stonecrandall Chapter 45: A Showdown of Acting Skills, All Performed
Chapter 45: A Showdown of Acting Skills, All Performed
Forehead…….
In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.
The huge trading house was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.
The boss gaped, his face filled with disbelief.
He blinked, and it took him a while to come to his senses. His expression was quite strange.
Even the two workers who were moving and arranging goods in the corner turned their heads in surprise to look this way.
Shen Lang, holding a glass of red wine, was being stared at with surprised looks, and promptly feigned a puzzled expression.
The boss's reaction was entirely expected.
Especially when the two guys suddenly heard "Yamete," any man would react.
If this happened decades later, when the Japanese female teacher had become world-famous, it wouldn't be surprising if men had this reaction.
However, this would be clearly abnormal during the Republican era.
Especially since the French Concession was controlled by the French, even if someone knew a few simple foreign languages, it should have been French.
However, according to the registration survey, the boss is a Chinese man surnamed Chen, which is incorrect.
The two men's enigmatic smiles did not reflect the reactions of the common people.
After all, literacy rates were low during the Republic of China era, and even fewer people in the French Concession could understand Japanese.
Shen Lang boasted that he was diligent in studying Japanese and once put 60G of learning materials on his hard drive.
Furthermore, to ensure quality, we only collect items with codes!
Even so, his Japanese level was limited to everyday conversational words like "yamete," "ichikuichiku," and "gimoji."
Now that two low-level guys actually know, it confirms my suspicions.
This trading company was actually a secret outpost of Japanese spies!
As for the boss speaking fluent Northeastern Mandarin, that was not surprising at all.
The advance team, under the guise of immigration and business, spied on intelligence and drew maps to assist in the invasion, and had long since integrated into China.
Many of their descendants even speak Mandarin more fluently than the locals.
Even decades later, when so many graduates of Japanese schools have integrated into the community, what you might think is a fellow countryman could actually be just another Japanese person!
Therefore, Shen Lang never intended to start by judging Boss Chen's identity or his accent-free speech, but instead decided to take them by surprise and observe their reactions.
As expected, all three understood the meaning of those three words.
The two men exchanged a glance, both revealing a lewd smile that any man would understand.
However, he still feigned confusion and asked, "Boss Chen, did I say something wrong?"
A strange look of surprise flashed across Boss Chen's face, and he immediately put on a blank expression.
He shook his head and said, "Were you speaking in a dialect just now?"
His thin face was full of confusion, as if he was puzzled by the meaning of those three words.
If I hadn't noticed the fleeting hint of amusement in his eyes, I would have almost been fooled by his feigned confusion.
Shen Lang remained calm, as if he hadn't noticed the boss's fleeting unusual expression.
Instead, a lewd smile appeared on his face as he smugly said, "What I just said was Japanese, which means 'no.' The Japanese dancer I hired a few days ago said those three words when she said 'no.'"
His eyes narrowed as he spoke, and his lewd expression seemed to be reminiscing about that night.
Even if the Japanese spies investigated afterward, they would find that Shen was a lecherous man who frequently sought out women, and it would be normal for him to have Japanese dancers.
After all, at that time, Japan was fully supporting the invasion of China. In order to contribute, she even came to Shanghai to work as a dancer and sell her body, and donated all the money she earned to the war effort.
Therefore, there is absolutely no suspicion behind what I just said.
Japanese men, in particular, know very well that those three words are too ordinary for a Japanese geisha to say.
Shen Lang said smugly, "Now you know, right? I was answering you in Japanese: No, no, I don't want this bottle of red wine!"
With his chin tilted up at a 45-degree angle, he seemed to think that knowing a few Japanese words made him sophisticated.
They displayed their worship of foreign things to the fullest extent.
Her confident demeanor also demonstrated what it means to be embarrassed as long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed!
"Heh~ Heh~." Boss Chen's expression was strange, and he gave a stiff smile, speechless.
But precisely because of this, they never suspected that the police officer had other motives.
The moment someone displays a tendency to fawn over foreign things, one subconsciously assumes they are trying to buy high-end goods to save face.
Shen Lang raised his chin high, walked around the shelves, and then stopped at the cigarette section.
After scanning the packs, I picked out two packs of French imported cigarettes with filters, which only middle-class people with a monthly salary of at least 100 yuan could afford.
Bringing it out to save face is a good choice.
"Thank you for the 3 yuan. I'll give you a 20% discount, so it'll be 2 yuan." Boss Chen had a warm smile on his face, completely unaware of anything unusual.
In his mind, this was just buying foreign goods to save face, a guy who pretended to be rich when he was not.
Over the years of running my business, I've seen many people like that, especially gang members.
Shen Lang nodded slightly, reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a moment, his brows slowly furrowing.
"Where's my money? Where's my money?!"
dong dong dong~
A look of confusion crossed his face as he took out a few copper coins from his pocket and placed them on the table.
These few coins aren't even enough to buy a 2-yuan pack of imported cigarettes, let alone a bowl of wontons on the street.
As Boss Chen watched the police officer searching his pockets, he noticed that the officer had looked in his trouser pockets but not in his bra pocket.
His eyes darted around, and he immediately realized: they're here to freeload!
Although the business paid the police station the full amount of fees every month, the police dared not extort money from them.
But occasionally you can still run into a few people who are desperate for money.
However, these things are not excessive; they are just using the guise of buying things to deliberately get discounts or extra fruit.
As long as it's not excessive, Boss Chen will turn a blind eye.
Otherwise, if we really offend these police officers, it will affect our business in the future, and even affect our real undercover missions.
If they keep causing trouble every now and then, or even secretly send gang members to bang on the door in the middle of the night, it will attract too much attention.
Making money isn't important; getting rid of people is the priority.
When Boss Chen saw the other party take out a few copper coins, he immediately understood.
He picked up a few copper coins and said with a smile, "I learned a Japanese phrase from you today. In exchange, this pack of cigarettes will be worth six copper coins!"
"This...isn't that a bad idea?" Shen Lang raised an eyebrow, a look of hesitation on his face.
However, he was quick on his feet, deftly stuffing the cigarette into his pocket.
It gives the impression that they're just trying to take advantage of the situation.
"What a kind person!" Shen Lang accepted the cigarette, grasped Boss Chen's right hand with both hands and shook it vigorously, his face full of gratitude.
I couldn't help but think to myself, "I have to put up with this disgusting stuff just to boost my data; my acting skills must be Oscar-worthy!"