In 1989, 61-year-old Li Ka-shing set his sights on 19-year-old Li Jiaxin. For the beauty, he lavishly spent HKD 30 million. Later that night, Li Ka-shing took Li Jiaxin back to his mansion, and the next day, his wife Zhuang Yueming was found dead at home...
This 30-year saga of grudges began in 1940 when a young man from Chaoshan first arrived in Hong Kong. At the age of 15, after his father's death, Li Ka-shing sought refuge with his uncle, Zhuang Jing'an, and his encounter with his cousin Zhuang Yueming set the stage for his destiny's turning point.
The daughter of the king of watches is fluent in English and Japanese but spent five years teaching her less privileged cousin Cantonese pronunciation and business etiquette. In the wedding that broke the taboo of close relatives in 1963, the HKD 630,000 home purchased by Li Ka-shing was, thirty years later, the site of the tragedy.
Zhuang Yueming was not only a virtuous spouse but also the invisible operator of Cheung Kong Holdings. When the company went public in 1972, she participated in core decision-making as an executive director, and her international vision helped Li Ka-shing complete his first cross-border acquisition.
Hong Kong media personality Cha Xiaoxin once pointed out that in the 1980s, 37% of Cheung Kong's foreign contract negotiations were controlled by Zhuang Yueming behind the scenes, particularly in the details of English clauses.
The turning point came on the night of the 1986 Miss Hong Kong finals. On the same night that 18-year-old Li Jiaxin was crowned, Li Ka-shing's assistant had already sent a dinner invitation through a middleman.
According to Ming Pao Weekly, this billionaire's pursuit included customized jewelry, private jet transportation, and the right to use a luxury home in Repulse Bay. Ultimately, a HKD 30 million check opened the heart of the beauty. At that time, Cheung Kong Holdings' annual net profit was about HKD 1.2 billion, making this expenditure equivalent to 30% of the group's daily revenue.
New Year's Eve in 1989 became a turning point in destiny. The last public image of Zhuang Yueming before her death was taken at the New Year's party at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where her purple cheongsam paired with a jade brooch was referred to by Hong Kong media as the 'model of a wealthy family's legitimate wife.'
Three hours later, the 'Double Li Night Return' incident occurred. According to on-site security personnel, the sound of porcelain shattering from Zhuang Yueming's bedroom lasted nearly twenty minutes. Although the Li family insisted that the cause of death was a sudden heart attack, a copy of the autopsy report revealed in the 2006 cemetery theft case showed that the concentration of DI Gao xin in the deceased's body exceeded the standard by four times.
The chain reaction triggered by this death continues to this day. The eldest son, Li Zeju, publicly questioned his father for details during the wake, leading to a three-year cold war between father and son. The second son, Li Zekai, took only his mother's portrait when he moved out of the ancestral home and continues to refuse to live in family properties.
What is even more intriguing is the architectural design of Zhuang Yueming's building—elevators only stop on odd-numbered floors, and the bathroom mirror is tilted at a 17-degree angle, interpreted by a feng shui master as a technique to 'lock the soul and stabilize the house.'
The fate of the event's other main character, Li Jiaxin, is equally dramatic. On the day of her wedding to Xu Jinheng in 2008, gambling tycoon Stanley Ho publicly mocked, 'The bride price is not even one-tenth of my daughter's.' The LEXUS wedding car she was in stalled for forty minutes on Repulse Bay Road, which Hong Kong media dubbed a 'wealthy family roadblock.'
Today, this couple receives HKD 2 million monthly from a family trust fund, while the value of the Deep Water Bay residence purchased by Zhuang Yueming during her lifetime has exceeded HKD 3.8 billion.