1928: The Rise of Giants

When Zhang Hanqing was preparing to regroup and shift the focus of his career to Ancheng, Ye Luo and others had already boarded the train back to Shanghai.

On the train, Kong Lingjun, who had finally escaped from the business course, excitedly observed the scenery along the way. There were many ancient cities and ancient buildings in the north. She had been imprisoned in Jinling before. When she saw these unprecedented buildings, she cheered and danced like a child.

Shi Jianqiao was frowning. During this trip to Tianjin City, she resisted the urge to look for Sun Chuanfang, the murderer of her father. At this time, she knew that she must not cause trouble for Ye Luo, but the more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. Even though Ye Luo asked Zhang Hanqing to "take care" of Sun Chuanfang on his behalf before leaving, she still ignored Ye Luo for several days.

When the train entered the central and southern regions, the hazy fields and backward and dilapidated countryside suddenly made Kong Lingjun, who was very excited, calm down. She rested her little head on the windowsill and occasionally saw some children younger than her working in the fields, some even carrying a baby in a basket on their backs. She felt inexplicably sad.

Ye Luo was reading a newspaper, and the current headlines were all about "resumption of diplomatic relations between China and Russia."

Previously, due to the incident of the Chinese Eastern Railway, the two countries had become enemies on the border, and Zhang Hanqing's Northern Army was severely beaten. After that, even though the Nanjing National Government stepped in to coordinate, the relationship between China and Russia remained very tense.

Moreover, the principal himself is pro-American, so naturally he doesn't get along well with the big Russian bear.

Mr. Sun's son Sun Ke once again stood up to call for the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Russia, and also engaged in a war of words with the Kuomintang's writers who opposed him. Over the past few months, the whole country knew about it and it was quite a grand event.

It is an inevitable trend for the two countries to restore diplomatic relations, but Russia's actions are a bit excessive, which makes many Chinese people uncomfortable.

Now the Russian bear's attitude is very subtle. At the beginning, it was very wary of the Japanese, worried that they would occupy the north and then continue to invade their territory.

Therefore, when the North fell, they immediately approached the Nanjing National Government and called on the two countries to restore diplomatic relations.

But as the Japanese invaders gradually moved south, they changed their attitude and began to make friends with the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Now they have begun to agree to allow the Japanese Kwantung Army to transport goods via the Chinese Eastern Road. Isn't this a disguised way of assisting the Japanese invaders to continue their invasion of the north?
Secondly, they were actively rescuing Japanese expatriates and signed a non-aggression treaty with Japan.

The most shameless thing was that they allowed the "national flag" of the puppet Manchukuo to be hoisted on the Chinese Eastern Railway, completely ignoring the strong opposition from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing National Government and openly supporting the puppet army.

This kind of two-faced behavior naturally caused dissatisfaction among a large number of Chinese people. If diplomatic relations were to be restored with them at this time, the first to speak out would be the intellectuals.

Originally, this issue had been in a stalemate. Sun Ke was the only one waving the flag and shouting slogans. Although his voice was loud, his power was small and he could not influence the situation at all.

But no one expected that the relationship between the United States and Russia would improve.

This time the principal changed his mind again and began to actively promote negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Bear.

After all, if diplomatic relations were really restored, it would be equivalent to attacking the Japanese invaders in the north from both sides, which would be a good thing for both countries.

Now the two countries have entered the actual negotiation stage. The current deadlocked issues are the ownership of Outer Mongolia and the ownership of the Chinese Eastern Railway.

"This matter is getting more and more complicated." Ye Luo put down the newspaper in his hand. The others were also concerned about the situation, but Chen Zhen, Huo Tingen and the others were all warriors and could not understand the intrigues among politicians. They just saw Ye Luo sighing and couldn't help but sigh along with him.

This time when Ye Luo returns to Shanghai, he still has a lot of things to do. As the Japanese invaders gradually withdraw from Shanghai, all industries will slowly recover and homes will be rebuilt from the ruins. Most importantly, with the unremitting efforts of the merchant group headed by him, the principal finally agreed to start a comprehensive boycott of Japanese goods.

When he returns from this trip, he will give those Japanese businessmen who are still hanging around in Shanghai a warning.

In mid-July, the second week after Ye Luo returned home, Meng Xiaodong went to attend the Jinling City Quyi Exchange Conference and returned with a lot of gains.

Hu Die, who came back with her, hadn't seen her children for a long time. She held one in each hand and was reluctant to put them down.

Ruan Lingyu, whose belly was already quite large, was still very active and insisted on going with them. After Li Shuzhen persuaded her, she finally calmed down and agreed to go out and play after giving birth naturally early next year.

At this time, Ruan Lingyu held several vinyl records brought back by Meng Xiaodong and couldn't put them down: "I didn't expect that the Black Cat Queen Wang Ji would also attend the Quyi Conference. Oh, it's such a pity that she didn't go!"

"What's a pity? Your belly is moving around everywhere. What if something happens? If you really like Wang Ji, I can ask her to come home and sing with you."

Ye Luo glared at her. Since she officially entered the Ye family, this girl has regained her former agility, jumping up and down, making Li Shuzhen frightened every day, fearing that she might have a miscarriage.

"Okay, then if you don't want to go, then don't go. Stop lecturing me again." Ruan Lingyu pursed her lips. She seemed aggrieved, but she was actually very happy. For some reason, after getting along with Ye Luo for a long time, she gradually began to enjoy the feeling of being scolded and taught a lesson. Sometimes she even felt that she was a little perverted.

"Daddy, hug me!" Ye Zhuohua, who was over three years old, ran very fast and rushed into Ye Luo's arms.

Xiao Aqiao and Bai Xiuzhu followed behind, one holding a handkerchief and the other holding a hand basin. Since Ye Zhuohua was the eldest son, Bai Xiuzhu took care of him half of the time. Bai Xiuzhu was quite strict with her children, so when he saw the eldest grandmother running over, Ye Zhuohua immediately became scared and grabbed Ye Luo's trouser leg and wouldn't let go.

"Dad, Big Mom is going to beat me! Dad, save me, woooooo."

"Cry again for me to see?" Bai Xiuzhu opened her beautiful eyes wide and glared at him fiercely, "Come here and wash your face. Your tears and snot have all been wiped on your father. Isn't that dirty?"

"Oh~" Under her tyranny, Ye Zhuohua walked over reluctantly.

Ye Luo watched with amusement, she never expected that the once unruly and willful young lady would one day turn into such a fierce mother who scares the little ones.

"Brother Luo, this time when I came back, my teacher said that I can officially come out of retirement." Meng Xiaodong came over and sat down next to him.

In order to fulfill Meng Xiaodong's dream, Ye Luo arranged a global tour for her and invited Yu Shuyan, an old senior, to be her teacher so that she could continue her studies.

"Okay, then I'll arrange for you to go to the United States in a while. How is Teacher Yu's health?" Ye Luo put his arm around her, looking at Xiao Aqiao and the others, enjoying this rare and pleasant time very much.

"The teacher's health is not very good. Western doctors said he needs surgery to treat both kidneys, but he just wants to delay. He wants to take Chinese medicine for conditioning, and no amount of persuasion is of any use." Meng Xiaodong sighed.

Yeh's United Hospital is recognized as the top hospital in Shanghai, but there are still many people who insist on traditional Chinese medicine treatment. It's not that traditional Chinese medicine is bad, but that Chinese and Western medicine each have their own strengths. Yu Shuyan's problem is most likely cancer, and it should not be delayed any further.

"Then let's arrange some good Chinese medicine for the teacher." Ye Luo was helpless about this. "When do you plan to leave for the United States?"

"This... seems to be not working in the near future." Meng Xiaodong's cheeks suddenly turned red.

"what happened?"

"I think I have it." (End of this chapter)