"I forget who said it, a man's paradise, half on horseback, half on a woman's breast. I can understand that I spend half of my life on a woman's chest, but staying on horseback for half my life can definitely only bring severe hemorrhoids. ”

"It's Napoleon, but he does have severe hemorrhoids, and they're deadly."

"You mean Waterloo? Have you heard of this saying too? ”

"It's not a 'statement', it's true, if he hadn't had a hemorrhoid attack that day, but had been able to get up two hours earlier, history would have been very different."

"I just didn't expect this to be said in this era."

"This era? Man, sometimes talking to you, even though you're close at hand, always gives the feeling of being far away, as if you're looking down on us from a very, very high place. ”

"Hehe, I call this God's perspective."

"How dare you say that?"

This unnutritious conversation took place between Gao Yi and Keswick on the L-shaped bar on the second floor of the Shanghai Club, around 10 p.m. on May 16, after a tired and half-dead afternoon of "Paper Hunting Day".

But no matter how tired Gao Yi is, Gao Yi is now used to going to the bar of the club to sit for a while and have a drink, because only here can he meet friends who have free time. Just like Keswick, although his suite is in the fourth room next door to Gao Yi, the two of them have had very few opportunities to meet in the past half a month, not even as much as the ball game. There is hardly anyone who can do the high-level of the general meeting who is not a busy person, and it is probably the only one who is idle and easy to become high.

"By the way, Harry, do you know anyone in the French Concession? I mean, do you have any friends in the board of directors who can talk? ”

The addition of a "y" or "ie" to the end of the nickname indicates that the relationship between the two is extraordinary, and Gao Yi is now iron enough to use this more intimate name with Keswick, Keswick is Harry, and Gao Yi is Willy.

"What's the matter?"

"That's right, during today's game, I happened to pass by a French military barracks, just west of the county seat, and the land of the barracks belonged to the Public Board of Directors. Now that barracks are going to be abolished, and if we can't rent out or sell the land, the Board of Directors will lose money, so I'd like to talk to them and see if we can buy it at a reasonable price. ”

"How big? What is the approximate land price? ”

"About 25 acres. It's 3,000 taels per acre, but I think it should be 2,500 taels. ”

Keswick whistled, "That's a lot of money, are you sure you're going to take the risk?" ”

"This is not a risk, and if the French Concession is to expand, it can only be extended in that direction. And after I came back, I inquired, just a little north of this land, near Dagu Road in the public concession, there happened to be a piece of Chinese land for sale, and the price of that land was 3,300 taels, which was equivalent to 20,000 taels per mu. ”

"Now that you've made up your mind, I'm not going to say anything more. Are there any competitors? ”

"As far as I know, no." Gao Yi hesitated a little and replied.

"Are you convinced? This is important, and if you don't know, maybe I'll introduce you to your competitors. ”

"The commander of the French battalion is de Messier, and I talked to him about it, and according to him, the board of directors is making a fuss about it, and it doesn't look like someone wants to buy the land."

"Not necessarily. Well, I'm looking for an opportunity to talk to Mr. McBian from the Real Estate Committee these days, and it's not wrong to ask a Scottish fellow for this kind of thing. He had been a director of the Board of Directors a few years ago, so I asked him about the land first...... By the way, where is that land located? ”

"At the intersection of Baochang Road and Luban Road, the barracks is called the Gu Family House Barracks, which should have been a small village surnamed Gu."

Keswick took out his notebook, jotted it down, and said, "Okay, I'll talk to McBian about it, and if there's nothing wrong, I'll arrange for you to meet." Also, I will go and find out the tone of the French consul, unlike us, in the French Concession, the power of the consul is much greater than that of the public board. ”

"Do you have a good relationship with the French consul?" Corruption in the French Concession is well known, and if the consul general can be dealt with, it will indeed be a matter of great profit.

"Jardine Matheson has the ability to have a good relationship with anyone, and it has the ability to have a good relationship with anyone." Keswick's words were more domineering, but it didn't sound like his friendship with the French consul was good, "Besides, in most cases, the French consul is still very willing to be persuaded." As he spoke, he gave Gao Yi a look you understand.

Gao Yi understands in his heart, isn't it just stuffing money, as long as the output is greater than the input, it doesn't matter how much you stuff.

"Also, I think you should get in touch with De Messier again, you can tell him the truth, and let him help you find out what the military thinks about it. As far as I know, his financier is going back to Britain recently, and he must be very strapped for money, just a small amount of money is enough. ”

Gao Yi nodded, De Messier's benefactor was naturally Mrs. Rida, he thought that the two were simple lovers, but he didn't expect that there was still a money entanglement.

Raise your glass and touch Keswick, and the topic is over for the time being, and there is no need to say some words of thanks, just keep them in your heart.

"I heard that McGregor was arrested for dogs?"

McGregor is a Taipan of Sho Guanghe, and his suite is right next door to Gao Yi.

"Yes, all four dogs did not wear masks, and the patrol did not recognize him, so they arrested him and all the people and dogs."

"That patrol should be commended for his behavior, and I think he can be erected as a model of impartial law enforcement."

"I second."

“…………”

The ensuing conversation became unnourishing again, and Keswick hurried out of the bar until someone came to inform him of an urgent call from London, while Gao Yi continued to sit and ordered a new old Tom Gin with absinthe, which would be known as a martini in another twenty years. He'll be here until 11 o'clock before he gets up.

There were people coming and going in the bar, but no one sat next to Gao Yi. He sat on the short side of the L-shaped bar, where only the seniors could sit.

Gao easily turned his chair behind him, and the chair he sat in was not a barstool used by ordinary members, but a wooden swivel chair in the style of a Windsor chair, the top and bottom of which were connected by an iron shaft, and the upper part of which could rotate freely. Legend has it that the swivel chair was invented by Thomas Jefferson, who is said to have drafted the Declaration of Independence when the Second Continental Congress was held in Philadelphia in 1776.

Behind Gao Yi are three huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and the Huangpu River is unfolding outside the windows. Although there was a lack of lights on the river in this era, the brighter moonlight reflected the river in full view.

"Will!" It was Gritsen who took the initiative to greet him, and then he turned to the bartender and said, "Bring me a glass of the same, what do you add to the gin?" ”

"Absinthe, two-to-one mix." Gao Yi turned back to his chair and commanded in his place, "Hey, Bill, what have you been up to lately?" I didn't participate in the paper hunting competition today. ”

Gao Yi had always thought that Greeson was the most difficult of their Jardine Three Musketeers, only to find out that he was not at all concerned about social and career, and only two things were his main concerns, one was horse racing and the other was hunting. Therefore, as soon as the racing and hunting season is over, he immediately looks sluggish, but as soon as May he will come back to life, and he will always be in a state of excitement as if he had eaten gunpowder. Originally, Gao Yi thought that he would inevitably participate in the paper hunting competition today, but who would have thought that he would not come.

"I'm going to play the hunt, the hunting will be decided on the fly, and I set off early this morning. The paper hunting thing was only barely able to play in the winter when there was really nothing else to play. I advised you to join the hunting party, it's much more fun than paper hunting. This time, we went out for a day, and we were almost at the boundary of Suzhou......"

Drag Hunt, another variant of fox hunting, is a wild hunting competition that allows hounds to track the scent left by artificiality. A few riders put an herb on their horses and set off early, and then the hounds sniffed the herb and tracked it until they found the source of the scent. Hounds play an important role in hunting, but Chinese dogs have not received British hunting training, so the dogs used in the competition are specially trained and obedient professional hunting dogs specially transported from the United Kingdom. This is also the reason why the scale of the hunting meeting has never been large, this kind of competition is far less popular than paper hunting, and it is a niche sport in Shanghai.

"Forget it, I'm grateful for this, it's that today's hunting paper makes me tired half to death, not to mention the pointless thing like running dozens of miles with a group of dogs to chase a few herbs."

"Haha," Gerry smirked, like a little boy laughing at someone who couldn't lick his tongue to his nostrils.

"By the way, Amy asked me to ask you why you weren't visiting her lately."

Gao Yi glanced at Grisheng, this guy's heartless appearance is really worrying, it is rare to encounter someone who takes the initiative to invite others to cuckold him, and there is really such a person in front of him.

After the dinner at Rida's house that day, Gao Yi visited several wives who had invited him verbally one by one according to the rules, and almost all of them showed some ambiguity, especially Grison's wife Emilia looked hungry and thirsty. So Gao Yi later turned away from these women, and he was not de Messier.

"Then it's better to get together another day, meet up with some friends, and take a boat to the island to hunt or something, it's better than staying at home to eat and play cards."

However, since Grissen has invited him, Gao Yi still has to visit Emilia once, otherwise there is nothing to do, but it seems that he wants to cover it up. However, he didn't really want to see each other in private, so it would be a good idea to have a party.

"Good idea, it's time to hunt ducks and turtles. Then I'll make specific arrangements for this matter, and let's call more people to make the scene more lively. "But don't invite Keswick and Landale, these two sinister fellows are probably going to be back on business in the middle of the hunt, and we should find some interesting friends, just like to have fun." ”

Speaking of fun, Grison was so excited that by the time Gao Yi got up to say goodbye, he had already begun to plan what drinks he would bring that day. At this time, McGregor, who had just entered the class room because of the four dogs, came down to drink a glass of wine and take a bad breath, so Gao Yi put together a crazy man and a resentful man for them to drink, and took the opportunity to flash people.