Chapter 7: Losing Anger
If it weren't for the British arrangement, the Chinese police would most likely not be able to become roommates with the Indian police.
If you don't come into contact with Indians, you don't know how bad their living habits are. They are habitually lazy, will never sit if they can lie down, and are extremely untrustworthy. You can't believe the promises made by Chinese people at the dinner table, and you can't believe the promises made by Indians under any circumstances. They are unhygienic to an absurd degree. Even if the hands are used separately for eating and washing the buttocks, putting these two things together sounds very unhygienic. At the same time, Indians lie. They always have all kinds of weird reasons . For example, Kunal also wants to rest when Rock is in the hospital. I guess only Kunal feels that this request is reasonable.
Among the police weapons Rock and his men used, there was a cane woven from Indonesian rattan. This cane was originally used by the British to teach Indians a lesson. As the sovereign of India, the British finally realized that education was useless for Indians after a long experience of dealing with Indians. So the British used canes to communicate with Indians. If they made a mistake, they would be beaten! If they were disobedient, they would be beaten! If they were not happy with the cane, they would be beaten!
Anton has not yet figured out how to deal with Indians, but Rock is not unfamiliar with it. You can't be polite to Indians. Chinese people are always kind to others in their daily lives. If it were other people, they would most likely reciprocate with kindness. Indians will take this politeness for granted. It's like raising a pet. If the owner does not punish the pet appropriately when it makes a mistake, sooner or later the pet will think that it is the owner.
Sitting in the spacious and bright room, Rock finally felt a little peace in his heart. When he was well fed and warm, he would think about sex - no, he had to prepare for a rainy day. Rock searched his body and only found five pounds plus fifteen shillings, which was all Rock's property.
Thanks to the strong value of the pound, one pound is approximately 3.9 taels of silver, and 5.75 pounds is approximately equal to 22.6 taels of silver. This is a lot of money for a poor person, but for Rock it is just better than nothing. If he wants to make a name for himself, this little money is not enough. Rock also has to find ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
Speaking of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, after seeing the sumptuousness of the food in the cafeteria, Rock suddenly realized that there seemed no need to invite everyone to a dinner. The food in the cafeteria was already sumptuous enough. Even if Rock purchased it, it would only be of this level. In that case, he might as well treat everyone to a drink.
He did what he said. Rock went out and called Li De to go to the market together. There were dozens of people there, and each cup weighed dozens of kilograms. Rock didn't want to carry it back alone.
In 1899, the British Empire was at its peak. In order to conquer the Boers, the British paid a total of 220 million pounds. As the center of the Cape Colony, Cape Town should not have too many supplies, as can be seen from the working meals provided in the canteen.
Prices were also quite low at that time. A pound of fresh wheat beer cost only six pence, black tea from India cost 24 pence a pound, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne cost fifteen shillings, and a box of twenty Havana cigars cost only one pound.
Champagne and cigars are definitely high-end consumption for Rock now. He is not interested in black tea produced in India, so he only bought beer, a full 50 kilograms, which cost 1.5 pounds.
"It's too expensive. Such a small amount of beer costs six or seven taels of silver. It's almost robbery." Although it was not Li De who spent the money, Li De still felt the pain, for Rock.
"Haha, you all have to support your families, but I feed my whole family with one person's food, so why do I need money?" In fact, Rock was also in pain, but for Rock, making money was not a very difficult thing. With Rock's fluent English, it was not difficult for him to find a foreign company to make a living. But what kind of foreign company could be more powerful than the British Empire? If you want to make a name for yourself under the British, you must invest some money. The more than 30 Chinese police officers in the Cape Town Police Department are Rock's capital.
"I have saved five pounds. If I have ten more, I can bring my mother to Cape Town, buy dozens of acres of good land, and let my mother live a good life." Reed's ideas were different from Rock's. After arriving in Cape Town, Reed realized that the world was so big. For most British people, the Cape Colony was a remote and poor place, but for the Chinese, the Cape was a paradise.
Cape Town is located at the southernmost tip of the African continent. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, all ships traveling between Europe and Asia had to pass through Cape Town for rest and supplies, so it became the largest port in Africa. Trade and taxation are the economic pillar of Cape Town.
The majority of the population in Cape Town is Boers. In order to reduce the proportion of local Boers, the British formulated many preferential conditions to attract immigrants. Unfortunately, most British people were not interested in the Cape Colony, so the British did not reject any foreign immigrants, including Chinese. As long as they were willing to immigrate to the Cape, they could buy land from the colonial government at a low price.
"Work hard, there will be opportunities." Rock was not opposed to immigration. It was now 1899, and wars would break out continuously in the Qing Dynasty for decades. Relatively speaking, the Cape was a paradise. Even World War I and World War II did not affect the Cape. If Rock had family in the Qing Dynasty, he would bring his family to the Cape as soon as possible.
Of course, immigration is not an easy thing. Rock and Li De are both from the north of the Qing Dynasty. The distance from Tianjin to Cape is more than 17,000 kilometers. The ship ticket is the main expense of immigration. However, Chinese policemen like Rock only have a monthly salary of one pound. It is not easy to save enough money for the ship ticket.
"It would be great if we were British. I heard that British police can get ten pounds a month. I don't know how they spend so much money." Li De looked envious. A salary of ten pounds a month was out of reach for Li De.
"Haha, don't think that all the British can get so much. This is the Cape, a British colony, thousands of miles away from the British mainland. The British police here are subsidized. The police in the British mainland get less than ten pounds a month, five or six at most." Rock didn't believe that the British were so rich. The average income in the UK these days was only 32 pounds . Those who could earn more than 100 pounds a year were considered middle class. No matter how powerful the British government was, it was impossible for all British people to live a middle-class life.
Neither can the United States in the twenty-first century.
When he returned to the dormitory, Kunale had not come back yet. Rock didn't care, thinking that he would come back sooner or later. He was about to go out to find Anton to call him when he suddenly heard shouting and cursing from the dormitory next door.
This scene is also very common. These are Chinese police officers gambling together, and someone must have lost a lot and is getting angry.
