"If the officials and businessmen in Haikou make steamships, it is advisable to imitate the legacy of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and set up a city to lead them," Guo Songtao still talked as eloquently as just now, without the slightest interference from Liu Xihong, "The city and the ship's department are publicly promoted by the merchants, and the superintendent examines his reputation, examines his talents, and consults his name in the prime minister's yamen for national affairs. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

"What Guo Gong said is extremely true." Chen Tingxuan was very happy to hear Guo Songtao say this, as the leader of British Chinese businessmen, he had always hoped that the motherland could protect the interests of overseas Chinese, and now Guo Songtao not only thought of going with him, but also proposed specific methods, he was overjoyed for a while.

"For example, when overseas Chinese and foreign businessmen encounter disputes, they often have no way to complain, and if each Haikou can set up officials to protect the interests of overseas Chinese, it should be the best."

At this time, although Guo and Chen talked speculatively, Liu Xihong didn't say a word, and his eyes were always looking back and forth on Chen Tingxuan's body.

"Chen Gong went to the country to make a living, and it has been a few years now, right?" While Guo Songtao was tasting tea, Liu Xihong suddenly asked.

Chen Tingxuan was slightly stunned when Liu Xihong asked like this, he thought about it and said with emotion: "It has been almost forty years since I went to sea with my late father. ”

"In this way, it is a matter of the Daoguang period." Liu Xihong let out an "oh" and asked, "But why?" ”

"Just because of the opening of the port of Jiangning (i.e., the "Treaty of Nanjing"), a large influx of foreign goods and dumping at low prices, Chen's original small workshop could not continue, and the family had no livelihood, so my father had no choice but to sell the family property cheaply and go to foreign countries." Chen Tingxuan remembered the past and couldn't help but sigh.

"Chen Gong said this, Liu Mou could not agree." Liu Xihong snorted and said, "The livelihood is difficult, but it is also in other provinces, under the whole world, it is not the king's land, the shore of the land, the prince's ministers, and the Qing Emperor's opinion, is there no place to settle down?" Do you have to go abroad and go abroad? Seeing that Chen Gong stayed abroad for a long time, he even forgot the ancestral crown. The body is skinned, and the parents who receive it should not be discarded, this ancient precept Chen Gong always remembers, right? ”

Listening to Liu Xihong's words, Chen Tingxuan was annoyed in his heart, but he looked at Liu Xihong, but there was no show on his face.

At this time, Liu Xihong didn't notice Guo Songtao's surprised and annoyed gaze, and casually picked up the teacup and tasted it.

"Chen Gong went to the country and left his hometown, came to this barbarian land, and now it is not easy to achieve something. This time, he was named a viscount by the lord of Yi, hereditary replacement, as the old saying goes: good birds choose trees to perch, and virtuous ministers choose the lord to do things. Chen Gong can get this reward, which is really gratifying. ”

Hearing Liu Xihong's words of "barbarian" and "barbarian", Guo Songtao was very angry and coughed heavily, interrupting Liu Xihong's words.

"However, Chen Gong has been operating overseas for many years, and it is rare that he still does not forget his homeland." Liu Xihong looked up at Chen Tingxuan, and let out a cold snort from his nose, "It's just that as far as Yingyi is concerned, it is inevitable that there is a suspicion of 'being in Cao Ying's heart in Han'." However, where the righteousness lies, these stubs, can't be taken care of. ”

Chen Tingxuan frowned slightly, looked at Liu Xihong, trying to figure out what his intention was when he said this, he noticed that Guo Songtao was slapping Liu Xihong vigorously, so he couldn't help but not have a seizure.

"The ancestors are far away in their homeland, and they don't think about it every day." Chen Tingxuan said calmly, "It's just that I can't go back to worship from time to time, but my relatives and friends in China are still there, always taking care of them, and there are correspondence exchanges, and now the telegram is fast, so I can still talk about my feelings of comfort." ”

"Guo and Kunyu in Beijing have a good relationship, when he came to the UK, he lived in Fuzhou Kunyu's house, when he set off, it was Kunyu and his wife Chen came to see off Guo, Kunyu often talked about Chen Gong, Mrs. Lin is the daughter of the new Taiwan governor Chen Xiang, Chen Chen, mentioning Chen Gong, the words are very missed, it is Guo Mou's business, he came to the house to visit, hehe." Guo Songtao took the opportunity to change the topic and chatted with Chen Tingxuan, "By the way, this is the photo that Kunyu entrusted me to Chen Gong." ”

Guo Songtao said, took out an envelope and handed it to Chen Tingxuan.

Chen Tingxuan took the envelope with both hands and opened it, inside was a black and white photo, the photo was a group photo of "family portrait", in the middle of the photo, it was Shen Baozhen who was sitting in a precarious state, holding a boy with clear eyebrows (Lin Guanchen) in his arms, Shen Baozhen was standing next to Lin Yizhe, next to Lin Yizhe and Shen Baozhen, was holding a female doll (Lin Yuting) Chen Wan and a younger beautiful woman (Li Sizhu), in front of her, was a beautiful girl (Lin Yuxi).

Chen Tingxuan recognized Chen Wan at a glance, who had lived at home for several years, and the corners of his eyes couldn't help but be a little moist.

"According to the generation, Wan'er should be the grandniece of the old man and the cousin of my grandson. I haven't seen her for more than ten years, and Wan'er has already taught her husband and children. Chen Tingxuan's voice was a little choked, he restrained himself, and said with a smile, "Come on, let Hong'er take his wife and children to meet the two angels." ”

The old butler went away. After a while, Chen Hong took Sara and his son Chen Wei to the living room.

Chen Hong and his wife stepped forward to meet Guo Songtao, Guo Songtao got up with a smile to greet him, and Liu Xihong couldn't help but change color when he saw Chen Hong and his wife in Western clothes.

At this time, Chen Hong was dressed in a black suit, with a bow tie and short British hair, looking handsome and elegant; Sara, on the other hand, wore a corseted cutwork dress typical of an English aristocratic woman, with a bare slender neck and forearms, red hair, snowy skin, and elegant demeanor, like a fairy in a fairy tale; The little Chen Wei she was pulling was the same as her father, who was also wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and a bow tie, looking very emotional. He took his mother's hand and walked beside her in a bouncy manner, staring at the guests curiously with his big dark blue eyes.

As long as it is a normal person, when you see this happy family of three, you will unconsciously feel envious.

Liu Xihong stared at Sara tightly for a long time, and he couldn't ignore her amazing beauty in the face of it.

Chen Hong took his wife and children to meet Guo Songtao and Liu Xihong. Guo Songtao got up and stepped forward to greet him, Liu Xihong hesitated, but he still stood up and stepped forward.

"You don't have to be polite, please get up quickly." Guo Songtao helped Chen Hong and his wife up, smiled and stroked Chen Wei's head with his hand, Chen Wei looked at the old man with a kind face, and his little face immediately bloomed into a lovely smile.

Chen Hong and his wife greeted Liu Xihong again, just like when they first met Chen Tingxuan, Liu Xihong still looked proud, only raised his hand slightly in return, and then turned around and returned to his seat.

"Chen Gong has such a beautiful woman and loves his grandson around his knees, which is really enviable." Guo Songtao looked at Chen Hong and his wife and Xiao Chen Wei, his eyes were full of love.

"The dog is not a weapon, there is no fame, and this year he was knighted by the King of England, and I am very afraid. The old man is old, and now the internal and external affairs of the family are taken care of by the daughter-in-law Sara, and the old man's mind is only on him! Chen Tingxuan looked at Chen Wei with a smile, Chen Wei saw his grandfather, and immediately ran over happily with his arms open, Chen Tingxuan leaned down and affectionately held his grandson in his arms.

Chen Wei put his hands around his grandfather's neck, looked around, and unconsciously met Guo Songtao's gaze again, he seemed to have a natural sense of closeness with Guo Songtao, and opened his little hand to Guo Songtao with a smile.

Guo Songtao obviously likes this child very much, he came to Chen Tingxuan's side, smiled and put his finger on Xiao Chen Wei's hand, Xiao Chen Wei instinctively immediately clenched, and played a game of "tug-of-war" with Guo Songtao.

Seeing that Guo Songtao was so intimate with the child born to this foreign woman, Liu Xihong's face became more and more difficult to look at.

"The true Daji of the West!" Liu Xihong muttered in a low voice in the native language of his hometown of Xinhui, Guangdong, and Guo Songtao's face couldn't help but change when he heard this.

Sara looked at Liu Xihong casually, smiled slightly, and said in pure Beijing official dialect: "Duke Liu's ancestral home is Xinhui, Guangdong?" ”

Liu Xihong listened to her question, his body couldn't help but shake, and his face was full of shock and embarrassment that he couldn't hide.

He thought that no one in this manor could understand what he said just now, but he never expected that the "Western Daji" he said in his mouth was actually a genius who was proficient in many Chinese! Not only did he understand the Cantonese native language he just spoke, but he also judged where his hometown was!

"Lord Liu is worthy of being a learned Confucian, and he can become a chapter when he exits, and the women admire him." Sara looked at Liu Xihong, her blue eyes were as unfathomable as a secluded pool, "Since the folk woman entered the Chen Mansion, she also learned Chinese poetry and literature with her in-laws, and she knew a little about history, so that she could recite it from time to time as a child." ”

Sara said, turned back to Xiao Chen Wei in her father-in-law's arms and said, "Wei'er, recite the song "Zhang Lihua" by Cangshan Monk to Lord Liu. ”

Xiao Chen Wei blinked his eyes, opened his mouth and said: "The flowers on the edge of the building are resentful of spring, and the moon on Qingxizha is sad." Poor Baoda is a gentleman, they are all dreamers of "Zhou Nan". ”

Rao is Liu Xihong is full of poetry books, and when he heard the poem written by Yuan Mei, one of the "Three Masters of Qianlong", which Sara asked Chen Wei to recite, he couldn't help but be secretly frightened.

Hearing Chen Wei recite the last two sentences of this poem, Guo Songtao knew that Liu Xihong had brought humiliation on himself this time.

As the poem says, if Bao Xi and Daji meet a wise king, they can also go down in history. The so-called fox charm and bewitchment of the lord is just a little excuse for the defeat of the tyrannical and unscrupulous monarch. If the king is wise, how can the world be in chaos? Those scholars accused the former dynasty of being the root of destroying the country, but on the other hand, they attributed the reason for the lack of Tao to a few weak women. ”

Sara looked at Liu Xihong, a hint of contempt flashed in her eyes, but her tone of voice was still as gentle and pleasant as usual.