This restaurant is owned by an old French sailor, and the owner is called Gil. Lebret was slightly surprised to see Rong Lu and Li Zhong coming in with a few relatives. Because although there are many foreigners in Guangzhou, Chinese people generally rarely have other contact with foreigners, including dining on the foreigners' territory, Rong Lu and a few other Qing people with braids, robes and coats walked in, which surprised Lebret.

For example, in the concessions in Shanghai and other places, both Chinese and foreign sides were afraid that the Chinese and foreigners would cause trouble after too deep contact, so the Chinese people were not allowed to enter the concession easily. The original Qing court was worried that the common people would come into contact with foreigners and make trouble, while the foreigners were worried that the barbaric Qing people would not speak of legal principles at all, and the cultural differences between the East and the West between the two sides were very deep, so there were such regulations.

After the Taiping army gained control of the city, the concessions of Shanghai and Ningbo were gradually abolished due to the enlightened policy of the West Temple, which did not allow Chinese people to enter. Of course, after too much such contact, the gap between Eastern and Western cultures will inevitably lead to disputes and incidents. Since the United States, Britain, France, and other countries all have consular jurisdiction, in Sino-foreign disputes, it is often the Chinese who suffer losses, and many foreigners have no fear of being protected by consular jurisdiction. The result of the negotiation was that the Taiping Army still recognized the consular jurisdiction and agreed to use the laws of each country to try the foreigners who committed the crime, but if there was a case involving Chinese, a joint tribunal must be formed by the Chinese and foreign sides to conduct a more fair trial of the case, and the people involved in the trial, including lawyers and juries, must be half of the Chinese, in order to show fairness.

At present, it is very unrealistic to take back the consular jurisdiction, and Xiao Yungui does not feel that the kind of elevated trial that the Chinese people are accustomed to is more in line with the spirit of the legal system, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's own laws and judicial system still need to be improved and studied.

The ministers of Britain, France and other countries initially disagreed with this approach. What they wanted was full consular jurisdiction, and the British even said that the barbaric people did not know what the spirit of the rule of law was. However, Zuihou Yingfa still agreed to this proposal of the Taiping Army of the West Temple, and added this clause as an adherent clause. The reason is very simple, Xiao Yungui united Chinese businessmen and ordinary people in Shanghai, Ningbo and other places to carry out a campaign to boycott foreign goods. Although during the Opium War, the Qing court also called on the people to boycott the foreigners, but the people who had no sense of the state still drove small boats to trade with the foreigners, so the foreigners had not seen this real boycott movement.

This boycott movement was different from Guangzhou's boycott of foreigners' entry into the city, although Guangzhou's sociological boycott of foreigners into the city was vigorous, but the merchants never stopped trading with foreigners. The boycott movement in Shanghai and Ningbo was a great shock to the foreigners, and the Taiping army was not as weak as the Qing court. The great powers also recognized the toughness of the Taiping army, and when neither side broke through the other's bottom limit, Zuihou still reached an agreement. The limit of the great powers was that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had to abide by the treaties signed by the Qing court before, and the revision of consular jurisdiction had not yet broken through the limit of the great powers, and some enlightened Westerners even thought that the Chinese should be more exposed to the spirit of Western laws and legal systems. It can bring the breath of civilization to this backward and ignorant country, and it can be more conducive to the invasion of Western culture.

So in Shanghai and Ningbo. Huayang's contact was in the midst of noisy fights and constant case disputes. It's starting to get used to it. And in Guangzhou, which was under the control of the Qing court, contact with Huayang was still a taboo, especially after nightfall.

Although Le Blay felt that it was abrupt for a few Qing people to enter his restaurant, the enthusiasm of the French and the need of a restaurateur for business reasons, he still came up to inquire about the visit.

Lebre's Chinese is not very good. But Rong Lu still understood, and Lebret was asking them for their intentions. Rong Lu's French is okay, although he is not as talented as Hong Yun'er, but he used to be very diligent. Still learning more about French, he smiled and said in French, "We're here to dine." ”

Seeing that he could speak French, although he was not very fluent, he could still express his meaning clearly, and said politely: "Gentlemen, are you sure you want to dine with me?" ”

Rong Lu smiled and said: "The food in France is still very delicious, besides, do you open the door to do business and turn away customers?" ”

Lebre is still a little suspicious, it is not strange that a Qing person can speak French, but as far as he knows, many Chinese people are not used to Western food, they boast that they are in the Celestial Empire, and they will only think that the food of their country is the food, and they have never heard a Qing person praise French cuisine, and then Lebre said: "Of course not, a few gentlemen sit down first, and I will bring you the menu." Then let an Indian waiter beckon them to take their seats.

Rong Lu and Li Chong sat down, and several other relatives did not dare to sit at the same table with him, so they sat at another table. After a while, Lebre personally brought the menu, and after Rong Lu read the menu, he briefly said a few words to Lebret, ordered a few dishes, and pointed to another table saying the same dishes on that table. The boss Lebret is very strange about the habits of the Chinese, but the people who come together have to sit separately, but it is not good to ask, so he turned around and went to arrange a meal.

Seeing that Li Chong was still a little restrained, Rong Lu said lightly: "In the future, when you go to Guangzhou, you will bring an interpreter and deal with these foreigners a lot, haven't you come to this kind of Western restaurant to eat in Guangzhou for so long?" ”

Li Chong said with some embarrassment: "Master, although Guangzhou is a treaty port, Huayi is very heavily defended, and sometimes individual people and foreigners will be beaten and scolded if they say a few more words, so ......"

Rong Lu sneered: "Huayi defense? You are an official of the imperial court, and you have the customs defense copywriter of the Liangguang Governor's Mansion, who dares to beat you? I think you're just a Huayi defense in your heart. You remember, at any time, foreigners are not necessarily inferior to others, and Chinese are not necessarily superior to others. ”

As he spoke, Lebre had already brought the meal, because it had only been at the Governor's Palace for a short time, and Rong Lu didn't order any big dishes, just ordered a chestnut cake, French pine nut, and ice cream that he hadn't eaten for a long time, that is, ice cream.

The Indian waiter cut the chestnut cake and divided it into a plate in front of everyone, poured pine nut wine on everyone, and went down. Li Zhong and the others looked at the knife and fork in front of them and didn't know how to use it, Rong Lu smiled slightly, and taught the three of them how to use the knife and fork. Although Ronglu had never eaten Western food in his previous life, he had seen a lot of movies and TV, and he had never eaten pork or seen a pig run?

The cake is a sweet tooth, Li Chong and others are not used to eating it, but they drank a lot of pine nut wine, at this time the ice cream came, Li Chong looked at the steaming ice cream and said: "This thing is still steaming, is it hot?" ”

Rong Lu smiled: "It's cold, it's delicious, you taste it." Li Chong didn't doubt it, but when he brought it to his mouth, he still subconsciously blew it before putting it in his mouth, and it was really cold and delicious when he tasted it.

A few people were eating, and there were three British sailors on the side of the bar in the restaurant, and they were very drunk. At this time, I saw a Chinese woman walking out of the box on the left side of the restaurant, this woman had bright eyes, although she was wearing a Western dress, but at a glance she knew that she was a pure Chinese woman. The woman seemed to be going to the toilet in the restaurant, and when she walked past the bar, one of the sailors stopped her with a drunken burp and smiled maliciously: "Pretty girl, where are you going?" How about a drink with us? ”

Rong Lu heard this, turned his head to look, and saw that the girl was only about twenty years old, and she looked extremely beautiful and moving, but Rong Lu didn't expect that there would be a woman in Guangzhou who would dare to wear Western women's clothes in the face of the world's disapproval.

Several people spoke English, and it was okay if Li Chong and the others couldn't understand it, but Li Chong saw Rong Lu's gaze, and he also turned his head to look, and when he looked at it, Li Chong's face suddenly changed greatly.

The girl also seemed to understand English, and immediately glared angrily: "Get out of the way!" I don't know you! The British sailor was very surprised, and he didn't think that this beautiful girl could also understand English, and a sailor next to him whistled and said, "Jonathan, the little girl said she didn't know you, haha"

The British sailor named Jonathan immediately put away his smile, made a formal gesture of please, and said: "My name is Jonathan, I am a British naval sergeant, beautiful young lady, I want to treat you to a drink." ”

Here Li Chong saw that the girl was stopped by a few foreigners, and immediately stood up and rushed over, Rong Lu felt slightly strange, Li Chongping has always been cautious, how could he stand out for a woman he didn't know today? As soon as he said hello, Rong Lu followed with a few relatives.

Before I got to the front, I heard the girl say with a cold face: "Mr. Jonathan, my fiancé will be very angry when your words are heard." ”

Then Jonathan sighed, turned his head and saw several Qing people rushing over, pointing at Li Chong and asking, "Beautiful young lady, is this Oriental boy your fiancé?" ”

The girl looked back at Jonathan's eyes, and when she saw Li Chong walking quickly, her pretty face instantly changed greatly, and her eyes slowly filled her eyes with crystal tears, and her delicate body trembled.

When Jonathan saw her like this, he only said that Li Chong must be her fiancé, and immediately stepped forward to stop in front of Li Chong and said, "Dongfang boy, I want to duel with you, whoever wins can kiss this beautiful young lady, how about it?" Do you dare? ”

Li Chong didn't understand, Rong Lu translated his words, and after he was done, Li Chong stared at Jonathan viciously, followed by an angry lion who rushed forward angrily, and hit Jonathan's face with a heavy punch.

Jonathan was a little drunk, but he didn't expect Li Chong to say that he would fight, Li Chong's punch was so heavy that he couldn't get up for a long time.

Rong Lu looked at Li Chong and the girl a little strangely, looking at the situation, the two must know each other, could it be the horse that Li Chong met in Guangzhou? But following Li Chong's shout, Rong Lu felt a little ashamed, and he wanted to be crooked completely.

After hitting Jonathan, Li Chong stepped forward and grabbed the girl's fragrant shoulder, and said loudly: "Little sister, why are you here?!" (To be continued......)