National Tide 1980.

Chapter 653 Magical Land
According to Kang Shuode's recollection, the time he went to Jinmen was in the winter of 1935.

He has just learned to run a business in Mr. Song's shop for more than a year.

The cause was that in early December of that year, Mr. Song received a telegram from an official friend in Jinmen.

The official said in the letter that his boss suddenly wanted to marry his concubine, and the date was set for the end of the month.

Due to time constraints, I would like to entrust Mr. Song to send some goodies to Jinmen at the price of [-] oceans.

Mr. Song hurriedly chose a pair of red coral gem bonsai from Curry according to the request of the other party.

However, due to the many affairs in the capital, he was unable to go there in person, so he appointed Kang Shude to deliver the goods and get the money back.

After many years, Kang Shude finally figured it out.

The fact that he was assigned the foreigner that trip was not because Mr. Song had no time, nor was there no other more suitable candidates in the store.

It was because Mr. Song wanted to conduct a comprehensive test on his ability and character.

I probably want to see if he can handle this matter well with his own ability.

Can you not afford to be greedy in the face of this sum of money, which is already considered a huge sum of money for ordinary people.

It should be said that Kang Shude, who was only 17 years old at the time, took on this task purely biting the bullet.

Naturally, my heart beats a drum.

He knew that Jinmen in those days was a place with mixed places, a very chaotic place.

Because he didn't want to make a mistake, he ruined the task assigned by Mr. Song himself.

He turned to two good friends, Li Li and Xiao Zhong, to accompany him.

The two sons of the foreman of the concierge of Ma's garden were the people he trusted the most at that time, and they could only rely on their help.

Xiao Zhong is a big guy, and he is very loyal.

He is two years older than Kang Shude, and he looks like an older brother.

Regardless of the fact that he had already received a job as a patrol officer at that time, but for the sake of Kang Shuode, he did not hesitate to ask the police station for leave, and agreed without saying a word.

Li Li, who had sharp-mouthed monkey cheeks and a pair of big ears, was cunning.

Although he has nothing serious to do, he has a lot of time, but he has to talk about conditions.

The boy said, "You can go. But you can't run errands for nothing and be a bodyguard to escort you. Brother, you have to treat guests, and you have to invite expensive ones. Please Xiao Zhong and I have a restaurant .”

"I heard that in addition to Da Da Hua and Goubuli, there is also a famous western restaurant in Jinmen called Shilin. This restaurant is different, and it is run by a German. The waiters and waitresses all speak foreign languages, and the food they eat It's also foreign food."

"When you come to Keshilin, you go to a foreign country, the United States, England, France, Germany, whichever country you want it to be.

It is more than Liuguo Hotel in Beijing.So my condition is that when we arrive in Jinmen, we have to go to Qishilin to have a Western meal.how about it?Can you promise? "

However, Xiao Zhong was very dissatisfied when he heard this, and stopped Kang Shude for him before he could open his mouth.

"Hey, Li Li, what are you talking about? Friends are willing to help out on conditions? It costs a lot of money to eat this kind of western food, which is far less affordable than rotten meat noodles. None of us are rich enough to eat hazelnuts It is enough for Xiaokang to give you travel expenses and invite you to visit Jinmen, don't be dissatisfied. You are too hypocritical..."

Li Li blushed, but argued forcefully, "Hey, look at what you said. Why am I being hypocritical? There are also bandits around the capital and Jinmen, 'flywheel eaters' (those who specialize in pickpocketing on trains) Thief) is more like a cow. Helping Xiaokang this favor is not just a matter of running errands, it is to follow him with fear and risk, is it too much to be a foreigner?"

"Besides, if he doesn't have this money, I won't mention it. Isn't this kid earning 20 yuan a month? It's nearly three times more than your eight yuan a month. I don't care If I go to Jinmen, I can pick up cheap food and lodging, so it’s okay if I just want to eat this foreign meal? At worst, I’ll wait for me to earn money later, and then I’ll hire him again.”

"I'll also tell you, Xiao Zhong, don't know what's good or bad. I'm also doing it for your own good. This is a rare opportunity. Otherwise, with you as a 'stinky foot patrol', you will never have the chance to go to the United States in this life. Shilin can at least regain their knowledge and increase their bragging capital, so that people will look at us differently."

Kang Shude is not a stingy person, he felt that he should do this to be worthy of the two friends.

What's more, after hearing Li Li's introduction, he himself became a little interested in Shilin.

He boasted that he had already saved five or sixty yuan in his hand, which was enough to deal with it, so he didn't let Xiao Zhong speak out to dissuade him, and he agreed.

In this way, the matter was settled, and he left as soon as he said it.

The next day, before dawn, the three brothers got up and went to Qianmen Railway Station to buy tickets for the first train.

In three hours, I arrived in Jinmen early in the morning.

Jinmen is a big wind outlet. In winter, the cold is caused by the wind.

When the three brothers got out of the car, they felt the northwest wind whistling, and the electric wires on the street were swaying in the wind, making it impossible to stand on the wind.

Just because they are unfamiliar with the place, wait for them to stand behind the flow of people and walk outside slowly.

Almost all the foreign cars waiting at the gate of the train station took the guests away, and it was difficult to find an empty car, let alone the three of them had to take at least two cars.

So no problem, all three of them were wearing fur hats, they could only hold things, put their hands in the sleeves of their cotton robes, and walk on two legs.

However, the concession in Jinmen is much larger than Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing.

Western-style buildings abound, and there are foreign patrols, so the three of them can't take their eyes off it, and it's fresh everywhere.

Li Li was very knowledgeable and knew that he had to finish his work before going to dinner.

So I didn't rush, just followed along honestly, and even helped to find out the way.

But they didn't expect that when they finally found the place, they learned that the official had gone to the Yamen to handle official business early in the morning.

The concierge asked them to come back to deliver things at noon, saying that the official would go home for dinner at noon.

This time, the three of them stopped scratching.

This is not right, it is still a long time before noon.

It's cold, where are they going to wait?

Then Li Li became interested, and wanted to find Qi Shilin quickly and go to a foreign restaurant to enjoy it.

He inquired about it with the concierge, and he heard that it was not far away, and he could see it after turning a corner at the end of the street within less than a mile.

Kang Shude felt that it was okay to do so, but he was worried that he would not be able to make a deal, so he didn't do business at all.

At this time, Xiao Zhong saw a stall selling breakfast by the side of the road, and immediately couldn't walk.

He's big, he hasn't eaten all morning, and his stomach has already protested.

So he went straight to the past, took out the copper, and said that he had to buy a set of fried dough sticks first, and then a bowl of soy milk as a base.

Where Kang Shuode could get Xiao Zhong to pay, he went over to press his hand, and bought three sets at once for the three of them with his own money.

Unexpectedly, if Li Lifei didn't want to eat, this kid wanted to save his stomach to eat foreign food.

Instead, he made fun of Xiao Zhong for being stupid, his stomach was filled with fried dough sticks, which was tantamount to saving money for Kang Shude.

Xiao Zhong and Kang Shude didn't bother to argue with Li Li, who was playing chicken thief.

As a result, Xiao Zhong had two sets, and Kang Shude had one set, and they soon fell into the stomach.

After eating, it will appear different in the cold weather.

Xiao Zhong and Kang Shude's bodies became much warmer, and they walked with strength.

On the contrary, Li Li was still as cold as sifting chaff. When he walked to the end of the street and turned the corner, he was no longer interested in enjoying the western scenery of the concession, and wanted to go to a restaurant to keep warm.

However, I didn't expect it to happen.

Ordinarily, they had indeed arrived at the place pointed out by the concierge, but they couldn't find Shilin.

Back and forth, they strolled on this street several times, but they didn't find that there was something like a restaurant on this street.

There is not even a plaque in the guise!

Want to ask for directions, this place wears a coat, looks like eating western food and doesn't like to talk to them.

Reluctantly stopped one, before they could express their intention, this one opened his mouth and said "Ba Ge Ya Lu", he was actually an oriental.

Li Li was so angry that he kept cursing the concierge for breaking his conscience and fooling them.

Later, they could only run to a leeward place to sum up, what should they do next.

But before the three of them stood still, another foreign policeman appeared.

The owner had a fierce look in his eyes and knocked on the wall with his baton to drive them away.

Let's just say how messed up it is.

Both Kang Shude and Li Li were taken aback.

Fortunately, Xiao Zhong is also a patrolman, so he is not afraid of this.

He took a step forward, "Dude, stop knocking, we are looking for Shilin."

I don't know if his composure played a role, or because of the three characters of Shilin, even foreign policemen who don't know Chinese can understand it.

Anyway, this guy restrained his fierce look and didn't wave his baton again.

After looking them up and down for a while, he pointed to the opposite side of the road.

The eyes of the three people moved over, only to find that across the road was a very western style white building with big glass doors and windows.

There are also two men in uniform guarding the door, standing upright in the strong wind, and they are responsible for opening the door for those who come in and out.

It was unbelievable that such a magnificent building was actually a restaurant. They always thought that this kind of place was either a foreign mansion or a foreign bank.

Xiao Zhongsheng was afraid that he had made a mistake, so he pointed to the house to confirm with the foreign police.

"Keshilin?"

When they got the nod from the foreign police again, they boldly walked over.

But they still didn't dare to get too close to the gate, and the three of them all raised their heads to look for Shilin's signboard at the same time.

Look around, but still can't find the plaque.

In the end, it was Kang Shude who discovered several foreign letters "KIESLING & BADER" on the round lintel of the Bailou.

But how do they know foreign characters?

At this time, even Kang Shude only took Chinese and mathematics tutoring.

The three of them looked up at each other with their heads together for a long time, it was purely a dog looking at the stars.

If they were really sure that they were in the right place, it was because they came closer and found that there were indeed foreigners eating Western food in the glass windows of Shilin.

Many people stood outside, watching as if they were watching a foreign film.

But at this time Xiao Zhong backed down again, he was a little intimidated by the magnificence of the restaurant.

"Is this place we can enter? Or don't go there. I haven't eaten pork. Let's just watch the pigs run outside..."

Of course Li Li didn't do it.

"How can I do that? Watching and eating are two different things. Just like you usually watch patrolmen on the street, can it be the same as wearing that dress yourself? It's completely two kinds of moods. What's more, you two eat, I Are you still hungry? I said, I didn’t even call for a foreign car today, and Xiaokang saved all the fare. I finally found a place, and I didn’t let you in when I got to the gate! Are you really sorry for me?”

Kang Shude firmly supported Li Li this time.

Apart from not wanting to disappoint his friends, he also had another reason, that is, the foreign policemen across the road were still watching them.

If he didn't go in again, he was afraid that the foreign patrols would become suspicious again, and he was afraid that he would cause unreasonable troubles if he chased him over.

Therefore, Xiao Zhong had no choice but to muster up the courage to follow Li Li and Kang Shude to the gate.

When they go in, look back again.

Sure enough, the foreign policeman turned around and left, wielding the baton in his hand.

And those onlookers in front of the window all cast envious looks at them.

Before actually entering, they discovered that this Shilin is indeed a magical place.

This gate here seems to be the dividing line between good and bad, mediocrity and nobility.

(End of this chapter)