20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 446 Behind the Scenes
As soon as he left the train station, Jiang Lianheng regretted wearing too little.

It is extremely cold in Habu, far above Fengtian.

The cold wind blew against my face, as if it was tearing out flesh and bones, and my whole face was numb. Within a few steps, I was freezing and crying, and was in a miserable state.

This is not the coldest time in Harbin.

Jiang Lianheng stopped showing off and quickly tightened his wolfskin cloak, rolled up his sleeves, shrank his neck and shrugged, and stomped to the square in front of the station.

Because a train was arriving at the station, the square was crowded with people and seemed particularly busy.

Under the vast darkness, a row of Russian-style carriages were parked on both sides of the east and west sides, welcoming people to and from them, and waiting for work.

Occasionally, you can see a few cars, their lights sweeping past, illuminating the puffs of breath in front of you.

In the distance, the city skyline.

As far as the eye can see, there are dome-shaped towers, showing the European style.

He seems to understand very well, but it may be because he has visitors from far away, so he has prepared his homework in advance. In short, no matter what he encounters, he can speak clearly and clearly, with firm words and fluent answers. He is definitely not pretending to understand or pretending to understand.

Compared with Fengtian, Habu is indeed very different, with strong exotic customs everywhere.

Not only her, but even Chuang Hu couldn't help scratching his head when he saw it, and whispered: "This is different from when I left."

"Very good, very good. Boss Sheng is also very good?"

Jiang Lian was not tired of this.

Harbin has developed too fast and changed too much.

The person who came first shouted "Tou Dao Zi", which surprised Jiang Lianheng somewhat.

"Yes, Shopkeeper Xue considers me a friend!" Sheng Baoku laughed and said, "Boss Jiang, please don't be polite. You two have come all the way here. I must entertain you well. If you are here, If I don’t have fun, I will be a sinner in Habu!”

Jiang Lianheng nodded, deliberately took two steps slowly, then hugged Chuanghu under his arm, tilted his head, raised his chin, and asked in a low voice: "Hu, do you recognize this person?"

Sheng Baoku, also wearing a fur coat, stepped forward, grabbed the rough hand with a knife in his hand, and shook it vigorously a few times.

The attendant responded, and not long after, he brought back two authentic Russian-style carriages.

Jiang Lianheng stepped forward and shook hands with him according to the other party's preference.

"Oh, Lao Dao, I haven't seen you for several years!"

"Boss Sheng spent a lot of money." Jiang Lianheng cupped his hands and clasped his fists.

"Lao Dao——"

Xue Yingqing and Kang Zheng exchanged greetings with smiles on their faces, but Tou Daozi seemed a bit indifferent in comparison.

With a clear shout, the two walked through the darkness and walked into the shadow of the lights at the exit.

"Boss Jiang, Jiang Lianheng, Fengtian's spoon." He said with a smile, "Don't forget that I am in Habu, but I have heard of the name 'Ghost Pai Men' for a long time. I am so lucky to meet you." meeting."

"Boss Sheng's compliments on me are just in vain and cannot be taken seriously." Jiang Lian waved his hand.

Looking around following the sound, I saw two figures, one tall and one short, waving and calling, while trotting over in a hurry.

While talking, Jiang Lianheng and others came over.

Sheng Baoku hurriedly stepped forward, his eyes wandered between the three of them for a moment, then settled, then grinned and said, "If I guess correctly, this is Boss Jiang, right?"

Immediately, he glanced behind Toudaozi, his eyes lit up, and he said happily: "Boss Xue and Brother Kang, are you all fine?"

The speaker was a tall man, less than forty years old, with short flat eyebrows, a hump nose, a large frame, little flesh on his face, and well-defined facial features; the young man behind him had an average appearance, probably a follower.

On a winter night, the buildings are dotted with white snow above and highlighted by warm yellow street lights below, making them look like palaces and jade buildings, as if in a dream.

Xue Yingqing didn't mind, he just smiled and greeted a few people: "Let's go, people are coming."

Chuang Hu immediately stood up on tiptoes, covered his mouth, and whispered back: "'Old Qian'er' Sheng Baoku, he has four concubines, and he was much stronger before than now."

Sheng Baoku took the initiative to act as a guide, pointing at the glass window and talking nonsense.

Everyone talked and laughed, got into their carriages, and headed north.

Xue Yingqing said with a smile: "What's the cost? Let him pay, he has money."

Several people walked down the stone steps and met each other head on.

"Boss Sheng, thank you for your hard work."

Several people stood on the stone steps and looked around. Not long after, they suddenly heard a shout from not far away.

Sheng Baoku's hands are very strong, and he refuses to let go after holding on to them. He seems to be quite enthusiastic.

"Good boy, I knew I had to bring you here."

"It has to be Harbin, it looks foreign." Xue Yingqing smiled and finally became lively again.

"How humble! Now, Boss Jiang is on our line, and he is a well-known figure. For you and Shopkeeper Xue to come to Habu to see me, it adds luster to my old face!"

As he spoke, he suddenly turned sideways and ordered to the attendant: "Go and call the two carriages over!"

Sheng Baoku personally opened the car door and greeted warmly: "Everyone, please get in the car. I have arranged the restaurant and hotel for you. Let's get some rest first and keep warm."

The sound of hooves is crisp, the wheels are rolling, and the night scene outside the window also changes from light to dark, as if it is not a window but a painting.

It's so authentic that even the coachman is a fool.

Moreover, this kind of sentiment is not just a layer of powder in the urban area, but the assimilation of the inside and outside, all the time, even more inadvertently.

The Russian-style carriage drove into the port area with a "clack-clack-clack" sound.

Many of the commercial and residential buildings and Western churches along both sides of the street were just completed in recent years, in Byzantine style, Gothic style, Rococo style, and more recently, Art Nouveau style...

According to Sheng Baoku, more than a dozen countries have established consulates in Harbin, more than Fengtian.

Tens of thousands of foreigners live in Daoli and Nangang.

This is not surprising.

More than 20 years ago, traveling between Europe and Asia mostly involved crossing vast oceans.

With the completion of the China-Eastern Railway, there is an additional option for traveling to the West. The train is convenient and fast, and Harbin has naturally become a transportation hub.

After a while, several people came to the so-called "Khitan Street".

It was a cold night, so I thought there would be no people on the street, but when I actually looked out, under the orange street lights outside the window, groups of Western ladies could be seen everywhere.

They held hands and walked leisurely together on the snow.

The road was extremely clean, and there were advertisements in foreign languages ​​posted on the benches for resting. There was a man sitting on it, playing the accordion and singing folk songs from his hometown. If a noble lady threw a coin to him, he would nod his head or chirp something like "May the Holy Mother bless you."

Seeing this situation, Jiang Lianheng felt a little dazed, as if he had become a stranger.

The carriage went north along "Khitan Street". When it was approaching the river, it suddenly turned east and stopped slowly at the entrance of a restaurant before going much further.

Several people got out of the carriage one after another. When they looked up, they saw a Western-style building and a modern restaurant opened by a Chinese businessman.

What Jiang Lianheng didn't expect was that when he was about to settle the fare, Naozi opened his palms and suddenly spoke in authentic Chinese.

"Master, please give me more for small business!"

What Jiang Lianheng didn't expect was that Sheng Baoku would directly scold that guy.

"You little bastard, don't fucking hang around in front of my eyes!"

The coachman seemed to only speak one sentence in Chinese and couldn't understand anything else. When he saw that the other party was not being nice to him, he cursed and drove away.

Sheng Baoku still couldn't understand his hatred. He stood there and muttered a few words towards the carriage that was going away, then turned around and put on a smiling face again.

"Come on, come on, Boss Jiang, it's a cold day, don't stand outside anymore, come in quickly, come in quickly!"

He turned sideways at the door of the store and politely let Jiang Lianheng and Xue Yingqing go first.

This restaurant's interior and exterior decoration are all in Western style. The waiters are also wearing vests and holding Chinese and Russian bilingual menus.

Sheng Baoku was very familiar with the lobby manager and had already booked the banquet. When he entered, he laughed, said hello, and said "let's take the food." Then he led everyone up the stairs and came to a window facing the Songhua River. The elegant room.

Several people took off their coats one after another and sat down to chat.

This one is cold and one is hot, as if there are two heavens of ice and fire.

Jiang Lianheng and Li Zhengxi suddenly felt loose, swollen and numb. Their scalps were itchy, as if bugs were crawling. The blood vessels on their foreheads were hopping, and their brains seemed to have detached themselves from the nucleus and were wandering around in the skull cavity.

Although Xue Yingqing and others were wearing more clothes, they did not look relaxed.

At the dinner table, only Tou Daozi didn't take it seriously.

He walked through the ice and snow without even retracting his hands into his sleeves.

While waiting for the food, everyone chatted about anecdotes about the journey, took a few sips of hot tea, and gradually warmed up their bodies, feeling like they were theirs again.

Sheng Baoku narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile: "Boss Jiang, how are you? Is Habu okay?"

"Not bad, not bad." Jiang Lianheng nodded sincerely, "Thanks to Boss Sheng, my horizons have been opened today."

"Hey, don't say that! The mountains are not high, as long as there are immortals, they are famous. Only if we have a table like this in Harbin, can we be considered a gathering of heroes!"

Everyone cheered and smiled.

Jiang Lianheng suddenly sighed: "Should I say it or not, there are so many foreigners on the ground in Harbin that I feel like a foreigner."

"Where are you?" Sheng Baoku said emphatically as he rummaged around in his pocket for something, "Boss Jiang, I'm not bragging. Just watch. In the future, there will only be more and more foreigners in this port. ”

He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, distributed them to everyone one by one, and then said:
"On the European side, the fighting is in full swing; on the Maozi side, everything is in complete chaos. Guess how many people came from Maozi alone on the 16th of this month?"

"How many people?" Everyone was a little curious.

"More than a thousand people!"

Sheng Baoku sat down again, stared, curled his lips, and said matter-of-factly: "Even I don't believe it when I tell you this. More than a thousand people, including their entire families, came here in just one day. I plan to settle down in Harbin, think about the huge business opportunities here!”

Jiang Lianheng took the cigarette and held it in his hand, but he couldn't help being stunned.

I saw that this cigarette was slightly longer than the ones on the market, and the end was wrapped with a piece of cardboard.

"Boss Jiang, this cigarette is called 'Lao Ba Duo'. The holder is its special feature. Try it." Sheng Baoku held the match and handed it over.

Jiang Lianheng took a deep breath. Apart from the light smoke, he didn't taste anything out of the ordinary. It just felt fresh.

"Boss Sheng, to be honest, Harbin is really a cool place. I didn't expect Maozi to be really talented."

"Maozi?"

Hearing this, Sheng Baoku snorted coldly, shook his head, smiled and said nothing, and actually started playing riddles there.

Jiang Lianheng frowned and exchanged glances with Xue Yingqing. Seeing that she also looked confused, he couldn't help asking humbly: "Boss Sheng, what's wrong? Habu is not a subsidiary of Maozi." "?"

"Yes...and no..."

"Hey, Boss Sheng, what you said is quite mysterious."

"Yes, there is indeed a mystery in it."

"Oh? Then please ask Boss Sheng to give you some advice and give some guidance to my foolish brother Jiang."

Sheng Baoku suddenly laughed deeply, then put his elbows on the table, leaned forward, lowered his voice, and spoke mysteriously.

"Boss Jiang, Shopkeeper Xue, you two don't often hang out in Habu. You don't know what's going on under the table. That's understandable. I don't blame you."

Speaking of this, he suddenly laughed at himself for no reason.

"Hey, let alone you, even I, 'Old Money', have been wandering in and out of this way for more than twenty years. It is only in the last three to five years that I have been able to take the pulse and feel it. doorway."

Xue Yingqing quickly picked up the teapot, poured tea and water into Sheng Baoku, and asked with a smile: "Old Sheng, what you said is too weird. How deep can the water in Habu be, and how deep can it be to dazzle your brilliant trick?" You’re a model, and you haven’t learned the ropes all these years?”

Sheng Baoku quickly waved his hand, but said: "It's not that I can't touch it, but I can't tell it apart!"

"Can't tell?" Jiang Lianheng didn't understand.

"Yes, what do you think we can distinguish?" Sheng Baoku sighed, "We only know the British, the French, the Americans, plus the Russians and the little devils, right?"

He lowered his fingers, tapped the table with his fingertips, and explained: "Who knocked down this harbour? It was Maozi, that's right. Who had the final say in this harbour? Yes, it was also Maozi. But this The fact that Habu is what it is today has nothing to do with Maozi.”

"Is it?"

"Of course, you also saw the buildings on both sides of the 'Khitan Street' we passed before coming here, right?"

"I saw it, it's really beautiful." Jiang Lian asked rhetorically, "Isn't it made by Maozi?"

Sheng Baoku nodded, but said: "It was Maozi who built it, but in our eyes, in the eyes of others, they are not Maozi. Let me tell you this, when the civil war on Maozi's side is over, they will It doesn’t have to be the Maozi, it could be the French, the British, or the Americans. It doesn’t matter whether the Maozi leaves or not. As long as they are still there, the world of Habu will continue to change.”

Jiang Lianheng seemed to have some realization: "Boss Sheng, according to what you said, are these people hiding behind the scenes?"

"Yes, the people who really make a difference in Harbin are actually a bunch of bearded men."

Sheng Baoku opened his eyes wide, his face suddenly became ferocious and ferocious, he gritted his back molars and barely managed to spit out three words:
"Jews!"

(End of this chapter)