America 1881: Legend of the West

After dealing with Heilman and those blind business owners in California, Chen Jianqiu stayed in San Francisco for a few more weeks.

He received an invitation from railroad tycoon Mark Hopkins to live in the latter's castle mansion on Nob Hill.

The reason was that Chen Jianqiu attended the anti-strike alliance's gathering on the top of the bell tower on his behalf.

According to Chen Jianqiu, Pacific Railway only needs one person to go. Hopkins is too old, so it is better to move less.

This allowed him to escape a bullet.

Otherwise, his old bones would have to be torn apart and framed.

Whenever he thinks about this, Hopkins always has lingering fears. He thinks that Chen Jianqiu saved his life, so he must be responsible for Chen Jianqiu's food and accommodation in San Francisco no matter what.

His mansion in Nob Hill has always been vacant, and Chen Jianqiu can live there as long as he wants.

Nob Hill is a high mountain in San Francisco. You can take a cable car up and down the mountain. From here you can overlook the panoramic view of San Francisco.

Chen Jianqiu lives here very comfortably.

He is waiting for someone.

To be precise, it was the arrival of a group of people.

Sure enough, a few days later, when Chen Jianqiu was standing on the top of the castle looking at the scenery, the castle's butler trotted over.

"Mr. Chen, there are a few Chinese people who want to see you." the butler said.

Chen Jianqiu is still looking at the street scene in San Francisco.

Not far from the foot of Nob Hill is Chinatown, where the houses are low and the streets are narrow.

"Tell them that I have something to do and ask them to wait for me in the living room." Chen Jianqiu said without looking back.

After about an hour, Chen Jianqiu appeared at the door of the living room.

Wearing a cloth robe, he glanced across the guests in the living room and finally landed on an old man in the middle.

He knew this old man.

"Director Huang, long time no see, long time no see." Chen Jianqiu walked up to the old man with a smile on his face and held his hand. "I'm sorry, there is something that has kept you waiting for so long."

The old man whom Chen Jianqiu calls "General Director Huang" is the current general director of the Chung Hwa Association and Huang Qingyun's brother, Huang Yongren.

Director Huang, whose younger brother died, looks much older than before.

He stood up on crutches and returned the greeting to Chen Jianqiu.

"Boss Chen, let me introduce to you. These are the general directors of major conference halls."

Chen Jianqiu looked at Huang Yongren's introduction one by one.

These people had different costumes and expressions, some were polite, some were indifferent, but a fat man wearing a silk mandarin jacket was a bit interesting. He stood up and smiled at him and made a bow.

"This is Hu Qinghua, and his son is now working as an assistant manager in a branch of the Pacific Railway Company. His name is Hu Yueming."

Huang Yongren introduced.

"Your son is in my company?" Chen Jianqiu looked surprised, "Why don't you let him work with you directly?"

Hu Qinghua still looked respectful and smiling: "Quinzi admires you so much that he calls you "the Rockefeller among the Chinese". I hope you can give me one or two suggestions, which will benefit Quanzi throughout his life."

"Easy to say, easy to say." Chen Jianqiu returned the greeting and walked back to the largest chair in the middle of the living room.

He took the teacup handed by the butler, opened the lid, blew on the tea leaves floating on it, and then took a sip:

"Everyone comes to visit you, what are you doing for me?"

Huang Yongren put his hands on the crutches, glanced at the other general directors, and then turned to Chen Jianqiu, who was still drinking tea:

"The situation in California is very strange now. Many Chinese workers are now participating in the strike, but it is difficult to guarantee that those white people will not use this as an excuse to start a wave of PAI Chinese again."

Chen Jianqiu closed the lid of the tea bowl and placed it on the coffee table next to him. He crossed his fingers on his stomach and looked at the Chinese businessmen opposite.

It seems that these people were frightened by the previous fan behavior, and now they are all kinds of evil.

Huang Yongren still had a look of worry on his face, but the conversation had changed:

"When you first arrived at the Ningyang Guild Hall, your reputation was unknown, but judging from Qingyun's attitude towards you, you were absolutely extraordinary. Later, you got angry, killed Akhtar, and returned with the body of your brother. This shows that your Excellency Righteousness!"

When he mentioned his brother, the old man's voice was choked up.

But he quickly adjusted his mood and continued:

"It wasn't until recently that we learned that you are a well-known figure on the southern border."

"Your Excellency is fighting for our generation in a foreign land. I'm afraid Wang Xuance can only do this while he is still alive."

"I don't dare to take it, I don't dare to take it." Chen Jianqiu waved his hand hastily.

No matter how thick-skinned he is, he is still a little embarrassed.

This old man can really boast.

He did not allow America to change its regime.

But then again,

Who is Wang Xuance facing? It's Asan! Who are you facing? America in the Gilded Age!

Who is behind Wang Xuance? That was the Tang Dynasty! Who is behind me now? he~tui!

Huang Yongren didn't know what Chen Jianqiu was thinking. He took another look at the people behind him and seemed to have reached a certain consensus.

He slowly said to Chen Jianqiu:

"After discussion, our eight major associations have unanimously decided to recommend you as the new general director of the Chinese Association to protect the people of the American tribe."

Chen Jianqiu finally understood.

White workers now mix with Chinese workers, and a large part of the Chinese workers are members of the guild hall.

The people in the guild hall are afraid of settling accounts in the future.

Those white workers are not necessarily easy to mess with. In the end, these rich and powerful business owners will definitely take action on the Chinese workers.

So who are the rich and powerful business owners in California right now?

Chen Jianqiu must be one of them.

Now that Chen Jianqiu has become the general director of the Chinese Association, he will naturally take it into account because he is also a descendant of the Yan and Huang Dynasties.

"I can't be, I can't be." Chen Jianqiu smiled and waved his hand again, "I am not from your guild, nor am I a member of the clan. How can I be qualified to be the general director of the China Guild?"

Huang Yongren and everyone looked at each other in shock.

They never expected that Chen Jianqiu would decline like this.

Indeed, the current Eight Conference Halls are mainly divided by region, basically focusing on the coastal areas of Guangdong.

The relationship within the guild hall is mainly based on clan ties.

There is no way, dialect and culture determine their way of grouping together.

"Boss Chen! You have done so much for the Chinese in New Mexico, you can't ignore your compatriots in California." The general manager of the Sanyi Guild Hall looked a little anxious.

During the anti-China operation eight years ago, he, a group of fellow villagers from Shunde and Nanhai were the first to bear the brunt, and the stores were smashed, smashed, and looted, so he knew it deeply.

"Boss Chen! If you are poor, you can take care of yourself. If you are rich, you can help the world. I hope you can help everyone more." Hu Qinghua, the fat man, is the general director of the Zhaoqing Guild Hall. He stood up and handed over his hands.

"Then do you all insist that I be the general director of this Chinese Association?"

Chen Jianqiu picked up the tea bowl on the coffee table again and asked with a smile while drinking tea.

"Boss Chen, please don't refuse. This general director belongs to you." Huang Yongren tapped his wooden crutch on the floor.

He said to Chen Jianqiu earnestly, "We are all old. In the future, we will still have to rely on young people like you to support the Chinese people!"

The general directors present here are deeply touched.

The youngest among them is already in his fifties, and most of them have gray hair on their temples.

Chen Jianqiu raised his head and glanced at everyone. The smile on his face suddenly disappeared, and his eyes became sharp:

"I can be the general director, but you need to agree to a few conditions."

"First of all, I don't care how your respective libraries are doing. The China General Library will also recruit members, regardless of their place of origin. You don't have to worry about funding or anything like that."

"Second, I will not deal with the Qing court, so I ask you to do it for me."

Chen Jianqiu mentioned several conditions, but none of them sounded harsh.

The main thing is to expand the scope of the guild hall, no longer limited to the place of origin and region.

The several CEOs didn't even discuss it, so Huang Yongren agreed on his behalf.

Chen Jianqiu's words made them feel very reasonable:

As long as we are outside, there should be no distinction between Cantonese and Hunanese but should be unified Chinese.

After saying this, Chen Jianqiu stood up:

"Then I will go to the Ningyang Guild Hall in three days to discuss the next steps with you. However, before that, please kindly ask Mr. Huang to make appointments for me with the leaders of various societies in Chinatown."