In Yang's room, Li Weiguo sat honestly and looked at his mother.

He had already told his mother about meeting Shen Ziyan, and was waiting for his mother to answer at the moment.

Seeing that his mother was silent for a long time, Li Weiguo had already guessed that Shen Ziyan and Xiaohe's words were true, but he had been kept in the dark.

"Mother!" Li Weiguo shouted, this matter is very important to him, he must know all and not be hidden.

The Yang family was silent for a long time, and finally sighed, and said with a wry smile: "I knew that the Fu family would affect our Li family, and I shouldn't have agreed to let Fu Shanxiang stay in the first place, if you didn't marry Fu Shanxiang but Shen Ziyan, maybe our Li family would be richer now, at least not suffer from this disaster." ”

Sure enough, there is a hidden plot!

Li Weiguo smiled bitterly and quietly listened to his mother tell the whole story of this incident.

It turned out that although the Fu family and the Li family were married, one was in Jiangning and the other was in Beijing, and they had not moved for many years. The official position of the Fu family is rising step by step, but the Li family is just a businessman, and the gap is getting bigger and bigger, that is, the so-called door is not the right household. Li Weiguo's parents gradually felt that the Fu family could not afford to climb high, and they did not have any fingertips for marriage. It just so happened that Shen Ziyan, the daughter of the Shen family, the richest man in Jiangning, had an accident and lost her blindness due to eye injury, and suddenly lost her transcendent status. Li Weiguo was six years old that year, and Shen Ziyan was nine years old, because they were still young, the two families did not publicize it. But not long after, the Beijing officialdom earthquake, the Fu family suffered, Fu Shanxiang was sent to Jiangning by her brother, according to the finger belly for the marriage agreement to let Li Weiguo and Fu Shanxiang marry, the Li family has not yet received the news of the Beijing officialdom earthquake, Fu Shanxiang's brother urged and anxious, so the eight-year-old Li Weiguo and the fourteen-year-old Fu Shanxiang went to the church to get married.

This incident made the Shen family very faceless, although the Li family apologized for various crimes, but since then, the Shen and Li families have not been in contact with each other. Naturally, this kind of thing can't be known to Fu Shanxiang, and Li Weiguo has been taken care of by Fu Shanxiang himself since he became a parent, so the Li family hid it from the two of them and didn't let them know.

After knowing the truth, Li Weiguo silently withdrew from the room.

"So that's the case, no wonder when I passed by the porridge shed in the disaster area, my mother would suddenly mention Miss Shen and compare it with Shanxiang, but she didn't notice it at the time." Standing outside the door, Li Weiguo smiled bitterly, and finally understood.

"No wonder Xiaohe is furious when he sees him, and his words are so mean that they make people purple." Li Weiguo smiled bitterly again, and after understanding the reason, he couldn't hold a grudge against Xiaohe, but felt that Xiaohe was a good maid who protected the master.

Comparing the heart to the heart, and standing in the position of Xiaohe, he must be a hundred times more "ruthless" than Xiaohe. However, Shen Ziyan's attitude was incomprehensible, as if she was afraid of annoying herself.

Could it be that she still wants to marry her again?

Li Weiguo shook his head, how could it be, it would be good not to hate himself.

It should be deliberately luring herself to take the bait, and when she regrets proposing to her again, she will slam you in front of everyone and slash you with a big-eared melon seed, suing you for wishful thinking, so that she will retaliate back.

Well, women are vindictive, and they must be sauce purple.

Li Weiguo thought like this, just to have an excuse, because he didn't want to have any fetters between himself and Fu Shanxiang.

It's just that he forgot one thing, when he was five years old, he often went to the Confucius Temple, where there was always a girl who silently played with him, and they promised each other that they would marry each other in the future and stay together for the rest of their lives.

Of course, this can't be blamed on Li Weiguo, because the memories in his mind about before the age of twelve are relatively confused, after all, the memories of two generations of people who have experienced two twelve-year-olds will inevitably be confused, and the memories of the things at that time are very vague, he doesn't know that the little girl is Shen Ziyan today, and he doesn't know that Shen Ziyan's accident and blindness are also caused by his sudden disobedience.

If Shen Ziyan and Xiaohe learned about the thoughts in Li Weiguo's mind at this moment, it is estimated that one would only cry silently, and the other would burst out and kill people.

Li Weiguo knew the truth, so he no longer bothered his mother, he suddenly realized one thing at this moment, whether the Shen family would retaliate against the Li family because of this incident, thus directing the Li family's catastrophe.

It's just that the information I have in my hands is still too little, and I have to find a chance to meet my father to ask clearly, but the government has never allowed my family to visit, even if John comes forward, what is the secret in this?

Li Weiguo pondered for a long time, and at this time John came happily and told him that the British Legation had agreed to his request and appointed Li Weiguo as Special Counsellor of the British Consulate General in China.

Counselor, as the name suggests. It is the meaning of participating in help, belonging to the diplomatic rank, can be a counselor in military affairs, can also be a counselor in government affairs, placed in a foreign legation, the counselor is the assistant of the minister, help the minister to deal with foreign affairs, enjoy diplomatic amnesty immunity, corresponding to the official position of the Qing Dynasty is equivalent to from the fourth or fifth grade.

Of course, the Qing government has not yet set up a premier's yamen, and there is no special diplomatic rank and rank, and foreign affairs are handled by local officials themselves, which is very chaotic.

He thought that he would be able to get a small position as a translator at most, but unexpectedly, the British Legation suddenly offered him the position of counselor, which really surprised him and was a little unreasonable.

In fact, the British legation is also helpless, they have just obtained the privilege of setting up a legation in the Qing Dynasty, they do not understand the customs of the Qing Dynasty, they run into walls everywhere, and they cannot expand their interests in China, in this case they urgently need the help of Li Weiguo, a native of the Qing Dynasty who is proficient in English and understands British culture, and of course, the most important one is that the British government has just opened the door of the Qing Dynasty and granted privileges to its new minister in China. This prerogative means the right to directly appoint counsellors and other official positions, which are not available to British ministers in other countries.

Li Weiguo didn't know these external factors, for him, he knew that his momentum was coming, and he borrowed it from the British, so he had to make good use of it.

However, there is no free lunch in the world, and the British gave Li Weiguo the opportunity to soar, but they also asked him to pay the same or even higher price.

The British were mercenary and did not raise foodies and idlers, and at the same time gave Li Weiguo a letter of appointment, they also gave him his first task - to get a cargo dock from the Jiang Zhu Gang.

"I wonder why you want a cargo terminal?" Li Weiguo asked.

"Please stop using the word 'you', you should say 'we', right? Your Excellency Counsellor. John said to Li Weiguo matter-of-factly.

"Then may I ask Your Excellency Major, why do we want a cargo terminal?" Li Weiguo corrected his wording and said it again, deliberately aggravating the tone of the word 'we'.

The two looked at each other, both with stiff faces, and in less than three seconds, both of them couldn't help but laugh.

John took out a bottle of reserve wine to share with Li Weiguo, and the two celebrated while discussing the task.

"Our British Empire wants to open up an inland trade market, but the Qing government has never agreed, the Jiangning Treaty only stipulates five treaty ports, but does not include Jiangning, and we hope to open a gap from Jiangning first, for later ......"

"Lay the foundation for opening up Jiangning as a treaty port in the future!" Before John finished speaking, Li Weiguo spoke.

"Haha, it seems that we didn't misunderstand you, you are too strategic." John said excitedly, obviously the appointment of Li Weiguo as counselor also has his secret support, whether it is success or failure has something to do with him, now seeing Li Weiguo's excellent analytical ability, he is naturally happy, proving that he chose the right person.

Only Li Weiguo himself knows in his heart that the strategic vision of bullshit is purely that he knows that the British will launch a second ** war in a few years, and he clearly requires Jiangning to be added as a treaty port, because Jiangning is a key city leading to the inland of the Yangtze River.

"That's right, the treaty port is a matter of the future, and my mission in Jiangning this time is to get a cargo terminal from the Jiangzhu Gang. However, Jiang Tao, the leader of the Jiang Zhu Gang, has an opinion about us foreigners, but he doesn't sell it to us. I had come to Pastor Fidan's help before, but he couldn't do anything about it, and I didn't think that the first task that the Minister gave you was this, so I was embarrassed for you, but I believe in my vision, you must have a way, don't you? John looked at Li Weiguo with a smile and said, full of confidence in him.

I really look up to Lao Tzu!

Li Weiguo calculated in his heart that this was obviously a deliberate attempt by the legation to make things difficult for him, I don't know if it was because John was not popular, or because he was too eye-catching, so that some British people in the legation were jealous, otherwise he would not throw such a task to him.

However, the more seemingly unfinished the task, the more convincing it is once it is completed.

Li Weiguo knew that if he wanted to save his father, he had to rely on the British to put pressure on the Qing government, and if he wanted to get help from the British, he first had to gain the trust of the British, and show his ability to be worthy of the help of the British.

Therefore, this first task is of great significance to Li Weiguo, it must be completed, and it must be completed beautifully.

"The Jiangzhu Gang is the largest gang in Jiangning, controlling this section of the Yangtze River waterway transportation, they don't eat the official government's system, they have their own way of doing things, even if the British Empire sends gunboats to bombard them, it won't work." Li Weiguo looked at the information in John's hand and analyzed.

"That's right, we vetoed this plan." John nodded, admitting that they had had this idea, but the price was too great, and they needed to go to war with the Qing Empire again, and the British government had no plans to do so at the moment.

"If you want to get the freight terminal from the Jiangzhu Gang, you have to use the way of the Jianghu people." Li Weiguo said suddenly, meaning something.

"The way of the Jianghu people, what kind of way is that?" John asked, puzzled.

"Have you ever heard of hitting the dock?" Li Weiguo said with a smile: "It's the way you British people think about the underworld. ”

John suddenly realized, and continued, "So you have a way?" ”

Li Weiguo didn't answer and asked: "You said that the last time you went to see Jiang Tao, he said that as long as you are willing to do something, he will directly give you the dock, is there such a thing?" ”

"It is! But I don't think anyone can do what he wants, and he wants me to take his seal out of the hot pan, which is impossible, no one can do it. John nodded and shook his head, still feeling apprehensive when he remembered the incident.

"Is the oil pot quyin! It's not impossible! Li Weiguo muttered, and suddenly the corners of his mouth raised, revealing a mysterious smile.

"Can you do it? Oh my God, please sue me that this is not true! John saw that Li Weiguo's expression seemed to be somewhat certain, which shocked him greatly.

"How do you know if you don't try!" Li Weiguo suddenly came to his senses, and said confidently: "However, I need to prepare in advance, you can help me get a few things back, I will be of great use." ”