Volume 3 Summer Rain Chapter 0331: Forced Favors
"Comrade Nan, let me introduce you. This is my boyfriend Nie Kai."
Both parties wanted to get closer, so Nan Yi and Chen Dan's second meal came quickly. This time, Chen Dan did not come alone.
"Hello, I'm Nan Yi."
Nie Kai said: "Hello, Nie Kai."
Nan Yi and Nie Kai shook hands, then sat down politely.
"Brother Kai also works in Shanghai?"
Nan Yi deliberately used "Brother Kai" instead of Comrade Nie or Brother Nie. He wanted to quickly narrow the distance between the two of them.
"I work in Beijing, and I came here specially to see Dandan."
When Nie Kai spoke, he did not sound overbearing, but rather calm and a little shy. He was probably a gentle person.
"Then I arranged this meal at a wrong time. I have disturbed you and Sister Dan's private time."
"What do you mean by a world for two? Xiao Yi, don't talk nonsense. He and I haven't reached that stage yet." Chen Dan took the initiative to take over the conversation and also changed the way he addressed Nan Yi.
Great, both sides want to move forward quickly.
"Sooner or later, sooner or later. Sister Dan, let's order first. This is my first time here and I don't know what the food is good for. You should order."
"Okay, I'll have some."
Chen Dan took the menu without hesitation and told the waiter the names of the dishes.
Nan Yi and his friends are at the Red House French Restaurant, which is a Western restaurant with a long history. However, it was converted into a stir-fry restaurant in the 1960s and 1970s and was only recently converted back.
Although it has just been changed, the Western food tastes more authentic.
This taste is not referring to the flavor, but the style and atmosphere of the restaurant. Unlike Lao Mo, who eats Soviet revisionist food, the restaurant still has a strong smell of a state-owned canteen.
After Chen Dan ordered the food, he handed the menu to the waiter and said to Nan Yi, "Do you remember Gong Xue who I met last time? She came to see me."
"What does she want to do with Sister Dan?"
"He's desperate and is trying anything he can think of. Chen Meng's methods are quite despicable. Gong Xue's parents, her elder brother and her sister-in-law have all lost their jobs. Her younger sister, who is also an actress, also lost a role she had already secured.
Chen Meng and his gang have been targeted, and it is only a matter of time before they are arrested. If you want to do a favor, now is a good time."
After listening to this, Nan Yi said playfully, "Sister Dan, why don't you take this favor yourself?"
"She's not a pretty boy. Would it be useful for me to take her favor?" Chen Dan smiled and said, "I heard from Chen Feng that you are not so honest when it comes to women."
"Sister Dan, don't listen to Chen Feng's nonsense. I am a law-abiding person who has always been loyal to one person and will never abandon someone..."
Nan Yi was talking nonsense, but when he saw Chen Dan's half-smile, he stopped.
"Okay, I'll give you this favor."
Just like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl need a magpie bridge to meet on July 7, some people also need such a "magpie bridge" for communication between them. It seems that Chen Dan wants to make Gong Xue the bridge of communication between them.
Bridges are also firewalls, and at certain critical moments, they also have to play the role of isolating dangers.
Nan Yi could only say that Chen Dan was overthinking it. He made friends with people like Chen Dan not for convenience, but to solve inconveniences. He wanted his business to thrive in the peaceful environment touted on TV and in newspapers, without encountering the dirty talk of people who spread gossip.
The dinner ended very quickly. Not to mention that they had to give Chen Dan and Nan Yi some time to spend together, in fact, there was nothing serious to discuss between Nan Yi and Chen Dan for the time being.
The spring breeze has been promised, but it has not yet blown, and we cannot expect the autumn rain to come.
The next day, Nan Yi took the earliest train back to the capital. At dinner time, he and Liu Zhen sat opposite each other, and he told her about Gong Xue.
"Nan Yi, what do you think?" Liu Zhen asked after listening to Nan Yi's story.
"You should have guessed what I was thinking. Gong Xue is a little older, but she's pretty. To me, having her is not deal. I'll just keep her."
"Ha..." Liu Zhen's tone of "ha" was even colder than a snort, "This is exactly what you want."
Nan Yi said calmly: "You must know how I categorize women. In my eyes, there are only two types of women: those who can make money for me and those who can't.
I appreciate beautiful women and I have the urge to coax them into my bed, but I won't pay too much money for this purpose."
Nan Yi patted his cheeks, "Look at my face, look at my figure, listen to the dozen languages I speak fluently, some of which are rich women trying to coax me into bed. Well, the rice today has just the right amount of water, soft and chewy."
"Don't just talk the talk, you haven't managed to coax a rich woman back."
"I'm telling you, don't provoke me. Last time on the plane, a rich woman flirted with me, and I almost gave in to her."
"Hmph, I tell you, Nan Yi, I don't want to see a second one of you in the country, do you understand?" Liu Zhen said coldly.
"Look how arrogant you are. You have forgotten your roots. You have forgotten who brought you up."
"Then you continue to train me. Let me tell you, the relative was supposed to come yesterday, but he hasn't come today. Please accompany me to the hospital for a checkup another day."
"Don't be surprised. It's normal to refuse for two days. Let's see in a few days. Whether you are pregnant or not, I have to find a female Chinese medicine practitioner who is good at nourishing your body to live in your home. You have to nourish yourself well."
"Um."
After staying in Beijing for one night, Nan Yi returned to Shanghai without any hesitation.
After returning to Fang Mansion, he made a phone call first and then sat in the living room waiting.
After waiting for more than an hour, Gong Xue finally arrived.
Looking at Gong Xue who had arrived late, Nan Yi did not invite her to sit down, but instead carried a basket and said, "Come with me to the Sanjiaodi Vegetable Market to buy vegetables."
Gong Xue didn't answer, but just followed Nan Yi out silently.
Fortunately, they came across a Lagab car. Nan Yi stopped the car, got in first, and waited for Gong Xue to get in.
Gong Xue stood there in a daze for a while, then gritted her teeth, got in the car, and sat opposite Nan Yi.
"Master, drive."
After Gong Xue sat down, Nan Yi said something to the driver.
After saying that, Nan Yi pulled at his belt to free his pants from getting stuck, then stretched his legs forward and under the seat opposite.
Anyone who has ridden in a wheelchair knows that the shock absorption of this type of three-wheeled motorcycle is less than or equal to zero. Once it starts moving, it will shake a lot. If it runs over a pothole on the road, the person will fly up and hit the roof.
It seemed that Gong Xue also had experience in riding. As soon as she sat down, she held on to the seat with both hands. However, when the car started moving, she was still swaying uncontrollably.
It swayed from side to side, occasionally hitting the wall of the car, and then swung back and forth, its head jumping forward and down, and its hair fluttering.
Suddenly, the driver slammed on the brakes. Gong Xue could no longer hold on to the stool and fell towards Nan Yi.
Seeing Gong Xue rushing towards him, Nan Yi quickly raised the basket in his hand. Gong Xue was already panicked but subconsciously wanted to find a cushion, so she could only grab the basket.
Nan Yi took advantage of the situation and threw Gong Xue onto the stool on his left.
With a clang, Gong Xue's buttocks came into close contact with the stool, and with the inertia of moving to the right, she fell sideways on Nan Yi's arms.
For a long time, Gong Xue didn't let go of Nan Yi's arm.
"Do you feel safe leaning on me? Do you believe it or not, if you don't let go, I will go to the police station and sue you for indecency?"
"How can there be such a shameless man in the world?"
Nan Yi's words caused Gong Xue to freeze up. She stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do.
Nan Yi didn't say anything else. He looked at the scenery outside the small window of Lagabu and hummed "Hitori Uesugi" by Nakajima Akie. Of course, the lyrics he hummed were in Chinese, from Teresa Teng's album of the same name this year, "Wandering on the Road of Life".
Exaggerating things is an innate ability of Chinese people, and Nan Yi has this kind of blood in his bones. He is not a top expert in making false accusations, and there are many people who are better than him.
One is relaxed, the other is stiff, forming a sharp contrast.
When Lagabu stopped at the entrance of the Sanjiaodi vegetable market and both of them got out of the car, Gong Xue couldn't help but ask, "Can you help me?"
"Come buy some groceries with me first." Nan Yi replied and walked into the vegetable market first.
The Triangle Market is just as its name suggests. It is a market shaped like a triangle. In the late 19th century, the Shanghai Concession Municipal Council built Wenjianshi Road, Hanbili Road and Miller Road one after another. The intersection of these three roads formed a triangular piece of land with an area of 10 mu, which was called Triangle.
It is located at the intersection of Wusong Road and Tanggu Road. Because another Hanyang Road cuts in the middle, it forms the "Wujiaochang" where five roads intersect, a rare area in Shanghai. It is a golden location that is priceless.
However, the vegetable market was not built in Triangle Land from the beginning.
Initially, several American men who came to Shanghai to seek their fortune took a fancy to this triangular land and built an amusement park called Feilong Island. This was also the first large-scale comprehensive amusement park in Shanghai, much earlier than the Great World Amusement Park built in the early 20th century.
The main amusement on Feilong Island is the pulley: there is a certain slope and undulating railroad track between a building and the flat ground, and a pulley that can carry tourists is installed on the track.
The slide slides down from a high place and moves up and down on the wavy track. This is the prototype of the current roller coaster. For the people of Shanghai at that time, this thing was indeed a very exciting and fun thing.
But after a few years, the pulley equipment became old and damaged, and accidents of tipping over and injuring people occurred frequently. Eventually, the Municipal Council ordered it to close down.
As a result, this vacant triangular land gradually attracted many vegetable farmers to set up stalls here, and gradually formed an open-air vegetable market.
This inspired the concession authorities, so in 1890, the Municipal Council built a large-scale indoor brick and wood vegetable market in Triangle Land. This was the first Hongkou Vegetable Market on Shanghai Beach, which later became famous both at home and abroad, commonly known as the Triangle Land Small Vegetable Market.
There is a small pavilion built in the direction of Wenjianshi Road in the vegetable market, with a ceiling in the middle to facilitate lighting and ventilation.
The interior of the market is divided into grids and rented out to vegetable vendors to set up stalls. In addition to paying stall fees, tenants also have to pay taxes and management fees, which is similar to the management model of popular supermarkets and hypermarkets.
Because it was located in a busy city, the small market was doing particularly prosperous business. By 1915, the brick and wood structure of the indoor market was no longer sufficient, so the concession authorities demolished the old building and rebuilt it into a reinforced concrete structure.
The newly built Triangle Vegetable Market has three floors and a double staircase.
The ground floor is mainly a vegetable market; the second floor sells fish, meat, side dishes, canned food, and agricultural and sideline products; the third floor is a variety of snack shops.
At its peak, there were more than 1,500 stalls of various types, making it like a large vegetable market and supermarket.
Someone wrote a jingle praising it: "Building Western-style buildings, gathering to form foreign markets and shopping malls. Fruits and vegetables are placed in different places, and tens of thousands of people are busy going up and down the double stairs."
There are not only stalls for Chinese people, but also vendors from Japan, the Soviet Union and other countries .
The loud-voiced Japanese lady who sold seafood in wooden clogs was particularly eye-catching. For a long period of time, Sanjiaodi Vegetable Market was the largest indoor vegetable market in Shanghai with the most complete varieties of products and complete service facilities. Sanjiaodi also became a famous place name in Shanghai and a synonym for vegetable market.
After liberation, the Sanjiaodi Market was transformed into a new look, but it is still the largest indoor market in Shanghai, ranking first among the four major markets in Shanghai [the following three are: Changshou Branch Road Market, Julu Road Market and Shaanxi North Road Market].
The total amount of vegetables and non-staple foods sold in Sanjiaodi reached about 40 tons a day. On September 22, 1979, there was an article in the "Mouthpiece Newspaper" that specifically introduced the Sanjiaodi vegetable market in the Hong Kong district of Shanghai.
The market is open from 4:30am to midnight, and is divided into morning market, mid-day market and night market, with the morning market being the busiest. At 5am, the streets are still quiet, but the market is already bustling with people.
The Sanjiaodi Vegetable Market has three floors in total. In the 1950s, the flower, tree, bamboo and other businesses on the second floor of the market were transferred to related industries, and the staff were transferred accordingly. The second floor was used as the market office.
The dim sum business on the third floor had closed down before liberation and was converted into a dormitory for market employees. A guesthouse was also opened and a primary school was built inside.
Nan Yi looked at his watch. It was around three o'clock in the afternoon, but there were still a lot of people buying vegetables in the market. Some were full-time housewives, and there were also workers who got off work early and came to buy some vegetables. Some looked like buyers from the nearby state-owned canteens or factory canteens.
Nan Yi also saw soldiers in military uniforms loading baskets of vegetables into Jiefang trucks. These should be purchases by the troops.
It’s just that it’s quite rare for the troops to come here to purchase at this time, as they usually come early in the morning.
After a rough observation, Nan Yi looked at each stall. State-owned enterprises have their advantages, especially for Nan Yi, there is a price tag next to each dish, which saves him the trouble of asking the price.
At this time, there are not many out-of-season vegetables. Except for meat, most of the vegetables you can see in the vegetable market are seasonal vegetables, such as cabbage, spinach, radish, lettuce, cauliflower, shepherd's purse, grass head, lettuce, green garlic, taro, winter bamboo shoots and so on.
There is also the Shanghai Haiqing, which is now only grown in East China. It is a kind of small cabbage, but most of the time it is called green vegetable. Thirty years later, if you are an average person, you should be able to eat it often. The green vegetable served with Shaxian rice is the Shanghai Haiqing.
Nan Yi actually saw Luotangqing. This dish has a slightly astringent taste and is the best choice for wrapping salty dumplings. Because it originated in Huang Chuping’s hometown, it is also called Daxiancai.
Huang Chuping is the Wong Tai Sin who is highly respected in Xiangkeng and is the one enshrined in the Wong Tai Sin Temple.
While carefully observing the dishes in the market, he also wrote down the prices of several vegetables and bought what he wanted.
Ever since Gong Xue stepped into the vegetable market, Nan Yi deliberately kept a distance from her. After all, she was recognized as soon as she came in, and everyone came over to greet her.
She attracted people away, which allowed Nan Yi to stroll around the vegetable market more leisurely.
After Nan Yi walked around the entire vegetable market, he came to a preliminary conclusion that there was no shortage of vegetables in Shanghai's vegetable basket. If he wanted to get the vegetable basket, he had to go north to Beijing.
The vegetable supply in Beijing and Tiangang is quite tight. Once autumn comes, it is hard to find green vegetables. There will definitely be policy support to solve the vegetable supply problem in these two places.
"Next year, let Ge Cuizhu send a few people to explore the way and see if it is easy to do. If the difficulty is not as big as imagined, we should encourage Chen Feng to grow vegetables with us.
Solving the problem of buying vegetables for citizens and building the vegetable basket project will be a great contribution to future generations and bring honor to the Chen family.
As an entrepreneur, you must meet the needs of the times and do business that the people need, rather than using financial speculation thinking to play with the source of goods and manipulate the market, and even squeeze eight ounces of oil out of a small cabbage. "
Nan Yi was thinking about it, and remembered that Grasshopper and Six Fingers would soon finish their training, and next year, the soybean plan in Africa should be implemented.
I had to ask a meteorological expert, and he remembered that in the following years, there was a particularly cold winter.
The weather is cold and the wheat that overwinters may have a poor harvest, so we have to prepare in advance. If we can squeeze out half a pound of oil from wheat futures, we can have several prosperous years.
Shennong Nanliang Group is only spending money but not making any money now!
