Return to Singapore 1995

In fact, Li Xiaofan and A Bin had long been interested in the background of Tang's father and son, but when they had dinner last time, they were embarrassed to ask someone directly after they had just met. It seemed impolite. While drinking at the Lido Palace Nightclub, Li Xiaofan could probably tell from Tang Jiaming's conversations with several friends that Ming's business seemed to have something to do with coal mining trade and logistics and freight.

This time Liu Mengchen asked rashly, and Mr. Tang was willing to answer, so they listened carefully.

Tang Dehua was not in a hurry to talk. After taking a sip of the fairy grass herbal tea, he said to Tang Jiaming: "A Ming, give me a Havanas!"

"Dr. Tang, the doctor told you to smoke less..." Huizhen advised from the side.

Tang Dehua waved his hand and said to Tang Jiaming: "It's okay. I'm happy today. I smoke one occasionally. Come on, A Ming, give it to me!"

"OK!"

Tang Jiaming took out an exquisite iron box from his bag and handed it to Mr. Tang. After Tang Dehua opened it, Li Xiaofan and A Bin realized that the Havanas Mr. Tang was talking about were a type of cigar.

After Tang Jiaming handed the old man a box of cigars, he remembered that Li Xiaofan and A Bin also smoked, so he also gave a box to each of Li Xiaofan and A Bin: "Come, let's taste the taste of these cigars!"

After Abin opened it, he took out a cigar from the box, and when he took out a Zippo lighter and was about to light it, Mr. Tang stopped him with a smile: "Abin, you can't light such a good cigar with a lighter, you are wasting your natural resources! "

As he spoke, he took out a thin cedar wood chip from the cigar box and said: "Each box of this handmade cigar is equipped with cedar wood chips to ensure the aroma of the cigars in the box. You only need to gently tear a small piece." You can just light the cigar. Havanas cigars lit with cedar wood chips will taste more mellow. Come and try it!”

Ming Ge explained on the side: "It is generally not recommended to light good high-quality cigars with a gasoline lighter, because the smell of gasoline will contaminate the tobacco aroma of the cigar itself. Generally, sulfur-free matches are used to light cigars, and cedar sticks are used to light cigars. Cigars are the best!”

So, A Bin and Li Xiaofan followed the method of Tang and his son, lighting the handmade cigars in their hands with the small cedar wood chips, taking a puff, and praised: "Well, the taste is indeed very different, very fragrant!"

"What kind of cigar is this? It tastes so good?" A Bin asked.

Tang Jiaming explained: "The cigar you are holding is a high-end handmade cigar called Havanas. It uses tobacco leaves from Pinar del Rio Province in the western end of Cuba. That area is famous for its climate, rainfall and red color. The sandy and fertile soil can produce very high-quality cigar leaves! When people make these hand-made Havana cigars, in order to allow the guests to have a gap for the smoke to pass through when enjoying the cigars, the core of the Havana cigar is manually torn by hand, tearing the tobacco leaves into two pieces lengthwise, and then cores This is what makes Havanas handmade cigars special..."

"After this handmade Havanas cigar is just made, it is like a good wine. It needs to be collected for a proper period of time to become a good product. After a period of storage, the original smoke smell of the handmade cigar, which is like the fire of youth, will become a good product." The flavor will become more mellow as time goes by. The Havanas cigars we smoke now are all excellent products that have been stored for more than two years! ”

Guo Hanyue and Liu Mengchen sighed at the side: "Wow, this is an eye-opener! It turns out there are so many things to pay attention to when smoking a cigar!" They really don't understand the life of rich people because they rarely have the opportunity to get in touch with it.

Mr. Tang took a puff of Havanas cigar and began to tell his story:

"I was born in Singapore in the 1940s, my father was born in Malaysia, and my grandfather was born in your mainland. It was my grandfather's generation who was the first in our family to go to Nanyang! I heard my father say, In the old days, the mainland was in a state of war for a long time. Coupled with natural and man-made disasters, we The people in my hometown were in dire straits and could not even maintain a basic livelihood. Trees were moved to death, and people were moved to death! In order to support their families and survive, my grandfather's generation was forced to leave their hometown and take a sampan to cross the stormy sea. , experienced the test of life and death, and came to Nanyang to make a living..."

"Well, it's really not easy to reach Nanyang through strong winds and waves!" Li Xiaofan has seen a lot of information and TV series about going to Nanyang before, and he has a deep understanding of it.

"Yes, going to Nanyang at that time was a near-death experience! I heard from my father that my grandfather's early immigrants smuggled themselves overseas, and they had to worry about inspections by the government and the pirates all day long. The weather on the sea was unpredictable, and sailing ships were always there. They were at risk of capsizing. They were confined in the cabin of the stowaway ship, and the conditions were harsh, with a very high mortality rate. Gao, the ship that trafficked cheap mainland laborers like my grandfather was like a moving hell. My grandfather's generation had a narrow escape. After crossing the wind and sea to Malaysia, they were sold to local farmers like piglets to work as coolies, and the treatment was almost the same. Slaves are no different, suffering from the abuse of piglets and piglets..."

"Wow, so pitiful!" Guo Hanyue and Liu Mengchen's eyes turned red when they heard this. They didn't know much about this tragic history of the voyage to Nanyang, and it was the first time they heard such a miserable story.

“Finally, when it came to my father’s generation, the original British colonial system was overthrown, and the lives of us Chinese gradually improved. My father later came to Singapore from Malaysia to make a living and worked in the construction industry. After I was born in Singapore, I went to Chinese schools. At that time, our Nanyang University in Singapore still taught in Chinese, the only Chinese university in the Nanyang area. But my grades were very poor, and I started working with my father before graduating from Huazhong. Because the market in Singapore was too small, I followed my father and others from Singapore to Jakarta to contract projects in the 1970s. Through hard work and cooperation with local people, we later became one of the few local builders capable of undertaking large-scale industrial projects!”

“Ang, there is no need to change nationality to Indonesian, right?” Abin asked curiously.

"Don't worry, let's finish the story!"

Grandpa Tang took a few puffs of his cigar and continued his story: "Later, by chance, we contracted a construction project for a local oil and gas company. It was this cooperation with the local oil and gas company that opened our eyes, as if we had discovered a new world!"

"Which new world?" Abin listened very attentively. He was impatient and kept asking questions. He was most interested in opportunities to make money.

"It's the mining industry! Later, my father and I found that the local mining industry was very profitable! Indonesia is the largest country around Singapore, and it is very rich in various mineral resources. However, due to the backward local geological exploration and mining technology, the ability to develop and utilize resources is very poor. For a long time, the local mineral resources have been mainly developed and utilized by foreign companies from Europe and the United States..."