1850 American Gold Tycoon

"Then we'll see. Happy shopping, gentlemen and ladies."

Stewart pulled the tie on his collar, put on his hat to cover his bald spot, and left the hat shop.

"Sir, I hope you don't mind. Our boss is such an arrogant and rude person."

In the hat shop, the real store manager spread his hands helplessly and said to Liang Yao and others.

"It's not good to say bad things about your boss behind your boss's back."

Liang Yao approached the store manager, took out his cigarette case, took out a Havana cigar from the cigarette case and handed it to him.

The store manager just held the cigar in front of his nose and sniffed it, then carefully put the cigar into his pocket.

"This cigar of yours is equivalent to half a month's salary of mine." The store manager said, "Working in this mall is just a temporary measure. No one wants to stay in this mall for a long time. Stay here." It's a waste of life and I'll be out of here as soon as I find a new job."

The store manager made no secret of his dislike of the job, and was not worried about the conversation being overheard by other employees nearby.

"Your monthly salary as a store manager is only US$7?" Liang Yao was a little surprised.

According to his recent visits to New York, the average monthly salary of New Yorkers is about US$9.

The monthly salary of a store manager at Stewart Mall is just over US$7, which was beyond Liang Yao's expectations.

A monthly salary of more than 7 US dollars may be enough to survive in a small American city, but if you want to live on a monthly salary of more than 7 US dollars in New York, you may be able to live frugally in the summer, but it is difficult to live in the winter. Difficult, because heating costs are a big expense.

"My monthly salary is 7 US dollars and 30 cents, sir." The store manager smiled bitterly, "Even these 7 US dollars and 30 cents are not so easy to get. The boss has set up many rules and regulations and tried every means to deduct our wages. .”

"Tell me."

Liang Yao said curiously that he wanted to know what innovations the capitalists of this era had in exploiting employees.

"There are two days off every month. We open early at 7 a.m. and open at 8 a.m. if everything goes well. We will get off work at 9 p.m. if everything goes well. If we are late and leave early, we will deduct 1 dollar at a time. There is a one-hour lunch time in between. The lunch time is too long. If you get the wrong change, you will be deducted 60 cents at a time. Not only will you have to pay out of your own pocket to make up for the store's losses, but you will also have to pay a fine of the same amount, otherwise you will be fired."

The store manager touched his chin and thought.

"There are really too many. In short, if you want to get that pitiful salary every month, you must be like a machine in a factory and keep working hard at all times. Otherwise, you may not only not get the salary, but you may also have to pay Shopping malls give money.

Of course, these are not the most uncomfortable things. The most uncomfortable thing is that we don’t get the respect we deserve when we work here. As our boss said, we employees are just simple machines in his eyes. "

"Without being respected and with such a low salary, who would still want to work here?"

Lisa Bai Yin was very surprised by this. In her restaurant, the basic salary of ordinary employees is also 6 US dollars, but each restaurant has a commission based on its own turnover every month. Generally, there is a commission of 3 to 5 US dollars per month. The store manager's base salary is $9.

The most important thing is that although her restaurant management is strict, she will not deduct employees' wages. Is there any reason to want the horse to run but not to let the horse eat grass?

"Hundreds of immigrants pour into New York every day, and New York will never worry about running out of cheap employees." Liang Yao said to Lisa Bai Yin.

The United States is short of people, but that is for the vast and sparsely populated central and western regions. The developed eastern regions, especially big cities like New York, have never lacked cheap labor.

"Yes, a lot of employees leave our mall every month, but there are always new people from Ireland, Italy, Germany and other places applying for jobs here," the store manager said.

"I plan to save enough money for a ferry ticket to California in New York.

Just go to California to pan for gold, or carve out a piece of your own land to grow potatoes, but I heard that there are also many Indians in California who are worried about their personal safety. "

Liang Yao felt dumbfounded and said, "The Indians are not as scary as your boss who eats people without spitting out their bones."

After leaving the hat shop, Yin Lisabai put on Liang Yao's hat. She arranged Liang Yao's hat on her toes, looked at it carefully and said.

“The size is perfect.”

"But the weather is not suitable." After a while, Liang Yao felt the unbearable heat on his head and had to take off his hat and hold it in his hand.

After sending Elizabeth Yin back to the manor, Liang Yao and Van Daze drove to Backhouse's residence with the birthday gifts he had already prepared to visit Backhouse, the largest real estate tycoon in New York and also the largest landowner in New York.

"To be honest, I'm very surprised that you came to visit me."

Backhouse was very surprised that Liang Yao took the initiative to visit him.

This rich kid who was born into the most aristocratic family in New York is undoubtedly lucky. The founder of the family, Old Astor, had four sons. Unfortunately, two of the four sons died early. The eldest son is a mental patient, and the normal son Only Backhouse remained.

Backhouse naturally inherited his father's huge inheritance.

Although he was said to be a child of a wealthy family, Backhouse, who was born in 1792, was actually two years older than Vanderbilt.

It's just that Vanderbilt has been traveling all year round, while Backhouse has been pampered since he was a child. If you look at it purely from appearance, Backhouse does look younger than Vanderbilt.

"There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. The stalemate between us will only make others easier. I think there is a misunderstanding between us." Liang Yao picked up the birthday cake gift box and placed it on the table in the living room. , said to Backhouse, "Happy birthday to you, Mr. Backhouse."

As he spoke, Liang Yao seemed to suddenly remember something. He took a beautiful wooden gift box from the servant behind him and walked to the lady next to Backhouse.

"You must be Mrs. Astor. Oh, my God, you look so beautiful and young. This is a small gift I prepared for you. I hope you like it."

In this era, free love and free marriage were not only a luxury in the East, but also in the West. Arranged marriages were also popular among wealthy and aristocratic families in the West.

Backhouse's marriage was one of the most famous arranged marriages in New York at the time.

The lady in front of Liang Yao was the then New York State Senator and the daughter of General Armstrong. She was a typical marriage between politics and business.

Mrs. Astor opened the gift box and took a look. There were some Chinese jewelry and jade inside. She closed the gift box with a smile and said to Liang Yao: "Thank you, Mr. Liang, I like these gifts of yours very much, but in Astor In the Te family, men have always had the final say. These gifts of yours require my husband’s approval before I can give them to you.”

Mrs. Astor said and looked at Backhouse aside.

The status of women in the Astor family is very low, whether they are daughters-in-law or daughters.

The elder Astor was unwilling to contribute too much wealth to his daughter-in-law's family in exchange for political capital, so he set up a treaty for the marriage that would become a tradition of the Astor family in the future.

This treaty is very simple, that is, a daughter-in-law who marries into the Astor family must give up her husband's inheritance distribution rights, but will receive a fixed amount of money accordingly.

The treatment of daughters is similar to that of daughters-in-law. The Astor family established the world's earliest family trust. In order to prevent the property from falling into the hands of outsiders, it is stipulated that the family wealth is passed on to sons but not to daughters. Daughters cannot obtain the family inheritance, but they can obtain it from the family trust. You will receive a fixed amount of money every month to maintain your living expenses.

Liang Yao clapped his hands, and the servant behind him came up holding the Hangluo Shu brocade in his hand.

"Oh my god, these silk brocades are so beautiful. I have seen a lot of Chinese silk brocades, but I have never seen such exquisite silk brocades with such good feel. This is simply a work of art!"

When Backhouse saw this, he couldn't help but stood up from the sofa. He held a pipe in his hand and stepped forward to examine the silk carefully. The Astor family had done trade with China, including silk, but he also He had to admit that the quality of the silks given by Liang Yao as gifts was indeed better. He had never seen silk brocades of such good quality before.

"Of course, these are not for sale." Liang Yao said in a cryptic manner.

"Not for sale?" Mrs. Astor's face was full of confusion.

"This is not for sale only for the royal family to enjoy. It is not one of those vulgar trade items. I know some royal merchant friends and got it from their hands. Only nobles like you deserve to enjoy royal supplies, so I brought it to you. I hope you like it." Liang Yao smiled.

"It will be very suitable to make you a dress using these silk brocades. It will surely amaze other ladies in New York."

At this time, the Qing royal family was still very mysterious in the eyes of Westerners, and ordinary gifts could not impress the well-informed Astor family.

After hearing that this was a royal item, Mrs. Astor, who had always maintained a dignified posture, swallowed without restraint.

The upper class in New York pride themselves on being aristocrats, advocating aristocratic culture, and being able to enjoy royal supplies is the dream of these vain upper class people.

"I really like these gifts of yours." Mrs. Astor glanced at Backhouse. "Dear, Mr. Liang came to visit us with such sincerity. If we don't accept Mr. Liang's kindness, we won't be able to accept it." If you treat Mr. Liang well as a landlord, you will be laughed at and gossiped by other families in New York. "

Backhouse signaled the servant to accept Liang Yao's gift, and Mrs. Astor made tea for Liang Yao herself with a smile on her face.

The Astor family started out as a trader in China in their early years, so the Astor family has the habit of drinking tea.

Of course Backhouse would not believe the lies that there must be some misunderstanding between Liang Yao and the Astor family.

He sent John to California to mine gold mines, but was blocked by Liang Yao and confiscated their gold. Backhouse kept these things in mind.

"Your Chinese culture is profound and profound. I remember there is such a saying, which is that if you show courtesy for nothing, you will be raped or stolen." Backhouse said after asking Liang Yao to sit down.

"It seems that you know a lot about Chinese culture. We have a saying in China, which is to turn war into friendship." Liang Yao said after sitting down.

"Then it depends on how much treasure you can bring out, and whether the treasure you bring out can impress me and stop the war between us." Backhouse said.

To be honest, Liang Yao's sudden visit on his birthday surprised him. Apart from the surprise, he couldn't help but raise his opinion of Liang Yao.

Apart from buying land, Backhouse couldn't think of any other reason why Liang Yao came to him.

Backhouse took a puff of cigarette and slowly exhaled the smoke from his mouth and nose before saying.

"If I guess correctly, you want to buy my land, and this land is probably in New York. I am a businessman, and businessmen have to do business. As long as these lands are not for sale by the Astor family, I can't sell them. , but in view of the previous conflicts between us, if you want to buy it, you have to pay more!"