The next morning, December 25, 1921, Christmas Day.

The snow is getting heavier and heavier.

Anna looked at her daughter sleeping on the small wooden bed. Xiao Jiuse has been eighteen months, and he has grown up again, no disease and no disaster, and he is as strong as a little beast, and he has indeed eaten deer milk for a few months.

She changed into a solemn gown, Qi Yuanshan did not wear a military uniform, but a black silk gown. They instructed the nanny to take care of the nine colors and go home by noon at the latest.

Ouyang Anna was going to church for mass. She hadn't been to church since the wedding. In the past, I lived in Hongkou's Dharma Mountain, and the Mass was thunderous every Christmas. Chang Kaishen came to borrow money last night, and she had missed Midnight Mass and Dawn Mass in the morning. Christmas Morning Morning Mass is a must-see.

Instead of going to the Xujiahui Catholic Church, the cathedral of the diocese of Shanghai with its Gothic twin towers, she went to a small church in the French Concession dedicated to the angel Mijel, to which she had taken Qin Beiyang with her.

Although Qi Yuanshan was not a believer, he insisted on accompanying his wife, as if he wanted to replace that person, although it would always be in vain. Anna did not refuse, they called two rickshaws and came to the door of the towering church.

The time was right, the organ sounded, and the choir children sang "Enter the Hall"—

"A child was born unto us, and a son was given unto us; He carries royal power on his shoulders, and his name is to be called the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, the King of Peace. ”

A rare Chinese Mass, the parish priest is a Chinese who speaks Shanghainese. Anna sat in the middle of the crowd, clasped hands, and looked up at the altar in Latin for "Quisut Deus", which means "who is like God".

After the choir was sung, the parish priest began to talk. Anna seems to understand whether she understands or not, but her eyes are religious, and she keeps praying for the other person. Qi Yuanshan sat in this atmosphere, a little cramped and uneasy, so he could only endure it. The oil painting on the altar depicts the archangel St. Michael, a beautiful young man holding a sword in his hand, slaughtering the evil dragon that Satan turned into - Anna remembered that four years ago, in the East China Sea Dharma Mountain, the seventeen-year-old boy Qin Beiyang rode on the tomb beast of the evil dragon town and slaughtered it with a trident in his hand.

She had seen the living archangels with her own eyes!

Could it be that the dragon or beast slaughtered in the Bible story is the prototype of the tomb beast in Shanggu Town?

The priest began to talk about repentance and atonement. Ouyang Anna lowered her head, tears rippling, not knowing who to repent for? For Qin Beiyang, who doesn't know where he is at the end of the world? For the husband who is by his side at the moment?

Finally, Anna received Holy Communion, and asked the Father of God to put the Eucharist in her mouth as a sign of guilt for not coming to church all these years.

The choir children continued to sing, and every time she heard the words "Please see the little ...... of the Holy Child", she missed her daughter more and more, and she looked anxiously to the left and right, and was too embarrassed to leave the church early, and did not leave the church until noon.

The Christmas snow continued to fall, and there was a white expanse of snow in front of the steps, as if returning to an isolated island in the Arctic ice sea, and the jade ring on the finger of his left hand was faintly hot......

An hour ago, there was a knock on the door of a bungalow on Henry Road in the French Concession.

The nanny opened the door in annoyance and saw a fair-skinned guest, no more than thirty years old, dressed in an overcoat and wearing a polite head, just like the "Mr. Chang" last night, but looking younger, more energetic and handsome.

He spoke in a northern dialect: "Sister, are Mr. and Mrs. Qi at home?" ”

"They're going to church, come back in the afternoon."

"I'm sorry, I have something to do in the afternoon, can I wait in the living room for them to come home?"

"Madame has instructed that no outsiders are allowed to come in when no one is in the house."

"Sister, give me a convenience, I am a good friend of Mr. Qi, and he will be very happy to see me."

The guest's gaze was very charming, and he leaned close to the nanny, and he was so gentle that he shoved a silver dollar into her palm. This nanny is only in her thirties, the man is still farming in the countryside, and he usually likes to dress up, how can he withstand such hospitality? I was flattered. She looked at the guest again, polite and polite, and at first glance he was a scholar, and his original cold face gave a hint of a smile, and opened the door to let him in.

Sitting in the living room, making a cup of tea, the nanny helped him take off his coat and dust off the snowflakes. While waiting for the host to come home, the nanny also chatted with him, talking about the homely life in the countryside of Jiangbei, talking about the life in Shanghai, and asking the guest where his hometown is?

"It's a long way off."

"Is it cold in winter?"

"Cold."

The nanny was also in a panic, talking to herself, pulling a chair, leaning beside him and asking, "Sir, do you have a lady with you in Shanghai?" ”

"Hehe, I have no relatives and no reason, and I am alone."

"That's a shame."

"What a pity?"

The guest seems to understand the woman's heart very well and wants to indulge in it. The nanny smiled without saying a word, but lit him a cigarette, and the flame of the match almost burned his hair. He was a little addicted to smoking, took a deep breath, swallowed the clouds, and noticed the black cat outside the window.

The black cat stared into his eyes.

"This cat?"

"Hmm...... The lady brought it back from the northwest, half wild and half home, often came back from catching rats from outside, and died of anger! ”

Suddenly, the guest grinned and made a beastly sound, and the black cat was so frightened that it jumped onto the courtyard wall.

The nanny laughed and patted him on the shoulder, and said in a half-life Shanghainese dialect: "Oh, sir, you are so!" ”

Between flirting and scolding, the cry of a child sounded upstairs, and the nanny smiled awkwardly: "It's my little master who woke up, I'll go and coax it." ”

The nanny rushed upstairs, and sure enough, Xiao Jiuse opened her eyes and climbed out of bed by herself. The eighteen-month-old girl, with two stout legs, was walking on the floor like flying, calling out for her mother. Jiu Cai has enough hair, jet black, and there is no yellow hair, indicating that the child is quite healthy.

"Oh, my little girl, don't make any noise, your mother went to the spicy block? I don't know. ”

The nanny impatiently stuffed Jiuse with a pacifier, just wanting her to calm down quickly so that she could go downstairs to accompany the guests.

"Let me coax her!"

The guest appeared at the door of the bedroom and stared straight at the nine colors.

"Oh, sir, why did you get up?"

"Sorry, it's rude! However, I have experience with children. Sister, I want to help you. ”

The guest smiled slightly, snuffed out the cigarette butt in his hand, and took the nine colors from the nanny's hand, but he hugged it quite awkwardly. Nine Colors' eyes widened angrily, and he didn't have a good temper with him, and he cried again.

"This kid is really rude, he usually doesn't recognize life!" The nanny could only stretch out her finger and tease her, "What's wrong?" Nine colors? ”

"Her name is Nine Colors?"