The First Volume of Zhuxia: Laying the Foundation Chapter 16: National Calcium Supplement

  "What? Trouble? This is quite a novelty! Usually, Lao Qi looks like a decent and cultured person, but he can also get into trouble? Interesting, haha, I'd love to hear more about it. Quickly tell me, what's the story?" Chen Shouting didn't look worried or frightened at all, instead, he seemed very interested, as if he was eager to hear some juicy gossip.

  His attitude made Lu Jiaju feel like he had been punched in the gut, and he didn't know how to express his words. This made Chen Shouting anxious, and he slapped the table: "Ah! You're killing me! Can you please speak quickly? What's going on?"

  Lu Jiaju knew exactly what kind of temper his sixth brother had, so he let out a long sigh and recounted how Chen Xiaoqi had been stirring up trouble tonight, almost getting into a fight that could have ended in someone's death, telling the whole story from start to finish without leaving anything out or adding any embellishments.

  He was talking and sighing, but Chen Shouting listened with a smile on his face. When he heard Chen Xiaoqi scolding in English, the words made him laugh so hard that he slapped the table and laughed loudly. While laughing, he pointed at Chen Xiaoqi and said: "Old Seven! Old Seven! I didn't know you had such talent! You even used an electric pole to curse someone? It's amazing that you thought of it! Good job! This phrase is fresh and comfortable to hear, no wonder you're a cultured person! Even your scolding is different!"

  Lu Jiaju was indignant and resentfully said: "Sixth brother! What are you saying?! In that kind of setting, it's extremely impolite for someone like Old Seventh to scold people so crudely! This makes us look uncultured! This is not good! And you're even praising him?!"

  Chen Shouting's two thick eyebrows stood upright, and he said seriously: "What's wrong with that? I think Old Seventh did the right thing! He did it well! He did it to vent his anger! He did it to satisfy everyone's desire for revenge! Those damned foreigners, standing on our territory and not even allowing us to eat, what kind of rules is this?! Just looking at it makes me angry! Old Seventh cursed them well! I don't know any foreign languages, if I did, I would block their door and curse them for three days and three nights before I'd be satisfied! Damn it! It's infuriating! What happened next?

  Lu Jiaju's face was filled with worry as he looked at the two brothers, and he was left speechless.

  Chen Shouting slapped his thigh and said, "I'm telling you, Jiaru, you'd better keep talking! I was just getting into it! Hurry up, if you don't finish the story today, I won't let you go home! Your wife will think you've found some little tart to fool around with and haven't come back yet. Just wait and see how you'll deal with that!"

  Lu Jiaju hastily begged for mercy: "Don't! Whatever you do, don't! Sixth Brother, spare me! Can't I just say it?"

  Then he scolded the woman together, and everyone came out to single out. Chen Xiaoqi's hands were extraordinary, and with two moves, a foreign general was cut down from his horse. Finally, he used his wonderful hand to rescue him, taking the opportunity to humiliate the foreign devil doctor severely. Lin Lin told a series of stories, listening to which Chen Shouting repeatedly slapped the case and exclaimed that it was impossible to stop.

  While shouting "good" and laughing, Chen Shouting secretly patted Chen Xiaoqi's shoulder and said: "Old Seven! You're really something! I didn't expect that not only are you good at scolding people in a foreign language, but you're also handy with your fists. Good! This is the style of my brother! It's just like what your sixth brother was like when he was young! One day, let's have a good exchange and see if your 'black tiger steals the heart' is more powerful or my chicken-catching skills are more powerful, haha! Keep talking!"

  When it comes to foreigners losing face but not losing their tongues, shouting and wanting to put up a sign to prevent Chinese people from entering the restaurant to eat, Chen Shoutin burst into another round of scolding. After finishing, he turned his head and complained to Chen Xiaoqi: "I said old seven, why didn't you just directly block him? He even wants to put up a sign to prevent Chinese people from entering? I'll tear down that broken meat shop! Damn it! It's infuriating!"

  Chen Xiaoqi's face was indifferent, and he coldly laughed: "Sixth brother, don't be angry about this, the future is long, they can rebuild after demolishing the house. This isn't a long-term solution, we need to develop well and make more money. One day, we'll buy the entire Qingdao city and drive these bastards into the sea to feed the turtles! Wouldn't that be more satisfying?!

  "Wow, my brother is really bold! Buying the entire city of Qingdao? Who dares to think that?! Good job! Your sixth uncle's lifelong wish was to open a dye factory as big as the city of Qingdao and sell our dyed fabrics all over China! But you're even better, buying the whole city directly, isn't that becoming an emperor?! Haha! Alright, when that day comes and you have the ability, your sixth uncle will be willing to be your gatekeeper!"

  Three people were amused by this, one day the clouds dispersed, Lu Jiaju said after speaking out, felt much better, but still somewhat worried and said: "Sixth brother, I think it's not necessary, during this period of time, let Xiaochi go out less, those foreigners have narrow hearts, they lost face openly, they will definitely swallow their anger, their fists are useless, but their guns are powerful! I think it's better to be careful!"

  Chen Shoutin furrowed his brow, rubbed his short hair with his index finger, and said: "Is it necessary? How can they dare to shoot guns and fire cannons openly here, which is also a place for Chinese people?"

  Lu Jiaju nodded solemnly and said, "It's necessary! When I was studying in Germany, my foreign classmates told me that among foreigners, the Germans are the smartest, the French are the most chaotic, the Russians are the cruelest, and the British are the worst. Half of the world's troubles are caused by the British, so we must be on guard."

  "Oh, if that's the case, then we really need to be on guard against them. I knew these scoundrels were untrustworthy, and I've heard of their tactics of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, but I didn't know they had such tricks up their sleeves." Chen Shouting rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

  Chen Xiaoqi smiled and said, "What Jiajue said is not wrong, I also understand the situation to be roughly like this. Alright, during this time I'll stay at home and focus on reading books, it's just as well that some of my studies have become rusty, I need to quickly pick them up again, so when the time comes to go to university I won't fall behind."

  "Go to college?" The two people heard him say this and simultaneously paused for a moment, asking in unison.

  Chen Xiaoqi's expression turned serious, "Yes, I've thought about it. I still need to go to college. At my current age and with my limited experience, I won't be able to accomplish much. It would be best for me to further my studies in university, learn more things that will come in handy later on, and then I'll be able to assist Sixth Brother effectively."

  "Good thing you're going to school! Your sixth brother will suffer from not recognizing characters for the rest of his life, and now it's too late to learn! That's why I've been thinking all day, when my child grows up, I'll also send him abroad to study, learn some big skills and come back, so he won't be like me, stuck here unable to move, uncultured and can't do great things. This is a principle that must be recognized. Old seven has this idea very well, sixth brother unconditionally supports you, where are you planning to go? How much money will it take? Tell your sixth brother!"

  Chen Xiaoqi smiled and said, "I haven't decided where to go yet, as for the money, I have my own way of dealing with it, so don't worry about it for now, Sixth Brother." Chen Shouting immediately became anxious upon hearing this, but Chen Xiaoqi quickly pressed him down and said, "Sixth Brother, don't be anxious just yet. I'm not saying I won't look for you. At my age, I should at least try to figure some things out on my own. With you as my backing, I'll have a sense of security. If it really doesn't work out, then I'll still have to rely on Sixth Brother."

  Chen Shoutin finally put his mind at ease. After chatting for a few more sentences, the sky was no longer early, and they still had to return to their residence to rest, so the three of them dispersed. However, Chen Xiaoqi indeed kept his promise, from that day on, until he formally became sworn brothers with Chen Shoutin, he did not go out again to cause trouble. On the other hand, Lu Jiaju was well-connected and many foreigners in Qingdao knew him, so after a few comings and goings, everyone knew that he was involved in the incident that night, but the parties concerned had already gone to Shanghai, and no one here bothered them for the time being. This matter just subsided like this.

  On the day before August 15, in the presence of Miao Handong, a leading figure in Shandong's business community and owner of Shandong Chengde Flour Factory, Zhou Jiayou, a respected figure in China's economic circle who has since retired, representatives from many foreign firms in Qingdao, Chen Shoutin's father-in-law and uncle, Zhou Zhangang, owner of Zhoucun Tonghe Dyeing Factory, as well as Lu Jiaju's father, the renowned Confucian merchant Lu Laozhangzi, Chen Xiaoqi and Chen Shouting became sworn brothers.

  After the ceremony, during a casual conversation at the banquet, Chen Xiaoqi suddenly had an idea and gave Miao Handong a suggestion - to increase the value of the flour factory, also known as deep processing. Before this, Miao's family business was already the largest in the province and they hadn't considered going further because even if their current business expanded twice, it wouldn't be enough to keep them busy, as China lacked food and people who ate white bread were numerous.

  Chen Xiaoqi didn't see it that way. Under the influence of wine, he gave a cross-era economics lesson to the people present. The content seemed shallow to modern people, but at that time, it was astonishing. He first proposed the concept of an industrial chain, making these businessmen understand why Japanese people bought cotton yarn from China, transported it back to Japan to weave into cloth and then transport it back to China, which was still cheaper than domestic cloth.

  It wasn't just because of subsidies from the Japanese government or exploitation by Chinese warlords. Economically, Japanese people colluded with warlords to control cotton production areas, lowering the purchase price. In Shanghai, they set up spinning factories on a large scale, lowering production costs. With government subsidies and tax exemptions, they had competitive power. This further illustrated the necessity of re-processing and increasing product value.

  Miao Handong and others, despite being well-versed in both Chinese and Western learning, have obvious limitations in their economic vision. After all, Chen Xiaoqi's theory, which he plagiarized from Lang Xianping, is not well-known even in 21st-century China, let alone in the present era. Fortunately, what he said was relatively simple, and the listeners were all momentarily brilliant, so it wasn't too difficult to understand.

  Next, it was only natural that Chen Xiaoqi took on the task of adding value to the flour factory, but this still didn't stump him. After all, he had one last trump card up his sleeve - calcium milk biscuits!

  Qing Food Calcium Biscuits are a high-quality product that has been renowned in China for decades. In the early 1960s, when calcium deficiency was widespread among the population, especially children, due to the lack of milk consumption, many food manufacturers made various efforts to solve this problem under the mission of "protecting the next generation". Among them, a biscuit factory in Qingdao created Calcium Biscuits, a high-quality product. After initially adding bone powder, the formula was improved by using calcium gluconate as a calcium additive, which has been used until the 21st century. Hundreds of millions of people have tasted this delicious food at different ages. For decades, wax paper-wrapped Calcium Biscuits were an essential gift for visiting relatives and friends, leaving a deep impression on many.

  Chen Xiaoqi took the stage and, of course, would not repeat the primary work of making bone powder. He directly gave out the overall plan for processes such as gelatinization, dough preparation, tablet pressing, and printing, as well as formulas for ingredients like flour, eggs, milk powder, white sugar, vegetable oil, and calcium. Moreover, he even came up with advertising slogans that introduced the unprecedented concept of supplementing calcium to assist skeletal growth and prevent rickets, and further developed the idea of food therapy.

  Not only that, but Chen Xiaoqi also shared some opinions and suggestions with Miao Handong on how to expand the biscuit industry based on his knowledge of later generations. In particular, he mentioned various types of biscuits commonly found in supermarkets in later generations, such as crackers, vegetable biscuits, chocolate cookies, and sandwich cookies, etc. As for how to process them, that's not something he can explain clearly.

  But this was clearly enough, and it wasn't hard to see the business opportunity in this obviously viable plan. Compared to the 1960s and 1920s, Chinese people's lives were equally difficult, with urban families and wealthy landlords having the chance to eat their fill, but no way to improve the physique of future generations. Chen Xiaoqi's timely intervention was a godsend. His clever plan inadvertently brought forward China's calcium supplementation by a whole forty years, and its profound impact on the entire nation cannot be overstated. From then on, Chinese people's history of calcium deficiency was gone for good.

  Miao Handong finally left with a sigh of admiration and regret. Years ago, he spent 300,000 taels to dig up Chen Shouting's unfinished project, but Chen Shouting cherished the small industry his father-in-law had left behind and worked hard for ten years to develop it into Qingdao's second-largest dye factory. A business genius was thus lost to him. Now, Chen Xiaoqi's sudden appearance has made him sigh in amazement - with just one idea, Chen Xiaoqi can increase the value of his existing assets threefold with minimal investment. In just a few months, Chen also reached a far-sighted cooperation with the French, and could even write out formulas for dyeing fabrics. What a rare talent! He's so exceptional that even the largest flour factory in Shandong couldn't contain him - what a prodigy! Luckily, he's his brother!