After the second phase of the French Embassy project was completed in March 1930, it received mixed reviews due to its postmodernist style. At least, the Chinese people could not appreciate buildings with large amounts of asymmetrical configurations at this stage. He Rui was one of the very few Chinese who could truly appreciate this building.

So on May 1, 1930, China's Labor Day, a grand cocktail party was held in the French Embassy to celebrate the festival of the working people. To complete such a huge project in a little over a year, a large number of Chinese workers had put in hard work. The French Ambassador and the visiting French Foreign Minister Briand specially invited representatives of the construction workers to attend the party.

Even in France, it was impossible to truly give ordinary workers such high treatment. But the French, after all, belonged to a centralized European country and knew well how to curry favor with the central government. At the reception before the party started, French Foreign Minister Briand invited the representative of Chinese construction workers to the stage and personally handed a certificate of appreciation and a letter of thanks to him.

Then, French Foreign Minister Briand delivered a speech with the theme "Laborers are Great," highly praising the noble quality of enduring hardship and hard work of the laborers of both China and France, stating that the great buildings passed down to future generations were all built by millions of laborers. At the end of his speech, Minister Briand concluded emotionally, "Emperors, generals, and ministers will eventually turn into dry bones in the grave, but the working people and the achievements completed by the working people will last forever!"

There was applause from the audience, but while many foreign ambassadors clapped, they chuckled inwardly, thinking that just listening to this speech, one would think French Foreign Minister Briand had already joined the Communist Party.

Briand completely ignored those teasing smiles. Finishing his speech, he first arranged for the worker representatives to be seated, then greeted the ambassadors of various countries. Every once in a while, he would look toward the main entrance. However, the embassy secretary at the door never showed urgent movements, indicating that the distinguished guest, He Rui, had not yet arrived.

By 8:15 p.m., there was commotion outside the door. The embassy secretary in a suit first ran out quickly, then soon ran back quickly. Briand went straight to meet him, hearing the secretary, who had fine beads of sweat on his forehead, say, "The Chairman has arrived."

Just stepping out of the main entrance of the building, he saw He Rui already emerging from the car parked in the courtyard. It was the first time Briand had seen He Rui in military uniform with his own eyes. The service uniform without rank insignia was tailored very well, making He Rui appear tall and powerful. Although He Rui was smiling as he walked toward Briand, this military uniform made He Rui exude power in every gesture. Briand tried hard to adapt to this feeling, then recalled that He Rui had never retired. From entering the juvenile military school run by the Qing government at the age of fourteen or fifteen, He Rui had been a soldier. In his life of forty years now, He Rui had been an active-duty soldier for almost two-thirds of his life.

Overcoming this pressure, Briand went up to embrace He Rui. He Rui patted the French Foreign Minister, who could be considered an old friend, "Welcome to China again."

Briand also said, "I haven't seen you for a long time, Mr. Chairman, and I missed you very much."

When He Rui entered the party venue under Briand's guidance, a group of diplomats was already lining the entrance to welcome him. He Rui waved to everyone but headed straight for the Chinese worker representatives. He shook hands one by one with the pleasantly surprised Chinese worker representatives, saying at the same time, "Today is the festival of the working people. I wish everyone a happy holiday."

The guests invited by the French Embassy were all frontline workers. It was the first time these workers had seen He Rui with their own eyes, and they were all so excited they didn't know what to say. He Rui unhesitatingly extended his hand to the worker representatives, and only then did the workers recover and quickly raise their heads. After shaking hands with everyone one by one, He Rui smiled and said, "Thanks to the invitation from the French Embassy, comrades should eat and drink as you please. Relax and rest well."

Asking the workers to sit down again, He Rui walked back to Briand. More than a dozen men in suits were already standing behind Briand. When He Rui approached, Briand introduced, "Mr. Chairman, these gentlemen are all elites of our French banking industry. They have come to support the development of China's banking industry."

He Rui also shook hands with these experts one by one. "Welcome to work in China, gentlemen. Today is China's Labor Day. Both physical labor and mental labor are types of labor. Labor only differs in division of labor, not in nobility or baseness. I wish you experts a happy Labor Day."

The French experts hadn't expected He Rui to say such things, but France was a republic after all, so such political concepts were not rare. Moreover, financial experts were always regarded as members of the exploiting class and running dogs of capitalists in France. Being called "laborers" by He Rui really carried no political malice.

François, the chief economist of the Bank of France, smiled when shaking hands with He Rui. "Mr. Chairman, we came here to serve China's financial sector, and we hope our labor can gain your recognition."

Seeing He Rui chatting cordially with the French financial experts while shaking hands, Minister Briand was very happy. Looking at the guests attending the meeting, seeing British Ambassador Lampson's rather complex expression made Briand even happier. Before He Rui arrived, Briand had already introduced the French financial experts to the guests. Britain and France were close geographically, and this group of French experts were all renowned figures in the financial circle. It was evident that at least British Ambassador Lampson's secretary had heard of the names of several French financial experts and was clearly shaken.

Now the US economic recession had begun to impact Britain. As long as the British were uncomfortable, the French would naturally feel happy.

Turning his gaze away from British Ambassador Lampson, Briand saw US Ambassador Nelson Johnson. Ambassador Nelson looked indifferent, likely a deliberate facade. The US economic crisis was intensifying; it would be strange if Ambassador Nelson could smile.

After chatting with the French experts, He Rui conversed with the ambassadors of various countries one by one. When US Ambassador Nelson Johnson shook hands with He Rui, he leaned close to He Rui and whispered, "Mr. Chairman, if you have time, I hope to communicate with you regarding the loan."

"Alright," He Rui replied, still smiling, but he felt no joy in his heart. Just a day ago, 1,028 important American economists wrote a petition to President Hoover, asking the then Congress and President Hoover not to approve the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which included imposing high import tariffs.

He Rui knew the efforts of this group of American economists were useless. Raising tariffs when encountering problems was America's path dependence, especially now; this policy bill, which could offer an explanation to the American people, would certainly pass. Once this bill passed, unless the US gave China interest-free loans with a repayment period of 20 years or more, China could obtain the dollars for repayment. Otherwise, facing high US tariffs, China would have no way to earn enough dollars to pay off the debt.

Perhaps seeing the interaction between the US Ambassador to China and He Rui, British Ambassador Lampson said when shaking hands with He Rui, "Your Excellency, I would like to discuss the recent situation in Asia with you."

Since the British were being so pretentiously diplomatic, He Rui felt he had no reason not to be equally so, and replied, "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an Asian Department. Ambassador Lampson can exchange views on the Asian situation with the Asian Department."

Lampson was choked up, feeling a wave of grievance in his heart. The dignified British Empire was actually being teased like this; Lampson felt his spirit had been hurt. But Lampson knew very well that once Britain lost the strength to threaten China militarily, all that remained was inducement. Enduring the feeling of being hurt, Lampson forced a smile. "Hehe, Your Excellency, Britain is considering helping Asia maintain stability by providing cooperative loans to China."

He Rui couldn't possibly indulge the British Ambassador, so he replied readily, "Then you should definitely go to the Asian Department of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss this matter. Whether it's Japan, Korea, or Ryukyu, as well as the Assam and Upper Burma regions, they are all the responsibility of the Asian Department."

Lampson knew all his probing had failed. To prevent the situation from becoming more awkward, he answered decisively, "Your Excellency, I wish to request a meeting with you."

"Then please contact the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs," He Rui gave Lampson a direct answer.

"...I will," Lampson replied. When He Rui shook hands with the Dutch Minister to China, Lampson subconsciously smoothed his mustache, feeling a wave of retroactive fear. If he hadn't immediately expressed absolute respect for the Chairman of the Republic of China, he would have encountered an actual rebuff. He had actually almost made such a big mistake; Lampson was truly afraid in hindsight.

Ten minutes later, Briand walked up to He Rui and asked, "Your Excellency, are you preparing to leave?"

He Rui nodded readily. "Yes."

"Can I chat with you for a while?" French Foreign Minister Briand asked politely.

He Rui nodded. A few minutes later, He Rui and Briand had arrived on the second floor of the French Embassy. Looking at the scenery outside through the irregular window, He Rui smiled. "I appreciate Europe's pursuit of breakthroughs in art."

Briand was a layman regarding art, but since He Rui said so, Briand echoed, "France is at the forefront of the world in artistic exploration."

He Rui smiled slightly, suddenly thinking of the Little Mustache. Abstract aesthetics were not the foolish imitators of later generations who casually splashed some paint on canvas; at least the modernist and impressionist masters of this era had profound skills in realistic painting. This was also why the Little Mustache wasn't admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna back then. In the era when Hitler applied for the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, European fine arts had reached the end of realism; Europe had tasted everything realism could achieve. So impressionist and modernist masters pushed for new developments on the basis of realism. Only after seeing Van Gogh's early realist style paintings did He Rui understand how Van Gogh painted "The Starry Night." For example, Van Gogh's early work, "The Altar Boy with Umbrella," showed the inherited changes. That understanding of painting in motion and stillness made He Rui admire him greatly.

But Briand couldn't understand He Rui's feelings. He just felt that the discussion on art was mere pleasantries, so he smiled and got straight to the point. "Mr. Chairman, recently French newspapers believe that the Anglo-Saxons' hypocritical attacks on the existence of immoral trade between China and France have now met with retribution."

"Haha." He Rui was amused; Briand's words were a bit too acerbic.

Seeing He Rui so happy, Briand continued, "Mr. Chairman, the French financial sector believes that China needs more loans and financial services at this stage. France is willing to provide the most sincere services to China."

He Rui felt that France was indeed a usury imperialist country, with a very precise sense of the situation. However, recently the Rockefeller consortium had submitted an investment proposal to the Chinese government, willing to provide an investment of over 1 billion US dollars, and this was only the first phase of investment.

For an American consortium, this judgment was quite rational. Historically, the Soviet Union purchased 3 billion US dollars of machinery and equipment in the first two Five-Year Plans. To pay back the money, the Soviet government implemented a cruel agricultural scissors difference, repaying debts by exporting grain cheaply. This led to the Holodomor in Ukraine, causing the deaths of millions of Soviet people.

Even with full cooperation between China and the Soviet Union in heavy industrial production at this stage, the Soviet demand plus China's demand would require at least 2 billion US dollars in equipment and technology transfer. If this figure were converted into 21st-century US dollars, its value would be roughly equivalent to over 100 billion US dollars.

The financial sector of France, this usury imperialist country, must have predicted this, which was why Briand came to convey France's stance of willingness to fully expand investment in China.

China could absolutely not be controlled by France, so He Rui smiled. "Hehe, Mr. Briand, in order to repay the loans, we believe it is necessary for France to expand imports from China."

Briand had discussed this with the French upper echelon before this trip, so he answered decisively, " regarding textiles and light industrial goods, France is willing to increase procurement from China."

He Rui was very satisfied with Briand's promise. It could be seen that French economic figures were quite serious. If France couldn't increase imports of goods from China, China wouldn't have enough francs to repay the debt.

Before He Rui could ask further, Briand already offered a plan. "Our country wants to give a portion of ship orders to China."

He Rui felt the French side was too sensible. China had recently achieved a huge breakthrough in sectional shipbuilding methods. Past shipbuilding was one dock for one ship, occupying the dock for too long. China was currently vigorously building new docks, and the sectional shipbuilding method was to first divide a whole ship into several sections to be built independently based on welding technology. This construction process didn't need to be built in the dock.

After each section was completed, large gantry cranes were needed to hoist each section into the dock for welding. This process took much less time than building the whole ship in the dock. For the same dock, efficiency increased several times.

And completing sectional shipbuilding technology required first-class welding. As early as the Northeast Government era, He Rui had the technical department develop this part of the technology. If France could give a part of the shipbuilding orders to China, even if China didn't make money, it would at least cover the initial investment costs.

He Rui smiled. "I think the French government has made a wise choice. China's shipbuilding industry will definitely satisfy French customers."

"Mr. Chairman, will China fully cooperate with the French financial industry?" Briand took the opportunity to ask.

He Rui shook his head. "Mr. Briand, cooperation between China and France should not be just in the financial industry, but cooperation across the entire industrial chain."

Briand was stunned. He didn't expect He Rui to reject full financial cooperation so decisively. One of the purposes of his trip was to hope to bind the French financial industry with the Chinese economy, excluding cooperation with Britain and the US. He Rui's decisiveness made Briand confirm once again that the Chairman of the Republic of China was a very firm person. As long as it was beneficial to China, He Rui would never be restricted by so-called 'traditional friendship.'