Chapter 26: Visitors from England

The Taylors and his wife are from Liverpool. Mr. Tate worked in a Liverpool arsenal. He had just saved enough money to marry Miss Smith, now Mrs. Taylor. He was in a debt crisis shortly after his wedding. There was no way, and Liverpool prices were getting higher and higher. Although Taylor was a skilled and skilled worker in the arsenal, his annual salary was only fifty pounds. He asked his newlywed wife to quit his job as a maid who had a salary of ten pounds in other people's house. His father was seriously ill, which made the Taylors and his wife even more struggling to live and owed hundreds of pounds in debt.

Fortunately, Tate found a new job at this time and came to a place called Hong Kong in Oriental to open a gunpowder factory. Because of his experience in an arsenal, Tate became the foreman of a new gunpowder factory after a short period of training. His annual salary was 100 pounds, twice the reward he could earn in Liverpool.

As long as they can keep this job for a few years, they can not only pay off their debts, but also live a romantic life. Maybe they can also buy a house on Frey Street in Liverpool.

Two days ago, Mr. Green, who came with them in Hong Kong, informed Taylor that Mr. Ye from the Qing Dynasty wanted to see him and his wife. Taylor was a little confused at the time, and Mr. Green told him mysteriously that Mr. Ye was the boss of the gunpowder factory and was on par with Mr. Wells.

One sentence made Taylor feel frightened. Mr. Wells was a mysterious millionaire. These workers had only heard of Mr. Wells' name. There were even more mysterious and legendary anecdotes among the workers. In their eyes, Mr. Wells was naturally out of reach and above.

Mr. Tailor, who is on par with Mr. Wells, was very unnatural. He didn't know much about this Eastern nation before, but during his journey to Hong Kong, he heard a lot of people. He heard that it was an ignorant and backward country. There was a punishment called Lingchi in this country. It would take dozens or even hundreds of people to die in pain. What a terrible punishment? How terrifying is this nation?

Taylor had an instinctive fear of the Qing Dynasty. When he heard that the Qing Dynasty was on par with Mr. Wells, he was even more afraid. If he accidentally made this gentleman angry, would he tie me up on the execution ground and punish me with such a terrifying punishment?

Mr. Green seemed to see his fear, so he smiled and told him that Mr. Ye from the Qing Dynasty was a noble gentleman, who had met him. Mr. Ye was more graceful and elegant than any British gentleman. Green also said that Mr. Ye would appoint a Qing Dynasty native to the manager of the gunpowder factory in the future, and Green would temporarily manage the factory. After the formal manager appointment, Green would be the deputy of the manager. These were all ordered by Mr. Wells.

Green asked Taylor to keep his words and his meeting with Mr. Ye secretly, and asked Taylor to sign a confidentiality agreement. If the Taylor and his wife leaked the situation of this meeting, they would compensate astronomical compensation.

Mr. Green told Taylor that this was a rare opportunity. Seeing the big figures in the East might change your destiny. If you don’t want to go, then you can do whatever you want. Just ask your own heart, will you regret it in the future?

Taylor thought about it for a few minutes and solemnly signed the confidentiality contract.

Then early this morning, Taylor and his wife boarded the ship to Guangzhou. The steamer raised their sails and arrived at Huangpu Port at dusk. Another carriage with an oriental charm, and after more than an hour of bumpy ride, the carriage stopped.

Under the guidance of a bizarrely thin man, the Taylors and his wife entered an oriental courtyard. Everything was fresh, especially the vivid paintings of the corridor in front of the room, which looked like mythical figures and fairies dancing in the sky; there were also divine birds that looked like peacocks spread their tails, but were more luxurious than peacocks.

However, the Taylors and his wife did not have time to seriously appreciate the charm of oriental architecture, and were quickly led into an ancient living room.

Under the gesture of a thin man, the Taylors and his wife sat next to each other on the red sandalwood chair on the left. Soon, a pretty girl in a gauze dress held a beautiful tray and presented Oriental fragrant tea refreshments. The Taylors and his wife looked at each other but didn't dare to touch it. The tea cup was green and green. Oriental tea was already famous. Goodbye, the utensils used were so precious. I don't know if this tea could only be drunk by the legendary Oriental nobles. It took hundreds of pounds to buy a gram of top tea tips.

Nowadays, in addition to traders who often deal in the East, as well as big cities such as London subscribe to newspapers to learn about the world's middle class and wealthy classes, some ordinary citizens are still awe of the legendary mysterious country of the Qing Dynasty. As for the various luxurious legends of this mysterious country, they are quite popular even in the upper class.

Just as the Taylors and his wife were restless, there was a sound of footsteps. The pretty girl who was worshiping tea lifted up the pearl curtain and walked in from outside, with a beautiful young man in brocade clothes and jacket, full of energy.

The Taylors and his wife couldn't help but stand up, and they were a little restrained and didn't know what to call this young noble.

"Mr. Taylor, Mrs. Taylor, please sit down, sit down!" Ye Zhao smiled and sat down at the main seat. Ruyi took the folding fan of the master and carefully retreated aside.

The Taylors were even more surprised and their fears were slightly reduced when they heard the noble gentleman fluent English and even a bit authentic London accent.

Ye Zhao didn't expect Wells to be decisive. It wasn't that. Last year, when she parted in Shanghai, it was not just a year. According to time, Wells must have started to do a figurine factory after returning to the UK, and recruited workers and machines to Hong Kong as soon as possible. The letter to Ye Zhao said that nowadays, Hong Kong Island, Shanghai Concession is built, and gold hunting in Australia requires even more powerful industrial gunpowder. In addition, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent also have a broad market, and this branch in Hong Kong will definitely be profitable. Wells also said that Ye Zhao was fully responsible for the Hong Kong factory, but he can appoint the person in charge. It is thought that even if Wells is far away, even if he controls it remotely, it is better to go with the favor and leave it to his partners to manage it.

It seems that Wells has not left his intentions for the time being, so Ye Zhao sent a letter he had prepared long ago to the Shanghai Hall Law Office and forwarded it to Wells. Ye Zhao planned to cooperate with Wells to plan a "Xiguan Inventors Club" to mainly fund those indulge inventors. Of course, which inventions are worthy of funding are subject to Ye Zhao's personal review. Mr. Wells can promote it in London, and initially review some inventions worth investing in, and provide Sichuan investments for the inventors to the East. Finally, Ye Zhao chose inventions that can be invested in.

Ye Zhao has been considering this plan for a long time, but he didn't know if Wells would kick himself away when he returned to England. This letter that should have been sent long ago has been suppressed today.

After meeting with Green, Ye Zhao heard that one of the foremans was in Hong Kong with his wife, and he felt a little moved. After taking his wife, he had plans to stay in Hong Kong for a long time. He was also the foreman who taught new workers' skills, so Ye Zhao decided to meet him and his wife at first sight.

"Mr. Taylor, Madam, please drink tea." Ye Zhao smiled and made a gesture to ask the two to taste the tea, and said, "I dare to boast that you can't drink authentic Wuyi tea in Liverpool."

The Taylors looked at each other and carefully picked up the small green teacup. The cup looked not full. They didn't dare to hold it hard and they were afraid of breaking it, or they were afraid that they would fall to the ground if they used less force. They didn't know how awkward the tea was drinking.

Seeing that his couple were so restrained, Ye Zhao laughed. This was a real British citizen and had no "imperialist temperament" at all. Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, you don't want to compensate if you break it, and you won't be too slow to slap you."

A casual joke was touching Mr. Taylor's fear. His hand shook and the green cup slid out. Taylor was shocked and reached out to grab it. Unfortunately, he was not Su Hongniang, so how could he catch it?

With a "bang", the cup fell on the floor tiles and rolled a few times. Seeing that it was not broken, Taylor had just breathed a sigh of relief, but saw the green ring at the bottom of the small cup cracking with a "click".

In fact, Taylor probably heard the sound of this click. He was so scared that his face was pale and he stood up.

Ruyi hurriedly went to clean up the floor. Taylor looked at Ye Zhao with a pale face: "Sir, how much does your cup cost? I, I will compensate." He was so scared that this oriental nobleman suddenly changed to a fierce face to hurt himself and Amy?

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Sit down, you don't want to compensate if you break it. Why do you think I don't want to say anything? Taylor, do you know Lingchi too?"

Taylor nodded nervously.

Ye Zhao said: "It seems you must think that our Qing Dynasty is a barbaric country?" Thinking about it, this is the mainstream view of Western countries today. In the eyes of Europeans, the Chinese are just barbarics.

Taylor shook his head quickly.

Ye Zhao laughed: "I like honest people, don't worry, I won't get angry because you think that the Qing Dynasty is barbaric. Being angry is just a manifestation of lack of confidence. Eastern and Western civilizations have different development paths, and our civilization was repeatedly invaded by barbarians during the most brilliant period. But even so, your Western civilization has its flaws, and my Eastern tradition is more desirable. The national conditions are different, and I am punished in troubled times. I admit that some punishments are extremely cruel, but it does not mean that we are barbaric. I can only say, take it slowly, and I believe that these cruel punishments will be abandoned soon."

Looking at the smiling friendly appearance of the young nobleman, Taylor could feel that he had deep feelings for his motherland and was more confident. He was neither arrogant and did not resist Western countries nor blindly worshipped. Whether it was Eastern and Western civilizations, he seemed to be extremely transcendent, as if he was talking about this topic from a higher perspective.

Ye Zhao smiled again and said, "When I see you, I just hope you will be more patient when teaching Chinese workers' skills, and the Chinese are hard-working, but our gunpowder factory is very novel to the workers and needs some time to accept it."

Taylor nodded quickly: "Sir, don't worry, I know how to do it."

Ye Zhao smiled: "I hope Mr. Taylor and his wife will fall in love with Dongfang, and then I will settle in Hong Kong or simply settle in Guangzhou. I will be very happy to pay for my new house."

Taylor and his wife looked at each other, and hurriedly said, "Thank you." But they had never thought about settling in the East.

Ye Zhao started chatting with them again with great enthusiasm. The sky was getting darker and Ruyi lit the oil lamp without even notice.
Chapter completed!