20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 519 Become famous
The Bund in the Concession, China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.

"Wow--"

The sound of papers being turned.

Xu Huaimin threw today's morning paper on his desk, sighed, his face pale, and his worried expression was evident in his words.

The rumor that Sanjin Company's local products had been robbed was spreading rapidly in the foreign concessions.

It is difficult to tell whether this matter is true or not. Xu Huaimin is not clear about the truth and he is not qualified to ask the "three tycoons" about the truth.

All he knew was that the Axe Gang had grown in power overnight.

If the situation continues to develop in this way, if the Axe Gang wants to take root in the foreign land, they will sooner or later have to clash with the "Three Tycoons". He just signed two contracts in violation of regulations a few days ago, and when the gangs fight, both sides will definitely use this incident as an excuse.

It now seems inevitable that Xu Huaimin is caught between the two and is being used as a pawn by both sides.

He had already informed Zhang Xiaolin of his difficulties in advance, and now it was time to report the situation truthfully to the China Merchants Group.

But it’s not possible now, as there are bursts of heated arguments coming from upstairs.

Today is the second shareholders' meeting of China Merchants Group at the end of the year, and there are still arguments and struggles for power.

Xu Huaimin waited quietly in the office until two o'clock in the afternoon, after the shareholders' meeting, he carefully came to the door of an office upstairs.

He knocked on the door twice gently and then walked into the room.

Sitting at the desk was a handsome young man in his early thirties, wearing a long gown and glasses. Perhaps because he had just made a speech and had an argument at the shareholders' meeting, his face looked ashen and he was still angry.

This man's name is Li Guodong. He inherited his father's business and is considered a powerful figure in the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.

His father was more successful than him in his past. The Qing Dynasty had not yet fallen at that time. As a direct descendant of Lord Zhongtang, his father had considerable say among the shareholders of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.

Now, times have changed. Although Li Guodong inherited the blessings of his ancestors and has wealth and family background, his roots in Shanghai are too shallow. Major shareholders often unite to isolate him and use various means, overtly and covertly, to try to squeeze him out.

Li Guodong struggled to hold on, but the power in his hands was getting smaller and smaller.

But even so, he was still Xu Huaimin's immediate superior, and Xu Huaimin couldn't help but flatter him when he met him.

"Director Li, are you busy? Haha, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you should pay more attention to your health..."

"Old Xu, stop being polite. Just tell me if you have something to say." Li Guodong pressed the Jingming acupoint gently, his tone slightly impatient.

"Director Li, please understand! I do have some troubles here. This is really... I don't know where to start for a moment."

Xu Huaimin thought for a moment, then told him all his previous experiences.

After hearing this, Li Guodong's eyes widened and he sternly rebuked, "Old Xu, you are also a veteran employee of China Merchants Group. How could you issue two contracts for the dock business at the same time? If this goes to court, won't it become China Merchants Group's problem in the end? At that time, those shareholders will definitely use this as an excuse to impeach me. What the hell are you doing? You are just causing trouble for me!"

Xu Huaimin knew he was in the wrong, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Director Li is right. But the problem is, I also have my own difficulties. Under the circumstances at that time, if I didn't sign... I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep my hand. I had no choice, no choice!"

"Hiss—chop off your hand?"

Li Guodong became more and more confused, and asked, "Old Xu, the reason why I gave you the job at the dock is because you know how to deal with those gangs. You have done a good job in the past few years. Why are you threatened this time?"

Xu Huaimin explained, "Well, in the past, the gangs at least had some established rules among each other, but the Axe Gang is not only unreasonable, but they also flip the table. It's impossible to negotiate with people like them."

"Axe Gang?"

"Oh, they are a group of hooligans in the Anhui Province Association. The leader is called Wang Laojiu. They are totally outlaws."

"Huh?" Li Guodong was surprised. "Then this person is my fellow villager!"

As the saying goes, when the prime minister is in Hefei, the whole world becomes thin.

The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company was a company founded by Li Zhongtang during the Qing Dynasty. Li Guodong's ancestor was a direct descendant of Li Zhongtang. If you trace their roots back to Wang Laojiu, of course they are both from Anhui Province.

Xu Huaimin knew this very well, but he didn't take it seriously. Fellow townsmen was just a gimmick. They were not people of the same class. Not to mention fellow townsmen, even if they were brothers, they were people from two completely different worlds.

"Wang Laojiu, Wang Laojiu..."

Li Guodong muttered to himself several times, and then suddenly said, "I have heard a little bit about this person. I heard that when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown, he was wanted by the Anhui Provincial Government. Later, when the Republic of China was established, his wanted list was cancelled?"

"That's true. I've asked someone to check it out." Xu Huaimin said, "When Wang Laojiu was wanted before, he came to Shanghai once and was even imprisoned. He later returned to Anhui Province, but was wanted again a few years later. He recently came to Shanghai again and forcibly took over the Anhui Province Association. It seems that he intends to stay here for a long time."

Li Guodong nodded, thinking: "You just said that they plan to seize the Jinyuan Wharf and compete with the 'three tycoons' for territory?"

"Yes, that's why I came here to tell you the situation in advance." Xu Huaimin smiled apologetically.

"Are Wang Laojiu and his men so powerful?"

"Well, I also thought they were overestimating their capabilities at first, but... Director Li, have you read today's newspaper?"

"Hiss—the gang of robbers who robbed local goods mentioned in the newspaper is the Axe Gang?"

"Apart from them, I really can't think of anyone else who can be as reckless as they are." Xu Huaimin whispered.

For some reason, after hearing these words, Li Guodong suddenly fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he murmured, "Okay, I know about this. If the Axe Gang comes again, tell them to come to my office directly, or I will go and negotiate with them in person when I am free."

Xu Huaimin was stunned: "Director Li, what are you doing..."

"Don't worry about the rest. Since Wang Laojiu and I are from the same hometown, it will be easier to deal with him."

After saying that, Li Guodong didn't explain any more. He waved his hand and immediately closed the door to send the guest away.

Although Xu Huaimin was a little confused, when he saw that his immediate superior was willing to take the responsibility, he naturally wanted to remove himself from this mess completely, so he immediately nodded with a smile and stood up to say goodbye.

……

……

Noon, Shilipu Wharf.

The sun in late autumn loves to show off. It looks bright and blazing, but it is actually useless. People can still feel a little bit of heat when walking in the sun, but once they hide in the shadow, they will feel chilly and gradually feel that winter is approaching. The dock workers have been working hard all morning and finally have a moment of leisure. They all gather on the shore to eat. Some bring their own dry food, and some buy two steamed buns. Anyway, they can't go far. The cargo ship comes at any time, and they have to be ready to load and unload at any time. If they are a little slow, their wages will be deducted by the foreman and manager.

As everyone ate and chatted, the news that Sanjin Company's local products had been robbed was naturally the focus of discussion.

"Hey, did you hear about what happened last night? Is it true?"

"Oh, don't listen to their nonsense, it's fake. Shanghai is the territory of the Green Gang. Who dares to go against the 'three tycoons'?"

"Who said it was fake? Didn't you hear any gunshots last night?"

"Just because you heard the gunshot, it's real? Hearing is not as good as seeing. You didn't even know that. You deserved to be fooled last time."

"Well, if you say so, someone even saw the robbers' carriage last night!"

Everyone was talking at once and arguing endlessly.

Since no one was an eyewitness, naturally no one can convince anyone else - there is no doubt that people always tend to believe the "truth" they want to believe.

Some people hate the dock manager of the Green Gang and hope that the "Three Big Moguls" will collapse, so they are willing to believe that this story is true; some people want to be slaves but cannot, so they protect the reputation of the "Three Big Moguls" everywhere, hoping that one day they can also become disciples of the Green Gang, so they are willing to believe that this story is false.

Where your butt is, your brain and vision are there.

As they were talking, a street performer came up from the front, holding a sanxian in his left hand and a stool in his right hand. He walked up to the crowd, sat down, took out a copy of "The Bund News" from his arms and spread it on the ground, then pretended to clear his throat.

"My name is Shen Shili. I'm a wanderer trying to make a living. I don't have any other skills. The sanxian in my hand was passed down from my master, and the voice in my mouth was given to me by my parents. I specialize in singing news. If you like to listen, please spend a few coins so that I can buy you a cup of tea to moisten your throat..."

"What news? Tell me!" the dock worker interrupted impatiently.

Shen Shili smiled slightly and said, "Today's news is very important. I just sing. How much you can understand depends on your understanding. I sing 'The old man in Huangshan knocks on the mountain to shake the two evil spirits, and the dragon crossing the river captures the three monsters'!"

Hearing this, the dock worker's eyes suddenly lit up.

They were well-informed. They had heard a story in the newspaper that predicted the robbery of the local products of the Sanjin Company. However, they could not read it because they could not read. Now that someone wanted to sing it, they were of course very excited and urged them to sing it:

"Then sing quickly, sing quickly, sing quickly!"

Shin Se-ri said in a pretentious tone, "Oh, I'm thirsty!"

The dock workers scraped together a dozen copper coins and threw them to him.

Shen Shili picked up the copper coins one by one, and then began to play the piano and sing. However, after he sang a few words, the dock workers became anxious.

"Stop, stop, stop. You'd better stop singing. I can't understand what you're singing. Just read it directly!"

The audience has the final say. Shen Shili got the reward money first, but he didn't care. He picked up the newspaper and started reading the work written by Chuang Hu. Halfway through, when he came to the part that tempted people, he started to use his underworld tricks again, stopped, and asked for the reward money again before continuing.

The story was naturally absurd and full of innuendos, so the dock workers could only half-listen and half-guess. In the end, they felt unsatisfied and asked directly, "Who are these 'Huangshan Man' and 'Crossing the River Dragon' you are talking about?"

Before Shen Shili could answer, a foreign accent was heard from the dock workers.

"Who else could 'Huangshan Weng' be? Of course he is from Anhui Province!" The person who spoke could not help but look proud. "This is a great job. It really brings honor to the workers of Anhui Province!"

"Then the 'Huangshan Weng' should be Wang Laojiu, right?"

"Who else could it be other than Master Jiu? Only Master Jiu doesn't give a shit about the 'three tycoons' of the Green Gang!"

This statement caused a commotion among the dock workers. Many of the fellow villagers showed panic and tried to dissuade them, saying, "Hey, Zhu Laoliu, stop talking nonsense! Jiu Ye has a group of brothers to take care of him. If you say that, be careful to get beaten. Don't forget that our dock is still the territory of the Green Gang!"

"Right, right, right!" the elder quickly agreed, "Young man, don't just indulge yourself, or you'll cause trouble for everyone else! I heard that the Jinyuan Wharf in the south fired all the workers from Anhui Province in one go a few days ago."

"Why?" everyone asked hurriedly.

The elder shook his head and sighed, "I don't know. The wharf is their business, so of course they have their say."

"This is too much of a bully. Why?" Young people are always full of blood.

The elders were unwilling to talk more, and just said: "Ah, why are there so many reasons? We are just ordinary people, no one cares about us, we just need to live our lives steadily and don't pay attention to these nonsense!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a man with a short flat head and protruding ears suddenly jumped out of the crowd and took over the conversation righteously.

"What are you afraid of! Jiu Ye has already said that workers should help each other. We have now established the 'Anhui Province Shanghai Labor Association' in our hometown association. Jiu Ye has personally said that he will take care of any matter concerning fellow villagers!"

Everyone looked at each other, half believing and half doubting.

The elder was caught off guard by the remark and didn't respond well. He squinted his eyes, curled his lips and asked, "Who are you, greenhorn? Are you a worker at our dock? Why haven't I seen you before?"

The man with big ears stood up from the shore, brushed off the dust on his buttocks, then poked his chest with his thumb and said loudly:

"Chen Lixian, I have dealt with Master Jiu before. Our hometown association is different now than before. Master Jiu said that if anyone dares to withhold wages from our fellow villagers or fire our Anhui workers without reason at the docks, factories, and car dealerships, Master Jiu will help you get an explanation!"

"Is it true? Wang Laojiu will take care of anything related to his fellow townsmen?" Several young people immediately became eager to try.

"If you don't believe me, then come with me to the guild hall." Chen Lixian's eyes were firm. "It's no use talking too much. Jinyuan Wharf fired our fellow workers without reason. You just wait and see what Master Jiu is going to do. Whoever is willing to help, from now on, will be a brother to Master Jiu!"

"When?"

"Give it to the guy or not?"

"If I really lose some limbs, will my fellow villagers help me out?"

Young people are most easily instigated. With just a few words, they begin to feel inexplicably angry and want to fly to the hometown association hall immediately to pay their respects to Master Jiu. Then, they can put a sharp axe on their waist tomorrow and become a member of the Axe Gang.

The elderly people nearby had experienced a lot, but at this moment their faces were gloomy, and their expressions were full of doubt and suspicion.

While everyone was excited and enthusiastic, another group of dock workers who were not from Anhui Province just sneered.

Suddenly, a soft Wu dialect was heard from the crowd, the voice was very low and extremely restrained.

"Now we know who 'Huangshan Weng' is; but what about 'Crossing the River Dragon'? Is there such a person?"

This question was directed at Shin Se-ri, who was stunned for a moment, then hesitated: "Who is this 'Crossing the River Dragon'? Haha, then you really asked the right person, he... cough cough, thirsty!"

(End of this chapter)