Chapter 3 Selling Watches

  Qin Guangcheng was a man who valued loyalty and gratitude, and he remembered Wang Hengyue's lifesaving kindness to him, so he agreed on the spot with a pat on his chest.

  He seemed to be about 70 or 80 percent drunk. Qin Guangcheng stumbled up, and had his family support Wang Hengyue as he went to the guest room to rest.

  I slept soundly and woke up to find it was already high noon.

  There was already a maid waiting there, and as soon as Wang Hengyue woke up, she hastily brought over the washing utensils.

  The wealthy family is indeed different, nothing needs to be done by oneself, Wang Hengyue couldn't help but sigh. Although the toothpaste mouthwash wasn't quite habituated, it was ultimately acceptable. After a quick wash, she left the house with the maid.

  Just out, Qin Guangcheng was already waiting there, and as soon as he saw Wang Hengyue, he smiled and said: "Brother, did you sleep well?"

  "Alright, alright." Wang Hengyue also smiled and nodded his head.

  As he walked with Wang Heng to the dining hall, he asked, "Although it doesn't matter that you've cut off your braid, it's still a bit jarring to look at. Should I prepare a fake braid for you to cover up in front of others?"

  Qin Guangcheng is right on this point, cutting pigtails was no longer a capital offense at that time.

  The Xinhai Revolution in 1900 was a very important event in Chinese history. After that, the Qing government's prestige was lost, its control over various places weakened, and local forces began to grow stronger. The "Hubei Student Circle" at home proposed cutting queues and changing clothes in 1903.

  After 1903, with the return of overseas students, a small number of young students in southern provinces where Qing government control was weaker began to cut their queues. After the Qing government established new armies, some soldiers also cut off their queues for convenience in wearing military hats. For this reason, the Qing government issued an order on May 6, 1907, strictly prohibiting students and soldiers from cutting their queues. Those who were found out would be punished. However, at that time, due to the Qing government's weakened control, this order was not strictly enforced in various places.

  The Qing government had no choice but to adopt a perfunctory attitude towards this.

  Therefore, all over the country, especially in the southern provinces, there were many students and soldiers who had cut off their queues. As long as they did not openly claim to be "revolutionary parties", the government generally did not intervene.

  "Big brother, when I was abroad, I had already cut off my braid. It's really not habitual for me to drag this tail behind."

  Seeing Wang Hengyue was so determined, Qin Guangcheng also didn't insist anymore. He accompanied Wang Hengyue to have dinner and led him to the living room for some small talk. The family members reported that there were guests arriving.

  He led the two guests in and Qin Guangcheng smiled as he approached: "Brother Luo, Brother Du!"

  He introduced Wang Hengyue first, only introducing that this was someone who had returned from overseas, with the surname Wang and the given name Hengyue, and the courtesy name Shuzhi. These two characters "Shuzhi" were originally the name given to Wang Hengyue by his grandfather, but yesterday at the banquet, Wang Hengyue simply took them as his own courtesy name.

  "He pointed at the two guests and said: 'This is Luo Taiwu, the boss of Hengtong Jewelry Pawnshop, and this is Du Charles, the manager of Baojia Foreign Firm.'"

  Luotaiwu was dressed in traditional Chinese attire, and with a slight bow, he considered the formalities over. Charlie Du, on the other hand, was a Westernized gentleman who didn't bother with queues or traditional clothing. He wore a suit, a top hat, and carried a cane. When he saw Wang Hengyue similarly dressed, he felt an instant sense of familiarity and said: "Hello, I'm Charlie Du, glad to meet you here!"

  One mouth is a foreign language, it seems that Wang Heo's bird language has not been forgotten, and he smiled and said: "Hello, I am Wang Heo, see you here!"

  "Wow, this is really someone who has been abroad." Du Chali was overjoyed and saw Qin Guangcheng and Luo Taiwu looking puzzled, so he boasted: "This is the real way foreigners greet each other. If you haven't been abroad, you wouldn't know. My brother was sent to America by my father back then, and I've seen a bit of the world. When I returned to Sichuan, there were no longer any people who could converse with me. Today, seeing Brother Shu, it's especially endearing."

  This is another typical fake foreign devil, Wang Hengyue thought to himself with a smile.

  After everyone sat down and had some tea, Qin Guangcheng carefully recounted how he encountered danger and was rescued by Wang Hengyue. Luo Fuzhi and Du Chali listened with repeated exclamations of admiration.

  "After a while, the conversation took a turn: "The Shu family is a big household overseas, with well-managed businesses and trade all over the United States and England. This time, Shu returned from overseas, originally to follow the family's orders to develop business, but the remittance has not arrived, and the financial situation is tense..."

  Wang Hengyue almost spat it out, this Qin Guangcheng is such a down-to-earth person, but when he starts talking nonsense, his eyes don't even blink. Dealing with these business people, you really need to grow a few more eyes to be safe.

  Re-measuring Luo Taiwu and Du Charlie, as soon as they heard that they were going to be transferred, their faces immediately showed a difficult expression.

  Qin Guangcheng smiled slightly: "You two can rest assured, I'm not here to ask you for a loan. As for money, I can still afford tens of thousands of taels of silver. Is my life worth only tens of thousands of taels of silver?"

  Luo and Du finally put their minds at ease, but they didn't understand the meaning behind Qin Guangcheng's words.

  Qin Guangcheng gave Wang Hengyue a look, and Wang Hengyue took over: "I just returned from the United States... America, via Switzerland, and purchased a batch of Swiss gold watches. Since my father's remittance has not arrived yet, I'd like to sell this batch of watches. Do either of you have any interest?"

  As soon as they heard it was a Swiss watch, Luo and Du's eyes lit up.

  The old saying goes "Swiss watches, German clocks", Swiss watches and German clocks are the most famous in China. Luo and Du were originally doing jewelry and foreign goods business, when they heard that there was a batch of Swiss watches, how could they not be interested?

  Du Cha Li calmed down and said: "Since it's something Brother Shu brought back from Switzerland, it must be good. Would you mind if I took a look at this batch of watches?"

  Wang Hengyue nodded, stood up, excused himself, and asked the others to wait for a moment. He then turned back to the guest room arranged by Qin Guangcheng.

  In the room, he thought for a while, took out three pieces of shanzhai gold watches from his bag and left them for future use. Then, carrying a full bag of shanzhai goods, he returned to the living room.

  "Long awaited, long awaited." Wang Hengyue smiled and put the package on the table. Luo Fuzhi and Du Charlie, who had been holding back for a long time, quickly got up and surrounded him. Qin Guangcheng also walked over curiously.

  Open the bag and take out several exquisite boxes. As soon as the box is opened, Luo Fu and Du Charlie's eyes light up at the same time.

  Du Charlie took the box and couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly: "Good stuff, good stuff! Things brought from abroad are indeed different. Such goods were rarely seen even when my brother was in America!"