Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 277: Settling in the United States and Winning Black Votes
After Lawrence left, Zheng Yi, Fujiko and Ma Kui also went out.

In fact, the Rockefeller family proposed to be responsible for Zheng Yi's security. You should know that there is even a fighter jet formation in the Rockefeller family's security team. When Nelson was vice president, he was too lazy to take the official plane arranged by the country when he visited abroad, and he brought his own fighter jet formation.

However, Zheng Yi rejected the Rockefeller family's kindness and only took these two. After all, he was not that famous in the United States, and it was unlikely that he would be recognized when walking on the street.

Due to racial differences, Americans may think that all Chinese people look the same, and Zheng Yi really doesn't want to be too high-profile.

You have to know that he hasn't lived a normal life for a long time. He also wants to go shopping, but this is obviously impossible in Penang and Singapore, and even in Japan, so he doesn't dare to do it.

After finally arriving in the United States, where relatively few people knew him, Zheng Yi also wanted to travel simply, spend two days on the streets, and experience the real customs and culture of the United States in the 40s.

Furthermore, he certainly was not willing to get too close to the Rockefeller family. Cooperation was cooperation and alliances were alliances, but Zheng Yi was not dependent on the Rockefeller family.

If I use their bodyguard team, wouldn't that mean my every move is under their surveillance?
When Zheng Yi has to live in the United States in the future, he will naturally have to set up his own bodyguard team.

The hotel provided Zheng Yi with a luxury Lincoln sedan. Ma Kui drove the car, while Zheng Yi and Fujiko rolled down the windows, enjoying the breeze and the unique street scenes of the 40s.

To be honest, it really touched me.

It is now the tail end of the rush hour, and the streets are crowded with people. It is no exaggeration to say that there are handsome men and beautiful women. The most popular thing on the street is woolen coats. Everyone looks radiant, and their skin is in great condition and seems very shiny.

They all have a face that has never been bullied.

The buildings on both sides of the road are densely packed, and it is obvious that the floor area ratio has been severely squeezed. The stacked billboards are very American in style, with one row on top of another, and the colors are bright and fancy.

Because the houses were built during the large-scale construction around the 20s, especially the high-rise buildings, they are still less than 30 years old. They look very new and beautiful. There is no garbage on the streets and no graffiti on the walls, giving people a feeling of vitality.

To be honest, judging from the street scenes alone, Zheng Yi even feels that New York of this era is much better than New York 80 years later.

There were many cars on the road, and some intersections were even severely congested. Zheng Yi even greeted the woman in the neighboring car who had also rolled down her window, and the woman also gave him a very polite smile in return.

People are harmonious, friendly and not at all irritable.

Zheng Yi couldn't help but sigh: How could such a wonderful New York become such a mess after 80 years? The big capitalists are really inhumane.

On second thought, I was afraid that I would become one of the behind-the-scenes driving forces behind the corruption of grassroots society in the United States in this time and space, and I felt a little sad.

The greed of capital... Never mind, I don’t want to think about it too much.

"When does the Broadway musical start?" Zheng Yi couldn't help but ask.

"It should be in the evening, but if you want to see it, you can give them a call. They should be able to arrange a special show for you."

"Oh, forget it. I'm not that interested in watching it."

"Sir, would you like to visit Chinatown?"

"Hmm... Never mind. There's no rush. Let's go tomorrow. After we get back today, we can make an appointment with Mr. Situ. By the way, when will my wife and Li Jianqiao arrive?"

"Probably, two or three days."

"Well, that's fine. I'll play for two or three days then."

This time, Zheng Yi only brought Yamamoto Fujiko with him, without any other secretaries, not even Li Jianqiao. He came directly from Japan.

Nowadays, due to the expansion of the secretariat's power, even Li Jianqiao is a little busy. Who is as idle as him? Recently, the number of refugees coming from Hanoi has increased. If nothing unexpected happens, the domestic economic collapse has begun.

In the next few years, the Southern Alliance will probably be busy and troubled.

It is for this reason that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation of the Chinese in Southeast Asia, will actually focus its main energy on Southeast Asia in the next few years and will not consider expansion. Stability will override everything.

Zheng Yi judged that within half a year, or at most within a year, there would be a wave of refugees fleeing in the country. Nowadays, people can easily enter Yangon and Hanoi from Yunnan and Guangxi. These two cities are controlled by Zheng Yi, and there must be many people from the two traditional Southeast Asian Chinese sources of Guangdong and Fujian.

A fact that Zheng Yi is very reluctant to see, but is bound to happen, is that the Southeast Asian Chinese in Fujian and Guangdong provinces will definitely band together to bully the Chinese in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, and there will definitely be disunity among the Chinese.

If this matter is not handled properly, it will be very, very troublesome. So far, he is the only one on the Southern Alliance side who is really busy with external affairs.

On the American side, it is very likely that a new secretariat will be established.

But for the time being, Zheng Yi still needs some help. Even if he wants to form a new secretariat from scratch, he needs someone to be responsible for the recruitment. He can only get Li Jianqiao over first.

Many occasions in the United States require one to bring one's wife, so Li Jiazhi had to come over and put the things over there aside for the time being.

Li Jiazhi also had a strong opinion about this. According to her, she is busy from morning to night as soon as she opens her eyes every day. She has no time to show off with him, and she is not as idle as him to let him find another woman.

This is very embarrassing. Qian Qiwen is busier than Li Jiazhi. Wang Qiaoyun is now training the Air Force in Israel and occasionally goes to North Africa to exchange experiences in the use of fighter jets with the French. Besides, she is not the main wife after all. Taking your young wife to various formal occasions in the United States will make people think that you are not serious.

Zheng Yi begged for a long time before he reluctantly persuaded Li Jiazhi to agree to stay in the United States for two months, but that was only two months at most. After two months, she turned around and left.

Alas, there is really no one around me who is useful.

The three of them drove around Manhattan several times and finally arrived at the downstairs of an apartment building according to the address. At this time, the apartment building was obviously not fully completed, but the sales office had already been built.

This was also Zheng Yi's request. He wanted to find a real estate project that had been completed or was almost completed, buy it and develop it himself. He also planned to live in it.

Fortunately, New York was in a period of rapid real estate development at that time. Although not as exaggerated as Singapore, there were at least a dozen new real estate projects started or completed every month on average. Therefore, although the requirements were a bit harsh, it was still possible to find one.

"Mr. Zheng, this building is the most suitable for you in the entire Manhattan area. It has 21 floors, is brand new, and is positioned for relatively high-income white-collar workers in Manhattan. There is a community swimming pool and a small community park nearby. The upper floors offer ocean views."

Zheng Yi nodded: "It's positioned as a mid- to high-end apartment, right?"

"Yes."

Zheng Yi became more and more satisfied. This was the personality he arranged for himself. In the United States, the more famous the rich man is, the more necessary it is for him to establish a people-friendly personality.

For example, Bill Gates likes to eat hamburgers, Buffett likes to drink cherry cola, the boss of Walmart likes to drive trucks, Musk likes to play video games, etc.

Some people really believe it!
These wealthy people in later generations will deliberately establish this kind of people-friendly personality after becoming famous. To a certain extent, this is also to avoid repeating the mistakes of John Jr.

Although the Rockefeller family was wealthy enough to rival a country, it did suffer from many labor-capital, class, and social conflicts, and had a very bad reputation. Nelson's three failed elections were proof of this.

Even Zheng Yi was scolded simply for attending their family's banquet.

In fact, even the Rockefeller family will become more and more low-key in the future. The third generation of the family are all outstanding people and are relatively less shy about it. But what are the fourth generation of their family doing? Even if you look for them specifically, you can't find many people.

Apart from one unlucky guy who was eaten by local cannibals during an expedition in Africa, and thus gained some fame that was not at all Rockefeller-like, there is basically no information about the fourth generation of Rockefeller family members in the news or media.

You think a family like this wouldn't have a single talented person in the fourth generation? They really can't even make it onto the Forbes list? You're kidding.

Not only Rockefeller, but also the three major families of the golden age, Morgan, Rockefeller and Carnegie, have almost become legends in modern society. Except in history books, they rarely appear in people's vision.

Several major families during this period would try to do high-profile charity work to cleanse their names, but they would soon find that this trick was useless. Americans' hatred of the rich would not be alleviated no matter how much charity you did.

In other words, it can only alleviate part of the problem but cannot solve the fundamental problem.

Almost all of the old money and chaebols in the United States have chosen to hide themselves in the future. When the major media groups encounter news about these families, even if it is neutral news or even positive news, they will hide it, leaving only two words: mysterious.

The future America will definitely be an America where the people have more and more say, and even an America where populism is prevalent. Zheng Yi is well aware of this.

He is not the kind of old money who can hide himself, and if he wants to get involved in Republican affairs, he may even have to be more high-profile.

Although his rise to power has been undisputed so far and he enjoys good popularity, class contradictions exist naturally. Objectively speaking, the neoliberalism promoted by Zheng Yi will cause America's rednecks to fall into despair at least ten or even twenty years earlier than in history.

It's hard to say what his reputation will be in the United States by then.

While his reputation is still high, Zheng Yi also hopes that he can do his best to perform well.

Therefore, Zheng Yi bought an apartment instead of a manor, planning to make the top floor into a large flat and build himself an exclusive elevator. After all, there are few people in their family, and he must spend more time in Nanyang than in the United States, so there is no need to build a too big house.

A large flat is enough for him to live in. He is not a person who attaches great importance to luxury and enjoyment. He has never thought about changing houses in Penang for so many years.

Of course, he has no intention of selling the house below the apartment. He has no interest in real estate, but he can give it to his employees to live in. Zheng Yi undoubtedly wants to build a career in the United States. In this way, he can spread this as a small story about his close relationship with the people, and even start to build a team from scratch in the United States.

The United States and Penang are destined to have two systems. Although Chinese Americans will definitely use them, objectively speaking, Chinese Americans in the United States are still too vulgar, and there are too few people who can come up with them and be presentable.

His main business in the United States is definitely finance and banking, so he plans to build a force composed entirely of Americans in addition to the Chinese. It is likely that more than half of them will be Jews. This location is not far from Wall Street, and he plans to take root here and create a Zheng Yi community similar to the Jewish community.

This building is Zheng Yi's first step to gain a foothold in the United States.

After getting out of the car, a very pretty sales lady greeted him. Behind him, a handsome middle-aged man came up to shake hands with Zheng Yi enthusiastically. Seeing Zheng Yi, Zhou was stunned for a moment and asked in disbelief, "Sir, are you... Zheng Yi, Mr. Zheng?"

Zheng Yi: "Huh? You recognize me?"

"I saw you at Mr. Nelson's party yesterday."

"Forehead……"

Zheng Yi scratched his head, he really had no impression.

The cocktail party culture in the United States is quite different from that in China. It is often very large and there will be many people trying to get in. Zheng Yi is the protagonist of the cocktail party, and all those who are qualified to be introduced to him are bigwigs in the political and business circles. The rest of the passers-by standing in the back row, to put it bluntly, they did not go to the cocktail party to get to know Zheng Yi.

The man immediately realized that he had struck lucky. Yesterday, his subordinates reported to him that someone was planning to buy the entire building. He was skeptical, but today, he happened to be free, so he came to take a look. Unexpectedly, the person who wanted to buy the apartment building was Mr. Zheng.

"Mr. Zheng, I'm the developer of this apartment building. My name is Fred Bedpo, and I'm honored to serve you."

"Wait, what's your name?"

"Um... my name is Fred Bedbroken"

"What's your son's name?"

"My son? Um... my son's name is Frederick."

"Are there any other sons?"

"Um... there's another little son named Donald D."

Zheng Yi: "Ah...it's really you, what a coincidence."

Fred was a little confused for a moment. He didn't understand why Zheng Yi suddenly asked about his son. He seemed to know his youngest son.

But how could that be possible? His youngest son was not even two years old this year, had just learned to walk, and could not even speak clearly.

"Mr. Chuangpo, I don't know why, but the moment I saw you, I felt a special affinity. Can I give you a Chinese name?"

"Uh...ah? Oh, of course. It's my pleasure, Mr. Zheng."

"Hmm... I don't know why, but I just think your last name should be Dong. I'll call you Dong from now on... Jianguo, what do you think? Jianguo means building a country. As a real estate developer, this is really, really suitable. What do you think?"

"Dong, Jianguo? Good, good name. The name given by Mr. Zheng must be a good name!"

"Hahahahaha, Jianguo, if we can make this deal, you must bring your family over to treat me to a meal, hahahahaha."

But he already had the urge to be the godfather of his youngest son.

There was nothing special about it, except that he found it quite interesting to have the opportunity to be the father of his youngest son.

It can be regarded as his own bad taste as a time traveler.

"Come on, Mr. Dong, take me upstairs to see your apartment."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi put his arm around Fred's shoulders and walked up.

"Oh, okay, okay."

Fred, oh no, he should be called Old Dong now. He had no idea what Zheng Yi was up to, so he just introduced the apartment in a very formal manner.

"I originally planned to use this apartment building as a low-rent rental for white-collar workers near Wall Street, with hotel-style management. It's not close to Wall Street. As you know, housing prices near Wall Street are extremely high, and it's difficult for young people to afford a home nearby. I built this apartment building so I could build a good relationship with the bank in the future."

"Mr. Zheng wants to buy this apartment..."

"For my own use."

"Zizi, Zi, Zizu?"

"Ah, what's wrong? Just take me to the top floor."

"Okay, Mr. Zheng, I understand. It's truly an honor for us that you can buy our company's house for your own use. I don't think there's any better advertising than this. I know you're not short of money, so giving you a discount won't make much sense. So, the price is up to you. If there's anything you need me to do, please feel free to let me know."

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "I am very confident in the quality of your company's properties."

As they were talking, Zheng Yi and Lao Dong had already taken the elevator up. Since this place was originally intended to be an apartment for rent, it was already partially decorated. Although it was definitely not luxurious, it was still pretty good.

Zheng Yi only took a quick look at the scenery before nodding. "I want this apartment. Later, you can help me completely open up the top floor into one room. I'll leave the decoration to you. You can do it quickly and in a healthy way. I have no other requirements. I'm still staying in a hotel, so I hope to move in soon."

"Don't worry, I'm a professional when it comes to decoration."

Zheng Yi: "As for the price... I'll offer you $8 million, not for your apartment, but for your entire company. How about it? Sell it?"

"Um...Mr. Zheng, are you also interested in entering the real estate industry?"

Zheng Yi: "It's hard to say. I'm not generally interested in real estate, but I personally, not SAARC, will definitely enter the US and invest heavily in the US. Your company can be considered a good start."

Old Dong: "Well, I have the honor to follow Mr. Zheng and work for you, Mr. Zheng?"

Zheng Yi: "Why, you'd rather be a wage earner than be a millionaire?"

Old Dong: "That depends on who you work for. Having the opportunity to work for Mr. Zheng is far more rewarding than a mere millionaire."

The boss is undoubtedly a very smart person. He can certainly see that Zheng Yi is facing a dilemma in the United States with no one around him, and he is in need of people. He can also see that Zheng Yi has a good impression of him. He guessed that the reason why Zheng Yi wants to buy his entire company is probably because of this intention.

Although this affection seemed inexplicable to him.

Zheng Yi nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this, secretly praising Fred for his understanding. He said, "That's fine. Then you can follow me from now on. I'm planning to set up a series of businesses in the United States, and I'm in need of a capable manager to help me manage them."

After that, Zheng Yi directly wrote him a check for eight million and said, "Come to my hotel tomorrow and find me. I'll have someone take care of the transfer procedures."

Anyway, for Zheng Yi, it doesn't matter who he uses.

From the perspective of trust, he certainly trusts Chinese people in the United States more, but from the perspective of non-Chinese people, he has no one else he can trust.

Perhaps we can try to use Fred to help him with some asset management. If he is reliable, maybe we can really promote him in the future and add more responsibilities to him.

He believed that Fred was a smart man and would not cheat him. There should be no problem with his ability. Thanks to his son, he knew roughly about this guy's deeds. After all, he was a self-made billionaire. He could make a living in real estate and his overall ability would not be bad. He was more than qualified to be his first younger brother in the United States.

"By the way, Mr. Zheng, since you're settling down here, have you hired a housekeeper and a team of servants in the United States? I have some experience and connections in this area. If you need one, I can help you find one. Of course, if you want a Chinese housekeeper, that's also possible..."

During this period, the Chinese in the United States were not without a foothold, but they certainly did not work as servants, at least not as high-level servants.

Of course, if Zheng Yi wants to bring servants from Southeast Asia, then there is nothing to say. Old Dong is just showing off.

Zheng Yi: "We don't need a housekeeper anymore. Two maids will be enough. We don't want Chinese maids, we want black maids."

"Okay, use... use... uh... ah? Mr. Zheng, you mean, black..."

"Yes, black, black maid, what's the problem?"

“Why would you use black people, who have always been treated as… treated as…”

Seeing Zheng Yi's unfriendly look, Fred quickly stopped talking and nodded to show his acceptance.

After all, Zheng Yi is also a minority, and prejudice against minorities may make Mr. Zheng Yi unhappy.

And he is a smart man after all, he probably guessed that this must be related to politics.

To put it bluntly, the reason why Zheng Yi chose to live in an apartment instead of a luxurious manor by the sea was for show, so the reason he hired a black maid was of course also for show.

You should know that just this year, there was a big news about the black issue. A black combat hero who participated in World War II and retired and returned home was beaten to death by a policeman on the street in his hometown, which caused a huge political issue.

President Du firmly stood on the side of black soldiers in this matter, and advocated the abolition of black and white segregation in the military, and even demanded that the voting rights of blacks be further expanded. This move also aroused the dissatisfaction of Southern Democrats, and some even broke with President Du, left the Democratic Party and established a new party to participate in the general election, taking away a large number of Democratic votes from President Du.

However, Zheng Yi also knew very well that this incident also made President Du gain the favor of black voters, especially since he had been promoting the expansion of black voting rights during his tenure. It was after this incident that black voters gradually became the Democratic Party's iron vote bank during President Du's tenure.

As a time traveler, Zheng Yi knew too well how important these black votes would be in the future.

It doesn't matter whether we win or lose this election, success or failure is not decided in a short period of time. But if Du really gets the upper hand in front of others and gets things done, and blacks become the Democratic Party's iron votes from now on, it will certainly not be a good thing for Zheng Yi, who has to rely on the Republican Party.

At least he has to share some of Lao Du's reputation so that he can also gain the favor of some black people.

In fact, even without considering this election, since Zheng Yi is determined to get involved in American politics, how could he not know that pleasing black voters at this time is a truly profitable business.

In the United States during this period, black maids were very common, and being a maid was the best job for many black women to raise their children, if not the only one.

However, black maids are generally not high-end, and many times the reason why families hire black maids is simply because the mistress can trust them and they are cheap.

Zheng Yi remembered watching a movie before, which said that if a black maid went to the toilet in her master's house, she would be fired immediately, and it would be impossible for her to use her master's tableware or eat her master's food at home.

If others don’t use it, then he can use it.

This matter is actually very worthy of hype.

Fred quickly understood Zheng Yi's intentions. After all, Zheng Yi was also a US general in World War II. He simply thought that Zheng Yi wanted to speak up for the black veteran who was beaten to death by the police. He said, "Mr. Zheng, should we publicize the recruitment process with more publicity and as much publicity as possible?"

Zheng Yi: "Okay, I know you have a lot of connections in this area. Organize it and arrange for all the black maids in New York to be interviewed together and slowly screen them. Anyway, my house needs some renovations before it can be lived in."

"Also, don't be stingy with the money. Even if it's just for registration, we'll reimburse your travel expenses and give each person an extra $5. As for the salary and benefits, we'll offer the highest salary currently available in the United States."

Fred: "Okay Mr. Zheng, I understand."

(End of this chapter)