1928: The rise of giant merchants

That night, the Paramount Ballroom was in a mess. Many important officials of the Nationalist government fell asleep on the floor with dancers in their arms. Pro-Chiang celebrities from all walks of life lost their pretense during the day and became extremely miserable. One after another of these outrageous scenes has been The photographer of Liangyou Pictorial took the photo.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Ye Luo quietly left Paramount and took a Rolls-Royce to Situ Meitang's private villa in the French Concession.

The only Hongmen cronies in the villa that Situ Meitang brought back from the United States were all burly men with extraordinary skills.

Ye Luo was accompanied by Shi Jianqiao, Ma Yongzhen, Ding Li, Xu Wenqiang, Ye Hao and Huo Ting'en. Except for Chen Zhen who ran to the north again, he basically brought along all the trustworthy masters.

This secret conversation tonight is really important.

The other party is still the "Hongmen eldest brother" who has great influence overseas, so he has to be careful.

After getting out of the car, Ye Luo and the others walked in the cold wind. Ye Hao muttered and couldn't understand why his brother would do this.

Because of this obscene charity dinner, the reputation of Ye's investment has plummeted recently, and many businesses have been affected.

Discordant voices began to appear within Ye's Investment, which has always been highly cohesive.

These people made money following Ye Luo, and now they found that their power and status had been affected, and they immediately complained in dissatisfaction.

Ye Hao has followed Ye Yuqiao around the Labor Union since he was a child. He is very familiar with this kind of behavior of "promoting kindness and fighting against rice", so he really doesn't understand his brother's crazy behavior.

If Ye Luo hadn't been questioned too many times before, but every time he could turn everything around, Ye Hao would have gone to his parents to persuade him.

Anyway, Ye Hao had thought clearly, he was going to die, and the Ye family would become a towering tree without him. Ye Hao, definitely couldn't live without Ye Luo. When the truth came out, he would risk everything to send Ye Luo away from the mainland.

"Brother, please relax. After a while, Mr. Situ's people saw your expression and thought we were here to cause trouble." Ye Luo smiled easily.

Ye Hao smiled awkwardly, trying his best to look relaxed, but his smile was like a ghost crying, making Shi Jianqiao beside him laugh.

There were already people waiting outside the villa. After checking the incision and body search, and confirming that Ye Luo and his party did not bring any thermal weapons, several Hongmen disciples immediately enthusiastically escorted them in.

"The old man is in the study upstairs. Second Young Master please come." A big man said with a smile.

Ye Hao and others wanted to follow, but were stopped.

"The old man is only having a secret conversation with the second young master. The brothers stopped." The big man stretched out his hand to stop him, "Please follow me to the teahouse to drink tea and have some midnight snacks."

"I have never left the second young master's side." Shi Jianqiao raised his head and said, "Besides, I am a female, so the old man won't care, right?"

"Miss Shi, don't say it's a joke. All the brothers know your skills." The big man shook his head.

Ye Luo patted her head: "Don't worry. Mr. Situ is already sixty-one years old, can he still beat me?"

"I'm just afraid." Shi Jianqiao hesitated, thinking that it was the second young master who took the initiative this time, so he stopped talking.

Ye Luo climbed up the stairs and soon came to the study. Before he could knock on the door, there was a sound from inside.

"It's Arlo, the door is open, come in."

Situ Meitang sat on the recliner and read the newspaper. The headline in the declaration in his hand was the news that Ye Luo's investment held a charity dinner that was not worthy of the name.

"Good evening, old man." Ye Luo smiled and sat down without being polite.

"You, you said you wanted me to help you, but you didn't say you would make the matter so big." Situ Meitang looked at him deeply, "You little brat, you won't even let the old man go. I'm over sixty years old." , I have to be used as a chess piece by you for you to enjoy it, right?"

"The old man is joking. With my little skill, I can't do enough to be your chess piece." Ye Luo replied, "But things went surprisingly smoothly."

"It's normal to go well. You probably don't know how famous you are in all walks of life. Now as long as your second young master raises his voice, I think people with some money are willing to go gold hunting with you. To be honest, for this kind of people, I I still think it's missing." Situ Meitang said happily, "The charity dinner has been organized, and I have also registered an American investment company for you in the name of Hongmen. Do you really plan to take their money to buy stocks in the United States?"

"Of course. Everyone is making money in American stocks now. I have been envious of them for a long time. How could I give up if I can make a good harvest?" Ye Luo raised his eyebrows and said, "Are these investment companies sure they can be sold to the Chinese?"

"Of course. Our relationship with Hongmen is not small there. I registered it in the name of Hongmen, which is essentially a Chinese business company. There is no difficulty in transferring it to other Chinese owners." Situ Meitang nodded, "But I still don’t understand, Arlo, what on earth are you going to do? It’s easy to bear this reputation, but it’s difficult to wash it off.”

"I don't care if I can wash it off, as long as things work out, it's all worth it." Ye Luo shook his head and said, "I trust you, old man. Since you said it's foolproof, then let's do it."

"Good! Your courage is much stronger than that of Sheng Xuanhuai back then!" Situ Meitang clapped his hands, "You said that you could bring down a large number of traitors, bad guys, and villains with this U.S. stock market. If it were anyone else, I would be the only one. I don’t believe the punctuation, but if it’s you, you are young and promising.”

"Thank you for the compliment, old man." Ye Luo smiled, then took out an envelope and handed it to him, "Here are the people who attended the charity dinner tonight and spent money to buy art. There is a specific list and amount in it. If it is leaked, I’m afraid the old man won’t be able to see me anymore.”

"Good boy, are you really not afraid that I will betray you?" Situ Meitang asked with a smile.

"I'm not afraid." Ye Luo responded with a smile, "If the old man really did this, I admit defeat."

"Baby! I take back what I just said." Situ Meitang looked at him deeply for a long time and never took the envelope. After a few minutes, he stood up solemnly, bowed respectfully, and then took it with both hands, "Take Sheng Xuanhuai and If you compare, that's an insult to you. I've only seen your courage and ability from one person back then."

"Oh?" Ye Luo understood and glanced at the photo of Mr. Sun and Situ Meitang on the wall.

In 1904, Mr. Sun went to the United States to carry out revolutionary activities as the "Big Brother of Hongmen". Situ Meitang was moved by Sun's revolutionary ideals and decided to take up the post of bodyguard himself. From then on, the Hongmen organization began to support him in terms of manpower and financial resources. anti-Qing revolutionary activities.

After the success of the revolution, Mr. Sun asked Situ Meitang to return to China as a supervisory seal officer.

However, Situ Meitang politely refused on the grounds of "retiring after one's service" and "not knowing how to be an official."

The friendship between the two is very deep, and what Situ Meitang is looking at at this moment is also that group photo.