Hawaii - James Michener [596]
"Ah, yes!" Nyuk Tsin agreed. "But not always the same land." Then she added, "Old land and old ideas must be constantly surrendered."
A new concept had come into the room, a concept of change and going-forwardness, and for some moments Hong Kong and his son contemplated the old woman's vision of a great family always in flux and always working hard to profit from it. The silence was broken by Nyuk Tsin, who said, "So we must sell this precious old land, Hong Kong, and in our liquidation, let it be the first to go."
"The land we will sell," Hong Kong said quietly, "but we will keep the old house for a little while longer. I could not imagine you living anywhere else."
"Thank you, my dutiful grandson," Nyuk Tsin replied. Then, briskly, she added, "So we must start this day teaching Bill how to run a brewery. Sam must study how to make money from bakeries, and I want Tom to begin reading about new ideas in architecture for old buildings." She proposed ways by which every losing venture they were about to buy could be transformed into a money-maker, and she warned: "Hong Kong, you must study carefully to see that we acquire only the best land. Eddie, organize everything in the best business procedure. I must depend upon you two to keep your eyes on everything."
As the meeting was about to break up, the old matriarch said, "It's very exciting to see a family launching out into bold new projects. You'll be proud of this day, but remember, Hong Kong, as you buy, be very secret, and do it all at once. And when you buy, always allow yourself to be forced into paying a little more than the seller has a right to hope for. When your plan is understood by all, nobody must feel he's been cheated." She paused, then added, "But don't pay too much more."
Three weeks later, at a meeting of The Fort, bluff Hewlett Janders laughed and said, "If we didn't follow the old missionary law about no alcohol here, I'd send out and buy drinks all around."
"Good news?" John Whipple Hoxworth asked.
"The best. Just managed to unload the brewery. What a millstone it's been. My sainted grandmother told me once, if she told me a hundred times, 'No good will come of a Hale going into the brewery business.' And she was so right." "Get a good price for it?" Hoxworth Hale asked. "I got thirty-five thousand more than I ever hoped to," Janders replied. "I've been wanting to stick Hong Kong Kee ever since he pulled that fast one in buying the Gregory's leases." "Did you say Hong Kong?" Hoxworth asked. "Yes. He slipped this time. Nobody can make money from that brewery."
"That's odd," Hale said. "I just sold Hong Kong the old Bromley Block. It's been losing money for years."
At this point one of the Hewletts arrived with the good news that he had unloaded the taxicab company. "To Hong Kong Kee?" a chorus asked.
"Yes, and at a good price," young Hewlett replied. A gray silence fell over the board room while Hale looked at Janders and Janders at Hewlett. "Have we been made fools of?" Hoxworth asked slowly.
Finally dour John, Whipple Hoxworth said, glumly, "I guess it's my turn to confess. I just sold Hong Kong that chain of bakeries we started before the war. Big losers."
"What's he up to?" Hewlett Janders cried. "What's that tricky Chinaman up to?"
"It must be real estate. He's buying property just to get real estate."
"No," one of the young Hewletts interrupted. "Because he just sold the old Kee taro patch. For a million five."
"My God!” Janders choked. "He's selling, he's buying. What's that wily sonofabitch up to?" The men looked at one another in exasperation, not so much because they were angry at Hong Kong, as because they suspected that he had some clever deal cooking, one which they ought to have anticipated for themselves.
The deal was clever; in truth it was, but only the first half. Anyone, if he had had the advice of a hard-working lawyer like Eddie Kee, could have bought losing firms and sold prosperous ones, making a nice profit on the transaction. That was clever. But what really counted was the fact