Chapter 41: The Traitorous Bai Siwen

  Bai Swen... The name is quite elegant, and he doesn't look like a laborer either. He's of medium build, with a pale complexion, regular features, and a harmless smile on his face. It's really hard to tell what kind of background he has.

  "I don't know where Mr. Zhu is from, how did he end up in England?" Bai Siwen spoke with a standard Mandarin accent, without any hint of Cantonese dialect, and his expression also showed a few hints of curiosity, as he began to probe into Zhu Jishi's background.

  William Chardin smiled and looked at the two of them sideways, as if he was also waiting for Zhu Jishi's answer.

  Zhu Jishi chuckled and turned to look at Zhadan, saying in fluent English: "Mr. Zhadan, I don't know how this Mr. Bai Siwen came to England? Did you bring him from China?"

  With a slight curl of his lip, he revealed a hint of contemptuous smile. "Swanson is a Chinese nobleman and naval officer, also a devout Christian, who has been persecuted by the Chinese government and had to leave Guangzhou for Britain under my protection."

  "China... nobility?" Zhu Jishi looked at Bai Siwen again, somewhat puzzled and asked in Chinese: "Are you a noble? What title do you hold?"

  Bai Siwen's face revealed a bitter smile, and he waved his hand, saying: "Brother, what kind of noble is that, it's just a banner person, still a Hanjun Baise Banner, in the Guangzhou garrison water division flag camp had a leading role, but now it's long gone, if not for Zhadan old master taking him in, he would have lost his life in Guangzhou..."

  Zhu Jishi slightly furrowed his brow, thinking to himself: "This little guy must be a traitor, uh, should be a banner traitor. I reckon when he was in the Navy, he didn't hesitate to help the British opium dealers do bad things, that's why he lost his job and fled in a hurry, following this consumptive ghost to England."

  "Ah, Mr. Zhu... when did you arrive in England? And where is your hometown?" White's gaze swept across Zhu Jishi's face and landed on Isabelle beside him. He had been in the UK for several years now, although it was his first time being brought to a luxurious place like Blenheim Palace by Lord Cardigan. As an upper-class Western noblewoman, he had seen a few of them before, and naturally, one glance told him what kind of woman Isabelle was. Being able to escort such a high-society lady as a guest in and out of places like Blenheim Palace probably already spoke volumes about Zhu Jishi's wealth and social status!

  Zhu Jishi didn't respond to Bai Siwen, only slightly nodding at him before continuing to greet other guests with Isabel. At this time, William Chardin suddenly called out to him: "Mr. Zhu, my body is not well and I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to keep Svenson for much longer. If you need a servant from China, I think Svenson would be very suitable - he can make extremely delicious Cantonese dishes."

  Cantonese cuisine! Zhu Jishi smacked his lips, he hadn't had Chinese food for several months... Although Madame Dulan's cooking was first-rate and French cuisine was also a renowned delicacy on par with Chinese cuisine, eating too much of it couldn't compare to the Cantonese dishes from his hometown.

  Thinking of this, he smiled at Chardin, "Alright, let Swensen follow me. I was just about to hire a few servants and having one from China would be quite to my liking."

  Bai Siwen could understand the conversation between Zhu Jishi and Zha Dian, so he hurried to Zhu Jishi's side, gave a salute, and respectfully said: "Master, I'm Bai Siwen, here to pay my respects."

  Zhu Jishi nodded slightly, and without further acknowledging his new chef, he continued to greet the British celebrities present with Isabel on Robert Churchill's introduction. He didn't notice that Bai Siwen hadn't followed him, but had returned to William Chad's side, where the two were talking in hushed tones in Cantonese.

  ……

  "Jason, this is my brother George." The last to be introduced by Churchill to Zhu Zhi-xi was the 6th Duke of Marlborough, George Spencer-Churchill, who was also Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

  "It's an honor to meet you, Your Excellency." Zhu Jisheng took a closer look at the middle-aged man in front of him, who bore some resemblance to Qiu Pangzi, but was not as fat, just slightly short and stout.

  "I am too," Duke Churchill smiled and nodded, taking a certificate-like thing from a servant beside him and handing it to Zhu Jishi. "Dr. Zhu, this is your medical license. The Medical Association has decided to return it to you, and entrusted me to express our sincerest apologies."

  Zhu Jishi took his medical license with both hands and put it in the pocket of his suit, also smiling and saying: "I would also like to ask Your Excellency the Duke to convey my apologies to the Royal Medical Society for some of my previous remarks that had a negative impact on the reputation of British medicine."

  The Duke of Marlborough waved his hand, smiling and said: "I won't bother with this, as you will soon see Sir Reid of the Royal Medical Society." He then took another invitation from the servant and handed it over.

  Zhu Jisheng took a look at this exquisitely printed invitation and was immediately stunned by the title on it.

  "Windsor Castle? Isn't this the official residence of the British royal family?"

  "Yes, it's an invitation from the royal palace. His Royal Highness Prince Albert wants you to be his guest at Windsor Castle." The Duke of Marlborough smiled warmly at Zhū Jìshì, while the surrounding Churchill and Isabelle were both half-open-mouthed with shocked expressions.

  Zhu Zhiyi, who had been in the UK for several months since 1840s, already knew that Prince Albert was Queen Victoria's husband and the first husband of the British Empire at that time. To Zhu Zhiyi now, he was really a high-ranking person beyond reach.

  "Excuse me, Your Grace, do you know why Prince Albert invited me to Windsor Castle?" asked Zhu Jishi, suppressing the surprise in his heart.

  "I'm afraid I don't know that," Duke Churchill shrugged, smiling and changing the subject. "Jason, may I call you that?"

  "It is my honor, Your Excellency."

  "Call me George," said the Duke of Marlborough with a smile, "and you will soon be a member of the Académie fran?aise and the Royal Society."

  Zhu Jisheng nodded, a duke without a title is not a monarch, there are still many such people in Europe, although their status is high, but they are on the same level as academicians, this is how scientists are respected in Europe!

  "Jason, I hear from Robert that you have recently set up a pharmaceutical factory and a rubber products factory?" The Duke of Churchill changed the subject to business.

  "That's right, there are two factories on Vincent Street in Manchester, but they're just small startups and business is very slow." Zhu Jishi replied with a smile.

  "Ah," Duke Churchill nodded slightly, his eyes darting to William Caden not far away before turning back to Jason, "Jason, does your company need funding? I happen to have some spare cash. Hmm, how about an initial investment of 10,000 pounds?"

  ￡10,000 is not a small sum! However, the smile on Zhu Jishi's face seemed somewhat unnatural. His company was not short of funds at present. The purchase of that bankrupt textile mill had only cost ￡5,000, and the procurement of opium, raw materials, and equipment had totaled less than ￡2,000. He had also paid out less than ￡1,000 in wages. Additionally, Zhu Jishi had spent ￡300 on a second-hand carriage and two inferior horses for himself. After tallying up these expenses, nearly all of the ￡12,500 he had raised earlier had been spent. Nevertheless, his company had sold a considerable amount of morphine, heroin, and codeine products in recent days, and they had received many orders. The payments and deposits they had received had already exceeded ￡10,000, so Zhu Jishi's company was not facing any cash flow problems.

  So he didn't want to sell his shares cheaply anymore, after all, the future development prospects of those industries were excellent. However, refusing Duke Churchill was not a good choice, Isabelle beside Zhu Ziyu quickly pulled him. Zhu Ziyu seemed to remember something and smiled: "George, don't be modest, my pharmaceutical factory and rubber company really don't lack cash... but apart from these two deals, I also have another business related to scientific inventions, which will definitely make a lot of money."

  "Any business?" Duke Churchill was taken aback, "What business?"

  "It's dynamite!"

  "Explosives...?" Duke Churchill thought for a moment and said: "Jason, are you talking about gunpowder?"

  "No, no, it's not gunpowder, it's explosives! The power is 10 times that of black powder!"

  "Ten times more powerful than black powder? Jason, you're not joking with me?" The Duke of Churchill and the eyes of the chubby man beside him were all staring bigger than cow's eyes.

  Duke Churchill smiled and waved the invitation letter from Windsor Castle, saying: "The prospects of this business are not inferior to those of pharmaceuticals and rubber. Let's talk about it after I visit Windsor Castle."

  The Duke of Marlborough nodded dully. "Oh, all right, just give Robert a shout whenever you want to see me."