Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 7 Blank Market

  The gongs and drums are noisy, and the firecrackers blast.

  Amidst the music, the Southern Lions danced vigorously, and soon gathered a large number of Chinese onlookers, adding a lively scene to the opening ceremony of the Fulinmen Hotel.

  Fan Asheng and other guys hurried forward to distribute the big red happy stickers, which said that the main food and dishes were 20% off for the guests in the three days of opening, and they gave back to the Chinese compatriots enthusiastically...

  This novel propaganda method immediately detonated the onlookers of the Chinese community, who swarmed in without hesitation, and after a while, most of them were sitting outside.

  The 20% discount is tempting enough, and it’s the grandson who has the advantage this year.

  Li Fushou stood at the door to deal with the guests who came. After a while, he was about to enter the store, but was yelled at by two police chiefs on horseback;

   "Hey...yellow kid, is this the restaurant you run?"

  The two white police chiefs were sitting on the tall quat horse, looking at Li Fushou jokingly, but their tone was extremely rude.

  To deal with the Royal Australian Police, one cannot adopt an attitude of forceful resistance.

  Li Fushou has 100 reluctances in his heart, but he still has to work hard to deal with it. In this era, sheriff's corruption and solicitation of bribes are common, and it is even darker than criminals.

  Wearing a police suit on her body, she was able to catch people and throw them into jail at any time, torturing them to death.

   "Yes, sir, please come to the restaurant anytime to enjoy the delicious food. We will give the Royal Police a 20% discount to provide the greatest discount."

"Oh... it sounds good!" Officer McCourt raised his eyebrows and said to Officer Hughes next to him; "Is this Oriental kid treating us as idiots? This **** restaurant offers a 20% discount all over the street. All Chinese workers can enter. I don’t see where the greatest discount to the Royal Police is?"

"Police officer, you misunderstood." Li Fushou pretended not to hear the other party's slang, and patiently explained; "For everyone else, this hotel is only a three-day discount of 20% off, entertaining the Royal Australian Police, we 20% off throughout the year, the discount is totally different."

   "Hmm, that sounds great."

   "Thank you Officer McCourt for the compliment. We will pay the fee on time. Please take this money to drink coffee. It is a little bit of the hotel’s heart."

   "Li, this is the right thing to do."

   Li Fushou reluctantly sent the last pound, Police Officer McCourt made a whistle with satisfaction, put away the money and urged the sitting horse to leave, and continued to patrol his site.

  Damn, a bunch of vampires!

  Li Fushou cursed secretly, shook his head and walked into the restaurant, and a busy day began.

  After the South Pacific enters late autumn, it gets dark very early.

At about six o’clock in the afternoon, the sun had already set, and there were an endless stream of 4-wheeled passenger carriages returning from gold mines in the Palmer River Basin, one by one sitting full of Chinese gold prospectors, dragging them. Tired bodies poured into Chinatown.

  The twilight envelopes the earth, and the lights are beginning to shine.

  Chinatown is overcrowded with restaurants, large and small restaurants, and the strong aroma of vegetables mixed with the crowds, injects unlimited vitality into this remote street, which is thousands of miles away, and immediately comes alive.

  Selling dried fruits, mending leather boots, the mobile vendors carrying their burdens shouted vigorously, welcoming the boiling night.

  The newly opened Fulinmen Hotel is bustling with business, guests are constantly flowing, and more people are coming on the way, making it a busy scene.

  After the initial unfamiliarity, a cook and a handyman quickly entered the state, and brought a plate after another of delicious dishes to the table like a stream of water.

  For Chinese gold prospectors who are steadfast and willing to work, after a tiring day of gold panning, spending two small dollars for a drink is the greatest relaxation. Anyway, I am drunk and do not want to go home, so I go back to the cage and fall asleep.

  Li Fushou supervised the cash register on the counter, watching the large amounts of copper pennies and silver shillings enter the account, joy in his heart spontaneously.

  This head is stabilized with one shot, and it can be regarded as a complete standstill in Brisbane.

  According to his careful observation, he found that there is a blank market in Brisbane area that needs to be occupied urgently;

  Whether it is a Chinese or a white gold digger, the morning meal must be a full meal. Noon can only be fooled. Dinner is the most important thing of the day.

The Palmer River Basin and the large and small gold mines sound like that. They are actually a large strip of wilderness on both sides of the Palmer River, densely covered with weeds and woods, without traces of half development, and the reeds are as tall as one person. .

The more elaborate gold mines put up a wooden sign at the border, and built a few wooden houses to settle down. The unspecialized ones didn’t even have a wooden sign. The white mine owner sat on the rocks in the wild to collect the gold sand, and the horse was tied to the small tree next to it. On top, bring a small scale and revolver at most.

  The job of a gold prospector is to stand in the cold water of the stream, carefully sift the sand with a dustpan, and separate small gold nuggets from it. The working environment is harsh and difficult, especially requiring carefulness and hard work.

  In this environment, gold mines want to solve the lunch problem of hundreds of thousands of gold prospectors, which is tantamount to a dream.

  In this regard, Li Fushou thought of a brilliant solution.

  He ordered three thousand steel food boxes in advance, divided into two layers, the price of bulk order is 1 shilling and two pennies, the food boxes can be carried by hand, and they contain the lunch of the gold diggers.

  When resting at the gold mine

  The gold digger puts the steel food box on top of a small stone, digs a small dirt pit under it, and just finds some dry weeds to light it and heat it.

  This method is fast and easy, and you can eat a hot and delicious meal.

  On the second day, 3000 steel food containers arrived.

  Fulinmen Hotel posted a notice of use with a conspicuous red happy news;

  Great news is coming! !

  In order to solve the problem of meals for Chinese compatriots at noon in the gold mine, Fulinmen Hotel specially launched a steel food box rental and preferential catering activities.

  Activity regulations;

  For those who rent a steel food box (the deposit is two shillings, refundable at that time), the usage fee is two pence per month, which is deemed to be eligible for the lunch discount meal.

  Every morning, Fulinmen Restaurant provides as many as 14 kinds of food, including beef, lamb, pork and vegetarian dishes.

  One meat and two vegetables plus the staple food, one penny.

   Pork pork with one meat and two vegetables, plus staple food, two pennies.

   Pork pork with two meats and three vegetables, plus staple food, three pennies.

  Large pork ribs and chicken legs, plus three meats and four vegetarian dishes, four pennies, this set meal does not have a staple food, you can just pick it up, because the portion of the dish is enough, you will be full just by eating.

  ...

  The entrance of Fulinmen Hotel

  Several tables of eight immortals that were merged were placed on the tall piles of steel food containers. The silver light quickly attracted everyone's attention.

  A large number of gold prospectors came up to ask questions. Fan Asheng and others explained that they were dry and dry. The preferential package offered by the hotel aroused the great interest of Chinese workers. Some people could not help trying.

  On the second day of opening, 112 steel food boxes were rented out. The results are not very good, but it is not very popular.

The real outbreak was on the fourth day. The Chinese gold diggers who took the lead in renting steel food boxes every morning, after having a meal at the Fulinmen Hotel before going to work, bought the lunch package and put them in the steel food box and brought them to the gold mine. go.

   Heat it up at noon, and you can eat delicious and steaming meals.

  In the wild where grass grows wildly, the heated lunch box exudes the tempting scent of food, and the smell is unbearable, and the saliva drips for more than a foot.

  Comparing the two, this is more than two cakes in my arms and drinking some cold water every day. I don’t know how many times it is strong.

  People are more dead than people, and they have to be thrown away.

  The demonstration effect makes people jealous, and it is simply the best advertisement. The word of mouth finally broke out on the fifth day of accumulation.

  A large group of gold prospectors flocked in, vying to rent steel food containers, and more than 1,700 were rented out on this day alone.

  On the sixth day, the remaining 1,000 steel food containers were rented out. Many gold prospectors who came late were sighed and even willing to rent a higher price.

  Unfortunately, the next batch must wait until a week later.

There is no doubt about the purchasing power of Chinese gold prospectors. Out of the habit of frugality, they are just not willing to spend money, not without gold in their hands. They can eat a hot and delicious meal at noon, which is almost every gold prospector’s hard demand. .

  Fulinmen Hotel urgently ordered an additional 10,000 steel food containers, doing its best to meet the needs of customers.

  Li Fushou smiled and watched the food container rent out. With just these 3,000 steel food containers, the monthly rental cost of two pennies could bring himself a net income of 25 pounds.

  More than 30,000 Chinese gold prospectors in Brisbane are all their own potential customers.

  The deposit of two shillings per food box seems small, but it has deposited 150 pounds. This is a great fortune, which means that my career has made a good start and the future prospects are bright.

  Every time a food box is damaged, he can earn a deposit, which is much higher than the profit of simply selling, almost double the profit.

  The most important thing is that Fulinmen Hotel already has 3,000 stable customers, and it generates steady profits every day.

  Prices are not cheap in Brisbane, the city of gold prospectors. From the point of view of the profit margins of more than half of hotels, the accumulation of less and more is quite considerable.

  Early October

  After the second batch of 10,000 steel food containers arrived, they were sold out in just one week. There were still a large number of white gold prospectors who voluntarily came to the door. Fortunately, the Fulinmen Hotel had to order the third batch of 10,000 steel food containers.

  Until this time, other large and small restaurants in Chinatown didn't realize it afterwards, and it was too late.

  Fulinmen Hotel not only has a large number of Chinese customers, but also some white gold prospectors stepped into it. They send their purchasing power on time every day, and send them stable profits.

  Early morning, when the sky is just getting light.

  The whole city of Brisbane has not yet woken up in a deep sleep. The Fulinmen Hotel on Handel Street has been brightly lit, steaming, and a large number of customers come and go. These are all gold prospectors working in the morning.

  Following the booming business of Fulinmen Restaurant, the recruited chefs and handymen inflated like balloons, reaching more than 80 people in total.

  There are 15 new stoves built along the courtyard wall. The coal in the stove is burning with fire, and a large amount of food is cooked for demand.

  The dishes are filled with large wooden barrels for bathing. The cooks are sweating and stir fry with clean spades on the side of the stove, and the handymen carry the freshly baked dishes on the wooden table to cope with the long queues of customers.

  Li Fushou looked at the long line of people, the spacious Fulinmen Hotel was full of seats, and many anxious gold diggers ate their meals while standing, and others simply squatted in the corner outside the restaurant, snoring and eating right away.

  There are about a thousand people inside and outside the hotel, and there are still a large number of people coming in. It is an extremely busy morning.

  It is really crowded, everyone’s busy feet are not touching the ground, a scene of prosperous business.

  According to Li Fushou’s arrangement;

  Customers buy a one-penny package with a white brand, a two-penny package with a green brand, a three-pence package with a yellow brand, and a four-penny package with a red brand...

  Customers line up to the cook who is serving dishes, put the wooden signs in their hands into the bamboo baskets, and then they can get the corresponding set meals, which is simple and effective.

  The cook in charge of cooking food is very fast, the huge iron spoon flies up and down, and his mouth keeps shouting "Next..."

  Customers who purchase a one-penny package line up, and those who purchase a two-penny package line up in a separate line.

  And so on, the operation efficiency is very high, and the long line moves forward without stopping.

  The only limitation is that the venue is too small, and the Fulinmen Hotel on two acres of land is overcrowded.

  Fortunately, the Chinese workers eat very fast, and they can change a group of people in a dozen minutes, which is pretty good.

  The cash box on the counter was full. Li Fushou personally locked it and put it under the counter, and took out an empty cash box to start cashing.

  One by one, the huge empty wooden barrels were removed, and the wooden barrels filled with dishes were brought up again, exuding the fragrant aroma of the dishes, floating in the dark night sky in the early hours of the morning, making people salivate.

   "Asheng, what do you think of Mike Hamona's property? Would you like to sell it?" Li Fushou quickly collected money and issued a sign, and asked Fan Asheng in a hurry. Fan Asheng has been following up on this matter.

   "Hey... this gentleman, please line up, Nan Huaiyu takes your people to maintain order."

Fan Asheng greeted him in a hurry. He suddenly heard Li Fushou's question, and quickly turned around and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand. It’s an extra 30%. I haven’t had time to report to you."

   "Uh... this way."

  Li Fushou briefly considered that the property next door soared from 560 pounds to 728 pounds, which is nearly double the normal price. It is inevitable that there will be suspicions of robbery.

  Mike Hamner is in the business of steel products, and Fulinmen’s steel double-layer portable lunch box was ordered in his shop, and he also made a lot of money for this.

  But a businessman is a businessman, and greed is endless.

The property next door occupies an area of ​​about one and a half acres. Although it is smaller than the rubber warehouse, there are many houses. They store various steel products warehouses and daily business shops, forming warehouse areas, business areas, living areas, and buildings. It looks glamorous and well repaired.

  The Mike Hamona family lives in a small building on the second floor in the backyard, and even has a small lawn where you can sit and enjoy afternoon tea.

  Therefore, the value of this private property is higher than that of the rubber warehouse, and it can be used directly without spending energy on dismantling and reforming.

  If this property can be integrated into the Fulinmen Hotel, the Fulinmen Hotel covers an area of ​​three and a half acres, and will become the largest restaurant in the neighborhood of Chinatown, which can accommodate 600 people at the same time.

  Of course, this does not refer to crowded scenes like this morning. At least every customer has a place to sit and enjoy basic services, rather than squatting under the porch outside to eat with a bowl.

  Next, Fook Lam Moon Hotel must open more stores in Chinatown to divert the surging customer flow. This is an urgent matter.

  Slow to say, Li Fushou’s thoughts were just like flashing thoughts, and he made up his mind to solve this troublesome matter personally today, and he couldn’t delay it any longer.

  (End of this chapter)