Shanghai! Shanghai!

December 24, 1921, Christmas Eve.

The French Concession, Henry Road, and the French Sycamore are almost bare. The Orthodox Church of Our Lady across the street was built ten years later. There is a quiet small bungalow on this side of the road, although it cannot be compared with the Hongkou Sea Dharma Mountain, which was burned down three years ago, but it is also a good place to get quiet in the middle of the noise.

Late at night, the streets are sparsely populated, and many Europeans go back to their hometowns for Christmas. As for the Chinese, except for the Christians, there is no Christmas atmosphere at all, how can it compare with the excitement of Marry Christmas, a hundred years later?

A man in his thirties, of medium height, wearing an overcoat and a top hat, knocked on the door of the bungalow on Henry Road.

It was a Jiangbei nanny who opened the door, and the guest took off her top hat and said a string of thick Ningbo accents: "Contemptible Chang Kaishen, visit Mr. and Mrs. Qi." ”

"What time is it? Can't you come back tomorrow? ”

The nanny looked unhappy, so Chang Kaishen stuffed her with a silver dollar, and said in Shanghainese: "Sister, help!" Allah has a number! ”

So, the nanny welcomed him into the living room, made a cup of tea, and went to inform the master.

On a winter night in Shanghai, the cold was pressing, Chang Kaishen rubbed his hands in front of the stove and looked out the window at the black cat, whose eyes were magnified like walnuts, as if staring at a mouse.

Mr. and Mrs. Qi came downstairs. The couple was young, but in their early twenties. The gentleman wore a crisp blue military uniform with epaulettes of the rank of major, and was half a head taller than Chang Kaishen; Madame was wearing a white sweater, her skin was almost transparent and fair, her hair had not been permed, but it was a little self-curling, and her eyes were shining with exotic glass colors, like cat's eyes outside the window.

Needless to say, one is Qi Yuanshan and the other is Ouyang Anna.

In the summer of this year, they took their daughter Jiuse and fled from Shaanxi, where the war was about to start. Qi Yuanshan returned to Beijing to report on his work, and was received by Cao Kun, the leader of the direct warlords, who personally pinned him with a medal and asked him where he would like to serve. Either go to Wu Peifu's account to lead the troops to fight, or in the future, he may become a prince, or stay in the Beiyang government in the capital as Cao Kun's right-hand man. Unexpectedly, he chose to go to Shanghai and was willing to be the liaison between the Beiyang government and the Shanghai concession. Cao Kun was greatly disappointed, but he did not obstruct it, only saying that this son was useless.

In fact, Qi Yuanshan would rather give up his splendid future for the sake of Anna and Jiuse.

Last year's trip to Shaanxi made her daughter lose for several months, if it weren't for Qin Beiyang falling from the sky, I still don't know where it is? Jiuse was born in Shanghai and should return to Shanghai to raise him. What's more, Anna has a foundation and investment in Shanghai, which makes it easier for her to gain a foothold and live. And China is full of war, foreign concessions are the safest haven, don't you see that many politicians have gone to the concession to do public affairs after leaving the wilderness.

In the middle of summer, Qi Yuanshan and Anna returned to Shanghai and rented a bungalow on Henry Road in the French Concession. Anna no longer wants her daughter to suffer, she must give her a safe and comfortable environment, and also book places in the kindergarten and French primary school on Xiafei Road.

Although Qi Yuanshan was still a military officer, he was an idle errand who had nothing to do, staying at home all day to accompany his wife and daughter, reading the news of warlord melee in the newspapers, and standing in front of the map of China to deduce the war and talk about the war on paper.

On the contrary, Anna often goes out to take care of the investment affairs of the "Earl of Dharma Mountain Fund" - even if it is not for Qin Beiyang, the owner of the fund, it is for her daughter.

In the early morning of Christmas Eve, visiting Qi Yuanshan and Anna, unexpectedly, Chang Kaishen just nodded to the hostess, and said respectfully to the hostess: "Miss Anna!" Happy Christmas! ”

She is the daughter of the boss Ouyang Sicong, and Chang Kaishen still has the identity of the Green Gang, so it is also a kind of rules and etiquette.

"Mr. Chang, you're not a Christian, are you? How to talk about what the parishioners only say. Anna wore a cross on her chest and greeted the guests lightly, "In the middle of the night, what are you doing?" ”

"It's hard to put it into words......"

"Mr. Chang, your business is so big, where are you going to make a fortune?"

"Truth be told, Kaishen is here to say goodbye to Miss Anna!" Chang Kaishen was like a defeated rooster, and said with shame on his face, "Tomorrow, Chang will go to Shiliupu Wharf to take a ship to Guangzhou." ”

Three months ago, when Chang Kaishen came to visit, it was not like this. At that time, this person, who had the triple identities of the revolutionary party, the Youth Gang, and the stockbroker, sat in the same chair in the living room with high spirits, claiming that he was quite supported by Mr. Ouyang Sicong back then, and he also had an "old friendship" with Miss Anna.

Of course, Ouyang Anna had long forgotten about this person.

Chang Kai said that he would be called Mr. Zhongshan, and it is said that he returned to Shanghai on the order of the prime minister, and together with the tycoons of Shanghai, he established the Shanghai Stock Exchange a year ago, which can be called the previous life of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Shanghai is the national product distribution hub, and in the past, the transaction of bulk goods was chaotic and mostly controlled by foreign brokers. A few years ago, when the European war was in full swing, Chinese businessmen in Shanghai invested in stocks and bonds. The revolutionary party opened the exchange in order to raise funds for the war of the military government in Guangzhou.

In the past year, many people have made a windfall, and there has been a great deal of stock speculation in Shanghai, with domestic and foreign capital gatherings, and there are hundreds of exchanges and trust companies of all kinds, in addition to trading stocks, there are also kerosene, matches, timber, cotton yarn, linen, tobacco and liquor...... The stock of the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose from the opening price of 30 yuan to more than 200 yuan, making Chang Kaishen earn 8 million silver dollars at the peak, which was worth 200 million catties of rice at that time! This is definitely an astronomical amount - in addition to supporting the "revolutionary cause", it is enough to live a life of a local tyrant in Shanghai.

Therefore, Chang Kaishen came to Ouyang Anna's house for the first time, and he had the momentum of pointing out the country. Although as a revolutionary, he was a wanted criminal by the Beiyang government, but in the Shanghai Concession, a country within a country, the Beiyang government had no law enforcement powers. Qi Yuanshan, who was idle, even if he was wearing a Beiyang military uniform, turned a blind eye and just made tea and entertained guests.

Back then, Qi Yuanshan was also a suspect in the case of the destruction of Dharma Mountain on the sea, and he was hunted down by the double bounty of the Public Concession and the Green Gang. Now that he is Ouyang Sicong's son-in-law, the wanted warrant has been written off, and he laughs at his enmity.

In the past two years, Chang Kaishen has also heard about it in Shanghai, a mysterious investor who has acquired many properties in the name of a fund, including prime properties in prime locations, and the price has doubled in recent years. The identity of the Revolutionary Party and the Qing Gang made him have his hands and eyes in the sky, and he bought all kinds of relationships, and finally found out that she was the daughter of Ouyang Sicong, the former boss of the Youth Gang.

He thought that this Ouyang Anna must have inherited his father's secret inheritance, and also inherited Mr. Ouyang's business acumen, so he came to visit with a generous gift, hoping to partner with her to run a securities business and lay a foundation for the revolution and the Youth Gang.

After being upgraded to become a mother, Anna is no longer a little girl, and she has already seen through Chang Kaishen's mind - isn't it just to pull her to speculate in stocks?

Ouyang Anna smiled indifferently and gave Chang Kaishen a piece of advice - in the Shanghai securities market, speculation is far greater than investment, many people get rich overnight, and more people go bankrupt overnight.

She said a Western proverb: "If God wants to destroy people, he must first make them mad." ”

Chang Kaishen didn't care, ate a soft nail, and walked away.