Chapter 1600 Good things come hard
He Mingfa quickly rushed into the inn door, took off his bamboo hat and raincoat and handed it to the attendant next to him. He then took a dry towel and wiped his wet face, and then asked: "Where is the young master?"
"Waiting for your reply in the room." Someone responded immediately.
He Mingfa said no more, threw out the towel and walked straight to the backyard of the inn. His boss Li Nai rented out the entire yard as a temporary residence in Changhua. This was already the third day of their stay in Changhua, and the weather still hadn't improved. Heavy rains had plunged the entire Changhua Town into a state of swamp. Fortunately, the inn they were staying in was on a higher ground and was not greatly affected. He was ordered to go to the pier to see if the sea conditions were suitable for sailing. After going out for a while and coming back, his bamboo hat and raincoat hardly had much effect, and he was still basically soaked.
He Mingfa is the manager of this group of people and is responsible for arranging the daily life and schedule of everyone including the boss Li Nai. One of the important reasons why he was able to get this position that many people are jealous of is that his uncle works at Fulifeng's. Extraordinary status. Although He Qiang, Furifeng's old steward, had a foreign surname, Li Jifeng's family did not regard him as an outsider, and this trust was extended to the next generation, with He Qiang's nephews and descendants continuing to assist Li Jifeng's son. When Li Nai came to Sanya for the first time, he was accompanied by He Qiang. Now that He Qiang is old and physically incapable of traveling around the sea for a long time, the stewards accompanying Li Nai are still the He family, which is also a special situation. passed down.
He Mingfa knocked on the door and entered the house, then reported to Li Nai: "Master, the wind and waves at the seaside are very strong. It is still not suitable to go to sea today."
Li Nai sighed: "We have been stuck in Changhua for two or three days...how about the land route?"
"A few days ago, the carriages and horses in Changhua were cleared out by nearby sugar cane plantations to transport the harvest. Now I can't even find a mule." He Mingfa replied with regret: "And it is said that Changhua A section of the official road leading to Danzhou was washed away by flash floods, and there may be traffic problems. Even if the weather improves, it will take time to repair it. ”
"Oh, God is so unkind!" Li Nai stood in front of the window, looking at the pouring rain outside and sighed: "If it weren't for this rain, I should have finished my business and gone back by now. Before setting off, I specially The matter in Sanya was postponed for a few days, but it ended up being delayed.”
Changhua is not far from Danzhou, but in such bad weather that makes it impossible to travel, Li Nai's hands and eyes in Haihan Kingdom are of no use. Fortunately, after several years of development and construction in Changhua, the living conditions are not too bad. Although the situation in Changhua town is a bit miserable, except that they can't go out in the inn where they live, they have no worries about food and accommodation. The only problem is that there is no civil telegraph in this place, so Li Nai has no way to get in touch with Sanya or Danzhou for the time being. He can only be stuck here and wait for the weather to clear up.
As for Danzhou, on the day of Li Nai's departure, Xun Pengcheng had already received a call back from Sanya, confirming that Li Nai, the third son of Furifeng, would come to Danzhou in person to discuss specific matters. This news shocked both Xun Pengcheng and Zhang Jinbao. Zhang Jinbao, who was originally a dead horse, treated this as a life-saving straw. It's just a matter of luck. But neither of them expected that Li Nai would give a reply so quickly and express his willingness to come to Danzhou for negotiation, which meant that the situation of the Haifeng Poetry Society might turn around.
For Zhang Jinbao, this is tantamount to rebirth. These research projects have been unable to be effectively transformed into productivity, and his capital chain is about to be broken. If there is no strong foreign aid to intervene, it will bring funds and updates to the Haifeng Poetry Society. If the external environment is good, then his career may not be able to sustain it for too long. If a business giant like Fulifeng is willing to take action, then anything is possible.
For Xun Pengcheng, this was a complete surprise. He had never thought that he could have a relationship with a big shot like Li Nai, but Li Nai's call back named him and asked him to be the contact person to arrange a meeting with Zhang Jinbao. Meetings with others. This means that Xun Pengcheng also took this opportunity to make friends with real big shots in the upper class. Of course, the premise is that he doesn't make any mistakes in his subsequent performance. Such big shots often have trouble in their eyes, and a few mistakes may turn their impression into a negative one.
In addition, there is another point that makes Xun Pengcheng particularly excited, that is, Zhang Jinbao promised to give him 20% of the shares of Qiongxi Academy as a thank you after the matter is completed. If the matter can be negotiated in the end, then he will have one more If you get a windfall from a pen, you will have a corresponding status in Danzhou. In the future, it will be much easier to settle down here, buy property and develop contacts. Moreover, he was originally a scholar, so participating in running an academy was undoubtedly one of the shortcuts to improve his status, which was much more classy than running a plantation.
If the possibility of getting this return was slim, then Li Nai's call back has greatly changed the situation. Since the other party is willing to come to Danzhou to take a look in person, Xun Pengcheng is optimistic that there is at least a 30 to 40% chance of this happening. thing. Of course, before Li Nai arrived here, he still needed to confirm the validity of this repayment promise to Zhang Jinbao. It would be best if he could write it down in black and white.
However, Xun Pengcheng may have been too excited and intentionally or unintentionally ignored another thing mentioned in the telegram. Li Nai said that before he arrived in Danzhou, he would notify relevant local personnel to contact him. Xun Pengcheng subconsciously believed that the so-called "relevant personnel" were Furifeng's personnel stationed here, but he did not expect that there were other possibilities.
After Zhang Jinbao came to the inn in person to confirm the telegram, he took the initiative to express his previous commitment in writing. This also happened to suit Xun Pengcheng's wishes, so he naturally would not object to it. So Zhang Jinbao signed relevant documents at the inn. As long as the current operating problems encountered by Haifeng Poetry Society can be properly resolved, Xun Pengcheng will receive 20% of the shares of Qiongxi Academy donated by Zhang Jinbao. The two of them got what they needed and were in a good mood. Zhang Jinbao invited Xun Pengcheng to a restaurant in the city for a big meal. Xun Pengcheng also let go of the knot that had been bothering him for many days and had a drink with Zhang Jinbao. , when he returned to the inn after dinner, Zhang Jinbao’s entourage helped him into the room.
Xun Pengcheng lay down and slept until dusk when he was awakened by a knock on the door. Xun Pengcheng was quite unhappy because he remembered that before he fell asleep, he had specifically told the clerk not to disturb his rest without instructions. Why did this man have such a bad memory? Xun Pengcheng stood up and touched the fire stick on the table to light the candle. Then he took a few sips of cold water from the teapot to moisten his throat, and then he opened the door unhurriedly.
The person standing outside the door was not the innkeeper, but a strange man that Xun Pengcheng had never seen before. The man smiled at Xun Pengcheng and asked, "Is this Mr. Xun Pengcheng?"
Xun Pengcheng was a little unhappy to be woken up in his sleep, and he didn't like it even more when he saw this person's smiling face. He just nodded indifferently and said: "It's me. I wonder who you are?"
The man responded: "I, Wang Baisuo, have received orders from Shangfeng and come to the inn to contact Mr. Xun."
Xun Pengcheng didn't feel anything was wrong in his daze. He subconsciously thought that this person should be Li Nai's subordinate. He thought that this person should not be easily offended, lest Li Nai would be reported to him when he arrived in Danzhou, so he let him into the room. He sat down inside and asked him casually if he had had dinner and if he wanted to eat something together.
"I've already had dinner. If Mr. Xun wants to eat something, please feel free to do it yourself. Maybe you can ask the waiter to bring it to the room, so that we won't delay our business talk." Wang Baisuo did not sit down immediately after entering the room. After looking around the room and seeing the layout of the room clearly, he sat down and made suggestions to Xun Pengcheng.
Xun Pengcheng didn't think there was anything wrong with the other party's suggestion, so he went out and called the waiter over, asking him to go to the kitchen to get him some hot food and make a pot of tea. The clerk responded and was about to leave. Xun Pengcheng held him back and lowered his voice: "I told you not to disturb me during the break, so why did you let someone knock on the door?"
Xun Pengcheng said this not to reprimand the waiter, but he still had to stay in the inn for a while. If his words didn't work, there would be a lot of trouble in the future, so he still had to let the waiter know that he had to listen to what he said. Of course, it wouldn't be good if the person in the room heard this, as it would definitely offend him, so Xun Pengcheng lowered his voice specially. Unexpectedly, the waiter had a strange look on his face, and also responded in a low voice: "Don't be surprised, sir. This official asked you where you live as soon as he came. How dare you push back? I can only lead the way honestly!"
Official? Xun Pengcheng suddenly felt excited. Is Li Nai's pomp really that big? Before a person even arrives in Danzhou, he can actually force local officials in Danzhou to run errands for him. How powerful is this? Since he is a member of the government, he should not be neglected. Xun Pengcheng let go of the waiter and asked him to go down quickly to prepare tea and tea. Then he returned to the room, cupped his hands to Wang Baisuo who was sitting in the room and said, "I don't know that Brother Wang is an official official, but I am rude. I hope Brother Wang doesn't blame me!"< br>
Wang Baisuo smiled and said: "We all serve the executive committee, and the division of labor is just different. Mr. Xun, there is no need to be polite."
Xun Pengcheng saw that Wang Baisuo was easy to talk to, so he asked tentatively: "I wonder which yamen Brother Wang works for? The city government or the Cultural and Educational Department?"
Wang Baisuo shook his head and said: "None of them."
Xun Pengcheng thought for a while and then said: "That must be in the Yamen in charge of commerce." He thought that since Li Nai had found someone from the government to contact him, it would not be a completely unrelated Yamen. There are only a few yamen that have anything to do with Zhang Jinbao's business, and they will always get it right if they try to fool them one by one.
Unexpectedly, Wang Baisuo still denied Xun Pengcheng's guess. When Xun Pengcheng was about to guess again, the waiter had already brought a pot of hot tea. Xun Pengcheng asked the waiter to step aside first, poured two cups of tea on his own, pushed one of them to Wang Baisuo and said, "The high mountain tea in this shop is pretty good. I heard from the waiter that Mayor Zhang of Danzhou also likes this kind of tea." , but Brother Wang must have been used to drinking it since he lives locally.”
The Mayor Zhang that Xun Pengcheng mentioned was Zhang Xin, the local magistrate of Danzhou. Danzhou has become a famous cultural city in Haihan in just a few years, and Zhang Xin is also indispensable. It was the new culture movement and vocational training he advocated in Danzhou that caused local academies to spring up like mushrooms after a rain. Zhang Jinbao’s Qiongxi Academy is also one of the beneficiaries.
Wang Baisuo nodded in thanks, picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and then said: "I heard that Mr. Xun came from Sanya. In fact, this kind of tea is also sold in Sanya market, but it is not promoted by big people and its reputation is not well known."
Xun Pengcheng felt a little emotional after hearing this, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, it will be much easier if there are big people to take care of things these days."
What he was thinking of was the research projects that Zhang Jinbao's poetry club was quietly working on. Even though Zhang Jinbao himself was a well-known figure in Danzhou, he still didn't have enough energy to put these projects on the table. If Zhang Jinbao hadn't met him by chance and contacted Li Nai by luck, Zhang Jinbao's 80% achievement in these projects would have had to wait to fade away. But as long as Li Nai is willing to come forward, I believe things will definitely turn around. After all, for people at the level of Zhang Jinbao and Xun Pengcheng, Li Nai is the truly powerful person. The person sitting in front of him should be the best example.
Wang Baisuo gently turned the teacup with his fingers and asked in a deep voice: "I heard that this time Master Furifeng came to Danzhou for business, Mr. Xun was the intermediary to contact him?"
Xun Pengcheng responded: "That's it. I'm lucky to have the opportunity to work for the third young master." He thought that although Wang Baisuo was from the government, he should be running errands for Li Nai when he came to see him, so he caught him. Whenever there is an opportunity, he will say a few compliments to show his sincerity in cooperation.
Wang Baisuo nodded and said, "Besides Haifeng Poetry Club and Mr. Xun, are there any other insiders to this matter?"
Xun Pengcheng said: "That's hard to say. The notice of Haifeng Poetry Society is posted in the city. There are probably not even a thousand but eight hundred people who have seen it."
"I mean contacting Mr. Xun and contacting Young Master Li San." Wang Baisuo corrected the direction of his question.
Xun Pengcheng did not doubt that he was there, and answered honestly: "I and Zhang Jinbao and Zhang Shanchang from Qiongxi Academy should be the only ones who know... Of course, now we also include Brother Wang."
Wang Baisuo nodded and said: "This is best. Mr. Xun should not reveal it to others for the time being. We will wait for arrangements after Master Li San's affairs are completed."
"Waiting for arrangements? Who will arrange it?" Xun Pengcheng didn't think about it for a while.
Wang Baisuo smiled and said: "I'll wait for my arrangements."
"Why should we listen to Brother Wang's arrangements?" Xun Pengcheng couldn't help but mocked: "Is it that Brother Wang thinks he is a bit taller than Young Master Li San?" After speaking, he raised the tea cup and took a sip, then waited to hear how Wang Baisuo would answer.
(End of chapter)