福州人和客家人的故事。。。 Story of The Foochow and The Hakka…
话说客家人决定到中国广州去考察他工程要所用到的产品。
It started with The Hakka deciding to go to Guangzhou, China, to source for products for his business projects.
客家人 － 酷酷的，穿着有品味，年轻，很瘦但好看，有时下流行的发型。
The Hakka – cool, dresses well, young,very thin but good- looking, sports the
latest hairstyle.
客家人联络在中国已有十年生意经验，现在也住在广州的福州人。
身为好朋友，福州人很欢迎客家人的到来，而且非常乐意当向导和帮助。
The Hakka contacted The Foochow who has had business dealings in China for ten years already and is currently residing in Guangzhou.
Being a good friend, The Foochow happily welcomed the coming of The Hakka and was most willing to be a guide and help.
福州人 － 讲话大声，偏向胖的那一边，满脑子生意经，对服装与时尚等无聊东西一点兴趣都没有，房间里也没有镜子。
The Foochow – loud, more on the plump side, very business-minded, has no interest in fashion and such nonsense whatsoever, does not have a mirror in his bedroom.
哦，我有没有说客家人也邀请福建人同去？什么原因只有客家人知道。
总之，福建人在故事里不重要，他只是写故事的人。
Oh, did I mention The Hakka invited The Hokkien to come along, for reason only known to The Hakka himself?
The Hokkien is not important in this story, he is just the writer here.
经过一天的考察，福州人有所观察，但基于礼貌和不要使客家人难为情，他偷偷告诉福建人说客家人生意经不够，太老实和太轻易相信人。
“他这样很容易被一些诡诈的中国生意人杀掉的，”福州人告诉福建人。
可是按福建人的注意，客家人好像很开心被杀，还以为自己找到很好的机会。。。
After a day of sourcing around, The Foochow had some observation, but being very polite and not wanting to embarrass The Hakka, he secretly told The Hokkien that The Hakka isn’t business-minded enough as he is too straight and trusting, “he can be easily slaughtered by some unscrupulous business people in China,” The Foochow told The Hokkien.
But as The Hokkien observed, in fact The Hakka seemed very happy to be slaughtered thinking he had got some very good deals.
所以很善良的福建人，就很福建的告诉客家人福州人所说的；可是那客家人一贯很酷的个性，才懒得去理福建人真心的劝告。
So being very kind and very Hokkien, The Hokkien told The Hakka what The Foochow said.
But being very typical of The Hakka, he remained cool and couldn’t be bothered with The Hokkien’s honest advice.
所以福建人唯一能做的就是，每当客家人好像就要谈好价钱和做决定时，福建人就赶忙呼叫福州人过来干涉和拯救。
然后福建人就会悄悄走开，因为福州人大声谈判的方式是有点难为情。。。
Therefore the only thing The Hokkien could do was, whenever The Hokkien saw that The Hakka seemed about to strike a deal on certain prices, The Hokkien
would quickly cry out to The Foochow to come and intervene and rescue. Then The Hokkien would quietly walk away because the loud negotiation technique of The Foochow can be quite embarrassing.
两天过后，客家人完成他的任务，就闲逛买纪念品。很莫名其妙的他竟然想买茶壶，因这之前从来没看过他喝中国茶！
他就装得很专业那样看茶壶，还问女老板他们有没有售卖设计师限量版的茶壶。。。女老板说个个都是设计师的限量版！
但客家人没看上任何一个，他找那种很时尚创意的中国茶壶。。。
哎哟，拜托啦，客家先生，这里讲的是中国茶壶啊，怎么可能找到时尚设计和惊人色彩呢？
After two days, The Hakka got what he came for and was free to roam around and shop for souvenirs. Very randomly he wanted to buy a Chinese teapot though I had never seen him drink Chinese tea before. So he acted like a real pro looking at the teapots and asking the lady of the shop whether they sold limited designer’s edition teapots… The shop lady said all were designers’ limited editions!
But The Hakka could not find one he really liked， he was looking for something modern and creative…
Oh, come on, get serious man, Mr. Hakka, we are talking about Chinese teapots here! Modern design with daring
colours??
突然，客家人听到女老板讲家乡话，充满惊喜的发现大家是同乡！
哇，感觉好像在中国找到他的根，和失散多年的姐姐！
他们只差没有拥抱哭泣罢了！
Then The Hakka overheard the lady boss spoke in their mother tongue and discovered with great joy that they were from the same village in China!
Wow, The Hakka felt as though he had found his root and his long lost sister in China. They only fell short of hugging each other and cried.
所以这“善良”的客家妇女就充满爱心的要帮助这可能是他从马来西亚来失散多年的弟弟，她非常关心的对他客家人说他若去别家店肯定被杀，因为客家人对于茶壶的提问会马上出卖自己是茶壶的外行。
她就安慰客家人说他来对了店，因为既然大家是同乡她就很乐意用很低的380人民币，卖给他一个设计师茶壶！她说别人因看得出客家人对茶壶一窍不通，一定会轻易说那茶壶值一千人民币以上！客家人当然被这新姐姐的爱感动。
So the “kind” Hakka lady, full of compassion to help her possible long lost Hakka brother from Malaysia. She felt very concerned for The Hakka and said he would surely be slaughtered if he had gone to the other shops, as The Hakka’s various questions about teapots immediately betrayed the fact that he was only an amateur in teapots. So she comforted The Hakka that he had come to the right shop as
since they are from the same village in China, she was most willing to sell him very cheaply a designer teapot for RMB380 only! She said others would have easily quoted RMB1,000 and above since The Hakka appeared so raw in this trade. Of course The Hakka felt very touched by the love of his new sister.
在此刻，眼看客家人就要被宰了，福建人又赶快叫福州人来干涉。。。
结果那很便宜380人民币的茶壶以150卖给客家人！
福州人说若不是赶时间去机场，他一定杀到100才肯罢休。。。
我看以后我们到中国买东西一定要叫福州人作向导。。。
At this juncture, seeing The Hakka was about to be slaughtered, The Hokkien quickly asked The Foochow to intervene again…
As a result, the very cheap RMB380 designer teapot was sold for only RMB150 to The Hakka!
The Foochow said if we were not rushing to the airport, he would have insisted on just RMB100…
I think we should all ask The Foochow to be our guide when we go shopping in China…
