Nine idlers

Chapter 76 Railway Platform

This railway station in Baoding was built in the last years of Guangxu. Later, the rails were pried away and smelted into weapons during the Boxer Rebellion. It was not repaired until a few years ago because of Yuan Shikai's idea of ​​sending troops from the north to the south.It's just that Yuan Shikai was dismissed from his position and placed under house arrest in the capital, so the railway was repaired to Baoding instead of going down to Shijiazhuang.Since most merchants on the road from Shijiazhuang to Baoding knew that there were many bandits and thieves, they were unwilling to go this way, which made the railway station a lot more depressed.

Like other large northern towns, Baoding has also gradually become westernized. Walking on the streets of Baoding, there are western-style newcomers wearing suits and ties everywhere, and many of them are progressives who have long since given up young women.Although Baoding's railway station is much more depressed than before, it is still the most popular place in Baoding. Especially today, there is a train bound for Tianjin, which is overcrowded, even if it is not a huge crowd. But it can also be called a crowd.

Near the railway station platform, a large group of people are looking at both sides of the railway, guessing when the train will arrive, but just outside the platform, people have vacated an open space, in this crowded place It looks very abrupt.In the middle of the open space, four male and female students seem to be rehearsing their patriotic drama, and the people around them are just waiting for the bus to be bored. Watching the performance of these four people can also relieve their mental fatigue.These four students were quite good at turning the serious matter of Li Hongzhang's signing of the traitorous treaty into a farce, in which the ridicule of the officials of the Manchu and Qing courts was vividly displayed, which attracted the applause of the surrounding people.

However, in the innermost part of the watching crowd, two people stood out.A young man with a strong figure and a mighty face was dressed like a wandering Taoist, his body was covered with dust, and he watched the drama with disinterest, as if these things had nothing to do with him.Next to him stood a barefoot, elegant-looking monk in a plain yellow cassock. Contrary to the young man, the monk was completely clean, even if he stood barefoot on the muddy ground, his feet The interior is also extremely clean, it feels like it is not dusty.Compared with that young man, the monk watched the play from beginning to end, but he didn't smile at all, his face was expressionless all the time, and only the sight in his eyes could slightly detect the deep contempt and disdain .

For these two spectators whose temperaments and behaviors are completely opposite to the surrounding environment, the four students have already noticed, especially the contempt and disdain in the eyes of the monk, which was easily noticed by one of the female students, and told them The other companions listen.Since the performance was in progress, they couldn't stop halfway, so the four of them just focused a little bit on the one monk, and asked them why they had such expressions after the performance was over.

"The train is coming!" After the whistle sounded, everyone's attention was on the train that was slowly driving into the platform. The four students also focused on the train at this moment without exception.When they turned around, they found that the Taoist monk had disappeared. Although they wanted to look for it again, the dense crowd of people pushing towards the platform blocked everyone's sight.

"Damn it, it's all lost! It's all because you didn't pay attention." The female student who noticed the monk's disdainful gaze complained to the students beside her, then searched around, and said angrily : "You actually look at our drama with that kind of disdainful eyes. If you don't ask him to clarify, Miss Ben will definitely not be able to swallow this breath."

A male student standing next to him said flatteringly, "You can stand on the luggage, and you will be able to see them from a condescending position."

"That's right!" The female student nodded, quickly piled up several people's suitcases, and then stood on top with the support of her companions, stretched her neck and looked around for a week, and soon found her suitcase. Target.However, the scene that caught her eyes made her stunned for a moment, and she saw that one monk was walking freely in the sea of ​​people like a stroll in the courtyard.When they move forward, the people around them who are waiting to get on the bus will automatically get out of the way for no reason, and keep a distance from them, and when they walk away, they will huddle together again. At that time, the person in front will automatically get out of the way as before.This gives people the feeling that there is an invisible wall around them, separating them from the world, which is very weird.

The two of them didn't walk fast, but they arrived at the compartment they were going to board faster than the train passengers who were pushing forward with all their strength. When they got on the train, the monk seemed to feel the gaze of the female student, and looked towards him. He looked at it, and shook his head with a smile, as if laughing at the naive mentality of the female students.

"How is it? Sujuan, did you find it?" Another female student below asked anxiously when she saw her companion stunned.

"I found it!" The voice of the companion made the female student wake up, she jumped off the salute, and said with a frown, "But they are in the fourth carriage."

"Ah? Carriage No. [-]!" The others gasped at the same time, and one of the male students said jealously, "Aren't they monks, and they were able to get into Car No. [-]?"

In order to facilitate foreigners and wealthy businessmen traveling from north to south, the Railway Bureau of the Qing Dynasty specially set up several carriages on each train for them to separate them from the poor and ordinary people. The No. [-] carriage became these few carriages. The collective name of the carriage.The tickets for these carriages are very expensive, and they are almost the household expenses of ordinary people for a year. Not only ordinary people can’t afford them, but even ordinary foreigners can’t afford such tickets. The people who can ride these carriages are not wealthy. The expensive businessmen and dignitaries, or the general manager of a foreign business firm and other wealthy foreigners.

For such two monks to be able to get on the No. [-] carriage, the surprised expressions of everyone are also reasonable.The leading female student seemed a bit unwilling to let the monk go like this, especially when the last monk shook his head contemptuously at her. This was even more provocative in the heart of the proud female student, and she couldn't just let it go, so she gritted her teeth , Said: "Come on, let's go to the fourth carriage."

"What?" The other three were all shocked, and the female companion beside her immediately took her hand and said, "Sujuan, don't go crazy, we don't have that much money to ride in such a luxury car."

"What are you afraid of? I don't need you to pay a penny. I still have a ticket from the Baoxiang Bank of the Huizhou Chamber of Commerce, which is enough for the four of us to sit in the fourth carriage." Qing government officials can sit, government businessmen can sit, foreigners of other races can sit, even those two monks can sit, why can't we open-minded progressive students sit?"

As she said that, she raised the salute in her hand and angrily walked towards the No. [-] carriage. Her companions looked at each other and finally chased after her with their luggage.

The monks waiting in the No. [-] carriage were Xu Changqing and Guan Zheng. Since they were concentrating on competing with their feet, they unknowingly ran in the wrong direction, lost their way, and arrived at Gaoyang. After figuring out where I am, it took me a whole day and night to arrive in Baoding.Both of them are practitioners, so it won't affect them if they don't sleep for one day and one night. They both maintain a radiant spirit, but compared to their spirit, their appearance is very different.Xu Changqing's method of avoiding dust has been used to a high degree of proficiency. Even if he doesn't use his mind deliberately, Jiuliu Dao can use the method of avoiding dust by himself. new.And Guan Zheng chased him all the way on the ground. Although he was protected by the magical method, he was always ashamed. The dust all over his body made him seem to crawl out of the ground.

It is precisely because of this dusty appearance that Guan Zheng feels very uncomfortable sitting in this extremely luxuriously decorated carriage, and the eyes of the rich people in luxurious clothes and foreigners in suits around him make him feel very uncomfortable .With a cautious expression, he asked Xu Changqing who was sitting across from him, "Master, did we get on the wrong car? The ticket for this car seems to be very expensive."

"Brother Guan is not nervous about dealing with those demons and goblins, but he became nervous when facing these common people and ordinary things. It seems that Brother Guan needs to practice more in his Taoism!" Xu Changqing smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about the ticket. It’s not as expensive as you might imagine, this train line was chartered by someone the poor monk knew, and the fare for this carriage is the same as that of ordinary carriages.”

Before coming to Baoding, Xu Changqing already knew from other sources that Chen Zhangping, the fourth son of the Chen family, had contracted this train line from the Beiyang New Army who controlled the railway a year ago, and built a new railway line near Baoding. He set up a club for the entertainment of foreigners and wealthy businessmen in the Tianjin Concession.This is also the main reason why Xu Changqing did not go to Cangzhou but went to Baoding. Although the Xuangang Heavenly Demon is very lucky and sends people everywhere to intercept and kill the Xiajiuliu sects who are going north, no matter how rampant he is, he dare not rashly intervene in Beiyang Compared with other places, the industry of the new army and the things of foreigners in the concession, this train seems to be much more stable.

When he arrived at the ticket office of the railway station, Xu Changqing immediately showed the jade card of the Chen family's Ke Qing. The supervisor in charge of Baoding Railway Station was also an old man of the Chen family. When he saw Xu Changqing, he immediately recognized him.The old man of the Chen family also knew how high his status was in the Chen family. Even the Fourth Young Master of the Chen family, who was in charge of things around Tianjin, would respect him when he saw him.So he immediately arranged for him and Guan Zheng to sit in the highest class No. [-] car, and sent someone to wait on the car, so as to satisfy him.

"I'm relieved!" Hearing Xu Changqing's words, Guan Zhengchang breathed a sigh of relief, and said in a low voice, "I'm not afraid of your jokes. This is my first time taking a train. It's really rare."

"It's also the first time for the poor monk to take the train." Xu Changqing smiled, then waved, called the waiter, pointed to Guan Zheng and said, "Please take this gentleman to the bathroom to freshen up. I took all the new newspapers that came out these days."

"Yes!" After listening to the train station master's order, the waiter saluted very respectfully, and led Guan Zheng towards the washroom in the middle of the carriage.Not long after, he brought a stack of tidied newspapers, put them on the table in front of Xu Changqing, and asked, "Master, would you like something to drink?"

"Let's have a cup of tea!" Xu Changqing's face returned to his usual indifference, and he ordered, and then took out a Tianjin Daily and read it.

Although there are many newspapers in front of me, and there are also foreign newspapers, the content is roughly the same, almost all of which are a series of measures promulgated by the Qing court when the new emperor ascended the throne, the regent took power.The only newspapers that attracted Xu Changqing's attention were four, and only one of them was a local newspaper.Among the four newspapers, the Japanese and French newspapers have a statement that they will not interfere in China's internal affairs and reject Mr. Sun's entry request in a less conspicuous place.Another newspaper is the New York Times. On the second page, with an extremely eye-catching headline, "Is China Moving Forward?"Still going backwards? " and other words, which mainly mentioned Yuan Shikai's dismissal and return to his hometown and his house arrest, and the Qing government's request to the Japanese "government" to assist them in controlling the students studying in Japan.

As for this local newspaper in China, it was an editorial published by an anonymous contributor to the Shanghai Times, which described some of the current situation, problems and methods of dealing with the problems of the Qing court.What's interesting is that in the article, it is believed that Yuan Shikai's removal from office is a good thing, and the Qing government should take this opportunity to take control of the new Beiyang army, and then go south to put down the 'chaos' of the Southern Revolutionary Party.From the article, it can be easily seen that the author's thought is an absolute royalist, advocating constitutional monarchy, and extremely opposed to the revolutionary party presided over by Sun Huang, who believes that the revolutionary party is the source of all turmoil. It is believed that the Qing court should uproot the revolutionary party with a thunderbolt.

The thoughts expressed in this article reminded Xu Changqing of a person he didn't want to think of. When he saw that the author's name at the end of the article was from Sushan, he couldn't help showing a sneer on his face.When the reform was under way, Chen Deshang contributed to it. At that time, several hosts of the reform all lived in Chen Jiachong for a period of time, and had a long talk with Xu Changqing.For the knowledge of the six people, Xu Changqing really admired them very much, but for their thoughts and ways of doing things, he thought they were all unacceptable, and for their character, Xu Changqing always admired only one or two people.

Sushan was also one of the few people who were in Chenjiachong at that time, and he was the one who yelled the loudest during the reform and the one who escaped the fastest after the accident. Now this person is still wandering overseas because of what happened back then. Dare to step into Middle Earth.Sushanren is a pseudonym he used to use. Few people know about it, but Prince Jin Zaifeng, who was one of the parties involved in the past, knows his pen name and articles very well. It is worth pondering to publish such an article at this time, which is quite flattering.

Just when the interesting picture of a human-faced dog wagging its tail at its owner appeared in Xu Changqing's mind, there was a sudden quarrel at the junction of the carriages behind him, and when he turned his head, he saw students performing patriotic dramas on the station He was arguing with the foreign manager of this carriage.However, the foreign manager spoke French, while the student spoke English, which felt a little bit wrong. Neither of them understood what the other meant. If they dared to speak, the matter became stalemate like this, and the wealthy businessmen and foreigners around them watched them as if they were watching a play.