Battle of the Third Reich

The face of the Shanghai Building is not too big, it is the size of a standard two-story room, and the fixed canopy protruding from the door blocks the entire sidewalk. It looks like the high-end restaurants in Chicago and New York.

There is a circle of light panels on the outer edge of the canopy, the background is festive red, the SHANGHAILOW sign is painted with white letters, the light bulbs that outline the border are yellow, and the white bulbs are used for the letters, which are on the side of the sidewalk It also decorated a Chinese dragon that seemed to be looking back and see.

This is an apartment building reconstructed after a major earthquake. The standard three-story single-floor concrete cladding brick structure. The entire street-facing exterior wall was painted in the beige color popular in the United States at that time. A wall protruded from the wall with two layers The high-rise advertising light board has eight English letters CHOPSUEY written in white on a red background.

This conspicuous sign has been an iconic sight of Chinatown in San Francisco for half a century before and after, often appearing on the tour together with the Panlong street lamp on Duban Street and the pagoda-shaped corner tower of Shengchang Building On the postcard.

You may not understand what is written on this signboard. In fact, it is a "Chinese dish" that is only popular in the United States, and the legendary "Li Hongzhang".

Just like SHANGHAILOW, CHOPSUEY is a "miscellaneous" transliteration of Taishan dialect, using the popular Wetoma pinyin at that time. In the early 20th century in Chinatown, there was this kind of "English" that Americans could not understand. Store name.

The "miscellaneous" inside is not the internal organs of the animal we think of, but a dish made by cutting various meats and vegetables into shreds and then frying them together.

The exact origin of this dish is no longer available, but it can be believed to be the product of the California Gold Rush era. At that time, the chefs who cook for the coolie did not need superb craftsmanship. "Miscellaneous" also reflects the business of these cooks. Level.

As for how to get in touch with Li Hongzhang, it was really in 1869 that the old Li's visit to the United States was sought after by the US press, so some Chinese restaurants changed their dish names to rub the heat. In the early 20th century, the "Li Hongzhang miscellaneous goods" sold in Shanghai buildings can be said to be famous throughout the San Francisco Chinatown.

Welbetti opened the store door with a briefcase, and a receptionist wearing a Western-style waiter greeted him.

"Good morning, sir, do you need any help." The waiter at the front desk bowed slightly.

"Good morning, I asked someone to meet here." Welbe glanced around the lobby, and then whispered, "The triad is great."

"Wait a minute, sir, what did you say just now?" The waiter was stunned, looking at the foreigner in front of him with a puzzled expression.

"Triad is super... awesome?" Welbe was a little confused. Isn't there a problem with his pronunciation?

"Ah sorry, the triad is great. I thought I heard it wrong. Please follow me, sir. Mr. Zhang has already arrived." The waiter turned back, facing the other person standing at the front desk. The two companions shouted a few Cantonese dialects, and then led Verbe diligently toward the side stairs.

The overall decoration style of the hotel is close to the mainland of the United States, but it shows a Chinese style in every detail. To put it bluntly, it is a combination of Chinese and Western. The entire front building on the second floor was completely opened, leaving only a few load-bearing columns in the middle, and the back of the floor was divided into several private rooms. This is when the morning tea time has ended and the lunch time has not yet begun, so there is no one guest on the entire second floor.

More than a dozen dining tables were placed in the hall, with small table lamps with stained glass lampshades and small glass bottles filled with various condiments. The ceiling was divided into small squares with wooden strips, and some painted patterns were painted with paint. Welbe had no time to distinguish what was painted, and he had been taken to the door of one of the boxes by the waiter.

"Mr. Zhang is waiting for you inside." The waiter finished, raising his hand and knocking on the door of the box with a special rhythm.

The door was opened immediately, and the door was opened by a strong Chinese man in a black suit, with a height of more than 1.8 meters, almost half the head of Verbe.

The strong man glanced at Welbey first, then made a wink at the waiter, who nodded knowingly.

"You are late, Mr. Spear." The strong man stepped back and let out the door.

Welbey didn't answer, but looked up at the Asian man with a sturdy breath. He thought it was just a small character with a bluff or a bodyguard.

The area of ​​the box is not large, there are about ten or twenty square meters, and a round table is placed in the middle, and the table is covered with white linen tablecloth. A few Taishi chairs and wooden shelves with polychrome vases were placed against the wall around the room. Several Chinese landscape paintings were hung on the siding with the light blue wallpaper. The white porcelain chandelier hanging from the ceiling was in the room. Sprinkled with an orange light.

In addition to the dysplastic bodyguard, there are three Chinese men in the room.

A young man in his twenties, who appears to be the second bodyguard, is wearing a black Chinese jacket with a buckle, and the shirt is open with a moon-white shirt and an adult with a foot in the waist. Black belt with wide palm. The young man stood with his hands behind his back, standing like a javelin in the corner of the room.

The other two were sitting at the round table, both in their thirties and forties, and Verbe could only tell the identity of the two from the other's clothes.

The one on the right hand side should be a subordinate, with a pair of round-frame glasses on his thin face, combed hair, and waxed hair, wearing a blue-gray gown and gown, which is the Chinese costume.

The man on the left side obviously looks a lot more impressive, and his appearance is not very outstanding in Welbe's appearance, and he has an ordinary round face, but from those not very big eyes, what he revealed That shrewdness and toughness will naturally make people feel a special kind of majesty.

Also wearing a stylish split head, but without waxing, wearing a three-piece gray suit, although the style is somewhat outdated, but the material and handiwork are definitely not ordinary goods, the front is open, the gold bracelet of the vest pocket of the suit, Unusually conspicuous under the orange yellow light.

It can be seen that before the arrival of Welbe, the people in the room were drinking tea and chatting, and there were two square Chinese teapots and colored porcelain teacups on the table.

Seeing Verbey walking towards the round table, the two men also stood up.

"I'm sorry to be late. I was in a traffic jam on the road. I'm Spear. I don't know which of you is Mr. Zhang." Spear put his briefcase at the table and asked after taking off his bowler hat, with a warm smile on his face.

"It's okay, fortunately, I'm Zhang Weixin." The man in the suit smiled heartily and extended his right hand to Verbe.

"Good luck, Mr. Zhang." Welby shook his hand firmly.

"This is my secretary, Chen Donglai."

"Good luck, Mr. Spear." Chen Donglai picked up a folding fan from the table with one hand, and reached the other with Verbé.

"Fortunately, Mr. Chen." Welbe also smiled and shook hands with each other.

"Please sit down, Mr. Spear." Zhang Weixin motioned to Welbey to sit beside him.

"Do you like tea or coffee?" Zhang Weixin asked.

"Coffee, thank you." Welby put the bowler hat on the table.

"Tell them to bring a pot of coffee, and then ask them to prepare some snacks." Zhang Weixin instructed the strong man at the door in Chinese.

"Okay, big man." The strong man promised and turned to open the door.

"San Francisco is a good place. Everyone wants to make a fortune here. If there are more people, more cars will follow." Zhang Weixin opened the silver cigarette case with ivory and handed it to Welbey.

"Thank you, I came to San Francisco for the first time, I thought that only New York will be blocked like that, I really didn't expect..." Welbey took a cigarette from the cigarette box, and then gathered in Zhang Weixin Cigarette lighter was lit.

"Some things get used to it and you don't feel any more." Zhang Weixin lit the cigarette in his mouth, and then fancyly closed the lid of the lighter.

"What you said makes sense, Mr. Zhang."

"You can call me Vincent, this is my English name." Zhang Weixin said with a smile.

"Good Vincent, you can also call me Tony." Welbey showed the standard commercial smile to each other.

"I like you very much, Tony, we are friends now." Zhang Weixin patted Welbey's arm.

"Of course, we are already friends." Welbe answered with a happy face.

The two laughed at each other for a long time. Zhang Weixin suddenly put away his smile and asked seriously: "Well, friend, please tell me now, what do you want from me."

PS: Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.