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Chapter 91: Cardinals

Anrigan Church is located in the center of the British Concession, between Midoshi Road and Racecourse Road, and was suspended for a period of time due to the Boxer Rebellion when it was built. The church building is a traditional Western Gothic building, with a brick and wood structure, spire doors and windows, and a bell tower, and there is no excessive decoration on the surface, which is simple and solemn. Like most public facilities in the concession, there is no explicit rule here, but it is also subtly forbidden to Chinese to enter, and all Chinese Western church members in the concession will listen to sermons and masses in another church.

Obviously, Xu Changqing's arrival made all the foreigners feel a little surprised, or shocked, and it was hard for them to imagine that someone would dare to break the rules they had set so blatantly. Because he was in the British Concession, Xu Changqing did not wear that false braid, and he was dressed very casually, a vest was casually draped over a shirt, and the cuffs of the shirt were rolled up to look like a newspaper office, which was particularly eye-catching in a group of people dressed up.

"You stop!" Xu Changqing was just about to enter the church when he was stopped by a foreigner wearing a tweed coat with a proud expression. Xu Changqing can be regarded as tall among the Chinese, even if he is not inferior to most foreigners, but he is obviously a head shorter in front of this foreigner. The sturdy body of this foreigner stretched his clothes bulging, and the entire church door was half blocked by him, and the gold watch hanging from his body, the ring full of fingers, and this expensive suit all showed how noble his status was here. I saw this foreigner looking at Xu Changqing contemptuously, and said coldly: "You just came to the concession, don't you know the rules in the concession?

For this kind of foreigner, Xu Changqing was not even interested in looking at him, let alone paying attention to his questioning, and turned around to walk past him.

"Damn yellow-skinned pig, don't you understand English?" The foreigner obviously didn't expect someone to flout his authority like this, and he was about to reach out and grab Xu Changqing's shoulder in anger.

However, before he could catch Xu Changqing, his body suddenly became uncontrollable, and the hand that was originally grabbing Xu Changqing turned back and slapped himself hard. The force of this slap was so great that the whole church heard it, and when they looked over, they saw that the foreigner's head was slightly disheveled, the eyes on the bridge of his nose fell to the ground, half of his face was swollen, and a wisp of blood was flowing from his ears. Just when everyone was guessing what was going on, the foreigner slapped the other side of his face with his other hand, and the force was even greater than the slap just now, and everyone was stunned for a while.

When the foreigner pumped himself into a daze, his legs became extremely heavy as if they had been filled with lead, and his body sank down little by little, so that his knees fell to the ground involuntarily, and then no matter how hard he tried, he could not remove his knees from the ground. At this moment, he became panicked, where was there any time to pay attention to Xu Changqing, and hurriedly asked for help from his companions who came with him, but what was strange was that seven or eight people worked hard together, and they couldn't lift the foreigner from the ground, and they couldn't even move their knees, which looked very weird.

Although he is also a foreigner, it is obvious that this benevolent brother is very unpopular with his compatriots, and many people gloat at his troubled appearance, unwilling to come forward to help, and some people say that this is God's retribution for him, so that he sincerely repents. Obviously, seeing this foreigner embarrassed is more interesting than Xu Changqing entering the church, and not many people pay attention to Xu Changqing anymore. When everyone's eyes were focused on the foreigner, Xu Changqing silently walked to a relatively remote corner of the church and sat down, quietly waiting for the mysterious inviter to appear.

Although Xu Changqing deliberately hid himself, there were still people who paid attention to him, and after he found a seat to sit down, he immediately left his seat and became his side. Xu Changqing looked at the woman sitting next to him indifferently, and she was the woman named Jennifer who tried to harass Xu Changqing in the salon last night.

"Hello, Mr. Xu!" Jennifer, who was dressed relatively dignified at the moment, did not pay attention to Xu Changqing's indifferent expression, and introduced herself in Chinese: "We met yesterday, but it doesn't seem to leave a good impression on you, now I introduce myself again, my name is Jennifer, I am the director of Lihua and the executive manager of the Tianjin office." ”

Xu Changqing frowned, glanced at Jennifer, took out the invitation from his vest pocket, and said, "This invitation is yours?"

"Invitations, what invitations?" Jennifer was stunned for a moment, obviously not understanding Xu Changqing's words, nor knowing about the invitation.

"It's good if not. Xu Changqing's expression softened slightly, he didn't want to come over with interest to look at the mysterious person who invited the invitation, but in the end he only saw a Western slut.

"We have a lot of business dealings with the Chen family, so we also know a little about Mr. Yesterday, I was too casual, and I hope Mr. Xu is not strange!" As she spoke, Jennifer used Chinese etiquette to hug her fist at Xu Changqing.

Looking at this nondescript way of apology in his eyes, Xu Changqing smiled and said, "Miss Jennifer, it doesn't have to be like this! Although I, Xu Changqing, am not that kind of generous person, but I am not a small belly, I know very well that yesterday's incident was a complete misunderstanding, so I didn't take it to heart at all." ”

"Great, I'm finally relieved, if the two of us have an unpleasant business because of yesterday's misunderstanding, it will really outweigh the losses. Jennifer patted her chest, made a relieved look, and then looked at the foreigner who was still kneeling at the door of the church, and said: "That person's name is Jared, the general manager of the Tianjin branch of Jardine Matheson Co., Ltd., relying on the wealth of Jardine Matheson Co., Ltd., and the close relationship with the British Concession, not only bullying your Chinese firm, but even other foreign firms have been bullied by him. ”

Xu Changqing neither denied nor admitted it, ignored Jennifer's accosting, closed his eyes, and quietly waited for the arrival of the mysterious person. It didn't take long for the church to suddenly become silent as if someone had performed a spell, and then Xu Changqing felt that his body binding technique had been broken, and he was shocked, opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at the door. I saw an old white foreigner in a bishop's robe standing in front of the foreigner, his hand lightly placed on his head, and Jared, the general manager of Jardine Matheson, put away his rebellious face, and became as devout as a saint, clenching his fists on his chest, chanting words in his mouth, as if praying.

Xu Changqing showed a surprised expression when he saw the person who looked like a bishop, not because that person was able to break his body binding technique, but because that person was an old friend he knew very well, but he hadn't seen each other for a long time. The old foreigner helped Jared, who had been disspelled, to his feet, and then sat him on a side chair, and then walked to the pulpit in the middle of the church under the guidance of the two little boys. The two little boys were holding a long wooden pole with an incense burner in their hands, and as they walked, the incense burner drew circles on the heads of the congregants on both sides of the church, and all the congregants got up from their chairs and knelt quietly on the kneeling cushions prepared at their feet, put their hands on the back of the chairs in front of them, and prayed reverently, even the slut Jennifer looked religious.

Everyone in the whole church knelt down and prayed, but Xu Changqing, who had been sitting still, was particularly abrupt, and the old bishop soon appeared at him, smiled at him, winked his eyes like a child, and then regained his solemn appearance, walked up to the podium, and began the day's sermon.

Xu Changqing didn't listen to what the old bishop was saying, and he always thought in his heart, what the hell was going on. It is very clear who invited him now, but what he doesn't understand is that when he finally met the old foreigner, he was still an ordinary parish priest, but it had only taken ten years to become a bishop, and he was also a cardinal in a red robe, which is really puzzling.

Before you know it, the sermon has been preached for an hour or so, and then the church choir sings the hymn, and when the hymn is finished, everyone gets up, salutes the bishop on the pulpit, and turns away. Jared, who had gradually recovered, saw Xu Changqing sitting calmly in the church, where could he not understand that he was making trouble just now, but he couldn't help him, so he could only glare at Xu Changqing fiercely, and then turned around and left the church angrily.

When the people in the church were almost gone, Xu Changqing stood up, walked slowly to the bishop, hugged the old man's body like a good friend, and said with a smile: "Long time no see! ”

"Long time no see! Bishop Matthews unexpectedly greeted Xu Changqing in extremely pure Chinese, and then after blessing the last few people, he said, "Go to the back! This is not the place to speak." ”

After speaking, he instructed the two apprentices of the pastor to clean the ground, then turned around and led Xu Changqing into the residence behind the church. On the way, I met several original priests of the church, and after saluting Bishop Matthews, they all looked at Xu Changqing in surprise, as if they didn't understand why the cardinal would let a Chinese into the back of the church. They don't understand that Xu Changqing and Bishop Matthews are both friends and teachers, and that Xu Changqing almost became Bishop Matthews's godson, and that most of Xu Changqing's knowledge of Western studies, including language, geography, history, and theology, was taught by Bishop Matthews.

In those years, after Western guns opened the door to the land of China, in addition to opium, Western studies, and foreign merchants, there were also missionaries who entered China with the warships. The Western Holy See, together with the Western secular army, sent a large number of missionaries into China, hoping to make it the Eastern Grand Diocese of the Holy See, and Matthews was one of the missionaries sent to China under that great circumstances. His other hidden identity is the Hermit Elder of the Western Church, who is responsible for finding the lost Church relics before the clerical exorcists of the Western Church, and then bringing them back to the Western Hermit Church to seal them up.

At that time, Father Matthews learned from some insiders that Xu Changqing's master had been commissioned by Zeng Guofan to search the entire Tianjing, and thought that instead of blindly searching, it would be better to go to Chen Jiachong to find clues from Xu Changqing's master's chronicles. Perhaps it was fate, Xu Changqing's master and Father Matthews met unexpectedly at Chen Jiachong's inn, and they hit it off at first sight, for Father Matthews' request to read the memorabilia, Xu Changqing's master did not refuse, and it was at this time that Father Matthews knew that there was an unknown mysterious world on the land of China.

After the tragic incident of the 38 righteous men of the Guan family, the entire cultivation world was shaken, and they began to deal with the Western missionaries in their own way, and a large number of missionaries were killed, so that the Western Holy See had to abandon the expansion plan and concentrate all the remaining missionaries in the coastal concession to protect them. In this case, Father Matthews, who went out to look for the holy relics of the church, was also threatened with his life, although he was also one of the top priesthood exorcists in the West, but he also had little ability to resist those strange miracle spells, and finally escaped back to Chen Jiachong with serious injuries and was saved by Xu Changqing's master.

Later, while recuperating from his injuries, Father Matthews generally ran Western studies in Chen Jiachong, teaching Chen Jiachong's children Western studies, because of the rumors that missionaries ate people, so there were very few people who came to study in the West, only the Chen family and the children living in the Chen family, and Xu Changqing was also one of them. In addition, in the school at that time, there were only four people who really accepted all the Western studies taught by Father Matthews, Xu Changqing, Chen Jingguo, Chen Fan and Sheng Qingping, which was compassion, and the best among these four was Xu Changqing. He is like a sponge absorbing all the knowledge in Father Matthews's head, and Father Matthews also loves him from the bottom of his heart, and has repeatedly asked Xu Changqing's master to accept Xu Changqing as his godson, but Xu Changqing's master has rejected him on the grounds that he only worships Sanqing Avenue and does not worship other things.

When Xu Changqing was fifteen years old, Fr. Matthews received an order from the Western Holy See to transfer him to a parish priest in a church in England. Since the day Father Matthews left, it has been more than ten years, and although he is still the same, his heart is full of vicissitudes, and it is difficult for Xu Changqing to feel excited from the reunion of teachers and students.