Chapter 34 Section thirty-four

The next day is New Year's Eve.Li Shan entered the palace early in the morning, feeling relaxed.Because when it comes to the New Year's Eve, the things that should be done in the palace during the New Year have already been done, and the princes and officials, those who should give gifts, and those who should give "Jie Jing" have also been given out long ago.This day, when I arrived as usual, I was drinking tea in the court room of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and I was only thinking about finding those "sisters-in-law" to play at home for a long time? The plan was made, and just as he was about to get up and leave, he saw a Sura stepping in through the curtain and said hastily, "My lord, please go up quickly! Manager Li is looking for you."

"Oh," Li Shan took out a small silver chain and handed it to Sura, and asked, "Please explain clearly, is Lafayette summoning me, or is Director Li looking for me?" "Director Li is looking for him because Lafayette summoned him." "That's it. Do you know where Lafayette is at the moment?" "I heard it's in Ningshou Palace." There was no need to be too busy, Ningshou Palace was very close, Li Shan walked calmly, as soon as he entered the palace gate, a young eunuch around Li Lianying greeted him, and hurriedly said: "Hurry up! Lafayette is getting impatient. Master Li, you can always be careful, it seems that Lafayette is going to lose his temper today."

I went in and took a look, and sure enough, Empress Dowager Cixi's face was gloomy, and she didn't look like she was about to celebrate the New Year at all.Li Shan didn't dare to look too much, he knelt down to meet each other, and said in his mouth: "The slave pays homage to Lafayette." "You lift your head up, I'll look at you." As soon as Li Shan heard this, he knew something was wrong, and his temper was aimed at him, so he had no choice but to answer: "Yes!" Bite the bullet and raised his face. "I think you look good, you should be lucky!"

This is another puzzling remark, Li Shan only replied: "It's all the grace of Lafayette." "What kindness do I have for you?" Empress Dowager Cixi sneered, "Hmph! You are so flattering!" Was the errand wronged?Li Shan couldn't think about it for a while, so he could only meet again and again and say: "Please don't be angry, Lafayette! I made a mistake in that matter, and my servant will correct it immediately." "Who said you did something wrong? You did a good job, and I have to reward you with a job to clean Yingtai." Hearing this, Li Shan suddenly realized that it was for the matter of leading someone to paste the window paper for the emperor.He was very vigilant, knowing that what he said was superfluous, he just raised his hands, slapped himself in the face fiercely, slapped him once, and cursed: "Damn Lishan!"

After beating more than ten times in a row, the Empress Dowager Cixi just kept silent, Li Shan was a little anxious at this moment, how long will the beating continue like this?I swollen a face by myself, how can I meet people in the new year?Thinking this way, he immediately gave Li Lianying a look for help. Without this wink, Li Lianying wanted to save him, but she had to watch Empress Dowager Cixi's expression first, and only when she saw that her anger had calmed down, did she shout: "Li Shan, get out!" Hearing the word "roll", Lishan's inspiration was triggered, and he rolled on the spot, just like the little monkey in the play performing skills in front of Monkey King.

Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but smile, she was relieved.But Li Shan was dejected, stroking his burning face and hands, just wanting to find a place to hide. At this moment, Li Lianying chased after her and called softly, "Fourth Master, come and sit in my room." Li Shan couldn't get what he wanted, so he followed Li Lianying into the house, took off a mink hat and put it on the table, and said with a wry smile, "Look, there's bad luck coming from there." "Forget it, forget it! Is it worth getting angry like this?" "I'm not angry about anything else. I feel that I'm well-connected. From here on, there's always someone to take care of you. Even if I'm not considerate there, if you tell me clearly, I will definitely make up for it. It's New Year's Eve, so why bother to be hurt in the dark? people?"

Li Lianying knew that he was suspicious of the eunuch's accusation, and immediately replied: "Fourth Master, then you have made a mistake! I can guarantee that no one who has walked in front of Lafayette has said such a thing." "So, Lafayette saw it himself?" Li Lianying laughed, "Of course not!" He paused and said, "Fourth Master, let me tell you the truth. This morning, Prince Duan came to see Lafayette." Li Shan didn't know how Duan Wang knew about pasting the window paper?Going out of the palace and thinking about it carefully in the car, I remembered that I had talked about this matter with Luyun, so I saw the truth all of a sudden, it must be Luyun who talked fast and told Zai Lan, which caused this accident without reason.

"Slowly!" He lifted the curtain of the car and ordered, "Go to the bottom of the pocket." At the bottom of the pocket, it was naturally Tianxi Class, and Lu Yunxi welcomed him in diligently, and said with a smile: "The red-topped flower feathers are here! It seems that Tianxi Class is going to be lucky!" Hearing the word "lucky", Li Shan couldn't help but get angry, "Your mother's bad luck!" After cursing, he took off his hat and threw it heavily on the table. "What's the matter?" Lu Yun's face changed, and she asked timidly, "Fourth Master, why are you so angry?"

"I'm not angry, I'm not angry." Li Shan's expression suddenly softened again, "I'm sending you money." The money was not a lie to make her happy, Luyun asked Lishan for two thousand silver for the New Year, and he promised to give it to her today.At this time, he took out a stack of silver bills from the boot page, took two out and held them in his hands, handed them over immediately, and had something to say. "Lvyun, let me ask you, how much did Lord Lan give you?" "He wanted to give me three hundred silver, but I didn't ask him." Lu Yun replied honestly.

"why?" "I just don't want his money." Li Shan asked again: "Why?" "I don't want to make friends with him." Luyun said again, "As for the account that he should give, I will ask him to ask for it. Anyway, I won't ask him for any money." "Whose do you want?" "Does it need to be said?" Lu Yun smiled charmingly, put one hand on Li Shan's shoulder, and went to pick up his bank note with the other. Li Shan took her hand and squeezed it, "Slow down, I will give it to you." He took out a two thousand silver note in the name of "Heng" and stuffed it into her sleeve, and Lu Yun pressed his hand, letting her He warmed his hands in her sleeves.

This has come true, but her eyes are still looking at his other bank note, seeing that the amount is 10,000 silver, she can't help but wonder, why did he take out such a huge sum of money? "Get some scissors!" "This," Lu Yun was surprised, "what are you doing?" "You'll know when you get the scissors." So Luyun went to the dressing table to look for scissors. Lishan had already folded the bank note again and again, folded it into a long strip and clamped it between his fingers. The ticket was cut into two pieces, and when it was unfolded, it happened to be cut in the line of "payable library plain silver 10,000 taels" and became two halves on the left and right. "Here is it for you!" Li Shan handed her half a ticket, "Now this one is not worth it, and two and a half tickets are needed to make it work. On that day, the person who gave you three hundred silver won't come to your door anymore." I'll give you the other half." Bai Huahua's 10,000 taels of flat-grained silver was elusive, which made Lvyun feel restless and itchy.After thinking for a while, he blurted out: "Fourth Master, if you take me back to the mansion, it will be over once and for all?" Lishan has a purpose, even though there are willows and wall flowers on the road, he will be merciful everywhere and never pick them back to make offerings.Immediately smiled and said: "No! The place where I live is called the Wine and Vinegar Bureau, and my wife is the number one vinegar jar." Lu Yun also knew Li Shan's temper somewhat, and knew that he must not force it, so he said: "I am not greedy for your ten thousand silver. We have known each other until now, and I have no objection to what your fourth master says. Since you hate He, I just ignore him." "That's up to you. But don't offend me." "I know." "You may not know." Li Shan thought for a while and said, "Anyway, you just need to talk less and more. Now that rumors are flying all over the sky, talking too much will cause trouble. And if you don't provoke it, it will be a huge trouble. When the time comes, I will If I can't save you, don't blame me." Li Shan always spoke with a smile on his face, at least calmly, even if he scolded her just now for "your mother's bad luck", the words were just ugly and his face was not ugly.Only saying these words was a serious warning, which made Lu Yun's face turn yellow with fright. "Fourth Master, what are you talking about! It's scary." "It's New Year's Eve, why am I scaring you?" Li Shan stood up, "You ask someone to bring my bag." Beijing officials with a little status must have a follower to bring a bag with them when they go out. If the master wears an official uniform, the bag must be plain clothes, or even though the clothes are plain clothes, but the weather is busy and the temperature is not fixed, it must be replaced according to the season. clothes.But Lvyun thought that Lishan didn't need to use the bag she brought with her, and left the plain clothes with her. "Come on!" She helped him take off the beads, and then took off the mending gown, while serving, she said: "You still have a fox inlaid robe here." "Really? I can't remember!" There is indeed a fox-inlaid fur robe with a maroon satin surface, and a mink jacket, but a hat is missing. "Fortunately, it's not cold in the room," Lu Yun said, "I don't need to wear it for now!" "No, I'm leaving now." Lu Yun was quite surprised, "Why are you leaving?" she asked. "What day is it today? I'm not home yet." With this said, Luyun can no longer keep him.Calling in his servant, he also took a "two-tile" otter fur hat from his bag and put it on for him with his own hands.She shook his hand and asked, "Do you want me to go to the mansion to pay New Year's greetings tomorrow?" "It's a strange question for you to ask." Li Shan replied, "That's your business! Come if you want, and I don't blame you if you don't want to." "Why don't I want to? It's just because...," Lu Yun said softly, "You said Fourth Grandma is the number one jealous vat, I'm afraid I'll touch my nose if I go there. On the first day of the new year, how boring is that?" Hearing this, Li Shan was a little displeased, it turned out that Lu Yun was only afraid of making fun of herself for herself!If she said that she was afraid that "fourth grandma" would fight the famine with him when she went, it was for him. If the same sentence is said differently, the affection will be very different. Therefore, he didn't even bother to answer her a word, snorted, and walked out of the room with a half-smile.Luyun came to see them off, but he walked so fast, when she reached the door, he had already gotten into the car. "Fourth master, fourth master!" It's too late to shout at this time!Li Shan shouted: "Let's go!" He was out of the bottom of his pocket in no time. However, he didn't want to go home.It's okay to go home, he doesn't need to take care of the trivial chores during the Chinese New Year, only some people who ask for help come to the door, looking sad and uncomfortable. Just don't go home and where do you go? Thinking this way, I realized that the car had turned and headed north, on my way home.Then he shouted: "Stop! Stop!" The car slowed down, Kuayuan's attendant leaned in sideways, lifted the curtain, and waited for him to speak.Li Shan only ordered to go south. To the south is to go out of Xuanwumen to the outer city, and the attendant told Che Zhan to only go to the "Eight Great Alleys".After going out of the city gate like this, Li Shan finally made up his mind, and said loudly through the curtain of the car: "Hongxing store!" The Hongxing store is located on Yangmeizhu Xiejie, and the attendants knew that the owner was going to visit a "Mrs. No. 1 Scholar". "Madam Zhuangyuan" is a famous prostitute who has traveled abroad. Her real name is Cao Menglan, but she changed her name to Fu Yulian. Although the "Mrs. No. 1 Scholar" is a flaunt of her high social status, she is not completely without origin. Her husband-in-law of the No. 1 Scholar is Hong Jun, a ruthless Yantai. Hong Jun has another view on the way of sensuality.He believed that taking concubines in his later years was a foolish thing, so he "wanted to do things in his later years, but to do them in his middle age." A young prostitute Cao Menglan from Shantang, Suzhou. In the seventh year of Guangxu, Hong Jun begged for "final support" because of his old mother's illness. Soon Ding You recovered from his service and was still his cabinet bachelor.At that time, he had already made great achievements in the study of geology in the Northwest, and he was appreciated by Li Hongzhang, who guaranteed him to serve as an envoy to Russia, Germany, Austria, and Belgium.Mrs. Hong was afraid of traveling far, and because she heard that she was going to deal with "foreign devils" with "red eyebrows and green eyes", she would feel palpitations when she thought about it, so she asked Cao Menglan to "serve the master".It's just that Westerners are monogamous, and there is no such thing as a concubine. Therefore, Cao Menglan is actually "Minister's Wife". Hong Jun spent four years abroad from the 13th to the 16th year of Guangxu.In the past four years, Cao Menglan had rare honors and scandals, Hong Jun swallowed his anger and held grudges in his heart.I don't want to, after returning to China, I almost stumbled into a big tussle in my official career. The incident started with a "China-Russia border map". In the west of Yili, Xinjiang, and the Pamir area south of Khovdor, the border between China and Russia has been unclear for a long time.When Hong Jun talked about the study of geology in the Northwest, it was this area that bothered him the most, and he couldn't say what it was.When he was on a mission to Russia, someone brought a map of the area bordering China and Russia. The mountains, rivers and roads were well-defined.The officials of the Western Affairs Office of the DPRK and China are also very happy, thinking that from now on, China and Russia will have a basis for negotiations, and they will not be as aimless as in the past. When Hong Jun returned to China, he was appointed prime minister and worked with Zhang Yinhuan.One day, the British envoy suddenly came to the prime minister's office to question why China ceded hundreds of miles of territory to Russia?Those involved were stunned and didn't know what to answer.The reason why the British envoy asked this question was that Russia wanted to spy on India through the Pamir South, and there was a conflict of interest with Britain.If the Pamirs still belonged to China and formed a buffer, Russia would not have the convenience of invading southward. When the reason is found out, of course a protest must be lodged with Russia.Unexpectedly, the Russian minister took out a map and said that it was a "Sino-Russian border map" made by China itself, and Pamir was originally the Russian border.Only then did Hong Jun realize that he had been fooled, and the map held by the Russian envoy was said to have been provided by Zhang Yinhuan.The function is to kill with a knife.Fortunately, at that time, Weng Tonghe, with the respect of the emperor and teacher, held the political power secretly, and tried his best to bridge the gap for the sake of his fellow countrymen.Although Hong Jun didn't get any punishment, but the tone was always stuck in his chest, and because of the ugliness of the house, he had no choice but to end up depressed. As soon as Hong Jun died, Cao Menglan came back from court, and made a big splash in Shanghai, playing the signboard of "Mrs. No. 1 Scholar", which immediately caused a sensation in the Shili foreign market. However, although Cao Menglan is in Goulan, she is not smiling. If she looks down on someone, even if she is like a "prince" who "leaves after eating a cup of fragrant tea for three hundred taels of silver", it is difficult to invite her to look forward to it. As Chunxin promised, not only will he be the guest of the curtain day and night, but he will also be generous with "posting".Just like that, in just three years, the 20,000 cash she got from the Hong family was completely squandered, and she still had some jewelry in her hand, which was indispensable for decorating the scene, so she couldn't give it back to those who "eat slippers" Boyfriend!So he followed the advice of the best handkerchief hander, Jin Xiaobao, who is known as one of the "Four King Kongs" in Shanghai's "Changsan", and decided to "open the pier". Southern flower and northern plant first stopped in Tianjin, and changed the name of the flower with a northern taste to "Saijinhua". Qiuniang was old and glamorous, and became very popular in Tianjin for a while.However, Sai Jinhua's intentions were insufficient. She always felt that since she was going north, she had to make a "Wan'er" at the feet of the emperor of Jiumo Hongchen, which was enough taste.So I took my fake mother and an old mother to Beijing from Tianjin, and temporarily borrowed the Hongxing store in Yangmeizhu Xiejie as a fragrant nest. This is different from the "Qingyin Xiaoban" in the alley and the old-style prostitutes in Ribudi, just like the practice of prostitutes on the North Road.The wealthy customers in Beijing are not used to this kind of thing, so the door is neglected and the expenses are paid a lot.Sai Jinhua thought in her heart that she had to find a reason to spread the word "Sai Jinhua".There is a popular method in Shanghai, you might as well give it a try. It turns out that the fashion in Shanghai, the fame of famous prostitutes, is the shortest way to hook up with famous actresses, and one box is reserved every day, the best is the "last bag" at the lower gate, followed by the "head bag" on "Jiulongkou". When Jiang was on stage, Sheng Zhuang sat in the box, dressed in dazzling jewels, arousing the attention of the audience. The rule of "holding a role" is that it's okay to arrive early, but the character you're supporting has to leave the seat as soon as the play is over, so you can know at a glance who is who. In the name of a famous actor, word spread quickly. However, the theaters and theater troupes in the capital are different from those in Shanghai, so it is difficult to follow the same pattern, so we can only learn from them and adapt them.After the calculation was settled, Liu Tuzi, a clerk at the Hongxing store, was called to fetch a game ticket, and he wrote a line crookedly: "Yingxiutang Tan Xinpei", the following calls himself "Master Cao". "What? Miss Sai, are you still called Tiaozi?" "What's the matter?" Sai Jinhua asked back: "Master Cao loves this tune, can't he?" "Okay, okay!" Liu Baldzi knew that Sai Jinhua had a temper and a sharp mouth, so he didn't dare to provoke her, so he turned his head and left perfunctorily. "Slow down, Baldy Liu!" Sai Jinhua stopped him and said, "Don't call me Miss Sai from now on. Am I not a girl, and Sai is like a girl?" "Well, what's the girl's name?" "Call me Second Lord Sai." "Yes! Second Master Sai!"