The Chinese Embassy was filled with a joyful atmosphere. Hu Shizheng, the ambassador to the United States, was directing the chefs of the embassy, carrying a few boxes towards the embassy, and Chen Qiang smelled a foul smell from a long distance.

"Chen Qiang is back! Just stay to finish eating, let's eat this today! Hu Shi said, patting a box beside him.

"What's the good stuff? I don't smell it very well. Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

"Definitely good stuff, come over here and help!" Hu Shi waved his hand, called Chen Qiang closer, and then opened one of the boxes, only to see that there was a whole day of tripe inside, which had not yet been processed, and there was even incomplete feed in it.

"No wonder it smells stinky, it turns out to be tripe." Chen Qiang said.

"It won't stink after a while for the chef to wash it." Hu Shi paused in his voice, and then continued; "In China, there are people in the market who sell this thing, but in the United States, it's not easy to find this thing, Americans don't eat animal offal, so I specially found someone to go to the slaughterhouse to get this. The owner of the slaughterhouse was also generous, he didn't ask us for money, and gave us some cow hearts and lungs, and turned around just to let our cook feast half a whole cow! ”

Hu Shi said as he led Chen Qiang into the kitchen in the backyard of the embassy.

When passing by the restaurant, Chen Qiang finally understood why Hu Shi had to get a hairy belly. I saw that there were copper hot pots on the table in the restaurant, which was an old-fashioned hot pot with a straight charcoal in the middle and shabu on the outside.

To eat hot pot, of course, you have to have a hairy belly!

In addition, drinks have been put on the table.

I only heard Hu Shi continue: "These hot pots are all borrowed from restaurants opened by overseas Chinese, and we have to return them after we finish eating." ”

"What kind of big day is today, eating hot pot and drinking again?" Chen Qiang asked with a smile.

"The materials we purchased have begun to be shipped to China in batches, so after Chongqing learned the news, it sent a commendation order to our embassy, which of course has to be celebrated." Hu Shi said.

Hu Shi was talking about the materials purchased with the $25 million loan, and the Chinese embassy has been busy with this matter these days. As for Hu Shi, he has made such a great contribution in just over half a year since he took office, and Chongqing will naturally give him a very high level of commendation.

Hu Shi may not care about these honors, but there is a saying that in his position must seek his own government, Hu Shi was appointed as ambassador to the United States, but also under great pressure, and now he has obtained 25 million US dollars in materials from the Americans, Hu Shi is not worthy of the position of Chinese ambassador to the United States, worthy of 40,000 Chinese comrades.

I only heard Hu Shi continue: "Chen Qiang, there is also your credit here, I also mentioned you in my written report to Chongqing, and when the specific reward comes down, there will definitely be a share of yours." ”

"Then thank you, sir." Chen Qiang paused and continued: "I'm just doing what a Chinese should do." ”

"Well said, we are all Chinese, and now that the national crisis is at hand, we should do what Chinese should do." Hu Shi nodded, and then asked; "By the way, didn't you say you got a job at a tennis club in New York? How did you get back? Is there something going on? ”

"There's really something to trouble sir." Chen Qiang said and took out a cashier's check from his arms and handed it to Hu Shi.

"Sir, this is the remuneration for my book, a total of 500 US dollars, and I plan to donate this money to buy some supplies to ship back to China. Although $500 is not much, it is also my heart, sir, don't dislike it. Chen Qiang said.

Hu Shi gasped, and his gaze at Chen Qiang instantly became different.

Hu Shi knew that Chen Qiang had gone through some twists and turns before he came to the United States, he was almost penniless when he first came to the United States, and he had to eat and live in the embassy, so Chen Qiang was not rich in money.

If Chen Qiang is a millionaire, donating $500 is nothing, but with Chen Qiang's current economic conditions, $500 is probably Chen Qiang's living expenses for a long time. It is precisely because of this that Hu Shi feels that Chen Qiang's donation of money is commendable.

Hu Shi looked down at the cashier's note in his hand, which was a fixed-amount cashier's check issued by the New York Reserve Credit Center, and it was no exaggeration to say that this cashier's note was comparable to gold, and sometimes it was even more useful than US dollar cash.

Later, there was a Spielberg-directed film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks, which tells the story of a fraudster who forges a cashier's check from the New York Reserve Credit Center, and then tricks a starlet into bed, and makes $400.

Hu Shichang sighed, he knew that it was superfluous to say anything at this time, so he patted Chen Qiang on the shoulder and said: "I brought two bottles of Moutai from China, I will bring them over in a while, let's drink it, we won't get drunk tonight!" ”

Perhaps for Hu Shi, giving Chen Qiang the two bottles of Moutai he treasured is the best way for him to express his feelings.

Then Hu Shi asked again: "By the way, Chen Qiang, can you eat spicy?" ”

"I'm from Shandong, and Lu cuisine is sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty, and has all tastes, so I don't have anything to taboo." Chen Qiang replied.

"That's good, let's have today's hot pot, but the authentic Sichuan butter pot bottom, come, I'll show you." Hu Shi enthusiastically took Chen Qiang to the table, and said at the same time: "There is a Chengdu man in our embassy, and he brought most of the boxes of butter pot bottoms when he came, and now he happens to use them." The bottom of this pot has been melted, and when it boils, the spicy taste will all come out, you look at this red pepper, how bright it is! ”

Hu Shi said, put the cashier's check in his hand on the table, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a red pepper from the hot pot, showed it to Chen Qiang, and then put it back in the pot.

"Oops, oops, got it on a cashier's check." Hu Shi suddenly screamed, Chen Qiang looked down, and it turned out that when Hu Shi put down his chopsticks, he accidentally threw a drop of chili oil and threw it on the bank cashier's check.

Hu Shi hurriedly picked up the cashier's check, carefully wiped off the chili oil, and said at the same time; "It's all my fault, old arms and legs, such an important thing should have been put away early."

"It doesn't matter, as long as the handwriting on it is clear, it won't affect the use." Chen Qiang opened his mouth and comforted.

Hu Shi wiped off the chili oil, but there were still traces of chili oil on the cashier's check, but fortunately, the chili oil was dripping on the blank space on the edge, and it did not cover the handwriting on it, so it naturally did not affect the use.

Hu Shi said while putting away the cashier's check; "I heard that the soldiers on the front line have suffered heavy casualties and lack of medical treatment, I plan to use the $500 to buy some hemostatic bandages, what do you think?"

After all, Chen Qiang is a donor, so for the use of the $500, Hu Shi also asked Chen Qiang's opinion.

"It's up to the gentleman what to buy." Chen Qiang replied.

Chen Qiang's $500, if he spends it on one person, it is a lot of money, even in New York, $500 is enough for Chen Qiang to live for a long time.

But if it is used to purchase materials to support the war of resistance, there is really not much to buy. You can't buy an airplane for $500, you can't buy a cannon, and you can't buy a few bottles of medicine. However, if you buy a hemostatic bandage, you can buy a lot of money for $500. With the industrial capacity of the United States, hemostatic bandages are a cheap product, but in China, especially on the front lines, hemostatic bandages are precious materials that can save the lives of soldiers at critical times.

……

After a hot pot meal at the embassy, Chen Qiang returned to New York and continued to play tennis with the rich.

Playing tennis with rich people is not an easy task, first of all, people spend money to come to you to spar, they must want to have fun, no one wants to spend money to find guilt. Therefore, Chen Qiang must ensure that the local tyrants have fun and make them feel that the money is worth it, so that they can have repeat customers.

Let others have fun, it is a technical job, just like Liu Luoguo and Qianlong playing chess, every time Liu Luoguo has to let Qianlong, and it can't be seen by Qianlong, the key is that every time he plays chess, Liu Luoguo has to just lose a strange move, so that Qianlong can not only experience victory, but also have the feeling of meeting opponents in chess, and will continue to play chess with Liu Luoguo in the future. If Liu Luoguo is too powerful, and Qianlong crushes the victory in every game, he will feel that Liu Luoguo's opponent is too weak, and he will not play chess with him in the future.

Therefore, those who accompany the leaders to play table tennis in later generations must be masters. You have to let the leader win, you have to let the leader win very happily, and even if the leader wins, you have to have a feeling of unfinished business, and you want to play another game. If the sparring partner doesn't have some real skills, he really can't do this.

In order to make the local tyrants happy, Chen Qiang also constantly feeds the balls to the local tyrants, trying to play some balls that are more difficult but can be caught by the local tyrants, so that after the local tyrants receive the ball, they will have a sense of accomplishment and will be excited because they make beautiful shots.

At the same time, many rich people are looking for players of Chen Qiang's level to be sparring partners, and they really want to learn something, so Chen Qiang not only has to feed the local tyrants, but also teach the local tyrants to play.

These are not difficult for Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang is a university professor, and he is a person who focuses on theory, let him teach the local tyrants to play, and he can easily fool a group of local tyrants.

There are a lot of people who are good at playing and may not be good at teaching. The same is true in all walks of life, a mathematician may be first-class in research, and it is certainly not as good as a middle school teacher to teach middle school students. Some people are very good at chess, but they don't memorize chess scores, and those chess teachers who teach others to play chess may not have a high level, but the chess games must be memorized.

In the thirties, the theoretical research of various sports was still in the primitive stage, whether it was coaches or athletes, more attention was paid to practical training, and Chen Qiang, a person who was more theoretical than practical, was obviously better at teaching local tyrants to play than others.

The people who can invite the US Open champion to be a sparring partner are all local tyrants, local tyrants, don't care about money, only care about quality, Chen Qiang's service quality is obviously much better than other professional players, so in a short period of time, Chen Qiang has got a lot of loyal customers.

So when Chen Qiang returned to New York from Washington, he didn't have time to rest, so he ran to the tennis club, and he had already made an appointment with a businessman to play tennis with him.

The merchant's name was Anthony, and he was a liquor businessman who had several large distilleries in Kentucky that mainly produced a variety of whiskeys.

Chen Qiang accompanied Anthony to play football for a whole afternoon, which made the local tyrant quite happy, and the local tyrant was not stingy, and he happily paid for it.

"Chen, wait a minute, I didn't bring cash, but I have a cashier's check I just received here, it belongs to the New York Reserve Credit Center, I will go to the club front desk to exchange it for cash." Anthony said as he waved the cashier's check in his hand.

However, Chen Qiang found that there was a dark red stain on the edge of the cashier's check.

Seeing this stain, Chen Qiang's expression tightened, and he immediately spoke. "Mr. Anthony, can you show me this cashier's check?" I've heard that a cashier's check at the New York Reserve Credit Center is comparable to gold, but I haven't seen it yet! ”

"No problem." Anthony handed the cashier's check to Chen Qiang and said, "This is the payment I just received this morning. ”

Chen Qiang took the promissory note and saw the face value of $500, and the red mark on it was the stain caused by that drop of chili oil.

"This is the $500 cashier's check I gave Hu Shi!" Chen Qiang was 100% sure of this in his heart.

"Hu Shi said that the $500 would be used to buy hemostatic bandages, but why did this cashier's note appear in Anthony's hands, he sells whiskey, which has nothing to do with hemostatic bandages."

Thinking of this, Chen Qiang pointed to the stain on the promissory note and said, "Mr. Anthony, the red one on it shouldn't be there originally, right?" ”

"Oh, that's a stain, that's what I did when I got the cashier's check, but it doesn't affect the use. Our dollars are often dirty, but they can also be bought. Anthony spoke.

"This customer of yours is really careless!" Chen Qiang continued: "This should be an oil stain, I guess you are selling edible oil for customers!" ”

"Hehe, you're wrong. Chen, you play very well, but you can't reason, it seems that you are not suitable to be a detective! Anthony smirked.

"Did I guess wrong?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Of course. Let me tell you the truth, the person who gave me this cashier's check is still your countryman! Anthony spoke.

"Chinese? That's impossible! We Chinese don't like to drink whiskey, we prefer to drink Chinese baijiu. How would they buy something from you! Mr. Anthony, we've known each other for a long time, don't tease me! Chen Qiang deliberately put on a look of disbelieving.

"What I'm saying is true, the buyers are Chinese. And this is not the first time he has bought whiskey from me, a month ago, he took a large batch from me, and it was all fine whiskey, the kind of high-end whiskey that the average person can't afford even in the United States! Anthony spoke.

"A month ago, wasn't that the time when the $25 million loan was approved and the embassy started procuring supplies?" Chen Qiang already had a bad guess in his heart.

So Chen Qiang immediately said: "Then the Chinese you said must have grown up in the United States since he was a child, so he likes to drink American whiskey." ”

Anthony shook his head: "No, no, no, he didn't drink it for himself, all the whiskey he ordered was shipped to China!" I also know the general manager of the steamship company, and I heard that not long ago, he helped the Chinese transport a large number of supplies, including wine, cigars, and the latest stockings! The total value of all the materials is probably 20 million US dollars, and he has made a lot of money in this business! ”

With Anthony's introduction, Chen Qiang's expression gradually became cold.

It's the end of the month, do you still have a monthly pass to pass the customs and protect the bottom?