Chapter 48: Amateur Troupe

941 Military Dependents' Residential Compound.

As soon as the Willys Jeep pulled up to the gate, the old guard from last time darted out.

Jeeps that could reach here were mostly military vehicles; the old man rushed out almost ready to salute, only to realize the passenger seat held Tang Yi, whom he had seen before.

"It's you again?"

"Wait, this Jeep looks like an American Willys; where on earth did you get it?"

The ten-wheeled truck from last time had already opened the old guard's eyes, but this Willys Jeep was even rarer.

Back then, the Allies had plenty of these; after the founding of the nation, many were captured, but seeing one now was truly rare.

Look at the side of the vehicle; it even bears a white five-pointed star.

Tang Yi was already used to it; since yesterday, driving this Jeep had been far more flashy than a sedan, and if parked by the roadside for no more than five minutes, a huge crowd would gather around.

"This is our boss's collection; he... just likes these things.

We're coming over to buy some books; can we leave the car here for a while?"

"No problem, I'll keep an eye on it for you."

The old man was no stranger; he had driven a GAZ Jeep supplied by the Big Brother, so seeing a Willys was indeed rare.

Tang Yi took out the Philips mobile phone Boss Huang had bought for him yesterday and first dialed the landline number from last time.

A few seconds later, a young female voice was heard on the other end of the line:

"Hello, who are you looking for?"

"It's me; I want to buy some more books. Can I buy them now?"

"Buy books? Wait, let me ask..."

About half a minute passed before the person on the other end replied:

"Come up; we're free now."

After hanging up, Tang Yi and the driver went upstairs and quickly found the door from last time and knocked.

However, when the door opened, a strange little girl was seen, her eyes sizing up the two of them.

"Are you here to buy books?"

"Yes... but the one who just called me was..."

Tang Yi hesitated a bit; the girl before him was not the one from last time, yet he hadn't recognized her voice on the phone either.

"Yan Jing went to Yangcheng and isn't here; I am her sister, Yan Qing."

As soon as she finished speaking, an old man wearing a brown plaid shirt and army-green trousers walked over.

He looked to be just over one meter sixty tall, and due to his age, he was slightly hunched, making him at least ten years older than Tang Yi.

However, the old man was in high spirits and greeted the two, inviting them inside.

Tang Yi sat on the sofa and learned this was the grandfather of the girl who sold books last time, Yan Hai.

When young, Yan Hai was also a mid-level military officer; after retiring, he devoted himself to studying naval history and modern tactics.

Now his focus is on modern tactics; most of the earlier materials are no longer useful to him, but he isn't willing to part with them just for the price of waste paper, so he has kept them all along.

And his granddaughter sold some of them to "support herself" to buy a Walkman...

The old man was initially a bit angry, but after asking Tang Yi in detail, he learned Tang Yi was also an enthusiast, had specifically not taken some very valuable materials, and had paid an extremely high price.

Although many of those books were indeed hard to find, several thousand yuan was far beyond their actual value.

For Yan Hai, having these books fall into the hands of another naval enthusiast was a good destination; he just wanted to chat with the buyer, perhaps making a new friend.

Seeing that Yan Hai had no intention of asking for the previous books back, Tang Yi relaxed.

However, he was a ship designer, and currently only dealt with old antiques from before the 1940s, so he dared not show off his skills before an expert.

He hurriedly explained his identity, then shifted the naval enthusiast identity onto Tang Wen.

This made Yan Hai slightly disappointed, but upon hearing that a young person under twenty had opened a shipyard and loved the navy, he became curious again.

Thinking that three generations of his family had served in the military starting from his father, yet now both his granddaughters showed no interest at all, Yan Hai felt strangely comforted upon hearing a young person liked it.

Upon hearing Tang Wen was researching World War II naval history, he immediately took Tang Yi to the study and, with practiced ease, pulled out a large pile of carefully selected books and materials.

At the same time, he bundled up his collected souvenirs, photos, and other items in one go.

"Give these to your young Boss Tang; leave a phone number, and I'll find time to chat with him later.

Young people these days who still like such things are few and far between!"

The exchange with Old Man Yan Hai was pleasant; after thanking him, Tang Yi was about to leave, but as soon as he opened the door, he saw Yan Qing running up the stairs breathlessly:

"Grandpa, there's an American Jeep downstairs, just like in the movies.

Where did Dad put his camera? I'll go take a couple of photos."

"What American Jeep?"

Yan Hai looked puzzled, and then Tang Yi explained it was the official vehicle of their shipyard.

He immediately became interested, followed Tang Yi downstairs, and saw that several playing children had already gathered around the original Jeep.

At just a glance, he confirmed this was indeed a World War II American military Willys Jeep.

Looking closer, the paint scheme was also naval, radiating authenticity from the inside out.

"Is this also collected by your young Boss Tang?"

Yan Hai completely believed in Tang Wen's enthusiast status; in this day and age, obtaining a Willys in such good condition that could still drive normally was not easy; perhaps it was even acquired from abroad.

Such an interesting young friend; if there's an opportunity, I must go meet him.

Tang Wen didn't know he had gained a sunset-red friend; right now, he was battling with a bank in the city.

Perhaps overly eager to enjoy the shipyard's hospitality meal after signing the contract, Huang Dongfu came to the shipyard again in the afternoon.

This time, besides his younger brother Huang Dongshun, the car also carried the deputy governor of the city's Agricultural Bank and a senior sales representative.

The reason was simple: he could not produce four million at once, and according to common sense, without sufficient funds, the shipyard could not start construction, which required bank loans to intervene.

If the assets of Fudong Fisheries were used as collateral and a contract signed, the bank could issue a loan to support the construction of fishing boats.

There were no problems with the assets on Fudong Fisheries' side; pay a one million deposit, mortgage three million for a loan, and the Gaijin Shipyard would just collect the money.

However, the final step, which looked the easiest, presented an unexpected problem.

Actually, the bank president was quite at a loss; he had investigated the backgrounds of Fudong Fisheries and Gaijin Shipyard in advance and still felt somewhat confident.

Fudong Fisheries operated well, internal management had no issues, and there were no disputes over assets; approving the loan was OK.

The sole owner of Gaijin Shipyard had sold diesel engines worth hundreds of thousands, and a Mr. Wu, an agent, had obtained a loan from their bank, seemingly preparing to place another batch of orders.

Although the shipyard had just started operations, a site visit showed the personnel and machinery were quite good, and as a local township enterprise, its qualifications were also no problem.

However, when formally preparing the contract, he discovered a host of problems:

"Boss Tang, your shipyard... has no accountant or finance department?"

"..."

Tang Wen wiped his sweat; he remembered that proper companies were supposed to have these things, but given his situation, they weren't needed, so he hadn't bothered.

His magic workers were issued directly from thin air with silver coins, with no middlemen taking a cut.

"Well, our shipyard is relatively small; generally... the vice president manages it! He's on a business trip and temporarily unavailable."

Not bad; a reason that barely passed.

"Then the other question: who are the main suppliers of Gaijin Shipyard, and which is your steel procurement unit? Since Gaijin Shipyard is a first-time cooperation, we need to understand."