Chapter 65: Does He Possess Vast Financial Strength?

As Lin Haoran was leisurely sipping his tea, a crisp knock on the door broke the quiet of the room.

Shortly after, the smiling young receptionist led Li Ka-shing through the doorway.

The moment Li Ka-shing stepped into the private room, his eyes met Lin Haoran’s, and he froze for a split second. A thought flashed through his mind: could the receptionist have led him to the wrong room?

Subconsciously, he wanted to turn around and step back outside, careful not to disturb this seemingly carefree young man enjoying his tea.

However, just as Li Ka-shing was about to make his move, Lin Haoran’s warm and magnetic voice rang out: "Mr. Li, please come in and take a seat."

With a genuine smile radiating across his face, Lin Haoran extended his hand toward Li Ka-shing.

At that very moment, sudden realization dawned upon Li Ka-shing. The person he had an appointment to meet today was precisely this extraordinary young man before him.

This year, Li Ka-shing had just turned fifty. He appeared exceptionally steady, wearing a pair of black-framed glasses that lent him an intellectual air. Dressed in a well-tailored suit, every gesture and movement of his exuded refinement and gentleness, giving him a scholarly appearance at first glance.

After the receptionist politely exited the room and gently closed the door behind her, Li Ka-shing could no longer suppress the curiosity bubbling within him. He asked, "You look quite familiar, Sir, but may I know your name? Could you possibly be the major shareholder of Green Island Cement that Sir Pao Yue-kong mentioned?"

He searched his memory and was certain he must have met Lin Haoran before. Coupled with the fact that Pao Yue-kong had previously mentioned the other party was a neighbor in their neighborhood, Li Ka-shing grew even more confident that his memory was not failing him.

Yet, because Lin Haoran was so young and they had never crossed paths professionally, it was only natural that he did not recognize him.

Although Deep Water Bay had very few residents, the ones Li Ka-shing was familiar with were mostly the heads of prominent families.

As for the younger generation like Lin Haoran, they naturally fell into the category of "juniors" in his mind. Having never interacted closely with them, it was entirely reasonable that they remained unacquainted.

"Indeed. I am Lin Haoran, the current major shareholder of Green Island Cement. My late father is Lin Wan'an, a name Mr. Li should certainly be familiar with. It is an absolute honor to meet you, Mr. Li," Lin Haoran introduced himself with a smile, his tone tinged with modesty.

"Lin Wan'an? You are Lin Wan'an's son?" Upon hearing this, a wave of sheer disbelief washed over Li Ka-shing.

Compared to Pao Yue-kong, he had a much deeper understanding of Lin Wan'an.

After all, while Wan'an Group and Cheung Kong Holdings were vastly different in scale, both were deeply rooted in the real estate industry and served as fellow members of the Hong Kong Real Estate Association. With so many professional intersections within the industry, they naturally had ample opportunities to understand one another.

Hong Kong's real estate sector was booming. Although they belonged to the same industry, they could hardly be considered competitors.

As neighbors in the Deep Water Bay residential area, Li Ka-shing had even advised Lin Wan'an that in a rapidly changing industry like real estate, accelerating business growth inevitably required the moderate use of financial leverage—taking on a certain level of debt, which was sometimes an unavoidable and necessary strategy.

However, Lin Wan'an had clearly held a different view on the matter and had not adopted Li Ka-shing's advice.

*Lin Wan'an's son... Does he possess such formidable financial strength?* Li Ka-shing muttered to himself, a look of utter perplexity crossing his features.

Clearly, Li Ka-shing found it difficult to believe.

He struggled to connect the youthful-looking junior before him with the identity of someone capable of commanding vast amounts of capital and securing the position of a major shareholder in Green Island Cement.

*Could Brother Pao have been blinded by this young man?* The thought flashed through Li Ka-shing's mind, only to be dismissed almost instantly.

*No, given Brother Pao's shrewdness and caution, he would never be so easily deceived by a young man.*

Right now, Li Ka-shing felt as though his mind was shrouded in a dense fog, his thoughts in utter disarray.

He tried to sort things out, only to find that the harder he tried to make sense of it, the more bewildered he became.

The stark contrast between Lin Haoran's identity and his actual power left him feeling unprecedentedly confused and baffled.

Observing the subtle shifts in Li Ka-shing's expression, Lin Haoran already had a clear grasp of what was going on in the older man's mind.

He understood that Li Ka-shing's current doubt and distrust mirrored the exact reaction Pao Yue-kong had when they first met—both found it hard to fathom that someone so young could wield such immense wealth.

This reaction was hardly surprising.

In the eyes of most people, Lin Haoran, as Lin Wan'an's son, could hardly have accumulated enough capital to single-handedly drive such massive financial operations, even if he had inherited a portion of the family fortune.

Especially to someone like Li Ka-shing, who understood the vast disparity in strength between Wan'an Group and Green Island Cement, it was practically impossible to draw a comparison between the two.

Although Wan'an Group held a certain standing in the industry, its overall strength paled in comparison to Green Island Cement.

Using small capital to leverage a massive undertaking was not entirely impossible, but during this period, Li Ka-shing had heard nothing about any large-scale fundraising campaigns by Wan'an Group, let alone that Lin Wan'an could enlist a heavyweight figure like Pao Yue-kong to help him.

All of this left Li Ka-shing profoundly perplexed.

He simply could not comprehend how a seemingly ordinary young man had managed to accumulate such staggering wealth in such a short span of time and successfully become the controlling shareholder of Green Island Cement.

What astonished Li Ka-shing even more was that Lin Haoran had not only amassed this vast fortune on his own, but had also successfully persuaded a business titan like Pao Yue-kong to act as a lobbyist, compelling Li Ka-shing to abandon his acquisition plan for Green Island Cement in exchange for a single favor.

A favor owed by Pao Yue-kong was exceptionally valuable.

It all felt to him like an illusion amid the mist—simultaneously real and ethereal, completely elusive.

Li Ka-shing knew that Pao Yue-kong held a towering position in the business world; every decision he made was the result of deep deliberation and could never be easily swayed by others.

Yet now, Lin Haoran had managed, through his own strength, to influence and alter Pao Yue-kong's decision. The hidden power and wisdom behind this feat forced Li Ka-shing to completely reevaluate this young man.

"Mr. Lin, I am quite curious. How on earth did you manage to persuade Brother Pao to act as your lobbyist?" Li Ka-shing finally asked the question that had been weighing heavily on his mind.

"It is quite simple. I possessed something he desperately needed. We struck a deal, on the condition that Uncle Pao would act as my lobbyist with Mr. Li," Lin Haoran said with a smile.

None of this was a deep secret; if Li Ka-shing wished to find out, he would discover the truth soon enough anyway.

"Something Brother Pao urgently needed... Could it be Wheelock Marden shares?" Li Ka-shing immediately made the connection.

After all, he had just completed a massive transaction of shares with Pao Yue-kong not long ago, involving none other than Wheelock Marden stock. Furthermore, everyone across Hong Kong now knew that Pao Yue-kong's most coveted asset was Wheelock Marden shares.

"Precisely. Mr. Li's astuteness is truly admirable. I recently completed an important transaction with Uncle Pao, selling all the Wheelock Marden shares I held to him, in exchange for Uncle Pao persuading Mr. Li to drop his acquisition plans for Green Island Cement.

"Although I was already confident of securing a controlling stake in Green Island Cement on my own, I still believed that avoiding unnecessary intervention from Mr. Li was the best way to protect our mutual interests and prevent a destructive, mutually exhausting conflict.

"Given Mr. Pao's standing and influence in the industry, he was undoubtedly the ideal candidate to effectively persuade Mr. Li to change his mind," Lin Haoran explained gracefully.