Chapter 64

When the weather in Berlin gradually turned cooler, it was already mid-October.

On the third Saturday of the month, right after breakfast, Hans and John got busy. It was the weekend, and John had invited seven or eight Americans studying at the University of Berlin to his home as guests, so he naturally had to prepare well.

Unconsciously, it had been more than a month since he started school.

With the help of his uncle from afar and his own outstanding performance, John was admitted to the University of Berlin without any surprises, becoming one of the 1,700 new students in 1883.

Over a month, he gradually got used to his current life.

He went to school on time every day, quietly familiarizing himself with the professors, teaching assistants, and classmates around him. More importantly, he quietly understood the universities of this era. As a freshman, he did not yet have the qualifications to enter the laboratory, and John himself did not plan to show his abilities so soon, so he went with the flow, mixing with the other young people who started school at the same time.

Well... to be precise, it couldn't really be called just getting by.

For John, who had the complete experience of junior high, high school, and university from his previous life, the knowledge of this era was clearly too simple. The only thing he needed to spend time on was figuring out which of the knowledge in his mind had already appeared and which had not yet been discovered or summarized. So naturally, John focused his main energy on "broadening his social circle," especially on befriending the Americans studying at the University of Berlin. In just a month, he had met nearly fifty American students in various ways, and he had become familiar with all thirty-odd of those studying at the medical school!

Inviting everyone to his home today was John's way of further strengthening their bonds.

However, after a busy hour, John sighed and smiled bitterly, "Mr. Elber, I'm starting to miss my time in New York."

"Sir, I can actually handle all these things on my own," the butler said with a smile while preparing the desserts for lunch.

Although John was not short of money, after careful consideration, he still decided not to hire a maid and a cook. Hans had nothing to do at home and was also good at cooking, so it was unnecessary. Moreover, although the American students at the University of Berlin generally came from families with good conditions, the rich were still a minority, and John did not want to stand out too much. After all, being able to rent such a house and have Hans take care of him was already quite noticeable.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Just as John shook his head and was about to say something with a smile, a knock came from outside.

Hans hurried to the door and soon returned to John with two envelopes, smiling, "Sir, you have two telegrams. One is from Mr. Old Hunter, and the other is from London, probably from Mr. Stone!"

"Grandpa and Joshua's telegrams?"

John's heart stirred, and he quickly got up to take them.

John was not surprised by the telegram from Old Hunter. In fact, since he sent the first letter to his grandfather, proposing to study medicine, the two had been in constant telegraphic communication. Old Hunter was extremely angry about John's choice and sent harsh reprimands via expensive telegrams. However, after John skillfully explained himself, his grandfather gradually calmed down. John's reasoning was simple: medicine was the specialty he was most interested in, but he would not neglect other areas and promised to achieve excellent results!

Perhaps considering John's talent, after spending a considerable amount on telegrams, Old Hunter's attitude finally began to soften.

"I guess this telegram should be about it."

Although he felt that Old Hunter had probably accepted his choice, John hesitated for a moment and decided to read Joshua's telegram first.

Opening it, he found only two short lines: "The matter has been settled. We will arrive in Berlin around October 20th."

"Phew..."

Seeing these words, John immediately let out a long sigh of relief.

About half a month ago, Joshua had sent a telegram from London, informing John that he and Funk had arrived in London. Now that Joshua had booked tickets to Berlin, it seemed that the negotiations for building a bicycle factory in Britain had been successful.

For various reasons, Joshua and Funk did not choose to invest directly in Britain.

Although bicycle sales were still extremely popular, bringing in a steady stream of cash for the factory, after more than a year of rapid development, they were forced to admit that the factory's cash flow had problems.

On one hand, the factory's scale had expanded due to strong demand, and the number of workers had increased continuously, with almost all profits reinvested in production. On the other hand, the tricycle, which was also popular, although not as widely sold as ordinary bicycles, was priced much higher and had higher profits, so they had to invest in expanding, leaving them with no extra funds.

Building a small factory in Britain would not be cost-effective, but they could not raise the necessary funds to expand significantly in the short term. After much deliberation, Joshua and Funk decided to seek cooperation with the British.

For the Stone family, originally from Britain, this was not a problem.

According to Joshua's plan, they would negotiate with an elder of the Stone family to co-build a bicycle factory. They would provide the patent, technology, and some capital, while the elder of the Stone family would provide the land, workers, and capital to build a large bicycle factory. The sales area would be the entire British Empire and all its colonies, with both parties holding equal shares. This idea was approved by Old Hunter, and before leaving New York, Joshua and Funk jointly wrote a ten-page letter to John, explaining the current difficulties and the necessity of building a factory in Britain as soon as possible, leaving the final decision to him.

Without any hesitation, John agreed.

As long as he could gain more benefits, John did not care who controlled the factory or the exact share of his equity. To be frank, the bicycle factory was just a product of a sudden inspiration, mainly to earn a large sum of money in a short time. It was not a focus of his future development. In fact, if someone offered a price that could make him reconsider, John would not mind selling the patent and shares!

"Next, it's the matter of building a factory in Germany."

Putting Joshua's telegram aside, John raised an eyebrow and fell into deep thought.

He was not worried that Joshua would oppose the proposal. After all, Germany was rapidly rising at this time, and the economic conditions of the locals were much better than those of the immigrants in America. According to John's understanding over the past month, ordinary workers already had some savings after paying rent and daily expenses, making it not too difficult to save up for a bicycle. Moreover, Germany's neighbors, such as France and Austria, had strong purchasing power.

The key was finding the right partner!

Originally, in Old Hunter's view, the Schiller family should have been the best choice, but John was somewhat reluctant. Regardless of whether they had sufficient funds and talent, his relatives lacked the business acumen to manage and operate a factory.

Moreover...

The bicycle business was definitely a good one, and since John had the idea of developing in Germany, using this opportunity to connect with some influential figures in Berlin was also a good choice!

"Let's wait until Joshua and the others arrive to discuss it."

After thinking for a while, John put the matter aside for the moment.

It was almost time, and the first guests would be arriving soon. John stretched his limbs, rolled up his sleeves, and quickly joined Hans in the preparations...