The Republic of China. A Dream of Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies

Early the next morning, Zai Kun went out alone. He was going to visit his ex-wife Kelso, whom he hadn’t seen for two years. The two made an appointment to meet at a tea house in Qianmen. Idlers have been stationed here for a long time, and many of them are children of the Eight Banners.

Zai Kun deliberately changed into a brown long gown and shaved his beard. He looked younger by several years. If he dressed properly, he would be in his thirties. In fact, he was already forty, but a man after four Ten is the most attractive age group, especially young girls will be chased, this is the case in the UK, and it is the same when you return to Beijing.

Lord Belle greeted a few acquaintances, and went upstairs to the private room. When he saw the charming British Viscount, he immediately burst into laughter from ear to ear.

"You came early, didn't you?" He sat next to Kelso.

Kelso smiled and replied: "No, I just came here too. You are very energetic today." He is a China hand and has lived in China for almost 20 years. He looks like he is in his 30s or less than [-] , elegant temperament, white skin, slender nose bridge, thin lips, a pair of green eyes, thin figure, very similar to European exquisite ceramic dolls, in fact, already over forty years old, rushing to five.Kelso gave birth to four children in total, the eldest and second child's father is Zai Kun, the third child and youngest daughter are the fathers of Jin Kai who is a teenager younger than him.

"Ask me to the teahouse so early, do you have something to discuss?" He actually knew that it was even more inappropriate to be at the other party's house, because someone always stared at him like a thief.

"Well, are you really planning to do business with me?" Before that, when they were in England, they had a brief chat, but no formal decision had been made at that time, and Zai Kun did not intend to step down and return to the field.

"That's what I thought, but I don't have a clue yet, so I'm asking for your thoughts." He respected the Viscount very much. Although the two had been separated for seven years, he still regarded each other as his family.

Kelso picked up his teacup and said, "It's not suitable for investment now, the situation is too unstable, but the concession is fine, and Shanghai is still good."

"Well, the warlords mess with the war site, change masters every three days, and don't know who to pay taxes to. If you invest in Shanghai, isn't it more convenient to live in Shanghai?" Zai Kun scratched his head. To be honest, he didn't particularly want to After all, he has been away from home for seven years. The last time he came back, Amma was in critical condition. He didn't rush back to London until after the funeral. His sister Defang and Kelso helped him with other chores, so he didn't bother.

"Living in Shanghai is of course more convenient. You don't have to travel back and forth. You can invest in catering, trade, real estate, and entertainment. The main thing is to see which industry we are more familiar with and there is not so much competition. It is definitely possible to do trade. , but you need to find excellent new products.” Doing things that others have done, one is to fight price wars, and the other is to grab old customers, which is actually not cost-effective. He and Jin Kai are now mainly engaged in trade, decoration, and furniture business After a few years, I have been stable and stable. Although I am not utterly rich, I have a lot of savings. I plan to send my son to study in London next year.

"It's really hard to decide right away. I've been thinking about it for a long time and haven't come to a conclusion." Kun Belle frowned. Hasty investment would result in a land that cannot make ends meet, but with Kelso, he felt that this possibility was almost non-existent.

"Or it's the most conservative investment. We buy land and build a house to rent out. The Wanghai Apartment where Xiaoying lived in the past is very good. We build one, and the two families can pool their money to get it done. It doesn't need to be too big. The land is a small western-style building with five floors, and there are five households on each floor. The money can be distributed every month. Management is enough." A ledger immediately appeared in Kelso's mind, and he calculated almost all possible expenses and costs. This apartment only needs to hire four security personnel, and the security personnel are responsible for charging for miscellaneous affairs , Let the accountant of the foreign bank go to the company every week to collect the money, everything is OK, but Jinkai has to work hard, and it has to be stationed in Shanghai for a long time during construction.

After listening to Zai Kun, he repeatedly said: "Yes, you have a good idea. Let's build an apartment first. If it is feasible, we will build another one. I will see if there are any suitable yards in Beijing that I can buy... By the way, it’s better to divide my Baylor Mansion into two yards, and the other yard can be repainted and renovated, and rented out.” After Ama’s death, the mansion was sold and the family property was divided equally. Ama’s side Fujin followed her sister Let’s face it, he still has a lot of deposits in his hand, and it’s up to him to turn this money into more money. It’s too passive to just put it in the bank to earn interest.

Kelso looked at him blankly and asked back: "Are you willing to divide more than 30 houses into [-] for rent?"

"We can't live here. Fifteen rooms are enough. Qingzhu will get married in the future. In the end, I'm afraid only Yinger will live with me. He has a son and grandson. These ten rooms are enough. Don't you I forgot that I have another courtyard, and now I rent it to a business family, and they have lived there for three years." He said, even if Yanlin's family came, they only used three or four rooms, which must be enough living.

The Viscount nodded: "Think carefully, letting others live in the house is equivalent to ruining it, and they won't cherish it." He got too angry because the dormitory was "destroyed" by the employees, and all the perpetrators were fined.

"This is also a problem. Maybe my sister has an idea... When he is not around, you can stay at my place at night?" Zai Kun leaned over, bit Kelso's ear, and harassed vaguely.

The Viscount pushed him away, and replied half-jokingly: "When you come back, he will not dare to go out." In fact, Jin Kai has always been on guard against Lord Belle, and he has to accompany him every time he returns to England, for fear of being taken advantage of. .

"It wasn't he who stole you away when I was not caught." Zai Kun would still be angry every time he thought of this, but he was not only angry because of Jin Kai's digging, but because of his own mishandling, which made the viscount choose the queen. Or, emotional matters are difficult to deal with, and now the two families can maintain a good relationship, thanks to Kelso's mediation.

Hearing this, Kelso felt that he owed Zai Kun, so he had to cough softly to ease the awkward atmosphere.

In the evening, when Puying came back from a party held by his friend Su Botao, Zhou Ping told him that there was a visitor, and that his father had gone to his aunt's house, and no one was entertaining visitors. He hurried to the living room and saw the visitor.

This person was Yan Lin, and when he saw him coming, he immediately stood up and said hello.

"I'm sorry for the hasty visit. I'm here to see you, Ama."

"Oh, he went to my aunt's place, and he will probably come back later." Pu Ying said, no wonder there was a foreign car parked at the door, it turned out to be this guy's, hehe, if you think about it, you must be regretting what you said yesterday , to move here to eat and live, although he was extremely upset, he still had to show his father face.

"Oh, then I'll wait for him, you go." Yan Lin couldn't help but glance at Pu Ying, how could there be such a handsome man in the world, Kun Belle was already a dragon among men, Ai Xin Jue Luo's most beautiful man, and gave birth to a good son with a British beauty, life is really happy, and then look at yourself, reduced to the point of pulling a foreign car for others, almost nothing is going well...

Pu Ying gave him a displeased sideways glance, and went back to her room.

"It's quite stylish..." Yanlin said to himself, sat down and took a sip of the cold tea, thinking about how to express himself to Zai Kun, for fear of saying the wrong thing, he didn't have much thought today Work, come here as soon as it gets dark.

After eight o'clock, Lord Belle finally came back, and when he saw Yanlin's arrival, he immediately greeted him.

"Wait a minute. If I knew you were coming, I would have been back a long time ago. My servant's brain is not working well, so I don't know how to find someone to pass on the message." Kun Belle had already guessed his reason for coming, and he was definitely going to move in with him. , and it was Lao Fujin's idea.

Yan Lin hurriedly said: "You are busy with your work, I have nothing to do anyway, drinking tea is quite warm."

But there was no fire cage in the living room, and Zhou Ping didn't know how to bring a brazier. This made Zai Kun very angry.

"Let's go to the study, it's warm there... Zhou Ping, bring some snacks." Kun Belle led the prince pulling the cart to the study, and the two sat down face to face, chatted for a while, and roughly talked about the future arrangements , There are three big rooms in the front yard, which can be cleaned up for Yanlin's family to live in.

"The furniture and bedding are all ready-made. You don't need to bring anything. I will pack all the coal for eating and drinking in winter. There is a place to take a shower at home and you don't need to go out to spend money. If you don't like eating with us, you can do it alone. In the kitchen There are vegetables, rice noodles, you can use whatever you want, but I don’t like to waste, and I also ask my daughter and son like this.” Zai Kun said, if he is not diligent and thrifty in managing his family, his situation is probably not much better than that of Zai Yu go.

"Well, thank you Brother Kun, I won't let them waste things. I'm used to living in poverty these few years." After he finished speaking, he took out a cigarette from his pocket, but didn't dare to light it.

Zai Kun smiled: "Come on, I'll be with you, come on, just smoke mine." After speaking, he handed him a camel and helped light it himself.

Yanlin took two puffs, frowned and said, "Foreigners' cigarettes are too choking. You always smoke this in England?"

"Occasionally, I still like to suck my nose and throat. Since we will live together in the future, let me tell you about my family's situation. My daughter owns a tailor shop in Qianmen, and she is not married yet. Puying Live with me, after my mother-in-law and I separated, there is no other woman in the family, the third child, Pu Xing, is still studying in England, and he will not be able to come back until a few years later, the children have their own tempers, if there is any offense in the future, Please forgive me." Kun Belle was afraid that his sons and daughters would give cold faces to the guests, so he brought the ugly words to the fore.

The man pulling the cart smiled a little: "Pu Ying is more handsome than you, she will have a bright future and marry a beautiful wife. I haven't met Ge Ge yet, is she a beauty?"

"She is indeed beautiful, but it makes me worry. Many marriages have not been settled. I feel sorry for Lan Xin under Jiuquan. I must marry her this year. I am not worried about Puying. Graduated from the academy, but that child is too conceited, he needs to be beaten to become a weapon." Zai Kun felt more at ease with his son than with his daughter, after all, Pu Ying was only twenty, but Qing Zhu was almost 25 years old, and the girl's family was not as old as that. It is very embarrassing for her husband's family, and she is considered an older woman in the West.

"My niece's marriage is important, but I can't help you much." His former friends have long since run away, and his current friends are all pulling carts and doing small businesses, and they can't even beat his niece's back.

Zai Kun said while smoking, "The main reason is that the husband's family disagrees with her continuing to be a tailor after marriage, and thinks that the woman's family should not show their faces."