Chapter Twelve Foreign Friends

  Soon, Liu Lao and his party arrived at the restaurant. Here, Ge Tai, the commissioner of Qiongzhou Prefecture, was already waiting with a smile.

  "Haha... Old Liu! You're not doing the right thing here. Since you've invited the American business delegation to discuss inspection matters, how could you not even inform us?!"

  Ge Tai saw Liu Lao and others, smiled and responded. Holding Liu Lao's hand, he said: "You, this is to quietly enter the village!"

  Liu Lao was taken aback at first, then smiled and said: "I didn't deliberately hide it from Commissioner Ge. I just wanted to buy a few humidifiers for the hospital. It's not a big deal, and I thought Commissioner Ge was busy with his duties, so I didn't bother to inform him. This is my fault as an old man..."

  The Commissioner of Qiongzhou Port suddenly appeared in the restaurant, which indeed surprised Liu Lao and others. But after a moment's thought, they understood.

  If Director Gu wants to leave the two hospitals, he must have a unit to accept him. He is definitely not qualified to go to the province, and some idle jobs are not willing to do.

  So the best unit to receive him is naturally the regional administrative office. Want to get into the regional administrative office? Naturally, you have to win over the person in charge of the regional administrative office.

  Everyone chatted for a while and exchanged pleasantries. Then they quietly waited in the hall for the arrival of the American customer.

  Before long, a somewhat old Volga sedan slowly drove towards the restaurant. Looking at this Volga sedan, Liu Lao was stunned for a moment and then his eyes became complicated.

  This Volga sedan was a familiar one, it was a second-hand or even third-hand small sedan that Gaitay had brought back from the province. Usually he himself rarely took a ride, but now he went to pick someone up.

  It can be seen that he attaches great importance to this matter, but it is not known what kind of soul-stirring soup Guo Jufeng has given him. He actually dared to provoke a district commissioner like this.

  It is worth noting that although the concept of "reform and opening up" was put forward at the end of last year, there were not many people who dared to implement it in practice.

  Just emerged from that crazy disaster, everyone's political sensitivity is extremely high. Before the direction of the wind is clear, no one dares to step on the red line. It's easy to touch a mine! Political mine, it's really possible to be crushed...

  At this time, the car slowed down and stopped. However, a person came out of the car with a waist-bowed face, revealing an almost flattering smile, and welcomed two expressionless blond-haired blue-eyed men.

  The two white people, one in front and the other behind. The one in front looks like a manager at first glance, while the one behind seems more like a technician.

  "Haha... Welcome to Qiongzhoukou! Mr. Nelson! I am Ge Tai, the Commissioner of Qiongzhoukou District Administration." Ge Tai walked up with a smile as he saw the white man get out of the car.

  The translator who followed Gait at his side translated what he said to the white man named Nelson as quickly as possible.

  "Oh, thank you for the warm welcome! I'm honored to have received your invitation." Nelson wasn't new to meeting Chinese officials either, but he quickly adjusted his expression and shook hands with Ge Tai.

  Then, Liu Lao and others went up with a smile. As for Gou Jufeng's small movements, Liu Lao and his party didn't care at all. Even if Ge Tai was added, the business that needed to be discussed still had to be discussed, right?

  "Hello Mr. Nelson, I am Liu Songquan, a researcher from the South China Tropical Crop Research Institute."

  Not only that, Liu Lao even frequently reads academic reports fluently in English at international rubber exchange seminars. Moreover, to better understand the dynamics of foreign technology, the old man even self-studied French when he was over 60 years old.

  "Oh! God! Mr. Liu, your English is really good! ... Wait a minute! You said you are Old Mr. Liu Songquan? Are you the Liu Songquan who is the director of the International Rubber Breeding Association?"

  Nelson was originally only surprised by Liu Lao's extremely fluent oral English, but after hearing Liu Lao's name, he immediately reacted.

  The International Rubber Breeding Association, this is not a simple organization! It is related to the seedlings and production of the entire rubber industry, and every year, a large number of industry insiders will go to listen to the research reports of this association.

  Being able to become one of its directors, Liu Lao's abilities are not ordinary either.

  "Haha... So Mr. Nelson has heard of me, that's right. I am Liu Songquan." Old Liu laughed and repeated what he had just said.

  But the pride and arrogance in his words are unmistakable. Liu Lao has every reason to be proud, this is the greatest achievement of his life. Representing this country standing on that podium.

  "Oh, it's such an honor to meet you here!" Nelson shook Liu's hand again and said, "This time I came over, I also brought our company's engineer in charge of tropical crop machinery production, Mr. Hall!"

  As he spoke, Nelson stepped aside to let Lord Howe pass.

  "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Liu. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation this time!" Hall stood out very briefly, looking at the old man who was dressed in extremely simple attire with some surprise.

  It's hard to believe that such a simple old man is actually a well-known big shot in the international rubber industry. If Malaysia or the Philippines had such an expert, they would be worshipped like ancestors.

  Such an expert, even if only one research result is produced, can make the direct income of the two countries that mainly export rubber soar. And such experts have always been the object of yearning for the country producing rubber.

  An expert like him would never be treated poorly on the international stage. However, the old man standing in front of him was wearing extremely simple clothing and a pair of glasses.

  Apart from the scholarly air and rough hands, you can't tell that this old man is a world-renowned expert in rubber breeding. He looks like your next-door neighbor's grandfather - kind, ordinary and warm.

  Everyone chatted at the door for a while. When they learned that Wang Lao, Zheng Lao and Huang Lao were among them, these two Americans became extremely humble.

  These old men are all big shots in the field of rubber research, and both Nelson and Hall have always shown sufficient respect for such people.

  Everyone chatted at the door for a while, then humbly walked into the restaurant. After all, it was a local restaurant, and Qiongzhou Port had already opened up in the late Qing Dynasty.

  So, the decoration of this People's Restaurant is still acceptable in this era. When Ge Tai, as the regional inspector commissioner, walked in, the manager immediately came out to greet him.

  Smiling, he led the crowd into a private room. This private room is usually not open to outsiders, and People's Restaurant is also rarely open to outsiders. Occasionally someone comes to eat, mostly officials.

  "Old Cao! The dishes can be served now!" Just a moment ago, the cold reception at the door had made Ge Tai somewhat uncomfortable. Now, with everyone surrounding him, he finally regained his composure as the regional commissioner. He coughed and instructed the restaurant manager.

  "Alright! Commissioner, please take a seat..." The manager slightly bowed and then turned around to hurry down and order the dishes.

  After all, it's a regional government office, and in terms of cuisine, it's a big step up from the towns below. All four of Hainan's most famous dishes are on the table.

  Wenchang chicken, Jiaji duck, Dongshan goat and Hele crab. Unfortunately, Ge Tai's charming eyes were wasted on the blind.

  Later generations of British people don't know how to eat crabs, you gave the American people hairy crabs to eat, that's simply blind people lighting lamps - wasting wax. But other chicken duck mutton are still not bad.

  Nelson and his wife had been in China for some time and knew some of the rules at a Chinese dinner table.

  After exchanging pleasantries, everyone began to move their chopsticks. There was no wine on the table, which made Liu Laogao glance at Ge Tai. However, what Liu didn't know was that this was something Qiu Jufeng had found out after much effort.

  To say that this Gouju Peak is not without any skills, at least the skill of gossiping is something that Liang Sanping can't match. Nare and Huoer are actually very happy with this meal without wine.

  In the imperial capital, during this period of time, almost every banquet was inseparable from wine. It seemed that if one didn't drink until they fell over, then it wasn't exciting enough. These two Americans were also self-proclaimed heavy drinkers in their hometown, but after coming here, for several days in a row, they continuously fell...

  Seeing no wine, both of them were extremely happy. At least they could have a meal without wine at the banquet, otherwise, as soon as they got off the plane, they would have to perform a human fountain show here...

  "Mr. Nal, first of all, I represent Qiongzhoukou to welcome your arrival. Hope you have a pleasant time during your stay in Qiongzhoukou!" Ge Tai smiled and stood up, holding a cup of drink towards Nal Xiang.

  "Thank you! Thank you!" Nelson hastily stood up to respond. Before coming, Nelson and others had understood this country. This is a country of official status, where you must respect officials.

  Since he knew the situation, it was natural for him to respond with courtesy as a government official. Of course, today's table did not serve wine, but instead served Coca-Cola, which is relatively rare at this time.

  When he saw Coca-Cola, Liang Sanping smiled. Speaking of this drink, its connection to China is indeed not shallow. Before liberation, this drink had been sold in China all along.

  However, after 1949, Coca-Cola completely withdrew from the Chinese market. But the company never gave up on returning to the Chinese market. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the then-president of Coca-Cola expressed his desire to enter the Chinese market through various relationships and even personally visited the Chinese Embassy in the United States.

  But this wish was not truly fulfilled until December 13, 1978. In order to gain the trust of the Chinese side, Coca-Cola broke its own taboo after intense discussions at that time.

  China was let in on one of Coca-Cola's most mysterious ingredients, and when they found out what it was, they couldn't help but laugh.

  The legendary Coca-Cola's most mysterious formula actually contains cassia oil, a traditional Chinese medicine. Due to this origin, Coca-Cola was the first to enter the Chinese market.