At ten o'clock in the evening, An Yi, wearing a woolen Western-style wide-brimmed hat and a sapphire blue satin gown, stood on the cold Central Pier. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that his image at this time was that of a landlord.
It's very awkward to be earthy but not earthy, but Lin Xudong and others praised it greatly, almost without using the words "a dragon and a phoenix among men, a jade tree facing the wind".
"Look, the ship heading east from the middle channel suddenly turned around and headed towards us. The gunboat that we thought was loading cargo made a big turn and slowly headed towards the upstream water. It seems that the gunboat was just for escort. The real gunboat was heading towards us.
What we are trading with is this big boat." The Ahai family has made a living on the water for generations and is very good at navigation, inland river fishing, and transportation.
Everyone looked in the direction pointed by Ah Hai, and sure enough they found that the gunboat that had reached the upstream waters turned around again and followed slowly about three hundred meters upstream of the big ship. Because the lights on the ship were too dim and the distance was long, the gunboat could not be seen clearly.
nationality, everyone could only turn their attention to the big ship that was slowly approaching and getting closer.
The big ship was about thirty meters away from the pier. Everyone could see clearly the muzzles of the large-caliber naval guns on the ship. It was actually a German warship of over 700 tons. More than 500 guns were dispatched from such a powerful vessel.
The transportation by warships is indeed beyond the imagination of An Yi and others.
"Bang-bang-bang-"
The heavy anchor quickly sank to the bottom of the river. The rear of the warship was still slowly approaching the pier made of huge stone slabs. Two fully armed German sailors lowered a sturdy ladder. Hans was already standing on the side of the ship at the top of the ladder.
He lowered his head and looked down, trying to find his old friend among the crowd holding torches on the pier.
An Yi laughed and took two steps forward. He took off his woolen top hat and made a very cool gesture like a Western gentleman bending down to salute. He straightened up and shouted to the surprised Hans in English that he had prepared many times: "Haha! Hans!"
Si, my good friend, you are so cute!"
"An? Why are you dressed like this? My God..."
Hans held up his hands, skillfully spread his two long legs and slid down the ladder. As soon as he landed, he strode forward, hugged An Yi's waist tightly, and picked up An Yi and spun him around with laughter.
After a lap, I let it go.
"Be gentle, you almost strangled me... Hans, your grandma is so efficient!"
The excited An Yi punched Hans on his strong chest. Hans laughed loudly and punched An Yi, leaving Lin Xudong and others dumbfounded - isn't this too affectionate?
Hans pulled An Yi over and introduced a German young man who had just got off the boat to him: "This is Lauter."
An Yi stretched out his hand and shook Lauter gently: "Nice to meet you!"
"I'm very happy too. I've heard Hans praise you a lot recently. I can't wait. It's a great honor to see you today! Please take good care of Mr. An in the future." Lauter is very proficient in Chinese.
An Yi looked at Lauter in surprise: "Your Chinese is too good! If I hadn't looked at your appearance, I would have thought you were from Shandong."
Lauter laughed: "Mr. An is indeed well-informed, haha! I followed my father to Shandong when I was eight years old. I lived in Yantai first, and then moved to Qingdao, so my Chinese has a Shandong accent. After my father retired, I picked him up.
I am the business liaison officer of our Lulin headquarters in Germany. Last month, Mr. Hans was promoted to the general manager of the Far East region of our headquarters in South China and asked for my opinion. I came to Guangzhou very happily. Hans is
I was my senior at university in Germany, and our friendship is very deep. I hope to receive generous assistance from Mr. An in the future. I admire Mr. An’s creativity and far-reaching vision very much.”
An Yi turned to Hans: "Hey, you told me... everything?"
Hans laughed and replied humorously in Chinese: "I sold you to Lauter, haha!"
"Grandma... Hans, you violated my privacy, you have to compensate for my losses!" An Yi also joked.
Hans heard it very clearly and immediately replied: "I am happy to compensate, you see..."
An Yi looked in the direction Hans pointed and saw Lin Xudong and dozens of others being blocked under the battleship by several armed German sailors. A wide ladder had been set up at some point, and all of them were tall and powerful.
The German navy officers and soldiers carried the boxes of guns and bullets on their shoulders and stacked them neatly on the dock. An Yi was impressed by the strict discipline and high efficiency.
"Mr. An, in order to express his gratitude to you and for the deep friendship between you, Hans decided after asking for instructions to give you another 50,000 rounds of rifle bullets and 5,000 rounds of Mauser military pistol bullets, that is, you
Please accept the mentioned shell gun bullets! In addition, based on your excellent series of designs, Mr. Hans asked me to tell you that after the German manufacturer gives feedback and confirms the adoption of Mr.'s design, Hans will discuss the remuneration with you in detail.
Question." Laut explained to An Yi skillfully.
An Yi, who was extremely grateful, pulled Laut over and turned to Hans: "Laut, just translate if you don't understand... Hans, are we old friends?"
"Of course!" Hans blurted out a sentence in Chinese without the need for translation.
An Yi spoke quickly and said a lot in one breath: "In this case, don't mention the remuneration anymore. You have given me so much help. I don't know how to thank you. There may be many things in the future."
I need your help, so don’t be so outspoken. As for those drawings, they are just gifts from me to you, an old friend. Before doing this business, I was worried that you wouldn’t remember me, so I drew a few pictures to remind you of me, especially
It's my signature. You said it looks good last time. I think you will help me after seeing it. I will take a step back and say, if the drawing is useful to you, I will be very happy because I can also do something meaningful for my friends.
Do you understand? Don’t mention remuneration, bonuses, etc., because I’m worried about you!”
After listening to Lauter's translation, Hans solemnly and emotionally stepped forward to hold An Yi's hand: "Dear An, I am very touched by you! I fully understand your deep friendship, and it warms my heart!
But Ann, no real German can ignore the interests of his friends. I can understand your request, but I can't do that. You are the best friend I have made since arriving in China. While I admire you, I also feel that I
Very lucky, Ann, I cherish it very much!"
"What did he say? He was bullying me in German?" An Yi quickly turned to Lauter.
Lauter smiled and translated the full text, and finally gave his own suggestions: "Mr. An, please accept Hans's opinion. We Germans have our own principles of life, just like you Chinese stick to your own principles. You
We have accepted the idea and we will continue to develop better in the future.”
An Yi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "Germans are indeed Germans, and they have not changed for thousands of years. Grandma's Hans..."
"Ann, don't curse! I can also curse. Listen: Grandma's Ann..."
After Hans finished speaking, he burst out laughing.