North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 8 Just a Small Goal
"I'm very sorry, your shipyard is about to go bankrupt!"

As soon as these words came out, Jason's expression suddenly froze, his unshaven face flushed even redder, and after a long struggle in his throat, he finally mumbled, "What nonsense are you talking about, you little brat?"

A Zu said calmly, "Mr. Jason, you misjudged the situation."

"Misjudged...the situation?" Jason was confused.

A-Zu nodded: "Yes! You shouldn't have bought this shipyard from the Spanish!"

"How do you know, little brat? I bought this shipyard from the Spaniards."

"Isn't this obvious?" A-Zu smiled faintly. "This Spanish colonial-style office building, and the old equipment everywhere in the shipyard that's at least twenty years old, all indicate that this shipyard was built by the Spanish."

"Oh, yes! I bought this shipyard from the Spanish, so what? What makes you say it's going bankrupt?"

"That's even easier!" A-Zu slowly sat down and continued, "This shipyard was built too long ago. It can only build and repair wooden sailboats, not steamships."

"And now, iron-hulled steamships are rapidly becoming mainstream, and the era of wooden sailing ships will be swept into the garbage heap along with your shipyard."

"If I'm guessing correctly, this shipyard hasn't received any new ship orders in a long time, right?"

"Bang!" Jason slumped back into his chair, his eyes fixed on the subject. "You brat, you guessed right..."

"Although there are no new ship orders, as long as the cash flow is healthy and you rely solely on repairing old ships, Mr. Jason should be able to survive for a while."

"But the bad thing is, Mr. Jason, your business acumen is really terrible. You misjudged the situation again!"

"Excuse me, why are you still stockpiling so much wood and canvas when there are no orders for new ships and not many repairs to old ships?"

"I...!" Jason covered his face with his hands in pain, unable to speak.

"The wood and canvas in the shipyard are piled high. Judging from their age, they have been idle for a long time. These materials have tied up too much of your funds, Mr. Jason, but they are of little use."

"Even if Mr. Jason wanted to sell the wood and canvas for cash, I'm afraid no one would take them, right?"

"After all, it's really hard to find a businessman with worse business acumen than Mr. Jason!"

"Pfft...!" A'zu's murderous and heartbreaking act made Vivian unable to hold back her laughter. She covered her mouth and almost laughed out loud.

"Stop talking, brat!" Jason's expression became even more painful. "In this moment of celebration, can't you just let me relax a little?"

But A Zu didn't let him go. "With your business ability, Mr. Jason, I really can't imagine how you accumulated such a huge fortune to buy such a large shipyard."

"Let me guess, Mr. Jason, maybe you also started out as a gold digger?"

As he spoke, A-Zu looked up and stared at the huge gold nugget hanging on the wall in the middle of the restaurant!

Jason was immersed in pain and didn't respond. Only Vic nodded slightly.

"Alright!" A-Zu smiled as he looked at Jason, who had huge dark bags under his eyes and a gloomy face, and continued, "Since Mr. Jason started out as a gold digger, then it's all right. Why bother drowning your sorrows in alcohol? Even if you go bankrupt, you can always go back to panning for gold and start all over again!"

"Oh!" Jason shook his head helplessly. "I can't do it anymore. I'm old and sick!"

Jason lowered his hands from covering his face, looked up at Vic with a wry smile, and said, "Old Vic, you're broke, and I'm almost broke too! There's no other way. How about we form a gang and go robbing people?"

"Fuck off! Old Jason, you're just a stinking bachelor, and I have a wife and kids! Besides, your marksmanship is appalling!" Jason spread his hands, sighed, and looked back at the gold nugget on the wall. "Well, old buddy, I can only hold you in my arms and sink to the bottom of the sea!"

A Zu crossed his arms and said, "Mr. Jason, I think you can apologize now!"

"Apologize?" Jason turned back in surprise: "You said all this just to get me to apologize?"

"Of course!" A Zu replied solemnly, "You have humiliated me and all Chinese people to my face. You must apologize for this! I have said all this just to prove that we Chinese are not the dull, insensitive barbarians you claim we are!"

"On the contrary, we are far smarter and more civilized than you think!"

Jason was silent for a while, his expression changing again and again.

Finally, he slowly stood up and said, "Indeed, I misjudged you, Mr. Li, and all Chinese people! I shouldn't have made such a foolish judgment based solely on rumors from others!"

From the yellow monkey at the beginning, to the brat later, to Mr. Li now...just the change in the title in Jason's mouth is enough to show the change in his mentality.

"I'm sorry, Li. I sincerely apologize to you and all the Chinese people who were offended by my stupid remarks! I'm sorry and hope you can forgive me!"

As he spoke, Jason also bowed his head to A-Zu and the Chinese workers!

"Very good!" A Zu stood up, and the bewildered Chinese workers also stood up.

"Thanks to Mr. Jason's sincere apology and the fact that he treated us to a sumptuous dinner despite being on the verge of bankruptcy, you are forgiven!"

"Clap, clap, clap!" Vic and others took the lead in applauding, and the atmosphere in the restaurant suddenly became harmonious.

"Tap, tap, tap!" After everyone sat down, A-Zu tapped the copper wine cup gently with a spoon to make everyone quiet down.

"Now that we've addressed the issues of discrimination and misunderstanding, it's time to get down to business!"

"Business? What business?" Jason and others were confused.

Vic opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by A Zu: "Mr. Vic, please wait a moment. Wait until I finish my business, and then you can consider whether you need to speak out your thoughts."

"Uh...!" Vic could only swallow back the words in his stomach.

"What exactly is the matter?" Jason became even more curious.

A Zu said calmly, "It's very simple. It's just a matter of asking you, Mr. Jason, and Mr. Vic, to avoid bankruptcy. It's a small matter!"

"What?"

Jason, Vic, Vivian and Harley, the four people who could understand English, were all shocked at the same time!
The simultaneous exclamation made the Chinese workers, who could not understand English and had just clumsily picked up their knives and forks to continue eating, almost drop their knives and forks on the table.

A Zu glanced at the four of them and said calmly, "Why are you so surprised? Is this difficult? Is it harder than us surviving in the vast ocean for over a month without water or food?"

"Difficult!" the four foreigners said in unison.

"Haha!" A-Zu shook his head and smiled, then continued.

"For me, this is just a small goal, not difficult at all!"

(End of this chapter)