The lights in the main room of the east courtyard were soft, and the dark fragrance was blowing, Xiao Yiming honestly stood in front of the large mirror decorated with frosted lace, at the mercy of Sister Yi.

"For your strange set of clothes and pants, I changed my head and tail seven times, wasted more than three feet of American cotton cloth, and spent more than a month, if it weren't for the help of Mrs. Roberting and the British consul's wife, I probably wouldn't have been able to make this kind of American cowboy wear."

Sister Yi caressed and pulled, and felt satisfied, so she took a step back and looked again.

Xiao Yiming smiled while looking in the mirror: "Yes, I have learned to use a sewing machine, and when I look at this beautiful turner, I know that it comes from the hands of the master." ”

Sister Yi stepped forward and hit him: "Underestimate people, right?" It has been more than half a year since I bought five German sewing machines at home, and even the stupidest eighth sister has learned, not to mention your sister and me? You don't look at what Xiaoyue, Xiaoxue, Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Xing's little guys are wearing, they are all the latest styles sewn by your sister and a few women's household machines, and many neighbors have learned to make them for their children, and they all know that a few of our women have good craftsmanship, but you never look at it, hum! ”

Xiao Yiming smiled and didn't answer, he knew that if he didn't like it, he would inevitably get a nagging from his sister.

From his sister's words, Xiao Yiming thought of the group of adopted children, especially the eight younger brothers and sisters with his surname Xiao, Xiao Yiming's heart felt warm.

The names of the four obedient and diligent girls are Wind, Frost, Snow, and Rain, and the names of the four boys between the ages of six and eleven are Zhen, Xing, Hua, and Xia, and now they are all the same as the dozen or so children adopted by Ma Gong, who have received a good education and live a carefree childhood that Xiao Yiming and Ma Zhu did not dream of.

Sister Yi looked at Xiao Yiming and smirked, sighed faintly, and said in a low voice:

"In the past six months, many people have entrusted the media to find their sisters, the youngest daughter of the Admiral's Mansion Zhang, the granddaughter of the old acquaintance Zhang's family, the city's largest Fan Ji Buzhuang Fan shopkeeper's baby woman, and the granddaughter of the Huayang County Lord, there are no less than twenty families with heads and faces, all of them are good girls who know books and gifts, and I and the fourth sister and I don't dare to mention this matter to you when they see that you are busy all day long, but you can't mention it!

"Brother, you are twenty years old this year, my sister and the fourth sister have discussed, I should find you a good woman to live by, you are now in the sixth official residence, you have status and status......"

"Stop!"

Xiao Yiming's two fingers pressed Sister Yi's lips: "Sister, I'm not even twenty years old, what's the hurry?" Marrying a mother-in-law is a lifelong event, are you willing to find a stranger to come back and make me uncomfortable every day? Sister, don't worry about this, go back and talk to the fourth sister, thank them for their kindness, but I am in charge of my affairs! Please don't care about my marriage, and don't go out and talk nonsense under the guise of finding my mother-in-law for me, if you really want to spread anything unpleasant, don't blame me for turning my face and not recognizing people at that time! ”

Xiao Yiming's tone was very gentle, and after speaking, she suddenly kissed Sister Yi's face, let go of her fingers, gently stroked her fair and beautiful chin, turned around and grabbed the changed clothes and pants, and quickly left in the newly made roll-neck denim jacket and jeans.

Sister Yi came to her senses, subconsciously took two steps, and finally leaned weakly on the door frame, her face flushed, her eyes were confused, and she only felt that her heart was "pounding" like thunder, and her legs were soft and could no longer move half a step.

The next morning, Xiao Yiming, who had no suit, came to the German Consulate wearing a stone-ground blue denim suit, and two personal guards behind him, one wearing a popular Shanghai worker's outfit and the other an Oriental student outfit, all of whom tucked their braids into their hats.

As early as three years ago, Yuan Shikai's new army had cut off long braids, and under the big cap was all short hair over the ears, except for the officers above the standard level who still wore long braids, and the matter of cutting hair was kept strictly secret, and the rest of the provinces, except for a very small number of revolutionary parties and radicals who returned from abroad, all the soldiers and civilians still dragged the long braids of humiliation behind their heads, from the resistance more than 200 years ago to obedience, to numbness, and finally to today's habits and even praise, the suffering Han nation has sunk and lost step by step.

Although Xiao Yiming was not wearing a military uniform, the German guards standing guard at the door still saluted him with a standard military salute, Xiao Yiming raised his hand to return the salute, nodded with a smile, and walked quickly to the consul and several persons in charge of the German delegation, exchanged a few words, and entered the conference room on the first floor together.

The Consul, Mr. Fu Diegeng, gave a speech with great interest, and at the end politely conceded the place to the industrial and commercial representatives from the Fatherland, accompanied by the commercial officer Worrall and the military attache Sharpler as official representatives to assist in the negotiations, to help and supervise the signing of the contract.

After the more serious Mr. Consul left, the atmosphere became relaxed, and the Germans in suits and leather shoes and very formal clothes praised Xiao Yiming, who was dressed as a cowboy in the American West, saying that in addition to the military uniform, this dress made people feel friendly and pleasant.

Xiao Yiming laughed and said that everyone didn't blame me for being abrupt, and then turned to Bauer, the representative of Mauser and Krupp, and asked:

"Dear Mr. Bauer, before the final negotiations on the cooperation project of the chemical plant and the ammunition plant have taken place, allow me to say a few words about the authorized production of the Mauser C96 military pistol. Yesterday evening, the shareholders of Huaxi Company unanimously decided to agree to a series of authorization conditions proposed by Mr. Bauer on behalf of Mauser Company, and decided that after negotiations, I and Mr. Bauer, the plenipotentiary representative, signed a contract on the authorized production, and within the third day of the signing of the contract, Huaxi Company will deposit the technology transfer funds into the Chengdu branch of Deutsch-Hua Bank and entrust the bank to transfer it to your company's account. ”

Bauer didn't expect Xiao Yiming to be so efficient, so he stood up with a smile and bowed politely:

"Today is really a good day, here, on behalf of Mauser and my peers, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations and sincere thanks to you and your Huaxi company, I believe that the cooperation between each other is just the beginning, and the future cooperation will be bright!"

After Bauer finished speaking, he enthusiastically stretched out his big hand and shook Xiao Yiming tightly across the long table, and all the Germans present stood up and applauded warmly to congratulate him.

Xiao Yiming motioned to everyone not to be polite: "Thank you for your support, please sit down, distinguished gentlemen, I haven't finished my words yet." ”

Everyone laughed funny, and Xiao Yiming said to Bauer, who was red with excitement:

"Bauer, I guess I want to trouble you with one more thing, I heard you mention at the banquet yesterday afternoon that the Mauser Company still has a batch of more than 8,000 M1898 long rifles and nearly 10 million rounds of ammunition that left the factory last year in the warehouse of the Shanghai Concession Wharf, in order to show our sincerity of cooperation, and in order to obtain the production authorization of the Mauser C96 military pistol as soon as possible, we are willing to purchase this batch of weapons and ammunition, and it is a one-time payment.

"Of course, dear Bauer, you should give me a discount according to the factory price direct sales, I don't want you to bother me to calculate how much to draw. In the next step, after our Huaxi company obtains the formal authorization of the Governor's Office, we are very willing to become the southwest distributor of your company's light weapons, and vigorously explore the arms market in the northwest provinces of China. ”

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