"Sin Chew" is a fast mail ship sailing between Singapore and Shanghai, on the way to Guangzhou, to Xiamen, Shantou, Hong Kong three major ports to stop, each call at least half a day, therefore, from Shanghai to Guangzhou a total of seven days, counting this fast luxury cruise ship carrying 500 passengers is really worthy of the word fast. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Fortunately, Zheng Yi has a calm personality, can endure loneliness, and has a strong self-regulation ability.

In the early morning of 25 March, Zheng Yi boarded the Xiguan Wharf in Guangzhou, and according to the instructions of the Hong Kong waiter Ah Xing, he went directly to the Haizhu Hotel on the east side of the Guangdong Customs.

Travelers and hawkers can be seen in a hurry under the dim street lamps, the rows of shops on the north side of the embankment open early and are brightly lit, and the food stalls hanging from the horse lanterns along the embankment abound.

Zheng Yi, who was deeply infected, suddenly felt hungry, observed for a moment and came to the booth of a young couple to sit down, the busy little boss greeted Zheng Yi loudly "Good morning, sir", the attentive little woman immediately came to Zheng Yi, the first action was not to ask Zheng Yi what to eat, but to pull a small square stool and put it on the safe side, and explained in an awkward Chinese whisper that the world has been a little uneven recently, and asked Zheng Yi to put the suitcase on the small square stool to be safer.

Zheng Yi was quite grateful, did as he pleased, and said kindly: "Thank you!" I can understand Cantonese, give me a bowl of beef brisket noodles and a serving of fish balls. ”

"Sir, wait a minute, I'll be right here."

In less than five minutes, the little woman brought the fragrant beef brisket and rice noodles to Zheng Yi, and the young boss then brought a small bowl of steaming fish balls, Zheng Yi saw that the little boss was not very busy, so he thought about it and humbly asked the little boss for advice: "Brother, wait a minute, may I ask No. 2 Nandi Road to go east along the riverside?" ”

The shrewd little boss carefully looked at Zheng Yi, who was full of kindness: "Yes, just go straight along the river embankment, and when you get to Tianzi Wharf, you can see the yellow western-style building at No. 2 Nandi Road, sir, you won't also come to take the Whampoa Military Academy, right?" ”

"That's right, I just came from Shanghai to apply for the exam, and it seems that you know about it." Zheng Yi said with a smile.

The little boss sat on the square bench opposite the low table and enthusiastically introduced: "During this time, many people from other provinces came by boat to catch the exam, and the whole city of Guangzhou was discussing this matter, and there were comments in the newspapers at both ends of the three days, and the Generalissimo's Office and the city government also issued ****** one after another, calling on our businessmen to raise donations for the military academy, and I heard that thousands of candidates have gathered in Guangzhou, uh...... By the way, yesterday a guest left a copy of the "Republic of China Daily", which seemed to have an announcement from the Preparatory Committee of the Whampoa Military Academy, Alan ......"

The little boss turned his head and ordered his wife a few words, and the little woman quickly brought a oily newspaper from the back of the stall, the little boss took it and looked at it, quickly folded it in half and put it in front of Zheng Yi: "It's here, the announcement of the front page location." ”

After reading it, Zheng Yi exclaimed luckily: "I didn't expect the registration deadline to be today, the official exam will be at eight o'clock in the morning the day after tomorrow, fortunately I came in time, thank you brother, thank you!" ”

"No thanks, Mr. is so tall and mighty, he will definitely be able to pass the test, haha!" The little boss said loudly, with a smile on his face, and when he saw a group of guests coming, he hurriedly stood up to greet him, and the little couple couldn't take care of Zheng Yi for a while.

Zheng Yi drank the hot soup and ate the fish balls, and once again read the announcement of the Preparatory Committee of the Whampoa Military Academy by the light of the horse lantern.

The arrival of the two tables of guests made the little couple very busy, and when the two of them were idle and found that Zheng Yi had left, the little woman picked up a big ocean left by Zheng Yi and looked for people everywhere, but was stopped by her husband: "Forget it, that gentleman has walked to the front of the street, good people have good rewards, I hope he will do everything well and succeed." ”

Zheng Yi, who was worried, walked to the entrance of Le'an Street, saw the big signboard of Haizhu Hotel, and entered the hotel lobby to register under the warm greeting of the store guys, and lived in a single room on the second floor of the backyard at the price of five packs of morning tea per day.

Convenient transportation, quiet Haizhu Hotel is a time-honored brand, the antique front building is the hotel front hall and three-storey restaurant, the elegant backyard is dotted with rockery flowers and trees, on both sides is a combination of Chinese and Western style two-story guest rooms, Zheng Yi stayed in a single room with complete facilities, spacious and tidy, in addition to washing to the downstairs bathroom, other aspects are impeccable.

It was dark, Zheng Yi went downstairs to the bathroom to take a cold shower and hurriedly returned, changed into a clean youth dress and cloth shoes, put all the clothes and pants he had changed into the rattan basket prepared by the hotel, called the waiter to give instructions, and then brought his graduation certificate and re-filled resume to the front hall, glanced at the tall grandfather clock pointing to 8:20 in the service desk, and involuntarily quickened his pace, and suddenly felt that he should buy a watch as he walked.

Zheng Yi walked five miles to No. 2 Nandi Road, and found that there was a long queue of more than 100 people in front of the two-story yellow western-style building, surrounded by more than a dozen soldiers with loaded guns and live ammunition to maintain order.

Zheng Yi observed for a moment, silently joined the crooked team of candidates, listened attentively to the dialects of the candidates, carefully looked at the young soldiers who kept walking around to maintain order, and found that these soldiers did not have any rank marks on their gray-blue military uniforms except for the blue sky and white sun emblem on their big caps, and they could only distinguish officers and soldiers by the weapons they carried and the shoes on their feet.

After two hours of long waiting, it was finally Zheng Yi's turn to hand over the registration form, and after reading Zheng Yi's graduation certificate and neat resume, the first thing they asked was if there was a letter of recommendation?

Zheng Yi answered truthfully no, and solemnly made a request to the resume: "Two commanders, the last page of the resume has my understanding of the Three People's Principles, as well as the reason for applying for the Whampoa Military Academy and the yearning for the revolutionary army, in order to apply for the Whampoa Military Academy and realize the revolutionary ideal that I yearn for day and night, I gave up the opportunity to enter the university for further study, left the family with superior conditions, and came from thousands of miles away day and night, I implore the two commanders to take care of me, as long as I am given a chance, I will definitely be admitted to the military academy with excellent results!" ”

The young officer nodded slightly, admiring Zheng Yi's attitude and eloquence very much, and the beautiful and dignified female officer also nodded, and the two discussed a little and wrote down Zheng Yi's name and accepted Zheng Yi's resume.

When the male officer returned the graduation certificate to Zheng Yi, he kindly instructed: "It's okay, before two o'clock tomorrow afternoon, we will post the list of the last batch of approved applicants, the physical examination procedures, the examination location and precautions, etc., on the bulletin board on the right side of the gate, and then you can come and fill out a registration form." ”

"Thank you very much! I'll be there on time tomorrow afternoon. ”

Zheng Yi thanked him from the bottom of his heart, happily left the registration office, and walked back along the boulevard, considering whether to buy a watch as he went. Do you want someone to ask about the content of the exam the day after tomorrow? How did she know that when she was asking hard at the registration office just now, the female official who arrived in Guangzhou with him on the same boat happened to arrive, she was very surprised after seeing Zheng Yi, and finally looked at Zheng Yi quietly for a long time, and when Zheng Yi left, he went up and took his resume away, and explained with a smile to the two young male and female officers: "I know this person, he is a narrow-minded and bad character playboy, how can such a person let him blend into our revolutionary ranks." ”

At two o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, Zheng Yi came to the gate of No. 2 Nandi Road on time, and the bulletin board was already full of bustling candidates, excited cheers and sighs of loss came one after another, and more than a dozen people with northern accents were emotionally crowded in front of the iron gate, and some people asked loudly why there was no name? Some people begged to give themselves another chance, but the soldiers standing inside the iron gate turned a deaf ear and did not have any explanation.

Zheng Yi finally squeezed to the bulletin board, looked for it but didn't see his name, and immediately left the crowd in a hurry, and walked quickly to the iron gate to join the appeal team.

Half an hour later, there were more and more unsuccessful candidates, and the voices of pleading and questioning became louder and louder, and the preparatory committee sent a middle-aged official in a suit and leather shoes, a young officer, to stand majestically inside the iron gate and glance around, and then loudly explained to the unsuccessful candidates:

"There are more than 1,200 candidates from all over the country who come to apply for the exam, and our work is very stressful, but we are responsible for every candidate, because your registration qualifications are more or less problematic, and the number of first cadets recruited by the military academy is limited, so it can only be handled in strict accordance with the relevant regulations."

"Don't worry, in five days, we will start the recruitment of the second batch of students, and you still have a chance...... If you still want to apply for our military school, go back and prepare now! ”

The unsuccessful candidates were silent for a long time, and nearly half of them reluctantly left together, and the rest wanted to ask a few words, but the two officials had already turned around and left, Zheng Yi, who was standing at the edge of the crowd, was silent for a long time, looked up at the yellow western-style building in the courtyard and the officials gathered on the balcony to watch with a smile, sighed helplessly and turned to leave.

In the playground of the Provincial Normal University, Zheng Yi witnessed more than 100 people who passed the preliminary examination qualification being brushed off before the physical examination, including Hu Zongnan, who was pulled out of the team by the examiner because of his short stature.

To Zheng Yi's admiration, Commander Hu, who was squatting in the corner and crying bitterly, quickly stood up, strode towards the examiner who pulled him out of the physical examination team, and asked loudly in front of everyone:

"Why don't you let me get a medical check-up? Who says that if you are short, you can't revolution? Napoleon was short, but he became a great man who changed the world, and Mr. Nakayama was not tall, so he didn't become a revolutionary leader? There are so many small great men in history, why don't you let me revolution? Why? ”

There was an endless exclamation, the whole playground was boiling, and more than a dozen Zhejiang candidates who came with Hu Zongnan immediately surrounded them to help intercede, and the whole order was chaotic, Zheng Yi and a few unsuccessful candidates who quietly watched from a distance were also affected, and they were soon driven out of the school by the soldiers who maintained order.

It didn't take long for the news that Hu Zongnan had been specially approved by Mr. Liao Zhongkai to enter the school, Zheng Yi sighed with emotion, and finally understood the importance of getting the recommendation of the party-state veterans, but now he is alone, without relatives, where to find someone to recommend himself?