Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 261: Consulate
This chapter's subtitle: I have a headache and I'm too lazy to think
"Mrs. Gu, please allow me to introduce her to you. This is..."
Huang Huilan looked at the young man in the evening gown in front of her and couldn't help but feel a little wet... well, lost her virginity... well, lost her mind. The reason was naturally because this stinky man who openly kept a mistress was too handsome.
The second daughter of the richest man in Nanyang had seen good-looking men before, and had also seen gentlemen with outstanding temperament. But Yuan Hongjian's appearance and temperament perfectly blended into an overwhelming and rich handsomeness, which made the newlywed young woman's face hot and her feet weak, and also made her heart jump with joy.
The doubts in her heart were finally answered. No wonder the twelfth sister of the Tang family cried and shouted to marry him. Mrs. Gu couldn't help but look at the second son of the Wu family not far away with sympathy. She found that the man's face was also very ugly. He was probably shocked by the handsomeness of his rival.
But she immediately had another puzzlement. Why would such a handsome man go to a brothel and keep a mistress? It should be me... well, my aunt who should keep him!
If that's the case, then Yuan Hongjian only has two women around him. Doesn't that mean he's not a lecher, but a good man who keeps himself clean? Even if I... well, my aunt is the mistress, she would be willing to be such a loyal and righteous man.
Well, no matter which parallel world it is, it’s all a world where looks matter!
In fact, our Master Yuan's charm value today is not at full capacity, it is only 16 points. After a period of unremitting exploration, he finally found that 16 points of charm value is almost the limit in daily life. If it is higher, some situations that he cannot control will occur.
For example, every time Miss Lillian Gish and Miss Enyuka see him with a charm value above 16 points, they show an expression that looks like they want to eat him, which is really creepy to watch.
"Hello, Mr. Yuan."
After all, the ambassador's wife was a rich girl who had seen a lot of things. She suppressed her inner throbbing and took the initiative to extend her jade hand. However, Yuan Yan was stunned when she saw this. Wasn't this hand raised too high?
Oh, I understand now, this is what upper-class Chinese people in the upper class have to do!
He hurriedly stepped forward, gently lifted up the person's hand, bent his waist, leaned his head forward, and gave a very standard and elegant hand-kissing gesture.
Then Yuan Yan suddenly didn't know what was wrong with his brain, probably because he was held by the jewels and precious stones on her body. He said in French: "Beautiful ambassador's wife, it's my honor to meet you."
The beautiful ambassador's wife's eyes lit up, and she asked in French very happily: "Mr. Yuan, you can speak French too? That's right... If you don't know French, you wouldn't have set the story of "Chocolat" in France."
In fact, our Master Yuan's French level was only limited to saying hello, so he immediately switched to English and asked, "Mrs. Gu, have you also seen my "Chocolat"? "
"Of course, Mr. Yuan, I have read your masterpiece several times. It is really well written."
"Gu...well, Ms. Huang, you are really too kind. Actually, I just..."
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
After hearing Luo Jiaxiong's heavy coughing beside them, Huang Huilan and Yuan Yan suddenly realized that this occasion didn't seem to be suitable for chatting.
It was around 7:00 p.m. on December 18, and they were in the lobby of the Consulate General of the Republic of China in New York. There were not many people attending the welcoming dinner, except for the guests and the consulate staff.
Yuan Yan suddenly raised her fist to her mouth and coughed lightly, then said with a serious expression: "Huang... um, Madam Gu, nice to meet you. If you are interested in literature, welcome to my literary... um, literature salon."
Huang Huilan also replied seriously: "Mr. Yuan, thank you for your invitation. If I have time, I will definitely go..."
She finally remembered the business and said, "I have a 'friend' who also likes Mr. Yuan's novels. Excuse me, can I bring her to your salon?"
The matchmaker had already made up her mind to let her aunt marry this handsome man... well, the great writer. If she didn't want to marry, then she would... well, persuade her again.
Master Yuan naturally understood who this "friend" was, so he happily replied: "I welcome Madam Gu and your 'friend' very much..."
"Mrs. Gu, Secretary Luo, and Mr. Yuan, I'm sorry to bother you."
Just then a young man interrupted and greeted in Cantonese with a Cantonese accent.
Luo Jiaxiang and Huang Huilan's expressions immediately became a little unnatural, but Secretary Luo still introduced them, "Hongjian, this is the second son of Lord Zhiyong."
So, the Seres of this era were not talkative. If Master Yuan had not expected it, he would not have known that Zhiyong was Wu Tingfang's pseudonym. However, everyone else acted as if it was a matter of course.
Now he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Oh, it turns out to be Mr. Wu Er, nice to meet you."
The handsome Mr. Wu said politely, "Mr. Yuan, you are too polite. My name is Wuxia. I wonder if you can spare me a moment to talk?"
Really, what can I say to you? If you are a character who offers girls to others, you will definitely be criticized by readers in a hundred years. People like to read about taking girls home, not pushing girls away.
No, I can't have much contact with people like that. It will lower my... well, my quality.
“This…”
He perfunctorily said this, but gave Uncle Luo a subtle kick with his foot. The latter immediately understood and said, "Second Master, there are two other distinguished guests waiting to see Hongjian. I think it would be better if you could talk about this another day."
Yuan Yan slapped his forehead and said with sudden realization: "Oh, if Uncle Luo hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten it. How can we, the Seris people, be disrespectful to people from friendly countries? Second Young Master, I will leave first, please forgive me."
Having said that, he took Luo Jiaxiang and ran away.
They were playing a double act, but they really weren't lying. In a side hall next door, there were indeed two foreigners, one old and one young. The old one was in his early fifties, with short grey hair, a round head and a short neck, a sturdy build, and a dignified temperament . He was obviously a military man; the young one was only in his early twenties, with an extremely handsome face, very Aryan-like.
Seeing two Seris people coming in, they also stood up.
Luo Jiaxiang, the first-class secretary, once again acted as the introducer.
"Dear guests from Germany, this is Mr. Yanshu Yuan."
"Hongjian, this is Count Scharnhorst who came all the way from Holland to confer the medal on you."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Yuan. After reading your article, His Majesty said that he didn't expect that there is a close friend of his among the Seres. He also admires your talent very much and hopes to have a chance to communicate with you in person."
"Mr. Kela, thank you for your country's... well, the emperor's favor. I am overwhelmed with gratitude..."
By the way, this Kela’s last name is Scharnhorst. This is not a good omen.
The most famous person in this family is Count Gerhard Johan David von Scharnhorst, the founder of the Prussian General Staff. In 1802, when he was the principal of the Berlin Military Academy, he set up a "Military Association" in Berlin and brought together a group of open-minded officers, including Clausewitz, the later famous authority on Western military thought and the author of On War. This was also the prototype of the General Staff.
As for why Master Yuan felt that it was a bad omen, it was because the German Navy had named warships after Scharnhorst several times , and the fate of these warships was not good.
The Scharnhorst in World War I was a cutting-edge armored cruiser launched in 1907. It was the flagship of the maritime guerrilla fleet commanded by Maximilian von Spee. It was later sunk by a battlecruiser led by the British Studi in the Battle of the Falklands. Spee, his two sons, and more than 2,000 German sailors were buried on the seabed with the ship.
A battlecruiser in the Third Reich's Atlantic Fleet was named Scharnhorst. It once sank the British fleet aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, but ultimately sank in the Battle of the North Cape.
In any case, Count Scharnhorst was an important figure in Prussian military history, and it seemed only natural that his descendants would serve as aide-de-camp to William II. Later, Heinz Wilhelm Guderian referred to the German General Staff as the "direct descendants" of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in his war memoirs.
"Mr. Yuan, please allow me to introduce you. This is my adjutant, Mr. Stauffenberg."
"Hello, Mr. Yuan."
"Hello, Mr. Stauffenberg." Upon hearing this last name, Yuan Yan couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, may I ask where you are from?"
The handsome German youth certainly didn't understand why he asked that, but he still answered honestly: "Mr. Yuan, I was born in Yetingen, a small town near Stuttgart."
"Oh, so your mother is a descendant of Marshal Gneisenau?"
The other party said in surprise: "That's right, Mr. Yuan."
"So how old are you... Um, may I ask if you have any younger brothers?"
"I do have two younger brothers." Mr. Stauffenberg asked in amazement, "Mr. Yuan, how did you know that?"
“This…”
Yes, that's right. This guy should be the eldest brother of the one-eyed colonel Claus von Stauffenberg who later assassinated Hitler. And their mother is the descendant of August Wilhelm Anton Neithart von Gneisenau, one of the "two fathers of the General Staff" mentioned earlier.
Yuan Yan suddenly made up a story: "Mr. Stauffenberg, I am very interested in the history of your country's army construction, and asked my German friends to collect a lot of historical materials for me. Therefore, I heard friends mention your family, so I have a little impression of it."
This family is a typical Junker military aristocracy. Both parents were born into high-ranking military officer families, and their sons later joined the Wehrmacht. In this case, it's not a good omen.
After the four of them sat down as host and guest, the German Emperor's aide slowly said, "Mr. Yuan, you should know why we are here, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Scharnhorst."
The old man nodded and said, "In addition to the title of knight, His Majesty will also grant you an annual pension of 100,000 marks..."
"Excuse me for interrupting, but are these 100,000 marks gold marks or paper marks?"
Mr. Stauffenberg next to him immediately said, "Mr. Yuan, of course it's... paper marks."
Yuan Yan suddenly thought that they were indeed poor people, and they were so stingy even when giving annuities. What 100,000 marks? It was only 250 US dollars.
The Treaty of Versailles signed by the warring countries in January this year stipulated that Germany's compensation amount was 4.9 billion pounds, equivalent to 33 billion US dollars, or 132 billion marks, which means that at that time, one US dollar could still be exchanged for 40 marks. After that, the mark began to depreciate wildly. At the end of 1920, one US dollar was equivalent to more than 400 marks. This was just the beginning. A year later, in early 1922, one US dollar could be exchanged for more than 4,000. By November 1923, the mark had depreciated to 1 US dollar equal to 420,000,000,000 marks (420 billion). At that time, a loaf of bread cost 1 trillion marks.
Well, the only currency that could compare with the depreciation was the gold yuan. Chuan Lin Beitui accomplished a great feat that no Seres had done since the Song Dynasty, which was to eliminate counterfeit banknotes.
The diplomat Luo Jiaxiang finally couldn't help himself and suggested, "How about we consult someone first?"
"No!"
"No!"
"No!"
The three people in the hall said no in unison. The two Germans thought this was William II's nonsense and naturally did not want to make it public. And our Master Yuan did not want others to know that he had become a Junker.
If he changes to a white skin and is of Aryan descent, then the title of Junker Knight is still very useful. With the foresight of the time traveler, it is certain that he will become a high-ranking official in the Wehrmacht or the Third Reich.
Now that he is a yellow man, can he really get involved with extreme racists like the Nazis who have distorted values in the future?
A hundred years later, many Nazi organizations with local characteristics appeared in the world, including old European countries, Eastern European countries, and even yellow Nazis like Mongolia and Seres. The problem is that the new Nazis in the latter countries seem to have no idea that they are inferior races in the eyes of the original Nazis, and even if they are not made into soap, they are not qualified to be on an equal footing with the real Aryans.
Yuan Yanshu has some German tendencies, but he is not Huang Na, and he knows this difference. If he really wants to influence the decision-making of the little mustache and the Third Reich and change the course of history, he must use a white glove like Mr. Chandler. He, a yellow-blooded neoclassical liberal master, must not show up.
"Gentlemen, we Seres have a saying that it is better to choose a day than to choose one. Let's do it here!"
