"President Lin, if you're not fixated on acquiring Wharf Holdings, and are open to buying Hutchison Whampoa instead, then your proposal truly makes sense," said Cheng Yufeng after a moment of thought.
He continued, "Regardless of whether it goes through, since Pao Yue-kong is now involved, we shouldn't sell any more Hutchison Whampoa stock. It's better to hold on to what we have."
"I was thinking the same thing," Lin Baicheng replied with a nod, though his tone carried a trace of frustration. "If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have sold off those shares over the past few days. Now if the deal actually works out, we'll have to buy them back from the market — in and out like that, we'll lose a chunk of money for nothing."
Cheng gave a small sigh. "There was no way to know, Lin. We sold to free up more cash for the Wharf acquisition — who could've predicted Li Ka-shing would stir things up and bring Pao Yue-kong into the picture?"
Lin leaned back in his chair. "Yufeng, the total liquid capital we can access right now is around 1.2 billion HKD. Hutchison Whampoa's market value exceeds 2.8 billion. That's nowhere near enough to buy even half of it. What do you suggest?"
At Hutchison's current price, buying a controlling stake would take more than Lin could afford — and once he started buying on the open market, prices would skyrocket further.
Cheng thought for a moment before answering calmly, "President Lin, I don't think that's something you need to worry about. The Keswick family only owns about 20% of Hutchison Whampoa. If we can secure around 30%, that's already close to effective control. With 40%, we'd be rock solid — there's no need to go all the way to 49%."
He went on, "And if HSBC agrees to sell us their shares, we can use those same shares as collateral to secure a bank loan. Using Hutchison stock as leverage gives us bargaining power — banks make money from lending, after all. HSBC could earn once by selling to us and again by offering us financing. It's a twofold profit — why would they refuse?"
"That makes sense," Lin agreed, nodding slowly. Indeed, as long as HSBC was willing to sell, that was enough for him. If they also allowed him to use the shares as collateral, great — if not, he could approach other banks.
Standard Chartered was an option. And if that failed, there were always banks in Japan and the U.S. As long as he had tangible assets, he wouldn't struggle to find financing. It wasn't like they were in an economic crisis where banks refused to lend.
Whether HSBC would sell was now out of Lin's hands — that part depended entirely on Pao Yue-kong. All Lin could do was wait.
He and Cheng then discussed contingencies — what if HSBC refused? Should they compete directly with Pao Yue-kong for Wharf, or step back and avoid a head-on clash?
To get a broader perspective, Lin even contacted his overseas partners — Haruko Mori in Japan and Isabella in the U.S. — to hear their opinions.
After several rounds of discussion, they reached a decision: they would compete. If they could outbid Pao Yue-kong and secure Wharf, perfect. If not, they'd retreat gracefully — selling their shares to him for a tidy profit. It was a flexible, win-win position.
With that plan in place, Lin had nothing immediate to do until Pao got back to him. So, the next day, he decided to visit Galaxy Games.
The company's first expansion had gone smoothly — the new office building was complete. It wasn't tall, just a few stories high, but more than enough for their current staff. Miyamoto Shigeru, Yokoi Gunpei, and Yanagi Kazuki had all moved their departments into the building.
Lin toured the premises, checking in on progress. Everything was running smoothly; if there had been serious problems, someone would've reported it already.
Afterward, he went to see Yokoi Gunpei, whose hardware development department had just recruited several talented engineers and begun work on their first game console prototype. Lin couldn't contribute much to the technical side, but he offered funding, features, and design suggestions whenever needed.
Once he finished with Yokoi, Lin stopped by the game development department, led by Miyamoto.
Donkey Kong was now deep in development — the concept, design, and gameplay direction had all been finalized. Lin didn't interfere too much with the creative process; he wanted to train Miyamoto and his team to grow independently.
Miyamoto might one day be a legendary designer, but for now, he was still learning. Talent needed time to mature — push too hard, and it could backfire.
"President!" Miyamoto and the team stood when Lin entered the room.
"Carry on, everyone," Lin said with a smile. "Miyamoto, let's talk in your office."
Once inside, Lin spoke directly. "Miyamoto, aside from Donkey Kong, I'm planning another game project. I've already worked out the concept and gameplay. I'll join the early development phase, but I'll need you to take over once things get busy for me. Think you can handle that?"
"No problem, President!" Miyamoto said immediately. He knew this wasn't just a task — it was a sign of trust.
"I've already arranged for a few more developers from Japan to join us soon," Lin continued. "They'll be assisting me on this new title — Tank Battle. It's a 2D shooter game focused on tank combat and base defense — part action, part strategy."
When Lin had been preparing to seek a bank loan recently, he realized that despite his success, he still wasn't as rich as he wanted to be. He needed more income streams. So while Miyamoto's team worked on Donkey Kong, Lin decided to personally oversee another project — one that could turn a quick profit.
The hardware they had now could technically handle Tank Battle, though not at the quality it would achieve a few years later. Ideally, Lin would've waited a year or two to develop it, but time was money. Even if the game turned out imperfect or less visually polished, as long as it sold reasonably well, the cash flow would help him fund bigger ventures.
Miyamoto's eyes lit up. "That sounds like another classic in the making. It's an honor to be part of it!"
Lin smiled. They discussed Donkey Kong's progress for a while longer — everything was on track. If nothing major went wrong, development would be finished in just a few more months.