Chapter 40: Chengdu Flavor
"Sovereignty? Do we still have sovereignty?" Qin Guangcheng said indignantly: "In the 28th year of Guangxu, the British Consul in Chongqing rented an apartment on Longxing Street in Chengdu and dispatched personnel, calling it the 'British Consulate General in Chengdu'; In the 22nd year of Guangxu, France sent a consul to Chongqing, and later set up a 'Consular Office of the French Consulate General in Chengdu' on Sansheng Street in Chengdu, citing the need for various consultations and reporting to the provincial capital. The imperial court acquiesced to this. In the 30th year of Guangxu, the imperial court agreed that the German consul in Chongqing could temporarily reside in Chengdu for 'commercial and official business'. Germany subsequently set up consulates on Yixue Alley, Jinma Street, Xizhu City Street, and Dongzhu City Street, calling itself the 'German Consulate General'. All these things, where is our sovereignty?"
Wang Hengyue's brows were also furrowed tighter as he listened.
Du Cha Li sighed and said, "Although Americans and Japanese have not yet set up their own offices, they have only hung a sign that says 'office', but I think it's coming soon."
"Sovereignty, sovereignty." Wang Hengyu downed the wine in his cup in one gulp and slammed the empty cup down: "With a court like this in power, the two words 'sovereignty' are nothing but a joke."
"Don't mention state affairs, don't mention state affairs." Du Chali waved his hand and quickly changed the subject: "Shu, what brings you back to Chengdu this time?"
Wang Hengyue's mind was elsewhere and he replied mechanically: "Kreiman asked me to attend that wine party or whatever it is."
"K... Kleiman?" Du Charlie's eyes widened: "Kleiman invited you to a party?"
Wang Heng forced a smile: "I did some business with him, and Pete is his nephew, so that's why we were invited."
Du Charlie's eyes widened even more, and he had to think of every possible way to spend half a day's effort before being allowed to attend the banquet. The two gentlemen in front of him treated this as if it were the most ordinary thing?
Pete's gaze was vastly different, as he urged him to drink with a tone of reprimand: "Shu Ze, you're not even treating me like one of your own. What good business do you have that you didn't come find me? Why'd you go and give the foreigners a bargain?"
You're a real fake foreigner, now that you've heard about business, you've changed into a Chinese person. Wang Hengyue smiled to himself: "It's something related to weapons. The new army has just been established and can't do without such measures."
"In the future, you must come find me." Du Chali patted his chest and said: "No matter what Su Zhe wants, Du will always think of a way to get it."
"This remark made Wang Hengyue concerned: 'Manager Du, I think it's not good to rely on foreigners to buy weapons all the time. My brother and I are thinking of setting up a small arms factory to manufacture rifles and bullets. Do you have any way to do this, Manager Du?'"
"An arsenal?" Du Chang's eyebrows furrowed: "This is no small matter, first it needs to be approved by the imperial court, secondly setting up an arsenal requires a huge expenditure..."
Wang Hengyue also knew he had some fanciful ideas.
Whether the imperial court approves or not is another matter, this expense alone is enough to choke. Although I made a fortune in Lubao Silver and Yurui Township, compared to the cost of opening an arsenal, it's just a drop in the bucket.
He smiled and said: "Brother just casually mentioned it, Manager Du can take a look when he's free, no need to take it too seriously."
Although Du Charlie was a fake foreign devil, he was very particular about business matters. Since Wang Hengyue had spoken up, he also took it to heart.
After finishing dinner, Wang Hengyue rushed over all the way, feeling a bit tired, chatted for a while, apologized, and returned to his room to rest.
The next day, Qin Guangcheng came to invite Wang Hengyue, saying that Wang Hengyue had not thoroughly toured Chengdu yet. Qin Guangcheng put down his business and insisted on accompanying Wang Hengyue to experience the charm of Chengdu.
Chengdu is rich in products and has the reputation of "Tianfu Country". Because during the Han Dynasty, Shu brocade was produced in large quantities, and officials responsible for weaving brocade lived in Chengdu, so Chengdu is also known as "Jin City". Also, because Emperor Mengchang of Later Shu planted hibiscus syriacus all over Chengdu during the Five Dynasties period, Chengdu is also called "Rongcheng".
Chengdu has a unique charm. There is not a single road in the whole city that is paved with stone slabs. The main streets are no more than ten meters wide, and the alleys are only two or three meters narrow. When going out, the most popular mode of transportation is the sedan chair.
The sedan chairs on which the ladies sat were called "dingzi guai".
"Dingzi Gua" refers to a sedan chair carried by three people. Ordinary civilians ride in a "chicken eggshell", which is a sedan chair carried by two people.
At this time, a "eggshell" came over, and the two sedan chair bearers sang in harmony, making Wang Hengyue, Ma Xiao, and Pete laugh.
The sedan carriers in front sing a line "Bright and clear in the sky." The sedan carriers behind respond with a line "Gurgling water underground." "A knife in the sky." "A ditch on the ground." "A flower on the left side." "She is your mother."
Pete laughed and applauded continuously, giving a thumbs up saying the singing was great. Unfortunately, the rickshaw soon went far away, leaving Pete in a daze, reluctant to part with it.
"What is he doing?" Wang Hengyue suddenly pointed ahead.
Looking ahead in the morning, a man in his 40s was kneeling on the ground with a wooden bench on his head. Next to him was a food stall, and both the owner of the food stall and the people eating were completely indifferent.
Qin Guangcheng smiled: "This stall is called 'Hot Pot', and the person kneeling on the ground with a wooden board on his head eats white food."
"What? What does 'Hot Pot' mean?" Wang Hengyue was very curious.
What is called "hot stick soup" is actually the leftover dishes collected from large restaurants. The food stall owner brings it back, adds a few ladles of water, sprinkles some salt and cooks it, making it look like it's still "oily". Poor people spend three to five cents to buy a bowl and eat happily. In the end, they even joke about themselves, calling bones "wolf teeth sticks", steamed meat skin "official knife meat", and fish bones "comb fish".
Of course, there are also those who eat and drink enough but do not pay a single cent, the stall owner will punish them according to the old rules, making them kneel on the ground and hold up a wooden bench as punishment.
Although such punishment is humiliating, some people who are extremely hungry or unscrupulous are willing to do so.
"Seeing the hot pot soup, I'm getting hungry." Qin Guangcheng patted his stomach: "Let's go, brothers, I'll take you to 'Chen Mapo Restaurant' for dinner."
"Chen Mapo Restaurant" was originally called "Chen Xing Sheng Restaurant", which opened in the first year of Tongzhi, and was run by Chen Mapo's wife, who cooked tofu dishes such as Mapo tofu, spicy tofu, fresh tofu, and boiled tofu, etc., which were very popular among customers. The dish was named "Mapo Tofu" by diners, and the restaurant was later renamed "Chen Mapo Restaurant".
"Mapo tofu" was a famous name in Wang Hengyue's era and could be seen all over the country, but I didn't expect to see the most authentic one here today.
As soon as he saw "Chen Mapo Restaurant", the shopkeeper came out to greet him personally, with a smile all over his face: "Mr. Qin, it's been a while since you've come."
"Business is really busy." Qin Guangcheng nodded: "Today I brought a few friends to dinner, still the same as before."
The shopkeeper's face showed a difficult expression: "Mr. Qin, you are too polite, the elegant room upstairs is already occupied!"
