Literary Heroes of the Republic of China

This is the second time Boss Chen has said such a thing, and Mu Qiong is not surprised.

He has long felt the change in Boss Chen's attitude towards him, and he also knows why Boss Chen did this.

Boss Chen's preferential treatment to him is actually a kind of investment.

In ancient China, many people liked to make such investments.

The most famous of them is that Lu Buwei invested in other people. In later dynasties, many celebrities with average family backgrounds received funding from others when they were young, and many powerful people also funded others.

Speaking of which, even the father of the original owner, Mu Changqiong, was able to study in Japan not only because his family had money, but also because he was valued by an official in the late Qing Dynasty and received funding from the other party.

People love to help others, and they do so for their own benefit.

The people they support are worthless, just losing some money, but if the people they support have a great fortune, it will undoubtedly bring them great benefits.

In the chaotic period of the Republic of China, the returns from successful investments were often greater than those in peaceful times.

For example, a small businessman who gave money and food when the warlord was still a bandit in the early days may eventually become the warlord's financial officer to help him collect taxes.If he helped a government official when he was young, and later he committed a crime and went to jail, he might be let off lightly.

Mu Qiong didn't think how imposing he would be in the future, and Boss Chen certainly didn't think too far into helping him, but the meaning was the same.He is very grateful to Boss Chen for treating him with respect.

Boss Chen is right, he is indeed about to leave, and he plans to leave after working with Boss Chen for a month.

This is because he doesn't understand the catering industry and doesn't like it, and secondly, it's because he doesn't want to waste his time serving dishes.

Working in a western restaurant has no other benefits for him other than running back and forth and exercising his body, and he has locked all his time in this restaurant.

These days, he leaves early and returns late every day, spending three or four hours on the road, teaching Mu Changyu and Zhu Wanwan to read at night, and writing by himself... He is actually very tired and has no time to learn anything.

What's more... It's not good to get paid if you don't work.

Mu Qiong said with a smile: "Boss, you helped me when I was about to starve to death. I will never forget your kindness."

Boss Chen smiled happily.

Mu Qiong said again at this time: "Boss, I really plan to resign in a few days after I finish my work."

He didn't know anything about barbecue. Boss Chen had to figure out how to configure the seasoning and how to roast the meat. The things he said only included the decoration of western restaurants.

Speaking of it, he didn't understand decoration either.

But he has learned to paint and has a modern vision, so the decoration he made will not be too bad, and it must be completely different from the decoration of this era.

For people at this time, just being different is enough to make them stop.

"So fast?" Boss Chen was a little surprised: "If you don't work with me, what will happen to the family's livelihood?"

"I wrote something a few days ago and submitted it to the newspaper, and the newspaper has already decided to take it." Mu Qiong said, when he went to the newspaper office to submit the manuscript, in order to pass the manuscript, he did not say that the manuscript was written by himself, but in front of Boss Chen , there is no need to hide it.

"I just thought you would find another job, but I didn't expect you to be able to publish articles..." Boss Chen gave Mu Qiong admiringly.

Not many people can read and write these days, and even fewer can write... But anyone who has published something in newspapers and magazines is an existence that people look up to.

Mu Qiong was a little embarrassed by Boss Chen's gaze, and Boss Chen said again: "In a few days, you will have been working here for a full month. You don't need to do anything in the store these days, just help me with the decoration. Just get it done."

"Thank you boss." Mu Qiong said with a smile.

"You don't need to call me boss... At my age, you can call me uncle." Boss Chen smiled.

"Thank you Uncle Chen." Mu Qiong agreed.

Boss Chen was very kind to Mu Qiong, but after Mu Qiong called Uncle Chen, he treated Mu Qiong even better.

When there were too many people in the store, the cook divided the lunch and breakfast among everyone, and everyone ate it in turn. It was the same with Mu Qiong before, but today Boss Chen asked him to eat with him. The one who ate with them, and Zhang dispensers.

Mu Qiong chatted with Shopkeeper Zhang, and after listening to some introductions from Boss Chen, he realized that Shopkeeper Zhang’s family was originally a wealthy man in Guangzhou. It is said that a quarter of the shops in Guangzhou at that time were run by Shopkeeper Zhang’s family. .

When shopkeeper Zhang was a child, all the marbles he played were made of silver.

It's a pity that later Britain and France enclose land in Guangzhou, directly enclosing the ancestral house of shopkeeper Zhang's family, and want to buy it at an extremely low price.

After Zhang's family was unwilling, some people came from nowhere and severely injured shopkeeper Zhang's father.

After the shopkeeper Zhang's father was beaten, he stayed on the sick bed, but at this time, rumors spread that the Zhang family was dying.

The Zhang family opened a bank, and as soon as the rumors spread, countless people came to the bank with banknotes to make a run on it.

In this era, after the bank received the depositor's money, it would give the depositor the same amount, which could be exchanged for bank notes in taels of silver at any time.Although this banknote can only be used locally, it is very popular because of its convenience.Banknotes issued by reputable banks are often more trustworthy than those issued by the government.

But if a run occurs, the bank is basically over.

The Zhang family fell down like that, and the shopkeeper Zhang's father was also pissed off. At that time, the shopkeeper Zhang was only in his teens.

Shopkeeper Zhang also worked as a businessman in his early years, made a lot of money, and was very prosperous at one time, but then something happened, the goods he bought were robbed, and the business could not continue. In addition, he was not young and his children were old. As he grew older, he didn't dare to fight anymore, so he began to be a shopkeeper for others.

He is capable, and his salary is higher than that of other shopkeepers. When he helped manage the restaurant before, he could get 15 yuan a month. This time, Boss Chen invited him over, and he even opened it for [-] yuan a month. Yuan's high price.

He has deep wrinkles between the eyebrows and gray hair. He is two years younger than Boss Chen, but he looks like he has been weather-beaten, and his eyes are very clear.

Mu Qiong likes chatting with shopkeeper Zhang very much.Shopkeeper Zhang has read books and is very knowledgeable. Although he doesn't talk much, he can always give people the feeling of enlightenment.

He has read a lot of books on psychology in modern times, plus he likes to observe, so sometimes he has a thorough understanding of people and things, but he actually has shortcomings...he lacks the experience of interacting with people face to face .

He could learn a lot from Shopkeeper Zhang.

Mu Qiong had a lot of chats with shopkeeper Zhang that day, and it was late when he left the western restaurant, and it was already dark, so he didn't go to the editorial office of Dazhong Daily, but went home directly.

That night, after teaching Zhu Wanwan and Mu Changyu to read, he went to bed early, and when he woke up the next morning, he didn't continue to write, but went out early to catch the tram.

It was still early when he arrived in the concession, and without delay, he went directly to the editorial office of Dazhong Daily.

When Mu Qiong passed by, it was not yet the working hours of the editors of Dazhong Daily, but someone was already in the editorial department. A young man who was not a few years older than him was cleaning, and he even lit a coal stove downstairs to heat water.

"It's you!" The man was a little surprised when he saw Mu Qiong: "Why did you come here today? Editor-in-Chief Li waited for you all day yesterday."

"I wasn't free yesterday." Mu Qiong smiled: "I brought the manuscript."

"Give me the manuscript, and I'll give it to Editor-in-Chief Li later." The man said, his eyes fell on the manuscript paper held by Mu Qiong, looking eager to read it.

Mu Qiong smiled, gave him the manuscript, and chatted with him again, and finally got a certain understanding of Dazhongbao.

There are four official editors in the editorial department of Dazhong Daily, and two are part-timers. The young man in front of him is one of the part-timers, and this newspaper can sell eight or nine thousand copies a day, sometimes even 1 More than [-] copies, in Shanghai, this sales volume can be ranked in the top ten.

After chatting with him for a while, Mu Qiong left the editorial office of Dazhong Daily and went to a western restaurant.

Boss Chen was not in the store and went out. Only shopkeeper Zhang was watching in the shop. Seeing Mu Qiong, shopkeeper Zhang smiled so that the lines between his brows deepened: "Mu Qiong, there is nothing to do in the shop. You can go upstairs."

"Okay." Mu Qiong replied with a smile, but didn't go up immediately, but stayed below for a while.

The business of the western restaurant is about the same as the previous day, because the western restaurant next door raised the price of hamburgers to [-] cents, and there are a little more people buying hamburgers today than yesterday, but not as much as before, at least waiting in line for this kind of thing, have nothing left.

People nearby are not so enthusiastic about hamburgers. As for people farther away, most of them don’t know the existence of hamburgers.

The two new employees of the western restaurant were a little worried when they saw this situation. They didn't dare to be idle for a moment since they had nothing to do, and they were almost cleaning the western restaurant spotlessly.

Li Guangming also tried his best to express himself, and kept introducing their western restaurants to passers-by with smiles at the door of the store.

Mu Qiong noticed this scene, so he simply called Li Guangming who had already changed into a suit, and taught him a few words of English for him to use when attracting guests at the door.

Li Guangming studied very hard. Although the accent was not right, he said "Hello" and "Take Ace Rabbit Rice Oil" directly, but at least he knew a few words of English...

After learning it, he himself felt that he was different from before... He no longer made up for others to smile or speak loudly, but imitated Mu Qiong to behave politely, and his back was straighter than before. Straighten a lot.

And people... just eat it.

Seeing this scene, Mu Qiong felt quite complicated.

Li Guangming is a very smart child. If he lived in modern times, even if he was not born well, he should be able to live well with his own efforts, but in this era, he doesn't even know how to read.

Mu Qiong wanted to teach, but he didn't have time to teach, and Li Guangming actually didn't have time to learn.

It didn't take much time for Mu Qiong to teach Li Guangming English. After teaching, he climbed up to the attic and got busy.

He first spread out a piece of white paper on the desk, drew a picture, and then took the manuscript paper and wrote two thousand words. The whole morning passed, and after dinner, he did the same thing and drew another decorative picture , wrote two thousand words.

During the previous renovation, Boss Chen was short of money and was reluctant to buy paints, so Mu Qiong didn't paint decorative paintings. In fact, most of the walls downstairs were white walls, but this time he planned to paint a few good ones. In the future, Boss Chen will frame it and hang it on the wall for decoration.

At this time, there are very few people who study abroad and study art. Although his paintings are not very good, they can be seen anyway, which can be regarded as helping Boss Chen save money.

For the next few days, Mu Qiong worked alone in the attic. As for Boss Chen, he spent most of the time outside.

He also had someone build an oven in the kitchen, and he worked on it himself every now and then.

In fact, there are already electric ovens in foreign countries, but it is not easy to buy electric ovens in China. Not only that, the voltage in the concession is very unstable, and there are frequent power outages. toss.

Boss Chen was born as a cook. Although making barbecue is a new attempt for him, it is not difficult for him. After a few tries, he can bake delicious barbecue. The chef who made Peking duck learned some roast duck skills.

The chef is unwilling to tell Boss Chen about the unique recipe, but at least Boss Chen knows how to roast chicken and duck.

Boss Chen didn't let the employees recruited after Mu Qiong know about the barbecue, and didn't let them eat the grilled food. In the end, it was cheaper for Mu Qiong and shopkeeper Zhang.

Even if the meat Boss Chen roasted at the beginning was not delicious, it was still meat!

But in just a few days, Mu Qiong felt that he was getting fat again.

At the same time, he has worked with Boss Chen for a full month and is about to get his first salary after coming to the Republic of China.

Mu Qiong had some expectation in his heart, but also some reluctance.