The “gambling agreement” was still signed. After negotiations, the terms of the agreement were slightly modified. The time limit was extended from one year to one and a half years, that is, until the end of 1864.

Within eighteen months, Lin Yuchan had to earn a profit of one thousand taels of silver to keep control of New Boya.

She consoled herself, thinking of it as giving herself a spur…

After all, in all of the Great Qing, there weren’t many suckers willing to throw three thousand taels of silver to invest in a commoner girl like her.

Refusing Su Minguan was easy, but she feared that even if she worked hard for another year and a half, she wouldn’t be able to gather so much money.

Weighing both sides, she could only sign the gambling agreement with tears in her eyes.

If she couldn’t meet his standard of one thousand taels, then, as Su Minguan said, she would be sorry to the major shareholder and might as well pack up and leave, going to work as a bookkeeper under him.

In addition, Lin Yuchan remembered that at the end of last year, she had gone to find Su Minguan to discuss reducing shipping costs. At that time, he had just exhausted his cash purchasing the Guangdong, and was very particular about every penny. He had stated that if the shipping fees with Boya’s old contract remained unchanged, if they signed a new contract, the discount would double.

This matter hadn’t been put down on paper at the time. If Lin Yuchan forgot, he would naturally go with the flow and forget too.

However, Lin Yuchan had prepared early. She flipped through her work diary and found his original promise.

Boya had changed its shell, but the promise’s essence remained.

So she got a 20% discount on Yixing Shipping’s freight rates – the time limit was also negotiated to the end of 1864.

Lin Yuchan held the newly raised three thousand taels of cash, rubbing her hands together, planning to make heavy use of his ships.

But before rushing to ship goods, there was another major matter.

As autumn winds gradually rose, in the VIP lounge of the Bund’s Pier 16 passenger terminal, there were few guests, but luggage boxes filled half the room.

Rong Hong wore a Western suit, leaned on a walking stick, wrapped in a thin white scarf, with newly grown hair coiled up and hidden under a Western hat, trying his best to maintain his appearance.

He smiled and asked: “Miss Lin, do you want any souvenirs this time?”

Lin Yuchan immediately said, “Lincoln’s signature!”

Rong Hong looked troubled: “The President is busy commanding the war. Without an invitation this time, I can’t just randomly enter the battlefield.”

She was just joking, so she didn’t pursue this topic and changed her words: “Then write more letters back, telling us about foreign customs and local conditions. Everyone here is concerned about your safety, and anyway, the postage is reimbursed by the court.”

Nineteenth-century Europe and America were experiencing successive waves of new ideas and technologies, and society was changing rapidly. In Lin Yuchan’s view, this was much more interesting than the lifeless, declining capitalist societies of the twenty-first century.

Lin Yuchan smiled as she reached into her bag, producing a heavy, small paper bag to give to Rong Hong.

“Twenty bottles of mint oil. For preventing and treating seasickness.” Lin Yuchan said generously, “This is called ‘ship tribute,’ please accept it, Master Rong.”

Rong Hong laughed and accepted it. Thinking of the months of ship travel ahead, he really felt a bit queasy, and his smile gradually turned to a bitter smile.

“Cheer up.” Lin Yuchan smiled, “When you bring the machines back, China will be able to make guns and cannons, matches, clocks, and watches by itself… what else?”

Rong Hong smiled: “It won’t be that fast. We still need to train personnel and build factories to house those machines. But… that’s right. Then we can make things ourselves. Maybe we can even sell to foreign countries. Miss Lin, in the past, Boya could only import industrial products. If we all work hard, maybe in the future we can even export.”

Lin Yuchan suddenly had a feeling of witnessing history firsthand. Her eyes became slightly moist as she smiled and nodded.

However, the twenty-first century had direct China-US flights, crossing half the globe in a few hours. Now? Long-distance travel was quite arduous.

For Rong Hong’s business trip, just the boat and train tickets required thick homework: he had to first go to Guangdong Provincial Treasury to collect funds, then depart from Hong Kong, take a British steamship, travel westward, around the Indian Ocean, overland through the Suez Isthmus – the Suez Canal was not yet completed – enter Europe, then cross the Atlantic, finally arriving in New York, America.

It would take several months.

Moreover, long-distance travel was a high-risk event. Passing through various places, security was uncertain. Some places were even more backward than the Great Qing – outside major cities were poor mountains and bad waters, with no embassies to guarantee citizens’ safety.

So Su Minguan kindly introduced and hired two servants who also served as bodyguards for him. Both were senior fugitives from the Small Sword Society, towering men nearly six feet tall, each equipped with two guns, vigorously guarding that pile of luggage.

Su Minguan was speaking quietly with these two men, instructing them on pre-departure matters.

Chang Baoluo, accompanied by his new bride, was also waiting at the same dock, joyfully preparing to board another ship for their “honeymoon.” Servants behind them carried five or six large trunks, one of which the couple had specially prepared for Rong Hong.

“Boss,” Chang Baoluo was radiant, his round face glowing white, excitedly opening a trunk to show Rong Hong, “You’ll have a hard journey and will spend winter abroad, so you must accept these clothes. This is a woolen robe that San Niang made, these are gloves she sewed, this is a hat her brother gave, this is a dowry quilt from San Niang – her family prepared ten sets, but Shanghai houses are small and can’t fit them all, so she’s giving you two sets for the road…”

Rong Hong exclaimed, “Oh my,” and quickly thanked them.

Meng San Niang stood nearby with a shy smile. Though she was also a Christian, she was more of a traditional Chinese girl, standing in a corner with her maid, keeping far from the group of men nearby.

Lin Yuchan ran over to chat warmly with her.

Lin Yuchan liked this young lady. Though she appeared unremarkable with her shy demeanor, she had a special charm. Chang Baoluo, only married for a few days, was already constantly saying “San Niang this, San Niang that,” wishing he could carry his new wife in his pocket.

Sweet first love? He had completely forgotten about it.

Lin Yuchan wanted to praise her with “well done.”

Moreover, at the wedding banquet, Lin Yuchan had coincidentally met Meng San Niang’s aunt, a wealthy widow. The old lady was shrewd with calculations, had successful children, and was afraid people would covet her family wealth, so she immediately invested one hundred taels of silver and became a shareholder of New Boya.

“…Your hometown is in the Ningbo countryside? What does your family do? Do you have farmland? Oh, big landowner! – Don’t be modest, even a few acres of poor land are still land. What do you grow? Cotton?”

She continued asking with delight.

Meng San Niang, with the same bashfulness as Chang Baoluo, said quietly: “Before it was crops and rice, but these past two years everything was uprooted to plant cotton and mulberry trees… I don’t understand these matters and don’t know why, it’s all managed by my uncles and aunts…”

Lin Yuchan pulled out paper and pen from her bag, saying sincerely: “Leave me your hometown address.”

Meng San Niang was indecisive, hesitantly glancing at her new husband nearby.

Chang Baoluo was startled and quickly gave her a look: listen to her, listen to her.

There was no way to explain. He still couldn’t quite understand why girls differed so much from each other.

One was obedient to him, the other made him obedient to her. It could only be said to be God’s will.

Fortunately, San Niang’s family was also quite open-minded. They didn’t think it shameful for him to acknowledge a woman as his boss, as long as he could bring back money.

Lin Yuchan seized the opportunity to call out: “Baoluo, Baoluo, don’t just idle away your honeymoon.”

……………

At this time, the VIP room doors burst open, flooding in with a dozen red-faced gentlemen, their loud voices immediately filling the entire room.

“Master Rong is going to be glorious, going abroad, haha…”

They had all come to see Rong Hong off.

There were true friends, but also sycophants, both Chinese and foreigners. In the past, they looked down on Rong Hong as foolishly naive, thinking he could neither scheme nor make money, had no prospects for life, and wasn’t worth deep friendship. Now they all changed their tune, claiming they had “a discerning eye for talent,” and that Rong Hong’s entry into politics brought them honor too, carrying perfunctory farewell gifts and deeply expressing “safe travels.”

Rong Hong couldn’t ignore propriety and had to socialize with them.

The British steamship’s whistle sounded, black smoke billowing into the sky.

Lin Yuchan took the opportunity to bid farewell.

Su Minguan followed, asking quietly: “Where to?”

She answered: “Xujiahui.”

“To see your daughter?”

Lin Yuchan smiled and corrected: “My sister! – What, are you going too?”

“You’re carrying my investment in your arms. I need to supervise, lest you impulsively buy the orphanage.”

Su Minguan said this matter-of-factly, then hailed a carriage.

“Sigh, this month’s church funding hasn’t come down again,” Sister Teresa from the orphanage routinely complained of poverty, “We few people can only barely maintain things, just keeping the children from going hungry…”

Lin Yuchan saw the thin, small Florence Lin from afar and really had the impulse to buy this orphanage.

Children grow so fast, changing monthly. She was now nearly one year old. With chubby cheeks, light eyebrows, and her previously barren scalp finally growing hair, showing signs of an iron tree blooming.

The little one wore oversized clothes meant for two or three-year-olds, babbling constantly, walking two steps while holding the wall, then kneeling to crawl, like a demolition captain on steroids, waving two water sleeves, sweeping away all obstacles, brushing shoes, brooms, rags, and rattles left and right behind her.

Little Feilun suddenly looked up, saw Lin Yuchan abruptly, her eyes widened with a fearful expression, and darted behind the nanny.

Lin Yuchan squatted down with open arms, face full of smiles and affection: “Good girl, did you forget me again? Sister comes every month, come hug me…”

Lin Feilun used hands and feet, pivoting on her bottom, executing a backward turn.

Mrs. Guo laughed: “This child is afraid of strangers.”

She bent down, scooped up the baby despite her flailing limbs, and stuffed her into Lin Yuchan’s arms.

“Come, let your benefactor hold you!”

Lin Feilun wailed loudly, crying heartbreakingly, struggling desperately, suspended in air, using various gymnastic moves to lunge toward the nanny.

Lin Yuchan held a frenzied perpetual motion machine, using all her strength just to prevent her from falling, suddenly getting slapped in the face by small hands, her vision blurring, feeling like she was Huang Shiren forcibly seizing a civilian woman.

This ungrateful little thing!

Mrs. Guo laughed heartily.

Suddenly, her arms felt light. Su Minguan took Lin Feilun over, holding her in his arms.

The crying stopped instantly. Lin Feilun obediently nestled against his shoulder.

Su Minguan looked at Lin Yuchan’s disheveled hair, then at the donation merit board on the orphanage wall – “Miss Lin from Guangdong” prominently displayed – couldn’t help but laugh out loud, his face clearly showing schadenfreude.

Lin Yuchan was fuming with anger. This wasn’t fair!

She wondered if her frame was too thin, making her bones uncomfortable when holding children.

Little Feilun straightened up, now holding a piece of malt candy, opening her little mouth with only four teeth, savoring it with relish.

Lin Yuchan immediately protested: “Giving her candy again! She’ll get cavities!”

She knew this man was playing tricks behind her back!

Su Minguan protectively turned half a circle with the baby, innocently saying: “I brought the candy myself. She discovered it herself. She grabbed it from my chest herself.”

By relying on one piece of candy each time, the cunning big merchant had become little Feilun’s greatest love in life. The little one stared straight at the candy, going cross-eyed, no longer paying Lin Yuchan any attention.

Lin Yuchan could only accept her fate. Who told this child that after birth, she hadn’t even drunk milk, but had sugar water first?

Several other children were crawling and running on the ground. Seeing someone distributing candy here, they all surrounded them in a rush.

“I want some! I want some!”

Su Minguan cheerfully distributed candy to the orphans.

He had loved sweets since childhood, but his family was strict, so he could only steal from the kitchen. When caught, he’d be punished.

This wasn’t called learning from Lei Feng to do good deeds. This was called compensating for childhood regrets.

He suddenly waved the paper bag in his hand at Lin Yuchan and winked.

Meaning: Do you want to enjoy the pleasure of feeding human cubs?

Lin Yuchan wasn’t that bored. She noticed—

“How come… There are so many fewer children?”