Chapter 27 Matthew

  He had been doing business in China since the late Qing dynasty, and over the past decade or so, he had formed relationships with governors of many Chinese provinces, and his fluent Beijing dialect made him a welcome guest.

  This always unconsciously pulls Matthew away from other foreigners in business. However, deep down, Matthew is a typical and authentic British person who is arrogant, proud and particular about etiquette.

  As a passenger railway, it is mainly composed of peddlers who go out to sell goods and poor migrant workers. Its carriages are definitely not comparable to those luxurious ones on the Orient Express, but at least they won't be like Indian trains where even cows and sheep are pulled into the carriage together.

  It's the season for collecting wool and fur goods, so the passenger carriages that are usually sparsely populated are now packed to capacity. These passengers are mostly traveling merchants from all over.

  Because no one knows how long they will be stuck outside, many people bring fur coats with them, and the smell emitted by these fur coats is obviously not a good smell. The whole carriage is filled with a strange smell.

  "Uh-huh"

  This was not the first time Matthew had covered his nose with a handkerchief, although he had already opened the car window to let in fresh air, but Matthew still felt that there was a pungent smell that almost suffocated him.

  At least for now, Matthew is already feeling dizzy. As the manager of a foreign firm, in the vast majority of cases, specific things within the company are handled by Chinese compradors.

  At least in China for more than ten years, the farthest place Matthew went was to Shanghai by boat once and several times to Tianjin, but none of them made him feel like this trip is a kind of torture.

  “”

  Just as Matthew stuck his head out of the car window to enjoy some fresh air, someone in front spat a mouthful of thick phlegm at the car window, which coincidentally hit Matthew's face.

  Matthew, who was almost dead from nausea, didn't care about his gentlemanly demeanor anymore and cursed loudly. After wiping himself clean with a handkerchief, he looked at the yellowish phlegm on it and felt a sour taste in his throat, having only one feeling - wanting to vomit.

  "Descendant of Sun"

  Matthew didn't even finish speaking when he felt his throat becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and hastily got up to leave, leaving Sun Ping alone at the position staring at their luggage.

  Just as Matthew was almost choked to death by a mouthful of thick phlegm, in a simple asbestos tile-roofed workshop, Sima had the workers remove the plastic packaging bags from the first batch of 20,000 Russian military coats.

  This plastic packaging obviously cannot appear in the space-time of 1915, and the overcoats taken out of the packaging bags are directly thrown onto the board car and pulled to the hundred or so female workers temporarily invited from Kongjiazhuang. Those female workers were responsible for using a scraper to scrape off the labels of the Russian Red Army uniform factory at the collar of the overcoat, and then replaced them with black Chinese labels printed with an oil-based seal directly in the original position.

  Fortunately, the lining of these old-fashioned woolen military coats is made of thin cotton cloth. If it were made of synthetic fiber fabrics such as polyester, I'm afraid we would have to remove this layer of synthetic lining as well.

  "Master, these are all high-quality woolen coats!"

  Gao Chuanliang stroked the plush overcoats that those foreigners used to wear, and unexpectedly, Young Master actually gave one to each of the poor guards, this is a bit too much.

  Obviously, Gao Chuanliang cannot accept that those poor guys wear such expensive down jackets, let alone the same color. Isn't this lowering one's status?

  "It's nothing big, in the future when our factory gets bigger, when we give welfare to those workers in winter, giving them this will be enough. Let them wear this kind of woolen coat, it keeps warm just as well as a down jacket, and doesn't look as bloated as a down jacket."

  It's a great pleasure for Sima to receive such benefits from the ocean of wealth, and there is an abundance of them on that side.

  "Master, I did as you said and sent a telegram to the Baohua Yanghang. They replied yesterday that they will arrive in Zhangjiakou today. What do you think? Shall we go to Zhangjiakou?"

  Gao Chongliang saw that it was impossible to change Sima's mind about this "family-destroying" decision, so he brought up the matter of who would buy these military greatcoats.

  Although Gao Chuanliang did not know where this young master, who had always been a bit mysterious, got those 200,000 military uniforms from, the two million sets of woolen coats in front of him proved that this young master must have gotten them without any problem.

  "Uh-huh."

  Going to Zhangjiakou is definitely not possible, Sima can only stay in this space for no more than five hours at a time, otherwise something unexpected will happen in the 21st century. If we go to Zhangjiakou now, it will take at least one day for the round trip and business negotiations.

  But if I don't go back today and Old Hu comes to take over my shift, he'll definitely report to the company that I didn't show up for work all night, which is not good. Once this deal is done and we have enough money, we can immediately buy this warehouse and find someone reliable to watch it, so we don't have to be on edge like this every day.

  "So, you let your eldest go pick them up and bring them to Kongjiazhuang. By then we can talk to them again. These foreigners are just trying to stir up trouble, let's give them a hard time, save ourselves the hassle of finding fault later when there isn't any."

  Although he said so with his mouth, in fact, this was just an excuse for Sima. Sima knew that the two million sets of clothes alone were worth over 10 million, plus the deposit of over 10 million, which meant that if the foreigners really didn't want them, he would have lost over 20 million.

  "Look down on these foreigners, they still don't know whose territory this is, Young Master Gao's vision is high"

  At that time, the vast majority of Chinese people either hated foreigners or were afraid of them. There was also a group of people who were prejudiced against foreigners. Obviously, Gao Tianyi belonged to the latter category, being somewhat prejudiced against foreigners.

  Whenever he thinks of what those foreigners did in Hebei Province back then, Gao Chuanliang's anger cannot be vented. What can be done about the country being inferior to others? It's a pity that the good men of the six northern provinces have been wronged.

  At the exit of Zhangjiakou Railway Station, Gao Xiaowei was standing outside in Western-style clothing. Next to him, an employee held up a sign that read "Baohua Yanghang". Just a few months ago, Gao Xiaowei would not have believed he would be where he is today.

  Since doing foreign watch business, Gao Xiangwei quickly changed from a small businessman in Zhangjiakou to a well-known figure in Zhangjiakou. Now when he walks around, people call him "Gao Dashi" and "Gao Ye", this change in mentality also made Gao Xiangwei's appearance change greatly, from his previous long gown and horse jacket, now he wears Western-style clothing, with his hair styled in a four-six partition and greased with foreign pomade. Not to mention how high-spirited and proud he looks.

  "Wow, Mr. Gao, your business is getting bigger and better!"

  It was apparently an acquaintance who saw him coming over to say hello and noticed the words written on the placard held by the staff member next to Gao Dawei.

  "It's just a small business over there."

  Other people's flattery was obviously very enjoyable for Gao Xiaowei. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they parted ways.

  "Hello, we are from Beijing Baohe Yanghang. My name is Sun Ping, and this is our manager, Mr. Matthew."

  After getting off the bus, as soon as they arrived at the station exit, they saw a sign that read "Baohe Yanghang" held high. Sun Ping led his boss, Matthew, to walk straight over and introduce himself to Gao Xiangwei standing beside the sign.

  "Welcome, welcome. Haru, Mr. Matthew."

  Although dressed in a full set of Western attire, Gao Xiangwei was also having his first traffic accident with a foreigner, and for some reason he couldn't help but feel nervous. It wasn't until now that Gao Xiangwei realized the prepared phrases he had thought of earlier seemed to have all disappeared.

  "If it's about doing business with him, I think we've come to the wrong place."

  Matthew, who had been wronged all along, said in English to Sun Ping beside him, and Matthew still believed in Sun Ping after all, he was a purchasing agent for many years.

  Because it was almost a difficult journey to reach Zhangjiakou. Matthew, although somewhat disappointed at this time, did not want to leave here before his hopes were completely shattered.

  "What brought us to Kong Family Village was discussed in the telegram. I thought"

  Sun Ping said angrily upon hearing this place name he had never heard of before.

  "Our host said that he is not convenient to come to Zhangjiakou recently, if your honorable company really needs the down jacket, I believe you won't mind walking a few more tens of kilometers, it will prove your sincerity. If both of you go today, I believe you can see our host tomorrow."

  Gao Wei said these words, and he could already feel the cold sweat on his back. Heaven knows what that old father of his was thinking, actually letting him say such things, and not even allowing a single word to be changed. Has he really become senile?

  "This group of foolish Chinese people. They will regret their arrogance today."

  After enduring for dozens of minutes again, Matthew got off the train and looked at the small station in front of him, shouting loudly. Si Hao didn't care about Sun Ping, who was also a Chinese person next to him, and Sun Ping just lowered his head with a slightly pale face.

  As for the arrogance and conceit of foreigners, Sun Ping, who had been in the business for many years, understood it all too well. To be honest, sometimes when he saw these foreigners getting frustrated, Sun Ping would secretly delight in it.

  But for Matthew in front of him, it seems that he has already gone too far. Compared to his past arrogance, this is probably nothing, but the bastard actually scolded all Chinese people.

  Although Sun Ping usually appears as a second-rate person in the eyes of others, Matthew's piercing curse just now still made Sun Ping feel secretly resentful.

  This experience was absolutely humiliating for Matthew, who had never thought he would encounter such a situation in China. Matthew, who was clearly not adapting to what he was going through, might have left earlier if he hadn't seen the well-made sheepskin coat in Zhangjiakou.

  All he could do was to be bullied, of course, if this is also considered bullying. Matthew had already thought of dozens of ways to avenge himself in his heart, to avenge the insults that the other party had imposed on him today.

  Sun Ping, who knew Matthew better than anyone else, looked at Matthew's face which had turned for the better and was even smiling, and couldn't help but worry about his compatriot who didn't take the foreigner seriously, thinking to himself whether he should remind him to prevent being taken advantage of by this old thing.