Shanghai ushered in the rainy season of 1920 in July, and it rained for more than ten consecutive days, and the floor in the room needed to be wiped twice a day. Since he paid Ivanov a salary of 200 oceans last month, this guy no longer stays at No. 3 Lane 181 every day as before, and usually comes over for two or three days to stay for a few hours to report on the company's business status.

In just over a month, Xingye Industrial bought four or five plots of land in a row, leveled the site and sold them for a lot of gains. The company purchased a three-storey building on Xiafei Road and rented out the first floor, and the second and third floors were used as office space, which were counted as the company's fixed assets.

Recruiting five local young staff in Shanghai, Hu Wenkai took advantage of the rainy day to train these five young men. The daily lesson is to negotiate and figure out the psychology and bottom line of the other party. At the beginning of the negotiation, find some points of view on both sides and express them, leaving the other party with a subconscious that they are more like partners. In this way, the ensuing negotiations will be more likely to move in the direction of consensus, rather than saber-rattling confrontation. When there is a stalemate, the consensus of both sides can also be brought out to enhance each other's confidence and resolve differences. You can also provide the other party with some business information that they are interested in, or have a simple discussion on some issues that are not very important, and after reaching a consensus, the hearts of both parties will change wonderfully, and Hu Wenkai will teach the negotiation skills of the 21st century. Combined with the previous cases of buying land, the importance of negotiation in the operation of enterprises is explained.

The company is planning to buy an 11-acre plot of land on Nanjing Road, although it is optimistic about the plot here, but it is a little afraid to start, afraid of the tree. After answering a phone call, Ivanov said mysteriously to Hu Wenkai: "Boss, do you know whose call was just now?" Marshal Apulev of Russia

"Ivan, Marshal of the Russian Navy? Wasn't there already a Bolshevik over there? ”

"Boss, it's a former admiral, listen to me explain to you"

In November 1917, the Russian October Revolution was fired, and the Russian proletariat, under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party and Lenin, overthrew the Russian bourgeois regime and established a Soviet government headed by Lenin. Tsarist General Seminov also founded the "Far Eastern Republic" in eastern Russia. Apulev was a naval marshal of the Far Eastern Republic, and he worked as an apartment in Shanghai after arriving in Shanghai by sea from the Far East last year.

I called Ivanov today to invite Hu Wenkai to his residence to attend a dinner, Hu Wenkai didn't understand why Apulev invited him to the banquet, Ivanov couldn't understand it, he couldn't refuse to offend a stranger, Hu Wenkai didn't want to.

In the evening, Hu Wenkai changed into a light gray suit, tied a tie, and before going out, he wiped off his shoes and got into a rickshaw with Ivanov to go to Apleev's house as a guest. Apulev lived in a villa on Edoya Road, the towering fence of the street was wrapped with barbed wire, and there were two White Russian servants guarding the cast-iron gate.

The villa covers an area of about three acres, with a two-story French-style Mediterranean building, with dormer windows on the pointed roof, floor-to-ceiling windows as a whole, and a swimming pool filled with water in front of the villa. The sweat on this ghostly body has come out, and I can't help but want to jump in when I see the swimming pool. At the foot of the villa stood a sturdy Caucasian man in his forties, about 1.80 meters tall, with a yellow shirt stretched out by a wide and sturdy chest, stretching out his arm like a hammer to welcome Hu Wenkai's arrival. Hu Wenkai took a few steps forward and hugged him and said, "Thank you for the invitation, honorable Marshal Apleev."

"Dear Hu, I'm glad you accepted my invitation, hurry up and go in" Aplev took Hu Wenkai by the hand and led him into the villa. The villa was brightly lit, and a long square table in the center of the hall was filled with food, Italian herb lamb chops, black pepper steak, tuna mashed potatoes, roast suckling pig, black caviar, etc., and four or five men were talking on the sofa in the distance.

Aplelev put his arm around Hu Wenkai's shoulders and walked to the sofa and introduced them one by one: "This is Mr. Verdun, the French Consul General in Shanghai. This is Mr. Dewey, the First Secretary of the Consulate, and this is Mr. Paesa, a member of the Board of Directors. ”

Hu Wenkai modestly stepped forward to shake hands one by one, and handed over his business card. Consul Wilton smiled and said, "Mr. Hu, my daughter often quotes your famous quotes, and I am really surprised to meet today, you are so young that you are almost the same age as my daughter Adele." ”

"Mr. Consul, it's an honor for your daughter to quote me in a way that is not worthy of scrutiny."

"Hu, what you said is not right, wouldn't it belittle the wisdom of my Adele. But Mr. Hu, I don't dare to agree with some of your famous sayings, such as the sentence that the current country is to use the strength of all the people to absorb the maximum benefits for a small group of people, and the sentence that everyone is an independent individual, and people live to create a wonderful process for themselves. This is a bit extreme, young people, we all need lofty ideals, the strength of the country is the lifelong wish of every citizen, and the happiness of the individual must be built on the basis of the strength of the country. Wilton looked at Hu Wenkai with a smile.

How could Hu Wenkai, a businessman in later generations, not know that Wilton was talking on the scene, and his intention was obviously to agree with Hu Wenkai's original words. Apleev interjected in time, everyone chatted while eating, and invited them to take a seat. Sitting down at the table, Apleev asked the servant to pour a full four taels of strong vodka, and affirmed that the Russians had agreed to the French's rule that they must drink the vodka in front of them within ten minutes. Wilton and a few people smiled and nodded in agreement, Hu Wenkai didn't care much about this bit of wine, but he was afraid that there would be a follow-up after drinking this wine, and the Russians knew too well that it was impossible not to pour down the guests. Stubbornly saying that he had a limited amount of alcohol, this glass of wine must be drunk on time, but after drinking, he may die heroically, a group of people laughed and said that he spoke more vividly, and agreed that he could pour another glass of wine after drinking this glass of wine, and everyone voted unanimously.

A glass of vodka burned like beads of sweat on his face, Apulev blushed and loudly condemned the barbaric atrocities of the Bolsheviks, Wilton ran through the current situation in Europe and accused the damned Germans of indulging the rise of the Bolsheviks, comforted Apleev that Kolchak's men would soon sweep Russia, Apulev said that several telegrams came from Kolchak's remnants during this time, asking Apleev to return to Vladivostok as soon as possible to preside over the navy. Hu Wenkai kept a smile on his face and listened quietly to their conversation, knowing that at this point he was only the last listener to know the answer to why he was invited to the banquet.

Paesa, who was in the board of directors, watched Hu Wenkai lean over and talk to Dewey quietly from time to time, and the vodka in front of him made Hu Wenkai very embarrassed, and he might be excited to drink it, he raised his wine glass and took a sip of wine in his mouth and smiled slightly at Paesa, and after a long time, he wiped his mouth with a small square towel and took the opportunity to spit on the square towel, and Ivanov next to him was already lying on the table.

Full of wine and food, Apleev suggested going to the smoking room next to the dining room to drink some coffee, and Hu Wenkai asked for a cup of Longjing tea and sat on the sofa. Smoking a cigarette to suppress his drinking, he listened to Aprilev's account of his past in Vladivostok, and it was almost ten o'clock before Wilton told Hu Wenkai that Appleev was going to return to Vladivostok in the near future, but he was not worried about the current situation there, and wanted to send his son who was far away in Vladivostok to Shanghai. Because Ivanov is a Russian, he is doing a good job in Xingye Industry, so he wants his son to work temporarily in Hu Wenkai's company. Hu Wenkai immediately stood up and said that there was no problem with this, and that Ivanov's son was welcome at any time.

"But I have a little bit of my own opinion on the situation in Russia, and I would like to take the liberty of saying it," Hu Wenkai said with the strength of his wine.

"Young man, you say, I'd love to hear your analysis of the situation," Apleev said.

"Mr. Hu, here you can boldly say what you think, I believe Apleev will not mind," Wilton squinted at Hu Wenkai and said.

"Then I'll be presumptuous, I think Marshal Apulev can't go back to Vladivostok, and he should let Vladivostok's family go to Shanghai as soon as possible."

"Why? What makes you think so. ”

"Listen to me, the ruler of a country must have the support of his own class, and this class should have strong enough power. Take Russia as an example, the tsar and the bourgeois republics were ruled by the new bourgeoisie and the old landlord class, and the policies formulated by the tsar and the bourgeois republic were overwhelmingly inclined to the bourgeoisie and the landlord class, and the bourgeoisie and the landlord class were staunch supporters of the tsarist and bourgeois republics, and the officials of the bureaucracy, the police, and the army formed the instruments of state rule among them, influencing every corner of Russia, and now it has been two years since the Bolsheviks massacred the capitalists and landlords and confiscated their property. This means that Russia no longer has the basis for the turnaround of Kolchak's remnants. Hu Wenkai paused to look at Wilton, and there was silence in the room.

"The remnants of Kolchak have the support of friendly countries in the international community and have won victory after victory, and I don't quite agree with you. Young man" Apleev waved his hand.

"I think Mr. Hu has some point." Dewey interjected

"Let's analyze Kolchak again, he was constantly victorious, but the population base of the ruling areas was too small, the number of troops was not as good as that of the Bolsheviks, and the industrial base of the Far East was very weak. Looking at the fact that Kolchak did not go to stabilize the occupied territories after each offensive, and to build a grassroots government with effective control to appease the people, resulting in a hole in his legitimacy, I have every doubt that the remnants of the Far East will fail in two years. Hu Wenkai extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand and stood up.

"Apleev, you need to think deeply, I also don't think it's suitable to return to Vladivostok." Wilton patted Apleev on the shoulder.

Hu Wenkai walked up to Apleev and said: "I have a suggestion, marshal, we welcome you to invest in Xingye Industry, you can realize your brilliant life in China, people have no borders." I still say the same thing, we don't live for anyone, we only add glory to our own lives. ”

"Thank you, Mr. Hu, on behalf of my old friend, I thank you for helping him solve his doubts and give him some time to think about it," Wilton interrupted Hu Wenkai and continued.

Late at night, Hu Wenkai took the drunk Ivanov back to his house at No. 3 in Lane 181 in the carriage of the Apulev family, and the groom helped carry Ivanov to the sofa in the living room, and he entered the secret room and opened the notebook to find Apulev's information. Only Apleev returned to Shanghai in 1930 to be the head of the French Concession patrol, from which Hu Wenkai deduced that Apleev had a deep friendship with the French upper class.