Chapter 3: Being Accompanied by a Beautiful Woman and Becoming Extremely Wealthy
"Be good, listen, look, isn't this quite nice?" After Ma Yue finished dressing him up, she placed her hands on her hips and looked at him, her charming big eyes smiling like crescent moons. "Let me tell you, the rules here are strict: keep your hair but not your head, keep your head but not your hair. Be careful when you go out, or someone might just slice it off with a knife." She lightly traced her finger across her neck, making a graceful gesture as if to signify beheading, and laughed, "Don't be like this, my little husband, hehe, come on, give this girl a smile." "Let me tell you, the rules here are strict: keep your hair but not your head, keep your head but not your hair. Be careful when you go out, or someone might just slice it off with a knife." She lightly traced her finger across her neck, making a graceful gesture as if to signify beheading, and laughed, "Don't be like this, my little husband, hehe, come on, give this girl a smile."
"I won't wear it! I absolutely refuse to wear it!" Sun Gang watched as Ma Yue threw herself onto him, placing a fake braid on his head. He couldn't help but feel a tightness in his scalp, but as he sensed the warm and mature aura that emanated from her, he instinctively held her tighter. In a moment of dazed infatuation, she had successfully achieved her goal.
He has actually been worried about what will happen in the future these days. Whether or not to wear braids is secondary; he also knows that she means well for him. "Why haven't I seen your father these days?" he asked.
Sun Gang made her laugh so much that her face turned red, and in a moment of impulse, he pulled her into his embrace. She instinctively struggled gently for a moment, but did not truly intend to refuse, causing his heart to flutter. He cautiously wrapped his arms around her.
What about you? It seems you are still all alone, right?" Ma Yue looked at him and smiled, saying: "Just by looking at your appearance by the seaside, I could tell.
"You still dare to call me that; your father would be furious if he found out and would surely beat you up." Sun Gang seized her wrist and pulled her closer. Perhaps the days since his arrival had been too oppressive, and she had been in a state of excitement like a child for the past few days, which truly gave him a headache
"Alright, you, as soon as you find a place to settle down, you start having delusions." She shot him a glare and said sternly, "The big bad wolf's tail is showing so eagerly, aren't you afraid I might sweep you out onto the street?"
Sun Gang gazed at her beautiful and charming face, and an impulse to protect her at all costs surged within him. A man who cannot even protect a woman, what the hell is the point of having that thing between his legs! Yes, he may not have much ability, but I am also Chinese! The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every citizen! The fact that I can be here is itself a miracle, perhaps it will create a butterfly effect! Since I already know the course of history, I must find a way to change it! Although I am currently poor and insignificant, a single soybean can sink a battleship, and I am that soybean!
"That just proves you have a way to go back, hehe." She looked at him as if he had truly changed his expression, shaking his hand and laughing, "I was just joking with you, an old horse would go save you like that. Can we just say I was wrong? After all, I did come to pick you up to my house." Seeing that he seemed to be getting angry, she quickly changed the subject, "You still haven't said, why were you so melancholic back then?" She asked again.
After many years of separation, the naval base at Port Arthur of the Qing Dynasty, on a beautiful evening in the winter of 1894, the impoverished and incompetent traveler Mr. Sun Gang finally realized his grand dream of winning the heart of a beautiful woman. However, even now, he still feels somewhat perplexed by it all
Sun Gang recounted to her the course of events and the story behind the creative idea of the "National Security Bureau" related to that dragon card. She nearly laughed herself breathless, saying, "You are so talented." She patted her chest, managing to stifle her laughter with great difficulty, and asked, "So why were you wandering there later?"
Seeing a Chinese battleship for the first time, I was somewhat surprised said Sun Gang Thinking about the fate of this fleet later, I felt quite uncomfortable inside
At the naval office near Ding Junmen. Ma Yue replied, "Ding Junmen was injured while practicing with the spinning top, and it was my father who treated him. The Ding family is very familiar with our family."
She looked at him and said, "By the way, how did you manage to fool those sentries? That's quite impressive."
"I really don't know what to do, I'm thinking of jumping into the sea." Sun Gang pretended to be angry and said, "Are you really not going to do anything about it?"
"So can I now rely on you, this little rich woman?" Sun Gang said with a mischievous smile: "I had this idea many years ago. If it weren't for Old Kong occupying that something or other, and for the sake of friendship..." He spoke in a disjointed yet grandiloquent manner. Ah, the wish he made during university to marry a wildly wealthy beauty when the 'Hale-Bopp' comet, which rarely visits Earth, graced the sky, finally has a chance of coming true today. It feels absolutely fantastic.
"By the way, I forgot that you are a military enthusiast, very familiar with history and military matters." Ma Yue seemed to recall something, a trace of sorrow flashing in her eyes. "When I went to Dalian, the tour guide mentioned that this place had once been bloodily washed by the Japanese..." As she spoke, she involuntarily grasped his hand, nervously asking, "Tell me, those things aren't true, are they?"
"How can you still say that? You just left me there and walked away." Sun Gang glared at her, and she smiled and stuck out her tongue, "I had something urgent to attend to at that time. Didn't I ask Old Ma to wait for you there?"
"Don't worry, I will damn well try for you! I refuse to believe we cannot change this damned history!" Sun Gang said fiercely, his strange expression startling her. She did not understand why he said such a thing. Looking at his serious face, she laughed again, "Alright, let's not talk about these unhappy things. In fact, we really should celebrate properly, but our identities make it inconvenient right now." As she spoke, she looked at him with hopeful eyes and said in the Shenyang dialect that he loved to hear, "Whatever you want to do, I can help you. I have plenty of money now." "Alright, let's not talk about these unhappy things. In fact, we really should celebrate properly, but our identities make it inconvenient right now." As she spoke, she looked at him with hopeful eyes and said in the Shenyang dialect that he loved to hear, "Whatever you want to do, I can help you. I have plenty of money now."
Sun Gang looked at her with a face full of frustration. Who could have imagined that a careless remark he made that day would give her leverage over him, leading him to a point of no return, becoming the object of this unscrupulous beauty's "support". Although the current situation was indeed as such, he always felt something was off in his heart. It was his own fault for being so unambitious. He had never encountered the kind of business she was involved in, making it impossible for him to contribute. Back in university, she majored in international trade while he specialized in international finance. The two fields, though only a word apart, had unexpectedly manifested their effects today in the Qing Dynasty. The Ma family turned out to be a prestigious clan, yet with few male heirs. After her arrival in this era, she fully utilized the skills she had learned in her field of study, managing to make the family business flourish remarkably, subtly taking on a role akin to that of a head of the household. Originally, the Ma family dealt in medicinal herbs, but under her management, the business expanded within a few years to include porcelain, raw silk, tea, and banks, among others, which genuinely astonished him. His own studies had only allowed him to play a minor role in the banking sector. After several days of observation, he discovered that the banks of this period were not much different from modern banks, except for the absence of computers. The principles of bookkeeping were quite similar, and the internal management was even more stringent. After his investigation, he abandoned any aspirations of becoming a bank president or department head here. Truly, he felt like a useless scholar, and it seemed that apart from being her source of amusement, he had little else to offer.
Sun Gang was taken aback by her words. She released his hand, straightened her face, walked up to him, suddenly pinched his chin with her hand, gently lifted it up, and said seriously: "Come on, give this young lady a smile." After she finished speaking, seeing his strange expression, she burst into laughter, mimicking his tone from school and said: "With this level, you still want to be with me? Don't make me laugh." During their university days, she always enjoyed teasing him with the Antong accent, and he would respond by mimicking her Shenyang dialect. Looking back now, Sun Gang felt an extraordinary warmth in his heart.
Sun Gang felt a bit embarrassed under her gaze. He scratched his head and said, "I graduated and got a job at the bank through a connection, but unfortunately, I didn't last long and was pushed out. Lao Kong (his hometown friend, who was her boyfriend during school) is in Dalian with Yu Bin and the others, doing quite well. He got married two years ago, and he might have a child by now. Aji is at the court, and his partner works at the People's Bank. Anzi is at the Bank of China, and surprisingly, his wife is actually my high school classmate... One by one, they all got married, and everyone has become busy, so we see each other less often..."