Sail across the sea

Chapter 317 Can we help?

Tan Jianjun's father was a cadre in Yanxiu County. He was a college student in the 1950s and had some ability. Under the influence of his family, Tan Jianjun read a lot of books since he was a child and was a little smart. When he graduated from high school, the college entrance examination had not yet been resumed, and his father used his connections to arrange for him to work in a fertilizer factory as a worker.

In this era, in such a small county, workers still have some status. At least, they are eligible to be picky when it comes to finding a partner. If Tan Jianjun is willing, he can be a happy bachelor and moonlighter like other young workers in the factory, and then wait for the opportunity to use his father's connections to get a job with easier work and higher income.

However, Tan Jianjun is a man who has seen some of the world. He has been to some big cities with his father on business trips, and there are several photos of him posing in salute at Tiananmen Square, belonging to different age groups, which is rare in Yanxiu County.

After gaining experience in big cities, Tan Jianjun felt that it was too boring to stay in a small county and just eat and wait for death. He wanted to pursue a more tasteful and exciting lifestyle.

In the factory, he had the nickname "Amateur Overseas Chinese". This was not only because of his rustic "Western-style" attire, but also because he always mentioned foreign countries and talked about how great foreign countries were, as if he had been to many foreign countries.

When he was 15 years old, he went on a business trip to Beijing with his father. He met a foreigner on the street. In fact, they just glanced at each other from a few meters away. This incident has been on his lips for many years. The experience of meeting this unknown foreigner has become a topic of conversation and laughter between him and foreigners. If it were not for the international impact, foreigners would be eager to become sworn brothers with him.

By the way, this seems to be the case in his own impression. The highest level of sexual fantasy is that in the end, you can't remember what is true and what is false.

This time, Gao Fan and his team came to Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory to visit Yin Baowen. Before they sat down on the sofa in Yin Baowen's office, the news that "a foreigner came to the factory" had spread throughout the factory. Everyone in the workshop was talking about going outside the factory after get off work to see what the foreigner looked like, but at the same time they were timidly worried that doing so would be a disgrace to the national dignity and factory dignity, and would violate the rule of "not watching foreign guests".

At this time, some people who secretly disliked Tan Jianjun's showing off began to instigate him, saying that since he was able to chat and laugh with foreign guests at the age of 15, he might as well go and chat with the foreign guests now and help everyone find out more about the fertilizer plant being converted into a joint venture.

As an amateur overseas Chinese, Tan Jianjun naturally wanted to see foreigners. With the encouragement and pressure from people around him, he made up his mind to go to the factory gate as soon as he got off work and wait for them. He was determined to chat with the foreigners. If he could really chat with them, wouldn't he have more topics to talk about in the rest of his life?

One morning, while watching over the equipment in the workshop, he was recalling the English he had learned in his mind, thinking about what the first sentence should be and the second sentence should be when meeting foreign guests, and how many teeth should be shown when smiling.

The equipment in the fertilizer plant runs 24 hours a day, so the workers work in three shifts. When Tan Jianjun got off work, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon. He quickly took off his work clothes, took out his overseas Chinese clothes from the tool box and put them on, then ran downstairs to the factory. After asking around, he found out that the foreign guests had already left.

Before he could return home in disgrace, new news came that foreign guests were strolling on Yanxiu Street, so he rushed over with two of his best friends.

The communication with the foreign guests was unusually smooth. Tan Jianjun had graduated from high school. Although English was not valued in that era, Tan Jianjun still learned some daily conversations. He would occasionally imagine a conversation with foreigners, so he could speak English fluently about greetings and self-introductions, and his pronunciation was also acceptable.

After introducing himself to Bob, Tan Jianjun thought to himself that the other party should also introduce himself with a name, such as Tom or Jerry, so what should he say? If he asked "How_are_your_mother", would the foreign guest think he was insulting him?

What he never expected was that the foreign guest actually answered with a question, "Is it the Army Day on August 1st?" He responded subconsciously, and then realized that this foreign guest knew Chinese. Not only did he know Chinese, he even knew about the Army Day on August 1st. He was clearly an expert on China. Gao Fan was no longer surprised by such scenes. Looking at Tan Jianjun's embarrassed look, he felt a little gloating.

Nowadays, Chinese people have a certain degree of awe towards foreign guests, and everyone says "no matter how small, diplomacy is important". Considering the national conditions at that time, this attitude is understandable. To introduce foreign investment and learn advanced foreign technology, you must have a humble attitude.

For example, Xu Ying and Gao Yiping would unconsciously put themselves in a relatively low position when dealing with foreign guests, giving them more respect. But when it comes to disputes over interests, these people know which side they should stand on.

Tan Jianjun's situation is different. His attire and behavior show that he is a spiritual foreigner. His admiration for foreign countries comes from the heart, and he believes from the bottom of his heart that the moon in foreign countries is rounder than that in China.

Gao Fan naturally didn't have any good feelings towards such a person. Seeing Tan Jianjun being humiliated, Gao Fan couldn't help but laugh secretly.

"What's the matter with you looking for foreign guests?" Gao Fan asked with a cold face.

"Uh..." Tan Jianjun was a little speechless.

Just now Bob said Gao Fan was his boss. Although Tan Jianjun didn't believe it, he felt that there might be something he didn't understand. At the very least, the relationship between this young man and the foreign guest was obviously not a subordinate relationship, but a person who could speak in front of the foreign guest. In this case, Tan Jianjun had to think carefully about what to say.

After all, it is easy to fool foreigners, but it is not easy to fool Chinese.

"I heard that Mr. Bob is here to acquire our Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory. I want to ask, I...if we can be of any help..." Tan Jianjun said hesitantly.

"Help?" Gao Fan frowned slightly.

"You want to help us?" Bob smiled and answered cheerfully, "Okay, we are in need of help. Otherwise, let's not stand here and talk. Let's go to a small restaurant and sit down to talk. I'll treat you to Red Army Coke."

　I told you I lost my password some time ago, do you believe me?

　　(End of this chapter)