Chapter 15 The opening ceremony that caused a sensation in the city
On the second day of the second month of the second month of the lunar calendar, on the 15th day of March 1907 in the new calendar, thousands of people in Chengdu are enthusiastically talking about one thing:
The "Jetta Car Dealership," which has been widely advertised for three consecutive issues in a conspicuous position on the front page of the "Shu Daily," will hold a grand opening ceremony at 9 o'clock this morning.
It is reported that those who collect all the advertisements in the three issues of the "Shu Daily" and correctly answer the three questions will have the opportunity to try their luck in front of the public: a first prize will be awarded to an expensive British-made "Lion" bicycle; Two second prizes, each of whom will be awarded a "Lux brand" manpower water lifter dedicated to drilling well water; Ten third prizes, each of whom will receive a new horse lantern made in the UK "Sail brand".
Just after 8 o'clock in the morning, the citizens who came from all directions from the west had already crowded the intersection of Shuncheng North Street and Yudaiqiao Street, and poured around the three-story building where the colorful silk flag was hung at the entrance of the prosperous street.
Dozens of patrol officers from the Beizheng Branch of the General Patrol Police Administration, who were specially invited, were so tired and sweaty that they were sweating profusely, and in the face of the crowd that kept coming and gathering more and more in the festive sound of gongs and drums, the patrol officers who maintained order finally couldn't resist it, and had to ask for instructions from the upper peak, and urgently invited a team of 120 patrol troops from the north gate to help.
At nine o'clock, with the sound of dense drums, everyone looked at the temporary and joyfully decorated high platform at the entrance of the building, and exclamations and exclamations rang out.
I saw more than a dozen celebrities such as the well-known Provincial Government Quanye Road General Office, Mr. Ma Ruji, the General Office of the Patrol Police, Mr. Chen Guangyuan, the Director of the Zhengbei Branch of the Patrol Police, Mr. Luo Baiting and Mr. Zhuang Sen, and Mr. Genjiro Tsukasa, a friend of the company, appeared on the stage one by one.
In the blink of an eye, the entire intersection and the surrounding buildings became a sea of joy with a wave of applause.
Wearing a three-grade official robe and wearing a flower feather, looking graceful and wealthy, the general office of Quanye Dao was invited to give a speech, he was humble and then generously stepped forward, overlooking the spectacular scene under the stage, he was extremely excited, he has been an official for more than 20 years, and has never had the opportunity to speak in front of 10,000 people, and it is in such a relaxed and joyful occasion, how can he not be excited?
Lord Fang was originally prepared, but under the excitement, the carefully prepared precepts and congratulatory messages were all forgotten, so he had to clear his throat, raise his hand to make a quiet gesture, and said that today's February Erlong raised his head, it is a festive day, thanks to the invitation of Mr. Roberton, a famous British scholar, and Deng Hanxuan (Deng Shopkeeper), a wealthy businessman in the city, to attend the opening ceremony of Jetta Auto Dealership, praised the civilization and advancement of the Sino-British Jetta Auto Dealership, and expressed deep admiration for Jetta Auto Dealer's commitment to give priority to recruiting poor and unemployed people for employment. It is called a new thing that benefits the country and the people, and finally sends good wishes.
Lord Fang ended his speech in a flood of applause, and Deng Hanxuan, the owner of Liufangzhai Teahouse, who was pushed to the front by a small teapot and served as the shopkeeper of the newly opened Jetta car dealership, rushed to the front desk and stabilized his body tremblingly in a kind laughter.
Shopkeeper Deng looked back in annoyance, the small teapot that had secretly pushed him just now made a grimace, and quickly flashed behind Luo Baiting, avoiding Deng Hanxuan's resentful gaze, pretending to be nothing, and talking to the interested British young man Johnson.
Shopkeeper Deng stood in front of the stage, facing thousands of smiling people, only to feel that his legs were weak, his lips were dry, and he had memorized the opening message for two days, but he couldn't remember a word, and his bright head was full of beads of sweat the size of beans - after living for forty-eight years, how could he have dreamed of such a scene?
Dumb and stupid for a few seconds, seeing that the laughter in the audience was getting louder and louder, the shopkeeper Deng simply lowered his heart, closed his eyes, raised his head, and roared like a gelding chicken: "It's a lottery-"
The audience suddenly thundered with joy, and the guests on the stage couldn't help but cover their mouths and snicker.
Luo Baiting looked at the shopkeeper Deng who fled back quickly, and then looked at the small teapot behind him that was laughing unseemly, and finally came to his senses, shook his head and smiled dumbly, but the rich businessman Genjiro Tsukasa who was sitting next to him smiled and was not surprised, this China expert is obviously not strange.
The much-anticipated lottery has begun, and Chen Guangyuan, the burly and loud patrol police commissioner, as the host, is very beautiful, he came to a large table covered with red cloth in front of the stage, and commanded the patrol officers and soldiers and the police to maintain order, and two tall and strong patrol officers carried out a big red box with more than 1,000 newspaper clipping answers in his shouting.
Under the watchful eye of the public, Chen Guangyuan took a long time before inviting a few old men and children to watch the excitement, and these unrelated people drew out today's lucky ones.
As Chen Guangyuan read out the names of the winners one by one, the exclamations and cheers in the crowd continued to sound, and the ten lucky citizens who drew the British horse lantern came to the stage to accept the award under the envious gaze.
On the high platform, it was another scene, the British gentleman Roberting accompanied several officials to watch the excitement, pointing and talking happily from time to time.
Genjiro Tsukasa pulled the small teapot to his side and said with great feeling:
"Xiao Jun, I really didn't expect you to make such a big scene, I admire you more and more now, you are a genius, not only a wizard in the business world, I am convinced that in other fields, you will also stand out and grow rapidly, I hope we can deepen cooperation in the future."
"Thank you Mr. Tsukasa Yuan for your compliment, the younger generation is just a little smart, if there is no generous support from Mr., urgently transferred thirty-eight cars from Wuhan, our car dealership will not have the scale of fifty-six cars from the opening, and Mr. also generously presented two high-quality manpower water lifters for today's opening ceremony, this affectionate friendship, the younger generation will remember in their hearts."
After the little teapot calmed down, there was no smug look on his face, but more humble.
Genjiro Tsukasa shook his head:
"No, no! Compared with the reputation you have opened for us today, how can two manpower water lifters be concerned? I should thank you!
"Xiao Jun, I still can't figure it out, how did you come up with an ingenious advertisement that was published in the newspaper for three consecutive issues? How do you come up with promotional phrases that easily arouse people's curiosity? And how did you think of absorbing the poor people into the car dealership for employment, so as to invite a bunch of high-ranking political officials to support you? ”
The little teapot smiled bitterly: "Mr. Tsukasa Yuan is so caring, the younger generation dare not tell the truth, I must also know that I, Xiao Yiming, am actually just an insignificant little person, if it weren't for the good fortune to get Mr. Luo Baiting and your care, I would still be a thug struggling at the bottom of the market." Therefore, I have to rack my brains and seize every fleeting opportunity to pull up the tiger skin of Mr. Roberting and you as a banner, and persuade you to come forward and invite the political axe officials.
"All I can do is to put forward a proposal to recruit poor people to work, and I hope that this proposal will successfully invite these officials who pursue political achievements to support them, so that not many people will dare to bully our Jetta car dealership in the future." In general, no matter how high-sounding it may seem on the surface, at its core, I am full of selfishness, and that's it. ”
Tsukagen was stunned by the honesty of the little teapot, looked at the little teapot for a long time and couldn't speak, and finally sighed, patted the little teapot's arm in a friendly way, and turned his attention to the boiling audience, but his heart turned over and over again to savor the words of the little teapot.
Towards noon, the sensational opening ceremony ended with the sound of drums and firecrackers, and Roberto, Johnson, and Genjiro Tsukasa gladly attended the reception banquet held by Lord Fang.
Deng Hanxuan, the shopkeeper and third shareholder of Jetta Car Dealership, used the car dealership as an excuse that the car dealership was too busy, and politely thanked a few foreigners for their kind invitation, and left busy with a few small teapot brothers and a group of new car dealers.
The well-known Jetta car dealership, not only operating rickshaws, but also the British kerosene Chengdu secondary wholesaler, from now on, Chengdu and the surrounding counties of kerosene supply are here, Luo Baiting in the industrial equipment, luxury goods sales, local goods purchase and export and other fields of business is getting bigger and bigger, there is no longer enough energy and manpower to take care of other industrial products market, he has long wanted to find a local agent.
The little teapot with a keen sense of smell in the market seized this fleeting opportunity, and used a "report on the classification method and commodity promotion of market dealers" that made Luo Baiting refreshing and amazing, and took the car dealership industry as collateral to successfully obtain the lucrative secondary wholesale right of kerosene.
It can't be said that the little teapot has empty gloves and white wolves, and in the past half a month, the little teapot has made great and unremitting efforts to have today's gratifying situation.
In the past half a month, he and Ma Pole quietly sold Luo Baiting a bronze horse and two Han Dynasty excellent pottery figurines, making a total profit of 13,500 silver dollars, and then spent 380 yuan to buy the rented courtyard in the north of the city.
Little Teapot realized that he was too young, worried that someone would suspect the source of the huge amount of money, so he had to make a change, and ran to the Liufangzhai Teahouse for three consecutive nights to do the ideological work of the former owner, and finally used the huge profit of kerosene to buy and sell, dragging the shopkeeper Deng into the water, and the maiden family of Mrs. Deng also obtained the third-level distribution right of British kerosene in Meixian County, and has since become the shield of the small teapot.
The small teapot also has a big deal, he in the name of Luo Baiting, spent a high price of 3,850 yuan, bought this at the crossroads, occupies a very superior area of the wide shop, this was originally an inn of the three-story building, covering an area of two acres and eight points, now has become a small teapot comprehensive commercial entity, not only the inn is open as usual to welcome guests, but also sells British horse lanterns and other industrial products, the back of the wide yard and stable, has also become a parking lot and warehouse.
At the same time, the little teapot continued to attack the contact feelings, and successfully obtained the help of the businessman Tsukasa Genjiro, and urgently transferred two batches of rickshaws from Wuhan, and the price was only 130 yuan a piece, with a total of 56 cars Jetta car dealership, the starting point was raised, and it became the largest car dealer in Chengdu.
Immediately afterwards, the little teapot passed through Wu San and recruited more than 30 simple and righteous poor men from the Chengnan Elder Association to serve as coachmen, so that Jetta Auto Dealers had the strength to protect themselves.
During this period of physical exhaustion and psychological anxiety, Little Teapot has never mentioned it to anyone, and no one can relieve him of the burden, at least not yet, his three brothers are still too young, without the consciousness and precipitation of Little Teapot for two lives, it is not enough to take on the big responsibility.
The sound of firecrackers stopped, the crowd began to disperse slowly, and the little teapot, accompanied by the shopkeeper Deng and a group of brothers, looked at the golden sign of red silk unveiled at the height of the gate, looked at the brand-new rickshaw with red cloth strips at the gate, and looked at more than 30 car dealers with happy faces and hopeful eyes, and finally could take a breath of relief.
Little Teapot knew that this was just the beginning, it was the first step he took in the troubled times, and he didn't know how much hardship and hope were waiting for him in the future, but he didn't have time to think about it, what he wanted to do most now was to immediately go to Sister Yi, who was waiting for news, and he wanted to tell her in person that he had done something serious to reassure her and make her proud.
;