[3] State judgment

When he came to the back hall, Yao Fan saw that the living room-like square house was quite spacious, with a few wooden chairs in the room, and the overall feeling was a little dark and simple.

Yao Fan, who was still a little scared and wary before, actually stretched out his hand to him and motioned for him to sit down after seeing this official sit down, and he was overjoyed and dared to sit down on the chair next to this official.

"Look at the tea." The state judge actually ordered someone to make tea for Yao Fan, this attitude was quite gentle, and Yao Fan was no longer as nervous as he was at the beginning.

Yao Fan is a discerning person, at least he is a modern person who has watched the overwhelming Qing court dramas on TV, at this moment he hurriedly took out his pocket, wanting to find some gadgets to bribe, this year's meeting gift is a must.

Yao Fan touched the mobile phone, felt that it was not suitable, so he took out the signature pen he carried with him, and offered it with both hands, with a face of the common corrupt official face on TV, and flattered: "Thanks to the warm hospitality of my parents, I didn't bring any gifts when I went out this time, this fountain pen is my personal treasure, brought back from the West, a little bit of respect is not a tribute, and please accept it, next time!" Next time, I will make up for this greeting gift. ”

This state judge is accustomed to this trick, and he is not afraid to smile when he hears it. He stretched out his hand to take the pen, but as soon as the pen entered the heavy texture, it made him feel unusual, and he looked closely, only to see that the pen cover was engraved with the word hero, the word is as small as a grain of rice, but it is carved clearly, so that the exquisite craftsmanship is enough to prove its value.

The barrel is also plated with gold at both ends, and the center is a plastic with wood grain printed on it. In the eyes of the state judge, it must be gilded and some kind of precious rare wood, otherwise how could it feel so good.

As soon as Yao Fan saw the eyes of this state judge, he knew that he was satisfied, but he was afraid that he would underestimate this gift, so he hurriedly boasted: "The small characters on this fountain pen were carefully engraved by the best watchmaker in Europe, and they are the word 'hero'." I think these two words are most suitable for the state judge to benefit one side of the parental official status, today's sword to the hero, this Western fountain pen can be regarded as finding the best owner. ”

Yao Fan's nonsense made his face slightly hot, but he actually said that the state judge's face bloomed, and he said to Yao Fan with a smile: "You can speak, although this gift is not expensive, but it is rare for you to have this heart, so I will accept it." ”

Yao Fan was happy to see this state sentence, like a good talker, so he simply instructed him to use a fountain pen.

Under the guidance of Yao Fan, the state judge opened the lid of the fountain pen, first drew a few simple vertical and horizontal lines on the palm of his hand, and saw that the ink of the pen was fine and even, it was indeed a Western fountain pen, and it was also an excellent workmanship, and his heart was even more happy.

After putting on the pen cap, the style is extraordinary, and the word hero is clearly engraved on the gold-plated pen clip of the metal pen cap, as if with magic power, which makes the state judge's mood both Tao Ran and fluttering, and after his heart is happy, he feels that Yao Fan is closer.

Yao Fan is in the spirit of Wang Po selling melons: "My lord, you also know that the ordinary Western water injection pen is troublesome to use, and it always has to be pressed to write a line or two lines of text, but my money is used by the Western court, and it can flow ink without pressing." ”

Yao Fan's words are right, the real sense of simple and easy to use modern fountain pen is actually not until 191o years later, before the pen is indeed writing while pressing the troublesome goods, if not because it can be carried on the body, it is not as convenient as a quill pen.

The state judge nodded silently, thinking that the ordinary fountain pen was worth at least five taels of silver in the hands of foreign merchants, although he had seen foreign merchants bring it but had never used it himself, and he heard that it was very difficult to use.

And Yao Fan gave himself this golden fountain pen he had never seen before, it is indeed a new thing, probably as he said, it is the royal thing of the Western court, so I am afraid that it will be worth a hundred and eighty taels of silver, even if he does not use a pen to write on weekdays, it is worth taking it out to show off to Tongji and enjoy the envy of others.

The state judge of Qingdao became happy, and said to Yao Fanwen: "You don't have to be polite, I can't talk about how old the parents are, it's just this Jiaozhou state judge." Qingdao belongs to Jiaozhou and is temporarily under the jurisdiction of Jimo County."

After some exchanges between the two, Yao Fan knew from the mouth of this official that Qingdao Kou at this time was only a small fishing village under the rule of Jimo County, Shandong, because the convenient waterway made the port more and more prosperous, the Qing court set up Qingdao Mouth Customs, this official is the largest official in Qingdao, called Jiaozhou Prefecture, but in fact it has nothing to do with Jiaoxi County in the west of Jimo County, but only governs Jiaozhou, from the seventh rank, and the official office is located in Qingdao.

"I despise Sun, the word Maowen. Needless to say, looking at your appearance, brother, you know that you are still young, I am a few years older than you, and Brother Yao will call me Brother Sun in the future. ”

The change in Sun Zhou's attitude so quickly made Yao Fan a little flattered. So he hurriedly said: "Brother Sun raises love and torments Yao Fanye." ”

Sun Maowen has no discrimination against businessmen, although businessmen are fat sheep these years, they are also divided into three, six, nine and so on, a decent second devil like Yao Fan is regarded as the highest first-class businessman, and like the red-topped official businessman, they all belong to those who have big backers. It's just that the red-top businessman is backed by the court officials, and the second-devil businessman is backed by foreigners, and the others are no different, they are all not easy to mess with. It's not that ordinary officials can't afford to provoke these businessmen, but they can't afford to provoke the backers behind them, for fear of causing big trouble.

Sun Maowen saw that Yao Fan was flexible, and his speech was also crepe, as if he had read a book, the more he liked it, and nodded with a smile: "Before, I was reckless in my regiment under the rule of Qingdao Kou, and I ask Brother Yao not to mind, those stupid things have always been like this, and it is not a system to make a fuss." ”

Yao Fan saw that Sun Maowen had an excellent attitude and spoke modestly, and hurriedly said: "Those who don't know are not to blame, and those who don't know are not to blame." ”

Sun Maowen casually pulled the cuffs of the horse's hooves, stuffed the pen into his sleeve pocket, stared at Yao Fan with his eyes and asked, "Brother Yao doesn't know which foreign company's cargo ship he came to Jiaozhou?" ”

Yao Fanxin said that this was to investigate the bottom line, so he had to continue to lie with an iron heart.

"If the younger brother goes back to the eldest brother, the younger brother took the cargo ship of the American Qichang Steamship Company to Yantai, and got off the ship on the beach of Qingdaokou, and the cargo ship of the Qichang Company went to Yantai, and when the ship returned, he took me back to Shanghai."

Sun Maowen tried a few more words, but did not ask Yao Fan how to get off the boat at the beach but did not enter the city, but walked outside the city, but only asked how many generations of Yao Fan's family there were, how many people there were, and what he did to make a living in Europe.

It is normal to ask this question, after all, the criterion for judging strength in feudal society is not only to look at the individual, but to see whether the family is prosperous or not.

In order to win Sun Maowen's trust, Yao Fan spread his lie and described the scene of Europe in detail according to his own impression, how the just-concluded Franco-Prussian War was turned upside down, how Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck secretly manipulated Spain to choose the cousin of King William I of Prussia as the king with the intention of destroying the Franco-Prussian alliance, how Napoleon III was furious and decided to raise troops to fight, and then how Prussia used Krupp's newly built rifled steel cannon that could bombard 35oo meters to defeat Napoleon III. After the collapse and surrender of 100,000 French troops in Sedan and the revolution, how the Second French Empire came to an end, and how the Third Reich was established, the story is generally repeated.

After Yao Fan rendered the history, he also talked about the customs and customs of Europe, and also boasted that the Yao family was a multinational business group that provided goods to various countries, which sounded as fascinating as a small biography of wild history.

These historical stories are about textbook knowledge that is not worth mentioning for a modern person, but these words immediately stopped Sun Maowen!

"Western!" Sun Maowen immediately defined Yao Fan.

Sun Maowen doesn't know anything about Europe, and it can be said that in the Qing Dynasty in these years, there are few people in the whole country who are really familiar with foreign affairs. Even the 1842 Atlas of the Sea written by Wei Yuan, which was used by the Qing Dynasty to understand the West, was limited to the cognitive ability of the time and was full of errors and omissions.

Sun Maowen saw that Yao Fan talked about overseas treasures, and his tone was subdued and frustrated, telling the great group of Spanish emperors and kings of William I of Prussia and Napoleon III of France, interspersed with various anecdotes of Napoleon III and his mistress, as well as the story of how William I built industry and worked hard to make it as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

After eliminating the fear caused by the strangeness, Sun Maowen relaxed, and he sighed in his heart: "Fortunately, there was no reckless punishment just now, otherwise listening to his tone and knowledge, it is like his family in Europe and the emperor of foreign devils are called brothers, and when he comes, he may cause some big trouble." ”

Although Sun Maowen is still a little strange in his heart now, why such a second devil would come to such a small port as Qingdao Kou in Jiaozhou Bay, but for a petty official from the seventh rank in this year, he can hear about these fresh world current affairs, but it is also some important affairs of the Western military state and the royal family, which is really worthy of him to treat Yao Fan as a distinguished guest with equal status.

Sun Maowen sat on the chair and pondered, the so-called people rely on clothes and horses and saddles, this person is white and clean, and he is dressed in a dignified and dignified manner, if he is a bandit, it is neither reasonable nor reasonable.

Those horse bandits and twist thieves Sun Maowen have not seen before, they are all vulgar peasants, where is there such a clean and neat Western style and white and delicate skin as Yao Fan.

When Yao Fan was in a coma, the soldiers also turned over his pockets, and Sun Maowen checked it and knew that there were no weapons and letters in his pockets, not even money! Instead, I stuffed a bunch of incomprehensible Western gadgets. Sun Maowen saw that these things were strange, and he was afraid of being touched by the witchcraft of foreigners, so he ordered Bing Yong not to touch these objects, and only continued to put them in Yao Fan's pocket.

Moreover, before Yao Fan woke up, Sun Maowen stepped forward to take a closer look at his scalp, and saw that the skin on the forehead and under the head was snow-white, which was actually whiter than the forehead, and it was impossible to have just accumulated.

You must know that the people of the Qing Dynasty are all pigtails with rat tails, and their scalps are as black as their foreheads after a long time, and it is impossible for them to grow so white. Although Sun Maowen is afraid and disgusted with foreigners, he has some envy and admiration for those who have gone abroad, not to mention Yao Fan, the best second devil whose ancestral life is overseas, this is not comparable to the fake foreign devils who have entered the foreign religion in the ports open to foreigners in the Qing Dynasty at present.

Sun Maowen said sincerely: "It is really unwise for Brother Yao to come to Shandong alone to find his ancestors, although Shandong has been pacified by twisting bandits a few years ago, but the countryside is not very peaceful, and there are often horse bandits and bandits. These thieves come and go like the wind, robbing merchants and killing people, but whenever they go out, they always have to take some family members with them, and hire some nursing companions who can fight and kick their fists. ”

Yao Fan saw that Sun Maowen was still concerned about himself, and hurriedly climbed up the pole: "Brother Sun is right, junior brother, I really didn't think it through. ”

Sun Maowen saw that Yao Fan's attitude was modest, and he didn't have the pretensiveness of those two devils in the church, the happier he became, and he started to make friends.

In these years, if you can meet a person who has traveled abroad and passed through the world, it will be an excellent conversation point in both the officialdom and the people. is just Yao Fan's previous boasting, Sun Maowen believes that if he takes it out as a talking point and shows it as it is, he may be able to hang the halo of "foreign affairs" on his head.

Thinking that the governor of Shandong was now running a plane in Jinan, Sun Maowen's political sensitivity suddenly rose.

Sun Maowen said enthusiastically: "In this case, Brother Yao simply stayed at the mouth of Qingdao, and when the ship of Qichang Company turned back, he would send you back to Shanghai for my brother." If you plan to continue to search for your ancestors, go to the west of Jiaozhou County to live, hire some companions, and then go out.

Also, since Brother Yao has returned to the Qing Dynasty, this dress is too shocking and moral. Not far from my mansion is Quanye Street, you should change your clothes and buy a braided hat to put on, so it is appropriate. ”

Yao Fan hurriedly got up and hugged his fists and thanked, "Thank you Lord Sun for your advice." ”

After some conversation, it was agreed to have a drink with Sun Maowen in the evening, and Yao Fanmeng passed this pass and resigned from the government office in Qingdaokou.

In the yamen, Sun Maowen was the only one left in the back hall playing with the pen in his hand and muttering to himself: "Seeing that this person is extraordinary in conversation and knowledgeable, he can gesture and make bows, so he is really from the West." But since he has been to Shanghai, he doesn't even have any silver with him, what's going on? You'll have to beat it up in the evening to see what kind of oil and water he's got it. Even if he is just an ordinary foreign assistant and comes to Qingdao to make a living, he can still use it in the future......"

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