Xinhua News Agency, Hong Kong Branch.
This institution, which was established even before the founding of the country, is the mainland's official agency stationed in Hong Kong.
Xinhua fulfills multiple functions, but mainly promotes economic, cultural, educational, and other exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong, connects with various sectors of Hong Kong society, and strengthens interaction and mutual understanding between the two places.
Another important responsibility is handling affairs related to Taiwan Island.
At present, the director of the Hong Kong branch is Liang Chenghao, but it has already been confirmed that he will step down this year. He is currently handing over responsibilities to the incoming First Deputy Director Wang Yiping and Second Deputy Director Li Fuquan. Fortunately, both of them have worked in Hong Kong for many years and are highly experienced, so the transition has been relatively smooth.
On this day, while Liang Chenghao was working in his office, Wang Yiping and Li Fuquan came together to see him.
"Comrade Liang, take a look at this."
After sitting down, Wang Yiping handed a sheet of paper to Liang Chenghao.
Liang Chenghao glanced at it and couldn't help but frown.
Li Fuquan said, "The colonial government has put pressure on Comrade Lin Baicheng. He has already decided to reduce the recruitment of mainland workers into his factory in the future. Fortunately, he's holding firm under pressure—he will only hire fewer people, but his supportive attitude toward the mainland hasn't changed."
The mainland leadership has already decided to take back Hong Kong. What Xinhua needs to do now is build connections with all sectors of Hong Kong—especially influential business leaders—to gain broader support, or at the very least allow people in Hong Kong to understand the mainland's goodwill, stabilize society, and ensure Hong Kong returns in a prosperous and stable state.
Lin Baicheng rose to prominence suddenly this year. His large-scale recruitment of mainlanders into his factory began just over two months ago, which is when Xinhua started paying attention to him.
Though it hasn't been long, it was extremely easy for Xinhua to investigate Lin Baicheng—they've already reviewed the background of his entire family.
For someone like Lin Baicheng—who does not reject mainlanders and instead treats them with kindness—Xinhua naturally considers him a priority figure to connect with and win over.
The only reason Xinhua hasn't contacted him yet is because they were concerned that if the British authorities discovered their contact, it might lead to suppression of Lin Baicheng's company, bringing him unnecessary trouble.
Additionally, they were waiting for an appropriate opportunity—special occasions like Lunar New Year. Paying a sudden visit without reason would seem too abrupt.
Thus, contact was delayed until now.
However, they didn't expect the British side to notice so quickly, and for the Governor to pressure Lin Baicheng, forcing him to compromise.
Wang Yiping said, "We must respond to this situation. We can't just let it continue unchecked. If the colonial government keeps pressuring Comrade Lin, we can't predict how he might respond in the future."
Li Fuquan added, "I believe we should visit Comrade Lin in advance and express our goodwill."
"You're both right," Liang Chenghao nodded. "But we can't visit him immediately. This situation has only just happened—if we visit him now, he might misunderstand and think we're monitoring him."
Of course, Xinhua is not monitoring Lin Baicheng. It's just that many of his factory workers are former mainland soldiers. Xinhua staff are in contact with some of them. They've never instructed them to spy—only to inform Xinhua when something related to the mainland happens around Lin Baicheng.
Liang continued, "Also, we don't personally know Comrade Lin yet. Just showing up would be too abrupt. It's better if someone acts as an intermediary to introduce us—it will make communication smoother."
"A wise approach," Wang Yiping and Li Fuquan agreed.
Liang went on, "Although Comrade Lin is a newcomer and his influence in Hong Kong is not yet great—certainly not at the level of someone like Comrade Huo, who commands public respect—what is commendable is that despite growing up and being educated in Hong Kong, he has not been influenced by the anti-mainland propaganda. He holds no prejudice against us and even feels goodwill."
"Such individuals who willingly show closeness to the mainland must be treated with greater sincerity. We must make sure he feels our genuine intentions. We cannot let him feel abandoned."
"Rest assured, Comrade Liang," Wang Yiping said. "We will take this into account in our future work."
"This situation with Comrade Lin reminds us that our task is extremely difficult, but we must not be defeated by challenges. The responsibility we carry is heavy," Liang said solemnly.
"No matter how hard it gets, we will fulfill the mission entrusted to us by the Party and the country," Li Fuquan replied.
"I leave the future work to both of you," Liang said, confident in their abilities.
Meanwhile, Lin Baicheng had no idea that he was already on Xinhua's radar. He was still planning to first acquire Li's TV station and then buy one or two listed companies—only after gaining more fame in Hong Kong would Xinhua take notice of him, at which point he intended to express his support for the mainland.
He didn't know that in this era of Hong Kong, his actions were already highly conspicuous. Aside from powerful families like the Ho family, who openly supported the mainland, no one else dared to recruit large numbers of mainland workers at once. Most business owners considered it good enough if they simply didn't discriminate against mainlanders.
The only reason the colonial government hadn't immediately suppressed him was because they thought he was young and naïve. So they first gave a subtle warning. If he didn't respond properly, the next step would have been a direct warning—then suppression.
Sometimes, being young has its advantages.
If someone like Li Ka-shing or Pao Yue-kong did what Lin was doing, the colonial government wouldn't hesitate—they would assume it was a deliberate act of siding with the mainland and would crush them immediately, without any warning.
November passed quickly, and it was now December.
Realizing that Standard Chartered Bank would not convince ATV's owners to lower their price, Lin decided not to waste more time. He immediately informed Huo Yaohua that he was willing to purchase the 61% stake of ATV held by Rediffusion for 120 million HKD.
So be it—even if he was being overcharged, once the TV station was his, in a few years it would be worth far more. Who would be laughing then?