20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 462 Dong Niya

Gossip less, the book returns to the main story.

Yu Dehai asked his friend to find the club manager, explain his purpose, and act as a guarantor. This was finally the time when the buyer and seller were able to meet in person.

Manager Maozi had certainly never heard of the Jiang family, but when he saw that the visitors were well-dressed, especially Xue Yingqing, who was extremely beautiful, he immediately felt a lot of favor for her, so without saying a few words, he led a few people to a secluded corner behind the dance floor and went up a narrow flight of stairs.

The top floor of the club is more like a hotel.

There are no corridors. All the rooms are arranged around the building with an open public lounge area in the middle. There are several long sofas at one end and tea tables, bookshelves, pianos, chess boards and other leisure and entertainment facilities at the other end.

When I first went up the stairs, I could faintly hear bursts of girls' laughter, but as the footsteps of the crowd gradually got closer and Manager Maozi showed up, a series of door closing sounds were heard upstairs.

After Jiang Lianheng and his companions sat down on the sofa, only a few foreigners were left in the lounge area to watch over the place, and the girl was no longer to be seen.

Manager Maozi said a lot of things in a mumbling manner, and Yu Dehai could only hear him stumbling, but fortunately he could still serve as a translator.

"Boss Jiang, he said the party downstairs hasn't ended yet, he has to go back to take care of business first, so he asked us to wait here for a while and the boss will come over in person."

Jiang Lianheng nodded and responded casually: "Haha."

Manager Maozi was confused, but he didn't think much about it. He just glanced at Xue Yingqing twice, then turned around and hurriedly left the rest area.

The room immediately became quiet.

Several people's noses flared slightly and they couldn't help but frown.

Although the rest area was filled with the smell of perfume, upon closer inspection, one could still smell some body odor, especially from the few foreigners guarding the place. The smell was too strong, and as they walked by, it was simply "murderous", making everyone dizzy and nauseous.

"I can't stand it. I can't stand it."

Li Zhengxi and Kang Zheng slapped their thighs almost at the same time, then stood up, took out their cigarette boxes, walked up to the foreigners and gave them cigarettes one by one.

Unexpectedly, after the foreigner took the cigarette, the atmosphere became much more harmonious. Although they didn't speak the same language, they started talking and laughing.

Yu Dehai took the opportunity to get close to Jiang Lianheng, and said in a mysterious voice, "Boss Jiang, I think we get along well. How about I give you another piece of news for free?"

"You know how to do business." Jiang Lianheng immediately gave a thumbs up. "Go ahead and talk. I'm listening."

"Boss Jiang, guess who are the people who come to the Old Gun Club?"

"Foreigners?"

"Haha, you're really good at joking. Then I'll tell you directly." Yu Dehai said seriously, "Most of the people who come to this club are white-haired officers. Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, just think about how much valuable information there is in here."

"Really? How did you know?" Jiang Lianheng asked.

"Well, I can see it!" Yu Dehai said in a strange voice, "I have been in Harbin for a long time, and I know that the Russian soldiers either come here or go to the Railway Club. They come and go, most of them are in these two places. Alas, it's a pity that my status is too low and I can't get in."

Jiang Lianheng glanced at him in response, and asked with a half-smile, "What do you mean by telling me this?"

"No... it's not interesting, let's just chat for now!"

"You want me to help you get in, get information for me, and make some extra money?"

Yu Dehai felt embarrassed that his thoughts were seen through. He wiped his trouser legs twice and said with a chuckle, "If Boss Jiang is willing to help me, I will work hard for you in the future. If I have any news, I will tell you everything. What do you think?"

"we'll see!"

Jiang Lianheng said it perfunctorily, but in his heart he became more and more disgusted with this person.

Yu Dehai is greedy and has a loose mouth, which makes him difficult to make close friends with. Add to that his greed and lack of knowledge of when to advance and when to retreat, and he is really annoying.

It is just this kind of person who is the most difficult to deal with. If anyone pays attention to him, he will become more and more aggressive and want to drag everyone down with him to death. But if anyone ignores him, he will turn around and become resentful and hateful, setting traps for others and tripping them up everywhere. He will secretly harbor evil intentions to harm others until he kills them.

Sure enough, Yu Dehai refused to give up and kept chattering. From the look of his attitude, it seemed that he was determined to gain enormous wealth for himself.

Jiang Lianheng was annoyed and waved his hand, trying to change the subject. Then he turned around and hugged Chuanghu under his armpit.

"Tiger!"

"Boss, don't do that. The girl will come out soon. If you keep hugging me like a chicken, it will make me lose face."

"You kid still want to save face?"

"Uh... hehe, I'm mainly worried about losing face for the Jiang family."

Jiang Lianheng patted Chuanghu on the shoulder and suddenly whispered, "Hu, you're going to meet a foreign girl later. You're the only one in this room who's seen the world. I have something to ask you."

Chuanghu nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "It's not that I'm very worldly-wise, except for my height, you can ask whatever you want."

"You said this foreigner...has yellow hair on his head, right?"

"There are also people with black hair like us."

"Nonsense, do you need to tell me this?" Jiang Lianheng counted with his fingers, "There are yellow-haired ones, golden-haired ones, and red-haired ones..."

As he was muttering, Xue Yingqing had already guessed that he hadn't held back his fart, so he glared at him and muttered, "Stinky idea!"

Jiang Lianheng ignored it, rubbing his chin with his fingers, and suddenly frowned as he thought: "Hiss - could it be that their hair... is also yellow?"

Chuanghu's eyes lit up - this was the topic he loved to talk about!

"Oh! Boss, I'm just like you. This problem has troubled me for many years! You know, I like to study and ponder. If there is something I can't figure out, I can't even sleep! After all, 'knowledge gained from books is shallow, and one must practice to truly understand'!"

"Is that really true?"

"Don't be impatient. Let me tell you slowly. In the early spring of that year, it was pitch black, and I..."

Storytellers are afraid of being interrupted. Just as Chuanghu started, footsteps were heard from the stairs.

When they looked up, they saw a middle-aged Russian man in his forties who cleared his throat and walked quickly into the rest area.

When the foreigners who were watching the scene saw him coming, they immediately put out their cigarettes, straightened their backs, and greeted the visitor in unison.

Yu Dehai also stood up quickly, straightened his clothes, and introduced Jiang Lianheng and others: "Boss Jiang, this is the owner of the 'Old Gun Club', Mr. Chikhlov."

Seeing this, Jiang Lianheng was inevitably a little surprised.

He originally thought that the boss of this shop would be an arrogant, even vicious and domineering foreigner, but the other party looked like an old-fashioned gentleman.

Chekhlov has thin hair, a thick beard, brown eyes, a thin face, and a full spirit. He seems to be quite self-disciplined. Even though he is middle-aged, he has no signs of gaining weight. He walks fast and talks even faster. It is unclear whether he is competing with someone for seconds.

Fortunately, there was a Chinese female translator following behind him, holding a stack of information in her arms. Her level was much higher than Yu Dehai's, so she would not miss any content of the conversation.

He strode over and shook hands with Jiang Lianheng. His attitude was neither condescending nor overly humble. He was completely businesslike, except that his words were a little awkward.

Only after confirming Jiang Lianheng's financial resources did Chikhlov finally show a smile on his face, and then he started talking.

The female translator relayed: "Excuse me, my time is precious. If possible, can we start now?"

"Boss, let's get started right away, shall we?" Chuanghu couldn't wait any longer.

"Wait!"

Unexpectedly, Jiang Lianheng suddenly stopped him, then raised his chin and asked surprisingly: "Will you sell this translation?"

When these words were spoken, everyone was dumbfounded.

Xue Yingqing frowned, secretly tugged at the corner of Jiang Lianheng's clothes twice, and whispered, "Can you act a little more like the boss?"

The female translator's face turned red and she said angrily, "Mr. Jiang, I am Mr. Chekhlov's employee. Even if he wants to, he has no right to sell me out. Instead of saying these useless things, you should just close the deal as soon as possible."

However, the head of the family has his own ideas.

Jiang Lianheng was not joking, but he had really been looking for a reliable translator for his family recently.

"Okay, okay, if you don't want to sell it, then don't sell it. I just asked casually because I saw that you speak well. I don't have any other intentions. Don't expect anything good from you."

The female translator was choked and was thinking about how to refute, but Jiang Lianheng had already turned the page and said loudly: "Then let's start!"

Chekhlov valued time as if it were gold, and the female translator did not dare to say anything else, so she immediately ordered a few foreigners who were watching the scene to surround the top floor of the club, knock on the doors one by one, and call out the so-called White Russian aristocratic ladies in batches one by one.

Jiang Lianheng and others sat on the sofa, watching a revolving lantern as if watching them. They saw these girls who were "superior" in the past, but now they were like playthings, to be picked and chosen by others, with all their dignity lost.

One has to admit that the "foreign Guanyin" in the "Old Gun Club" is not only younger, more handsome, and more beautiful than the foreign guys in the beggars' house in Shuangcheng, but her words and deeds also seem to be more educated, and perhaps she really has some aristocratic style.

A few people were watching and selecting here, while the female translator was explaining and introducing there.

Chekhov completely treated this business as an industry. Everything was quantified. Living people were categorized like cats, dogs and livestock. Girls were priced from head to toe, based on their appearance, age, identity, occupation, skills...

From a businessman's perspective, he ensures that customers can clearly understand where their money is spent.

"This is Anna, with brown hair, she just turned eighteen this year, unmarried, her ancestor was a viscount, she can write, eighty dollars in cash..."

Jiang Lianheng listened quietly and watched quietly.

Since arriving in Harbin, he had seen performances by conquered New Guinea natives in the Russian cinema, and now he had witnessed with his own eyes the White Russian girls who had been displaced by the war.

As far as the eye can see, the world is in chaos and human life is worthless.

However, he was born in troubled times and had seen countless children carrying straw flags on the streets since he was a child, so he was no longer surprised by this.

What's more, the girls standing in front of him were all Russians, and their fathers or even brothers might have been the executioners back then.

Jiang Lianheng and others showed no mercy at all.

The female translator continued, "Mr. Chikhlov has enough connections on the Middle East Railway. You don't need to worry about any accidents during transportation. Moreover, these girls are very clear about their situation and accept their circumstances. They will never cause trouble."

"Boss, this red-haired girl is pretty!" Chuanghu suggested.

"Really? If you like it, I'll buy it for you." Jiang Lianheng said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

After all, Chuanghu has made great contributions to the Jiang family, but he has no ambition and seldom makes requests, so as long as he opens his mouth, Jiang Lianheng will do his best to satisfy him, which can be regarded as a clear rule of rewards and punishments in the Jiang family.

But Chuanghu quickly shook his head and laughed, "No, no, no, I just admire it, that's all. I won't do anything like a small horse pulling a big cart. Besides, it's boring to buy it. It has to be romantic and compatible."

Jiang Lianheng shrugged - it's up to you whether you want it or not.

At this time, Xue Yingqing suddenly said, "They all look pretty good, but I don't know if they are clean and haven't been ruined, right?"

Upon hearing this, Chikhlov was a little unhappy and said in a stiff tone: "Miss, I am an upright businessman and I value the word 'reputation' very much. If these girls are not clean, I will of course tell you in advance. Please don't ask such questions again. This is an offense and insult to my personality."

He still feels wronged!

Jiang Lianheng laughed twice, but asked, "Is there anyone else? I want to take a look."

The female translator said, "There are four candidates left. Does Mr. Jiang have any favorites?"

Jiang Lianheng waved his hand and said, "Pull it out first and have a look. I didn't say I would only buy one. What if a good one is left behind?"

The female translator had no choice but to translate the original words to Chhelov. After listening, Chhelov ordered a few foreigners to go to the room at the end of the rest area and call people out.

After a while, four Belarusian girls slowly approached the group.

Jiang Lianheng was already a little tired of looking, but he didn't expect that when he raised his eyes and took a quick glance, his gaze suddenly fixed on the face of a black-haired girl like a needle, and then he stood up from the sofa involuntarily.

The female translator didn't notice and cleared her throat, still explaining to herself: "Let me introduce you to everyone, this is Sophia——"

"what is this called?"

Jiang Lianheng asked as he pointed at the black-haired girl and walked forward.

"Hmm?" The female translator turned her head and took a look, then quickly checked the information in her hand, "This is Tonya, 19 years old, unmarried, not from an aristocratic family, can draw and play the piano..."

Jiang Lianheng turned a deaf ear to the subsequent information.

He walked up to the girl, stretched out his hand as usual, pinched her chin, and was about to lift it up to take a closer look, but unexpectedly, the girl immediately took a half step back and slapped his hand away without any warning.

Seeing this, Chikhlov immediately became furious and roared at the girl.

Unexpectedly, before he could utter a single curse word, Jiang Lianheng suddenly raised his hand to stop him, saying, "Stop making noise!"

Upon seeing his reaction, Xue Yingqing immediately frowned, turned his face away and sighed.

Jiang Lianheng's eyes lit up, he turned around and looked at everyone, pointed at the girl, laughed, and said:

"Hey! See? This girl is quite interesting!"

(End of this chapter)