Although Li Yu has never bought anything at Watsons, it is one of the four must-haves in commercial plazas along with KFC, McDonald's, and Starbucks. Every time he goes to a shopping mall, he will see a store on the first floor that occupies a large area.
The big Watsons daily chemical store.
Li Yu's biggest impression of it may be that the name "Watsons" is the same as the childhood goddess Hermione in "Harry Potter".
In addition, its large number of stores once contributed almost half of the cash flow source of Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.
But I never would have imagined that Watsons existed more than 100 years ago. Their vitality is so tenacious!
What Li Yu never expected was that Watsons was actually born more than 50 years ago in 1855...
It's just that the boss of Watsons is still British and has not been bought by the Chinese.
While Li Yu was still in a daze, Zai Zhen was already chatting with the waiter who came out to greet the guests. It seemed that this guy came here often. After all, he was a dandy from the capital, and he was the top class.
If there is any saying about the four young masters in the capital, Zai Zhen would definitely be among them.
Zai Zhen called Li Yu who was in a daze, "Come in, it's so fun inside!"
Of course Zai Zhen thought it was fun. There were no bars in Qing Dynasty at that time.
The decoration design inside is also completely Western style. Li Yu has been to a bar in Sanlitun once. Speaking of which, the quiet atmosphere of this bar can only be regarded as a sake bar. It is really worse than the bars in the 21st century.
era.
The waiters inside were all wearing suits and bow ties, but the braids at the back were really out of place, giving the impression of a fierce collision between two eras.
The waiter called the boss after a while, and the boss was very attentive when he saw Zai Zhen, "Master Beizi, you're here! You're welcome from a distance, you're welcome from a distance! Or are you going to sit upstairs?"
Zai Zhen was so familiar with it that he walked up the stairs to the second floor and said, "Boss Guo, get the best whiskey in your store."
Well, speaking these words from the mouth of a person from the Qing Dynasty really makes people feel a sense of generation difference. If you don’t drink Baigan or rice wine, you have to drink whiskey.
Boss Guo immediately called to the waiter behind him: "Bring Mr. Bei the bottle of Scotch whiskey quickly."
Li Yu and Zai Zhen were sitting in a small private room, and there was a small ventilation fan next to them. Not long after they sat down, the fan blades inside started to rotate. Li Yu also quickly understood why there was a ventilation fan.
, because Zai Zhen skillfully picked up a cigar.
The waiter next to him quickly made an incision and lit it. Zai Zhen took a satisfied sip, and then said to Li Yu: "Would you like to take a sip? The taste is very strong."
Li Yu immediately waved his hand: "I don't smoke."
Zai Zhen took a deep breath, stretched and leaned back. His whole body felt relaxed, "Comfortable!"
Li Yu thought to himself, you are obviously a high-ranking person, how can you smoke cigars like this, your lungs will explode and you still don't say anything. But it is not opium after all, so let him go.
The funniest thing was the ventilation fan next to it. Li Yu was initially curious about how it turned. If there was a small motor inside, it would be too advanced.
But he soon learned the principle, which was really hilarious: There was a rope connected to the ventilation fan, and the rope hung down to the first floor. There was a special waiter below who pulled the rope rhythmically, driving the
The ventilation fan rotates.
Sure enough, in Qing Dynasty, the cheapest thing is labor force!
Not long after, the boss walked in with a bottle of whiskey in person and said, "Master Bei, this bottle is Chivas Regal Scotch whiskey. It has been aged in oak barrels for more than 12 years. It is absolutely rich in flavor."
Zai Zhen took the wine bottle, looked at it and said, "You didn't have such good wine last time I came here."
Boss Guo laughed and said, "As you know, the sea route is not smooth now, and this batch of wine has only arrived a few days ago."
Then he bent down and whispered to Zai Zhen: "Prince Chun made arrangements for your visit a few days ago. I secretly left this bottle for you."
Prince Chun was naturally Yixuan's son Zaifeng. After Yixuan's death, he inherited the title of Prince Chun.
The previous Prince Chun, Yixuan, was Guangxu's biological father, and Zaifeng was also Yixuan's son, and he and Guangxu were half-brothers.
But this is not so powerful. What is really powerful is Zaifeng’s unborn son, who is the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the last emperor of China’s two thousand years of feudal history - Puyi!
Zai Zhen and Zai Feng are of the same generation, but Zai Zhen's father, Prince Qing Yikuang, belongs to a side branch and is not comparable to Zai Feng. However, there is not much age difference between the two. Besides, Pu Yi has not been born yet. Without Pu Yi, Zai Zhen would
Feng will also become a side branch.
Therefore, these brothers are all competing with each other privately. In fact, Zai Zhen now has a much greater degree of freedom than Zai Feng. After all, there is no constraint from the relationship of the emperor's brothers, so he can move around at every turn.
But Prince Chun Zaifeng couldn't. He knew exactly how his father died, so he didn't dare to call himself Guangxu's brother. Besides, since ancient times, several of the emperor's brothers died well!
After hearing what his boss said, Zai Zhen also smiled uncertainly: "He is quite well informed."
The bar owner is very good at getting things done. Anyway, whether it is Zaifeng or Zai Zhen, whoever comes is the boss, so he smiled and said: "Master Beizi, today our Watsons Corporation has developed the most advanced distilled water, specially used to prepare whiskey.
, this is something that even Prince Chun has never enjoyed."
When Zai Zhen heard this, he immediately became interested, and regardless of whether it tasted good or not, he immediately said: "Then what are you waiting for? Come up quickly!"
"Come on, Mr. Beizi, just wait and see!"
In fact, this boss Guo is not an ordinary person. His nickname is Guo Weiwei. It was he who later bought Watsons from the British, and it was thanks to him that Watsons became a thoroughly Chinese enterprise.
Li Yu once drank whiskey, but he didn't know if he bought it too cheaply at the time. He always felt that the taste was not as good as he imagined.
Foreign liquor, whether it is whiskey or vodka, is ultimately the base liquor and needs to be blended with various other things, so the profession of bartender is born.
But Li Yu didn't try out any particularly good formula at first, and maybe the only way he liked it was with ice cubes.
Zai Zhen proudly said to Li Yu: "The wine in this bar is definitely the best foreign wine in the whole capital, no, including Zhili!"
After a while, the bar owner Guo Weiwei walked in with a silver pot.
"Master Beizi, this is our latest successfully developed distilled water. It is a perfect match with whiskey."
Li Yu felt like he was stunned! It was actually distilled water!
Come on, it turns out that in the late Qing Dynasty, drinking distilled water was such a luxury?
The first few chapters were a bit too popular in science, but these chapters are more relaxed, relaxed, slow-paced, and talk about life. After all, the protagonist also had the daily necessities of life in that era, ha.