Chapter 140: A Call From the Immigration Department and the Red Haired Chifeng Tower

On Saturday morning, while Li Xiaofan was doing after-sales service with Song Anni at an outside customer's place, he received a call from Jenny from Minghua Holdings.

"Director Li, I have good news for you. The company's finance just told me that the advance payment of US$155,000 wired from Dubai AFG Trading Company has been fully received!"

"Great, Jenny, so the $155,000 is now in the account of my Yifan Private Limited, right?"

"Well, yes, the US$155,000 is currently in Yifan's newly opened DBS bank account. Director Li, do you want to use this money now?"

"Haha, no need at the moment, I just want to confirm! Thank you, Jenny!"

"You're welcome, Director Li, if there's anything I need you to tell me as soon as possible!"

Shortly after finishing the phone call with Jenny, Li Xiaofan's cell phone rang again.

This time it’s an unfamiliar landline number. Who is this?

The girl on the phone spoke in Singaporean English: "Hello, is this Mr. Li Xiaofan?"

"Yes, I am. Who are you?"

"Hello Mr. Li, I am Alice Xie, from the Singapore Immigration Department..."

"Hi Alice!"

"Mr. Li, you are applying for a self-employed EP pass from the Singapore Immigration Department, right?"

"Yes, I just submitted the materials to your Immigration Department a few days ago..."

"Are you free next Monday morning? My supervisor, Mr. Liang Bofu, would like to have a brief interview with you?"

"Okay, no problem!"

"Then go to the third conference room on the fifth floor of the Singapore Immigration Department at ten o'clock next Monday morning. Can we have a brief meeting?"

"Can!"

"At that time, just tell the staff at the front desk on the first floor of the Immigration Department that I made the appointment."

"Okay, Alice, I understand."

"Okay, then we'll see you on Monday!"

After hanging up the phone with Alice Xie, Li Xiaofan felt a little baffled that the always aloof and mysterious supervisor of the Singapore Immigration Department actually asked him for an interview next week!

It is said that when the Singapore Immigration Department reviews and approves EP passes or permanent residence PR, it generally does not ask you for an interview or anything during the process. The review process is very mysterious.

When the time is up, the Singapore Immigration Department will usually mail a very simple notification letter to inform you that your application has been approved, or directly notify you that it has been rejected. Most people don’t know the intermediate review process.

This time, the supervisor of the Singapore Immigration Department actually asked me for an interview for the first time!

What's the point of the interview? Li Xiaofan was a little confused about the situation.

His most likely guess was that the Immigration Department had doubts about the authenticity of the materials he submitted and wanted to confirm it through an interview...

Saturday afternoon was a legal holiday, and Li Xiaofan did not work overtime as usual.

After returning to the townhouse and taking a quick shower and changing into new clothes, Tang Xinyi drove over and picked him up.

After getting in the car, Li Xiaofan asked: "Where is the home where your father and Aunt Ye from Moldova live together?"

"Do you know Gallop Road, next to the Botanical Garden..."

"You know the Botanical Garden, but you really don't know where Gallop Road is?"

"Anyway, it's a villa in the GCB area, our high-quality villa area in Singapore. You'll know where it is later!"

Tang Xinyi first took Li Xiaofan to the Far East Flora Center on Thomson Road, which may be the largest flower and green plant market in Singapore.

After getting out of the car, Tang Xinyi took a thin sports coat from the trunk.

Li Xiaofan asked strangely: "Xinyi, what are you doing, wearing a coat on such a hot day?"

In Singapore, the normal temperature is between 28-32 degrees all year round, and few people wear jackets. Unless it is a particularly cold movie theater, someone will wear a thin jacket.

Tang Xinyi smiled: "Haha, Fan, I forgot to remind you, later we are going into the largest fresh-cut flower cold storage in Singapore. It's very cold inside, and I can't stand it. You boys may not have a big problem!"

Almost all the streets on Thomson Road are filled with flower shops, with conspicuous signboards hanging at the door. Li Xiaofan followed Tang Xinyi and entered from the rightmost entrance, which is a large fresh-cut flower cold storage.

It was really cold inside the fresh-cut flower cold storage, so cold that Li Xiaofan got goosebumps all over his body. Because there are a large number of imported flowers here, these flowers have relatively high temperature requirements for cold storage storage. Ordinary flowers require 1℃ to 3℃, tropical flowers also require at least 10℃ to 12℃, and the humidity needs to be controlled between 60% and 85%.

"Xinyi, you told me earlier, I also brought a coat. If I stayed here for an hour, I would probably freeze into a popsicle!" Li Xiaofan said with a smile.

Tang Xinyi hugged Li Xiaofan tightly and said, "Then hold me tighter!"

Entering the fresh cut flower cold storage, you will be dazzled by the variety of local and imported flowers.

There are hydrangeas of various colors, common colorful roses, champagne roses, black roses, carnations, hydrangeas, tulips, lavender, sunflowers, forget-me-nots, daisies, orchids, lilies, narcissus...basically everything you can think of. Yes, there are also some matching flowers and leaves for sale, such as baby's breath, lisianthus, etc., everything is available.

There are also many flowers that neither Li Xiaofan nor Tang Xinyi can name in Chinese. The labels above are all written in English that is very difficult to pronounce. I don’t know if they are in Latin...

Tang Xinyi helped Li Xiaofan pick out Ye Niya's favorite red roses and carnations, and also matched them with some daisies, baby's breath, lisianthus, etc.

The flowers in the cold storage were packed in packages and not trimmed. There was a packaging area outside the cold storage, selling wrapping paper, ribbons, semi-finished packaging, bows and other auxiliary materials. There was also a small workbench outside, where you could pay an experienced florist to help you trim and package them into a very beautiful bouquet.

After helping Ye Niya pick the flowers, Tang Xinyi said angrily: "Fan, you didn't give me any flowers!"

"Xinyi, I'll give you whatever flowers you like now, as many as you want! But can you be faster, I'm almost frozen!"

"I like roses, guess what color roses I like?"

"Pink roses?"

As a person who had experienced it in his previous life, Li Xiaofan still had some understanding of the basic flower language of roses. The flower language of red roses is "deeply in love with you", the flower language of pink roses is "first love", the flower language of white roses is "pure love", the flower language of yellow roses is "apology", and the flower language of purple roses is "loyalty, missing"...

"No!"

"White roses? Red roses?"

"Stupid, none of them! Let me give you a hint, is it close to the color of a fine wine?"

"Champagne roses?"

"Right, smart!"

Tang Xinyi continued to ask: "Fan, do you know what the flower language of champagne roses is?"

"This really stumped me, what does champagne roses represent?"

"Stupid, the flower language of champagne roses is: falling in love with you is my greatest happiness in this life, and missing you is my most Sweet pain! When I was in Milan, the boss of an Italian flower shop said that the love represented by champagne roses can penetrate into the bone marrow. Whether it is the happiness of being together or the longing for separation, it seems to be unforgettable! The meaning of champagne roses is: I only love you! "

"Wow, the meaning of the flower language of this champagne rose is so profound! Then I must buy more for you today! Xinyi, how many do you want? Are Tai Zhengxiao's 999 enough? "

"Haha, idiot, why do you need so many 999!"

"Give me 99 roses, 99 roses mean eternity!"

After the clerk gave 99 champagne roses, Li Xiaofan had to admire Tang Xinyi's aesthetics.

Champagne roses have a very special beauty. Although the color of the flower is not that pure color, it is like a sweet, soft cream color, and it is like the color of a light champagne. It is elegant and refined, elegant and fresh, and breathtakingly beautiful!

After buying the flowers, the two paid for them to be packaged and came out, and continued to stroll around.

After being frozen through in the flower cold storage, Li Xiaofan continued to visit the green plant area next to it, just like coming out of an ice cave and diving into the embrace of spring. He felt so warm!

After visiting the flower market, it was still a little early, so Tang Xinyi asked: "Fan, have you been to the Botanical Garden?"

"Of course I have been to the Botanical Garden!"

"There are several famous black and white houses next to the Botanical Garden. Do you know?"

"I really don't know that!"

"Come on, I'll take you there. The scenery there is very special and worth a visit!"

The black and white houses mentioned by Tang Xinyi are also called black and white houses in Singapore. They are rare and preserved old buildings in Singapore. These houses were built in the British colonial era in Singapore's history. They were built after Raffles landed in Singapore, between 1898 and 1941.

At that time, these black and white houses were built by the British for British officers and soldiers and civil servants in the colonial era. Some of these black and white houses were British military barracks at that time, and some were residences of high-ranking officials of the British colonial government. These old black-and-white houses generally cover a large area, have unique styles and beautiful environments. Most of them have one floor above ground and only the second floor is used for living. They are distributed in many places across Singapore.

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is Singapore's first UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, a lush miniature of a tropical island, combining primitive forests and professional flower gardens, with more than 20,000 subtropical and tropical exotic flowers and precious trees.

There are two very beautiful black-and-white houses next to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which are lush and full of birds and flowers.

Tang Xinyi brought Li Xiaofan to Gallop Extension, and these two beautiful black-and-white houses appeared before them.

Tang Xinyi introduced that this black-and-white house No. 5 was built in 1898 and is the oldest black-and-white house currently preserved in Singapore. It was the office of the French Embassy from 1939 to 1999.

There is a black-and-white house No. 7 next to it, which was built in 1906. It was the official residence of the French ambassador at the same time as the black-and-white house No. 5. It has now been converted into a botanical art gallery.

The Black and White House is a unique combination of British "Tudor" architectural style in tropical colonial areas. It is mainly white walls and black windows, with high red tile roofs, wide corridors, high ceilings, high shutters, and good and comfortable natural ventilation to adapt to Singapore's tropical and monsoon climate. Its window corridors are also hung with unique black and white bamboo curtains, which is the standard of the Black and White House and looks very beautiful.

There are towering trees in front of the Black and White House, and a huge lawn in front.

After strolling around, the two sat on the lawn under the shade of the trees. The view here is wide, the blue sky and white clouds, wandering among the birds and flowers, making people feel relaxed and happy.

Tang Xinyi lay in Li Xiaofan's arms and asked: "Fan, let me ask you, why are most of these black and white houses in front of you empty on the first floor, and only the second floor is used for living?"

"This is good for ventilation!"

"Wrong! Because these black and white houses were built during the British colonial era, when horse-drawn carriages were popular. Some black and white houses with large areas had long driveways from the gate to the house..."

"Oh, so that's how it is. I learned something new again!"

"Let me ask you another question. In the past, the local Chinese in Singapore called these black and white houses 'red-haired wind-eating buildings'. Do you know why?"

"Ah, red-haired wind-eating buildings? Red-haired should mean foreigners. Eating wind? Could it be that because the first floor is ventilated, foreigners like to sit on the first floor to eat the wind and enjoy the cool breeze?"

"Haha, haha!" After hearing this, Tang Xinyi laughed so hard that she shook in Li Xiaofan's arms, "Fan, you big fool!"