Chapter 57: When you are well fed and warm, you think about that
That night when they returned to the dock, the long-awaited gambling game opened again. In just half an hour, Rock got 120 pounds. The gamblers on the dock were much more generous than the British.
"Hey, boss, if we do a few more deals, we brothers will be able to buy a house in Cape Town." Luo Yi received 5 pounds in dividends today, which is almost a month's salary, and he got it so easily. This money is really easy to make.
"Save money well, and I will lend you money when you don't have enough. After a while, another group of brothers may come over to us, and we won't have to say anything then. Let them see what kind of life we live, and they will come over on their own initiative." Rock has always encouraged everyone to buy houses and land. Only when they have assets under their names will they have the motivation to strive.
"We have other brothers coming?"
"How many brothers are there?"
"Are there any sisters?"
Except for Rock, no one else knew that Cape Town was going to hire more Chinese warriors. After hearing Rock's words, the brothers started talking at once and soon the topic went off the topic. It was true that when you are well fed and well clothed, you will think about that.
"Sister, it's not impossible, but we can't let the British take care of it. What the British like may not be what we like. Let's wait for an opportunity." Rock couldn't do anything about this. Henry could ask for more Chinese police officers and Chinese cooks, but what was the excuse for wanting women? He couldn't hire women from the Qing Dynasty to do the laundry.
What's more, Rock expressed serious doubts about the British mentality. The reason why it is "mentality" rather than "aesthetics" is because Rock discovered that the aesthetic . Anything that Orientals consider beautiful, Westerners' views are similar to those of Orientals.
The same goes for people. Rock thinks Ada is a beauty, and Henry thinks so too. Rock thinks Phyllis is a beauty, and Henry agrees strongly. In this regard, all men are the same, and there is no huge difference in aesthetics.
So why is it that in the 21st century, many women on the Internet who seriously do not conform to Oriental aesthetics are considered Oriental beauties by the West?
Rock's conclusion is that Westerners have evil intentions. They deliberately hype up women who are not considered beauties even in the East in order to vilify the Oriental aesthetic sense, discredit the image of Oriental women, and then undermine the national confidence of the Orientals.
Perhaps the British of this era are not so insidious, but Rock cannot pin his hopes on the British. If nothing unexpected happens, the Chinese in Cape Town still prefer to form a family with Chinese women. Therefore, Rock does not want to see the second generation of Chinese in Cape Town grow up to look like Winston's father in the future.
This is not an insult, Winston's father is indeed ugly.
"It's not like there isn't an opportunity. Isn't Lao Liang going back to China?" Anton suddenly interrupted. Rock was stunned. It was true. He almost forgot about it.
Lao Liang is Liang Dingxin, the former translator of the Huayong Battalion. When the Cape Town Police Department hired Huayong to work as a policeman in Cape Town, they hired Liang Dingxin as well because they were worried about communication problems. Now the English level of Chinese police officers has improved by leaps and bounds, and Liang Dingxin has lost his role, so Liang Dingxin is about to return to Qing Dynasty and continue to work as a translator in the Huayong Battalion.
"Where is Lao Liang?" Rock was overjoyed. As long as Lao Liang was willing to cooperate, this problem would not be difficult to solve.
Unlike the 21st century, the late 19th century was a typical patriarchal society. If the British wanted to hire Hua Yong as policemen, they had to continue paying them. If Hua Yong wanted to marry a wife from the Qing Dynasty, he could just buy her with money. The price was very cheap, 80 silver dollars each, which was roughly equivalent to eight pounds, which was more than one month's salary.
"Lao Liang is in the dormitory. We don't need him to translate now. Where else can he go if he is not in the dormitory?" Anton didn't know that Rock hadn't thought about Lao Liang at all.
"Let's go, let's go back to find Lao Liang." Rock was very anxious. After solving the problem of his wife, he believed that most of the Chinese policemen would settle down in Cape Town. In this way, there would be a Chinese community in Cape Town, and Rock would have a base.
In the dormitory, Liang Dingxin was undecided and had a fierce psychological struggle.
Rock had completely forgotten Liang Dingxin, but Liang Dingxin had not forgotten Rock. Liang Dingxin had always been paying attention to Rock, the only sergeant among the Chinese police. Since Rock became a naturalized citizen, Liang Dingxin watched Rock being promoted to sergeant, watched Rock settle down and buy a house, watched other Chinese police officers become naturalized and get a high salary of five pounds a month. It was impossible to say that Liang Dingxin was not tempted. Liang Dingxin received the same salary as the Chinese non-commissioned officers in the Chinese Brave Battalion, 135 yuan a year, equivalent to 13.5 pounds. When he arrived in Cape Town, Liang Dingxin's salary increased, but it was only two pounds a month. Now even ordinary soldiers in the Chinese Brave Battalion got five pounds, but the pretentious Liang Dingxin still got a salary of two pounds, which made Liang Dingxin really unwilling.
But there was nothing he could do despite being unwilling. What the Cape Town Police Department needed was Chinese police officers, not Chinese translators. The reason why Liang Dingxin received a monthly salary of two pounds was to provide services to the Chinese police officers. Now, with the improvement of the English level of the Chinese police officers, Liang Dingxin has gradually lost his role. So let alone five pounds a month, the existing two pounds is about to be lost.
The world is in decline and people’s hearts are no longer the same!
Faced with such a dilemma, Liang Dingxin did not have the ability to break the impasse like Rock, and could only feel sad.
"Liang Tongyi, Liang Tongyi, are you in the room?" It was Li De's voice outside the door. Liang Dingxin knew that Li De was Rock's little follower, so he hurriedly got up and opened the door.
"Officer Reed, I'm here. What do you want from me?" There was a reason why Liang Dingxin felt aggrieved. Before the Chinese police started learning English, soldiers like Reed had to bow and nod when they saw Liang Dingxin. Now, times have changed, and facing Officer Reed, who has become a naturalized Cape Town citizen, Liang Dingxin can only compromise.
"The boss has something to talk to you about." Li De didn't say much. After he finished speaking, he didn't leave. It seemed that he wanted to go back with Liang Dingxin.
An interesting fact is that in the entire Cape Town Police Department, all Chinese police officers only use the word "boss" when addressing Rock. They address other people by their name plus their official title, such as Sheriff Henry, no, now it is Inspector Henry, and Chief Russell.
"Okay, okay, wait a moment, wait a moment." Liang Dingxin did not dare to delay He closed the door and followed Li De to see Rock.
"What does Mr. Luo want to talk to me about?" Liang Dingxin was a little nervous. He didn't know why Luo Ke wanted to talk to him, and tried to get some information out of Li De.
"Hehe, you'll know when you see the end." Li De didn't waste words. He just smiled and interrupted but didn't respond. He still wanted to get more words out of him? Dream on.
