As more and more people came to the party, the music in the hall began to change, the relaxed and pleasant music turned into elegant dance music, hearing the sound of dance music, the male cattle looked for female partners to enter the dance floor and dance, Xiao Zhenlei also invited Wang Yanan into the dance floor with the flow.

In the next half an hour, Xiao Zhenlei danced a few songs with Wang Yanan and Cheng Baguio respectively, and in this short period of time, the woman in Dema was not idle, she and different men stayed in the middle of the dance floor, trying to get close to Xiao Zhenlei, Xiao Zhenlei felt that her eyes were full of murderous intentions, and deliberately stayed away from her when dancing, after all, in this environment, he knew that she was going to attack him, and he couldn't do anything to her, because once something happened in this situation, the consequences would be unimaginable, He didn't know what the woman's purpose was to commit such a murderous act regardless of the occasion, but tonight he would not let her succeed, and he would not fight back against her, he didn't want to get into trouble, so he avoided her everywhere.

After a while, Delma seemed to sense Xiao Zhenlei's intentions, she no longer deliberately approached, and Xiao Zhenlei was also relieved, he took Wang Yanan and Cheng Baguio to find a table against the wall and sit down, drinking and talking.

At this time, the acting minister of the French Chargé d'Affaires in Shanghai, Pan Sunna, and the general director of the French Concession Board of Directors, Madiere, entered Xiao Zhenlei's sight, and the reason why he noticed these two people was not because they were big shots, but because these two people had not been there at the beginning of the ball; found a female partner to dance, but kept sitting on the chair and talking, looking at the looks of the two, it should be talking about serious things. Except for the two of them, other Chinese businessmen, including Li Pingshu and others, more or less danced one or two dances with their female companions.

Xiao Zhenlei didn't believe that Pansuna and Madié couldn't dance. They had seen them bring their female companions as they entered the hall, but they had allowed others to invite their female companions onto the dance floor without doing anything. He couldn't help but wonder with some wickedness whether these two people were.

But what happened next made him suspect that there must be some kind of secret between these two people, these two people went up to the second floor from the hall one after the other while talking, Xiao Zhenlei looked at their backs going upstairs, his eyes were wandering, he felt that he needed to find out the secret between these two people with the past, so he said hello to Wang Yanan and Cheng Biguio and got up and followed Pan Suna and Madière up the stairs.

When he reached the second floor and watched the backs of the two disappear into the doorway of a room, he felt another person coming up the stairs, and if that felt right, it was the woman who came from Delma. He sneered in his heart, this woman still hasn't given up, and even thinks about killing, he made a decision in his heart in an instant, and then immediately walked down the corridor and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

When Delmar came to the second floor, she didn't see Xiao Zhenlei, she only heard the sound of the heels of her shoes hitting the floor coming from the depths of the corridor, so she concluded that Xiao Zhenlei should be in a room at the end of the corridor.

Two-thirds of the way through the hallway, passing through a semicircular arch, there is a door on the left and right sides. Delmar became vigilant, and she stretched out her right hand to pull open the hem of her skirt and pull out a delicate small revolver from the inside of her thigh, and at the same time reached out with her left hand a small sharp dagger, where a murder gun was clearly inappropriate. Once the shooting is fired, it will inevitably attract the guards downstairs, and the patrol room will also intervene in the investigation, and she doesn't want to make too much noise. Holding a gun in your hand is just in case, and what you can really use is a small sharp dagger.

She slowly approached the door on the left, leaning sideways against the wall. Moving slowly towards the door, she didn't know that a black figure descended from the sky on the semicircular arch behind her. The black shadow landed softly without making a sound.

She twisted the handle of the door open and quickly pushed it open and pointed her gun at the room, which was empty, and just as she was about to turn around, something hard pressed against the back of her head, and she could feel a chill running from her head to all parts of her body, and her body was becoming inflexible under the influence of the cold, which she knew was a muzzle.

At the same time, a familiar and cold voice came from behind him: "Miss Delmar, we meet again!" Oh, my dear Miss Delma, I advise you not to think of any bad idea, or I dare not guarantee that my fingers will not cramp, and if I accidentally pull the trigger like that, Miss Delma, your beautiful body will probably be lost, please put your hands up."

"Hmph, you're so cunning! You deliberately lured me up, didn't you? Delmar spoke, but had to put her hands up.

"Get in!" Xiao Zhenlei pushed his hand.

Delmar walked into the room with a dagger and a small revolver in both hands, and Xiao Zhenlei stepped into the room with a gun against the back of her head, and closed the door with his foot by the way.

Standing in the middle of the room, Xiao Zhenlei reached out and took the small revolver on Delma's right hand, at this moment, Delmar suddenly turned around and slashed at Xiao Zhenlei's throat with the dagger on his left hand, Xiao Zhenlei's eyes flashed, and his right hand was stretched out halfway to knock on Delma's neck at a faster speed, and when the carotid artery was hit hard, Delma's brain was starved of oxygen, his eyes rolled and his body fell to the ground, and the dagger that stabbed him also fell.

"Hmph, you want to play tricks on my hands, the little girl's skin is still a little tender!" Xiao Zhenlei put away the two pistols and inserted them in his waist, squatted down to pick up the dagger on the ground, and looked at Delma lying on the ground and was about to kill her, but at this time, a quarrel came from the open window, making him stop moving.

Xiao Zhenlei knew that this should be the quarrel between Pansuna and Madie, and when he went upstairs, he saw them enter the next room, what were they arguing about, and why were they arguing? Although there was a quarrel, but he could not hear it clearly, he immediately put away the dagger and walked quickly to the window, stretched out his head to look, he put the dagger on the windowsill, grabbed the window frame and climbed up, there was a water pipe next to the window, he grabbed the water pipe and straddled the windowsill of the next room and squatted down.

The window was closed and the curtains were drawn, although it was impossible to see the inside of the room. But the quarrel inside could be clearly heard.

"Sir, we really only have so much money to come up with this month. Please also understand my difficulties, and I promise to make up for this month's shortcomings for you next month. Do you think it's okay? This should be Madie's voice, Xiao Zhenlei was puzzled when he heard it, what did this mean? Could it be that Pansuna is asking Madière for bribes? If that's the case, then it's fun.

Another cold and blunt voice sounded: "Madie, you should know that the positions of the chief director and director of the Public Board of Directors have a price, and how much money to pay each month is determined by the rise in prices and the process of economic development, not that I deliberately raise the price!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei squatted on the windowsill and could hear it clearly, this voice must have been Pan Sunna's. As far as he knew. Pansuna was only the acting minister of the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of France in Shanghai, not the minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

The so-called chargé d'affaires means that he was not a diplomatic official at the level of consul or counselor before, and his position in the consulate was very low. Generally speaking, in the absence of a minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary in the consulate, the counselor of the consulate is acting as an envoy, that is, the counselor exercises the functions and powers of the minister instead, which is the same as the Qing Dynasty magistrate did not have an official appointment from the imperial court, for example, Li Xiumei, the magistrate of Shanghai County, did not have an official appointment from the imperial court. It was only the acting governor, and the situation was similar for Pansuna, who was the acting minister of the French government without a formal appointment.

Nevertheless. Pansuna's powers are still equal to those of Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and he has the authority to act on behalf of the Government of France, having been acting Minister ad tempore for more than a year. Madière was elected as the chief director of the French Concession Public Board of Directors on January 26 this year, less than half a year ago. The election of the Board of Directors is for the outside world, and in fact the positions of the General Director and the directors of the Board of Directors are appointed by the French Consul in Shanghai. After all, it was part of the French colonial empire and was under the control of the French Viceroyalty in Indochina, so the French consul in Shanghai had the right to decide on the board of directors of the French Concession. Since the establishment of the Board of Directors of the French Concession, there have been many cases in history where the French Consul General in Shanghai dissolved the Board of Directors of the Board of Directors and then appointed others to form temporary committees, such as on October 12, 1865, the French Consul General introduced the Board of Directors of the previous Board of Directors and appointed a provisional committee headed by Morel, on June 21, 1907, the French Minister dissolved the previous Board of Directors, and in 1912, the French Consul General dissolved the previous Board of Directors and formed another temporary committee, and the General Director was appointed by the French Consul General. Such things are not uncommon, and I don't know how many insiders are behind the scenes.

Xiao Zhenlei pondered in his heart, but the disputes in the room were still continuous, only to hear Madière say: "Mr. Consul, I know, I know very well, it's not that we don't want to take the money, it's really not that we don't have the money to take out, you must know that there was a big explosion at the Sixteen Lipu Wharf a month ago, and the goods of the entire wharf were all burned, this loss is too huge, and we need to compensate for it. You give us another month, and we can make up all the money we owe you this month, really! ”

The room was quiet, the only sound was the clatter of a cigar, and after a full two minutes or so, Pansuna's voice came: "Okay, I'll give you another chance, today next month, you must give me all the money signed for this month and next month, otherwise I don't mind disbanding the temporary committee for the reorganization of the board of directors!" ”

"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Consul!"

Xiao Zhenlei can imagine how inferior and groveling Madière was at this time, the sound of footsteps sounded, followed by the sound of the door being opened, the footsteps gradually faded away, thinking that they left, Xiao Zhenlei was about to return to the next room, this time there was Madie's self-talk, this voice was full of hatred: "Hmph, damn Pan Sunna, I hope you don't force me too hard next time, otherwise you will force me to be anxious, I will send back to France the evidence of the shady political transaction with you, so that you will lose your official position and disgrace!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei's heart moved, hey, there is still evidence of shady deals? This is an unexpected gain, if you can get this evidence, wouldn't you be able to sue these two ghosts? (To be continued......) R1292