The right side of Qin Beiyang's face was bleeding.

He burst a pimple and looked up under the Gothic dome to the altar, a staggered tree of life, hyssop, palms, and other biblical plants. As the time for Mass had passed, Chinese girls dressed in long black dresses refused to leave for a long time, sitting on the first row of benches and drawing prayers of the cross. Qin Beiyang wiped the pulp off his face and looked up at the stained glass of the Bible story: Adam and Eve, who stole the forbidden fruit, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River......

In the small confession room next to it, there was an aunt who said in Shanghainese: All of us are guilty and must confess to the priest.

He silently replied, "If I have sinned, I will atone for it by my deeds."

On Sunday, Ouyang Anna said that she was going to church for mass, and asked Qin Beiyang to escort her by name. Anna is the little lord of the Dharma Mountain on the sea, and his small craftsman cannot disobey. She called a rickshaw, and he preferred to run after him. Anna said, "How can I make you work so hard?" She pulled out another piece of ocean and called a second rickshaw for him to sit in.

Qin Beiyang looked anxiously at the morning in Shanghai, the scenery of the ship masts on both sides of the Suzhou Creek. Staring at the back of the coachman, smelling the smell of sweat, he was ashamed, and he really wanted to jump down and pull the car himself.

A bounty warrant was posted on the street, depicting two blurred faces of young men, one with a scar on the right side of his face. In order to catch the two murderers of the Hongkou Capture House, the Public Concession Bureau of the Ministry of Industry offered 10,000 pounds, which is the highest bounty in Shanghai's history.

Anna was dressed like a Western schoolgirl, neck and neck with Qin Beiyang, turning her head from time to time and smiling lightly. The yellow leaves withered in the autumn sun, hitting her small beige sunhat like a golden flower.

When she arrived at the Catholic Church, under the crucifix, Ouyang Anna became solemn, like a mourning girl......

Qin Beiyang sat beside her, and could only find words: "What is painted on the altar?" ”

The portrait depicts a blonde boy holding a red cross-shaped sword and a vicious dragon at his feet.

"Archangel Michael, God's appointed guardian of the Garden of Eden, the only spirit being with the title of archangel. During the Seven-Day War with Satan, he used the sword of the archangel to fight the dragon, and this dragon was Satan. ”

Sunlight shines through the stained glass of the Gothic church and sprinkles on the boy's forehead like a layer of golden grease. Anna read out another line of Latin on the portrait: "Quisut Deus."

"What do you mean?"

"Who is like God?"

Ouyang Anna spit out four words word by word, proud and loyal, not like a seventeen-year-old girl.

A standard French voice sounded behind him: "Bonjour."

It turned out to be the goatee-bearded French collector, Pierre Gauguin, who greeted Ouyang Anna with courtesy. The priest of this church is French, and there are more foreign devils than Chinese who come to worship.

Anna distanced herself from him and replied in fluent French: "Monsieur Gauguin, I did not expect you to come to worship as well." ”

"Miss Ouyang, do you regard me as a barbaric heretic?" Gauguin glanced at Qin Beiyang, anyway, this Chinese kid couldn't understand French, "I'm here to pray for France, my motherland is going through the most brutal war in history, sacrificing millions of lives." I want the war to end as soon as possible, to drive out the Germans, and to recover Alsace and Lorraine! ”

"The Chinese government also went to war, and now we are allies."

"May God bless China and France!" Pierre Gauguin looked at the portrait on the altar, "Although, my uncle Paul Gauguin, spent his life wandering to Tahiti to live with indigenous women. But his "Adam and Eve", "Praise to Mary", and "The Birth of Christ" all show that God lives in his heart. ”

"The French Impressionist master Paul Gauguin is your uncle? I was studying to draw, and I secretly copied his "Tahitian Girl" – even though the church school didn't allow it. Ouyang Anna also loves Wu and Wu, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about this in the church." ”

"I'm sorry that I have insulted the great surname of Gauguin. Miss Ouyang, when will I be allowed to visit again? ”

"You're still thinking about my little ......," Anna almost said, "that artifact from the Tang Dynasty?" ”

"I heard that antique is an ancient Chinese tomb beast."

Finally, the three words "tomb beast" were uttered by Gauguin in Chinese.

Qin Beiyang, who had been silent, suddenly asked: "I'm sorry, Mr. Gauguin, do you know about the Hongkou patrol house tragedy last month?" ”

Ouyang Anna translated in panic, and Gauguin frowned: "Everyone in Shanghai knows about this matter. In one night, ten patrol people died in the line of duty! The British inspector is still my drinking friend. Two weeks ago, I attended the funeral at the Jing'an Temple Foreigners' Cemetery, which was attended by the Ministry of Industry and the consul generals of various countries in Shanghai, and vowed to take revenge on the real culprit. May God bless him. ”

Qin Beiyang's gaze was aggressive: "I don't know if I can enter heaven or not." But I've heard that the valiant detective was a Scottish man who loved whisky. ”

"Well, he's not only an alcoholic, he's also a chatterbox. He often soaks in bars until dawn, and he is very feminine, and everyone pesters him to tell him stories about the patrol room, such as the latest homicides and thefts, or the peach news of whose house. ”

"And the Grave Beast."

Gauguin replied directly in Chinese: "What do you mean?" ”

"This summer, there was a theft at the Damo Mountain on the sea, and the thieves targeted the town's grave beasts. Luckily, Anna and I found out and captured one of the thieves. He was sent to the Hongkou patrol room, where he was detained for more than a month because of the incompetence of the judges. During this time, the British detective in charge of the case got drunk in many bars and banquets, leaking the facts of the case and the existence of the town's tomb beast. And Monsieur Gauguin, you, as his drinking friend, naturally know this secret. You will find Mr. Ouyang and ask for the purchase of the Town Tomb Beast. ”

When Ouyang Anna finished translating, Pierre Gauguin's eyebrows were twisted like clockwork about to break, but he applauded and said: "Surprising young man! Very perfect reasoning! I confess that it was the British Inspector who told me this at the wine table. ”

"The thief who intended to steal the town's tomb beast was robbed by two murderous killers on the night of the murder in the Hongkou patrol room—they killed ten patrolmen and five criminals in order to save one thief."

"Young man, are you suspecting that the tragedy was caused by the small town tomb beast of Dharma Mountain on the sea?" Mr. Gauguin's goatee trembled slightly, "Or, are you doubting me?" ”

Ouyang Anna translates for the two of them, switching back and forth between Chinese and French, exhausting her brain, hoping to end this terrible conversation as soon as possible.

"It's not that simple. The British inspector of the Hongkou Patrol House, you are not the only drinking friend, Mr. Gauguin. It is likely that a second, or even a third, person also knew the above secret at the wine table. On the eve of the tomb robber's escort to the interrogation office, the two vicious assassins sneaked into the Hongkou patrol room to kill and rob the thief. ”

"Young man, have you ever thought that since these two assassins already know that the small town tomb beast is hiding in the Dharma Mountain on the sea, why don't they just come to the door and steal it? Why bother to take such a big risk and go to Hongkou to patrol the house and kill so many people? ”

"Yes, Monsieur Gauguin, this is also my doubt! But for the Assassins, there was bound to be a reward for taking the thief - my face. ”

Qin Beiyang recalled the night when he robbed the tomb beast in the town at night, and he personally captured a thief named Xiao Mu. At that time, the other party looked at his face with surprise......

The tragedy of the destruction of the German Concession in Tianjin--The assassination of Biyun Temple in Xiangshan, Beijing-The massacre in Beijing Prison-The tomb beast of the young Qilin Town in the Tang Dynasty of Bailuyuan--The thief Xiaomu--The Hongkou house arrest tragedy in the Shanghai Public Concession--The assassin with a knife scar on the right cheek-The case of the destruction of the German Concession in Tianjin.

A perfect circle, a mess finally straightened out! Qin Beiyang grabbed Anna's palm and rushed out of the church happily.

"Unreasonable!" Gauguin shrugged, "No polite barbarians!" ”

Ouyang Anna was grabbed by Qin Beiyang for the first time...... In her understanding, a man holding a woman's hand in a church must be the bride and groom at the wedding! Her cheeks were crimson, and she shook his hand away from the doorway.

"I'm sorry, Miss Anna, I offended you."

"I hate this Pierre Gauguin, although I like Paul Gauguin."

"Who was Paul Gauguin?"

Anna smiled but didn't answer. She crouched down on the steps in front of the church, took out the leftover breakfast from her bag, and fed the little stray cat who was dying of hunger.

Qin Beiyang also sat beside her and asked in a low voice, "Is there really Dharma Mountain in this world?" ”

"What?"

In a panic, Anna scattered her breakfast on the floor, and a large number of stray cats gathered around.

"I heard it's an isolated island in the East China Sea."

Ouyang Anna called a rickshaw: "I'm going home." ”

Looking back at the Gothic church spire, Qin Beiyang is still a pagan, and his mind flashes back to Emperor Guangxu's Chongling underground palace, the hot and unbearable golden well, and the various methods of finding dragon veins and building tombs that his father said.

There was an autumn cloud floating in the sky, and perhaps in that world, the gods that everyone believed in existed equally.

Suddenly, a huge spindle appeared in the cloud, emblazoned with the symbol of a copper coin in the round sky, and a small cabin-like room hanging from the bottom. The propeller spun behind the pod, silently gliding over the cross of the church spire.

Many foreigners waved to the monsters in the sky, and Anna heard the French all say, "Airship! Airship! ”

It was also a great invention of the age of steam, and at this moment, in the European theater of war, airships were somehow playing a greater role than airplanes. Qin Beiyang watched the airship disappear into the clouds from afar, and he really wanted to fly up to see it himself.