Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 101 Change
The "Two Old Men" cafe on the Avenue Saint-Michel on the left bank of Paris was once very attractive to Feng Jiu, because it was a place frequented by many Chinese intellectuals from Europe and the United States who traveled to Europe-Joyce once brewed his obscure art here. In this work, Oscar Wilde once suffered because his beautiful boy no longer loved him, and Xu Zhimo once wandered here because of entangled emotions...

Accompanied by Ning Zheng, she once sat outside the store under the milky white pergola built in summer, sipping unsatisfactory coffee, while quietly looking at the store and sitting by the window, vowing to break the All the western painting traditions, Picasso, an art master who is over half a century old, and the little old man are staring in a daze with his hands on his cheeks, and even the two Qing Dynasty comprador puppets in the shop that look quite creepy and are the origin of the name of the cafe are also condescending. looked down at him sympathetically.

Feng Jiu couldn't help guessing that maybe the lover and his wife were fighting again.As soon as she whispered to Ning Zheng, Ning Zheng smiled complacently, and whispered in her ear: "It's better for me, isn't it? I will guard you wholeheartedly." By the way, he picked up Feng Jiu's hand, and sucked her The pink fingertips that do not paint the nails are extremely lingering.

Even Feng Jiu's ears were red, and she was afraid that he would do something outrageous again. Although this is romantic Paris, she had no choice but to praise him a few times.Ning Zheng was even happier now, and would drink coffee with her whenever she had free time for a few days, making Feng Jiu, who had always disliked coffee, almost vomit.Ning Zheng looked at her with a smile and didn’t say anything else. It was not until the last day when he decided to leave that he suddenly reminded her that this cafe can also order their signature drink——African hot cocoa... Then you Still grab the menu card every time? !Feng Jiu was out of breath.

Didn't he see that he was not sincere when he praised him a few days ago?Little man, be careful.It was only then that Feng Jiu realized that he had been stupid in the past few days. Anyway, since the birth of Ya Ya, both his memory and IQ seem to have declined...

She has also been to the Chanel store at No. 21 Cambon Street, which is famous for its bold innovation of women's clothing and its simple and neat style. She has purchased some rare women's trousers, jackets and lace and flower decorations without cumbersomeness. I even couldn’t bear to leave the Guimet Museum in the [-]th arrondissement of Paris, lamenting over and over again that so many precious treasures of the Yuanmingyuan in the motherland were displayed here majestically and shamelessly by shameless French robbers. "The treasures of my own family who were taken captive to Tokyo, the most precious of which is Wang Xianzhi's famous running script "She Nei Tie"...

Together with Ning Zheng and the children, she went to the "World War I" site in northeastern France - the Fortress of Verdun, and saw the densely packed marble tombstones of as many as 25 war dead. When she was in Paris, the French politicians all eagerly hoped that there would be no more wars in Europe. Compared with the countless German Nazis she saw in Nuremberg with a steel will that would destroy the world, there was nothing wrong. How naive...

But they still have to continue their trip to England as planned: there, someone has arranged for Ning Zheng to meet with the British Prime Minister.

After bidding farewell to his friends in France, Ning Zheng and his party left Paris, took the Orient Express all the way north, and arrived at the seaside city of Calais at the end of the south extension line, separated by a shallow Strait of Dover, opposite to England.

They took a ferry, arrived at the port of Dover, and then took a train to London, the capital of England.

The then British Prime Minister Macdonald immediately received Ning Zheng’s family. Apart from several cabinet members, Kai Ziwei, the current general manager of Jardine Matheson and the resident of the British Trust Vickers Arms Factory, was also accompanied by several cabinet members. Representative Hua, he did not forget to invite Ning Zheng to visit their arms factory - they just produced a rifle that is more useful than the K31 carbine.

On the second day, Ning Zheng took most of his entourage and set off to visit the munitions factory early in the morning, while Feng Jiu only left the house in the afternoon, intending to visit Sir Ram Pusheng's house. She took the two children into a taxi, and the chief Sheng and another young guard followed the guards step by step.

This kind of round-faced black taxi has always been a feature of the streets of London. Although Ning Zheng had rented several Bentleys and Austin cars when he arrived in the UK, Feng Jiu found that the taxi business in London is very developed, so he wanted to go out. Make a phone call to set a time, and there will be a car waiting at the door of the apartment, so she thinks that when Ning Zheng visits the military factories, military schools and farms that she is not very interested in, she can use these taxis for transportation.

London taxis are famous all over the world, and their prices are high: because of the high entry barriers and low pass rate of exams, the taxi drivers have also risen with the tide, and they have always been famous for their eccentric attitudes.But the middle-aged driver in uniform and white gloves in front of him looked at the luxurious Feng Jiu and his two children, and the heroic Zhi Changsheng and the guards who looked like soldiers on the side, after all, he put away his previous arrogance and picked up the car. He took off the plaid hat on his head, and came down respectfully to open the car door for them.

The Thames River crosses London slowly from west to east, dividing London into north and south districts. Lam Pusheng's villa is located on the south bank. The two children opened the car windows and watched the scenery on both sides with great interest, but the opaque air in the sky was Make her a little worried.

Although the air in London in 19 had not reached the terrible level that would kill a large number of residents [-] years later, it was quite intolerable to the Chinese who were used to clean air.Probably because human beings at that time did not have the concept of air pollution and environmental protection, so for London, which is undergoing a highly industrialized process, there are factories and chimneys spewing black smoke everywhere, and there are large and small particles floating in the air , It is normal to be foggy all day long.

Feng Jiu couldn't help worrying about the health of everyone, especially the two children, and immediately decided that even if he had to stay in the UK, he couldn't live in London for a long time.

Whenever she goes to a new place, Feng Jiu always likes to chat with the locals in order to quickly understand the new environment: she chatted with the driver without a word, and Feng Jiu learned from his conversation that after the devastation of World War I, the taxi The car industry is now finally back to pre-war levels, and he proudly says his monthly income is enough to feed a family of six.

They had just passed Buckingham Palace Road, and he pointed to a green-painted oak cottage not much bigger than an old-fashioned carriage passing by the side of the road.The chauffeur said that this was a hut specially built by some well-meaning nobles for the rented carriage drivers more than 100 years ago, so that they would not have to go to the bar to hang out when the weather was bad, delaying work and affecting driving safety.

Feng Jiu followed his words and thought, a driver can support a large family. This standard of living is much better than that of ordinary people in China. I don't know when Chinese people will be able to live such a life?But Feng Jiu didn't know at this time that such lucrative professions as London taxi drivers are rare in the UK.

When they arrived at the place, the driver reached out and pulled the card meter placed next to the left rearview mirror of the car. He respectfully said that the fare was two pounds, five shillings and three pence. Feng Jiu handed over three gold pounds, and the car The husband scratched his head and couldn't figure it out: Most of the foreign guests in the past didn't give change and gave them directly as tips, but this is a Chinese guest. He is not sure what they think, and he can't give it to the British. Shame on people is not.

Feng Jiuben thought the same, and suddenly looked at Longsheng, thinking to test him: Fengjiu also has a problem that Chinese mothers generally have, that is, he does not want to miss any opportunity to educate his children, so he immediately told Longsheng in English to let him After doing the calculations, he quickly calculated in his mind.

In fact, until [-], the face value of the British currency was incomprehensible. It is obvious that the arithmetic level of the whole people is not high, but they have come up with a very troublesome conversion system: one pound is equal to twenty shillings. One shilling happens to be equal to twelve pence. In addition to one pound, there are also coins of denominations such as half a pound, two shillings and sixpence.

So decades later, Britain finally had to reform this currency system.

How much should the chauffeur pay?Long Sheng quickly began to calculate in his mind: three pounds is 720 pence, and the fare of two pounds, five shillings and three pence is 540 three pence.

"Fourteen shillings and ninepence".The voice was clear and crisp, and the answer was extremely correct. However, what surprised Feng Jiu was that the one who gave the answer was not the six-year-old Long Sheng, but the less than four-year-old Yaya.

Long Sheng smiled, well, although the answer is the same as his own, since my sister said it first, let her figure it out first.

The co-pilot seat of a London taxi is on the luggage rack, and no one can sit on it. Zhi Changsheng, who sat with them opposite Feng Jiu, did not understand English, but seeing the surprised face of the young lady, he knew that Miss Yaya was right.

After all, Feng Jiu gave all three gold pounds to the driver, and took the two children out of the car with a smile, thinking that he must tell Ning Zheng about his daughter's talent in arithmetic tonight.

Unexpectedly, Yaya was not finished yet. Guan Fengjiu asked for her small change purse, found a very British two-shilling and sixpence coin, took out another ten-shilling coin, and two one-shilling coins. One, and three one-penny ones, sighed, and said in Chinese, "If it's really change, that uncle just now would have given us a lot of it."

Everyone laughed, and Zhi Changsheng shook his head helplessly—he was afraid, why was it so troublesome.

Zhi Changsheng rang the doorbell, and a man with the appearance of a standard British butler in white gloves came over and opened the door, letting them in.Sir Rampuson is 65 years old, in poor health, already paralyzed in bed.

As soon as they entered the lobby, they saw the blue jazz's second daughter-in-law, Elena, who had met on the Orient Express, floating down the stairs in a goose yellow dress. Faster than her was a little blond boy in beige. White shirt and dark blue shorts, with bare legs; after he went down the stairs, he ran back and hid behind the armrest of the couch, peeking at Long Sheng and Ya Ya with one gray eye.

Yaya cheered, shook off the hand of her mother who was smiling when she saw someone coming, ran up, hugged the little boy's arm and shook, "Little Cecil!"

Cecil, who was shy by nature, was very happy to know that his new friend hadn't forgotten him, and hurriedly dragged Yaya out and got together with Longsheng.Longsheng also laughed when he saw him, and the three children chattered for a while, Cecil ran over and told Irina who had already had an affectionate chat with Fengjiu that he would take his Chinese friends to play in the toy room, which is of course good, Only then did Feng Jiu notice that there was a middle-aged short lady who was plainly dressed and stood quietly aside. Cecil's mother introduced that she was her son's tutor, so the three children were under her care. , Leha went to the west toy room to play.

Fengjiu took out the presents—a set of red lacquerware jewelry box and an ivory bone fan, all contained in a beautiful big box, Yi Lianna accepted it in surprise, and was just about to open it in person according to Western etiquette Watching and admiring, the doorbell rang again, and Ning Zheng, who had visited the munitions factory, arrived.

Just after ringing the doorbell, he ran into Cecil's father, George Rampuson, who had just returned home. Although the two met for the first time, they had heard of each other for a long time, so they walked in hand in hand.

Yi Lianna and Feng Jiu, who had stood up to greet them, met them. The four exchanged greetings again, and then went upstairs to visit Sir Lan.When Ning Zheng saw Sir Lan Pusheng, who had been bedridden for a few years and was both a teacher and a friend, and Sir Lan looked at Ning Zheng, who was once all-powerful but now was politically exiled, both of them were quite sad.

Feng Jiu also took out two catties of Anhui bird tongue prepared by the thoughtful wife of the ambassador to France, Ms. Wang Huilan. This is a luxury habit that Lam Pusheng has cultivated in China for several years. He has long been unaccustomed to the British afternoon tea with milk and sugar. The way to drink it is not to drink any famous Chinese tea, among which sparrow tongue is his favorite, and the tea scriptures are also a great pleasure for him to talk with Ning Zheng.

Although Ram Pusheng has limited mobility, he still has quick thinking. He encourages his little friends to give confidence, patience and sincerity to the country and the people.After the adults finished talking, it was getting late before they knew it, and they were about to have dinner together.Fengjiu and Yi Lianna had a lively conversation just now, and they talked about their children's education—it happened that Yi Lianna was also worried about the worsening air in London, and realized that it was very detrimental to the health of the whole family. Willing to move their family to another place, hit it off with Feng Jiu.She is more optimistic about Brighton, which is only [-] kilometers away from London. It is a seaside city with good air and first-class education.

Fengjiu was very happy, she really wanted to doze off and came to the pillow, they talked and laughed, went to the playroom to find the children, pushed the door lightly and opened it a crack, only to find that they were performing a small play inside.

On the bright floor of the playroom, there are several toy rooms made of colored cardboard, with walls, windows, cots, sofas, tables, and even curtains, wall lamps, and a stove. The workmanship is quite vivid, Elena told Fengjiu, these are all imported from Guangzhou; I also regret to say that it is a pity that the thirteen lines were burned down, or else, how many good things Guangzhou exported to the UK at that time.It was only then that Fengjiu realized that Yi Lianna knew China like the back of his hand. After asking, he learned that the couple had lived in Guangzhou for five years. Yi Lianna smiled and said, "Look carefully at the wallpapers and antiques in my house. Most of them were bought by the ancestors of our family from Shisanhang, and they are still in use today.

When Feng Jiu heard this, he took a closer look at the eggshell blue wallpapers that were spread all over the corridors and aisles. There were scenes of Chinese men and women in Qing Dynasty costumes everywhere depicting the work of the people who made paper, polished silverware, and cast Tang knives. Painting, wine steaming, spinning... The brushwork is vivid and full of interest. It is indeed the brushwork of Lin Gua, a famous gouache export painter who was selected into the British Royal Art Exhibition decades ago and became very popular.Elena said that the wallpapers produced in Guangzhou are very expensive in the UK, and the price is more than ten times that of ordinary British wallpapers; Jade and tooth carvings...there are countless.

Who doesn't love good things?Feng Jiu followed Yu Yourongyan, nodded in agreement, thinking that the gift given today was given to the right person.

The three children seem to be loyal fans of the comic book "The Story of Peter Rabbit" written by Miss Potter. He lost three children and grandchildren and was so angry that he grabbed the long ears and beat the old rabbit hard.

The old rabbit was so frightened that he hurriedly stuffed himself into the corner of the wall, not forgetting to build a triangular fortress with wooden planks in front of him to resist his daughter-in-law's outrageous anger.

Unexpectedly, little Cecil was very talented in drama. He poked the cardboard of the old rabbit into the corner, and he shrank aside to dub the old rabbit vividly. Leaning forward and back together, the two mothers who eavesdropped at the door also laughed from ear to ear.

Elena told Feng Jiu embarrassingly that acting was little Cecil's favorite, and now the family was worried that he would become a Shakespeare actor when he grew up—for Europeans of noble origin , growing up to be a theater actor is indeed a kind of depravity.

That night, Ya Ya and Little Cecil bid farewell. After making an appointment to see each other often, their family returned to the apartment. Feng Jiu still didn’t forget about taking a taxi to settle accounts this morning, and refused to let Long Sheng go easily. After the children had finished their bath, they took out a large handful of British coins to take the test. They did not forget to cover the mouth of Deng Yaya, who was obviously always eager to answer, and told them about the various coins on the way. The origins of the engraved badges, medals, plants and buildings of various categories and shapes, of course, this is what she only knew by referring to the "Illustrated Encyclopedia of British Coins" opened in her right hand.

After I felt that today was almost the same, I went to wash my hands and then came to see the children. Feng Jiu couldn't help staring at the fat girl, hey you little thing—although Ya Ya was not formally started to receive education, Feng Jiu I also tried it out and found that my daughter doesn't like playing the piano, painting doesn't like painting, and reciting books doesn't like memorizing. I didn't expect that I didn't teach her, but she is quite good at settling accounts.

Before going to bed, the couple first felt complacent about their daughter's arithmetic talent. Then, Fengjiu, who was nestled in Ning Zheng's arms, told Ning Zheng about the children's play at Blue Jazz's house today, and said with emotion: : "The cultural differences between the East and the West are really huge. Look at the one played by the children today-the daughter-in-law dared to beat the husband. It's really outrageous."

Ning Zheng couldn't help laughing, "If this was in our country, the daughter-in-law might be immersed in a pig cage, or at least she would have to be divorced and returned to her mother's house."

But no, Feng Jiu nodded, she couldn't accept this, no matter what the reason was, it shouldn't be so disobedient to her elders.In the final analysis, Feng Jiu is still a traditional Chinese woman at heart.

Within a few days, the Ning Zheng family took the lead in settling down in a villa in Brighton that claimed to have a strong Chinese style. A week later, the Lan Pusheng family also arrived as scheduled, and the two families were very close.It is not far from London, and the air is much better. Many British nobles built villas here, and it was also a resort appointed by George IV when he was the crown prince.

Within a few days, Feng Jiu received a big surprise: Qiu Sheng, who had successfully married Tang Zhikai in the United States, didn't even know that Feng Jiu would hear her, and came to her so suddenly.Not to mention Feng Jiu and the children are happy now, even Ning Zheng secretly feels at ease. After all, it is hard to find such a capable helper as Qiu Sheng even with a lantern.

Qiu Sheng, who had just arrived, immediately showed her unique skills - Feng Jiu felt that now that she had settled down, Ya Ya's education should also be put on the agenda.Longshengwa is diligent and conscientious. Although he is always on the road, he has never stopped his studies;In a foreign country, Feng Jiu did not forget to hold a pen-opening ceremony for her. Hearing the voice of Qiu, he hastily used his skillful hands to drive out two sets of glazed blue Chinese-style robes. Although there is no Ruyi head for decoration, but there are still two streamers with obvious symbolic meaning hanging down from the back of the head. Not only the master Yaya has a set, but even the trainee officer Longsheng has a set .

As soon as the two little Han dolls put on the Han clothes, they looked so beautiful and beautiful, and they were so lovely. Feng Jiu immediately felt very unprincipled that even Yaya could be forgiven if she couldn't write well.

The couple smiled and watched as Long Sheng solemnly picked up a pen and tapped a cinnabar red dot on the center of Ya Ya's eyebrows, and then seriously wrote a big "人" character with the Zhou Huchen Langhao brush that he had memorized all the way to show his sister a demonstration. ;Under too much force, the half-cooked rice paper is almost torn.

Long Sheng is quite savvy in calligraphy, and the style of the calligraphy has a faint meaning of thinness and excellence.Yaya stared at the soft-tipped pen in her chubby hoof-like hand, which twisted and twisted disobediently, and then looked at how her brother wrote such good characters, rubbed her little nose, and looked envious.

Fengjiu suppressed a smile and took the opportunity to tell her that with more practice, she could write as beautifully as Brother Lailai.

They were writing happily, and little Cecil was visited by his governess.Seeing that Long Sheng and Ya Ya were both writing brush characters, which he had never seen before, he suddenly became interested and wanted to follow suit.So Fengjiu opened the door for him in a serious manner, and troubled Qiusheng to make a Hanfu for him to wear when he was free.Two days later, Cecil put it on happily, but Western children have too many colors on their faces, so they don't have the natural charm of Chinese children, and they don't complement each other so well.

From then on, Cecil came more frequently, and he must visit at least three times a week. Feng Jiu almost opened a small private school and became a teacher, and he was quite happy.

Longsheng went to school within a few days after he came here. He and Cecil went to the local historic Hande Cross School. Although school can be over early every afternoon, Yaya, who loves to be lively, still finds the morning deserted, so If I have nothing to do, I insist on going to this school that only admits boys.

(End of this chapter)