Xu Xuzhi

Chapter 68
The Northeast is speeding up its adjustment to change banners, progressing smoothly, and the situation is becoming clearer. After the Northern Expedition Army beat Zhang Xiaokun, the Zhilu warlord who disagreed with the unification anyway, Ning Zheng firmly rejected Zhang's request to lead the remnants out of the customs. The Northern Expeditionary Army finally completely died down, providing Yi Zhi with a relatively normal atmosphere.

Ning Zheng is still appeasing the Japanese: Although there is no evidence, the fact that the Kwantung Army was able to sneak attack on the old commander has proved to a large extent that they are out of control.

And dealing with the Japanese is a great science; my father, who made a living with the sword and fought his way through the sky, was once proficient in this way, so he can still develop the Northeast stably under the attack of the two empires of Japan and Russia. In 20 years, Ning Zheng, who has grown up smoothly and at a young age, does not have the environment and soil to develop this ability.

After a long period of negotiation, some closed-door meetings even lasted for five hours, the Japanese finally reluctantly agreed to return the Northeast to China; the Nanjing government immediately sent representatives to Japan to "obtain an understanding." "A weak country has no diplomacy." A country's internal affairs require the approval of foreign powers. It sounds infuriating, but that is the case.

However, since Ning Zheng came to power, he has done the following things: dealt with the remnants of Zhang Xiaokun who were dissatisfied with Yizhi militarily; obtained the non-intervention guarantee from the Japanese diplomatically; Negotiations with the Nanjing government were successful; domestic disarmament went smoothly, allowing the officers and soldiers of the Ning army to get their own place.

The completion of these four tasks can be said to have basically cleared away the main obstacles on the road to change flags in the Northeast.

Ning Zheng also resumed the way of traveling to Peiping, Tianjin, Shanghai and Nanjing by special train or plane.He was the same as before, always traveling for more than ten days, Feng Jiu had nothing to do, but every time he came back, his way of making money still gave her a headache.

You can't toss yourself so hard just because you are in good health, right?Feng Jiu also tried to pretend to be sick or inconvenient, but once or twice, Ning Zheng was not fooled, and insisted on doing a physical examination, which is really shameful.

Feng Jiu is indeed weak in this area. He probably has been used to it since he was a child. He is always unnatural and has many loopholes.

The abominable thing is that Ning Zheng is very lucky, often when the little days leave, he comes back with a heart full of thoughts, without delaying anything, Feng Jiu can't help but secretly resent his disobedience.

Feng Jiu also maintains frequent correspondence with her girlfriends.Although Zheng Li is busy with taking care of the children and studying, she still manages to find time to write some short letters to them. Judging from the letters, the second cousin, who has always been flamboyant, seems to have taken care of her. Apart from making movies and occasionally playing cards, everyone in the literary circle Things became much less involved.

And according to the letter from Wen Xiuwei, who has been promoted to senior year, Ke Weili has been quite relieved recently: since the death of the old commander in June, the passage outside the pass and the inside of the pass have basically been cut off. possible.Although Ke Weili is calm and calm, in fact, he is very concerned about Xiuwei who finally reluctantly agreed to be his girlfriend; the meeting at least twice a month was completely interrupted by the situation, and Xiuwei returned to Sichuan in the summer.

Fortunately, in October, with the preparations in all aspects, the exchanges between the Ning army and the customs resumed. Recently, there were no battles to fight, and Ke Weili finally took over all the errands to Pingjinji.

In addition to them, there are Feng Ling who has just gone to Tianjin and Qiaozhi from Xiehe, and Feng Jiu also maintains close correspondence with them.

Feng Jiu continued to study, and in half a year, she would be able to complete four years of undergraduate credits and get the university degree certificate she had dreamed of.In other words, she can graduate with Xiuwei.After all, Zheng Li took a year off from school because of her pregnancy and childbirth, and she graduated a year later than herself. With the fate of life, I really can't tell who is fast and who is slow; who wins and who loses.

It's better to ignore the present, "Look at the long-term scenery", and the future will be long.

As usual, she lived in Yingying Alley, and was served by Wu Ma and Qiu Sheng. Zhi Changsheng continued to serve as the captain of the guard because he was careful, calm and capable; but even Bi Datong was promoted to the third army that had just finished When the commander of the artillery company went, Hongji happened to be leaving the army, so he followed.

It is impossible to say that the detachment leader has no idea in his mind.

However, how could Ning Zheng make him suffer? In September, he was directly promoted by two ranks, from major to colonel.Fengjiu saw that although the detachment leader, who had always been unsmiling, hadn't changed on the surface, his steps in and out were much lighter.

The good news is that Fengjiu and Haidongqing finally got along well, and they also learned how to whistle with Ning Zheng. When they were excited, they pursed their lips and whistled, and the falcon would fall from the sky, from her leather gauntlet. Take a few strips of fresh beef in the palm of your hand.

Suddenly, one day, for four consecutive days, Fengjiu found that the Ta Kung Pao, which was placed on the dining table for her to read every morning at home and advertised as "no party, no sale, no selfishness, and no blindness", had disappeared.

This newspaper is the same as "Fengtian Times" and "Shuntian Times", the newspaper with the largest circulation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It can only be transported to Fengtian, so it must be a day in the evening.

Feng Jiu was a little puzzled, and asked Hu Jianxue, the guard officer who replaced Bi Datong, to inquire.

This Hu Jianxue was recommended by Bi Datong before he left, and he found his temperament according to himself. …I heard that this newspaper was shut down by the Beiping City Government for some reason, so it has only been published for a few days, but it should be back to normal from the day after tomorrow.”

Feng Jiu's penetrating eyes carefully looked at Hu Jianxue's black and red face, which made his forehead sweat.Feng Jiu pondered, and already had a similar guess in his heart.

She smiled suddenly, "Why are you so nervous, Adjutant Hu, it's not your fault."

She gently let him go down, turned around and entered the study, suddenly feeling relieved when she woke up early in the morning after consummating the house: Did the other boot finally fall off?

……Hurrah.

Qiu Sheng watched from the side, anxious in her heart, she had just returned to the mansion, had heard some gossip, and was about to report to the girl.

Feng Jiu stood behind the desk, laying paper, grinding ink, coloring, and getting ready to paint.Tai Shan followed in silently and knelt down under the table.

Qiu Sheng whispered: "Girl, the servants in the mansion said that the third young master went to Tianjin this time and brought back a person..." Qiu Sheng paused, testing Feng Jiu anxiously with his eyes from under his eyebrows.

After hearing this, Feng Jiu was busy selecting paints, sorting them according to different materials, diluting them with warm water or preparing them with deer glue, and some of them had to be ground with a mortar. Beauty."

Seeing her girl's indifference, Qiu Sheng jumped up anxiously, "I heard that my surname is Yang, and I'm only sixteen. If I say yes, I'll come to Fengtian to study at university."

Feng Jiu didn't speak, and tapped his fingers on the desk a few times, "That's strange, Pingjin still lacks a good university?"

She was really puzzled, even if she wanted to climb the dragon and become the phoenix, she should try to find a plausible excuse.

"When the third young master comes back, do you want to ask?"

"No, if he thinks it's necessary, he will say it naturally." Fengjiu was calm and composed. He just wanted to draw a line with the Langhao Yejin brush, but put it down again. Although it was the first time to draw an eagle, he still wanted to use Nantian's "boneless method": There is no draft book, and after the mica paper is covered and cooked, the color is directly applied according to the class, rendering layer by layer.

Qiu Sheng sighed, the girl is not good at this point, she doesn't care about other things except what she is interested in.

Fengjiu turned her head and saw Costinus perched on the trunk of the sycamore tree outside the window, staring at her with her head tilted.

Needless to say, this dear friend has brown spots here and there, and the deep and shallow, layered, finely detailed white, maroon, and gray feathers are already very meticulous.

Feng Jiu said in his heart, "Don't move! Please don't move!", while speeding up, Gou Lin and dry brush painting methods are all on the same line-where can I find such an obedient model who doesn't need money?That's it.

Haidong's green and bright yellow iron beak is as hard as a hook, and a pair of obsidian-like eyes are extremely sharp, piercing people's hearts. Fengjiu has done nothing wrong, so let him look at it.

Just like this, one person and one eagle, watching through the window, cooperating with each other tacitly, Qiu Sheng has long been fascinated by it, and she likes to watch girls draw pictures most, her freely swaying figure is very stylish.

When she was done, she straightened her arms and looked at it far away. Unable to help but feel complacent, she stared at the painting and asked casually, "How is it? How is my painting, your girl?"

Qiu Sheng stared at the unflappable falcon on the rice paper, especially the pair of silver and white iron claws, which were so fiercely drawn that they almost pierced through the paper and caught them in front of them. Strong!"

Fengjiu: "...", resting his hands on his head weakly, he couldn't help laughing, "My beautiful autumn voice, we have so many words to describe a good painting in China, can you only praise me with 'vigorous'? Bai I have taught you for so long."

Qiu Sheng, who is mediocre in language expression, spread his arms, smiled, and went out to work.

After Fengjiu finished painting, she started to tidy up brushes, brush washers, inkstones, a pile of porcelain plates, plum blossom plates, and water containers. She never did other people's work for these tasks.

After tidying up, she went out for a walk to relax her muscles and bones. Taishan followed her to the door and stretched out her head to look out. Haidongqing was flying with wings, and then flew down to circle Fengjiu again. Taishan He turned around and jumped in.

Feng Jiu smiled, thinking whether to send Tai Shan to the courtyard, where there are many children, Tai Shan should be able to like it.

She went upstairs and went to the bedroom to apply pearl cream: her skin was a little dry in autumn, and it was even more dry after washing her hands; in the bedroom of the handsome mansion, Ning Zheng opened a fish pond before marriage and placed it The water method, with a few goldfish swimming around in it, is the most effective way to increase humidity naturally.

Here at the Yingying Hutong mansion, there is also a tank of fish, but the area is not so large, so the air humidity is still a bit poor.

In the evening, Ning Zheng didn't come back. He just called and said that he would not come back for dinner, and he would not come back to stay at night. His tone was relaxed and natural, and Feng Jiu responded as usual. Before hanging up the phone, Ning Zheng suddenly asked her to wait. Wait, paused for a while, so long that Fengjiu wanted to fall asleep, and then he added, "Do you—do you have anything to ask me?"

Feng Jiu was silent for a while, and said routinely as usual: "No, pay attention to rest, don't be too tired."

Ning Zheng didn't make a sound, Feng Jiuxin said why she was so chatty today, she still had something to do, so she put the phone down without waiting for a reply.

Since Ning Zheng returned to Feng the day before yesterday, he has never been back to Shuai Mansion, nor to Feying Hutong. He heard from Zhi Changsheng that he went to the military headquarters every day, and would rest there when it was too late; sometimes he would go to Beiling Villa to rest. .However, occasionally I will accompany some visiting officials to play golf or tennis in Beiling.After hearing this, Feng Jiu couldn't help thinking, isn't this all business?
Ning Zheng would sometimes send Zhi Changsheng or Hu Jianxue back to fetch infrequently used stamps, a few sets of clothes for a change of clothes, and a strange request to send some cakes made by Wu Ma. After a while, they all followed suit.

The next day, after class, Fengjiu went straight to the school library, because the newspaper reading room in it was the most concentrated place to collect newspapers with the largest circulation at home and abroad or other unique insights.

The atmosphere in the university was clear and bright, and many of the Bong students I met along the way recognized her, but they just smiled and paid attention to her, and very few people stepped forward to disturb others.

Feng Jiu picked up the "Ta Kung Pao" newspaper that was uniformly bound on a square wooden stick, and started to flip through the latest one. At first glance, the news on it was nothing surprising, and it did not affect the relationship between Nanjing and Northeast China, the international political and economic situation... ...But when she turned to the fourth page, she saw a statement about a gentleman surnamed Yang who published in the newspaper and separated from the clan with four daughters, and the same content was repeated for four consecutive days...

She put down the newspaper slowly, unconsciously pursing her lips.

Qiu Sheng was shocked to find that after her daughter returned from college, she had the latest learning goal, Greek.

What she sketches on the paper is tadpole characters that look more complicated and crooked than the original English letters, and often wear a "little hat" on their heads.

As for why Feng Jiu started to learn such a remote language, it was actually very accidental: last semester, Gloria specially recommended a person for her, whose surname was Papadopoulos, who was known to be an American of Greek descent from the surname, and at the same time He is also a professor of Greek at the University of Chicago. Luo Li said that he is the father of her friend Tallinn in the United States, and he came to China to travel and visit friends.

The friend he wanted to visit happened to be in Xiaoxiguan Church, and it turned out to be Father Lin Mo. It turned out that Papadopoulos was Father Lin's college classmate, which was a coincidence.

A few days later, Feng Jiu saw Papadopoulos in the church. He was a tall, tall, heroic middle-aged man with a big beard, with very gentle gray eyes. The two shook hands friendly.

Father Lin Mo smiled and said, "Audrey, this is also my best college classmate—Mr. Papadopoulos, alas, his last name is hard to pronounce, as difficult as Greek, so you just call him Mr. Mr. Ba."

Audrey is Fengjiu's English name. He gave it to Father Lin when he first met Fengjiu. In fact, it is a French name in the final analysis: because when Father Lin Mo saw Fengjiu, who was only 14 years old at the time, he thought she was Small, but looks elegant and noble, so I gave her this beautiful name.

Fengjiu and the new Mr. Ba laughed together.

Mr. Ba said to Feng Jiu: "Father Lin said that your language ability is very strong. I teach Greek. How about it? Are you interested in challenging the so-called most difficult Greek in the Latin language department?"

Fengjiu has never thought about learning Greek: she has started learning German under the guidance of her tutor, Professor Bu, for about half a year, and as usual, she got started quickly; she will also learn Spanish and Portuguese in the future.

After more than a year of university study, her career goal has become increasingly clear: to be a linguist in the future, but she has never thought of Greek.

Feng Jiu did not reply to Mr. Ba on the spot, but only said that he would consider going back for a few days.

But after checking the notice in the "Ta Kung Pao" in the library, Fengjiu thought about it, and went to Xiaoxiguan Church to find Mr. Ba.

Mr. Ba hadn’t seen Fengjiu for a few days, and was worried that the only Chinese student he liked would run away again. When he saw her, he deliberately said: “Audrey, in a huge China with a population of [-] million, there is no one who can speak Greek. I am a little sad, after all, China and Greece are great ancient civilizations; but I also admit that Greek is really difficult."

Feng Jiuming knew that Mr. Ba was a bit aggressive, but what is youth?To be young is to be vigorous, but to be unbearable.

In addition, Mr. Ba said that so far, no one in China has studied Greek systematically. This sense of mission and foreseeable sense of accomplishment to open up virgin land and become a pioneer and pioneer suddenly seized her, and she suddenly felt, The encounters with Father Lin, Ge Luoli, and Mr. Ba seem to be fate in the dark, but she intends to accept it and be happy with it.

As for why she suddenly made up her mind, she herself doesn't quite understand. Anyway, she seems to have a kind of anger in her heart, she can't vent it, and she is a little bit aggrieved. She wants to learn a new language, so that she can vent her excess energy in a self-tortured manner. , and divert some unpleasant attention.

This is Fengjiu's way of decompression: everyone has different ways to relieve stress - some people overeat, some smoke and drink, some are lewd and debauched, and some are violent. Naturally, there are people like her who use reading, Positive ways such as drawing and learning to solve problems.

Mr. Ba tested Feng Jiu's English, French, Italian and German skills, and the result surprised him. He nodded to Father Lin: "You are right, this little Chinese girl is a language genius." Lin The priest smiled, and was very pleased that Feng Jiu's talent had not been buried. Look, as expected, he was recognized by his old classmate who has a high status in the international linguistics circle.

In this way, Fengjiu is now in the process of high-intensity language learning: every day after class, Mr. Ba, who has been a specially-appointed professor at Fengda University, will teach her alone for an hour, and then Fengjiu will return to the small mansion as a teacher of various subjects to stay. The following homework, and various daily exercises.

The amount of study scared Wu Ma and Qiu Sheng. Looking at Feng Jiu's dense schedule, they were afraid that Feng Jiu would be exhausted, because now she only handles some tricky housework in the handsome mansion that Mrs. Wu can't make up her mind about. , the daily affairs of Ende Hall, the management business of Fengda University, and taking advanced courses in advance, the rest of the time is spent learning various languages, not to mention that she also takes time to read ancient books, write, play the piano and paint, She is as busy as a spinning top every day, but her spirit is extremely high.

After listening to the report of the confidant who went to the small mansion to bring Feng Jiu's letter for her, the fifth lady remained silent, and the fourth aunt poked her: "Hey, what are we three young mistresses going to do? Okay. Madam Young Marshal is in front, shouldn't she just walk around and let everyone in Fengtian know that she is one of the most noble people now? That's great, she's gone to the bookstore, is she going to be a female doctor?"

The Fifth Madam knocked on the long pipe stem, and she has been smoking this since the old man passed away: "This is not something a female doctor can stop, this must be a female professor, what else must it be, something like a tenured professor?" "Don't say it, the fifth lady does have eyesight.

The fourth aunt, who couldn't hide her words straight to the point, twisted her mouth: "I just can't figure it out. If a woman doesn't cut new clothes, doesn't go to theaters and play cards, and doesn't save jewelry. She reads nonsense gossip every day, so she can have a son. Or can I make my man appreciate me even more? Studying? I think her mind has gone out of her mind, can our third young master look up to her because of this? Silly girl, I can't think about it."

Sixth Aunt helplessly looked at Fourth Aunt who hadn’t picked up a book and read it for so many years: “But shut up! Don’t forget, our young marshal’s wife is a well-known talented woman from Tongze and Fengda, can she be the same as you singing Hebei Bangzi and me singing Jingyun Dagu?”

The Fourth Wife used to sing Hebei Bangzi, and the Sixth Aunt was good at Jingyun Dagu.However, since the old man passed away, these aunts and wives have no one to be jealous of, and the fighting spirit that was rare in the past has long since disappeared, and everyone gets along peacefully.

Mrs. Shou looked at Niu Jingqing, the seventh concubine sitting beside her, who was still like a wooden sculpture, her eyes were always straight, and she couldn't help sighing: In the Huanggutun incident, the seventh concubine was blown off three of her right feet. The toe, after recovering from the injury, did not delay walking, but the person was completely ruined.

Especially when she later heard that Jin Dongzhen was actually a Japanese spy, and that the old man's death was definitely related to this spy, she was even more dumbfounded, and she no longer had the witty energy she used to have.

Ning Zheng didn't want to hold her accountable, because even for many major events that were obvious in history, in the end, there was no conclusive evidence to prove it; moreover, even if it could be proved that it was Niu Jingqing who leaked the whereabouts of the old man that caused the accident. The Japanese made trouble, so what can they do? The old man will never survive again.

She lives with Mrs. Shou now, and she can't leave people. She starts to yell "ho ho" when she can't see Mrs. Shou for a while.Mrs. Shou was a little concerned about her pet at first, but now, she only looks at her pitifully.

Although what the sixth aunt said was ugly, the fourth aunt was not angry, and said bitterly: "Aren't I worried for her? Why don't you give birth to a few sons before the freshness is over, don't you?" Have you heard of the one in the Beiling villa? You're only sixteen, tsk tsk, it looks like a flower..."

"Like a flower?" The Fifth Madam sneered, "Is our third young mistress like a flower?"

"There shouldn't be any." The fourth aunt mumbled. After all, Feng Jiu's beauty rarely met opponents. "How much does this matter have to do with looks? None of them are as pretty as the third child."

The third child mentioned by the fourth wife is the third concubine Fang Linzhi. She was a female student at the beginning, and the old handsome caught her eyes. After all, she married and entered the door without having children. Later, the old handsome got drunk because her brother lost money in gambling. The light bulbs in the whole street were shot and shattered, which seriously disturbed the people and was dragged to the commander's mansion, and the alley was killed.

It didn't take long for her to enter the nunnery to have her hair cleaned up. The old man went to persuade her a few times, and she simply shaved her head and became a sister-in-law, so he let her go.With that appearance, he will be able to compete with Feng Jiu.

"'Toads don't grow hair, follow their roots.' I'll leave it here, if you don't believe me, just watch. Our three young masters, I think, will be the ones to carry home sooner or later. Once we start, the ones behind will have to follow. They walked in like dumplings." The fourth aunt pinched her hands firmly, after all, she had never seen a high-ranking man who didn't cheat.

Speaking of the Fifth Madam, she also frowned, "I heard from the Beiling Villa Guard Brigade that this little girl is very well-behaved. Every day, she finds someone to play tennis, walk the dog, and stay in the house. Chen Zhong'er doesn't care." I have been in her house, and when I went there, I was really socializing with people from all walks of life..."

"Didn't you say that you rest there sometimes?"

"It's a rest, but nothing happened." The fifth lady waved her hand: "There are often representatives of various parties from other places living in the villa, are you sorry? How shameless are you here?"

The Fifth Madam has been in the house for many years, and she is in charge of Zhongfu, and there are reliable confidants everywhere to report to her all kinds of things happening inside and outside the house.

When Ning Zheng lived in the Beiling villa these days, how could the maid in charge of tidying up the room not carefully check the sheets, bedding and other things that are most likely to reveal details.

"Then what does that mean?"

"What do you mean? I think it means that Chen Zhong'er is sullen, but it's a pity that he doesn't know the truth." The fifth lady shook her head funny, leaving the fourth aunt who couldn't figure it out to stare and think hard.

Fifth Madam is a savvy person. Although she has not seen the way Feng Jiu and Ning Zheng get along with this young couple a few times, she is as clear as a mirror in her heart. The third young lady, despite her young age and ignorance of world affairs, is actually very transparent and very assertive. Facing Ning Zheng, who "shaves her head and picks her hair - a hot head", she fell in love with her. He doesn't put on a cold face to resist, but pretends to be a snake with a smile, but he doesn't have much sincerity, but Ning Zheng is also a stubborn child, so he just got into a fight with her, in the future?Where did this go? The two of them still have a lot to grind.

Speaking of this, I thought of the old handsome who passed away. Although he didn't treat her very well, he was not bad. Otherwise, none of their concubines were willing to leave the handsome mansion.

She sighed, and found that she was not like a while ago, when she thought of the old man, she had to pull a handkerchief to wipe her tears, and she seemed to have gotten used to it after all.

Just like this silly old Qi, don't you want to see him too?

(End of this chapter)