The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Jiujiang has been the thoroughfare of seven provinces since ancient times, and it is an important place for boats and vehicles.

After the Second Opium War, it was designated as a treaty port, and the number of foreigners gradually increased, and the industry, commerce and trade economy became more prosperous. Zhang Leyi's father, Zhang Mouzhi, started his business as a comprador by making friends with foreigners, and later helped them build houses and became a rich man.

The two of them took the Sun family brothers to disembark at Jiujiang Taigu Wharf, and then headed south in a rickshaw.

After a short distance, Zhang Leyi said to the rickshaw driver in surprise, "Hey, you went the wrong way."

"That's right, this way," the coachman said cheerfully, "A large iron bridge has been newly built on the Longkai River. Now it is much more convenient to cross the river. You don't have to go long and detours."

The big iron bridge arrived in a blink of an eye, Zhang Leyi suddenly laughed: "Brother Xuan, I thought of it, this bridge was designed by my elder brother."

"Your elder brother?" Zhou Hexuan was slightly surprised.

"Yes, both my elder brother and second elder brother are excellent students who graduated from Cambridge," Zhang Leyi said proudly pointing at the bridge, "When I left Jiujiang last year, my elder brother had just drawn the blueprints, but I didn't expect that even the bridge was built now. "

What Zhou Hexuan didn't know was that in history, Zhang Leyi's second brother was the mayor of Jiujiang City at this time, and also the first mayor after Jiujiang was established as a city.

The famous Dazhong Road and Shuangfeng Road in Jiujiang were designed and built by the second brother of the Zhang family when he was the mayor.

However, due to Zhang Leyi's elopement, the Zhang family did not have the relationship with Song Ziwen. As a result, the second brother of the Zhang family did not become the mayor as in history, but only became the director of the Jiujiang Civil Affairs and Construction Bureau.

Hearing the conversation between the two, the coachman said reverently: "So it's Miss Zhang's family. Today I met a noble person."

Zhou Hexuan joked: "Le Yi, it seems that your Zhang family is very famous in Jiujiang."

Without waiting for Zhang Leyi to respond, the coachman rushed to say: "That's right, who in Jiujiang doesn't know Boss Zhang? Not to mention Boss Zhang, the second son of the Zhang family is also a good person. On the side of Shuangfeng Road, every summer the Yangtze River floods the lotus. The water in the lotus pond and the lotus pond overflowed to the road again, and the next heavy rain will cause waterlogging. Zhang Ergong became the director of the construction bureau and immediately decided to renovate Shuangfeng Road. Now he is busy moving houses. I heard that there is still something to be repaired. sewer."

After hearing this, Zhou Hexuan immediately understood.

Municipal renovation of the old city!

This is a big money-making business, the Zhang family is engaged in real estate. Mr. Zhang Er is also the director of the construction bureau, so he must contract the project to his family, earning a lot of money in vain.

The local tyrant of the Zhang family didn't explain.

Amidst the nonsense of the coachman, everyone finally arrived at their destination.

The other side of Mount Lu belongs to the summer house, and the real mansion of the Zhang family is located on the bank of Gantang Lake in Jiujiang.

It was a three-story western-style building with a large area, a typical garden house. Not only that, standing on the upper floor can enjoy the lake and mountains, which is far more powerful than Zhou Hexuan's small western-style building in Tianjin.

Along the way, Zhang Leyi pointed to the buildings along the way to introduce, such as the life water hospital building, the Mobil oil depot office building, etc., all of which were built by our Zhang family.

Arriving at the bank of Gantang Lake, Zhang Leyi pointed to the garden house next door to the Zhang family and said, "That's Uncle Jin's house. Uncle Jin and my father are old friends, and their eldest daughter was brought here with the help of my mother."

The Uncle Jin that Zhang Leyi was talking about was none other than Jin Haoru, a wealthy man from Jiujiang.

Zhang Mouzhi builds houses, while Jin Haoru sells building materials. Both of them were apprentices, and they have a lot of business contacts.

Now Jin Haoru has established Huakang Commercial Bank, which holds the coal-fired distribution rights of Jiangxi Shipping Company and many power plants in his hands. Involved in warehousing, water and electricity installation and other fields.

The cooperation between Jin and Zhang is quite tacit. For example, Zhang's family is responsible for renovating Shuangfeng Road and Dazhong Road, while Jin's family is helping to attract business and set up stores on the two new roads, and jointly build a commercial street.

After passing the bungalow of Jin's house, the rickshaw stopped at the gate of Zhang's house.

Sun Yonghao ran to ring the doorbell, and soon someone inside asked, "Who is it?"

Zhang Leyi stepped forward and said, "Uncle Qi, it's me!"

"Miss San?"

The big iron gate opened immediately, and an old man in his fifties and sixties walked out, and said happily, "Miss San, you are back, Madam has been talking about you all the time."

Zhang Leyi introduced: "Uncle Qi, this is my fiancé Zhou Hexuan."

Zhou Hexuan nodded and smiled, "Hi Uncle Qi."

"Uh... Hello, my lord," the old man gave Zhou Hexuan a surprised look, and then said in a low voice, "Miss San, how can you be so hasty? Let me say hello in advance, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the master to pass the test."

Zhang Leyi asked: "Is my dad at home?"

The old man said: "Master is talking about business outside. There are only old lady, fourth young master, fifth young master and young young master at home. Fourth young lady is also home from vacation. Fifth young lady is playing with Miss Jin family next door."

There are many brothers and sisters in the Zhang family. The males belong to the "far" generation, and they are called "East, West, South, North, Mo, and Fan" respectively. Girls are called "An, Ru, Le, De, Man", and Zhang Leyi is the third eldest among the sisters.

Hearing what the old man said, Zhang Leyi felt even more disturbed, and led Zhou Hexuan into the gate like a thief.

As soon as everyone walked to the downstairs living room, a girl of fourteen or fifteen years old suddenly popped out, and said in surprise: "Sister San, you are finally back...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh A voice as high as 90 decibels screamed, "Mr. Zhou, Mr. Zhou, you are Mr. Zhou!"

Zhang Leyi smiled and introduced, "This is my fourth sister Deyi."

"Hi, Deyi," Zhou Hexuan asked, "Do you know me?"

Zhang Deyi said excitedly: "Of course I know you. When Mr. Zhou gave a speech at Zhongxi Girls' High School last time, I sat down and listened. I wanted to ask you for an autograph, but unfortunately there are too many people to squeeze in."

The Zhang family has a good family tradition and attaches great importance to education. The eldest brother and the second brother of the Zhang family both graduated from Cambridge, and the third brother is studying abroad now. As for the five women in the Zhang family, all of them will graduate from university in the future.

This is very rare in the patriarchal Republic of China.

Zhou Hexuan asked Sun Yongzhen to open the box, took out a gold pen from inside and said, "Deyi, this is our first meeting, please accept a small gift."

"Thank you," Zhang Deyi happily took the golden pen, "Mr. Zhou, you spoke really well last time. The 'four-self virtue' you mentioned is almost becoming the school motto of the Chinese and Western Girls' High School... Hey, that's not right! "

Zhang Deyi seemed a little slow to react. She looked suspiciously at her sister, then at Zhou Hexuan, and finally came to her senses: "Mr. Zhou, you are my future brother-in-law, right?"

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "The two elders have to agree."

"Ah, that's great," Zhang Deyi cheered, and she said excitedly, "After school starts, I will tell my classmates that Mr. Zhou is my brother-in-law!"

Obviously, there is no need for Zhou Hexuan to say anything, Miss Zhang Jiasi has already taken care of it.

But the real difficulty lies ahead.

"What does a girl look like yelling?" Mrs. Zhang walked downstairs slowly, and after admonishing her daughter, she cast her gaze on Zhou Hexuan again.

"Mom." Zhang Leyi called nervously.

Zhou Hexuan stepped forward and saluted, "Hello, Auntie."