Chongqing, Southwest Hospital.

"Mr. Zhou, please come in." Chen Xiaoxia invited Zhou Hexuan into the ward.

Chen Xiaoxia is Zhang Jiluan's third wife, young and beautiful, and married Zhang Jiluan five years ago. Zhang Jiluan's first wife's surname was Gao, who died of illness at an early age; The second wife, surnamed Fan, broke up peacefully. The first two wives couldn't give birth to heirs, so Zhang Jiluan married Chen Xiaoxia to continue the incense.

Zhou Hexuan nodded and stepped into the door, and saw Zhang Jiluan on the hospital bed in a coma, already so thin that only his skeleton remained. He put the gift on the bedside and asked, "Sister-in-law, hasn't Brother Ji Luan woken up?" ”

Chen Xiaoxia said: "I woke up for a while last night and said some nonsense. ”

"What does the doctor say?" Zhou Hexuan said.

"There's no cure." Chen Xiaoxia was sad.

In history, Zhang Jiluan died of illness as early as September, and now it is rare to delay it until December. He was seriously ill in the summer, and the affairs of Ta Kung Pao were entrusted to Wang Yunsheng, deputy editor-in-chief, and Lao Jiang personally visited the hospital a few days ago.

Zhou Hexuan said with emotion: "Let him quit opium earlier, he just won't listen." ”

Chen Xiaoxia said: "He also wants to quit, but he can't." ”

Few people know that Zhang Jiluan, who often writes articles in newspapers calling for a ban on smoking, is actually an opium ghost himself.

Zhang Jiluan once wrote an editorial "Smoking Prohibition and Foot Protection", comparing the binding of small feet with the smoking of opium. He said that banning smoking is the foundation of national health care, and that smoking opium is more harmful than wrapping small feet and keeping braids, and that the national government should make every effort to ban opium.

It can be seen that Zhang Jiluan is well aware of the harm of opium, but he is free by nature and lacks perseverance, and he has quit opium for half his life to no avail.

Zhang Jiluan belonged to the kind of bohemian old-fashioned literati, who often invited friends to visit the kiln, and many editorials in Ta Kung Pao were written in the room of Lao Qi (a young prostitute). Japanese friend Yahara Kenkichi also often advised Zhang Jiluan to quit opium, and he replied: "Ah Furong is also like the seventh child, I am just acting on the spot." ”

Yahara Kenkichi is a doctor who lives in Beiping, and northern literati such as Zhang Jiluan, Zhang Hatshui, and Guan Yixian, as well as many military and political dignitaries, will gather at Yahara Kenkichi's house every three or five days. This Japanese friend had already left the United States because the Japanese army had discovered that he had helped his Chinese friend escape from the occupied area.

"Bang bang bang!"

There was a knock on the door.

It was Zhang Hatshui who came in to visit, he nodded to Zhou Hexuan to say hello, and then asked, "What happened to Brother Ji Luan?" ”

Zhou Hexuan shook his head.

"Ugh." Zhang Hatshui let out a long sigh.

The two sat in the ward for half an hour, Zhang Jiluan was still unconscious, and they could only get up and say goodbye to Chen Xiaoxia.

Leaving the hospital, Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Hatshui found a teahouse and sat down.

Zhou Hexuan recalled: "The first time I met Brother Ji Luan was in a teahouse in Tianjin, and more than ten years have passed in a blink of an eye. ”

"Who says it's not," Zhang Hatshui shook his head and smiled bitterly, "I was drinking with Brother Ji Luan half a year ago, but I didn't expect that I would go to the south once, and when I came back, he was already terminally ill." ”

The two sighed and chatted about the past, chatting and laughing, it was really Zhang Jiluan's anecdote that made people laugh.

However, it was said that there were many misdeeds in Beiping back then, and a newspaper criticized it with the title of "Raising or not teaching, my father's fault". At that time, Zhang Jiluan, Zhang Hatshui and others were gathering at Yahara Kenkichi's house, and Zhang Jiluan said: "Reading this title makes me have a couplet." The upper link said: The father's fault, which of you can make the next link? ”

A friend said, "How about 'the son is silent'?" ”

Zhang Jiluan shook his head and said: "It's not proper, it's not as good as 'damn it'." ”

Everyone laughed and praised it.

Don't look at the spicy and sarcastic articles written by Zhang Jiluan, but he is extremely witty and humorous in private, and he is proficient in eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling.

"That's right," Zhang Hatshui put down the tea bowl, "Fu Mengzhen (Fu Sinian) wants to jointly pour the hole again, and invited me to sign together, did Brother Mingcheng receive the invitation?" ”

Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said, "I received a letter from Fu Sinian, but Kong Xiangxi can't be defeated, and I don't bother to spend that idle time." ”

"Yes, it's not easy to say," Zhang Hatshui said with emotion, "This time it was Chen Lifu who used the topic to play and impeached Kong Xiangxi with the hand of his right, how could it be successful?" ”

Although Zhang Hatshui is a literati, he takes the factional struggle of the Kuomintang very lightly.

The CC system controlled by Chen Lifu has become a behemoth, which makes Lao Jiang deeply jealous, and the more Chen Lifu impeaches Kong Xiangxi, the more Lao Jiang will keep Kong Xiangxi - the CC department must not be allowed to put its hand into the financial system.

Kong Xiangxi did not belong to any faction of the Kuomintang, but he had conflicts with almost all of them. Such a "lonely minister" is Chang Kaishen's gun, which has an irreplaceable role in political circles.

"Has Brother Zheng returned to Chongqing?" Zhang Hatshui asked.

Zhou Hexuan said: "I came back yesterday. The scandal of 'the master of the press is not as good as a dog' was exposed, which made our President Jiang lose face, and he hurriedly sent a special plane to pick up people. ”

"This matter is really laughable, are the Kong family all dog brains?" Zhang Hatshui shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Zhou Hexuan said disdainfully: "Kong Lingwei is a dog's brain, I believe that Song Ailing is a smart person." I often go to Yunxiu Tower to chat with Song Meiling, Song Meiling is very seriously influenced by her eldest sister, and a woman who can influence Song Meiling ideologically will be a fool? But she let more than a dozen pet dogs board the plane, and she was unwilling to move a few vacant seats to Brother Zheng, obviously no one in sight, or she didn't take the newspaper as a person at all. ”

Zhang hatshui said: "That's true. The last time I spoke with the U.S. Special Envoy, Mr. Currie, Mr. Currie said something that stood out to me. He was staying at Kong's house and was discussing China's inflation with Kong. Guess what Kong Xiangxi said? Kong Xiangxi said: How can there be any inflation in China? It is the ignorant people who do not trust the government and do not use the fiat currency printed by the government as money, which causes the fiat currency to depreciate and prices to soar. As long as everyone agrees with the fiat currency, the value of the currency will be strong and the price of goods will be stable. ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled dumbly: "I'm afraid, our Minister Kong is talking nonsense with his eyes open, I don't believe he really doesn't understand." ”

"Who knows, maybe he really thinks so." Zhang Hatshui shook his head again and again.

The two of them drank tea and chatted and listened to the play, but they were also relaxed and comfortable, at this time-

"Extra! Extra! ”

"Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked the American fleet!"

"Extra! Extra ......"

Zhang hated the water and stood up, rushed to the outside of the teahouse, and overturned several bamboo chairs in the middle. He stood in the door and shouted, "Newspaper, give me a newspaper!" ”

It's finally here, Zhou Hexuan smiled and walked out slowly.

After a while, Zhang Hatshui danced with a newspaper: "Mingcheng, if the United States enters the war, China will have no worries, and I guess the war will almost end next year." ”