Wanlan didn't care about the British government, but she was very interested in Spencer, the old family under the new government. George is twenty**, has a pair of blue eyes like the sky, always has a smile on his lips, never hesitates to praise women, and always calls Wanlan "Oriental Rose".

Xie Huaichang was a little dissatisfied with her increasingly close friendship with this alien man, and vaguely reminded her that she was already a person with a marriage contract: "I don't know when Chen Ji will return to China, he will be surprised to see an unmarried wife like you after returning to China." ”

"What kind of fiancée am I?" Wanlan tilted her head and smiled at him, and said nonchalantly: "I should be surprised, it's ridiculous that I want to marry someone I've never met." ”

"If he hadn't gone abroad, you would have met him. Xie Huaichang said: "Sister, the Chen and Xie families are famous, but you are still ...... Good ...... to pay attention to"

"It's even more ridiculous that I'm going to marry someone I've only met once. Wanlan smiled, glanced at him, and said, "Uncle has introduced you to so many foreign students with new ideas, why haven't you grown at all?

Xie Huaichang sighed and said, "Wrong, it's the rights and interests of the people." ”

"It's the same thing," Wanlan said, "besides, there are no people, I only see people." ”

"I really want to know what kind of ** soup George poured you," Xie Huaichang shook his head: "You are going out tomorrow? Can you take me one?"

Wanlan lazily picked up the teacup and refused without thinking: "Tomorrow the wife of the German minister will hold a living room salon, and will invite a Chinese princess who is said to be very status, I am fortunate to be invited, but I am afraid that I will not be able to take you." ”

Xie Huaichang was taken aback, and stood up and turned his face to look at her: "When did you become so familiar with the minister's wife, I never know." ”

Wanlan curled the corners of her mouth and smiled heartily, with obvious smugness on the corners of her eyebrows and eyes, and she almost danced with her eyebrows: "What, isn't your sister qualified to be a friend of the minister's wife?"

Xie Huaichang groaned for a moment, and frowned very quickly: "I just said that you and Spencer are getting closer and closer, but you are negligent......"

Wanlan looked at him with crooked eyebrows, tilted her head and said, "Why, do you really think that this capital has made me drunk and obsessed?"

Xie Huaichang sat down beside her and leaned over to her: "I want to hear it." ”

Wanlan pursed her lips and said slowly: "Sun Wen in the south is in turmoil...... Perhaps it should be called the Revolutionary Party, and the government is indestructible, and it will ...... in the future. Maybe you have to draw the Yangtze River with the government to rule. ”

Xie Huaichang said in a low voice: "Sun Wen's ambitions do not stop there, and besides, the revolutionary party will not let China split into two countries. ”

Wanlan glanced at him and laughed briefly: "It seems that you also pay attention to him." ”

"He set up an alliance in Japan last year to raise donations from overseas Chinese in Japan and raise revolutionary funds," Xie Huaichang lowered his voice and leaned into Wanlan's ear and said: "Baili has donated money to the alliance. ”

Wanlan looked at him in surprise: "Hasn't he been invited by Governor Zhao to go to the northeast to train troops for the Qing court?"

"He refused, and next year he went to Germany to study," Xie Huaichang said: "Baili doesn't want to work for the Qing court." ”

"No wonder my uncle said that the sky was about to change...... Wanlan thought thoughtfully: "Once the revolutionary party succeeds, the officials of the Qing court will immediately become relict vassals." ”

Xie Huaichang asked, "What are you worried about?"

Wanlan glanced at him: "Knowingly asked." ”

Xie Huaichang laughed silently: "Stepping on two boats is an extremely risky thing. ”

Wanlan suddenly took a deep breath and turned her face away: "I haven't thought about it yet, you don't have to ask in a hurry." ”

Xie Huaichang said: "Your idea was inspired by Spencer? I also have an understanding of British society, so it is better to say it and brainstorm ideas." ”

Wanlan licked her lips and spoke very slowly, as if every word had been carefully considered: "George's father...... Now a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. ”

Xie Huaichang thought for a moment and gasped: "You want your father to ......"

Wan Lan raised her palm to interrupt him, and said, "I haven't thought about it yet." ”

Xie Huaichang stood up again and paced two steps in the room: "The Spencer family started in the sixteenth century and is a noble title obtained by donating officials. ”

"You know very well, where did you get the news?" Wanlan glanced at him again, and said lightly: "Three hundred years, as long as there are conditions, not to mention the merchants who donate officials, even if it is a cowherd, you can enter the temple, what does the old saying say? ”

"This is a sentence that wants to be cut off," Xie Huaichang said: "There is no one who studies in the UK who does not know the Spencer family." ”

Wanlan let out a long "oh" and joked: "If you can marry him, it can be regarded as a guarantee." ”

Xie Huaichang immediately frowned, and his tone was reproachful: "Is this what a lady can say? If you renegade your marriage contract because of him, wait for your father to break one of your legs." ”

"Huaichang," Wanlan turned her head to look at him, and said with a smile: "You...... It's a lot different from when I was in Zhenjiang. ”

Xie Huaichang followed her and smiled: "Really?"

"Back then, you didn't talk to me for a hundred words a year," Wanlan stood up and walked to the dressing table, patting him on the shoulder: "Sometimes I even wonder if you are my own brother." ”

Xie Huaichang turned around and looked at her in the mirror: "I'm sorry. ”

Wanlan nodded and said, "I'm sorry." ”

Xie Huaichang was silent for a moment, as if he was adjusting his feelings, and the burning candle in the room burst into a spark at this moment, a slight crackling sound, but it made his shoulders shake violently, as if he was greatly frightened.

"If there's nothing to do, go back to bed early," Wanlan took off her ear bell and turned sideways: "I have to attend an extremely important banquet tomorrow, and I have to do my best." ”

Xie Huaichang nodded lightly, and then said, "I forgot to ask, where did you learn about the whereabouts of Sun Wen and his party?"

"European and American governments are very concerned about the situation in China," Wanlan lowered her eyes and sighed softly: "An ancient uncivilized country, in their eyes, is like an undiscovered treasure." ”

Xie Huaichang repeated: "Uncivilized country?"

"Uncivilized countries, at least in the eyes of European countries, are like this," Wanlan said, "ignorant and backward, the only reliance on the battlefield is the courage not to be afraid of death." ”

She said and laughed sadly: "Chinese are not even afraid of life, how can they be afraid of death?"

Xie Huaichang sighed lightly and took a step back: "I'll go back first, Sister Lan will rest early." ”

Wanlan nodded, and after he left, she took off her makeup and freshened up, but when she lay down on the bed, she didn't feel sleepy, she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep, because tomorrow was another war, waiting for her to deal with it with great energy.

The wife of the German minister invited a distinguished guest, the noble Chinese princess, and now in the Qing Dynasty, the most noble princess is Princess Rongshou, the eldest daughter of Prince Gong, who was born in the clan but was favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi for a long time. When Prince Gong was still on the throne, many people speculated that the Empress Dowager Cixi's favor for her was just a means to win over Prince Gong, but now that King Gong has been dead for many years, Princess Rongshou's weight in the Queen Mother's heart has not been reduced at all.

However, how could such a princess deign to attend the minister's wife's private banquet?

Wanlan got into George's carriage with a lot of questions, and couldn't help but ask in the car: "Do you know who Mrs. Schumacher's guest is today?"

"A Chinese princess," George winked at her, "I once saw her at court, just half a year ago, a woman of great intelligence and charm, though she was not as beautiful as yours. ”

Wan Lan had become accustomed to his compliments, and the English gentleman had always claimed that respect for women was the most important thing a man should have, not only for her, but for all the women he could meet, even the servants of the Xie Mansion and the old women who were hawking on the streets.

"Have you seen her, what's her name?"

"I can't tell you that, my dear," George laughed, "and this is a surprise that Madame Schumacher has carefully prepared." ”

His attitude was resolute, so Wanlan stopped asking questions, and only talked about useless topics. It was easy to get to Mrs. Schumacher's quarters, and she was escorted by George from the carriage with the corners of her skirt and into the beautifully decorated bungalow.

Mrs. Schumacher greeted her in stiff Chinese: "Lan, you are here." ”

"For you and your guests, you must come," Wanlan handed her a box of incense powder: "Dai Chunlin's new product, please don't dislike it." ”

"Thank you," Mrs. Schumacher changed to German and smiled coquettishly: "Honey, has my Chinese improved a lot?"

"Very good," Wanlan changed to German as well, and she slowed down her speech as much as acceptably to disguise her poor level of communication: "Are the ladies already here? I won't be the last." ”

"Of course not, but you have just arrived, and my guest has just arrived," said Mrs. Schumacher, who ushered the two into the inner chamber, and the woman, who had stopped to admire a picture of a landscape, turned to them, smiled toothily at them, and curtsied.

"Yu Deling, I've seen Mr. Spencer, I've seen Miss Xie. ”

=======================================================================

Yu Deling: pen name Princess Deling, lived with his father in Japan and France for six years when he was a teenager, and is proficient in many Chinese. When he was 17 years old, he returned to Beijing with his father, and because he was proficient in foreign languages and Western etiquette, he was recruited into the palace by Cixi and his sister Yu Rongling and became one of the eight female officials in the Forbidden City. In 1905, she left the palace due to her father's serious illness, married an American, and immigrated after marrying an American, and wrote in English what she saw and heard in the court for two years - "The Second Year of the Qing Palace". Many of her reminiscences, because of their specific identities that they have personally experienced, have preserved precious historical materials of Qing court life in a certain way, providing evidence and reference for later academic research and creation.