Although Tianjin City and the British Concession are not far away, Qin Chuan was delayed in the teahouse for a long time, and he was afraid that Wu Tiaoqing would wait for a long time, and after breaking up with Li Mingfang, Chu Yunfei, and Zhou Dajing and their half-grown children, Qin Chuan still called a rickshaw to take to the concession. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The rickshaw ran a short distance, and then went to the racecourse road adjacent to the concession, Qin Chuan, who was sitting in the car, was here for the first time, and the scene on the racecourse road quickly surprised Qin Chuan, because he suddenly found that there was a section of the racecourse road that was all dirt roads and was paved with gravel.

You know, at this time, even in the concession, the gravel road has not yet been paved, and I heard William Xiao say that the Ministry of Industry of the concession is considering this matter.

Qin Chuan asked the coachman, only to know that this section of gravel road was paved with gravel at the expense of De Xuanlin, a British-German from the Tianjin Customs Department.

Located on Victoria Avenue in the middle of the British Concession, the Lee Shunde Hotel was originally run by the British missionary John Tensen, and gradually developed from a small mud house. Now it is a three-storey British-style Western-style building with Indian style. This hotel is not only the most magnificent hotel in the British Concession, but also the most modern hotel, and now there are not only electric lights, telephones, but even electric fans and elevators that only appeared in the West a few years ago. Because of this, the United States, Canada, Japan, Denmark and other countries now set up consulates here before they did not have their own consulates.

The furnishings and furnishings in the Li Shunde Hotel are very elegant, the seats are all one-color British authentic carved hardwood seats, an American-made Hamilton piano is placed in the center of the hall on the first floor, and a blonde Western woman is sitting in front of the piano, playing the Romanian composer Yang. Ivanovich's "Waves of the Danube".

The melodious and mellow sound of the piano ripples elegantly in the spacious and tall hall.

Qin Chuan came here once when he was in the concession, that is, after entrusting William Xiao to sell the patent and receiving the money, Qin Chuan invited Ye Ziqi, a Chinese comprador in the foreign bank, to accompany him, and invited William Xiao to have dinner here.

Because of the reservation in advance, as soon as Qin Chuan arrived at the Lishunde Hotel, the doorman led him directly into the golden hall, although the guests in the hall were not bustling, but most of the seats were also full of people, most of them were blonde foreigners, and the remaining Chinese were either wearing silk wraps or business compradors in suits and leather shoes, Qin Chuan's outfit was no different from the staff of the foreign company, so it did not attract much attention when he came in.

The doorman led Qin Chuan to stop in front of the reserved seat in the back, and Wu Tiaoqing had already arrived first.

Wu Tiaoqing is a middle-aged man in his forties who is slightly chubby and white, with gold-rimmed glasses that are rare in Chinese people in this era, quiet and quiet, and very amiable to others, giving Qin Chuan a feeling that Wu Tiaoqing is not like the number one comprador of Tianjin Wei in a shopping mall, but like a professor and Mr. in the school in the future.

At this moment, Wu Zhaoqing was sitting in his seat, holding an English newspaper in his hand, and talking in a low voice with a forty-something, silk-shirted and round-faced Chinese man drinking coffee.

At this time, the newspaper layout was very small, only the size of two four-folio sheets, and it was printed on one side, much like a thin magazine.

For Qin Chuan to be so young, Wu Tiaoqing and the middle-aged man were obviously a little unexpected, and after sitting down to introduce themselves, Wu Tiaoqing introduced the young man on the side to Qin Chuan.

"Brother Minghong, this is the son of Master Li, our Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang Commerce, Li Jingfang, now I am the Minister of Japan in the Qing Dynasty, and this time I came back to Tianjin to make Tang Ding worry about returning to his hometown and guarding the system."

Li Jingfang, Li Hongzhang's eldest son.

Qin Chuan had already understood Li Hongzhang's situation clearly, and now he couldn't help but be a little surprised when he suddenly saw Li Jingfang.

Although Li Jingfang is Li Hongzhang's eldest son, he is not Li Hongzhang's biological son, because Li Hongzhang did not have a son when he was forty years old, so his younger brother Li Zhaoqing passed Li Jingfang to Li Hongzhang, and two years later, Li Hongzhang's second son Li Jingshu was born. However, Li Hongzhang likes Li Jingfang very much, although he has a biological son, he still regards Li Jingfang as his heir and calls him the eldest son.

In the eighth year of Guangxu, after Li Jingfang was promoted in the examination, Li Hongzhang donated money to Li Jingfang to set up a supplementary road after the province, but Li Jingfang did not go to other provinces to wait, but stayed in Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Minister of Commerce Yamen to study and concentrate on the imperial examination, and at the same time accompanied Li Hongzhang to handle diplomatic affairs.

Li Jingfang is fluent in English and German, and in the twelfth year of Guangxu, in order to let Li Jingfang accumulate capital with more experience, Li Hongzhang arranged for Li Jingfang to go to Britain with Liu Ruifen, the minister of mission in Britain, to serve as a counselor. In the fifteenth year of Guangxu, he returned to China to participate in the examination. The following year, he was appointed as an alternate minister to Japan.

Today they are going to discuss the matter of borrowing money, and there is nothing to do with outsiders! Qin Chuan couldn't think of what Wu Tiaoqing was going to do when he brought Li Jingfang here today.

Although he couldn't understand it for a while, Li Jingfang was an official after all, and he was still different from ordinary people like Qin Chuan in the Qing Dynasty, although he was very unwilling, Qin Chuan still quickly got up and wanted to salute Li Jingfang.

Li Jingfang looked polite and polite, without the posture of an ordinary official, and when he saw that Qin Chuan was about to salute him, he leaned over and grabbed Qin Chuan.

"Shopkeeper Qin, don't do this, today is not a business, I don't wear the official uniform of the Nalaoshzi, I have seen your Aurora brand colored cloth in my father's place, the printing and dyeing skills are indeed excellent, I have seen the Japanese and foreigners dyed colored cloth in Japan, it is not as good as yours, we can have a talent like Brother Minghong in the Qing Dynasty, and my father is also very pleased. Today, I caught up with Uncle Wu Shi to talk about you going to run a salt factory, so I came along, let's just talk together, don't be so polite, so as not to alarm others. ”

Li Jingfang's words were polite words on the surface, but Qin Chuan could hear the meaning of Li Jingfang's words, that is, he was reminding Qin Chuan of his identity and background. Although Qin Chuan could hear what Li Jingfang meant, he was not bored, on the contrary, he was very happy to let Li Hongzhang know him so quickly, he didn't expect that his color cloth could play such a big role.

Wu Tiaoqing also smiled and said: "What Jing Fang said is true, Brother Minghong can't be like this anymore. ”

After Wu Tiaoqing finished speaking, he also stretched out his hand to pull Qin Chuan to sit down.

Qin Chuan didn't want to do any courtesy, so he sat down as soon as he was pulled by the two.

Wu Tiaoqing called the waiter and ordered fried foie gras, lamb saddle steak, grilled steak, a fried lobster, and a bottle of Bordeaux red wine, all of which were French dishes, Qin Chuan had never eaten these things in his previous life, but he knew the dining etiquette, and he was still taught in the school before he was going to study in Germany at that time.