine glass. Yan Hung also nudged Lui Lok with his elbow, pulled Lui Lok up with his wine glass, and stood up with a smile. Hon Sam followed, standing somewhat out of place at the very end of the long table.
In the spacious conference hall, the five men raised their glasses together and drank the wine in one gulp.
Chapter 545
A black Nissan Toyota sedan smoothly drove into the intersection of Wan Chai Hwo Tao Road Junction. Sai Chalunwang sat in the car, holding an English book and reading it carefully. The driver was his subordinate, Nairen.
The Toyota Motor Corporation was established as early as the 1930s, but it was originally just a small division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. After World War II, the entire Japan economy fell into a slump, and Toyoda Automatic Loom Works was no exception. In 1950, the Toyota Motor Corporation produced only 500 trucks in a single year, which was not profitable. Although the company's management obtained a loan from the bank, it could only alleviate the temporary financial crisis and there was no spare capacity to continue operating the automobile division.
After the financial crisis emerged, rumors circulated from headquarters that the Toyota Motor division would be eliminated, and in fact, the company's management did have this idea. Employees who refused to accept pay cuts and layoffs spontaneously formed a union and held a two-month-long strike and demonstration in the streets of Japan, which barely kept the Toyota Motor division running.
Even so, under the circumstances at the time, no one was optimistic about Toyota Motor, believing that it was merely clinging to life. Even the division president Kiichiro Toyoda, resigned as a result, and the entire division was shrouded in the shadow of impending unemployment.
But things often turn out unexpectedly. Just a few months later, due to the outbreak of the Korean War, the Nationalist Army planned to order more than 5,000 cars from Japan in one go. This order was successfully signed by Taizo Ishida, who was then the CEO of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works and the president of Toyota Motor Corporation. This revitalized the previously unprofitable Toyota Motor Corporation and made the car brand an instant legend in the Japan industry.
The Toyota sedan that Sai Charon is currently riding in was a gift from Kondo Kohei. After the Japanese occupation, Hong Kong people hated Japan and consequently developed a resistance to Japan products. Nissan Motor had no market in Hong Kong at all. The fact that this sedan was able to arrive in Hong Kong smoothly was because Kondo Kohei paid for the air freight, which was more expensive than the price of the sedan itself.
The price of a Toyota sedan, converted to Hong Kong dollars, is about HK$1,700. However, compared to the large business that Kondo Kohei and Sai Charonwang run together, it's just a drop in the ocean.
As the car approached the venereal disease clinic for men run by Kondo Kohei, Nairen glanced in the rearview mirror at Sai Zhalunwang, who was engrossed in reading a book, and slowly slowed down, eventually parking the car in front of the hospital without any bumps.
"Sai Ba, we've arrived." Nairen waited a moment, and seeing that Sai Zhalunwang hadn't moved, he whispered a reminder.
Sai Zhalunwang moistened his finger with saliva, turned a page, his gaze remaining fixed on the book, and said calmly, "Wait."
Nairen nodded, turned back to sit upright in the driver's seat, and kept his eyes straight ahead. However, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a Japan woman in a white uniform glancing towards the car through the hospital's glass doors before hurrying into the hospital.
Sai Zhalunwang flipped through the book in his hands, and a passage seemed to catch his attention, making his gaze linger on it for a long time without turning the page.
Sai Charoenwang slowly read the passage aloud in Thai: "The Japan are extremely belligerent yet very gentle; militaristic yet aesthetically inclined; arrogant yet polite; stubborn yet adaptable; docile yet unwilling to be manipulated; loyal yet prone to betrayal; brave yet cowardly; conservative yet welcoming of new ways of life. They are very concerned about others observing their behavior, but when others are unaware of their misdeeds, they are overcome by guilt. Their army is thoroughly trained yet rebellious..."
Nairen turned around in surprise after hearing this.
Sai Zhalunwang smiled slightly at him, "Do you know what that means?"
Although Sai Charonwang had explained the text very clearly in Thai, Nairen had never been to school, so even if he heard Sai Charonwang say every word, he couldn't understand its meaning.
Nairen chuckled and scratched his head, "Sai Ba mean that the Japan are complicated and we should be careful?"
Sai Zhalunwang laughed a few times, "You could say that. We unfortunate people traveled across the ocean and couldn't trust anyone but ourselves, especially the Japan have contradictory personalities and strong nationalistic sentiments."
Nairen asked in bewilderment, "If that's the case, why are you still contacting the Japan Sai Ba? We've already had a clear discussion with the Kuomintang in Taiwan. They'll be shipping goods to us from the Golden Triangle. Opium is a highly profitable business, no less lucrative than counterfeiting."
"Because opium will soon become obsolete." Sai Zhalunwang sighed with a touch of melancholy, recalling his conversation with Kondo Kohei that day.