Chapter 75 Guests from the United States

During the period when Hu Chuyuan returned to Hangzhou, the famine in the north had come to an end. Jiangnan Commercial Bank played a good role in it, transporting a large amount of grain to the north by sea. Although it did not sell grain at a low price, it also curbed the grain speculation business of merchants in the north.

In Nanxun and Shanghai, the bankruptcy turmoil dominated by the rich gentry in Nanxun began to break out on a large scale. Liu Yong, who claimed to be 20 million taels, had to sell antiques. Pang Yunyu, Lu Xiyuan and others followed suit step by step, selling houses, antiques, and fields and shops.

At the same time, many speculators had to flee because they could not pay fines, causing a large number of assets to be seized by the magistrates in various places.

I felt that this disturbance was about to implicate the whole Qianzhuang industry in Shanghai. Accompanied by Yan Shizhang and others, Hu Chuyuan quietly returned to Shanghai.

As soon as he returned to Hu Mansion, Wang Baotian, who arrived first, hurried in and told Hu Chuyuan, "My uncle, there were a few guests from the United States who came to visit you yesterday. I saw that there were foreigners inside, so I arranged for them to stay in the West Garden first."

"Oh, then go to the West Garden to see them first!"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment and asked Hu Rong to make an arrangement to discuss with Chen Xiaobai and others later.

He himself was accompanied by Zhang Lingpu and Yan Shizhang to go to the West Garden, which is the former Shen Family Garden. After this period of repair, the Shen Family Garden has also changed a little, which is much more exquisite than before.

The north side of Shenjia Garden is the "Yinghua Hall" composed of a large French manor and a small French villa, and behind it is a Jiangnan garden covering an area of nearly ten mu.

After all the renovations, Hu Mansion will be renamed "Yongyuan" and divided into three parts: Xiyuan, Nanyuan and Gongguan District.

West Garden is a garden in the south of the Yangtze River for families to live in. At present, Hu Pinyuan and Hu Zhenyuan have studied at Shanghai Yinghua College, which is a closed boarding school, but occasionally come to live in the West Garden of Yongyuan.

Nanyuan is a newly purchased homestead, covering an area of about three mu. It is located in the eastern part of the West Garden and the south of the mansion area. It will be converted into a small garden like Suzhou Huanxiu Villa, which will win with eccentricity for Hu Chuyuan to live, play and meet guests, and can also arrange special guests to live in.

The mansion area is located on the north side of the whole Yongyuan, facing the south and facing Ningbo Road. It is composed of two French and five English mansion villas, which are divided into Yinghua Hall, Hu Mansion and Yihua Hall. Yihua Hall is the old Hu Mansion, which is used to accommodate staff and guests.

The new Hu Mansion is composed of two smaller English villas, which are not strong enough and have been completely demolished. A taller European-style mansion is being rebuilt on the original foundation according to the Goethe revival style. It is made of granite stone, two and a half floors high, and the back door leads directly to the South Garden.

Entering the Yinghua Pavilion, Hu Chuyuan has seen a tall young brown-haired foreigner. Dr. Rong Hong on the right side of him is talking, and on the left is a young Chinese woman in a beige plain gauze skirt, tall and beautiful, elegant and dazzling.

He raised his eyes and saw a group of people coming in. Hu Chuyuan was facing him. Dr. Rong Hong greeted him with a happy smile and said to Hu Chuyuan, "Mr. Hu, we are very lucky. As soon as we arrived at your house, you came."

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "This is probably the arrangement of fate. This time, it's really hard for Mr. Rong to travel around the Pacific Ocean."

"Where... Let me introduce it to you!" Rong Hong invited Hu Chuyuan to walk over and introduce the young brown-haired foreigner to Hu Chuyuan: "This is the highest partner and shareholder in China just appointed by Qichang Yangxing, Fister Delano III of Russell and the Delano family. He also serves as the Consul General of the United States in Shanghai, and his mother is Mr. Samuel Russell. My niece."

There is no doubt that the Fister Delano III is the uncle of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

After Hu Chuyuan and Fist Delano III communicated briefly in English for a moment and expressed their greetings to each other, Rong Hong continued to introduce the more attention-catching young dress beauty to Hu Chuyuan.

She is Wu Shuzhen, the youngest daughter of Wu Zhenbang of the Wu family. She is elegant and fashionable. Her long black and bright hair is permed into a beautiful French wavy. The bangs on her forehead are cut neatly, and her eyes are shining with a quiet, deep and wonderful light.

After Rong Hong's brief introduction, she took the initiative to stretch out her hand and shake hands with Hu Chuyuan. She smiled and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hu. I heard that both the Shanghai business community and the foreign industry respect you as Hu Shao. So, do you mind if I call you so kindly?"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Of course I don't mind."

He was surprised that he didn't understand why Wu Zhenbang sent a girl to him.

If it is 140 years later, he can understand that this shows that "Wu Shuzhen" is one of the very capable heirs of the family, but today... Is the Wu family already so advanced, or doesn't care about him?

Wu Shuzhen is a really smart woman. She is also good at understanding people's wishes. When she noticed that Hu Chuyuan was slightly puzzled, she smiled and said, "I'm really sorry, Hu Shao, my father is in poor health and can't travel long distances. My father originally wanted to send my brother here, but because of some sudden changes, my brother also had to stay in the United States to deal with banking business, so he could only temporarily send me to Shanghai to forward a handwritten letter to you.

After saying this, she took out a letter from her exquisite handbag and gave it to Hu Chuyuan.

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly with understanding and said with a smile, "Miss Wu, don't worry too much. As the saying goes, we are predestined to meet thousands of miles away... Maybe we are predestined...!"

fainted.

In the middle of speaking, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

It seems a little thin to say such a thing to such a beautiful girl!

After all, in such an era, Wu Shuzhen's cheeks quietly surged with a trace of blush, but she also smiled, "Who said no, we are predestined!"

Because of the presence of Fist Delano III, Hu Chuyuan did not open the letter immediately, but he was thinking about it.

Rong Hong and Hu Chuyuan said, "Mr. Delano III has just replaced Jin Hengneng as the general manager of Qichang Yanghang in Shanghai. He has a business to discuss with you. Can we find a new place?"

Hu Chuyuan nodded and said to Rong Hong, "The West Garden, the South Garden and the new Zheng Yong Hall are all being renovated. Let's go back to the Lao Hu Mansion first!"

Rong Hong nodded slightly and accompanied Fister Delano III and Wu Shuzhen to Yihua Hall.

Entering the living room, Hu Chuyuan invited three people to sit down and said to Fister Delano III in English: "First of all, on behalf of me and all the employees of Jiangnan Commercial Bank, I welcome you. I hope your work and life in Shanghai will be very smooth."

Fister Delano III replied politely, "Thank you, and I hope we can cooperate happily!"

"I hope so too!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and asked him, "So, in what aspects do you want to cooperate with me first?"

Fist Delano III said seriously: "In the Jiangnan salt case, Qichang Yanghang issued loans to salt merchants, resulting in several large amounts of loans that could not be recovered. Its main ship shipping business has been sold to the Shanghai Shipping Bureau, and the profit is getting thinner. In addition, there is also an urgent shortage of capital investment in the United States. The United States I want to sell part of the shares of Qichang Yanghang to others...!"

Hu Chuyuan went on to say for him, "At first, Shanghai is in a depression, so you think of me!"

Fist Delano III said, "Yes. In addition to you, we originally had another choice, that is, Shanghai Shipping Merchants Bureau, but they are in a fierce competition for shares, which is obviously not a good partner. If you are willing to buy it, we will give a fair offer!"

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and asked, "What's the approximate bid?"

Fister Delano III said, "It's very generous. You only need 1.8 million taels of silver, and you can get 30% of the shares of Qichang Yanghang."

Nerves!

Hu Chuyuan scolded secretly.