With Xiao Song brought into his camp, the alcohol business on Phoenix Street seamlessly transitioned. After Dai Mengmeng handed over the accounts, Yang Jian's team began supplying alcohol to the various entertainment venues that very day.
In the afternoon, Fang Hai gathered his four companions, who were placed under the management of Ah Nan and Jun Jun. They started supervising the shops on Phoenix Street to prevent them from purchasing alcohol privately.
In just three days, Yang Jian's team's alcohol business was fully operational. Dai Mengmeng officially joined after completing the handover with the original manufacturers, and she also brought in a close friend to serve as the cashier.
With Phoenix Street sorted out, Yang Jian went to work at the location Bai Zheng was preparing to open the casino.
This place was located in Dongxing Town, Dongjiang City, connected to the main urban area, and about a half-hour drive from where Yang Jian lived.
Ah Bao took Yang Jian there. Upon arrival, he learned that this was a large entertainment city currently operated by Bai Zheng.
The Xin Tai Entertainment City, covering over ten thousand square meters, consisted of a luxurious building with a total construction area of fifteen thousand square meters, and two large parking lots in front and back.
"Brother Bao, isn't this an entertainment city? Where is the casino being opened?"
As Ah Bao led him into the first-floor lobby of the entertainment city, the sheer luxury nearly blinded Yang Jian. It didn't seem to require any renovation at all.
Ah Bao smiled, "Little Yang, this is the most luxurious and highest-spending entertainment city in Dongjiang, and even the entire country. The cheapest private room has a minimum consumption of three thousand yuan, with others at six thousand, nine thousand, and eighteen thousand.
Some say this is the largest entertainment venue in Asia, where you can truly experience what it means to live a life of pleasure and indulge in earthly delights.
There was a small casino here before, but it was very small, only for playing Pai Gow. Now, my master intends to build a large casino, primarily focusing on Baccarat.
So, he plans to convert the entire third floor into a professional casino. Construction has already begun. To avoid affecting the entertainment city's operations, there's a dedicated construction access at the back of the entertainment city.
Would you like to tour the entertainment city or go directly to the construction site?"
Without hesitation, Yang Jian replied, "Let's go to the construction site. These entertainment venues are all pretty much the same; there's nothing much to see."
"That's true, entertainment cities only get lively at night."
Ah Bao led Yang Jian to the third floor via elevator.
Indeed, it was undergoing renovation. The entire third floor, covering five thousand square meters, had over a hundred workers on site, making it very noisy.
"Little Yang, the renovation here has been contracted to a decoration company. You don't need to stay here all day. Just come by daily to check on the progress and quality. If you have free time, you can go down to the first-floor lobby to have some tea or coffee, watch TV, read newspapers, or even play cards and sing."
Bai Zheng's intention in bringing Yang Jian here was primarily for him to familiarize himself with the situation; he didn't actually expect him to act as a supervisor.
Yang Jian was astonished by Bai Zheng's grand scale. "Brother Bao, this entire five-thousand-square-meter floor is for the casino. Will there be that many foreign investors coming to play?"
"What's this? You haven't been to Macau. There are over forty large casinos there, each dozens of times bigger than this. The most famous ones like The Venetian, The Sands, and Grand Lisboa are so grand you can even boat and drive inside."
"I've heard of those casinos, but this is mainland China. Won't such a large casino attract police attention?
You know, the casino I had in Hancheng was only two to three hundred square meters in total, with no more than two hundred gamblers, and it was still classified by the police as the largest gambling case in Hancheng's history.
This place is twenty times larger than my casino. Wouldn't that make it the largest casino in the country?"
Yang Jian felt a bit uneasy. Such a large-scale casino couldn't possibly avoid police attention. Even if it were exclusively for foreign investors, it would be impossible to keep the information completely sealed. Foreign investors also need to interact with mainland employees, officials, and the police.
Over time, this place would inevitably face severe crackdowns from the police. As a shareholder, wouldn't he again become a primary target?
Ah Bao, however, was unconcerned. "Little Yang, don't worry. This casino will only cater to foreign investors, Hong Kong and Macau businessmen, and executives, primarily Hong Kong businessmen.
My master has connections with the largest triad societies there and has a certain degree of control over Hong Kong and Macau businessmen, so we don't have to worry about them reporting us.
Furthermore, my master has powerful connections in Dongjiang and even higher-level departments. Let me put it this way: as long as someone enters our Xin Tai Entertainment City, even if the police come, they won't be able to arrest anyone unless my master agrees.
Therefore, you don't need to worry about police crackdowns at all. Our main security concerns are local big shots like Qin Ming, influential figures from other parts of the country, and Hong Kong and Macau underworld forces."
Hearing this, Yang Jian felt somewhat reassured, but he still couldn't let his guard down. He would continue to use the name Yang Wu here.
Afterward, Ah Bao found the project manager of the decoration company, Manager Wang, to liaise with Yang Jian. If any problems were found, Yang Jian could directly instruct him to make corrections.
"Manager Wang, this is General Manager Yang, a shareholder of our company. He is now responsible for the project's engineering quality and progress. Your final project settlement will require General Manager Yang's signature, so you must accept his supervision regarding quality."
Ah Bao introduced Yang Jian to Manager Wang and issued a warning. He himself used to oversee this aspect, but he couldn't understand the blueprints.
Manager Wang, in his thirties, appeared sharp and shook Yang Jian's hand enthusiastically. "Hello, General Manager Yang. It's our first meeting today. Shall we have lunch together?"
"No need. You go ahead and get busy. I'll just take a look around."
Yang Jian knew that Manager Wang wanted to build rapport with him and might even try to bribe him, so he firmly refused.
"Alright then. Here's my business card. Feel free to call me if you need anything."
Manager Wang handed over a business card and left.
Ah Bao, having completed his introductions, also drove away, leaving Yang Jian with a set of construction blueprints.
Yang Jian walked around the third floor before going downstairs. Although he could read blueprints, he wasn't an expert in decoration and needed to thoroughly understand the drawings first.
He went to the first-floor lobby and found a quiet spot to sit, asking a server to bring him a cup of coffee.
He didn't rush to look at the blueprints. He needed to seriously consider participating in the casino venture because the scale of this casino was far beyond his expectations. Even though Ah Bao had assured him it was foolproof, running a casino was, after all, an illegal activity.
In the mainland, there was no such thing as a lawless territory. Operating such a large casino would inevitably lead to its destruction by the police; it was only a matter of time, perhaps a few months or a year or two, but it could never operate indefinitely.
In this situation, Yang Jian had no idea how to protect himself.
Furthermore, it was clear that Bai Zheng had been preparing this casino for a long time. Why was he invited to participate in its operation during their first meeting, and even asked to arrange for people to train and return to serve as operational managers?
This was also something that had been puzzling Yang Jian for the past few days. There was no such thing as a free lunch. Once this casino opened, it would undoubtedly be incredibly profitable. With Bai Zheng's capabilities, there was no need for him to bring Yang Jian in to share the profits.