Boss Li of Nankou Cotton Factory is named Li Jinfa. He is in his forties, has a thin face, wears a melon cap and a robe. When he saw Di Xiong walking in, he stood up quickly, cupped his fists and saluted.
Di Xiong smiled and said, "I'm sorry to keep Boss Li waiting for so long."
A delicate girl in a red cheongsam brought two cups of fragrant tea and four plates of snacks and placed them on the table. There was a small black mole on the left corner of the girl's mouth. Her name was Chen Xianglian, and she was one of the eight waitresses recruited by Di Xiong. Xiong believes that restaurants using female waiters to serve tea and dishes can attract more customers than male waiters. This is indeed the case. Since other hotels have not yet used female waitresses, after the Weili Hotel hired waitresses, its business increased by at least 30%. In addition, Di Xiong adopted the method After adopting some of the practices of later hotels, such as free tastings for new customers and coupons for old customers, business will naturally be better. Although Zhang Heilian and the others are still clerks, their jobs have become foremen and security guards, and their monthly salary has also increased to five Silver dollar. These girls were all recruited from out-of-town refugees in shantytowns. They did not have to sell their bodies and were paid five silver dollars a month, which made their parents extremely happy. If it weren't for Di Xiong's recruitment, most of them would have been sold to brothels. When Chen Xianglian was sold to a brothel, she was found and rescued by Wu Chunlei while negotiating the price.
Boss Li said: "Brother Di is so polite. It's an honor for Li to partner with a young and talented man like Boss Di!" Brother Di's restaurant has only been open for more than a month, and its business is booming, surpassing that of the whole street. In all other restaurants, I heard that the restaurant owners were resentful and paid to hire some beggars and gangsters to cause trouble. As a result, several of the waiters in your restaurant beat them to pieces and fled in all directions. Among the waiters in your restaurant, there were actually hidden dragons and crouching tigers. Yeah! I was a little worried about buying a textile factory, but now that I see how strong my subordinates are, I feel relieved."
Di Xiong said: "Thank you, Boss Li. The guys just dealt with a few petty thieves. I have heard of a folk song circulating among the common people: There are five major gangs in the capital. The 'Green Dragon' is the first gang, and the 'Ghost Shadow' is the first." As ferocious as jackals, the most poisonous is the 'Flying Knife Gang', 'Lightning' is as fast as a ray of light, 'White Eagle' is even more powerful, the military, police and military police are doing their best to make the people cry heartbroken. If it is any one of the five major gangs We can't even handle it if they come to deal with us, not to mention that two of the gangs are backed by foreigners."
Boss Li said: "The capital is indeed a dangerous place, and survival is not easy. Fortunately, the textile factory we want to buy is in Nankou Town outside the city, and there is no such risk."
Di Xiong said: "There is also a gang called the Beilang Gang in Nankou Town, but it is just a second-rate gang. I have a way to deal with them. Boss Li, please tell me about the situation in the textile factory!"
Boss Li said: "The owner of this textile factory is surnamed Feng. The machines in the factory are all new textile machines purchased from the UK. The market value of the factory is 20,000 yuan. The business was originally very good, with a profit of several thousand yuan a year. However, during the mutiny in January, , the factory was robbed of some money by the insurgents, but the machinery was not lost. Several female textile workers were destroyed by the insurgents, and many female workers were scared away. Boss Feng did not have any local backing, and he was afraid that this kind of thing would happen again in the future, so he wanted to be cheap. He sold the factory at a price of only 12,000 ocean dollars. We bargained with him and we should be able to make a deal at 10,000 ocean dollars. Now I only have 4,000 ocean dollars on hand."
Di Xiong smiled and said, "If I give out 6,000 yuan, wouldn't I become the major shareholder?"
Boss Li smiled and said: "Brother Di is more capable than me. He should have owned more shares. My brother should also be the chairman. I just need to follow and drink some soup. I also want to run a yarn factory and a textile factory in the future." My brother will be solely responsible for the operation. I can only recommend my brother Li Jingyi to become the deputy director of the factory."
Di Xiong raised his teacup and said, "Since Boss Li trusts Di so much, I would like to offer tea to Boss Li in lieu of wine. I hope we can have a happy cooperation in the future."
The two people's teacups clinked together, making a crisp sound.
When Wu Chunlei appeared in the hotel lobby wearing a brand new blue security uniform, several waitresses marveled. One waitress laughed and said, "I just discovered today that Brother Lei is not only good at martial arts, but also very handsome!"
Wu Chunlei recognized her as Chen Xianglian and smiled: "Since you think I'm handsome, I'll invite you to watch a play alone tonight. It's played by the famous actor Liu Xikui. You won't refuse, right?"
Chen Xianglian smiled and said: "This is my honor, why should I refuse?"
Chen Xianglian has known Wu Chunlei for a long time. Her parents used to run a wonton stall. When Wu Chunlei was in the Flying Eagle Gang, due to poverty, every time he went to her stall, he only had half a bowl of wontons. Put some more wontons for him. Later, her father got involved in gambling and owed a lot of debt to the casino. He escaped without a trace. The casino thugs smashed her stall and sold her to a brothel to pay off the debt. It was Wu Chunlei asked Di Xiong to borrow money to help her family pay off their gambling debts.
Wu Chunlei was about to joke a few more words with Chen Xianglian when he suddenly saw Lan Jinping walking into the hotel from outside the gate. Lan Jinping had a young woman's hairstyle, a golden hairpin and earrings, and a snow-white fox fur. She looked like a lady in a robe. Next to her was a girl wearing a light blue school uniform, and behind her were two well-dressed men carrying box guns, like bodyguards.
Wu Chunlei quickly stepped forward to greet him: "Isn't this Sister Lan? Long time no see, do you still remember me? I'm Wu Chunlei!"
Lan Jinping was originally a pawn of the Flying Eagle Gang and had a good relationship with Bai Xiuling and Wu Chunlei. Because she couldn't bear the bullying from Boss Zhang, she reported the cases of the Flying Eagle Gang to the police. As a result, she fell into the trap of Boss Zhang again due to the collusion between the police and the gangsters. In her hands, if Bai Xiuling and Wu Chunlei had not begged for mercy, she would have been beaten to death, and in the end she was sold to a brothel.
Lan Jinping was also very surprised and said: "Chunlei! Why are you working as a buddy here? Are you no longer in the Flying Eagle Gang? How is Xiuling now?"
Wu Chunlei said: "Sister Bai also works here. If she knows you are here, she will be very happy. This is not the place to talk. I will take you to the upstairs box to sit down and talk slowly. Box No. 3 happens to be empty. "He asked a waitress to call Bai Xiuling.
Bai Xiuling was wearing a pink fur robe and was keeping accounts in the back room. Due to the huge increase in business volume of the hotel, Di Xiong adopted the debit and credit accounting method of later generations. In terms of accounting, shopkeeper Wu alone was already too busy. , Dixiong asked Bai Xiuling to help him with some accounting. Of course, Bai Xiuling had to do more than that. Di Xiong subscribed to all the newspapers in Beijing, but had no time to read them. Bai Xiuling was responsible for selecting important information from these newspapers and submitting them to him. When she heard that Lan Jinping was coming, Bai Xiuling hurriedly ran all the way. After entering the box No. 3, she hugged Lan Jinping. Bai Xiuling was so excited that she shed tears.
Bai Xiuling said: "Ever since Sister Lan was sold to that place, I have been worried about you. After eradicating the Flying Eagle Gang, I asked Brother Di to help find out your whereabouts and wanted to rescue you. I didn't expect that you had already been released. Out of the tiger's mouth."
Lan Jinping said: "I was tortured in Fengyuelou brothel for more than a year. Later, I met General Lu and was attracted by General Lu. He paid 5,000 yuan to redeem me and marry me as his seventh concubine. I just escaped from the sea of suffering."
Bai Xiuling asked: "Which General Lu?"
Lan Jinping said: "Lu Jianzhang, who used to be the director of the military and political law enforcement department and is now the commander of the left reserve army, when he was the director of law enforcement, he arrested and killed too many revolutionaries and royalists because of the investigation into the Yuan assassination case. He was nicknamed 'Butcher Lu'."
Bai Xiuling said: "So it's him! Brother Di once mentioned him, saying that he likes nepotism and prefers fellow Mengcheng fellows. He can speak Mengcheng dialect and has a foreign knife on his shoulder. Among the five battalion commanders under his command, one is named Feng Jishan. His training is very good, the other four battalion commanders are all incompetent guys."
Lan Jinping smiled and said: "Tell me about your situation. I heard from Wu Chunlei that you are now very close to the boss of the Xihe Gang. He praised Boss Di very much. Is this person really that powerful? Is it all his credit for the eradication of the Flying Eagle Gang?"
Bai Xiuling said: "He is the most upright gang boss I have ever seen. He doesn't eat, drink, whore, gamble or smoke. He only likes to read books, newspapers and play chess. He is not only smart, capable and loyal, but he is also a man who knows the books and pays courtesy, and cares about the country and the people. , he hopes to one day lead the army to regain the Qing Dynasty's lost territory in the north, so that the people can live a happy life. Based on this, we follow him wholeheartedly."
Lan Jinping smiled and said: "You said he was so good, I'm afraid it's too exaggerated? But looking at your clothes and complexion, compared with the previous Flying Eagle Gang, I really want to meet him. This magical Boss Di, is he in the hotel?"
The girl in the light blue school uniform also said: "I want to meet him too, I've never seen a gang boss before!"
Lan Jinping introduced the girl in blue to Bai Xiuling: "This is my sister Jinchun, who studies at Jingxi Girls' Middle School. I bought breakfast at your hotel and said it was very delicious. I heard that the banquet in the hotel tastes better, so I kept pestering her. I’ll bring her here for a banquet, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see you today.”
Bai Xiuling said: "We now have three chefs in the hotel, but they are not the best at cooking. The one with the highest skill is Brother Di. Well, let me ask Brother Di to cook a table of dishes for you to try."
Lan Jinping was surprised and said, "Isn't it too much to ask the boss of the Xihe Gang to cook for us?"
Bai Xiuling smiled and said: "It doesn't matter. He is easy to talk to. I just need to ask him and he will agree."
Dixiong asked the kitchen to prepare a table of sumptuous food and wine and sent it to the box number one. He was about to accompany Boss Li to have dinner when Bai Xiuling came in and told her request. Dixiong refused at first, but couldn't stand her repeated begging, so he had to call Shopkeeper Wu drank with Boss Li, and he put on an apron and went to the kitchen. Of course, Di Xiong couldn't cook a whole table of dishes. He only cooked a pot of pickled fish, a pot of duck soup and a mutton hot pot. The other dishes were left to the chef. The Lan sisters had already eaten so happily that their stomachs were almost bursting.
