Zhao Hao didn't remember it until he finished his meal at Wei Ji Xian and returned to Leng Xiang Yuan.
Oh, by the way, that person is Fang Wen, Mr. Zhao’s little servant!
No, now my father no longer needs a servant, and Fang Wen has also moved to the secret front which is more suitable for him.
He now has two identities. On the surface, he is a special inspector of the Inspection and Supervision Committee of Jiangnan Group. In addition, he has a secret identity as the head of the Special Operations Section of the Security Department of Singularity Investment Foundation.
Singularity Investment is Mr. Zhao’s private shareholding platform, holding 34% of Jiangnan Group, 26.32% of Xishan Company, 11.8% of Lugouqiao Company, 50% of Weijixian, 70% of Xiaocangshan, and 20% of Jiangnan Sugar.
It also wholly owns the Xishan Island Research Center and its affiliated arsenal.
Yes, the guns, artillery and ammunition equipped by the security team and the Tamna Garrison were not produced by the Jiangnan Group, but purchased from Mr. Zhao’s private enterprise.
This is done to separate them from the group, so that if there is a sudden change in the future, the group can distance itself from the matter. Second, it is to prevent leaks. Third, it is also to curb the ambitions that may arise in the future among the group's top management.
If they have money, people, food and guns, they will probably learn from Tie Niu and shout "rebellion" if they are unhappy.
In addition, the research results of the Xishan Island Research Center will be shared with Jiangnan Group in the form of a joint venture. For example, Jiangnan Glass has a 30% stake in the research center. Dividends will be mainly used for reinvestment in scientific research and improving the treatment of scientific researchers.
Although Mr. Zhao still has to put money into it now... half of the two million taels he earned from selling Xishan Company's stocks was used to subsidize the research center... but as the Arsenal and Jiangnan Glass begin to make profits, the situation should improve greatly.
Currently, the foundation’s headquarters is also located in Xishan Island, with his most trusted disciple Hua Shuyang as chairman and Zhang Jian as vice chairman and director of the research center.
It can be said that 99% of Mr. Zhao’s assets are in this fund. This fund is his **, so naturally he has to protect it well.
Therefore, the Foundation set up a Security Department, with Gao Wu as the director.
The Security Department consists of six sections.
The first security department is responsible for the personal safety of Mr. Zhao and his family, and Gao Wu himself is the head of the department.
The Internal Security Section of the Second Department is responsible for the internal security of confidential departments such as the research center, arsenal, glass factory, and sugar factory on Xishan Island. Deputy Director Cai Ming serves as the section chief.
The General Affairs Section of the Third Department is responsible for internal affairs, intelligence transmission and summary, and confidential documents. Chang Kaiche, a trusted talent trained by the old man, serves as the section chief.
Section 4, the Northern Section, is responsible for gathering intelligence from Beijing and monitoring the Xishan Group. It is headed by Si Ya’s husband Wu Yu.
The Fifth Section, the Nanyang Section, is responsible for intelligence gathering in the South China Sea direction of Fujian, Guangdong, and is headed by Tang Baolu.
Section Six's Special Operations Section is responsible for monitoring Jiangnan and the Jiangnan Group, and executing secret missions assigned by Zhao Hao. Fang Wen is the section chief.
Since taking office, Section Chief Fang has punished the brothers Xu Fan and Xu Ying without anyone noticing, and even they themselves were kept in the dark.
While Zhao Hao was away from home, he was also ordered to monitor the unusual movements of the group's top executives. This kid's special skills finally came in handy. He followed the group's top executives closely and was never noticed. Even if others had met him, they would have forgotten everything as soon as they turned around...
That's a good thing, right?
~~
Zhao Hao and his party left Suzhou city by boat after noon.
Fortunately, it was near the end of the year and there were fewer cargo ships coming and going on the Loujiang River. We arrived in Kunshan before dusk and did not miss the evening worship of the Kitchen God and the God of Wealth.
After the twenty-fourth, it’s the New Year in the blink of an eye.
This year, Kunshan County was spared from floods for the first time in history. Every citizen has land to farm and a job, so everyone has some extra money at the end of the year. Naturally, they want to celebrate a prosperous New Year.
Every household was in high spirits and busy with the New Year celebrations. On the 25th, they would grind tofu, on the 26th, they would kill the New Year pig, on the 27th, they would slaughter the New Year chicken and go to the market.
On the twenty-seventh day, there are New Year markets in the county town and the town of Xihe. As soon as the sky gets light, people from all directions of Kunshan flock to these two places to buy New Year goods.
Li Hua and his wife also brought their three children and rowed their boat to the market early in the morning.
Although the family of five did not wear silk or satin, they all wore clean, almost new cotton robes, looking very respectable. The children had a blast at the market, looking at the dazzling array of toys, wanting to buy this and that.
Li Hua didn't even frown, and bought whatever the child wanted. Soon, he and Miwa were carrying large and small bags.
The daughter riding on his neck was eating candied haws while looking around excitedly to see if there was anything delicious and fun to buy!
Liang led her youngest son to follow beside her and scolded her daughter in a feigned anger, "You've become a fat pig from eating so much, and you're still buying, buying, buying."
Then she said to her husband, "Don't let them do what they want. If you buy so much, mother will start to nag you about being extravagant again."
"It's New Year's Day, let the children do what they want. We work hard to earn money, isn't it for spending?" Li Hua grinned nonchalantly, picked up a flower from the stall, put it in his wife's hair, and praised: "It's beautiful."
He asked Miwa again, "Right, son?"
Miwa is already 14 years old, and is a boarding student at Yufeng Primary School. He has meat and eggs for free for three meals a day. The child has grown up and finally has a full stomach. His height has soared, and he is now taller than his mother.
By the way, the master also gave him a nickname called Li Jiaqi, which means the genius of the Li family...
Although Li Jiaqi had grown taller, his voice had not yet changed. He immediately echoed his father, saying, "Buy it, buy it, buy it. Buy it and you will be a fairy!"
"Virtue." Liang's ears turned red with embarrassment, but she didn't take it off.
"Boss, how much is it?" Li Hua asked the stall owner loudly.
"Sir, you have good taste. This one costs one hundred cents." The stall owner apologized with a smile.
"Why is it so expensive?" Liang felt a little distressed.
"Madam, please look carefully. The material and craftsmanship of this silk flower, as well as the large pearls on it, are not expensive at all for just one hundred cents," the stall owner said hurriedly.
"I've bought it." Li Hua casually took out a handful of small silver bills, also called bronze bills, and counted out a few of them before paying.
He is now a team leader of the 3rd Squadron of the 9th Engineering Team of the Kunkai Engineering Department. The team leader is a formal employee of the group, and his salary is much better than that of temporary workers.
Moreover, regular workers have job ranks. He is currently a second-level professional bricklayer, with a job-ranking salary of four coins per month. In addition to a fixed salary of one tael per month and a team leader's salary of half a tael, his monthly fixed income is one tael and nine.
In the second half of the year, he followed the construction team to build a new port city on Jeju Island, and received a monthly overseas work subsidy of six taels of silver. Adding the year-end bonus, he earned a steady thirty taels of silver in the whole year, which was equivalent to the income of two skilled workers elsewhere.
Money is the courage of a hero, and having money makes you brave!
In fact, Liang did get a job at the Kunshan Silk Factory under the Jiangnan Textile Company as she wished. She was efficient and deft at work, and earned twenty taels of silver a year.
In addition, the family rented the land to Kunkaisi. Although the area was not large, the rent alone could cover the family's food and daily expenses, so the fifty taels of silver was pure profit for the couple. It was definitely a high income in Kunshan.
But she was not as easy to fool as Li Hua, and she bargained expressionlessly: "You are worth twenty cents."
"Madam, you are kidding me." The stall owner said angrily, "At least eighty cents, one cent less and I won't sell it to you."
"You can sell it if you want." Liang took off the flower on her head.
"Ma'am, you're bargaining hard." The stall owner said depressedly, "Seventy cents."
"Let's go." Liang put down her hairpin and pulled her youngest son as if to leave.
“Come back, can you add a little more…” Seeing that he had met a master, the stall owner gave up resistance helplessly.
"That's all." Liang took out three silver certificates with a face value of ten cents each from her husband's hand, then picked up the hairpin and carefully put it in her sleeve.
"Well, let's just make friends." The stall owner took the money helplessly and said to Li Hua: "Your wife is really amazing."
"Of course, this is my job." Li Hua didn't care at all. He smiled and carried his daughter on his back and continued shopping with his wife.
The family also bought firecrackers, spring couplets, incense, paper, raw meat, and braised dishes for the New Year. They also bought two toy gifts for the two children in their uncle's family, bought cloth for several children, the old lady, and the sister-in-law, and bought two blue satin velvet hats for Li Hua and his eldest brother.
Even though Liang was an excellent bargainer and had negotiated the whole street, she still felt distressed as she had bought too many things. She couldn't help but blame her husband for spending money recklessly and disrupting her plans.
Li Hua smiled and said to his son: "Look at your mother. The richer she is, the more stingy she is."
"You can't even spend your money..." Li Jiaqi curled his lips.
"Bullshit!" But his mother slapped him. "I plan to buy a house in the county town next year, so save some money for me!"
"Oh." Miwa held his head and listened obediently.
~~
Meanwhile, Chu Liuxiang also came to the market with his parents. Compared to the stingy Li Hua family, their family was much more generous with their money.
Silks and floral fabrics were bought in whole pieces, tea and rice wine were bought in jars and cans, and geese were bought in pairs... He brought back a total of three hundred taels this year, so he could afford it.
Of course, this was also to buy a dowry for Chu Liuxiang's marriage, otherwise his mother would not be willing to spend it in this way.
Chu Liuxiang didn't wear his handsome police uniform. His home was still not as clean as the police force, and it would be too troublesome if it got dirty. He changed into a brown silk cotton robe, a blue cashmere jacket, and a Liuhe hat on his head. He had a bitter face and folded his hands, looking like a stupid son of a landlord.
He had never thought that getting married would be so troublesome, asking a matchmaker to propose marriage and looking at the horoscope. He had been back for more than 20 days, and the wedding date had not yet been decided. The Chinese New Year was only two days away, and his other gun would definitely not be used before the New Year.
Oh, why is it so difficult to find a wife? I heard from my comrades that you can get into such a place by paying money...
ps. I had a headache all day, probably because I stayed up late. I have to adjust my biological clock. That said, I will only post one chapter today and get up early to write tomorrow.