Wanlan was sent home by Chen Ji after the ball, and Miko Shoda could only ask George, and apologized to George for Chen Ji robbing his 'female' companion, but George did not have any displeasure in his heart, but was happy to meet a more unique 'woman' like Miko Shoda, and the two soon chatted together. ,nbsp;。 The two parties said goodbye to each other in front of the hotel's 'door', and Chen Ji called a rickshaw and sat on it with Wanlan.

"I thought George had something to mean to you," Chen Ji smiled, "and I used to be secretly annoyed." ”

Wanlan laughed: "He just thinks I'm funny." ”

Chen Ji's every move now seems to be completely Westerner, because according to Chinese etiquette, an engaged man and woman must never have such intimate contact and time to be alone, but Chen Ji didn't care at all, he sat sideways to Wanlan, held her hand in the palm of his hand with one hand, and wrapped the other hand around her shoulder, helping her do some trivial things to straighten her hair and collar, and said in a casual tone: "The Qing court is going to establish a constitution now, do you know?"

Wanlan nodded.

Chen Ji said again: "Has your uncle Lord Xie participated in the determination of the new official system?"

Wanlan shook her head again: "That's all done by the Minister of Military Aircraft, and my uncle is just a senator." ”

Chen Ji slowly "um": "I don't think this thing can be done, if Lord Xie has hope for the new official system, then you might as well persuade him tactfully." ”

Wanlan suddenly sobered up from her deep affection and asked him, "You must have learned something inside." ”

Chen Ji didn't hide it from her, and said: "King Qing's family has already marked the price of various official positions, so he received a soft hand in collecting cash, and even the servants in the house were overbearing, and five thousand taels of silver were still unsightly, of course, this may not be the evidence of the queen mother's crime that can lead to his death, but for others." ”

Wanlan asked again, "Who is the others?"

"You don't need to know," Chen Ji said: "The higher the political struggle, the more incompatible you are with life and death, they may not be able to bring down King Qing, but it is very easy to bring down Yuan Shikai." ”

But Wanlan said: "You said the opposite, it is easy to bring down King Qing, but it is not easy to bring down Yuan Shikai." ”

Chen Ji laughed again and made a gesture: "I want to hear it in detail." ”

Wanlan turned her head and said in a flat tone: "The Qing Dynasty has fallen, and King Qing is finished." ”

Chen Ji was taken aback, and subconsciously looked at the reaction of the driver in front of him, but Wanlan's voice was extreme, like a whisper between lovers, he put his mind at ease and scraped Wanlan's nose: "This is to kill the head." ”

Wanlan turned her face to him and smiled at him again: "Are you afraid?"

Chen Ji said, "I am worthy of you, Ah Lan." ”

He brought a thick cloak and draped it on Wanlan's body, and the hands of the two people interlocked their fingers under the cloak, 'handing' to share the warmth of each other's palms, and began to talk about a new topic, but without saying a few words, the car had already arrived in front of the 'door' of Xie Mansion. Chen Ji gave the coachman some broken silver as a reward, and the poor man who worked hard bent down gratefully: "Thank you, kind lord and wife, you will definitely live a long life." ”

Wanlan felt embarrassed because of this, not only because of the "old lady" in his mouth, but also because of the attitude of the coachman, so she reached out to help him up and said some words of blessing to him.

Chen Ji said to Wanlan after the coachman left: "Maybe he is eager to cut you with a thousand knives at this time." ”

Wanlan was surprised: "Why?"

Chen Ji smiled: "In the eyes of some people, all officials oppress good people, all businessmen are 'traitors', and all rich people are rich and unkind." ”

Wanlan said thoughtfully: "This is strange. ”

Chen Ji sighed: "It is not easy to maintain a heart of kindness to others under a long period of suffering. ”

Wanlan and him said goodnight to each other, and both of them wanted to agree to meet again tomorrow, but both of them understood that the possibility of seeing each other tomorrow was very small, because the bureau did not leave them time to fall in love.

Wanlan wore that thick cloak into the house, and went to the study to check Xie Huaichang's study progress as usual, when Xie Daozhong's husband and 'wife' were not there, she had to take on the obligations of the eldest sister, but today she pushed the 'door', but saw that Xie Daoyong was also in the study, sitting across the table from Xie Huaichang, talking word by word, talking about the current official system.

I don't know if it's because of Zai Ze, Xie Huaichang rekindled hope for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and he himself understood in his heart that replacing an old regime with a new regime can only be done by leaving a bloody conflict, and China's 2,000-year-old dynastic change has shown this. No matter what kind of prosperity the regime that replaced it will bring in the future, but the commoners who are in the midst of the 'transition' must have no good fruit to eat, so he hopes that the Qing Dynasty can continue to survive, and Xie Daoyong also uncharacteristically praised his idea, which made Wanlan very surprised, you must know that in the past, the two of them talked about politics, and there would definitely be differences in a few words.

Wanlan bowed her knees to greet Xie Daoyong, took off her cloak at his request, and showed her new dress to the two men, Xie Huaichang couldn't accept the looming 'naked' and 'exposed' on her neck and shoulders, but Xie Daoyong praised it.

"Although it is said that the beautiful 'woman' is still beautiful when she gets old, the real youthful 'spring' delicate and 'beautiful' appearance is gone, and the young girl should dress up as a 'flower' branch, and after these twenty years, she has a lot of time to wear those steady and conservative clothes. ”

Xie Huaichang pretended to sigh: "It is said that young people are frivolous, and old people are steady, why did they all fall out of my house." ”

Xie Daoyong laughed and looked at Xie Huaichang gently: "When I was in Zhenjiang before, you were like a saw-beaked gourd, but now you can joke like this." ”

Xie Huaichang smiled silently, and glanced at his sister who was 'glamorous' and 'shot', if it was in the old house in Zhenjiang, don't talk about such clothes, such conversations, even such thoughts should not have, Xie Daozhong is an old Confucian with firm beliefs, and he can't wait to make a frame to frame the whole family, and everyone will act according to the established track.

Xie Daoyong persuaded Wanlan to keep this dress well and bring it back to Zhenjiang in the future, so that the people in the old mansion could also open their eyes, Xie Huaichang objected without thinking about it, he said that his father: "I have always been the most disgusted with change." ”

"If you take over the family when you grow 'hair' and 'chaos' like him, you may hate change more than him," Xie Daoyong lowered his eyes and scraped the floating dust off the tea with the lid of the cup: "My father, when your grandfather died, the official army had not yet entered the puppet capital, and our brothers were only in their teens, not as old as Ah Lan is now, although I often laugh at him for being pedantic and stubborn, but to speak a word of conscience, I am not as good as him, I don't have the ability of your father, if it were me, whether the Xie family could still save today is two words." ”

Wanlan and Xie Huaichang both heard this past for the first time, because Xie Daozhong never refused to say it, but Xie Daoyong said these two sentences and refused to continue, only said: "It is a very cruel thing to let an old man who has experienced war recall the war. ”

Wanlan didn't force him anymore, put on the thick cloak again, and said to Xie Daoyong: "Let Huaichang read the book again, uncle, my niece and daughter haven't spoken to you for a long time, if you don't dislike it, my niece and daughter will make tea for you to drink." ”

Xie Daoyong responded, stood up, gave Xie Huaichang a few words of encouragement, and went out with Wanlan: "What do you want to ask, ask." ”

Wanlan smiled and said, "Sure enough, I can't hide anything from my uncle, so my uncle must know what I want to ask." ”

Xie Daoyong sighed: "The new official system has failed, Qu Hong has made trouble, and Lord Yuan has already left the capital. ”

Wanlan was taken aback, and immediately remembered what Fang Cai Chen Ji told her, and found out that her fiancé was very unusual, and there were probably people in the officialdom who reported the news.

She coughed lightly and asked again, "Has the ministry 'door' arrangement and list of the new official system come out?"

Xie Daoyong shook his head: "Not yet." ”

Wanlan said: "Is Qu Hong in charge now?"

Xie Daoyong said "um" and said with a wry smile: "Ah Lan, your uncle's good days are coming to an end." ”

Wan Lan was terrified: "You and Qu Hong have no grudges in the past, and there is no enmity in the near future, and you have never gone to Qingwang's Mansion to send silver taels, he may not deliberately target you." ”

Xie Daoyong said: "I'm afraid that I won't be able to stay in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." ”

Wanlan comforted him and said: "Uncle doesn't have the ambition of being a supreme minister, where is he not the same as an official?" Besides, Lord Yuan will not fall so soon, you can rest assured." ”

Xie Daoyong turned his head to look at her: "You seem to have learned something." ”

Wanlan smiled: "You don't need to know any news, uncle, Lord Yuan is in charge of the army, and the Beiyang New Army was trained by him, as long as this army does not fall for a day, Lord Yuan will not fall for a day." ”

Xie Daoyong sighed: "It's because of this that it's even more difficult to decide, Ah Lan, I'm not willing to stand in line." ”

Wanlan understands Xie Daoyong's difficulties, now the situation is unclear, standing in line is like a risky gamble, even if the bet wins, it is only a win for a while rather than a lifetime, but if you don't stand in line, you are doomed to be free from the center of power for the rest of your life, oppressed and held hostage by others.

"But now that the outcome of this game has been decided, it's too late for you to stand in line," Wanlan said: "It's better to wait and see, after all, there is no endless road, and you are much better than those who fell off the cliff because they stood in the wrong line, aren't you?"

Xie Daoyong nodded: "The current plan can only wait and see what happens, I'm just worried about Huaichang, talking to him about the new official system today, he still has some hope for this." ”

Wanlan didn't care: "He has nothing to worry about, it's just that listening to the wind is rain, he agreed with the revolution before, but he was influenced by the high-minded talk of those students, and now he agrees with the constitution, but he was only infected by Zegong, and he changed his mind after two days." Although it is not a good thing to have such a fickle position, it is because he has not really seen the revolution and constitutionalism, and it is good that he may go abroad and come back. ”