1928: The rise of giant merchants

Ye Luo successfully rescued Hu Shi and sent him and Chen Ruiqiong to Aocheng. He then sent a telegram to Tianjin City to reassure Lin Huiyin, who was in charge of the design of the headquarters building of Ye's Department Store there.

Not long after, he received a handwritten letter of thanks from Lin Huiyin, as well as a densely drawn design drawing.

Lin Huiyin and his wife are worthy of being masters of architecture. The design drawings are much better than those of ordinary designers. In the future, Ye's investment in the renovation of the headquarters in Shanghai Bund will be sought out by them for help.

After Ye Luo agreed, Zhang Yuanbei, who was leading the engineering team over there, would quickly start construction. As the Ye's Department Store building began to be constructed, several processing plants and raw material processing plants also started construction at the same time, while secretly planning the port.

Another reason why Ye Luo obtained the Tianjin City Customs tax revenue was to cover the eyes of the General Taxation Department, so that it would be easier to deal with ports and shipping companies in the future.

Along with Lin Huiyin's letter of thanks came an envelope containing early spring peach blossom petals, filled with a rich daughter's body fragrance.

Ma Jue, the future school beauty of Peking University who is about to be promoted to the main department of Peking University, once again wrote a letter to Ye Luo, her pen pal in the south.

The beginning of the letter was neatly written, with the usual address of Mr. Ye Luo, followed by greetings, talk about current situation, recent books read, changes in Peking University after the Ye Luo Scholarship Fund, etc.

Ma Jue tried his best to describe what he saw, heard, and thought in Peiping in a casual way, but between the lines, Ye Luo could only read the sentence "I miss you."

Ye Luo, who has been in love for a long time, knows everything about love. Ma Jue's unique taste, like his first girlfriend, reminds him of his youthful college career before time travel. He peeked at the girl he liked every day and deliberately pretended not to care. , but my heart is full of her.

At the end of the letter, Ma Jue wrote a love poem and attached peach blossom petals.

Ye Luo picked up the dried petals and smelled them. The smell was very weak, but it must have been very fragrant and beautiful when they were first picked.

"he"

He is a beam of light,

Shine light into my dark dreams.

He is a cloud,

Sprinkle rain and dew on my barren heart.

He is a gust of wind,

Tousle my hair and my joy and sorrow.

He is a spring,

Cleanse my soul and body.

Reading this straightforward but somewhat implicit love poem, Ye Luo couldn't laugh or cry. Ma Jue, who is twenty years old this year, is actually only four years younger than him. In the Republic of China, even teacher-student and old-young relationships were very common. No wonder Peking University The school belle will show her love so passionately.

These days, freedom of love and freedom of values ​​are emphasized. Lu Xiaoman and Xu Zhimo, two people who cheated on each other, dared to hold a formal wedding and invite many friends.

Even if he knew that Ye Luo had a wife, it was understandable that Ma Jue still expressed his love.

It's a pity that this time it was really Luo Hua who was deliberately ruthless.

In 1930, many major events were approaching, and Ye Luo no longer had time to be distracted by love. He had to race against time to earn money and prepare.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Luo picked up his pen and rejected this innocent confession with a tactful stroke.

February 18, the 19th year of the Republic of China (1930).

Peking University, girls' lounge.

Ma Jue was lying on the window looking at the scenery in the distance, surrounded by the chatter of girls. On the crystal radio that everyone raised money to buy, Wang Ji, the queen of Shanghai Beach, was singing her famous song "Tuberose". When she heard the singing, she I thought of Ye Luo, and the letter I asked Sister Huiyin to send with me at the beginning of the month.

The cheeks are slightly red and the mood is confused.

The classmates are also talking about Yip Luo, but they are more talking about the newly opened Yip's Department Store.

I heard that this newly opened department store in Tianjin City is very grand. Although the headquarters building is still under construction, the boss has a lot of money and directly purchased a large number of buildings to temporarily serve as business buildings.

As soon as Ye's Department Store opened, its popularity overshadowed those foreign department stores in the concession. These days, only the property of Second Young Master of Shanghai Beach can make foreigners shy away.

The girls talked about this happily, partly because they were curious about this legendary man who was only a few years older than them, and partly because Yip's Department Store also carried all the clothes from Yip's Clothing Company, including the Victoria brand underwear that made them salivate.

Due to transportation problems between the north and the south, many fresh goods from the south cannot be transported to the north immediately. Ye's Clothing has no intention of expanding. Girls in the north want to wear some trendy clothes, so they can only ask someone to bring them.

The average family really can't afford this expense.

Now that Ye's Department Store is open, they can buy the clothes they want as long as they take the train from Peking to Tianjin!

"Xiaojue, I heard that this second young master still sells the ones we use. How shameful. How can he clean these things?" A girl leaned over and said.

Ma Jue rolled his eyes at her and said angrily: "Isn't that great? You used to think that menstrual pads were not easy to use. I heard that the new sanitary napkins are very convenient. Wouldn't you know if you try them?"

"Tsk, but my dad said that plus-size men are selling bellybands and menstrual belts, which is insulting." The girl was interrupted by Ma Jue impatiently in the middle of her words.

"What is your father's job now? What is your status? Can you make foreigners wince and flinch on any occasion? Can you make the apartments in Tianjin city admire you with one sentence? Can you slap Americans in the face in the United States? Can you get praise and praise from many literati? Can you? Can you set up a scholarship fund for our Peking University?"

Mentioning Ye Luo and saying something bad about him, Ma Jue was like a little hedgehog with exploded hair, instantly silencing the girl.

Once you become famous, there will always be people who love to make trouble and slander you.

But every time he heard someone say that Ye Luo was not good, Ma Jue would get angry.

You haven't even met him! Why do you say he is not good?

After getting into trouble with her classmates, Ma Jue returned to the classroom and saw that her desk was filled with love letters to herself. She was so angry that she took them all out, threw them into the trash can, and headed home without looking back. Go.

As soon as he got home, Ma Yuzao saw his daughter's flat mouth and asked quickly: "What's wrong? Are you being bullied at school?"

"No, I'm just in a bad mood." Ma Jue returned to the room in a muffled voice, not wanting to say more.

"Wait, your letter." Ma Yuzao called to his daughter, took out two letters and a book and handed them to her.

One is from Mr. Lu Yucai, and the book was also given to me by him.

Since becoming a pen pal with Mr. Lu Yucai, he has always sent books to him from time to time, and made brief comments on the content of the books in his letters, caring for himself like an elder.

The other letter is naturally from Ye Luo.

She threw the book on the bed, and her whole body was attracted by Ye Luo's letter.

But she was afraid of seeing the content inside, so after much hesitation, she opened Lu Yucai's letter first.

Lu Yucai commented on the novels and poems Ma Jue had written some time ago, introduced the new book, and then mentioned that he might come to Peking in a month.

After reading this numbly, Ma Jue took a deep breath and finally picked up the letter Ye Luo wrote to her. (End of chapter)