In a blink of an eye, Rockefeller had been working at Hewitt-Tuttle for more than a year. With a salary of five dollars a week, Rockefeller had saved more than three hundred dollars, which was not easy, because it meant that, Rockefeller's expenses were only about a dollar a week. This is not just the expenses of Rockefeller alone, but the expenses of Rockefeller plus at least one younger brother's bill's money is always sporadic, and it is very unreliable.

This money is enough to live a life, but it is still far from enough to invest in entrepreneurship. At this time, the money needed to start a company is not much, but three or four thousand dollars is still needed. Rockefeller felt that he needed a few more years of honest work before he could start chasing his dreams. However, at this time, an encounter changed all that.

It was Sunday, and Rockefeller and Scrooge continued to volunteer at church as before. After the service began, they sat down on the bench in the far corner of the auditorium, as usual, listening to Pastor Thompson preach. At this time, a man walked up to Rockefeller, took off his hat, nodded at him, and sat down on the bench.

Scrooge saw that Rockefeller nodded at the man too—apparently, they knew each other, but they didn't speak because the priest was preaching.

The pastor's sermons are extraordinarily long, and Scrooge, who has no religious beliefs, but pretends to be pious, sits there bored and listens to the pastor's old-fashioned Bible stories, well, today is Galilee The wedding banquet in Cana, well, this was the first miracle that Jesus Christ performed. During the wedding banquet, the host ran out of wine, and Jesus asked people to pour water into the wine jar, and the water became wine.

"This story is so unscientific," Scrooge thought boringly, "Father Thompson's sermons are also very poor, well, Elder Zosima in "The Brothers Karamazov" seems to have preached on this chapter as well. Father Thompson's preaching is much better. Well, at the wedding banquet in Cana of Galilee, the host didn't even have enough wine. This must be a very poor man. Most of the Baptists are also poor. Jesus' first A miracle is for the poor, and even that can't be grasped..."

However, although he disapproved of the preaching of the pastor in his heart, and even though he might be stronger if he went up, in order to maintain his appearance as a devout believer, Scrooge still had to sit honestly and boredly watch the sun shine through. The mottled light and shadow cast by the stained glass of the church moved slowly with the passage of time, and after an unknown amount of time, it was noon, and Father Thomp also ended his lengthy sermon.

"Amen!" Rockefeller finished the last word with the priest, then turned and said to the man who had just come and sat beside her:

"Clark, why are you here, didn't you go back to England?"

"John, I think what you said before is more reasonable. The United States does have more opportunities than the United Kingdom." The man replied with a smile.

This man is Maurice Clark, an Englishman born in the United States, a classmate of Rockefeller's in business school, but he is ten years older than Rockefeller - unlike Rockefeller, he has been working for several years later, he went to receive training in business school. After graduation, Clark went back to England, and Rockefeller lost contact with him.

"Why, what are your plans for coming back?" Rockefeller continued to ask.

"There are some plans, but let's talk about these things outside the church, otherwise, maybe Christ will be angry and drive us out of the temple." Maurice Clark said.

The first thing Jesus did after entering the temple in Jerusalem was to drive out the people who were buying and selling in the temple. Now as a "devout believer", it is indeed inappropriate to talk about business in the church. So all three stood up and left the church.

Chinese people have a habit, that is, they like to discuss business at the wine table. In fact, many foreigners do the same. But now these three guys have a bit of a stingy habit, so although it was time for lunch, they didn't find a hotel to eat and talk, but just talked directly on the street outside the church.

"Okay, Clark, talk about your plans," said Rockefeller.

"I want to set up a company specializing in grain trading. You know, most of the land in England is used for pasture, and the area used for growing wheat is very small, so the supply of wheat in England is largely dependent on imports. And land The price of wheat produced in the United States can always be lower than that of Europe, even if the cost of transportation is added, the price will still be lower than that of Europe. Therefore, reselling wheat from the United States and so on I think it's a lucrative business to traffic things to Europe. It's just that I don't have enough capital now, so I'm looking for a partner. John, I noticed you when I was in business school, you are The one with the most serious and the most questions among all your classmates. In addition, I also inquired about your recent situation, and many people who are engaged in this business praise you for your ability. So I found you. I think you will not really Are you going to be a hired hand forever? I have $2,000 on hand, and if you can raise the same amount, we can set up a company and be your own boss! The economy is so good right now that almost anything can be bought or sold. To make money, we must seize such an opportunity and live up to this era! How about it, John?" Clark said urgently, staring at Rockefeller's eyes.

"But," Rockefeller shook his head and thought for a while, "Clark, I don't have that much money right now."

"John, how much money do you have now?" Clark still didn't give up.

"I only have three hundred dollars." Rockefeller shook his head helplessly, "It's too bad."

"It's really too bad..." Clark's tone was full of regret.

"John, I remember Uncle Bill saying he'd give you a thousand dollars when you turned twenty-one," Scrooge said abruptly, "You can try to pre-make this money from him, If you're willing to pay the interest, and Uncle Bill does have the money, he'll be willing to lend it to you. Besides, Mr. Clark, if you can wait, I'll be able to pay two thousand in two months. U.S. dollars."

"Who is this... gentleman?" Now Scrooge was just a 12-year-old child. Clark once regarded him as Rockefeller's younger brother. He knew that Rockefeller had two younger brothers, but he had never seen them. Now the kid suddenly spoke up, claiming that he could give out two thousand dollars all at once. In a situation of shock, Clark actually used the title "Mr." for such a kid.

"This is my neighbor, Scrooge MacDonald. Well, don't look at him as a kid, he's a genius, a real genius," said Rockefeller.

"Can you really come up with two thousand dollars?" Clark stared at Scrooge with scrutiny, looking at Scrooge's clothes up and down, and seemed a little unconvinced. Indeed, $2,000 was not a small number back then. You must know that at that time, an average worker earned only about $2 a week. It would be fine if Scrooge was wearing high-end, high-end, high-end clothes, but the clothes on Scrooge's body, um, although they were washed very cleanly, were made of very thick and durable fabrics - there are Rich people's children don't wear such things.

"Scrooge's father is the best shoemaker we have here, and his family is better than mine." Rockefeller saw Clark's doubts, and explained in a half-joking tone, "And Scrooge is very capable, now I have finished middle school and started helping Uncle Joseph manage the business."

Cobblers often have to deal with things like leather potions, so it's natural to wear sackcloth like this. Moreover, as a shoemaker, Old Joseph was quite famous. Clark had a pair of leather shoes that were custom-made in Old Joseph's shop. If it was the son of old Joseph, if he was as capable as Rockefeller said, he might have given two thousand dollars.

"Two months? That shouldn't be a problem," Clark said. "John, if you can get that $1,300, and Scrooge's $2,000, we've got $5,300. , that's enough for us to start a small business. And within two months, maybe I'll be able to get some more money out."

"Well, I'll go back and discuss with my father to see if I can advance the money. In any case, I'll give you an answer in a week." Rockefeller said finally.

...

After saying goodbye to Clark, Rockefeller returned home and immediately wrote a letter to his father, asking him for the $1,000, and promising him that he could give him double the interest of the bank. Rockefeller believed that such conditions should impress Bill.

Three days later, Bill wrote back to Rockefeller, he told Rockefeller that if he was given a month, he could help Rockefeller raise $1,000, but he could not lend him the money for a long time, after a year at most, Rockefeller must return the money to him, of course, with interest.

A few days later, Rockefeller, Scrooge, and Clark got together again and formally signed a letter of intent.

Two months later, a new enterprise engaged in grain distribution was officially established. The American history of descendants does this record the establishment of this business

"The Clark-McDonnell-Rockefeller Company founded on this day was not a stable and long-lived business. In fact, less than a year after its founding, one of the company's three main investors Focused on other careers and withdrew most of his assets from the company, and after a few years, Clark, one of the company's founders, was also excluded from the company, and the company's name and business direction also changed. But this company called Clark-McDonnell-Rockefeller is definitely a legend in American history because the two richest and most influential people in American history are from this company. started there.”