The façade of the Shanghai Tower is not large, it is the size of a standard two-bay room, and the fixed canopy sticking out of the doorway blocks the entire sidewalk, which looks like those high-end hotels in Chicago and New York.

The outer edge of the canopy is equipped with a circle of light panels, the background color is festive red, the sign of SHANGHAI LO is painted with white letters, the light bulbs outlining the edge line are yellow, and the letters are white light bulbs, and the side part of the sidewalk is also decorated with a Chinese dragon that seems to look back.

This is an apartment building rebuilt after the earthquake, a standard three-story single-story concrete-clad brick structure, the entire street wall is painted beige that was popular in the United States at that time, and a two-story advertising sign sticks out of the wall, with eight English letters CHOP SUEY written in white letters on a red background.

This conspicuous sign has been an iconic sight in San Francisco's Chinatown for half a century, often appearing on tourist postcards along with the Panlong street lamps on Duban Street and the pagoda-shaped corner tower of the Shengchang Building.

You may not understand what is written on this signboard, but in fact, it is a "Chinese dish" that is only popular in the United States, the legendary "Li Hongzhang chops".

JUST LIKE SHANGHAI LO, CHOP SUEY IS THE TRANSLITERATION OF TAISHANESE DIALECT FOR "MISCELLANEOUS", USING THE POPULAR WITTOMA PINYIN AT THE TIME, AND IN CHINATOWN IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, THERE WERE SUCH "ENGLISH" STORE NAMES THAT AMERICANS SIMPLY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND.

The "offal" here is not the offal of an animal as we think of it, but a dish made by shredding various meats and vegetables and stir-frying them together.

It is impossible to know exactly where or where the dish originated, but it is believed to be a product of California's gold rush era, when cooks who cooked for coolies did not need to be very skilled, and "chops" are a testament to their skills.

As for how he got in touch with Li Hongzhang, it was really that Lao Li's visit to the United States in 1869 was sought after by the American press, so some Chinese restaurants changed the names of their dishes to gain popularity. At the beginning of the 20th century, the "Li Hongzhang Miscellaneous" sold in Shanghai buildings can be said to be famous throughout San Francisco's Chinatown.

Verbert opened the door with a briefcase and was greeted by a receptionist dressed in a Western-style waiter's suit.

"Good morning, sir, do you need help?" The front desk attendant bowed slightly.

"Good morning, I've made an appointment to meet here." Welbay glanced around the lobby and then whispered, "The triad is superb." ”

"Wait a minute, sir, what did you just say?" The waiter was stunned and looked at the foreigner in front of him with a puzzled face.

"Triad Super... Club? "Welbe is a little unsure of whether there is a problem with his pronunciation.

"Ah sorry, it's the triad is superb, I thought I heard it wrong, please come with me, sir, Mr. Zhang has already arrived." After speaking, the waiter turned around, shouted a few words of Cantonese to the other two companions standing at the front desk, and then politely led Verbe to the side of the stairs.

The overall decoration style of the hotel is close to the United States, but it reveals a Chinese style in various details, which is a combination of Chinese and Western. The entire front building of the second floor has been opened, leaving only a few load-bearing columns in the middle, and the back of the floor is divided into several boxes. At this time, the morning tea time has ended, and the lunch time has not yet begun, so there is not a single guest on the entire second floor.

There are more than a dozen dining tables in the hall, on which are small table lamps with stained glass lampshades, and small glass bottles containing various condiments. The ceiling was divided into small squares with wooden strips, and some painted patterns were painted with paint, and before Verbe could tell what it was, he was taken by the waiter to the door of one of the boxes.

"Mr. Zhang is waiting for you inside." After the waiter finished speaking, he raised his hand and knocked on the door of the box with a special rhythm.

The door was immediately opened, and it was opened by a strong Chinese man in a black suit, who was definitely more than 1.8 meters tall, almost half a head taller than Verbedu.

The strong man glanced at Verbey, then glanced at the waiter, who nodded knowingly.

"You're late, Mr. Spear." The strong man stepped back and stepped out of the doorway.

Welbay didn't reply, just glanced up at the Asian who exuded a fierce air, and he decided that it was just a little role of a thug or bodyguard, a bluff.

The area of the box is not large, about ten or twenty square meters, and there is a round table in the middle, and the table is covered with a white linen tablecloth. Around the room, there are several Taishi chairs and wooden shelves with colored porcelain vases against the wall, several Chinese landscape paintings are hung on the panel walls covered with light blue wallpaper, and white porcelain chandeliers hanging from the ceiling cast an orange-yellow light in the room.

In addition to the dysplastic bodyguard, there were three Chinese men in the room.

One was a young man in his twenties, who appeared to be the second bodyguard, wearing a black Chinese jacket with a buckle, the placket of which was open to reveal a moon-white shirt, and a black belt around his waist that was the width of an adult's palm. The young man stood in the corner of the room with his hands behind his back like a javelin.

The other two sat at the round table, both in their thirties and forties, and Verbe could only tell from the other's clothing.

The one on the right should be a subordinate, with a thin face with a pair of round-framed glasses, combed hair full of wax, and a blue-gray robe and horse coat, which is what the Chinese call Tang costumes.

The man on the left looked obviously much more imposing, and his appearance was not outstanding in Verbey's eyes, and he had an ordinary round face, but from those not very large eyes, the shrewdness and toughness revealed would make people naturally feel a special majesty.

It is also a fashionable parted hair, but there is no wax, wearing a three-piece gray suit, although the style is a little outdated, but the material and handiwork are definitely not ordinary goods, the placket is open, and the gold bracelet at the mouth of the suit vest pocket is unusually conspicuous under the orange and yellow light.

It could be seen that before Verbey's arrival, the people in the room were drinking tea and chatting, and there were two square Chinese teapots and colored porcelain teacups on the table.

Seeing Verbe walking towards the round table, the two men also stood up.

"I'm sorry for being late, there was a traffic jam on the road, I'm Spear, I don't know which of you is Mr. Zhang." Spear asked, putting his briefcase on the table, taking off his top hat, with a warm smile on his face.

"It's okay, fortunately, I'm Zhang Weixin." The man in the suit smiled heartily and stretched out his right hand to Verbay.

"Fortunately, Mr. Zhang." Verbe took the other's hand and shook it vigorously.

"This is my secretary, Chen Donglai."

"Fortunately, Mr. Spear." Chen Donglai picked up a folding fan from the table with one hand, and stretched out his other hand to Verbe.

"Fortunately, Mr. Chen." Verbay also smiled and shook hands with the other party.

"You may be seated, Mr. Spear." Zhang Weixin motioned for Welbe to sit next to him.

"Would you rather like tea or coffee?" Zhang Weixin asked.

"Coffee bar, thank you." Verbay placed her top hat on the table.

"Tell them to bring a pot of coffee, and then ask them to prepare some snacks." Zhang Weixin instructed the strong man at the door in Chinese.

"Okay, big guy." The strong man agreed, turned around and opened the door.

"San Francisco is a great place, everyone wants to come here to make a fortune, and when there are more people, there are more cars." Zhang Weixin opened the ivory-encrusted silver cigarette case and handed it to Verbe.

"Thank you, it's my first time in San Francisco, and I thought it would only be blocked like that in New York, but I didn't expect it..."Verbe took out a cigarette from his cigarette case, and then leaned into Zhang Weixin's lighter and lit the cigarette roll.

"There are some things that you don't feel when you get used to them." Zhang Weixin lit the cigarette on his mouth, and then closed the cap of the lighter with fancy movements.

"You have a point, Mr. Zhang."

"You can call me Vincent, that's my English name." Zhang Weixin said with a smile.

"Okay Vincent, you can call me Tony." Welbay gave the other a standard commercial smile.

"I like you a lot, Tony, we're friends now." Zhang Weixin patted Verbe's arm.

"Of course, we're already friends." Verbe replied with a happy face.

The two laughed at each other for a long time, Zhang Weixin suddenly put away his smile and asked with a serious face: "Okay, friend, now please tell me what you want from me." ”

PS: Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.