Chapter 53: Daytime Boss, Nighttime Daoist

To suit his status, the house Zhang Cheng rented was a detached villa.

Originally, Zhang Cheng thought property prices were very expensive, but it turned out this three-story Western-style villa, which came with a courtyard and parking space, only cost fifteen gold bars to purchase.

As for renting, it was also relatively cheap, costing only one hundred and fifty silver dollars a month.

In Shanghai, renting was more popular than buying; after all, there were no mortgages back then, and everything was purchased with full payment.

Fifteen gold bars were worth five or six thousand silver dollars, and generally, very few people could produce such a large sum of money all at once.

After renting the house, it was only natural to look for a housekeeper; he did not intend to hire a local one, so as to avoid them knowing what he did.

It would be best to find a Westerner; it would be very prestigious.

Just think about it: regardless of whether there was anything going on or not, when guests arrived, your Western butler would step forward and say a sentence in authentic Western language, and others would immediately feel that you had a significant background.

You also had to hire an Indian bodyguard for the front door; that was style, especially since the locals loved that sort of thing.

Even the Japanese invaders, seeing the style of your home, would have to lower themselves by three degrees before even opening their mouths.

Of course, this was all Zhang Cheng's own fantasy; in reality, the lives of Westerners in Shanghai were quite comfortable, except for a small portion of the women.

For example, many young British people came to Shanghai from London and discovered that their salaries had doubled, while their living expenses were only half of what they used to be.

The British-Jewish immigrant Elly Kadoorie started with only five hundred US dollars and actually became a famous banker in Shanghai.

British expatriates did not need to pay taxes and also enjoyed the protection of British law and the military, living quite comfortable lives.

Furthermore, the status of American expatriates in the Shanghai International Settlement became important, reaching as many as three thousand seven hundred people at one point; the hotels and amusement parks here were almost all contracted by them.

Likewise, in search of employment opportunities, batches of Japanese invaders came to Shanghai to manage banks, open factories, run shops, and so on, regarding this place as a "gold-panning holy land" and a "paradise for adventurers."

And then there were the exiled Tsarist Russian nobles and the Jewish refugees.

After the October Revolution, tens of thousands of opponents fled to Shanghai; they were stripped of their nationality by the Bolsheviks and gathered in the French Concession.

These Russian expatriates were mostly well-educated, and among them were many outstanding doctors, engineers, and artists, who built Joffre Road into a bustling "Nevsky Prospect."

And the intelligent Jewish people also successively built churches, schools, and the like, living relatively affluent lives.

Foreigners in the Shanghai International Settlement struggled and enjoyed themselves at the same time, building many high-end social clubs, among which the "British Club" was particularly luxurious, standing six stories high and possessing a bar over thirty meters long, where people sat around drinking and chatting.

The "German Club" was a comprehensive entertainment center, including a ballroom, casino, billiard room, reading room, swimming pool, etc., equipped with detachable tiered seating that could accommodate up to one thousand spectators.

Of course, there were also underground erotic trades here, which were later forced to terminate during a moral reform movement initiated by missionaries.

Furthermore, foreigners generally liked sports, so there were many stadiums in the Shanghai International Settlement; horse racing, rowing, track and field, tennis, and other sports were all brought over by foreigners.

Hongkou Park was once an important sports venue and held sports events many times.

Therefore, it was difficult for Zhang Cheng to find a Western butler, but a Sikh bodyguard could certainly be found.

Thus, Zhang Cheng only hired an old woman to clean, with a monthly salary of twenty silver dollars.

This was already higher than the average wage of a worker.

That Sikh bodyguard was a bit more expensive, at thirty silver dollars a month.

After getting these things settled, Zhang Cheng then took the last two hundred gold bars and arrived at Citibank.

As soon as Steve heard that Zhang Cheng had arrived, he hurriedly welcomed him warmly, and upon learning that Zhang Cheng was going to deposit another large sum of money, his face beamed with joy.

He said very obsequiously: "Respected Mr. Zhang, your car has already arrived and can be picked up at any time. I wonder if there is anything else I can do for you?"

Zhang Cheng nodded and said: "Well done.

Manager Steve, I knew that choosing you was a wise choice.

As it happens, I have one more thing I would like to entrust to you: I want to establish a company, mainly responsible for medicinal materials; I hope to register an American offshore company as soon as possible, with an initial registration of ten thousand US dollars.

The name of the company will be Tiancai Company; I hope Manager Steve will handle this matter as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Steve was overjoyed in his heart; opening a company was good, as there would be more business dealings in the future.

He hurriedly said: "Mr. Zhang, please rest assured, this matter is on me; it can be resolved in at most a week."

Zhang Cheng nodded slightly and said: "Mm, I am currently living at 404 Baole'an Road villa, my home phone number is XXXX, call me when the matter is handled." (Note)

Subsequently, Steve respectfully saw Zhang Cheng off and arranged for someone to help Zhang Cheng pick up the car.

This was not the first time Zhang Cheng had seen cars from the Republic of China era; after all, there were still many sedans on the streets of Shanghai.

Of course, this Ford car he bought was a bit ugly, similar in style to the Ford Model T, but it was already leaning toward a Beetle.

Of course, if you bought a Rolls-Royce or something similar, it would still be very handsome; after all, people had already started to pay attention to streamlining by this time.

Zhang Cheng went out onto the street as soon as he got the car; as for the driver's license, Steve had already taken care of it.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng drove directly back to his own villa.

His villa came with a small courtyard and a parking space, so he didn't have to worry about the problem of parking the car.

When he drove to the front door, he reached out the window to signal, and the bodyguard hurriedly opened the gate to let Zhang Cheng in.

Zhang Cheng said to the bodyguard: "Saj, look clearly from now on; this car belongs to our house."

Saj hurriedly nodded and said: "Understood, sir, I will definitely not mistake it next time."

Zhang Cheng nodded with a smile and walked into the room.

As soon as he returned, Wu Ma came up very attentively and asked: "Sir, have you eaten?"

Zhang Cheng waved his hand and said: "I went to the bank to discuss some things and came back in a hurry, so I haven't eaten yet. Wu Ma, just make some simple home-cooked dishes."

After instructing Wu Ma, Zhang Cheng sat there thinking about the company's affairs.

The reason he chose a medicinal materials company was not to make money, but mainly to acquire rare treasures, at least wild ginseng of several decades' age, lingzhi, Tianshan snow lotus, and so on.

Anyway, with his current savings of tens of thousands of US dollars, he could still hold out for a period of time.

However, he had to consider that if the company had no income, it would go bankrupt sooner or later.

So he still had to think of a way to maintain the company, at least to ensure it didn't go under.

As it happens, he was going to the Hongkou District tonight to see, to act on behalf of Heaven, and to rob the rich to help the poor!

Eh, it really wasn't that he, Zhang Cheng, was greedy for money, but rather that he didn't want to see the Japanese invaders earn his own money.

Before long, Wu Ma had finished stir-frying a few dishes and brought them up, and Zhang Cheng then ate slowly and methodically.

He decided to first play the role of this elite identity well.

By day he was a member of the social elite, a company boss; by night, he was a Maoshan disciple acting on behalf of Heaven!