Early in the morning of July 13, according to the old rules, Li Yongfa, the big boss of Guangrong Lin, was sitting alone at the Western-style oak dining table drinking preserved eggs and lean porridge, holding a copy of the "Declaration" in his hand and flipping it from time to time.

"Brother, brother, looking for it......" The second boss, Li Yongcai, broke in in a hurry, and also held a newspaper in his hand.

He stretched out the newspaper in front of Li Yongfa's eyes, shaking in a loud voice, and his mouth was still shouting: "Brother, I'm looking for it!" ”

Li Yongfa looked at the newspaper under the tip of his nose, it was full of foreign languages, it was a foreign newspaper. He raised his head and looked at his second brother, he was not annoyed, his younger brother is usually a calm and steady character, and he will have his reason for such a gaffe today.

"What the hell is going on, don't be in a hurry, sit down and talk slowly, what are you looking for?"

"What else could it be that you ordered to find the car you were looking for yesterday?"

"So fast?" This time it was Li Yongfa's turn to be taken aback.

"Can it not be fast? You don't have to look for it, it's published in the newspaper! And it's a front-page headline. Li Yongcai said and put the newspaper in front of his brother's eyes.

Li Yongfa pulled the newspaper over, frowned and looked up, although he married a mixed-race wife, he didn't know foreign languages. It's just that when he sees the newspaper, he understands, and to understand the newspaper doesn't need him to understand the text, as long as he can understand the photos-

Most of the page is occupied by a photograph of a cart bandaged like a rice dumpling, hanging from the edge of the boat with ropes. Compared with the little worker pulling the rope next to him, it can be seen that the car is lower than the horse-drawn carriage, and the four wheels are smaller. The front of the car is bare, roughly rectangular, but with a rounded arc at the top. The most conspicuous thing is the two lights next to the front of the car, which at first glance I thought were a pair of eyes.

Seeing such a front car, Li Yongfa instantly understood why Ah Mao said yesterday that people who have seen this car will definitely not forget it. I can't forget it, a car with a long face, who can easily forget it? Not to mention that it is still a very striking face, serious and full of the melancholy of vicissitudes.

This ever-changing era is really a little overwhelming for him.

Li Yongfa let out a "hey", this exclamation was not only for this never-before-seen car, but also for the new printing technology used by this newspaper. As a shareholder of the Commercial Press, Li Yongfa knew that this new printing technology was called screen printing, and unlike the previous pictures printed in newspapers, which were hand-carved on wooden boards or carved on zinc plates and printed with black and white lines, this technique could print the entire photograph.

However, as with all new technologies, this new printing process was expensive, required new equipment, had nothing in common with existing printing methods, required the training of new workers, and required investment that the Press could not afford at present, so it was rejected by the shareholders.

As far as he knew, there were only a handful of foreigners' pictorial newspapers in Shanghai that had adopted this technique, and the newspapers had a small circulation and were expensive to sell, so they were not well received, and even foreigners rarely ordered them, and those newspapers were just a dismal operation. However, now that he has seen the real thing, from the perspective of a businessman, this kind of newspaper with photos will inevitably become popular in the future.

"Do you know who owns this car?" Li Yong asked with a shake of the newspaper in his hand.

"It's not clear, this newspaper is neither English nor French, it seems to be German, Sun Translator They are looking for someone to translate." Li Yongcai shook his head and said. Due to the import of foreign medicines, Guangrong Lin often had to deal with foreign companies, and in order not to suffer losses in business, he had a few translators under his hands.

"This newspaper was discovered by Sun Translation." He added, "Yesterday, in addition to instructing my own people to go out to inquire, I also took special care of Sun Translator and their attention, after all, it is a new foreign thing, and they have more experience in translation." I don't want to see this photo when Sun Yiyi was buying a newspaper this morning. ”

"Well done!" Li Yongfa nodded approvingly.

"However," Li Yongcai hesitated for a moment, pointing to the place where a mark was marked with a fingernail in a paragraph of text below the photo, which was printed with the Arabic numeral "15,000", followed by the word 'M', "Sun Translator said that this amount should be German gold marks, I don't know if it is saying that this car is worth 15,000 marks, if it is, it will be more troublesome, according to the current price, 15,000 marks is worth 5,000 taels of silver, and people who can buy a car with 5,000 taels of silver will not be poor." ”

According to their original assumptions, the object of the negotiation should be a poor foreigner with no money and no power, so that it would be convenient for them to handle it. If you are a rich person with status, it will be difficult to negotiate business, and there are people who can cooperate, and they will not be afraid of their coercion at all. If it is simply a temptation, they may not be able to afford this benefit. After all, the other party is also doing this business, although for some reason, it is just a small business, but how much profit is in it, the other party should be clear, and it will definitely not be fooled.

Li Yongfa frowned, and after being silent for a while, he said: "There is no need to make a conclusion at present, wait until all the translations are out." I don't really believe that this person is a rich man, would a rich foreigner take a Toyo car to a store like Hirowatoyo to discuss business? If it is said that he has developed in the past six months, it is even more impossible, who is our Guangrong Lin? What is the momentum in this circle that can hide from us? If he wants to make so much money, it means a lot of purchases and shipments, how can we not know? What's more, we have specially sent additional people to keep an eye on this matter. ”

"Let's go, let's go to the big study and wait for news." Li Yongfa threw the newspaper on the table, and he was not in the mood to eat any more preserved eggs and lean porridge, so he walked out of the dining room with Li Yongcai and walked towards the door.

At about ten o'clock, Translator Sun finally came with a long-awaited translation, the content was even worse than the worst they could imagine, not to mention any stars and the like, just the identity of a director of the Shanghai Federation was enough to make people admire. You must know that Li Yongfa has had a wish since he developed up, that is, to be able to go to the Shanghai Federation for a meal, but unfortunately because he is Chinese, this wish has not been fulfilled for ten years, so that he completely understands what the Shanghai Federation is, and of course he knows what the status of being a director there is.

"Hey!" I don't know if it's a sneer or a bitter smile, Li Yongfa laughed at himself: "When I watched him play football two months ago, I applauded him!" ”

******

On Wednesday, July 15, Du Yuesheng, a former associate of Guanghefeng, got out of the rickshaw with a foreign-language newspaper in his hand and knocked on the door of the 16th Yellow Mansion again.

"In this way, Guangrong Lin Yila is looking for a big man among foreigners, right?" After Lin Guisheng heard the news brought by Du Yuesheng, he sat up from the couch.

"Yes, I heard that it is a big man of such a level as the director of the Ministry of Industry."

"Such a character, dare to provoke anyone surnamed Li?"

"I heard that I was looking for an opportunity to talk."

"Ha, what are you talking about, I think his surname Li is not eating the bear's heart and leopard gall, but his brain is broken. Such a character will not earn money by himself if he has money, so what is there to talk about with Yi. Hehe, I look at this trip, the person surnamed Li is going to make an incident, Nong helps me keep an eye on Ila, and I want to know the first Chenguang to know if something happens. Hmph, this time I'm going to make it impossible for Ira to eat and walk around. ”