money player

"I am his tool?" Wang Zhaoyun grabbed Xian Yaowen's shoulders and sobbed.

Xian Yaowen stroked Wang Zhaoyun's hair and said softly, "Don't worry, don't think about it, I'll take care of everything."

"How could he do this to me?"

Xian Yaowen placed his hand on Wang Zhaoyun's buttocks, gently stroked it a few times, then raised his hand and slapped it twice with a little force.

"Ah~um~"

Xian Yaowen took his hand off his hips and pinched Wang Chaoyun's chin, "You are not innocent in coveting my beauty."

Wang Zhaoyun turned her head and broke free from Xian Yaowen's hand, "Gao Ye-kun, you seduced me."

"Seduction is adultery, men and women are guilty of the same crime. You might as well say that I raped you, then you are innocent."

"Is it okay?" Wang Zhaoyun said, trying not to smile.

"Okay." Xian Yaowen sat up and combed his hair. "I have something else to do. I won't have dinner with you. Next time, I'll play the rape game with you. You can be as innocent as you want."

Wang Zhaoyun chuckled, then stood up and helped Xian Yaowen undress.

"Koya-kun, should I leave here?"

"Don't worry, I'll pick you up when it's time to leave." Xian Yaowen took off his shirt, got out of bed and stood on the ground.

Wang Zhaoyun followed and helped him take off his pants. After a while, they went into the bathroom together.

Ximending.

A public dining hall.

Xian Yaowen was holding the rice ticket in his hand and waiting in line for his meal. Liang Saizhen was standing in front of him.

The distributor was very efficient and it was Liang Saizhen's turn in a short while. Just five seconds later, it was Xian Yaowen's turn.

I handed the rice ticket and enamel plate to the rice window. The distributor took the ticket and pinned it to the invoice. With his other hand, he took a rice spoon and scooped a piece of rice into the enamel plate. Later, he used another rice spoon to scoop up a piece of tofu.

Xian Yaowen glanced at the two vegetable bowls next to the tofu bowl, one containing green vegetables and the other containing semi-meat dishes, then he left the food counter holding the enamel plate.

Together with Liang Saizhen, he found a seat in a corner, took chopsticks from the chopstick holder and started eating.

Liang Saizhen took a bite and frowned, "The money to buy rice coupons and enamel plates is enough to order two dishes at a restaurant."

"Can't get used to it?"

"I haven't eaten such a bad meal in a long time."

Xian Yaowen put a piece of rice into his mouth and smiled faintly, "I'll treat you to a big dinner tonight."

Liang Saizhen took another piece of rice with her chopsticks and chewed it with disgust.

Seeing this, Xian Yaowen said, "Looking at you, you probably never went hungry during the Zhaonan period."

"How could I not have been hungry? The longest time I didn't have a full meal was five months." Liang Saizhen complained: "I can endure hardship, but I won't ask for it."

"Don't say that." Xian Yaowen pointed at the enamel plate. "In Taiwan, not everyone is eligible to eat this meal. This place nominally serves military personnel, public servants, and low-income families, but look at the people eating here. Do you think anyone looks like they are having a hard time?"

"Mr. Xian, you don't need to eat the 'superior meal' here, do you?"

"If you don't come here to eat, how can you know the taste of the food?" Xian Yaowen said indifferently: "Can I buy vegetables and semi-vegetarian dishes with money?"

"It seems that you need to show your ID before you can buy it."

"Secretly add money?"

"Why bother eating here if you're willing to spend money?"

"That's right." Xian Yaowen nodded. "What's the current price of brown rice in the grain store?"

"I went to ask yesterday, and it was 600 yuan per catty ( grams). I heard the price is going to go up recently."

“How much white rice can be produced from one pound of brown rice?”

"It's less than 13 liang. People who buy brown rice are reluctant to grind it into white rice, so they only grind it into 14% white rice, which can produce and a half liang."

"Oh, tell me about the black market price."

"Yesterday, brown rice was $4.30, 70% white rice was $4.90, American flour was $2.60, pork was offered at $14, I got it down to $13.40, green vegetables were offered at $1.70, I got it down to $1.40."

“Are there many people buying it?”

"Many people buy rice and flour, but few buy vegetables, and almost no one buys pork."

"How much is the monthly rice ration for an average adult?"

"15 to 18 kilograms, but the actual ration is only 12 kilograms at most. If it's not enough, we can only mix it with sweet potatoes and taro to make sweet potato rice."

"Sweet potato, skewers and rice? Or sweet potato skewers and rice?"

"Sweet potato skewers are dried sweet potatoes. If the conditions are good, 30% of the ingredients are sweet potato skewers. If the conditions are bad, 80% to 90% are used. When the bowl is served, there is only a layer of rice on the surface, and the bottom is all sweet potato skewers."

As she spoke, Liang Saizhen hummed softly, "I can hear the sound of knives along the village, and the silver threads are cut into thin strips under my wrists. I am full of seaweed in a fan steamer, and I remember the water shield soup in the autumn wind. The poems by Xu Biguan during the Daoguang period are also appropriate at the moment."

"It's not good to point at a monk and call him a bald donkey. Be careful with your words." Xian Yaowen chuckled.

Liang Saizhen giggled and picked up a few grains of rice with her chopsticks and put them into her mouth.

Finished eating.

The two found a small teahouse nearby, with a sign saying "Louwailou", which should be opened by someone from Hangzhou.

When you enter the store, you can see Chiang Kai-shek's portrait hanging prominently on the wall, with Soviet-style embroidery hanging next to it. There are seven or eight tables in the hall, but only one is empty. There are people sitting at the others. A man wearing glasses who looks like a professor is telling everyone the news.

From the first two sentences, I could hear that it was news from the mainland, and its style was similar to that of Xinhua Radio's manuscripts.

Sitting down at the empty table, Dr. Tea came over.

"Sir, what kind of tea do you want? Longjing or Biluochun?"

"Is Geri Tea an authentic product?"

Tea Doctor heard that Xian Yaowen was not from Hangzhou, so he switched to Mandarin and said, "Sir, there is no imported Longjing tea in Taipei. It is all Fujian tea and Shizuoka tea. It's better to eat Biluochun, which is imported from Hong Kong."

"Okay, let's have Biluochun. Do you have any snacks?"

“There are Ningbo Youzanzi and Shaoxing Xianggao.”

"No more?" Xian Yaowen asked, looking at the five-spice beans on the table next to him.

"Gone."

Xian Yaowen withdrew his gaze from the five-spice beans, looked at Dr. Tea and said, "Five-spice beans are fine, and rice coupons and banknotes are also easy to deal with."

Dr. Cha hesitated for a moment and said, "Sir, wait a moment."

While waiting for tea, Xian Yaowen listened to some oral news, which said that many Kuomintang spy organizations in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places had been uncovered. He then compared them with the "good news" broadcast on Taiwan Radio to sort out the truth.

These days, official reports are the truth. Not believing the official truth and insisting on finding one's own truth is treason. This professor-looking person definitely doesn't have a daughter. Even if he does, she wouldn't be his biological daughter. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so eager to apply for a "prostitute license" for his daughter.

Soon, tea came and snacks were placed. Dr. Tea said, "Enjoy your meal," then left and went to another table, speaking in code that Xian Yaowen could not understand.

Teahouses are half elegant, but ninety-and-a-half are filthy and dirty. There are very few teahouses in the world that are innocent. The lightest charge they can receive is one of gathering people to gamble. During this special period, most teahouses are closely connected with the black market, and news of scarce materials is exchanged between tea drinkers and between tea drinkers and tea doctors.

Soon, Xian Yaowen withdrew his ears and pushed the spiced bean plate towards Liang Saizhen.

Liang Saizhen was not self-sentimental. She understood the meaning of the music and picked up a five-spice bean to peel it.

Peel and return to the plate.

"Tell Shuzhen that I can support her in opening a tea house. You can discuss the shares with her. The shares will be mine and the dividends will be yours."

Liang Saizhen was stunned. "I want to stay in Taipei for a long time?"

"No need. Just help me develop a few available people, and you can return to Lion City in a few days."

"What about dividends?"

"Here's your hard work fee."

"Thank you."

"The emperor has no shortage of hungry soldiers." Xian Yaowen waved his hand. "Tell me about your findings."

Liang Saizhen leaned forward and lowered her voice, saying, "More than 70% of the customers are doing business, 80% of them are doing foreign goods, 20% are doing business in the north and south, and the remaining less than 30% of the customers, 70% are doing business in the province, and 30% are miscellaneous."

As she spoke, Liang Saizhen took out a piece of paper and placed it on the table.

Xian Yaowen took a quick glance and saw that what was written on it was similar to what he thought, so he put the note away.

"I'll get you some red temporary passes for the American military clubs. Go to the American military clubs and play for a few days. Don't take the initiative to talk to people, and don't pay attention to the Americans. You just need to pay attention to the socialites who are active there, write down what they do, and if possible, write down their names."

"it is good."

After finishing the business, Xian Yaowen picked up the teapot and filled two glasses to 70% full. He took a sip from the cup and savored the taste. It was not bad, but it was far from delicious.

I called the tea doctor and asked him to brew all the tea in the store. After a while, two pots of tea appeared on the table, one Longjing and one Maofeng.

The Longjing tea looked fake at first glance, with obvious Japanese roasting technology, exactly the same as the green tea he drank in Japan. He was not familiar with Maofeng and could not tell the problem, but after taking a sip, he got a familiar feeling. The tea soup was fresh and refreshing, with a slight bean fragrance. Isn't this the characteristic of Anxi green tea? It turned out to be Anxi Maofeng.

Looking at the clothes of the tea drinkers in the store, paying attention to the collars, hems and other corners, the frayed edges and wrinkles are not serious, and there are no signs of too many washings. Looking at the shoes on their feet and the leaking socks, there is no rot inside, which shows that they have been in good condition.

After observing for a while, I focused my eyes on a tea drinker who was dressed the most shabbily. After drinking half a cup of tea, I didn't see him scratching himself, pulling his trouser legs or sleeves, etc. It can be seen that he leads a pretty good life on weekdays, keeps himself clean and tidy, and should have enough food at home.

When checking out, a pot of Longjing was 8 yuan, Biluochun was 10 yuan, Maofeng was 5 yuan, half a catty of Ningbo Youzanzi required rice coupons and 1 yuan in cash, Shaoxing fragrant cake was 1.5 yuan, no rice coupons were required, and five-spice beans were 2 yuan.

Using the most cost-effective configuration of a pot of Maofeng and Ningbo Youzanzi, the total cost is 6 yuan, which is roughly equivalent to two days' salary for a person with a stable job.

Generally speaking, there is a market for high-end tea from Jiangsu and Zhejiang in Taiwan. While the wealth of people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang has not been emptied out, you can get a batch and make some quick money.

After leaving Louwailou and temporarily parting with Liang Saizhen, Xian Yaowen went into a tea room at a distance to verify his thoughts.

Then, let Xie Zhanran go to the tea room.

At around 26: p.m., Xian Yaowen arrived at No. Yanping South Road, where there is a Western-style building. It was originally the office of the Oriental Construction Company. It was bought by Lin Baocheng some time ago and used as the office space of China Garment Manufacturing in Taipei.

This western-style building has a nickname "Stone House". It covers an area of ​​more than 155 square meters. It imitates the European Renaissance style and uses a mixed structure of wood and stone.

The first floor is built with stone strips from the Meili'an River, forming a classical four-column, three-bay stone arcade. The intersection of the arches is equipped with Guanyinshan stone column caps to support the stone column structure. The arcade retains the ceiling made of wood in a diamond-shaped geometric pattern.

The second floor and the roof frame are made of wood, covered with a Masa-style roof, and three dormer windows are opened on the roof to make the facade varied and ventilated. The interior walls are plastered with lime, and the ceiling is a printed iron ceiling.

After looking around inside and outside, Xian Yaowen knocked on the door of Lin Baocheng's office.

After getting permission, he pushed the door open and saw the desk full of cloth. Lin Baocheng was holding a piece of cloth with cut edges in his hands and pulling it to test the strength of the warp and weft threads.

"Bao Cheng."

"Mr. Xian." Lin Baocheng wanted to stand up to greet him.

"Sit down, sit down." Xian Yaowen pressed his hands and walked quickly to the desk. He picked up one of the pieces of cloth and rubbed it. "How is the quality of the local cloth?"

"It's worse than Hong Kong cloth and more expensive." Lin Baocheng handed the cloth in his hand to Xian Yaowen, "The desizing step was not done well, and there is still rice soup left."

Xian Yaowen took the piece of cloth, held it up to the light, and then tore the cut end to feel the strength of the warp and weft respectively. After a while, he took out a warp and a weft and put them in his mouth to chew and feel the taste.

"Pah." Spitting out the cotton thread, Xian Yaowen said, "The warp is American cotton, and the weft is Indian Bombay cotton. The quality is very poor. I had to prolong the soaking time of the warp yarn and was lazy in washing. Whose cloth is this?"

“Cloth from a small textile factory in Tainan.”

"Put him on the blacklist."

"Yes."

"Have you met Wu Huoshi?"

"See you."

"What does Wu Huoshi mean?"

"He wanted to use the Xinguang Textile Factory in Miaoli and some cash to invest in the garment factory we were about to build."

“What about the share claim?”

“No less than 40%.”

“How much cotton has Taiwan imported this year?”

"6500 tons."

"Source composition?"

“60% cotton from the United States, 25% cotton from Bombay, India, 10% cotton from Karachi, Pakistan, and the remaining 5% comes from Brazil and Egypt.”

“Giza cotton?”

"Yes."

"How to distribute?"

"70% of textile mills are state-owned and 30% are privately owned. They need to be tendered. There are 15 private textile mills in Taiwan, but less than 3 of them can operate all year round. The rest often stop production due to cotton shortages."

"Is Buchou selling?"

"It's easy to sell." Lin Baocheng pointed to a piece of cloth on the table. "Longtou fine cloth, produced by Wuxi Rong's Shenxin Textile. It was originally a unified purchase material by the National Government. It sells for 55 yuan per yard on the black market."

[1码=0.9144米，做一件男士衬衣需要2码左右，1匹=40码。]
"So expensive?" Xian Yaowen asked in surprise, "Then it would cost at least 120 yuan to make a shirt."

"The most common cloth on the black market is at least four times more expensive than the official price. Good cloth like Longtou fine cloth has an even higher premium. Ordinary people can't afford it, so it's all bought by the rich."

“Oh, where does the black market cloth mainly come from?”

"The outflow from the public textile factories and the inflow from Hong Kong are mainly cotton cloth from Qingdao and Tianjin, Longtou fine cloth, and British woolen cloth."

"How much is a yard of cotton cloth in Qingdao and Tianjin?"

“They’re all 20 yuan.”

"What's the price in mainland China?"

"The public price does not exceed 10 yuan per horse."

"Where's the tap cloth?"

“No more than 15 yuan.”

"The price difference is quite large." Xian Yaowen muttered, and then said, "How many months can Wu Huoshi's textile factory operate in a year?"

"Wu Huoshi said seven months."

Xian Yaowen thought for a moment and said, "You should continue the discussion with Wu Huoshi and go to Miaoli to take a look. Find out exactly how many months the factory can be opened, and then try to lower the valuation of the textile factory."

"Mr. Xian, are you inclined to cooperate with Wu Huoshi?"

"The situation in Taiwan is rather special. Finding a local partner will help expand the market. Even if it's not Wu Huoshi, it will be Zhang Huoshi. We can do other preparations while we are talking.

The few Hakka and Fujian garment workers in the factory can start working now. We need to arrange for them to come here as soon as possible. Most of the women workers here are from the countryside in the south. They have little education. It is difficult for skilled women workers to train apprentices because they cannot speak Hakka or Minnan dialect. "

"Should we recruit some experienced people from other provinces?"

Xian Yaowen nodded and said, "We will recruit some people as supplements, but the selection must be strict. The family background cannot be too complicated, and the age cannot be too old, preferably under 20 years old.

The selection of management personnel should be stricter. With a market of 800 million people and exporting, the size of the branch factory here will not be small. We only do business and stay away from politics as far as possible. We must not bring back troublemakers."

"I'll be careful." Lin Baocheng nodded.

"I will strive for cotton import quotas and also try to obtain independent import rights. When I talk to Wu Huoshi, I will make this one of the conditions."

"Ok."

Ring ring ring.

The phone on the table rang. Lin Baocheng picked it up and handed it to Xian Yaowen, "Mr. Xian, it's for you."

"I am Xian Yaowen."

"Master, a man just called me. He didn't say who he was, but just said he was the person you wanted to see. He wanted to meet you at 2 pm tomorrow at a place you know."

"Well, anything else?"

"Wang Youjia called and asked me to invite you to her house for a simple meal."

"I already have a dinner date tonight. How many rounds do you plan to play tonight?"

"Let's play eight rounds."

"I'll be there around eight, and you can help me express my apologies."

"Ah."

"Bye."

North Yanping Road.

Zhuangyuanlou is a time-honored restaurant that moved from Shanghai.

Xian Yaowen and Liang Saizhen sat in a private room and tasted sliced ​​Shanghai ham.

Shanghai ham is not a local specialty of Shanghai, but refers to the fine Jinhua ham that is processed and packaged in Shanghai's commercial port and then sold throughout the country and even overseas. It is named because its cutting and pickling processes are optimized in Shanghai and it is affixed with Shanghai trademarks, such as Tianchu and Meilin.

Needless to say, Shanghai ham is also smuggled in from Hong Kong and is very expensive. A small plate of twelve slices of ham as thin as a cicada's wing costs 50 Taiwan dollars.

Xian Yaowen tasted one piece and put down his chopsticks, leaving the rest to Liang Saizhen.

Maybe Liang Saizhen loves ham, she can't stop eating one slice after another.

"Like ham?"

"When I was in Shanghai, I ate it every three days." Liang Saizhen picked up another piece and put it into her mouth. "In the golden autumn, I would have a few feasts of ham and hairy crabs."

"From the Huangpu River?"

"Who eats the Yangcheng Lake and Huangpu River?"

"Haha, you're quite picky. When the time comes, I'll have someone prepare some for you and send it to Lion City."

"No, the hairy crabs won't taste good if they're dead."

"I'll definitely give it to you alive."

"Alive?" Liang Saizhen asked in surprise, "How much does it cost to get there?"

"We don't mind the high cost. The more crabs die on the road, the more expensive they become."

"Didn't the gentleman come all the way here to send me off?" Liang Saizhen said coquettishly. (End of this chapter)