A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Xie Yuxi is still very good at handling affairs. With the experience of Beiman Girls' Middle School, after coming to Tianjin, she also found Chengmei School, a church middle school opened by the American Protestant Wesleyan School in Tianjin.

This school has also been carried on to this day, and its name has become Tianjin Huiwen Middle School. Ma Sanli, the famous comic actor, graduated from this school.

The missionaries of the Wesleyan sect managed to run the school well, and it was not as short of money as Beiman Girls High School in Beijing, so they didn't want to go out independently.

However, Wesleyzong recommended to Xie Yuxi the members of the Board of Directors of the British Concession Industry Bureau. Through them, Xie Yuxi finally got in touch with someone who was interested in selling the land.

—— Xu Run, a big real estate developer.

Xu Run knew about Li Yu, and he had experienced the ups and downs of the business world. He had earned money for most of his life, but he also wanted to do some education to accumulate good fortune.

Xu Run also wanted to meet Li Yu with his own eyes, the most famous Chinese abroad.

But if Xie Yuxi wants to rent or buy the land in his hands, he still needs to get the approval of the Tianjin Concession Industry Bureau.

Like Xu Run, Bretten, the director of the Ministry of Industry in the British Concession, also wanted to see Li Yu. When the time came to let him appear and chat with Bretten in person, he would be able to obtain the approval of the Ministry of Industry with a certain probability.

Xu Run is a person who knows how to handle affairs, so he immediately set up a bureau in the famous Qishilin Restaurant in the British Concession, and invited Bretton, director of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, Tang Shaoyi from Tianjin Customs Road, Yan Fansun, Zhang Boling, and other celebrities in the education circle to appear together.

Tang Shaoyi was able to come, of course, because of Li Yu's face.

Xu Run knew it well, but it would be more beneficial for him to take this opportunity to get to know high-ranking officials again.

So Xie Yuxi sent a telegram to Li Yu, inviting him to set up Shilin Restaurant in the British Concession in Tianjin.

After Fengling at home received the telegram, she translated it and immediately gave it to Li Yu. After reading it, Li Yu had nothing to say. Anyway, Tianjin is so close, so I just went there.

After tidying up a bit, he called Zhao Qian and took him to the train station.

After buying the ticket, Li Yu sighed a little: "It would be great if I could buy an annual pass now."

The train tickets are not cheap at this time.

Li Yu has been to Tianjin several times and is very familiar with it.According to the address they gave, I found Qishilin Restaurant.

This restaurant is located at the northeast end of the famous Tianjin Fifth Avenue, and it has been passed down to later generations as a time-honored brand.

Qishilin restaurant is one of the first batch of western restaurants, and it is a very tasteful place in the Tianjin Concession today.

Li Yu came to the entrance of the restaurant, took a closer look, and asked the security guard, "Excuse me, is this Qishilin Restaurant?"

The security guard glanced at Li Yu, not wanting to talk to him.

So Li Yu asked again: "Excuse me, is this Qishilin Restaurant?"

The security guard finally raised his eyelids and looked at Li Yu: "Yes, what are you doing?"

"That's right."

Li Yu raised his leg and wanted to go in, but the security guard yelled angrily:
"stop!"

Li Yu was stunned: "Stop?"

The security guard looked at him: "Chinese?"

Li Yu wondered, "Yes, what's wrong?"

The security guard said: "This is a western restaurant specially opened for foreigners. Chinese people are not allowed to enter unless they are accompanied by foreigners."

"Need to be accompanied by a foreigner?" Li Yu asked in amazement, "Where did such a ridiculous rule come from?"

The security guard raised his belt and said, "That's it! The Chinese are too dirty. If you go in casually, I'm afraid it will disturb the interest of the foreigners."

Li Yu almost laughed angrily: "Isn't this nonsense!"

The security guard snorted: "I don't have time to talk to you, hurry up!"

Li Yu said: "If the Chinese must be accompanied by foreigners, wouldn't they be led in like dogs?"

The security guard said, "You can also understand it that way."

"Are you also Chinese?" Li Yu asked.

The security guard said, "Yes."

"Don't you feel ashamed that you are a watchdog here and stop the Chinese?" Li Yu said.

"Who are you scolding! You are a dog!" The security guard said loudly, "Anyway, you have to be led by a foreigner to get in!"

Li Yu asked, "Do you know who I am?"

The security guard said: "I don't care who you are. My duty is to prevent random people from entering at will. This place is too close to the pier, and Chinese beggars run in every now and then. That's why the hotel has this rule."

"Depend on!"

Li Yu felt like he had met a fool.

But think about it, even though Li Yu already has a lot of fame, most of them know that he is literate, and how many people can read in China now, and more people don't even know Li Yu's existence .

In other words, most people in the country don't know anyone except the county magistrate and emperor, and the place of residence.

Before the Gengzi national disaster, the Eight-Power Allied Forces made Beijing and Tianjin a mess, and many farmers fled to the relatively safe concession.

Unexpectedly, not long after, many foreign venues set up strange rules.

Li Yu had seen the so-called "Chinese and dogs not allowed inside" shameful sign on TV, but he did not expect to encounter it.

The key lies in the Chinese territory.

The saddest thing is that the one who stopped him turned out to be a Chinese!
Discrimination is not terrible, it is the strange eyes from compatriots that hurt the most.

If Li Yu hadn't been going to the appointment, he would have turned his head and left a long time ago, so he had to bear with explaining again, but before he could speak, two begging children came over and said to the security guard:
"Master, do me a favor, do you have any leftovers? Give us two bites."

The security guard was very annoying: "It's the third time today, don't be annoying! Don't delay the hotel's business!"

The older child said: "Sir, can you just let my brother eat two bites? We have been hungry for four days, and we can't take it anymore!"

"Get out of here, get out of here, if Mr. Yang sees it, I will be punished as well!" The security guard immediately drove them away.

Li Yu didn't want to explain who he was now, and the security guard didn't understand the explanation, thinking he was fooling him.

Li Yu looked around, and there seemed to be a bun shop along the street in the distance, so he said to the two little beggars, "Come on, I'll take you to eat buns."

The Haihe River in Tianjin had been dredged three years ago. Many people came along the canal and the Haihe River. However, affected by the Gengzi Incident, their lives were very difficult, and beggars were common.

The two little beggars immediately said to Li Yu, "You are the Grand Master, you are the Grand Master!"

Li Yu sighed, didn't say much, and led them to the bun shop.

Looking up, I saw the signboard of "Dejuhao", so if it wasn't the first Goubuli steamed stuffed bun shop founded by Gao Guiyou, it was at least his branch shop.

Gao Guiyou has been running a steamed stuffed bun shop for decades, and his steamed stuffed buns have long been famous in Tianjin.Even Yuan Shikai knew his buns when he was training the Beiyang New Army in Tianjin.

In this era, there are no advertisements, and it is not easy to be known to everyone in the streets and alleys. It is entirely based on real skills.

As for the origin of the name "Goubuli Baozi", it is actually because Gao Guiyou's nickname is "Gouzi".His business was so hot that he didn't have time to collect money, so he let people throw the money into the bowl by themselves.So everyone spread: "Gouzi sells steamed stuffed buns, don't pay any attention to them."If you pass it on, you will become a dog and ignore the buns.

The two little beggars stared eagerly at the buns, drooling.

The shop owner said after seeing it: "Wait a minute, I specially steamed some bran nests, and I'll bring you some."

The owner of the shop is also kind, it's too bad for him to give them steamed buns, and for beggars, eating bran-swallowed vegetables is no different from eating steamed buns, as long as it can stop hunger.

Li Yu understood what he meant, so he said, "No need, boss, this time I just let them eat steamed buns, and I'll pay as much as they eat. Also, give me a few too."

As soon as the two little beggars heard Li Yu's words, they couldn't wait for the shop owner's consent. They grabbed seven or eight buns each with four hands and started gobbling them up.

The shop owner couldn't laugh or cry: "There is water next to it, you can drink it by yourself."

Then he served Li Yu a plate: "Guest officer, use it slowly."

Li Yu tasted it, and it tasted pretty good.

The shop owner said: "In this world, there are really few good people like you."

Li Yu smiled bitterly and said, "I was able to help for a while, but I don't know what will happen tomorrow."

There are too many vagrants nowadays, and there are more on the other side of the Haihe River, and some of them risk their lives to swim over every day.

The shop owner said: "From what you said, you have returned from studying abroad, right?"

Li Yu nodded: "That's right. Dare I ask if your surname is also Gao?"

The shop owner said, "Yes, I am Gao Jinming."

It turned out to be the son of Gao Guiyou, the founder of Goubuli Steamed Buns, or rather the adopted son, who used to be a clerk in the shop.

"Opening a store in the concession, business is pretty good, right?" Li Yu asked casually, having nothing to do.

Gao Jinming said: "It's really good. I didn't expect foreigners to like this too. At the beginning, our business in the French Concession was just passable. After moving to the British Concession this year, it's really good."

Li Yu smiled and said, "This is a good relationship."

Gao Jinming said: "It's really strange. You said that these foreigners are so rich, why do they still like to eat our buns?"

Li Yu said: "If you eat British food a few times, you may understand that they don't know what food is."

Gao Jinming didn't know the British food culture, he just thought that the food must be better if the foreigners are so good.

In fact, in foreign countries, they also love Chinese soup dumplings.

Li Yu's steamed stuffed buns are delicious, but it's different in Qishilin restaurant.

Xu Run and Tang Shaoyi were already in Tianjin and arrived early.

Even if Bretten, the director of the Ministry of Industry Bureau of the British Concession in Tianjin, did not come with him, the security guards would not dare to stop the official Tianjin Customs Road.

To put it bluntly, it is still up to the person to order.

Xu Run wanted to curry favor with Tang Shaoyi, and said politely, "Tang Daotai, it's a great honor for you to come today."

Tang Shaoyi smoked a cigar symbolically, and said, "It's also for the cause of education."

Xu Run immediately boasted: "Tang Daotai is so righteous!"

Tang Shaoyi asked: "Your business seems to be improving recently?"

Xu Rundui said with a smile: "Doing a small business, you can't compare with Tang Daotai."

Tang Shaoyi puffed out a cigarette: "If you call it a small business, there will be no big business."

Xu Run was a super real estate developer in Shanghai back then. It should be said that he was the first generation of big real estate developers in Shanghai, even earlier than Hartong.

Xu Run was one of the four major compradors in the late Qing Dynasty. He started out in the tea business, and it was very big. He was known as the "Shanghai Tea King".

Later, when Shanghai was opened as a port, Xu Run had a very vicious vision. He saw early on that Shanghai's real estate would be booming in the future, so he poured out his wealth to buy real estate along the Yangtze River Road, to the point where "you can buy as much as you can."

For more than 100 years, the mode of real estate speculation has been like that. Xu Run’s mode may be familiar to everyone:
Xu Run bought land and real estate with the money he earned from tea business; he then mortgaged the real estate, got money from banks or banks, and continued to buy real estate...and so on and on.

The key point is that this person is very accurate. He has an insight into the expansion trend of the Shanghai Concession, and then buys land at a low price on the main roads, sells it at a high price after the operation is half-developed, and then buys more land from other places.

By the eve of the Sino-French War, he already owned more than 3000 acres of land under his name.Among them, 300 mu of houses have been built, with a total of more than 2000 rooms.Every year, Xu Runguang collects 12 taels of silver just to collect house rent.

Therefore, Xu Run is also known as the "Shanghai Real Estate King".

It's just that after the Sino-French War, Shanghai's housing prices fell to the bottom, and he lost a lot of money. He had to sell a large number of assets to Hartung at a low price.

It can be said that "Xu Run falls, Harbin is full".

In the same year, another Anhui businessman, Hu Xueyan, also encountered a similar problem. He was completely defeated in a "raw silk war" and suffered a huge loss of 1000 million taels of silver.

However, Xu Run was not discouraged, and turned his fancy to Tianjin real estate, buying nearly 2000 mu of land at a low price.

After 1900, due to the dredging of the Haihe River channel and the filling of large swamps in the concessions of various countries with the excavated silt, the investment environment in Tianjin has been greatly improved.Business activities in the Tianjin Concession also tended to flourish, driving the real estate boom.

Xu Run made a lot of money again.

This man can be called a wizard in business.

In addition, he also founded the first insurance company in China; at the same time, he also participated in the establishment of China Merchants Steamship and Kaiping Coal Mine.

Real estate is naturally booming, and the Tianjin Concession is also expanding.

Tang Shaoyi whispered worryingly: "Britain and France are desperately trying to expand the scope of the concession. Britain has succeeded at the beginning of this year. I'm afraid France is not far behind."

Last year, the French Consul in Tianjin, Luo Tuge, sent a note to Tang Shaoyi, Tianjin customs officer, requesting that the old Xikai area with an area of ​​4000 mu be included in the French Concession, but Tang Shaoyi ignored it and did not reply.

However, at the beginning of this year, the British Concession expanded first, acquiring almost 4000 mu of land.Affected by this, France is eager to try again.

Xu Run also replied: "Indeed, a lot of land in my hands did not originally belong to the concession, but now it has been forcibly managed by the concession. If you want to sell it, you must obtain the approval of the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry of the concession."

But Xu Run, as a businessman, was actually very happy in his heart. He bought the land because he was sure that the area of ​​the concession would expand.

It's just that although the Concession Bureau of the Ministry of Industry did not take back his land, it would have to obtain the approval of the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry before making any transactions.

To put it bluntly, it is to pay taxes to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

They chatted for a long time, waiting and waiting, but they couldn't wait for Li Yu, and they were also puzzled.

Tang Shaoyi asked Xie Yuxi: "Is the time agreed?"

Xie Yuxi nodded: "Yesterday we made an appointment at 12 o'clock noon today, and we can't go wrong."

Xu Run said, "Could it be that the train is delayed?"

Tang Shaoyi said: "Even if it's delayed, it's time to arrive. The train can't blow up."