Lu Xiaoman's praise made Chen Zikun extremely embarrassed, and he hurriedly said: "Mrs. Wang, you have won the award." ”

"What is Mrs. Wang, I haven't married him yet, call me Xiaoman, let's go, I'll invite you to drink." As he spoke, Chen Zikun's hand walked to the tea room, and for a while Chen Zikun felt like a man on his back, and when he looked back, countless eyes mixed with jealousy and envy were staring at him.

As soon as they sat down on the sofa, a group of young people with oily hair and powdery faces and suits and leather shoes surrounded them, Lu Xiaoman regarded them as nothing, and said to himself: "It's so hot." ”

Immediately, someone took out the handkerchief in the suit pocket and fanned it vigorously, and the person next to him was not to be outdone, shook off the folding fan to help Lu Xiaoman fan the wind, and some people shouted: "Werther, turn on the fan!" ”

"What to drink?" Lu Xiaoman asked after sitting down, and without waiting for Chen Zikun to answer, he said, "Champagne, in order to celebrate your study in the United States, you should open a bottle of champagne." ”

"Witt, bring champagne!" Immediately someone shouted.

"Chen Zikun, is it good for us to be friends, I haven't been a friend of a military general." Lu Xiaoman said with a smile, and a group of men immediately stared at Chen Zikun with envy to see how he answered.

"Isn't Brother Shouqing a military general?" Chen Zikun glanced at Wang Gengdao, who was standing in the distance and laughing.

"He's it." Lu Xiaoman glanced at him and said, "He is a civilian colonel in the office of the War Department, not a military general who kills the enemy on the battlefield." As he spoke, he took a cigarette from the cigarette can on the coffee table and brought it to his lips.

More than a dozen lighters stretched out, Lu Xiaoman chose the nearest light very casually, the man was very happy, and the other men looked at him with great envy.

Lu Xiaoman lightly opened his lips and spit out a puff of smoke, and suddenly said something unbelievable: "Xiao Chen, I will make you the captain of my personal guard." ”

"Where does this start?" Chen Zikun was extremely surprised, and said in his heart that even if you are a Gege of the former Qing Dynasty, you can't put such a big score.

As if seeing Chen Zikun's doubts, Lu Xiaoman casually pointed to these people beside him, and said with some disdain: "They are all my subjects." ”

Chen Zikun looked at the curved faces behind Lu Xiaoman, suddenly understood, and pointed in the direction of the bathroom: "Missing." ”

As soon as he got up to leave, a young man with glasses sat down impatiently, took out a piece of paper and said, "Xiaoman, I have written a new poem for you, can I read it to you?" ”

Chen Zikun heard a very emotional poem recitation behind him: "Ah, my goddess, my soul ......" suddenly felt creepy, stomach juice rolling, he did not go to the bathroom, but walked to Wang Geng and said: "Brother Shouqing, those people next to Mrs. Zun are your friends?" ”

Wang Geng said disapprenously: "They are all Xiao Man's suitors. ”

"This ......" Chen Zikun was really dumbfounded this time, there is such a generous man in the world, allowing his fiancée to attract bees and butterflies outside.

"They're pathetic, aren't they?" Wang Geng smiled chicly, with a slightly proud look on his face.

Chen Zikun was speechless, it made him very uncomfortable to continue to stay here, so he found an excuse to leave early, walked out of the gate of the Beijing Hotel, a car stopped beside him, and a few strange men and women came out of the car, and went in with a smile, Chen Zikun seemed to see Yao Yilei and his own figure in a trance.

A hint of coolness hit, and the wind rose.

……

Before leaving, Chen Zikun went to the Nanyuan Barracks to bid farewell to Wu Peifu, but was told that the marshal had led the troops back to Luoyang, leaving him only a letter and five hundred yuan.

The letter was written by Wu Peifu himself, and the tone was not like that of a boss to a subordinate, but like an elder to a junior, tirelessly telling Chen Zikun to be careful on the road, and to study hard when he arrives in the United States to win glory for the country.

Above the empty barracks, the five-colored national flag fluttered in the wind, and the shouts of the wake-up numbers and robes seemed to echo in his ears.

Studying in the United States, Chen Zikun chose the European route, first taking a train from Beijing to Shanghai, then arriving in Europe by boat, and then transferring to a cruise ship to New York, the journey was long and arduous, but fortunately accompanied by diplomat Gu Weijun, he could save a lot of trouble.

On the day of departure, Baoqing, Xing'er, Li Junqing, Zhao Jiayong, Yu Deshun and other friends came to the railway station to say goodbye, the train whistle sounded, the steam filled the platform, and the passengers dragging big bags and small luggage walked slowly to the car.

Thanks to Gu Weijun's blessing, Chen Zikun took a first-class carriage, and the people in the car were either foreigners or high-ranking government officials, so scared that Baoqing didn't dare to get on the car, and kept standing on the platform to say goodbye to Chen Zikun. 、

The conductor blew the whistle and was about to drive, and Chen Zikun said goodbye to everyone: "Everyone, we will have a meeting later." ”

Friends also returned the salute and sighed.

"Write often." Xing'er said with tears in her eyes and stuffed a packet of boiled eggs into Chen Zikun's hand.

"Definitely." Chen Zikun nodded, at this time the train had started slowly, he jumped on the train with an arrow step, grabbed the handrail and waved to everyone.

Seeing the train disappear into the distance, Xing'er cried out suddenly, and Baoqing felt very uncomfortable, muttering: "This walk is several years, I really can't bear it." ”

……

In the first-class carriage of the Beijing-Tianjin Express, Gu Weijun was sitting in the window seat browsing an American magazine, and when he saw Chen Zikun's eyes red back, he asked, "Xiao Chen, are you from Beijing?" I have a lot of relatives. ”

Chen Zikun said: "I am an orphan, and these are the friends I made when I first came to Beijing. ”

"Orphans?" Gu Weijun closed the magazine and became interested, "Then how did you get to St. John?" ”

So Chen Zikun briefly introduced his magical experience, of course, hidden some ulterior things, Gu Weijun sighed the twists and turns, and also talked about his own experience, it turned out that the diplomat's experience was not simpler than Chen Zikun, especially the romantic story between him and Tang Baoyue, the daughter of former Premier Tang Shaoyi, is like a fairy tale.

After talking, Chen Zikun mentioned Wang Geng of the War Department.

Gu Weijun said: "Don't you say that I forgot, Xiao Wang is indeed a talent, but ...... He was a publicly-funded student in the United States, first went to the University of Michigan, studied for one year and transferred to Columbia, and then transferred to Princeton in the third year, got a degree from this university where science and engineering are good, and then studied at West Point for a while, and after returning to China, he went directly to the War Department and was awarded the rank of colonel. ”

Such a dazzling resume, but there was a faint sense of regret when it came out of Gu Weijun's mouth, Chen Zikun was slightly puzzled, but there was no discussion about the length of people behind his back, so the topic stopped.

After the Beijing-Tianjin Express arrives at Tianjin Railway Station, transfer to the Tianjin-Pudong Line Blue Steel Express, this line is a railway line from Tianjin to Nanjing Pukou, running through half of China, the carriages are imported from the United States, painted with blue paint outside, new and shining in the sun, and the luxury is full of modernity.

Gu Weijun and Chen Zikun still took the first-class sleeper car, speechless all night, and arrived at Pukou on the north bank of the Yangtze River the next day, the vast Yangtze River was in front of them, the reeds on the riverside were dancing with the wind, the white sails on the river were dotted, and the ancient city wall of Nanjing was faintly visible in the distance.

Crossing the river by boat, and then transferring to the Shanghai-Nanjing line, Gu Weijun brought a lot of luggage, seven or eight suitcases, Chen Zikun's things are also a lot, and the four wicker boxes are full.

Fortunately, Gu Weijun took two attachés, busy taking care of everything, and the luggage was carried by coolies, so they didn't need to move a finger, even so, the fatigue of the boat and car was unbearable.

After trekking hundreds of miles, he finally arrived at Shanghai Railway Station, at this time Beijing was already in the autumn breeze, but Shanghai was still bright in spring, hearing the noisy Shanghai dialect on the platform, Chen Zikun couldn't help but sigh inexplicably.

Shanghai, I'm back.

After getting out of the car, Gu Weijun said: "Xiao Chen, the ship to France will not leave for a few days, if you don't make arrangements, there should be empty rooms in my friend's house." ”

Chen Zikun was just about to agree, when he suddenly saw a familiar face standing not far away, so he said, "Don't bother, Mr. Gu, a brother is coming to pick me up." ”

"Okay, let's get back in touch." Gu Weijun took the servant and left.

Chen Zikun stood in place, smiling and looking at Li Yaoting standing outside the iron fence gate, after more than a year, the little gangsters who used to pick up cigarette butts in the square of Zhengyangmen East Station in Beijing have been reborn.

Toppers, suits, shiny yellow leather shoes, and cigars in his mouth all show his temperament as a nouveau riche on the beach.

"Xiao Shunzi, you can be a fool." Chen Zikun stepped forward with a vicious bear hug, and Li Yaoting, who was in the hoop, grinned, "Da Kunzi, why do you call me by my nickname again, so that the brothers can hear it." ”

Chen Zikun noticed that there were four guys standing behind Li Yaoting, wearing peaked caps and crappy suits.

"Hehe, there's someone else under my hands." Chan stepped back and looked at Li Yaoting again.

Li Yaoting waved his hand: "Help the eldest brother with the luggage." ”

The four deflated three immediately stepped forward to carry the wicker box, and Li Yaoting took the leather bag in Chen Zikun's hand.

"What's the matter with your fingers?" Chan saw that he was wearing a gold hoop on his left little finger.

"It's okay, I'll cut it myself." Li Yaoting said lightly.

After leaving the train station and putting the luggage into the trunk of the car, Li Yaoting opened the car door and invited Chen Zikun to get into the car, and instructed the coachman: "Go back to the mansion." ”

The car is speeding on the familiar road, the red-headed Ah San directing the traffic, the rickshaw shuttling back and forth, and the endless Western-style buildings, everything is so familiar, Chen Zikun is trendy, and suddenly asked: "Do you know where Jianbing is?" ”

Li Yaoting said: "You'll know in a while." ”

Thinking of the handwriting letter, and then thinking of the Shaolin abbot who returned from the 80s after returning from Jianbing for three months, there was a wolf dog in the big iron gate, and when he heard the car horn, the iron gate slowly opened, and the car drove into the yard and stopped at the door in a circle next to the fountain, Chen Zikun got out of the car and entered the door, and the living room was magnificently arranged, like a palace.

Suddenly, hearing the sound of hurried footsteps, Jian Bing rushed straight down from the upper floor, but when he saw Chen Zikun, he suddenly stopped, covered his mouth with a handkerchief, and cried.

Chen Zikun was a little hesitant, Jian Bing actually lived in the Li Mansion, could it be said that the two of them were really ......

"Sister-in-law, I brought you back, how to punish him, you can do it yourself." Li Yaoting said with a smile.

Chen Zikun suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, turned back to Li Yaoting and smiled: "Xiaoshunzi, you can do it." Then he stepped forward and hugged the crying pear blossom with the rain Jianbing.

"I didn't see anything, everyone avoided it, be careful of the eye of the needle." Li Yaoting grinned and waved away the maid mother and bodyguard in the living room, no one noticed, his smile was bitter.