Chapter 54: First Signs

All in all, there were about a dozen matters of etiquette and exchange. For most of them, she only needed to prepare a gift and a card and send someone to deliver it. For some, however, she had to go in person.

Besides the various matters of etiquette, there were also all kinds of people who wanted to visit her.

“At two o’clock in the afternoon, Mrs. Wu will be visiting—”

“Oh, it’s time for class again.” Pei Lixiu was a little bored, twirling a lock of her hair with her finger.

This Mrs. Wu was a famous “female tutor” in the local area. She was the widow of a famous scholar from Henan who had drifted to Guangzhou and made a living this way. To avoid revealing her ignorance in conversation, Pei Lixiu had specially hired her to teach her some common knowledge and conversation skills.

It turned out that although Miss Pei had the determination to be a lady of the Great Ming, she did not have enough perseverance. After a few lessons, she was complaining incessantly, so this study also began to become a matter of going through the motions.

Even so, studying was very boring. So she found an excuse to change from once every five days to once every ten days. Hearing that today was another study day, Pei Lixiu’s head, still aching from her hangover, grew a little bigger.

“Young Master Wu and Young Master Dong will also be visiting you today.”

“Oh?! Those two are still interesting.” Hearing these two names, Pei Lixiu’s spirits lifted. These two sons of officials, after making a huge profit from lending money to the Guangzhou Station for the Leizhou sugar business, were very impressed with this Proprietor Guo’s skills and abilities. They had been coming to Zhiming Tower more and more frequently.

Their families had a large amount of money for them to squander, and they had nothing to do every day but rack their brains for pleasure. Zhiming Tower became a place they visited almost every day. Pei Lixiu, Guo Yi, Zhang Xin, and the others knew that these young masters had money and that their fathers, brothers, and families had political power. They made an effort to win them over, not only racking their brains to clone modern gadgets, but also specially inviting several famous professional guests from Guangdong. Some of these professional guests were good at arranging music and teaching singing, some were good at landscaping with rocks and mountains, some could appraise antiques, mount calligraphy and paintings, and train flowers and birds. They were all hired at high salaries to add to the entertainment business of Zhiming Tower. Two opera troupes were also in preparation.

After “breakfast,” Pei Lixiu went to her “office” as usual. Zheng Shangjie was already inside, and she could be heard scolding loudly:

“How many times have I told you! Although the silver card is not a precious item, it can’t be given to just anyone! If you give it out so casually, people will look down on it! Do you understand? It has to be something that everyone wants but can’t get, but still has a hope of getting.”

Chun Liu lifted the curtain and announced, “Miss Pei is here.” The talking inside stopped.

Pei Lixiu walked in, and the two managers who were being scolded by Zheng Shangjie quickly bowed together. After Zheng Shangjie arrived, the operation of Zhiming Tower became more orderly. Especially in marketing, there was great progress. This woman, who had previously been an agent for airline tickets, cosmetics, health products, insurance, travel companies, counterfeit phones… and so on, was very good at sales and promotion. Under her guidance, a business promotion department for the Zi character enterprises was specially established to be responsible for promoting various products and services. And the promotion activities of Zhiming Tower were her key focus.

“Alright, you can go now. Pay attention to the card issuance in the future.” After emphasizing this point again, she dismissed them.

After arriving in Guangzhou, Zheng Shangjie had to change into the women’s clothing of the Ming Dynasty according to the custom of the Great Ming. But this kind of wide-robed, large-sleeved clothing was really inconvenient, and it took a long time for her to get used to it. But no matter how she looked at herself, she felt awkward.

For this reason, she rarely appeared in public, spending more time on internal management and administrative affairs, which happened to greatly compensate for Pei Lixiu’s weaknesses. The two of them cooperated very well. In addition, Lingao began to rotate and train the local native personnel from Guangzhou and Leizhou, especially by screening and training the original managers and supervisors, and establishing a complete set of management systems in the business. The management of the various enterprises under the Guangzhou Station was much more rigorous than before.

The “counter room” of Zhiming Tower, or rather, the “general manager’s office,” was a small room, decorated in the style of the Ming Dynasty, but the layout was modern. Two rosewood desks made in a modern style were placed back to back, with Pei Lixiu and Zheng Shangjie facing each other.

Their several secretaries, or so-called maids, sat at four small desks pushed together behind them. Zheng Shangjie also had two maids under her name, one in charge of her writing and documents, and the other as an accountant, specializing in bookkeeping.

Pei Lixiu sat down behind her desk, yawned first, and Chun Liu quickly brewed a bowl of Songluo tea for her. Zheng Shangjie glanced at her with contempt. “It’s already noon, and you’re still not awake?”

“I drank too much last night—” Pei Lixiu lay on the table listlessly. “Despise me.”

“I’m too lazy to despise you. But there’s still a pile of things to do here.”

“Oh God, did I come to the Great Ming just to sit in an office and be a white-collar worker again?” she groaned in pain. “Why is this getting more and more like my old life?”

“Aren’t you also a socialite at night?”

“Sigh—” Pei Lixiu sighed and said no more. Her head was still dizzy—the life of a socialite was not easy either.

“The matter of building the Ziyuan has been approved by Proprietor Guo.” After arriving in Guangzhou, Zheng Shangjie also changed her form of address in public, just like the people at the Guangzhou Station, to avoid attracting attention.

Zheng Shangjie’s current identity was Guo Yi’s cousin—specially invited to help.

Although Zhiming Tower had been renovated and rebuilt, and the layout was much improved, it was located in a bustling market and could not be expanded. For this reason, Guo Yi had sent people to survey the land outside the city, looking for a good place with mountains and water to build a villa and manor to serve as a branch of Zhiming Tower. This place was called “Ziyuan.”

“Someone suggested inviting Ji Cheng to build it,” Pei Lixiu remembered this matter. “But this person seems to be in Jiangnan. We have to send someone specially to invite him—”

“If you ask me, it’s best to put off the matter of inviting Ji Cheng for a while,” Zheng Shangjie said. “We only know that this person is in Nanjing. We don’t know anything else. Sending someone over a thousand li, I’m afraid they won’t be back for three or four months. Not only will it cost a lot, but it’s not certain we can even invite him. The audit won’t look good.”

Guo Yi had specifically mentioned at the last Guangzhou Station work meeting that after the Cheka finished auditing the Agricultural People’s Committee, they would soon come to the Guangzhou Station to examine the accounts. Everyone should pay more attention to accounting work, especially account management and cash. Unnecessary expenses should be avoided.

“Then should we do the Ziyuan project or not?” Pei Lixiu had no opinion on such matters.

“Normally, we would stop if we stopped. But it’s probably not good to stop now after hearing the news. I think it’s good to go ahead with Ziyuan. It’s another place to make money. Besides, Ji Cheng isn’t the only landscape architect, is he?”

“It seems he is the most famous,” Pei Lixiu sighed. “We are not in Jiangnan.”

The two women chatted idly, dealing with the matters at hand. Suddenly, Chun Liu, who had gone to the gatehouse to get the morning’s invitations, came back in a hurry.

She put the invitations on the table and quickly reported a strange thing to them.

Dong Jizhong and Wu Zhixiang, who were supposed to come to Zhiming Tower in the afternoon, had both sent people to say that they were unwell and would not be coming today.

“Did they say when they would come instead?” Pei Lixiu didn’t feel anything strange yet.

“That’s what’s strange. Usually, if they don’t come, they will always make another appointment. Today, the servant came, said just that, and left.”

“Maybe they forgot.” Pei Lixiu now also felt it was strange, but not very much.

“No, that’s not all,” Chun Liu told her. The number of invitations received at the door today was more than thirty percent less than usual. Many people who were supposed to come also sent their servants to say they would not be coming for the time being.

”?” Pei and Zheng looked at each other. This was strange. Coming to Zhiming Tower was a very prestigious thing. Because of the limited reception capacity, even drinking a meal and taking a bath here had to be booked several days or even more than ten days in advance. Some special things could only be booked by VIPs with gold and silver cards. Unless something important happened, they would not cancel.

So, something big had happened in Guangzhou city! Zheng Shangjie keenly realized this.

“Quickly send someone to Huifu Street to see Guo Yi. Something has happened in Guangzhou city.”

But there was no news from Guo Yi’s side either. Zhang Xin quickly sent people to inquire everywhere. Was there any news in Guangzhou city recently? Everyone reported back that night that everything was normal. By evening, Zhiming Tower was as bustling as usual with carriages and people, except for the officials and nobles who had canceled their reservations.

That night, they finally got the first piece of news.

The news came from a professional guest close to the governor in the governor’s yamen—Zhang Xin and the others usually had a group of such mid-to-low-level personnel working in various yamen and around officials.

This person told them that the Governor-General of Liangguang, Wang Zunde, was secretly planning to attack the short-hair thieves in Lingao.

The matter was of course extremely confidential, but in ancient society, there was no real concept of confidentiality. Any news would be revealed to the people nearby.

“It’s a bit incredible,” Meng Xian said at the emergency meeting held in the Guangzhou Station safe house. “Why the sudden attack?”

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Zhang Xin said. “The government can only pretend to be deaf and dumb for so long before they can’t pretend anymore.”

“According to the principles of intelligence, this news must first be verified.”

“Hmm, I’ve already sent people to our ‘connections’ in various yamen to verify it. We’ll definitely have news in a few days whether it’s true or false,” Yan Maoda said with a frown. “This matter is probably not good. The Guangzhou Station is probably facing a test.”

“Just report the situation to Lingao,” Pei Lixiu said, puzzled. “We are all proper Guangzhou natives now.”

“That’s just official rhetoric,” Guo Yi said. “They could give us household registration back then, and they can disown it this time. Who doesn’t know that these firms are actually the property of the Australians? Whether they want to deal with us or not is all up to the whims of these officials.”

“But aren’t we nominally citizens of the Great Ming now? They must have a reason, right?” Zheng Shangjie had not been in the Great Ming for long. The officials she had seen were at most a bit lewd, but she had not yet seen their sinister and ruthless side.

“There are plenty of reasons. The character for ‘official’ has two mouths. Whatever they say is right,” Yan Maoda said. “The situation is indeed very dangerous!”

Guo Yi nodded and said, “The Great Ming household registration is unreliable. Not to mention that we are impostors. Even for proper Guangzhou natives, the officials can deal with them as they please. Not to mention the huge property of the Guangzhou Station, which has long been coveted by many people. If this matter of suppressing the Australians is true, the officials and gentry who want to seize these firms will probably be fighting over it.”

At this point, everyone was silent. In the past few years, the Guangzhou Station had had the wind at its back. The few people in charge had become famous figures in Guangzhou. With a single invitation from Guo Yi, people from the Guangzhou Prefecture and the Nanhai and Panyu counties would immediately come forward, and general matters could be settled immediately. Even up to the circuit yamen, the provincial administration yamen, and even the governor’s and governor-general’s yamen, they had connections and could get through the doors at any time. Any news could also be transmitted at any time.

When the Guangzhou Station used the Qiwei Escort Agency to expand its inn, warehouse, and logistics industries, it had a big fight with the local powers. During this period, the Special Reconnaissance Team frequently carried out wet work in Guangzhou city, killing people, setting fires, and wiping out entire families. Because of their strong relationship with the government and solid background, not only did the victims not pursue the matter, but there wasn’t even a single person who gossiped about it.

This situation gave them a feeling that they were the “invisible godfathers” of Guangzhou city. The Guangzhou Station was as solid as a rock. When they held meetings in the safe house, making fun of the corruption, greed, and incompetence of the Ming government had almost become a routine part of the meeting—as long as you were willing to spend money, you could do anything. This had become the thinking pattern of the people at the Guangzhou Station.

Someone had even joked when drunk that even if the headquarters in Lingao were to be destroyed one day, the transmigrator group could still regroup with the foundation of the Guangzhou Station.

Now, just the news of an impending military action against Lingao had struck them like a thunderbolt.

They had never felt their dependence on the entire Lingao group so keenly. Without considering, weighing, or calculating anything, without the support of the entire group behind them, the destruction of the Guangzhou Station would be instantaneous—they were just a big piece of fat meat.

“Let’s not get too anxious,” Yan Maoda said. “This news has not yet been confirmed. But since it came from the governor’s yamen, I think the authenticity is over ninety percent. We should make some preparations.”

“Hmm, I agree with Old Yan’s view,” Zhang Xin said. “Although this matter is a bit strange, we can’t be unprepared. My view is that people are the most important. Goods and things don’t matter. If things get urgent, we should retreat immediately.”

“Should we activate the ‘Hun’ operation?”

The ‘Hun’ operation was the general retreat plan for the Guangzhou Station. It included the dispersal and retreat of personnel, the transport, hiding, and burial of materials and property, and the handling of various business relationships. This plan had been formulated since the establishment of the Guangzhou Station. As the scale of the Guangzhou Station grew larger, the plan book for the ‘Hun’ operation also became thicker.

Guo Yi said, “Of course not. This is just a possibility for now. We don’t need to be too nervous, and we can’t lose our composure.”

“Once they want to attack Lingao, we definitely can’t hold on here,” Zhang Xin said.

“Whether they will attack Lingao has not yet been confirmed,” Guo Yi said. “We can’t rule out the possibility that someone is trying to use the fact that we are Australians to put a big hat on us.”

“What do you mean?” Zheng Shangjie didn’t quite understand.

“You mean, someone is using the matter of attacking Lingao to force us to give up our interests, and it’s not certain whether they will actually attack Lingao?”

“Right. We have to consider this possibility. The Guangzhou Station is a fat piece of meat, and many people are eyeing it. In this Guangzhou city, isn’t it common for people to seize what others have done well? We have always had a strong background. To eat this piece of meat from the Zi character group, they have to attack us from the root. Releasing such true and false news is to force us to lose our composure.”

“You mean the news might be false?”

“No, the news might be true. But the matter of attacking Lingao may not necessarily be implemented. It’s like drawing a bow without shooting an arrow.”

“These officials are very good at seeing which way the wind blows. So I say, even if there is a matter of attacking Lingao, we don’t need to be anxious. The Guangzhou Station involves many aspects here. Once it’s gone, many people’s interests will be severely damaged, and they won’t just stand by and do nothing—for example, Gao Ju. Even if their payments can be offset against each other, he will still lose the supply of Australian goods, which is not worth the loss,” Yan Maoda said.

“For now, let’s find various channels to confirm the news, and also go to our allies. Let them be able to speak for us when necessary,” Guo Yi said. “Of course, this news must be reported to Lingao tonight. From today on, the movements in Guangzhou must be reported twice a day.”

“Alright,” everyone agreed.

“And Meng Xian’s side,” Guo Yi said. “Delong Bank has little public contact with the Guangzhou Station, and it has a large number of private deposits from officials. I estimate it won’t be affected too much. You shouldn’t come to the Zi character firms recently. Contact us by courier if there’s anything. If something urgent happens and we lose contact, you can arrange your own retreat or stand by according to the situation.”

“Okay,” Meng Xian nodded heavily. “I’ll do my best to hold on.”

“Also, you’d better take stock of the silver reserves and see how much can be mobilized,” Guo Yi said. “I estimate that if this news is true, these Zi character enterprises will face a large-scale bank run in a few days. You yourself might also have a bank run. Each firm must prepare at least fifty thousand taels of silver.”