Nine idlers

Chapter 91 The Cardinal

Anglican Church is located in the center of the British Concession, between Midos Road and Racecourse Road. It was stopped for a while during construction due to the Boxer Rebellion. After its completion, it has always been a gathering place for Western church members in the British and French concessions.The church building is a traditional Western Gothic building with a brick and wood structure, pointed doors and windows, and a towering bell tower. There is no excessive decoration on the surface, which looks simple and solemn.Like most of the public facilities in the concession, although there are no express regulations, Chinese people are also subtly not allowed to enter here. All Chinese Western church members in the concession will listen to sermons and mass in another church.

Obviously, the arrival of Xu Changqing made all the foreigners feel a little surprised, or shocked. It was hard for them to imagine that someone would dare to break the rules they set so openly.Since he was in the British Concession, Xu Changqing didn't wear the fake braid, and he was dressed casually. He put on a vest casually over a shirt. The cuffs of the shirt were rolled up to look like small openings from a newspaper office. It was particularly eye-catching among a group of people dressed up to attend.

"Stop!" Xu Changqing was just about to enter the church when he was stopped by a foreigner wearing a woolen overcoat with a haughty expression.Xu Changqing is considered tall among the Chinese, even compared to most foreigners, he is not inferior, but he is obviously a head short in front of this foreigner.The strong body of this foreigner made his clothes bulging, and he blocked half of the door of the church. The gold watch hanging on his body, the rings on his fingers, and this expensive suit all showed his identity. How noble it is here.The foreigner looked at Xu Changqing contemptuously, and said coldly: "You just came to the concession, don't you know the rules in the concession? Is this place you can come to?"

For this kind of foreigner, Xu Changqing was not even interested in looking at him, and even less interested in paying attention to his question, and turned around to walk past him.

"Damn yellow-skinned pig, don't you understand English?" The foreigner obviously didn't expect someone to despise his authority like this, and when he got angry, he reached out and grabbed Xu Changqing's shoulder.

However, before he caught Xu Changqing, his body suddenly became uncontrollable. The hand that was originally grabbing Xu Changqing turned back and slapped himself hard.This slap was so powerful that everyone in the church heard it. When everyone looked over, they saw that the foreigner's hair was slightly disheveled, his eyes on the bridge of his nose fell to the ground, and half of his face was swollen. A stream of blood flowed from the ear.Just when everyone was wondering what happened, the foreigner slapped his other side of the face with the other hand, which was stronger than the slap just now, and everyone was stunned for a moment.

When the foreigner pumped himself into a daze, his legs seemed to be filled with lead and became extremely heavy. His body sank a little bit, causing his knees to kneel on the ground involuntarily. Then no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his knees off the ground.At this moment he became panicked, he didn't have time to pay attention to Xu Changqing, and hurriedly asked his companion who came with him vaguely for help, but it was strange that seven or eight of them worked hard together, but they couldn't lift the foreigner from the ground. When I got up, I couldn't even move my knees, which seemed very strange.

Although he is also a foreigner, it is obvious that this man is very unpopular with his compatriots. Many people gloated at his embarrassment and were unwilling to step forward to help him. Some even said it was God's retribution for him. He sincerely repents.Obviously, seeing this foreigner embarrassed is more interesting than Xu Changqing entering the church. Not many people are paying attention to Xu Changqing anymore.When all eyes were on the foreigner, Xu Changqing silently walked to a relatively remote corner of the church and sat down, quietly waiting for the appearance of the mysterious inviter.

Although Xu Changqing deliberately hid himself, someone still focused on him. After he found a seat and sat down, he immediately left his seat and came to his side.Xu Changqing looked at the woman sitting next to him indifferently. It seemed that she had met once. She was the woman named Jennifer who intended to 'harass' Xu Changqing in the salon last night.

"Hello, Mr. Xu!" Jennifer, who was dressed in a relatively dignified manner at the moment, ignored Xu Changqing's indifferent expression, and introduced herself in Chinese: "We met yesterday, but it seems that there is nothing good for you. Impression, now let me introduce myself again, my name is Jennifer, I am the director of Leverage & Co., Ltd. and the executive manager of the Tianjin office."

Xu Changqing frowned, glanced at Jennifer, took out the invitation from his vest pocket, and said, "Is this invitation yours?"

"Invitation card? What invitation card?" Jennifer was taken aback for a moment, apparently not understanding what Xu Changqing said, nor about the invitation card.

"It's fine if you don't." Xu Changqing's expression softened a little. He didn't want to come over with interest to see the mysterious person who sent the invitation, but in the end he only saw a Western "slut".

"Our Lihua Foreign Firm has a lot of business contacts with the Chen family, so we also know a little about the husband. Yesterday, I was too casual. I hope Mr. Xu is no wonder!" As she spoke, Jennifer used Chinese Etiquette, clasped fists to Xu Changqing to acquiesce.

Looking at this nondescript way of apologizing, Xu Changqing smiled and said, "Miss Jennifer, you don't have to! Although I, Xu Changqing, am not that kind of magnanimous person, I'm not so small-minded. I know that what happened yesterday was a complete misunderstanding , so I didn’t take it to heart at all.”

"Great, I'm finally relieved. If yesterday's misunderstanding makes our two chambers of commerce unhappy, then the loss outweighs the gain." Jennifer patted her chest, pretending to be relieved, and then Looking at the foreigner who was still kneeling at the door of the church, he said, "That man's name is Jared. He is the general manager of the Tianjin branch of Jardine Matheson Co., Ltd., relying on the wealth of Jardine Matheson and the close relationship with the British Concession, Not only did he bully your Chinese business firms, but he also bullied other foreign business firms, and it is very satisfying for Mr. to make him embarrass himself in front of everyone today."

Xu Changqing neither denied nor admitted, ignored Jennifer's approach, closed his eyes, and quietly waited for the arrival of the mysterious person.Not long after, the church suddenly became silent as if someone had cast a spell on it. Then Xu Changqing felt that his body binding technique had been broken by someone. He was startled, opened his eyes, and turned to look at the door. past.I saw a white-haired old foreigner wearing a bishop's robe standing in front of the foreigner, and gently placed his hand on his head. Jared, the general manager of Jardine House, put away his unruly expression and turned He was as devout as a saint, with his fists folded in his chest, and he muttered words, as if he was praying.

When he saw the man who looked like a bishop, Xu Changqing showed a surprised expression. He was not surprised because that man was able to break his body binding technique, but because he was very familiar with that man, but An old friend whom I haven't seen for a long time.The old foreigner helped Jared up, who had already lifted the spell, and let him sit on the bench next to him. Guided by the two little boys, he walked to the podium in the middle of the church.The two little boys held a long wooden pole with a censer hanging in their hands. As the two of them walked, the censer drew circles on the heads of the congregants on both sides of the church, and all the congregants got up from their chairs. He got up and knelt quietly on the kneeling mat prepared under his feet, put his hands on the back of the chair in front of him, and prayed devoutly, even the 'slut' Jennifer looked devout.

Everyone in the church knelt down to pray, but Xu Changqing, who had been sitting still, seemed particularly abrupt. The old bishop quickly spotted him, smiled at him, and blinked his eyes like a child , Then he resumed his solemn and solemn appearance, stepped onto the podium, and started the sermon for this day.

Xu Changqing didn't listen to what the old bishop was saying, and he kept thinking in his heart what was going on.Now it is clear who invited him, but what he didn't understand was that when he last saw the old foreigner, he was still an ordinary parish priest, but it took him ten years to become a bishop , and a cardinal wearing a red robe, it is really puzzling.

Unknowingly, the sermon, which lasted about an hour, was finished, and then the church choir sang the hymn. After the hymn was sung, everyone got up one after another, saluted the bishop on the podium, and then turned and left.Jared, who had gradually recovered, saw Xu Changqing sitting calmly in the church, how could he not understand that he was playing tricks just now, but he couldn't do anything about him, so he could only stare at Xu Changqing fiercely, then turned around He left the church angrily.

When the people in the church were almost gone, Xu Changqing stood up and walked slowly to the bishop. Surprisingly, he hugged the old man's body like a good friend, and said with a smile: "Long time no see! Ma Father Hughes."

"Long time no see! Changqing." And Bishop Matthews greeted Xu Changqing in extremely pure Chinese unexpectedly, and after blessing the last few people, he said: "Go to the back! This is not a place to talk. "

After finishing speaking, he ordered two trainee lecturers to clean the ground, then turned around and led Xu Changqing into the residence behind the church.On the way, I met several former priests of the church. After they saluted Bishop Matthews, they all looked at Xu Changqing in surprise, as if they didn't understand why the cardinal would let a Chinese enter the back of the church.They don't understand that the relationship between Xu Changqing and Bishop Matthews is both friends and teachers and students. Xu Changqing almost became the godson of Bishop Ma Xiusi. Xu Changqing has almost all the knowledge of Western learning, including language, geography, history and theology. Both were taught by Bishop Matthews.

Back then, after Western guns opened the door to the land of China, not only opium, Western learning, foreign merchants, but also missionaries entered China with warships.The Western Holy See joined forces with the Western secular world to send a large number of missionaries into China, hoping to make it the Eastern Archdiocese of the Holy See. Matthews was one of the missionaries sent to China in that environment.His other hidden identity is the monk elder of the Western Church, responsible for finding the lost holy relics of the Church before the priestly exorcists of the Western Holy See, and then bringing them back to the Western Monastery to seal them up.

At that time, Father Matthews learned from some insiders that Xu Changqing's sect had been entrusted by Zeng Guofan to search the entire Tianjing.Perhaps because of fate, Xu Changqing's master and Father Matthews met by accident in Chenjiachong's inn, and they hit it off. Father Xu Changqing did not refuse Father Matthews' request to read the records and classics. It was at this time that Father Matthews Only then did I know that there is still a mysterious world that is unknown on the land of China.

Afterwards, the tragedy of the 38 martyrs of the Guan family took place, and the entire practice world was shaken. They began to deal with the Western missionaries in their own ways. A large number of missionaries were killed, which forced the Western Holy See to abandon its expansion plan and concentrate all the remaining missionaries. Protected in the coastal concessions.In this case, Father Matthews, who went out to search for the holy relics of the church, was also threatened with his life. Although he is also one of the best priestly exorcists in the West, he has little resistance to those strange magic spells. In the end, he fled back to Chen Jiachong with serious injuries and was rescued by Xu Changqing's master.

Later, while recovering from his injuries, Father Matthews usually set up a Western school in Chen Jiachong, teaching Chen Jiachong's children Western knowledge. At that time, it was rumored that missionaries cannibalized people, so very few people came to the Western school, only the Chen family and the children living in Chen's family. , and Xu Changqing is one of them.In addition, in the school at that time, there were only four people who really accepted all the Western learning taught by Father Matthews. It was Xu Changqing.He is like a sponge absorbing all the knowledge in Father Matthews' mind, and Father Matthews also loves him from the bottom of his heart. He has asked Xu Changqing's master many times to accept Xu Changqing as his godson, but Xu Changqing has always been rejected. His master refused on the grounds that he only worshiped Sanqing Dao and not other things.

When Xu Changqing was 15 years old, Father Matthews received an order from the Western Holy See to serve as a parish priest in a certain church in England. Since then, he left Chen Jiachong, and Chen Jingguo also left with him.It has been more than ten years since the day Father Matthews left. Although he is still the same now, his heart is full of vicissitudes. It is difficult for Xu Changqing to feel excited from the reunion of teachers and students.