America 1881: Legend of the West

Today is Harriman's eighth day in New York.

It was also the first day he officially settled in the new office location.

As the host, Morgan had prepared an office for him in advance.

The Flatiron Building, the tallest building in New York, was just completed.

The Flatiron Building, as its name suggests, looks like a standing Flatiron from the outside.

Immediately after the completion of the Morgan Building, he went in to select an office on the sixteenth floor for Harriman to decorate.

Harriman hugged his big belly, half lying on the big boss chair given to him by Morgan, and looked at the luxurious decoration.

He has been living in the west all year round, and his pursuit of life has always been rugged.

Offices are often simply built on the second floor near a station.

"Mr. Morgan is such a practical man. I can't believe he actually turned this place into, well, a palace in such a short time."

He admired the man standing beside him respectfully.

"Mr. Morgan has asked you to feel at home. You have come all the way from the west to New York to handle the railway business for Northern Securities Company. Mr. Morgan is deeply moved."

The man was a senior manager in the Morgan Company and was responsible for purchasing Harriman's property.

"In addition, when this building was sold, it was fully renovated from the 12th to the 18th floor. Its builder, Mr. Astor Jr., was very tasteful in this aspect. We just moved some furniture in. .”

"Thanks to Mr. Morgan, we are now a family, a family!" Harriman said repeatedly, touching the leather handle of the chair.

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Harriman, Mr. Morgan also asked me to hire a secretary for you."

The manager said as he walked towards the door.

"From dozens of candidates, I have selected three that I personally think are more suitable for you. You can interview them today."

In fact, Harriman had an assistant at his original railroad company.

However, with the merger of the company, his original employees were dismantled and exchanged owners with Hill's original company.

The manager pointed to the electric bell on the table:

"You press the bell and the candidate comes in, and if you need to replace the next candidate, you press the bell."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the office door.

After watching the manager leave, Harriman continued to familiarize himself with his office.

He opened the desk drawer and wanted to look inside.

The railroad tycoon was not particularly interested in the secretary's affairs.

He was willing to come to New York from the west because he originally wanted to experience the prosperity of the eastern metropolis.

As for work, I don't really care about it at all.

Mr. Harriman was now preoccupied with the ball he was going to attend after get off work.

After wandering around for a while, this office lost the value of further exploration for him.

Harriman touched his remaining hair, and after some mental struggle, he pressed the bell on the table.

"Ding-a-ling, jingle-a-ling"

The ringing came from outside the door.

After a while, the office door was pushed open.

A young man with brown hair walked in.

His hair was shiny and fell back very neatly, and his mustache was slightly raised.

The young man's mental state seems to be very good and full of vitality.

Before Harriman could speak, he introduced himself:

"Hello, Mr. Harriman, my name is Woolf Lorenzo. I graduated from the Yale University Law Department and am proficient in state laws."

A young man named Lorenzo introduced himself to Harriman in a voluble manner.

Harriman held his cheek with one hand and tapped the index finger of the other hand rhythmically on the table with no interest.

The freckles on the young man's nose swelled "proudly" with the owner's confident introduction.

This made Harriman feel a little uncomfortable.

".I used to work in the 'Legal and Financial Center' of the 'Chen Group', mainly dealing with the business of the Western Railway Company. I have very rich experience in the railway industry. I..."

Harriman's finger, which he was tapping on the table, suddenly stopped.

"You just said, where have you worked?" he asked suddenly.

"The Chen Consortium, sir." Lorenzo replied proudly.

"What do you think of Western Railway?" Harriman continued.

"It's very good, sir. It even has a sense of transcending the times itself. I am willing to share the experience I learned from him with you, him."

"That's it! Mr. Lovren!"

Mr. Harriman became irritable for no reason, and interrupted the man in front of him rudely.

"Um, it's Lorenzo, sir." The young man was a little embarrassed and had to add.

"It's not important, Mr. Freckles. Unfortunately, you were eliminated!" Harriman spread his hands and said expressionlessly.

Who cares what your name is?

The young people's admiration for the Western Railway Company opened Harriman's scars and reminded him of the fear of being dominated by Chen Jianqiu in the West.

He could not allow his secretary to be Chen Jianqiu's undercover.

Lorenzo walked out of the office door dejectedly.

Mr. Harriman rang the bell again.

But he waited for a while, but there was no movement.

Mr. Harriman felt strange and pressed the bell again.

However, five or six minutes passed and there was still no movement.

"what the hell?"

Harriman stood up from his chair, walked to the door of the office, opened the door and stuck his head out.

Then his chin nearly hit a woman's head.

"Yes, I'm sorry, ha, Mr. Harriman, I don't know if it's time to come in."

The woman held a large pile of information, lowered her head, and stammered.

"come in."

Harriman opened the door, walked to the big desk, and sat down.

He looked at the woman and saw that she was wearing a thick dress and slowly moved in with small steps.

"Can you please close the door?" Harriman was really impatient. "Also, can you raise your head?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, but finally turned around and slowly closed the door.

She raised her head slightly.

Harriman glanced at it and frowned again involuntarily.

The woman looked to be in her thirties or forties and was wearing a pair of large, round glasses. The lenses were as thick as the bottom of a Cordon Bleu bottle.

She reminded Harriman of an animal called a dragonfly for no apparent reason.

"Introduce yourself," Harriman said.

"I, my name is Julianne Padilla, I am a clerk, this, this is my information"

She timidly placed the pile of information she was holding on the table in front of Harriman, then stepped back, continued to lower her head, and began to pick her fingers.

Harriman did not look through the information at all, but tilted his head and asked:

"Can you tell yourself? What are your specialties?"

"Speciality?" Padilla raised her head in confusion, "Does it count if I can type one hundred and twenty words a minute?"

Although, at the beginning of the 20th century, being able to type 120 words per minute was considered a pretty good level.

But Harriman seemed less interested.

"What else?" he asked.

"If anything, I, I know English, French and Chinese." the woman replied.

"Chinese?"

As if some sensitive word was triggered, Harriman suddenly jumped up from his chair.

"Why do you understand Chinese? Why do we need to understand Chinese?"

Padilla was startled by Harriman's reaction, but still answered honestly:

"Mr. Harriman, because, because there are many Chinese businessmen and managers in New York now."

"They are usually fluent in English, but my past employers would require someone who could speak Chinese."

"Firstly, it is to show respect for them, and secondly, it is to be able to understand what they are saying when communicating privately."

"Since Mr. Chen became famous in New York, Chinese has become a required course for secretarial staff here."

Jingle Bell!Jingle Bell!

Harriman frantically rang the bell, pointed at the door and said to Padilla:

"Get out! Get out!"

The woman picked up the information from Harriman's desk and "escaped" out of the door in a panic.

Harriman slumped back into his boss' chair.

Now he wished he could pull Morgan's manager over and ask him.

How do you screen people?

And “I think it’s more appropriate!”

Go to hell, is it so difficult to find a secretary in New York who has an innocent background and is not next to Chen Jianqiu?

Harriman sat sulking in his chair.

However, at this moment, the door was opened again.

"Can you please go out first? Wait until I let you in."

Harriman took a moment to himself.

Just when he raised his head, ready to angrily scold the person who broke into his office without permission.

He saw a long snow-white leg stretching out from the door.

right! A pair of long, snow-white legs!

The owner of the long legs quickly came in from the door.

Harriman was stunned.

The woman was wearing a short skirt that only reached her knees, and the fabric wrapped around her hips, highlighting her graceful figure.

She didn't seem to mind showing off her proud breast curves at all. She wore a string of pearl necklaces around her neck, which complemented her snow-white skin.

This outfit has broken through the perception of men in the early 20th century about how women in legitimate professions should dress.

Harriman swallowed unconsciously.

The woman knocked the door of the office with her heels.

She did not go to the chair opposite Harriman, but sat directly on the table in front of Harriman.

The woman gathered her golden wavy hair and met Harriman's eyes with a provocative look in her eyes.

Her red lips parted slightly:

"What's wrong? Mr. Harriman, aren't we looking for a secretary here?"