In the evening, the Finance Office issued a meal allowance for the month. This is a special benefit for field correspondents, who are always without food when they are away from home.

Li Fengzhu counted the votes, and was stunned because he looked out the window. She wandered around outside the Yuanshan Mansion and also visited some clues at the izakaya opposite, but she had never seen this mysterious merchant surnamed "Yuanshan". Here I simply bit my finger and wanted to try my luck on the other side.

It's just a little inconvenient, a lonely woman always leaves after eating, how can a man linger like that? But it is really useless to come and go in a hurry.

Thinking about it, he grabbed a few pieces of manuscript paper from the drawer and put it on his body, so that he could sit for a longer time on the pretext of finding a place to write. She expected that this distant mountain, if she really wanted to come, would always be at midnight when the sound of silk and bamboo was the most lively. Fortunately, I live in a dormitory now, and I only have a few steps home, which makes it much easier to move.

When she arrived at the izakaya, the waiter who greeted the guests recognized Li Fengzhu at a glance and took her to sit in the corner. Li Fengzhu only ordered a bowl of somen noodles, and wiped the table three times before turning over the manuscript paper and putting it aside. She thought to herself that it was always inconvenient to write major news in such a public place, and besides, most of the existing clues in front of her were completed, so she should write something that was not afraid of being seen.

After thinking about it for a while, I thought of fashionable short hair, loose dark dresses, huge gold earrings, and a slender small body. In the end, the face of the important one gradually became clear from blur, so immature, with a pair of apricot eyes with autumn dew, a pitiful look.

Tang Shubai said that Guan Mao would have a banquet for guests and friends in the small mansion tonight, which is the so-called wedding banquet. He probably wanted to pour the old bridegroom's wine in the name of the night of candles in the cave room. Then, taking advantage of people's inattention, he secretly sent the new lady out of Jinmen. I think that when I conspired at the beginning, I shouldn't have expected the accident of the new lady fainting on the spot due to the pressure. If she is scared like that, can she still get out of bed and move? If she doesn't go to the hospital, she must ask a doctor to treat her at home. It's one more pair of eyes to look at.

This little girl is still disgusted by Guan Maocai and can't understand literature and ink, so what good ending can she have in the future?

It is better to hide the background of this story, prepare a small observation, and send it to the supplement, so that this poor person can record all the hardships she can't confide in, which can be regarded as a kind of souvenir.

Li Fengzhu wrote while paying attention to whether anyone talked about "distant mountains". An hour passed, and the article was successfully completed, but there was still a moment before twelve o'clock, and the slightest message could not be captured. Here she had to cheekily refuse the waiter's idea of adding food for her, and stared at the manuscript and read it again from beginning to end. Because Guan Maocai's results have not yet been determined, Li Fengzhu abandoned the rigorous attitude when he wrote news on weekdays, except for his hard background, it was almost all fiction. Unconsciously I was fascinated by the floating and short life I depicted, especially when I read the sentence "The big red Xipa covers the bride, she raises her face and will never see the way forward, she lowers her head and looks hard, the wedding robe is really colorless in her eyes", and she couldn't help but shed tears. With a feeling, he took the name of the article as "Bitter Banquet".

"Isn't it a little ...... for a single woman to go in and out of an izakaya?" someone said, and walked straight over.

Li Fengzhu trembled subconsciously, and the tears in his eyes flowed back desperately.

Johnson put his hands in the pockets of his suit vest, and the yellow-haired mustache on his mouth shook off with a sly smile: "Long time no see, my old friend." ”

Li Fengzhu's muscles tightened all over his body, put away the manuscript paper on the table, kept knocking on the corner of the table, and muttered in his mouth: "It won't be long." ”

Johnson stretched out his right hand, dropped it over her head, grabbed one end of the paper and pressed it back to stop her from leaving, and sat down on the other side of the table. withdrew his right hand, slowly leaned down towards the back of the chair, and said with a smile: "There is probably no possibility of gossip between us, so I'll just say it." I don't care about the past, and the people from Haizhou have also withdrawn. In the future, I hope we can still be friends. ”

At the mention of Haizhou, Li Fengzhu's heart couldn't stop beating wildly. What kind of trick is this, talking about this without beginning or end? Johnson is not a person who easily bows his head and asks for peace, and there must be a reason behind it. He, a foreign adult, always has something to ask for, so could it be that he found the mysterious person who saved Shen Rufu's life, and that person is quite powerful?

Johnson saw that her brows were furrowed and her lips were closed, and he couldn't help but hate her for her incomprehensible stink. The knuckles were clasped on the table, with a kind of majesty, and there was an unconcealed domineering tone in his tone: "You have to give you an olive branch as soon as possible." You Chinese often say that there are no shops in the village. ”

There is a powerful energy behind this mysterious man, which makes Johnson willing to shake hands with Li Fengzhu and make peace?

"The apartment you abandoned, my people have been there, and others have been there. ”

Since that day when he was interrogated by a foreign company in Japan, Li Fengzhu wanted to confirm the matter, and was suddenly picked out by Johnson, and the sense of crisis in his heart was doubled. Not only did she get into new trouble with her new job, but she also let Johnson, the old fox, grasp her weakness first. Once the British and Japanese concession authorities cooperated because they were dissatisfied with her investigation, the prospects were very bleak.

Johnson pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled: "You alone can't deal with two agents at the same time." ”

Li Fengzhu raised his right hand uneasily and grabbed his throat, his left hand trembled and moved towards the water cup, reached out and found that it was just an empty cup, and put it back in place without a master.

Taking advantage of her mood fluctuations, Johnson immediately saw the opportunity and pressed step by step: "I know something, you don't want me to know something." ”

The ambiguous hint made Li Fengzhu's hands and feet tremble unconsciously. She felt an itch on the back of her neck, as if someone was standing behind her, waiting for an opportunity to strangle her neck. He raised his hand and grabbed his hair back, and wiped the cold sweat from his scalp.

This act of agitation relieved Johnson, and he could clearly feel that the initiative was back. After a few rounds of competition, Johnson, who has always been defeated, can be regarded as having the capital to completely raise his eyebrows at this time, and he sneered from time to time with the yellow hair on his mouth: "For example, your past." ”

The past is long and rich. Li Fengzhu's past in the Northeast is the past, and his past in the "Jinmen Times" is also the past. If the former is announced, the Japanese will not let her go, and if the latter is announced, the British will not let her go. But she was still sitting well, and even received a courtship from Johnson. Analytically, it seems that the former is more likely. Because he first lowered his head and wiped the sweat beads on his forehead, his pretending calm smile was full of weakness: "Mister Johnson, your so-called 'straight talk' has gone around countless circles. ”

Johnson picked up a cigarette, struck a match, squinted at Li Fengzhu and said, "Li, I can help you approach Tang safely." Then you get the news you love, and I have what I want. ”

This "Tang", not surprisingly, should refer to Tang Shubai. Johnson actually wanted to cooperate with her! Thinking about it, it was not strange to find her, and it was reasonable to go out of his way to find out her bottom in order to force her to agree. But why did the British, who had always turned a blind eye to the actions of the Japanese, suddenly become interested in the Japanese consulate?

Li Fengzhu asked tentatively: "What do you want...... What is it?"

"I want ......" wanted to weaken the power of the Japanese in North China, especially in Jinmen. Johnson muttered inwardly, but tactfully tweeted, "Our people yearn for peace." All our efforts are aimed at balancing forces and ultimately achieving peace. ”

"Huh. Li Fengzhu sneered, covered his mouth and quietly retorted, "Your peace was brought in exchange for the calamity. ”

"What?" Johnson saw the muscles on her face move, and pricked up his ears to try to get her answer.

Rushing to the information of the Japanese consulate, Li Fengzhu also had the idea of using Tang Shubai. If the British Concession Ministry of Industry is willing to help her out of interests, it is naturally good. But she needs to know what interests have changed Johnson's attitude, and the question is directly related to the long-term nature of the cooperation. He replied, "I mean, you define the current situation in Jinmen as an imbalance of power, right?"

Johnson doesn't deny it: "You're really smart, so I've always regretted losing you. ”

Li Fengzhu is familiar with this set of words, and the powers are fighting openly and secretly, and they say that they are unbalanced, but in fact, they can't beat it. The British must have thought in their bones that they had opened the door of Jinmen, and they should be in charge of the overall situation. It would be nice if the uneasiness of the British stemmed from the self-esteem and self-improvement of the Chinese. Unfortunately, the reality is that Japan, which has become strong and prosperous, is about to become the most profitable party among the "predators in China," so the old powers are anxious, fearing that they will "suffer" in carving up the situation. Here, she couldn't help but sigh for the suffering of the motherland.

Seeing her like this, Johnson first felt weak for a while, and said with a smile: "Because I regret it so much, I think selfishly and impulsively, I lost you, then Ta Kung Pao should also lose you." ”

The subtle change in his expression made Li Fengzhu feel that the British had an extremely urgent need to grasp the information of the Japanese consulate. But she waved her hand: "I am not a citizen of your country, and I have no obligation to cooperate with you." ”

Johnson continued to lobby: "Don't be afraid, let alone doubt my sincerity. As you said, we observed that the scales were starting to tilt, so we had to try to make changes. There is only one thing I can tell you at the moment, there are no eternal enemies and no permanent friends. ”

It's true, you are a friend when you need it, and you are an enemy when you don't need it. As a result, the deal has a strong sense of danger.

What a shrewd woman!" Johnson sneered, took out a letter and handed it over, and said in English: "On the twentieth day, there will be a march in Sefendo, which will be started by your women. You don't have much time to think about it—" he said, looking down and raising his wrist to signal her, "not in two days." ”