, 8th year of the Republic of China, 1919, April.

Crossing the entire North Atlantic, nineteen-year-old Ouyang Anna, Qin Beiyang, Li Longsheng, Qian Ke, Xiaojunwang, plus the 1,200-year-old Jiuse, stood on the bow of the ship and looked at the chalk cliffs off the coast of England. After taking a few tablets of aspirin, Qin Beiyang's spirit recovered, and he no longer said frustrating words with little time.

The spring sea breeze blows up the red mane that has been blown up by the nine colors. Nineteen-year-old Qin Beiyang, with the ring-headed handle of a three-foot Tang knife exposed behind his shoulder, wearing suspenders and a white shirt, still resembles a knight who traveled far away with a sword in ancient times.

Passing through the coast of Normandy, France, from the mouth of the Seine up to the port of Rouen, the city of Joan of Arc burned down 500 years ago.

The first thing is quarantine, the Spanish flu has just swept through Europe. The quarantine officer found that Qin Beiyang had a low-grade fever, a bad complexion, and coughed from time to time. He insisted that he didn't have a cold, just that he was weak. Anna finally came in handy and bribed the quarantine officer a few francs to solve the problem.

Qin Beiyang followed the delegation on the train. The railroad tracks cut through the spring wilderness, half a year after the armistice, still covered with trenches and barbed wire, and occasionally you can see the white bones under the spring mud.

At dusk, towering buildings appear in front of you. Qin Beiyang excitedly opened the car window, but was dragged back by Anna. The black smoke from the steam engine had smoked his face with soot. Anna smashed his fist in the chest: "Fool! ”

Paris, like a pile of huge building blocks, lies in the most fertile fields of the European continent, with the dreams of Hugo, Balzac, Flaubert and Maupassant, from Charlemagne to Louis XIV to the French Revolution, slowly unfolding in front of the pilgrims who came from afar. If Rome is the eternal city, Paris is the city of desires and dreams......

Timur, the king of the little county, roared: "Paris has arrived!" ”

Representatives of overseas Chinese in France greeted them at the Cité de la Firedre station in Paris, and the group took a horse-drawn carriage to Versailles in the suburbs, where the Chinese delegation was stationed, the Lutety Hotel.

The hotel had limited rooms, and the little king had to share a room with two or three men. Anna was the only girl in the delegation and lived with the French girls.

Qin Beiyang lives in the basement of the hotel. He took two aspirin pills and coughed all night with chills. The nine colors emit heat, a man and a beast, hugging each other, like a stray dog and a homeless man in the cold winter.

Even though he knew that the Nine Colors were unapproachable, it was burning the life of its master. The spirit stone in the heart of the Tomb Suppression Beast will bring death to those who have approached it for a long time, unless its owner is a corpse in the grave......

The Chinese delegation stayed up all night, busy sorting through the file boxes that had come from thousands of miles and writing the appeal materials separately. Anna also tossed around all night, in charge of translating the key points into French.

At dawn, Gu Weijun, the Chinese minister to the United States and plenipotentiary, went to the Palace of Versailles, and Anna rode in the same carriage. French is the diplomatic and legal language of Europe, and educated people take pride in speaking French, not to mention that France is the host of the conference. The French interpreter of the Chinese delegation, who had been quarantined with the Spanish flu a few days ago, had to be replaced by the fledgling Ouyang Anna.

The nineteen-year-old intern, wearing a conservative black long skirt, put on heavy makeup to hide the dark circles under her eyes that stayed up late, and looked like a little widow at first glance. The only ornament on her body is the jade ring on the middle finger of her left hand. Before going out, she repeatedly practiced in front of the mirror, for fear that she would make a mistake and lose China's face.

Clenched on her knees, she gazed at the green lawns of the Palace of Versailles, the baroque architecture, and the fountains that rose into the sky from time to time, all of which were the masterpieces of Louis XIV, the "Sun King". Gu Weijun, who was on the other side of the box, was only about thirty years old, young and handsome, shining brightly, and could almost hear the sound of panting. The fawn in her chest jumped wildly, and she knew that Gu Weijun was from Jiading, Shanghai, so she greeted her in Shanghainese. Gu Weijun put down his face: "Miss Anna, there are no fellow villagers here, only colleagues who work together." ”

After getting out of the carriage, she was like a baby in her arms, holding the appeal materials of the Chinese government. Walking into the Palace of Versailles, you are greeted by a large crowd of people, surrounded by a tall man - US President Woodrow Wilson.

Gu Weijun pushed everyone forward to say hello, and President Wilson recognized the Chinese minister to the United States and said politely: "Mr. Minister!" Nice to meet you! ”

There was no time to say flattering polite words, Gu Weijun said in fluent English: "Dear Mr. President, I implore you to listen to the voices of the 40,000,000 people from China!" Shandong is the homeland of the great Confucius, and Shandong is to China what Jerusalem is to the West. Your just choice will bring more than 100 years of sincere friendship between China and the United States! ”

"Mr. Minister, the United States Government has always maintained, and my fourteen points of advice, that the Paris Peace Conference should not be a spoils conference, and that not even an inch of colonies should be added, otherwise the bitter bloodshed of the world war will be meaningless. The U.S. Government and the League of Nations will certainly attach importance to China's propositions, and power cannot override justice. ”

Despite being surrounded by representatives of countless small countries, President Wilson answered Gu Weijun solemnly. Anna marvels at being so close to the president of the United States for the first time!

"He's the most powerful man in the world, and fortunately I'm the minister to the United States, and I have a personal relationship with President Wilson." Gu Weijun was in his chest, "He has clearly expressed his support for China's position, I hope it can help this time!" ”

Ouyang Anna stepped into the hall of Versailles and sat in the interpreter's seat behind the delegates' seats. She found that there was a clear inequality of seats, with the five great powers being the most prominent. In addition to U.S. President Wilson, the bald and white-bearded man resembles Yuan Datou is French Prime Minister Clemenceau, the silver-haired British Prime Minister Lloyd George, and the only Asian is former Japanese Prime Minister Nishionji Konozo. As for Italian Prime Minister Orlando, he withdrew from the venue in anger because of the uneven distribution of the spoils.

The Arabian prince in a white turban stood up to make an impassioned speech, and Anna drooled when he saw it, and the prince was as handsome as the male protagonist of "Arabian Nights", denouncing the British and French occupation of Syria and Iraq, and demanding the solemn promise of "Lawrence of Arabia" to achieve complete Arab independence. Then came the Polish deputies, who demanded the acquisition of all of East Prussia, as well as the possession of western Ukraine and Belarus, and the restoration of the historically glorious Greater Poland.

When it was China's turn to speak, Gu Weijun stood up in a European honorable dress, embroidered with a vegetal pattern gold thread on his chest, comparable to Chibi Zhou Yu, and politely bowed to greet the delegates, including the Japanese delegation opposite.

He reiterated the Chinese Government's seven-point proposition: the abolition of spheres of influence, the withdrawal of foreign troops, the abolition of foreign post offices and telegraph offices, the abolition of consular jurisdiction, the return of leased lands, the return of concessions, and the right to freedom of customs duties. Gu Weijun presented a top-secret file, quoted scriptures, and refuted Japan one by one. For example, Article 21 has no legal effect and violates the principle of coercion by force. International law also has the "principle of change of circumstances", when Yuan Shikai signed the "21 Articles", China had not yet declared war on Germany, and later Duan Qirui's government entered the war, the original treaty should have expired, and Qingdao should have been returned to China, which was also a victorious country.

Anna has not yet reached the level of simultaneous interpretation, and translates it into French word by word. She prepares an all-nighter, marking the legal jargon of her birth, but makes several grammatical mistakes in the face of the most powerful men on the planet. French Prime Minister Clemenceau, nicknamed "Tiger", looked at the female intern of the Chinese Foreign Ministry with the eyes of admiring a beautiful girl. But she quickly adjusted her mentality and rhythm, and the sentences automatically jumped into her mind, and she translated more and more fluently, and the legal experts present nodded frequently.

At the end of Gu Weijun's speech, Anna finished translating the last sentence of French, and the host first gave applause, followed by US President Wilson, British Prime Minister Lloyd George, and only Japan's Saionji Konobu and Deputy Head of Mission Nobuaki Makino were pale.

Walking out of the glorious Versailles, Gu Weijun walked easily, stretched out his arm according to European etiquette, and let Anna walk gently, he laughed and said: "God bless me China, Shandong should come back!" ”

Ouyang Anna said in her heart, if it weren't for Qin Beiyang's dark night in New York, who sacrificed his life and forgot to save the file box, I don't know what the result would be today?

Three days later, on April 30, 1919, the results of the four-nation summit came - the United States, Britain and France agreed to transfer to Japan all German rights and interests in Shandong, including the territory of Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay, the Jiaoji Railway and the property along the line.

At the residence of the Chinese delegation, the Lutti Hotel fell into a dead silence, and Ouyang Anna cried bitterly......

It is said that because Italy had withdrawn from the peace conference, and Japan claimed that if it did not meet the conditions, it would follow in Italy's footsteps, and the three powers of the United States, Britain, and France turned to Japan, including President Wilson, who repeatedly supported China.

Japan is a strong country and China is a weak country. China's interests are, at best, a pawn between the great powers. Weak countries have no diplomacy, and what was true a hundred years ago may still be a hundred years from now.

Four days later, before dawn, Qin Beiyang, Ouyang Anna, and Jiuse came to the center of Paris. Qin Beiyang looks at the Eiffel Tower, the tallest building in the world at that time, and the great achievement of industrial civilization in the 19th century.

He took Anna's slender hand, took the nine colors, and climbed the steps up the tower. At an altitude of 300 meters, you can see not only the whole of Paris, but also the Palace of Versailles and the Compiègne Forest, the Arc de Triomphe, the Montmartre Heights, the Louvre and countless other great buildings, radiating out like a spider web, and the Seine River is a bright ribbon that penetrates the whole web.

"Look, the sun is rising."

Following Qin Beiyang's fingers, Anna looked far into the ruined eastern part of France, and the rising sun rose over the forests and fields. She closed her eyes and let the sun splash on her face, causing golden waves.

"Beiyang, what are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at you."

"Who else but me?"

"Who else? That's right, follow this direction, and look 10,000 kilometers ahead, and it will be our China! ”

This cool sun illuminated Paris, and seven hours earlier, another distant, ancient and weak country.

Ouyang Anna opened her glass-colored eyes: "What time is it today?" ”

"May 4, 1919!"

Suddenly, Nine Colors frantically bit the cuff tube of his master's trousers, emitting scorching heat, and his two front legs almost jumped out of the lookout. On the other side of the Eiffel Tower, above the countless rooftops of Paris, a strange thing flew - two pairs of wings flapping, the head of Satan and an angel, the evil spirit of the Old Testament.

Ouyang Anna recognized the monster - it was not from Jerusalem or Mesopotamia, but the "Tomb of Tatars" in the village of Fangshan Tomb King in Beijing.

The morning sun shrouded the four-winged angels, and the four wings reflected the golden light of death, harvesting the undead scattered in the sky in the world war.

Qin Beiyang felt that it was unbelievable that this tomb beast could actually fly under the sun!

The angel hovering over Paris turned to the Eiffel Tower. The eyes of the beast glimpsed the boys and girls on the lookout at the top of the tower. The joints of the four wings, swirling like roses, bloomed. Qin Beiyang pressed Anna to the ground with all his might. A hundred meters away, four flames flashed between the wings of the quad-winged angel, and the bullets tore through the air, sending out the roar of the Somme and Verdun, and piercing his pupils like daggers......