Zhu Jinglun has an office with Hurd, and now he is under Hurd's leadership, Hurd is already an official embassy interpreter, temporarily seconded to the Occupation Committee, and Zhu Jinglun is only an employee, not even a deputy. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

But he didn't care about this, the reason why he suddenly decided to apply as a translator, in fact, the motivation was very vague at the beginning, at first Zhu Jinglun thought that he chose this way in order to deal with the foreign soldiers of the Zhang family, but then he felt that there were countless ways to deal with those foreign soldiers, and it was likely to be a better way, but he didn't think about it at all, when he saw the notice, he thought in his heart that he was a translator and could better deal with the problem, but this was completely unreasonable.

Only now did he feel that maybe everything was due to the inertia of life, and he was used to dealing with foreigners, so he didn't hesitate to choose to be a translator at all, as for solving the trouble of the Zhang family, maybe it was just a subconscious excuse.

"A few spoonfuls of sugar?"

Hurd's voice interrupted Zhu Jinglun's thoughts.

Hurd took Zhu Jinglun to familiarize himself with the environment of the office, in fact, there was nothing to see, the two desks were placed parallel to each other, Zhu Jinglun's was outside, Hurd's was inside, there were several filing cabinets on the other side of the office, and there was a small pantry.

The English habit of afternoon tea had been cultivated, and tea had become a necessity in this era, especially for the aristocracy, and this habit was brought into the office by Hurd, who had always liked to mention the aristocratic history of his ancestors.

"No sugar, thanks!"

Zhu Jinglun refused with a smile, do Chinese drink tea with added sugar?

"Don't want milk!"

When Zhu Jinglun saw Hurd put down the sugar jar, but did not hesitate to add milk to the two cups, he refused again.

Hurd smiled, then walked over with two cups.

"You Chinese are too particular about drinking tea, you don't need milk or brown sugar, what else does this tea taste?"

Faced with Hurd's logic, Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but be stunned, because he saw that Hurd said it very naturally, and obviously Hurd thought so in his heart.

Zhu Jinglun was extremely puzzled, what kind of logic is this? Teach Chinese how to drink tea in front of Chinese?

Who gave Hurd the confidence? Or to give the British self-confidence, Zhu Jinglun believes that Hurd is definitely not the only Englishman who holds this concept.

Zhu Jinglun suddenly flashed a lot of similar phenomena in his mind, China is the ancestor of tea this is beyond doubt, but later generations of Japanese can show off their tea ceremony culture in front of the Chinese, and many Chinese still really reflect, stupidly believe that China has lost too much traditional culture, all of which have been learned by Japan, and many scenic spots are rushing to introduce Japanese tea ceremony.

Westerners are complacent with their own red wine and coffee culture, local tyrants spend a lot of money to buy Western luxury red wine, thinking that drinking red wine is superior to drinking white wine, and a large group of middle-class people regard drinking coffee as fashionable and drinking tea as tacky.

Obviously, in front of foreigners, the cultural pride of the Chinese is lacking, and they dare not use their own standards when it comes to tea.

On the other hand, foreigners, the Japanese dare to show off the tea ceremony in front of the Chinese, and the Westerners dare to promote the culture of red wine and coffee.

However, it is clear that Japanese tea came from China, and red wine originated in the two river basins of the Middle East, and the history of red wine brewing by Jews is earlier than that of Westerners, the origin of coffee is in Africa, and the history of coffee drinking by Arabs and Turks is earlier than that of Europeans.

But everything is reversed, Japan shows off its tea ceremony, thinking that the way Chinese drink tea is not exquisite; Westerners ridiculed Chinese for drinking red wine and mixing it with drinks.

The most serious problem is not here, but that a large number of Chinese think that what people say makes sense, and how unconfident they are. Who stipulates that drinking tea requires a cumbersome process to drink kung fu tea, isn't it more refreshing to drink a large bowl of tea? Who says that you can't mix drinks in red wine, so that the sweetness is more suitable for your palate, isn't it a principle of food culture? However, there are a group of Chinese who are willing to accept the cultural indoctrination of others, believing that the drinking method of big bowls of tea is too earthy; Think the way you mix drinks is too cheesy.

Thinking of these phenomena, Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but sigh: "Interesting." ”

Hurd had already sat down and stirred his black tea with a small spoon.

"What?"

Hurd asked.

Zhu Jinglun said: "You Westerners are really interesting, everything is based on your own standards, don't you think it's a little too egotistical?" ”

Hurd really hasn't thought about this problem, although he is very self-motivated, he can come to China alone, and work in obscurity for five years in a small place like the Ningbo Embassy, but after all, his vision is limited to the times, of course, compared with Zhu Jinglun, compared to most people in the world, he is already broad-minded. It's just that his vision can't make him look at things from the perspective of the whole world.

"What do you mean?"

Hurd asked humbly, he had always been interested in exploring the psychology of the Chinese.

Zhu Jinglun said with a smile: "When you drink tea, you add milk and brown sugar, you think that this way is correct and the only correct way, which in turn can educate the ancestors of tea drinkers Chinese not to understand tea." In the same way, you drink coffee with sugar and milk in it, and dare to laugh at Turks who drink plain bitter coffee for not understanding coffee? Don't you think Europeans are too self-centered? In this world, there are not only Europeans, but also Asians, Africans and Americans. ”

Hurd was stunned, this phenomenon seemed to really exist, and he couldn't help but smile:

"It's kind of interesting!"

Morning tea time passed quickly, and the work officially began, and the work of translation was simple, but by no means easy.

Because there are few translators nowadays, and there are many opportunities to deal with Chinese, everyone has no regular job, and they must wear multiple hats and be on call.

Zhu Jinglun was busy three days a day, and he couldn't even go back to Zhang's house, and his food and accommodation were in the yamen of the governor of Guangzhou. However, his work has been recognized by both Chinese and foreign people, and he has gradually become familiar with Chinese officials and gets along with foreigners more harmoniously.

To Hurd's great delight, Zhu Jinglun can not only speak English, but also understand English, which takes a lot of pressure off him, because Zhu Jinglun can help him translate some Chinese materials.

The information was very varied, ranging from the notices put up by the British to the various types of information they had gathered through the notices put up by the Occupation Committee. Only for the time being, Zhu Jinglun did not have access to classified documents, and he only helped Hurd translate some daily documents of the Occupation Committee into Chinese, and then handed them over to Bai Gui and Mukdenne and other Qing officials to read. Hurd, on the other hand, personally translated Chinese information from all sides, and what was shocking was that there was a holy decree from the Qing Emperor.

At this time, Guangdong was completely under the control of the Anglo-French forces, and the yamen at all levels were under their control, and the Qing officials either cooperated with them like Bai Gui and Mukdenne, or they were passively resistant, saying that they were sick at home. However, a set of government agencies of the Qing Dynasty was still running, so Bai Gui could still talk to the emperor at this time, but of course his performance was also for the emperor's purpose.

Bai Gui's identity is still the governor of Guangzhou, and after Ye Mingchen was captured, the captured officials in Guangdong wrote one after another, putting the responsibility for the fall of Guangzhou on Ye Mingchen, and later generations said that the foreigners asked these officials to impeach Ye Mingchen, but Zhu Jinglun did not know this situation, so it is likely that this is a unique prevarication custom in Chinese officialdom, even if there is no foreigner persecution, it is estimated that these officials will not hesitate to put all the responsibility on Ye Mingchen, the governor of Guangzhou.

After the Guangdong officials collectively shifted the responsibility to Ye Mingchen, the emperor could not be harsh on this civil official group, so he could only compromise and appoint Bai Gui as the temporary governor of Liangguang and let him maintain the situation in Guangdong as much as possible. It is ridiculous that the city of Canton was occupied, and the emperor even appointed a captured official to be in charge of the enemy-occupied area. Could it be that the emperor of the Qing Dynasty was really so mediocre, or did the Guangdong officials collectively convey a wrong message to the emperor and make the emperor misinterpret it. Zhu Jinglun thinks that it is the latter, and based on his observations in the past few days, he thinks that these officials have really done this kind of thing.

Since Bai Gui became the acting governor of Liangguang and still needed to manage the Liangguang region, there were a lot of various texts needed, of course, these had to be translated and archived by the Occupation Committee. Therefore, the corresponding translation work is also massive.

What is even more bizarre is that all these documents written in government agencies at all levels in Guangdong need to be approved by the Occupation Committee before they can be stamped with the big seal of the governor of Guangzhou.

The absurdity in this made Zhu Jinglun feel unbelievable and incomprehensible. Perhaps this is the concept of surprise, the Manchu government, as a backward government that inherited the Ming Dynasty's government management system and world view, their emperor at this time, I am afraid that the group of officials under him can still fool the foreigners after the fall of Guangzhou. Maybe in his opinion, foreigners are only strong ships and guns, and they are not intellectually civilized, anyway, his officials, his teachers, must have educated him in this way.

In short, Zhu Jinglun's work in the past few days has made him more and more incomprehensible and more and more aggrieved, especially when foreigners are constantly showing their superiority all the time, he can't even refute it from his heart, which makes him extremely anxious, and people become silent.

A few days later, Pashali suddenly informed Hurd that he should bring someone out with him on an errand.

Hurd naturally brought Zhu Jinglun, who is extremely serious and reliable in his work.

It was a short trip, and Pashali not only brought a team of translators, but also a team of soldiers, who were going to Nanhai County to collect taxes.

The Nanhai County Administration is located in the city of Guangzhou, which is divided into two counties, the eastern half of Guangzhou is under the jurisdiction of Panyu County, and the western half of Panyu County is under the jurisdiction of Nanhai County. However, the county orders of these two counties were different from Baigui, and they had always resisted the occupation of Guangzhou by the British and French forces, although they did not dare to fight by force, because they had no soldiers in their hands, but they had always resisted passively.

Recently, after the British and French forces occupied the city of Guangzhou, many soldiers disappeared without seeing their dead bodies. Of course, the four British lobster soldiers who were locked in the vegetable cellar by the Zhang family also included. Similar to the situation of the Zhang family, there were many in the city of Guangzhou, and the British and French troops posted notices and gave a large reward to the informant who provided the clue.

It's a shame that someone really came to denounce it.

Although most of the missing coalition soldiers were captured by the townsmen and taken outside the city, there were also a few who were killed by the common people of Guangzhou. After the British and French forces grasped these circumstances, they began to search for criminals in the city of Guangzhou.

At this time, the two magistrates of Nanhai and Panyu were not only unwilling to carry out the execution, and did not arrest the prisoners of the British and French forces, but arrested all those informants, and also issued a threat that anyone who dared to cooperate with the foreigners would be traitors and would be imprisoned.

Originally, the people of Guangzhou City did not treat foreigners very well, and now the streets of Guangzhou cannot be restored to before, and the volume of trade has been greatly reduced, which has caused a headache for the British and French forces, and the non-cooperation in these two counties has further fueled the antagonism of the people.

So whether or not these informers, these Chinese who cooperated with the British and French forces, became a symbol.

The occupation committee first issued an order to the yamen of the two counties to release them, but the two counties refused to accept them at all.

Pashali was not a patient person, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Hundreds of soldiers surrounded the two county jails, which had only a few servants, and then forcibly took six Chinese prisoners from the Nanhai County Prison and 21 prisoners from the Panyu County Prison under the pretext that "all Chinese prisoners who had reported to the Occupation Committee on the whereabouts of some foreign prisoners were now under foreign protection."

In this way, the Anglo-French forces apparently hoped to establish their own prestige, and at the same time to attack the prestige of the local Chinese government, so that the Cantonese would know who was now the real master.

When I went back, it was getting late.

Pa Xiali was the consul of Guangzhou before the war, and he was very familiar with the roads of Guangzhou, and he led everyone to take a shortcut back to the governor's yamen of Guangzhou.

This requires passing through an alley next to the yamen. But who knew that the door at the mouth of the alley was closed.

This kind of alley door is used to prevent theft, when the street drum sounds, this kind of alley in Guangzhou will be closed, only the main street can not be blocked, but only the main street can walk, the crime of thieves at night is greatly restricted, because the risk is too great.

Since it is near the Yamen, business is good, so there are many shops in the alley.

Pa Xia Li was indeed very familiar with the Chinese situation, and he knew that this kind of alley gate was in charge of the shops at the entrance of the alley, not that the government stipulated it, but that the officials patrolling the streets wanted to save trouble and give this kind of work to these merchants.

Without thinking about it, Pashali walked into the side door of the shop and asked the shopkeeper to open it.

At this time, the owner of a nearby shop walked out, laughing, gloating, and shouting "no door".

Pashali was very angry, and rushed directly into the small shop, grabbed the man's braid and dragged him directly into the street, the shopkeeper resisted slightly, and Hurd even stepped forward to help.

At this time, there were countless soldiers here, and it was impossible for Hurd to do a clerical move, Zhu Jinglun looked at his face, thinking that he was just flattering his boss Pasha, but he saw Hurd's face full of smiles, obviously he enjoyed the fun of grabbing Chinese braids.

Zhu Jinglun couldn't help frowning as he grabbed the shopkeeper's braid and led him around his wrist to the yamen, just like the cartoons used by countless foreigners to satirize China.

"You're a gentleman, please don't do that."

Zhu Jinglun opened his mouth to stop.

Hurd shrugged his shoulders, at this time, under the coercion of foreigners, the shopkeeper at the entrance of the alley did not dare to resist, obediently took out the key, and opened the door of the alley, Hurd grabbed the shopkeeper of the shop next door, Shi Shiran walked through the alley, and the opposite side was the governor's yamen.

There were many shopkeepers watching, some opened a crack in the door to peek, and some boldly walked out to shout at the shopkeeper who was dragged away with his pigtails, some cheered, some ridiculed, and some gloated, but they did not come forward to stop it.

And the shopkeeper who was arrested, the old and young in the family sat on the ground at the door and cried, crying and falling down the pillars of the house, and a yellow-faced woman was still crying and complaining that the old immortal should not provoke foreign devils.

When Zhu Jinglun walked through the alley, he felt that his heart was pressed by a heavy weight, like a national!

He stayed up all night, and finally made a decision to drive the foreigners out of Guangzhou City!