The Twelve Years: Song of the Unsung Friends

"I didn't expect that they would come so early. You are ready to get out of the car." Zhou Li Xun couldn't even put on his coat, leaning on his arms, walking through the carriage of minus ten degrees.

Shen Xi and Fu Tongwen went back to the box, waking up Xiao Wuye and Peide, Tan Qingxiang also returned to the box soon, everyone made a little trim and followed the delegation to get off the train.

In the snow, the sky is faintly bright, and the stars and the moon are slightly visible.

"This is the first time I saw the Nanman Railway," she said softly, "the snow here is much thicker than in the south."

"The snow outside Guan is the most beautiful." He laughed.

She asked in a low voice, "This time the route includes Yokohama and New York. Is it because we want to hold private talks with Japan and the United States?"

"Yes."

The United States is afraid of Japan’s expansion in Asia, and Japan is also afraid of the United States’ involvement in Asian affairs, so they have arranged high-level diplomatic activities, waiting for the transit of the Chinese delegation. This feeling does not make Fu Dongwen happy, because no matter how warm the hospitality is, it cannot conceal the fact that China is a sheep, waiting for a duel between two hungry wolves.

He whispered: "However, our minister in the United States has reached a consensus with Wilson that the United States will support China at the Paris meeting. Therefore, we want to unite the United States to establish Japan."

Will Japan just let it go?

Shen Xi faintly worried.

Fu Tongwen seemed to understand her worries, and then said: "The chief is an old senior in the diplomatic field, and he has a way to deal with it."

They changed their cars, just before dawn.

In the morning light, the snowy land was like a roll of wordless rice paper, unfolding before her eyes.

This is a land fought by wolves, so beautiful and so peaceful.

Shen Xi looked into the distance from the car window.

After the Russo-Japanese War in the 30th year of Guangxu, Tsarist Russia divided a part of the railway it built in the three provinces to Japan and renamed it the Nanman Railway. At that time, she had difficulty with the Nanman Railway because Japan mentioned it in the "Twenty-One". Later, too many things happened around this railway, the birth of the Kwantung Army, the main Japanese invasion force, the Huanggutun incident, the September 18th Incident, and the restored Manchukuo...

And on that day, the day they passed by, nothing has happened yet.

***

They arrived in Fengtian that night and accepted a banquet from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After the banquet, board the car immediately and head to Seoul. After arriving in Seoul, the Director-General of Foreign Affairs suddenly fell ill, saying that he had caught a cold on the night train, his old illness had relapsed, and his legs had trouble walking. No longer see guests.

A few days later, the delegation arrived in Yokohama and lived in an overseas Chinese home in Chinatown.

This is Japan's external port and a gathering place for foreigners. The delegation chose to live here because it is convenient for the ship to go to the United States at any time.

After arriving in Yokohama, the Chief Executive avoided the invitation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Japan arranged a series of diplomatic activities, including the Japanese emperor’s reception, honors, and tea parties, etc., all of which were rejected by the chief’s sentence of “being sick and unable to sit for a long time”.

There are constant telegrams and disputes between the domestic and Chinese ministers in Japan and the general secretary.

The Chinese and Japanese newspapers also commented daily that they speculated repeatedly because of the sudden illness of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and refusing to see the Japanese Emperor.

The outside world was noisy.

Only the place where they lived was so quiet that there was no wind and the snow fell very lightly.

Young Master Wu held a newspaper and walked in with a smile: "Brother, do you want to listen, I have memorized all the translations."

Fu Dongwen clamped the newspaper in his hand with two fingers, took it in lightly, and examined it carefully.

The newspaper was unequivocal, accusing the Chinese Foreign Minister of "pretending to be sick" and refusing to communicate friendly with Japan. At the end of the report, it was said that there was a lot of inside information about the matter, but it was not convenient to announce it.

"There are many rumors in Japanese newspapers, and they are always deliberately guiding the people," Fu Dongwen put down the newspaper and said with emotion, "I hope that the domestic newspapers will not be all pro-Japanese, which arouses people's suspicion."

"Three brothers still understand Japanese?" Little Fifth Master was astonished.

He put aside the newspaper: "I used to support the reform with your fourth brother, so naturally I will read this."

"It's also..." Little Fifth Master regretted, "In the past, my third brother had concealed too much from me, and he didn't reveal a word, which made me almost chilled."

She laughed: "Your third brother said that if you are really ambitious, you don't need someone to travel with you, and you don't need anyone to guide you."

"Sister-in-law knew it a long time ago." Little Fifth Master was astonished.

"Anyway, earlier than you know."

"Sister-in-law is too much, too much." Little Fifth Master couldn't laugh or cry.

Shen Xi handed the medicine bowl to Fu Dongwen.

Regardless of whether the Foreign Minister is really sick or pretending to be sick, Fu Dongwen is really sick anyway.

On the night train from Fengtian to Seoul, he started to feel cold and hot. In the carriage, it was more than 20 degrees below zero. When I got off the car for a banquet, the indoor charcoal fire was hot and warm like early summer. Alternating hot and cold, tossing repeatedly, no one can bear it.

Just two days off with a good foundation like her, Fu Dongwen had to wait for the disease to develop.

However, he is in a good mood, which is not a big deal.

Tan Qingxiang saw that Fu Dongwen had taken the medicine and greeted the miscellaneous people to go to the dock to confirm the schedule. For them, staying in Japan for one more day is one more day of trouble, and they wish they could board the ship tonight.

Shen Xi laid the bedding for him: "You should take a nap, you will sweat later."

Fu Tongwen sat on the floor, looked at her with a smile, and suddenly whispered: "The pajamas I touched on you yesterday were soaked."

Shen Xi retorted: "You like to hug people when you sleep, but your own sweating doesn't count. It makes me feel like a chicken..."

He laughed: "When did you hug you to sleep? I don't remember. Everyday?"

She saw that he was not serious and did not answer him.

"It's subconscious, no wonder Brother Three," he laughed again, "it was the startling feeling that lovesickness was not revealed. It turned out that it was only because of the bone."

...

"A sleeping position can also be said to be lovesickness." She muttered.

"If it weren't for lack of energy, I could tell you more ways."

She deliberately scowled, pointed at the bedding, and told him to lie down and talk.

He was in no rush: "Drink some tea before going to bed."

"You can't drink tea if you take medicine."

He looked at her with water in his eyes.

Shen Xi didn't say anything, and felt distressed that he always lay down to recuperate, so he had to make tea with water.

In no time, water gurgled out.

She uncovered, scalded her hands, and hurriedly pinched her earlobe to dissipate heat.

"Dong Wen," Zhou Li walked into the yard, wearing a thin shirt and feet full of snow, "The car from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came unexpectedly."

He kicked off his leather shoes and entered the room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Take the chief to Tokyo."

"This is not an invitation. The Overlord has forced his bow." He commented.

"You still have the mind to joke." Zhou Lixun was depressed.

Fu Tongwen was also helpless: "Since people have sent a car, even if the chief executive is really sick and can't get out of bed, he will be carried away," Fu Tongwen shook his head, "I can't stop him."

Zhou Lixun was dull and silent.

Fu Tongwen pondered for a moment and asked, "What is their arrangement in Tokyo?"

"Don't even think about coming back tonight. We have to arrange for the chief executive to live in the official residence of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," said Zhou Lixun. "See our own minister in Japan first, see the Japanese Foreign Minister tomorrow, and go to the Imperial Mausoleum of Emperor Momoyama in Kyoto tomorrow evening."

The Chinese Minister to Japan is a pro-Japanese faction, and he is the one who threatens the Chief Minister to go to Tokyo with his resignation every day.

"With this arrangement, I will stay overnight in Tokyo tomorrow night," Fu Tongwen frowned, "I will be able to come back soon."

"But the sailing schedule has already been set, and we will leave Hong Kong the next morning," Zhou Li said. "I'm really afraid that I won't be able to keep up with the sailing schedule, so I have to stay here for more than ten days. No one can predict how variable the ten days will be. ."

Fu Dong said nothing.

Shen Xi glanced at him and poured tea for the two of them.

An hour later, the chief and two counselors went to Tokyo.

As soon as the Chief Executive left, the delegation was shrouded in haze, fearing changes in Tokyo, fear of assassinations in Tokyo, fear of being forced to stay in Tokyo, missing the sailing schedule, and arousing suspicion in the United States...

By the next day, the atmosphere in the yard was extremely suppressed.

At dinner, the hostess brought food to Shen Xi’s room and asked her quietly, why the mood of the delegation has been so much depressed since yesterday? Eat less for dinner.

Shen Xi was inconvenient to talk about diplomatic matters to the hostess, and vaguely explained that he was worried that the heavy snow would delay the shipping schedule.

The hostess laughed instead, she said that she had made a mistake, staying for more than ten days, she could still wander around Yokohama, especially the mountain hot spring is the best place, she regrets that everyone has come and gone in a hurry this time, and there is no time to entertain her compatriots.

Shen Xi reluctantly responded with a few words and took the meal.

After the meal, it was completely dark.

Zhou Lixun took the lead and bought the ferry tickets for tomorrow morning. But there is still no news from Tokyo, not even telegrams.

Everyone is speculating whether the chief has already decided to reschedule?

On the contrary, Fu Dongwen believes that there is still a glimmer of hope to board the ship on time.

"Maybe there is no telegram, because the Japanese envoy who is afraid of being pro-Japanese will make trouble." He whispered.

"Yeah." Shen Xi nodded.

He asked his master to borrow a chess set made of ivory, sit cross-legged under the lamp, and put all his energy on the board. The dark suit jacket was draped over her shoulders, and the shadow naturally fell on her body and arms.

The stack of newspapers on the coffee table is in Japanese, and he has read it countless times in the past two days.

It is not the first time that Shen Xi "waited" with him. In Xu Yuan, he waited for Liumei's news as well. Every second is looking forward, every second is guessing, and every second is worrying about the other party’s safety...

She held her chin in her hand and watched him play chess. After a long time, her voice became dry.

My legs are also numb.

The western clock on the low table pointed to one o'clock in the morning.

"You..." she finally said.

Fu Dongwen raised his eyes.

I wanted to persuade him to sleep, but guessed that he could not fall asleep even when lying down, and he didn't play chess yet, so he changed his mind and asked, "Are you thirsty?"

"If you don't ask, don't you think," he chuckled softly.

"I'm going to find the glass." She said.

"Isn't there a teacup?" He pointed to the Japanese teacup on the coffee table under his chin.

"Come as you like tonight."

Making tea in a large glass cup is a habit that Fu Dongwen developed while studying abroad.

She wanted to make him happy.

Shen Xi opened the door: "There is in the kitchen, I have seen it, you wait for me to come back."

The shoes are outside. She bent down and brushed the snow off her shoes, and suddenly saw a light on not far away.

It's the light outside the chief's room.

A young counselor was holding an umbrella and blocking the snow. Under the umbrella was the chief executive who was supposed to be in Tokyo...

"Third brother, third brother!" she blurted out to him.

Hearing this sentence, the chief laughed first and looked at this place.

Fu Dongwen put his hands on the floor, stood up, walked out quickly, and smiled at each other.

The general manager smiled and nodded, and said to the younger generations who came out one after another: "The gout is terrible, I'm going to take a dose of medicine. It's hard work tonight, everyone, let's leave tomorrow morning as usual, don't delay business."

After that, the chief's wife had already walked out of the room, bent over to take off his shoes, and helped him back to the room.

The counselor was surrounded by groups and asked about Tokyo, why he returned to Yokohama early.

The counselor took the tea from Shen Xi, moistened his throat, and smiled and explained the cause and effect to everyone. As soon as the chief arrived in Tokyo, he was held for interview by the pro-Japanese Chinese envoy. The chief deliberately took advantage of his illness, not talking about diplomatic issues, but said that gout was unbearable. Today, I saw the Japanese Foreign Minister during the day, and after only sitting for more than 20 minutes, he fell ill.

In the end, he only ordered the other counselor who was left behind to replace him to the imperial mausoleum.

After getting out of this way, the total length will not stay for a moment, and return overnight, so that it can be regarded as catching up with the time.

Laughter in the courtyard fluctuated for a while. The haze was gone in two days, and everyone was completely sleepy, so they packed their bags at night.

Before dawn, they rushed to the dock early for fear of changes.

Before boarding the ship, someone hurriedly delivered a Japanese newspaper, and the chief read it, frowning. The newspaper was handed over to everyone behind him, and finally reached Fu Dongwen's hands.

"What's the matter?" Shen Xi had lingering fears, lest he could not board the ship.

"The paper said that the Chinese Counselor was shot in a car on the way to Emperor Meiji's imperial mausoleum."

Shen Xi was taken aback.

He sighed long and whispered softly: "The Japanese are fictitious and there are many rumors in the newspapers. Let's board the ship first.

It is not uncommon for diplomats to be assassinated. In the past, Li Hongzhang was shot in Japan. This is a danger they must face in diplomacy... If it is true, there will be a telegram to confirm after boarding, and the envoy in Japan will also co-handle it. .

No matter what, the delegation cannot be prevented from boarding the ship as scheduled.

There are many fish and dragons on the dock, and people from all countries have it.

Everyone increased their vigilance and flocked to the chief to board the cruise ship.

Because of the lack of suite rooms, Fu Dongwen gave up the first-class cabin to people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They booked a first-class room.

An hour after the cruise ship left Yokohama Pier, Shen Xi's heart settled slightly.

She opened the cloth-patterned suitcase, took out Fu Dongwen's clothes first, and hung them in the closet one by one.

Fu Tongwen smiled and leaned on the door frame: "You have to clean up first, I will go to see the restaurant."

"Are you afraid of danger?" She stopped her work.

"I'm a patriotic businessman, what's the danger?" he wrote lightly, "stop by and ask Zhou Lixun if there is a new telegram coming."

Not only did he worry about the counselor, she felt the same way.

Shen Xi walked to him and whispered: "Then you go, remember to come back to take medicine."

"Good." He whispered.

Fu Tongwen went to the first-class cabin. The doors of several suites were open, and there were frequent laughter, all in the local accent, and he smiled. After entering the chief executive's room, the living room was full of document boxes, making it impossible for people to stand.

Zhou Lixun and a counselor leaned against the box with a smile, and saw Fu Dongwen coming in and stuffed him with a telegram: "I was going to find you, you came first. It was a false alarm, a newspaper rumor."

The message was short, and it was sent by the counselor himself: Bao Zaijie was frightened in Xijing, and the whole system was fabricated.

It's news fabrication again.

Fu Dongwen smiled, and he completely relaxed.

The general manager took the hot towel handed by his wife, and directed them with a smile: "It doesn't matter if the Dong language comes, help move the box."

"San Ye is a young master, so how dare you bother." The counselor teased him.

Fu Dongwen shook his head and smiled, rolled up his shirt sleeves, and went to work directly.

This pile of document boxes were transported from the Lu's house in Beijing city, and they have been stored beside the chief executive and his wife. They are important documents, all with the words of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in English. The wife is a careful person, and she must check it every time she carries it. She holds a document in her hand and checks the box number one by one, without saying a word from beginning to end.

After the inspection, when Fu Dongwen and the others were drinking tea, they whispered: "The T-shaped wooden box is gone."

Everyone was shocked.

The chief had originally taken the teapot and was pouring tea for Fu Dongwen and the others. Hearing this sentence, he immediately put the teapot down.

"How come, check again," the main station received the detailed list, "I will do it myself."

Except for the long footsteps in the room, there was the rubbing of moving boxes, and there was no other sound.

The commander-in-chief quickly checked it and held the list without moving or talking.

T-shaped wooden boxes are packed with top-secret diplomatic documents related to Northeast China, Shandong, Mongolia, and Tibet. They are all documents that have the closest ties to Japan, and only Japan really cares about them.

Just after passing through Japan, the entire box of documents disappeared.

Stealing so accurately, without the slightest trace.

The chief was silent, and checked the file box again, finally confirming this fact.

He took off his glasses, leaned against the wall, and held his eyes with his right hand.

After a long time, he put on his glasses again and said solemnly: "The delegation has people from the two governments, and the relationship is complicated. It is absolutely impossible to talk about this matter. Wait until New York...and think of a solution."