Chen Zikun's new home is located in East Wenchang Hutong on West Chang'an Avenue, separated by a wall from the infamous Anfu Club, which is the residence of a former Qing Dynasty Belle Ye, which looks magnificent on the outside, but the inside is exquisitely designed, ingenuity, and the most important thing is that the terrain is too good.

10,000 oceans can buy such a good mansion, anyone can say that they have picked up a big bargain, but Chen Zikun has a lot of effort to raise the remaining 7,000 yuan, Ruan Mingchuan gave him 500 oceans for the interview fee, the car factory gave 1,000 yuan, and the remaining 5,005 yuan were all lent to him by Wang Geng, a colleague of the War Department and a West Point alumnus.

The descendants of Lord Belle are also poor and crazy, and over the years, the accumulated business left by their ancestors has been wiped out, gold, silver, jewelry, jade, antiques, calligraphy and paintings have been sold out ten years ago, and the red sandalwood furniture and official kiln porcelain have also been pawned, and there is only one slightly dilapidated, overgrown empty house left, which is one of the reasons why it is only sold for 10,000 yuan.

Buying furniture, hiring people, all need money, it takes a lot of time, Chen Zikun is too busy to work all day, these chores will be handed over to Yao Yilei to do, Miss Yao is not the master who only spends money, she is a good hand at handling housekeeping, directing workers to clean the courtyard, repair houses, buy belongings, inside and out, no need for Chen Zikun to be distracted.

During this time, Yao Yilei lived in the Liuguo Hotel, and made it clear that she was cut off from her family, and Yao Qizhen and his wife couldn't help her, so they had to acquiesce to the matter, but there was always a thorn in their hearts and they didn't want to admit this family business.

Half a month passed quickly, and it was already the end of April, when Liang Qichao called and asked Chen Zikun to go to his home to apprentice.

Chen Zikun dressed up in a new way, his robe and coat were meticulous, he came to the Liang Mansion in Wang Dongliang's foreign car, and found that something was wrong as soon as he entered the alley, although Liang Qichao's house was always full of guests and friends, but it was not as lively as today, the alley was full of cars and carriages, and there were more than a dozen foreign cars waiting for work in the sun.

Entering the door of the house, the jubilant atmosphere came to the face, Liang Sicheng in a suit and leather shoes had been waiting at the door for a long time, and when he saw Chen Zikun coming in, he enthusiastically took his hand and went directly into the back house, and the courtyard was full of well-dressed guests, all of whom were familiar faces.

Xiong Xiling, Wang Daxie, Lin Changmin, these political celebrities are all old-timers who are familiar with Chen Zikun, and it is not too surprising to be able to attend his apprenticeship ceremony today.

"This is Professor Gu Hongming and Professor Hu Shizhi of Peking University." Liang Sicheng Dao.

Chen Zikun hurriedly stepped forward to pay respects, Gu Hongming pouted his goatee and said with a smile: "Now that I worship the new master, don't forget the old master." ”

"Old Gu, how dare the students forget you." Chen Zikun said with a smile, bowed to Hu Shi again, and said, "Professor Hu is good." ”

Hu Shi smiled and said politely, the relationship between him and Chen Zikun is not very familiar, and the main reason for being here today is to give Liang Qichao face.

Liang Qichao is the tutor of the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, and Tsinghua naturally has heavyweights present, President Cao Yunxiang is dressed in a suit, and politely shakes hands with Chen Zikun. ”

There is also a gentleman in a long shirt and a melon skin hat, a pair of thick glasses like the bottom of a wine bottle, looking like a rural teacher, Liang Sicheng introduced: "This is Mr. Wang Guowei." ”

Chen Zikun was in awe: "But Mr. Guantang, who wrote "Words in the World". ”

Wang Guowei didn't seem to like this kind of lively scene very much, and said lightly: "It's the old decay." ”

Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door, and everyone turned their heads, only to see a group of people surrounding an elderly man coming in, it was Cai Yuanpei, the former president of Peking University, followed by a familiar face, and his smile was quite cold.

Hearing that Cai Yuanpei arrived, Liang Qichao, who was entertaining guests in the house, hurriedly came out to greet him, and after some greetings, Chen Zikun knew that the person behind him was Huang Kan, a former professor at Peking University, and he was half of his teacher.

Cai Yuanpei and Huang Kan both just got off the train, and the dust servants rushed over, which shows that Liang Qichao's face is big, Chen Zikun deeply felt that Liang Qichao's ardent expectations for himself have exceeded his expectations.

There are still many young faces in the courtyard, and Liang Sicheng introduced them to Chen Zikun one by one, some of whom he already knows, such as Liang Sicheng's younger brothers, fiancée Lin Huiyin and her two cousins, as well as Liang Qichao's other students, such as Wang Geng and Xu Zhimo, as well as Tsinghua students Wu Wenzao and Liang Shiqiu.

Reporters from major newspapers in the capital were invited, among which Ruan Mingchuan's figure was even more active, helping Chen Zikun take a group photo with celebrities from time to time, and the flames of magnesium powder burning in the yard came one after another.

The auspicious time has arrived, the apprenticeship ceremony begins, the place is in the main hall of the Liang house, the portrait of the holy master Confucius is hung in the middle hall, the incense burner is placed on the table, Liang Qichao sits on the Taishi chair on the side, Chen Zikun serves tea and kowtows, there are boards and eyes, the guests are watching the ceremony, and the flashing lights of the reporters are flashing non-stop.

In the secluded part of the courtyard, a man and a woman stood opposite each other, and the man said with great sadness: "Huiyin, I will visit my only soul mate in the vast sea of people; I'm lucky; No, my life! So much for. ”

The woman said: "Brother Xu, don't you understand that there is only friendship between us, no love, because the two of us are too consistent, there is no complementarity, and you and I are two parallel lines, and we will never intersect." ”

Suddenly, someone shouted in the distance: "Huiyin, come quickly." ”

"I'm sorry Shima, I'm leaving, Sicheng is calling me." Lin Huiyin bowed his head and walked away.

The poet hesitated to go against the current.

After the apprenticeship ceremony was completed, everyone was talking, and suddenly saw the Liang family rushing in and reporting: "The big thing is not good! ”

Liang Qichao said calmly: "What's the noise? ”

The family was out of breath: "Bing, there is a team of soldiers and horses rushing to our house!" ”

Some political celebrities present exchanged glances, and Xiong Xiling stood up and said: "Ren Gong doesn't need to worry too much, I want to see whose soldiers are so bold." ”

He and Wang Daxie both served as prime ministers of the cabinet, Lin Changmin served as the chief justice of Duan Qirui's cabinet, and the others are also leaders in the upper class, not to mention a few Qiu Ba, even Cao Kun and Wu Peifu himself came, and they had to call Mr. obediently.

Liang Qichao was naturally not afraid at all, he was surprised that he had neither friends nor enemies in the military world, why did these soldiers come from.

As he was talking, the team of soldiers had already come in, led by a major officer, with a straight tweed uniform and shiny riding boots. ”

With a wave of his hand, eight soldiers moved over a huge flower basket, Beijing is the season of spring flowers, this flower basket is all made of flowers, the flowers are clustered, very beautiful.

The congratulatory gift was a thin red envelope, which probably contained a bank check or something, and the adjutant of the major offered it with respectful hands, took two steps back, and saluted again: "Mr. Liang, the small task is completed, retire." ”

The uninvited guests came and went quickly, just adding a tidbit to today's apprenticeship ceremony, but in the eyes of those who care, this flower basket is not simple.

……

The next day, in the Yao Mansion, today's newspaper was spread on the table, and the Beijing Daily, the News Daily, and the Morning News all published the news of Liang Qichao's apprenticeship, especially the report of the Beijing Daily was particularly detailed and wonderful, and the list of guests present was listed, which was dizzying and jaw-dropping.

"Obediently, your hairy son-in-law has such a big face." Mrs. Yao exclaimed exaggeratedly.

Yao Qizhen smoked his pipe and said disdainfully: "Is that someone giving Liang Qichao face?" ”

Mrs. Yao pointed to the photo in the newspaper and said, "This flower basket is so scary, how tall is one person, who gave it here." ”

Yao Qizhen glanced at it, although the photo was blurry and messy, the soldiers standing behind the flower basket were clear at a glance, and a line of small characters next to it was annotated: Congratulatory gift from General Cao Kun, the envoy of Zhilu Yu's patrol.

"Sizzle......" Yao Qizhen gasped, what Xiong Xiling, Wang Daxie, Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shizhi, Gu Hongming and other figures are famous all over the world, but they will not surprise Mr. Yao, who was the deputy minister of the Ministry of Communications, because these characters are already outdated, or they are masters in the academic world, and they are not compatible with their own business scope, but Cao Kunke is different, that is the direct leader, the emperor of the Beiyang government, regardless of whether it is the president or the prime minister, you have to listen to him.

Yao Qizhen is a person who has been mixed in the political circles, so he naturally knows the stakes here, Cao Kun will not give Liang Qichao so face, the reason why he sent the flower basket is that eighty percent of it is because of Wu Peifu's relationship and gives Chen Zikun face, it seems that his son-in-law is by no means an idle person.

"I heard that Lei Lei bought an old house in Dongwenchang Hutong, cleaned it with a group of servants all day long, and went to the ghost market in the morning to buy old goods, our little girl has never had such a hard life, I said, are we also ......?"

"No, don't give her a dime!" Yao Qizhen frowned, shook his hand and went upstairs.

When Mrs. Yao saw that her husband was so resolute, she did not dare to mention the matter again.

In the study room on the second floor, Yao Qizhen picked up the phone and made arrangements like this, and at the end he explained: "Don't make mistakes." ”

……

In the Chen Mansion in Dongwenchang Hutong, the Yao family's driver Ah Fu told Yao Yilei: "Miss, when I came over, I saw a family member selling furniture, which seemed to be of the best red sandalwood. ”

When Yao Yilei heard this, her eyes lit up, and she immediately asked Ah Fu to take her to watch, and sure enough, it was a family selling furniture, a full set of rosewood furniture, four cabinets, lamp hanging chairs, large incense cases, shelf beds, fragrant concubine couches, strip cases, square tables, and eight immortal tables, and the price was only 1,000 oceans.

"I bought it!" Yao Yilei immediately made a decision to charter these furniture, although she couldn't even take out ten yuan in her pocket at this time.