When the carriage reached noon, a sentry box appeared on the side of the road, and several foreigners wrapped in their heads, carrying wooden sticks, were checking the passing Chinese one by one!

The driver grabbed the reins, turned to me and said, "Sir, after the sentry box in front, we will go to Shanghai!" ”。 Hei Ni and I jumped out of the car, thanked the people who were driving the car, and walked to the sentry box with the crowd crowded one by one!

Hei Ni followed me as she walked forward, and she looked curiously at the foreigners in their headscarves. In the end, she couldn't help it, so she asked me, "Fake foreign devils, who are they?" Why does it look different from us? You see...... You see, how sharp are their noses? They don't speak the same way as we do, and their babbling is like a bird's call! ”。

I tugged at the hem of Heini's shirt and told her, "These are Indians, they speak English, it's not a bird's call!" ”。 Hei Ni snorted, and suddenly realized: "It turns out that foreign devils look like this, I thought they looked like ghosts!" ”。 Hei Ni was a little disappointed, but she quickly asked me with great interest, "Fake foreigners, I ask you, what are they doing here when they don't stay in their own country?" ”。

I looked into Heini's sparkling eyes, and I didn't know what to say to her! At this time, the crowd suddenly stirred, and I heard someone shouting loudly: "Look, foreign devils are beating people, foreign devils are beating us Chinese!" ”。 The crowd "boomed", as if the tide was receding, and they all retreated to the back! I grabbed Hei Ni and took the opportunity to squeeze into the crowd!

Hei Ni and I squeezed to the front of the crowd to take a look, only to see a red-bearded Indian patrol officer holding a Chinese man, waving a stick and "crackling" a violent beating! The thin Chinese bowed down, bent his arms to protect his head, and the stick rained down on his head, and the Chinese who hit him knelt on the ground and begged for mercy!

The Chinese gathered around were not unusual, and after a short period of panic, they regained their spirits, they exchanged ears, whispered, and some even cheered for the Indian patrols who beat people!

I couldn't stand it anymore, so I angrily parted the crowd, rushed forward with an arrow, grabbed the wrist of the red-bearded patrolman, and said to him in English: "No beating!" ”。

The Indian inspector was taken aback, and asked me in broken English, "What are you doing?" ”。 As he spoke, he took a step back, raised the stick in his hand again, and shouted at me with a fierce look: "It's okay not to beat him, since you are nosy, I will beat you!" ”。

The burly Indian patrolman, with his brown eyes glaring fiercely, and the stick in his hand waving in the air, just when I thought that my head would be struck hard by this Indian at any moment, I suddenly heard a man from inside the sentry shout in very pure English: "Stop! ”。

The Indian wielding the stick, like some mechanically controlled machine, immediately lowered his arms and stepped aside! I looked into the sentry box in surprise and saw an Englishman in a light-colored uniform walking out of the sentry box!

The Englishman lazily glanced at the Chinese with blood on the ground, then looked at me again, and hooked his finger at the Indian patrolman! The Indian patrolman straightened his chest and walked up to the British. I heard the Englishman ask why the Indian patrol was beating the Chinese? The Indian patrol lowered his head and whispered to the British!

The Englishman frowned, waved his hand, nodded at me and said, "Do you speak English?" ”。

I said, "Of course, I have lived in your country for many years!" ”。

The Englishman was surprised, and he asked me, "Are you going to study abroad?" ”。

I nodded and told him the name of the university I was studying at! The Englishman was even more surprised, and he excitedly told me that his family lived near the university, and we even recalled together a tavern we had all visited, and at last the Englishman apologized to me, saying, "I am so sorry that my men should have offended a gentleman like you, and I promise that it will never happen again, as for him......!" ”。 The Englishman twisted the tip of his beard and said, "I'll make him reflect!" ”。

I thanked the British for their kindness and went to pick up the beaten Chinese. Those Indian patrols didn't check us anymore, and just let Hei Ni and me go! After the sentry box, Hei Ni and I entered the British Concession, and halfway to the road, I found that there was no big boy on my body, let alone living in a hotel, and I couldn't even afford to send a telegram! I panicked and rummaged through my body again, but I still couldn't find a dime! Seeing my anxious face, Hei Ni asked me, "Fake foreign devil, what are you doing on the street to catch lice?" ”。

I said, "What lice do you catch?" I'm looking for money! ”。

Hei Ni asked curiously, "Did you find the money?" ”。

I was so anxious that my face was flushed, and I cried out bitterly: "It's over, it's over, I'm gone, what can we do now?" ”。

Hei Ni asked me, "What do you want money for?" ”。

I'm talking nonsense, don't you have money to let us live in a hotel? What's for dinner? I can tell you, I'm hungry again! Oh, why do you think I'm so generous? If I hadn't given my pocket watch to someone else, we wouldn't be so down-and-out now! And you, you said you, what is wrong with apricot blossoms? If you don't give her the gold earrings, we won't be so embarrassed!

Hei Ni smiled slightly, untied a gold pendant from her neck, put it in my hand and said, "Can you see if you can exchange this for a few dollars?" ”。

I took the gold pendant, weighed it in the palm of my hand, and said, "Let's press it into the pawnshop first, and I'll redeem it in a few days!" ”。 After saying that, I led Hei Ni to find a nearby pawnshop and pressed the gold pendant for more than a dozen taels of silver! With the dozen taels of silver in my hand, I first went to the telegraph office and sent a telegram to Wadsey, asking him to send a sum of money to Shanghai as soon as possible! Then I bought myself a set of clothes in a fashion store on the corner!

Then I carried Hei Ni on my shoulder, walked to the Six Nations Hotel, and walked around the hotel first, but I didn't see the shadow of Brother Zhang and the toothless old man. I comforted Hei Ni and said that Brother Zhang would be fine, he must have been delayed by something on the road! ”。

I led Hei Ni into the Six Nations Hotel, and because I was shy in my pocket, the two of us had to open a suite! The suite is lavishly furnished, with Persian carpets on the floor, Cyprus wallpaper on the walls, and even the table legs in the room are delicately carved with patterns! Hei Ni was so dizzy, she was amazed at everything in front of her, she had to look at everything for a long time, and sometimes she would talk around me and ask questions, until she understood it completely, and then she would be content to study the next thing!

We stayed in the Liuguo Hotel for two days, and on the morning of the next day, we finally met up with Brother Zhang, who told me that he had actually entered the city a long time ago, but he had never had the opportunity to blend into the foreign concession, and last night he took advantage of the darkness to touch in! I asked him where the toothless old man was? Brother Zhang said that he went ashore with the toothless old man, and he also entered the city together, and after entering the city, the toothless old man suddenly said to him, he was going to find his daughter, so he wouldn't go to the concession with me, and he asked me to bring a good one for the two of you! Then, Brother Zhang asked me how Hei Ni and I got to Shanghai? Hei Ni then told his father in detail what happened to us along the way! After listening to Hei Ni's story, Brother Zhang couldn't help patting his thigh and sighing: "There are still many good people in this world, otherwise the lives of the two of you will be explained in the river!" ”。

We stayed at the Six Nations Hotel for another two days, and as we saw that the money in our pockets was about to run out, on the third day I suddenly received a telegram from Wadsey saying that the money had been remitted to the Commerce Bank in Shanghai. I was overjoyed with the telegram, so I quickly put on my clothes, and rushed to the Commerce Bank at a trot, took the money out of the bank, put it in my pocket, and then breathed a sigh of relief! On the way back, I suddenly remembered that Hei Ni's pendant was still pressed in the pawnshop, so I redeemed the pendant by the way!

The next day, we settled the house money, hired a mule cart, and left Shanghai all the way north, and when we arrived in Tianjin, we changed to a horse-drawn carriage with a tent, and finally arrived in Beijing a few days later!

When the carriage rushed into the capital, it was already dark, a round of hook-like moon, hanging obliquely in the sky, the coachman had never been to the capital, and it was dark and he couldn't see the road, he and his blind horse went around the capital a few times, and finally sent us to the place in the second half of the night!

I paid for the car, sent the carriage away, and then pointed to the house on the side of the road to Brother Zhang and Hei Ni and said, "Where do I live!" ”。

Brother Zhang glanced at the western-style building on the side of the road with empty eyes, and said in surprise: "Brother Cha, isn't this a house where foreigners live?" Why do you live here too? ”。

I smiled and said, "Foreigners are also people, I can't live if they can live?" ”。

Brother Zhang nodded appreciatively and said, "That's right, if they can live, of course we can live too!" ”。

I said, "Go, I'll take you inside!" ”。

I knocked on the door, and after a while, Wu's mother's voice trembled behind the door and asked, "Who, it's so late?" ”。 I coughed and said, "Mom Wu, it's me!" ”。

Mother Wu in the house let out an exclamation and shouted, "Master, you are back!" ”。 Immediately after that, Wu's mother pushed the door open, and I saw Wu's mother standing at the door with an oil lamp in her hand, with a surprised face, so I asked Wu's mother with a smile: "Wu's mother, are you okay these days?" ”。

Wu's mother smiled with a smile on her face: "It's okay, it's okay!" Sir, you've been gone for so many days, why don't you send a telegram before you come back? I don't have anything at home! ”。 I said, "It's okay, just get us something to eat!" ”。

Mother Wu glanced at Brother Zhang and Hei Ni, and asked me, "Who are these two ......?" ”。

I said, "Mother Wu, don't ask, they are all my friends!" ”。