The 47th opened up a new world of flavors

  The car arrived in Guangzhou, and Qi Zhongmou took Lan Wufeng off the bus. He found the bus station with ease and rushed to the Second Light Industry Guest House. Before leaving, he had already given Lin Zhenhua a detailed account of the location of the guest house and the route to take. Lin Zhenhua instructed him that after finishing his business, he must wait for him to meet up again. Qi Zhongmou readily agreed.

  Everyone in the Hanhua factory was visiting Guangzhou for the first time, and standing at the Guangzhou train station, they were completely unfamiliar with their surroundings. However, the Spichler company had arranged for a girl named Schumann to meet them at the station, and she arrived in a medium-sized bus, which took everyone directly to the Xiuhu Hotel.

  "My goodness, this building is so tall, it must be over 60 floors!" Zhong Rulin exclaimed as soon as he got off the car, craning his neck to look at the main building of Xiuhu Hotel. He couldn't help but make admiring noises. The Hanhua Machinery Factory only had a few two-story small buildings, and the rest were all bungalows. Even in the provincial capital city of Nandu, the tallest building was only about six stories high, and Zhong Rulin had never seen a building taller than that before.

  "There are several tens of floors, that is, nine floors... or maybe ten floors." Kong Haijiang stretched out his fingers to count, but still couldn't get a clear number.

  "This building is not very high, the highest building in Guangzhou is a 27-story building, which is the tallest building in our entire China." Zhu Tiejun had seen the world after all, although he had never been to Guangzhou, but he was still very familiar with the legend of the "27-story building".

  The so-called 27-story building refers to the Guangzhou Hotel, which was completed in 1966. The main building has 27 floors and is 86.51 meters high. It is located on the Pearl River in Haizhu Square and was once the tallest building in the country, a pride of the people of Guangzhou and a sacred place in the hearts of the people across the nation. However, by 1976, the White Cloud Hotel had been completed in Guangzhou, with its main building having 33 floors and standing at 114.05 meters high, setting a new national record for the tallest building. Since it was built only a few years ago, this 33-story building is not as famous as the 27-story building.

  Luo Quan was a worker by origin and didn't have much experience, he asked in surprise: "A 27-story building? How many rooms would that be?"

  Zhu Tiejun smiled and said: "As for the exact number of rooms, I don't know. However, I heard that during a Guangzhou Trade Fair, the Japanese devils wanted to cause trouble and said they would book the entire 27-story building. At that time, our staff did not dare to make a decision. You think, if the whole building is occupied by the Japanese, what about other foreign guests? This matter was reported to Premier Zhou, and Premier Zhou instructed: Agree, let the Japanese book it."

  "Really got taken in by the Japanese?" Zhong Rulin asked curiously.

  Zhu Tiejun said, "Premier Zhou said that the Japanese can wrap it up, but there's a condition. The first room is free, the second room adds 1 cent, the third room adds 2 cents, and so on. The Japanese thought about it and felt that adding just 1 cent for one room was no big deal. As a result, they counted the rooms in the building themselves, and only after finishing did they realize that even if they sold all their pants, they still couldn't afford to live there. Think about it, how many rooms must this building have?"

  "Haha, Premier Zhou is really resourceful." Everyone burst out laughing.

  Lin Zhenhua was also infected by the emotions of the crowd. In those years, there were countless stories of Chinese people competing in wisdom with foreigners, all of which involved some national leaders that people respected. Some stories were just legends, but people still told them with relish and believed they were true. However, most of these stories had a characteristic: the Chinese were very poor, the foreigners were very rich, and the competition between Chinese and foreigners was more like Ah Q and the landlord competing in wisdom, showing only the wisdom of the poor.

  "Everyone, please come in, the room has been opened for you." Schumann said to the crowd.

  The crowd followed Schumann into the Xiuhu Hotel and took the elevator to the sixth floor. Except for Zhu Tiejun and Lin Zhenhua, everyone else was nervous, after all, they had never been to such a high-end occasion before.

  Schumann took the keys from the service desk and opened the doors one by one, arranging for everyone to settle in. The Spieser company was very generous, assigning a room to each person, which made the Hanshua factory staff feel wasteful.

  "Xiao Shu, I see that there are clearly two beds in this room, so we can arrange for two people to stay here. There's no need to open six rooms." Zhu Tiejun said to Shu Man.

  "Director Zhu, this has all been arranged by Mr. Ford of the Spieser company, and they have already paid for the accommodation, so you don't need to worry," said Schumann professionally.

  "This is also too wasteful."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said, "Director Zhu, don't worry about them. After all, it's the Americans who are paying. If they're willing to pay more, can't our country also earn a bit more foreign exchange?"

  "Alas, since we've come, let's make ourselves at home." Zhu Tiejun said finally.

  As they entered the room, everyone was amazed again. Each room not only had a bathroom with hot and cold water, but also a small TV set. You know, TVs were rare at that time.

  "Xiao Hua, how much money will we spend tonight?" Zhong Rulin asked Lin Zhenhua secretly.

  Lin Zhenhua spread his hands: "I don't know either, maybe ten or eight pieces."

  "Eighty or a hundred bucks!" Zhong Rulin cursed, "My god, if I stay here for just one night, my weekly salary will be gone."

  "Don't worry, Master Zhong. Didn't Comrade Shu say that this money is all from the Americans? We're just taking the Americans' money to broaden our horizons. This is truly a luxurious experience!" Kong Haijiang said with a smile, and he couldn't help but feel fortunate for having secured this business trip opportunity. As the office director, he didn't have many chances to go on trips, but staying in such a high-end hotel was a first in his life.

  Schumann stood in the corridor, ready to provide technical guidance for people living in different rooms to check into high-end hotels. As a Cantonese, she was mentally prepared for the performance of guests from small towns in Jiangnan Province. Among them, the only one that made Schumann feel surprised was Lin Zhenhua. Schumann could sense from Lin's words and deeds that this young man was not intimidated by the hotel's high-end atmosphere, but instead showed some disdain for the hotel's conditions.

  Zhu Tiejun remembered the equipment placed in the warehouse, and after everyone put down their luggage and washed up briefly, they started working directly. Schumann led the crowd to the warehouse first, picked up the goods with the delivery note, and then began to contact the train car. After experiencing a thrilling experience comparable to passing five passes and beheading six generals, the consignment procedures were finally completed, and the machine will be shipped in two days.

  "Alright, now we can only wait," said Fan Shibin. "When the time comes, we must personally supervise the movers to load the machine tools onto the truck before we can return to Fenghua."

  "Is it necessary?" Lin Zhenhua asked, "Director Fan, you can't be thinking of having me and Master Zhong in charge of loading the truck, can you? This machine is not something that two people can move."

  Fan Shiben said, "Xiaolin, haven't you read the newspaper? Recently, it's been strongly criticizing the rough loading and unloading on the railway. Those porters don't care what they're handling, everything is just pushed directly from the car to the ground, including TVs that are smashed to pieces. Our machine tools are precision instruments, if we bump them even slightly, we'll regret it before we can even react."

  "That's right." Zhu Tiejun said, "We brought so many people here just to have a few more pairs of eyes watching when we load the car. Later, Xiao Kong should prepare several packs of cigarettes and give one pack to each porter, don't be stingy, let these porters take responsibility."

  "No problem, Director Zhu, before I came out, Director Jiang had already approved the expenses for me." Kong Haijiang said agilely.

  "Now that everything is fine, does anyone have any plans?" Zhu Tiejun asked, looking at everyone.

  "Director Zhu, where is that 27-story building you mentioned? Can we go take a look?" Zhong Rulin requested.

  "I'd like to go take a look too," said Lu Qingsheng. "It would be best if we could borrow a camera and take a photo in front of that building, as a keepsake."

  "Yes, I also want to take a photo." Zhong Rulin said.

  "Miss Shu, can you arrange these?" Lin Zhenhua asked, looking at Shu Man.

  Schumann glanced at Lin Zhenhua, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied with the title of "Miss". However, she still satisfied the requests of the Hanhua Factory staff: "Everyone, Mr. Ford has specifically entrusted me to take care of your lives in Guangzhou. If you have any requirements, please let me know and I will try to solve them for you. Now, I'll first take you to Haizhu Square, where we can visit the 27-story building and arrange for photos. Next, I assume you all want to buy some things? It's a rare opportunity to come to Guangzhou, so don't you want to buy some souvenirs for your loved ones and children? Finally, I will host a dinner on behalf of Spieser Company, as Guangzhou has some local specialties that are worth trying."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "It seems you really have the potential to be a tour guide."

  "What's a tour guide?" Schumann asked, perplexed.

  "It's... um..." Lin Zhenhua thought for a moment, still unable to come up with a good explanation. "Anyway, it's just someone who is more familiar with the local situation and is responsible for arranging itineraries for tourists."

  "We've been doing foreign affairs work for years, and we're used to it," Schumann said.

  "Miss Shu, may I ask, has Ford ever entrusted anything to you regarding me?" Lin Zhenhua pulled Shu Man aside and asked in a low voice. Ford was not in Guangzhou at the moment, and mobile phones were not popular that year, so Lin Zhenhua had no way of contacting Ford. He guessed that the matter he had entrusted to Ford, Ford should have informed Shu Man about it.

  Schumann nodded, seeing that everyone else was admiring the street view and no one noticed them. He took out an envelope from his small bag and handed it to Lin Zhenhua, saying: "Comrade Lin, this is something Ford gave you. It's a delivery note for Guangzhou Railway Station Cargo Yard. You just need to go pick up the goods and handle the procedures yourself to take them away. I've arranged a Jeep and a driver for you, and the driver will be with you all day today, so feel free to do whatever you want."

  "Thanks a lot," said Lin Zhenhua, "Excuse me, do you know how to get to the Second Light Industry Guest House?"

  Schumann said: "No problem, our driver also knows, you can just tell him."

  "That's good." Lin Zhenhua came to Zhu Tiejun and asked, "Director Zhu, the things here have been settled. Miss Shu will arrange for you to go to Haizhu Square for fun, I won't go. I still have some private matters here, I'd like to ask for a leave to deal with it, is that okay?"

  "You go, be careful." Zhu Tiejun said, he didn't know what Lin Zhenhua's private matter was about, but since Lin Zhenhua had made such a great contribution, he could still have some autonomy in his actions. Zhu Tiejun suspected that Lin Zhenhua might have gone to contact Ford alone, and he didn't plan to investigate further.

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