Zhang Yida finished his work inspection in Singapore and took a flight to Jakarta, Indonesia.
As soon as I got off the plane, I saw Li Chuan who had been waiting here for a long time outside the airport.
There were three black Bentleys and two Toyota Overlords parked behind Li Chuan, attracting frequent glances from passers-by.
Zhang Yida shook hands with Li Chuan and said with a smile: "Brother Li, I am flattered by such a grand ceremony!"
"Haha!" Li Chuan smiled, waved his hand and said, "Yida, my grandpa wants to meet you."
Who is Li Chuan's grandfather? Li Wenzheng, chairman of the board of directors of Indonesian Lippo Group, is a famous banker known as the "Indonesian Money King".
He wanted to see him, which surprised Zhang Yida and asked Li Chuan: "Is it now?"
"Yes." Li Chuan added, "I'll let other cars take your company's entourage to the hotel first! You can go directly to my house with me! My grandpa is waiting for you at home."
"That's good."
Being able to meet the legendary banker, Zhang Yida had no reason to refuse and happily agreed.
Later, Zhang Yida ordered other entourage members, including He Qingxuan, to stay at the hotel first and then go to RPay company together tomorrow.
Zhang Yida and Li Chuan rode in a Bentley together, and the rest of their entourage got into two other Bentleys. A Toyota Overlord opened the way in front, and the other Toyota Overlord followed closely behind the convoy.
Although the team did not have motorcycles to clear the way, it still gave Zhang Yida enough face.
After leaving the airport, the convoy was divided into two teams, taking the two Bentleys driven by Rui Xiang and heading towards the CBD in the city. The Bentleys shared by Zhang Yida and Li Chuan were protected by two domineering cars, one in front and one behind.
, heading towards the suburbs.
As soon as Zhang Yida left the airport, he noticed the powerful-looking Chinese bodyguards in two domineering cars. However, Zhang Yida didn't say much. What happened in 1998 has already become a scar in the hearts of Chinese Indonesians.
It is normal for a wealthy Chinese tycoon like the Li family to have several bodyguards when traveling. After all, the environment is not like that in China.
The motorcade stopped in front of a manor covering an area of dozens of acres. Zhang Yida got out of the car and took a look. There were green spaces, swimming pools, stadiums, and aprons.
In the distance, there is a uniformed security team patrolling with a big wolf dog. This scene is worthy of a chaebol that has been passed down for three or four generations.
Li Chuan called Zhang Yida and walked together to the indoor villa area, passed through a long corridor, and came to a study room.
The study room was decorated in an antique style, with a desk in the center, and an old man in his eighties sitting behind the desk.
The old man was dressed in a Tang suit, his skin was sagging, his face was wrinkled, and his eyes were slightly closed, as if he was asleep.
"Grandpa, Mr. Zhang is here." Li Chuan reminded.
Zhang Yida put his feet together, bowed to Li Wenzheng, and said, "I have met Mr. Li!"
Li Wenzheng said in Mandarin with a hint of southern Fujian flavor: "Mr. Zhang is here! Sit down quickly, sit down quickly."
Then he turned to look at his grandson and said, "Xiaochuan, help me up quickly."
Zhang Yida did not sit down. He watched Li Chuan help the trembling Li Wenzheng up and sit down, and then followed the Taishi chair beside him and sat down.
After helping Li Wenzheng sit firmly, Li Chuan sat down beside him.
Zhang Yida secretly looked at this famous banker. Before coming, he had already checked with Qiandu.
Li Wenzheng was born in Malang Town, East Java, Indonesia, in 1929, and his ancestral home is Putian, Fujian, China.
In middle school, he served as the chairman of the student union of the East Java Overseas Chinese School. He was arrested and imprisoned by the Dutch colonial government for organizing students to participate in the struggle against the Dutch colonists, and helping to carry out propaganda and transport drugs.
After being deported in 1947, he returned to his homeland, passed the written examination and interview, and was admitted to the Department of Philosophy of the National Central University (now the Department of Philosophy of Southeast University).
He was familiar with "Das Kapital" and believed that all disasters in the world originated from imperialism and that only the Communist Party could save the world.
Instigated by some classmates, he was about to return to Indonesia from Hong Kong and decided to go to Yan'an via Tianjin with his classmates and wrote a letter to say goodbye to his lover Li Limei.
After preparing his boat ticket and setting off, he received a reply from Li Limei. His lover's longing for her had shaken his revolutionary will.
Before boarding the boat, he asked his classmates to take a step first because he wanted to think again. That day, the Hong Kong maritime cyclone warning was hoisted with No. 3 typhoon signal. Half an hour after the boat sailed, it was upgraded to No. 8 typhoon signal. Severe storms swept across
came, some ships were even swept ashore.
In the next day's newspaper, Li Wenzheng saw that the passenger ship bound for Tianjin caught fire and exploded due to the impact of chemicals on the ship, and none of the passengers survived.
In 1950, he returned to Indonesia and engaged in import and export trade and shipping. After accumulating enough capital and connections, he slowly began to get involved in the banking industry.
With vision and shrewdness, he started from scratch, destroyed old things and established new ones, made a living in the face of changes, and won the business game in spite of dangers.
He took charge of several banks one after another, and every time he put them on the right track, he would start over again and chase new highs.
In his life, he encountered five bank run crises, and he resolved them one by one.
Today, the Lippo Group has created assets of more than 20 billion U.S. dollars, owns more than a dozen banks and financial companies, and operates across the world.
While Zhang Yida was looking at Li Wenzheng, Li Wenzheng was also looking at Zhang Yida with a pair of cloudy eyes with a hint of shrewdness.
After a while, Li Wenzheng said slowly: "One of the things that worries me the most in my life is that I want to see the motherland's economy take off with my own eyes.
Finally, we have waited for this day. Our motherland can only be strong economically, culturally, and militarily.
Only when we overseas wanderers work hard in a foreign country can we feel confident and secure."
When he heard his grandfather say "a foreign country", Li Chuan's expression changed and he looked around repeatedly.
"What are you afraid of!" Li Wenzheng scolded his grandson, and then continued to say to Zhang Yida: "Being rich is getting rich, but if others want to "kill pigs", they will "kill pigs." Now I see that the motherland is prosperous, and I feel very relieved.
!”
Speaking of this, Li Wenzheng, who is in his eighties, choked up several times and had tears in his eyes.
Zhang Yida couldn't help but feel a little moved. Overseas Chinese still have a strong sense of belonging to the motherland.
Li Wenzheng took out his silk scarf and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. Then he turned to his grandson Li Chuan and said, "When I was a child, my grandma, your grandma, said: "You go out in order to come back better."
I tell you this sentence today just to make you remember where your roots are."
Li Chuan was silent. Indonesia's turbulent political situation and ethnic policies made him feel sad.
In May of the year when he was 10 years old, he clearly remembered that one day, the house was in a state of chaos, and the adults were all panic-stricken. It seemed that they were still packing their luggage to escape to Singapore.
Thinking of those memories, Li Chuan clenched his fists tightly, and his eyes were filled with flames of hatred.
Li Wenzheng continued: "In 1992, Lippo Group just entered the mainland. At that time, the motherland was really poor.
But I firmly believed at that time that our motherland would definitely take off in the 21st century.
The world economy shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and China became the light of Asia."
Li Wenzheng was basically speaking, and Zhang Yida was listening. After Li Wenzheng finished talking about the motherland, he started talking about Laozi's theory, then jumped to nanotechnology, and finally talked about digital technology.
It makes Zhang Yida quite ashamed that an old man in his eighties can still keep up with the times.
“In the area of the Internet, China has performed very well, with the emergence of outstanding entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma, Bonima, and Robin Li.
Of course, Mr. Zhang is also extremely outstanding. At a young age, he has built outstanding Internet companies such as Ruixiang, Huimin Travel, and Yimin Wangjin.
When I was your age, I was far inferior to you, and I was still working hard on a boat."
Zhang Yida smiled modestly and said: "The era Mr. Li was in at that time, and the era we are in now, the environment is completely different.
I was just lucky to have stepped on the pulse of the times, but Mr. Li went through all the obstacles and overcame one difficulty after another to develop to where he is today.
Your inspirational story has always inspired us juniors to enter the world of business and move forward bravely."
Li Wenzheng nodded slightly and said with a smile: "I see that Mr. Zhang's main career is also concentrated in the financial field, which is very similar to when I was young.
When I was in elementary school when I was 10 years old, I would pass by a European-style building when I was going to school from home. It was very spectacular. The people inside were neatly dressed and full of airs. They were very busy, but there were no goods for sale in the store. I was very excited at that time.
curious.
Later I learned that it was a bank run by the Dutch. It mainly collected deposits from the society and then gave the deposits to businessmen in need of funds at higher interest rates. The bank made profits from it.
I felt at the time that banks were just transferring money from some people to others and lending it to other people. The money was "making money" in the process of being taken back and forth. It was very impressive and it was really a good business.
I secretly thought at that time that I must be a banker when I grow up."
Zhang Yida smiled shamefully and said: "We are just a small P2P company, far behind banks. Moreover, the country's current threshold for setting up private banks is very high.
Ruixiang Group has been applying to establish a private bank, but it has been almost a year and it has not received a definite answer from the regulatory agency."
Li Wenzheng waved his hand and said: "Young man, please be patient! Don't be discouraged.
It took me ten years from starting a business in 1950 to taking over the first bank in my life - Prosperity Bank.
And I was very lucky. I earned 2,000 US dollars from running the boat, and it was rumored that it was 200,000 US dollars.
Pilama Shari, the manager of McMurran Bank, which was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor operations, was affected by the misinformation and visited me at home, asking me to invest US$200,000 to save the bank.
I really wanted to take over the bank and realize my childhood dream of becoming a banker.
But I only had 2,000 U.S. dollars. Fortunately, I had the help of my fellow villagers in Fujian Province who helped me raise the 200,000 U.S. dollars.
This also became a turning point in my life and career. Without those fellow Fujianese, Lippo Group would not be what it is today.
I didn’t open a bank until I was 30 years old. You will definitely be able to open a bank before you are 30 years old.”
"Haha" Zhang Yida complimented: "Then you have honored your good wishes."
"I heard from Xiaochuan that Ruixiang wants to set up an industrial fund, right?"