At that time, Beihai and Jingshan were all forbidden places by the royal family, and officials and businessmen had to find another place to travel if they wanted to travel. The most famous places are Diaoyutai in the west of the city, Tucheng in the north of the city, and Fazang Temple and Tianning Temple in the south of the city. Why are these places famous? Originally, the earth city was open, so it was convenient to set up firewood to eat barbecue; The Diaoyu Tai is open and can be used for car and horse racing; The tower of Fazang Temple is high and can be overlooked; And Tianning Temple is outside the Changyi Gate, passing through the mouth of the Pearl City to the west, there are several famous restaurants along the way. Wu Shibao wants to go to Tianning Temple, in order to go to the "Guangheju" in the northern half of the alley when he comes back, where he is famous for his Nanpao waist flower and Pan's steamed fish.

Shou Ming, who was hired by Ushibao, was the string master who made the idea of asking for sick leave for him. This person has been a petty official, but I don't know when and why he stayed away from officialdom, and he has no desire to reply. He plays the strings well, not only can accompaniment, but also can play tricks, especially imitating Tan Xinpei and Huang Runfu's "Empty City Strategy", which is called a must. Every time there is a celebration at the door of the palace, there is always him in the church. He is always there. He was in dire straits, and he didn't take the black pestle, which made people look up even more. However, he carries strings all day long to worship the Quartet, not only to pass the addiction of playing strings, he has not yet reached the transcendent realm of joining in the fun with an empty stomach and art for art's sake! He took the opportunity of going to the church to also have a side business, running and pulling fibers for antique shops and houses, and earning a few "thanks" from it. This thing looks light, but in fact it is not easy, one must have an eye, and appreciate antiques to convince buyers and sellers; Second, there must be credit, how much to bid, how high and low the asking price, so that the seller must be content, the buyer can make a profit, and the success or failure cannot deviate from the spectrum. This has created the peculiarity of Shouming's temper, one is to be enthusiastic and trustworthy to his friends, and the other is to be vain by talking too much about face. Because those who do this business rely on "reputation", as soon as they are looked down upon, they will be cut off from their financial routes.

On this day, they came back from Tianning Temple, and ate and drank for a while in Guangheju, which was already the end of the time and the beginning of the night, and the night banquet was seated. When he went out, he and a person from Wu Shibao called Ran Tang to wrap a lotus leaf bag of zygote vegetables, went out and turned a corner, and walked to the north entrance of the alley. At this time, a green oil car came from the east of the vegetable market. Shou Ming was defenseless, so he scraped the wheel, and before he could stand firmly, a messenger wearing a tasseled hat jumped down from the car and grabbed him by the collar and slapped him. Ushibo shouted: "Brute, you dare to be unreasonable when you hit someone!" At this time, the curtain of the car was lifted, and an official stuck out his head and shouted: "What is so bold, blocking the master's lane, hit!" ”

Wu Shibao heard this voice familiarly, turned his head and saw that it was his family's flag slave, Xu Huanzhang, the son of Xu Dazhu, the son of Dongzhuangzi. The ancestor of this Xu Huanzhang is a flag slave with a flag and a flag, and he is subordinate to the name of the Wu family of Salhafan. Such a flag slave is different from the Red Deed family slave. In addition to paying rent and grain, he went to the master's house to congratulate him on three festivals, and managed his land freely on weekdays, and did not go to the house on an errand. Among these people, some are also landlords, and how many tenants and mothers are working and subordinating, and they are also living a pompous life of eating and stretching out their hands. But if the master has a big red and white event, and it is rumored that they are on an errand, they also have to play gongs and umbrellas, wear linen and filial piety, bow down, step back, raise their heads and call themselves masters, and bow their heads to call themselves slaves. Don't look at their majesty when they are masters at home, but they are also at ease when they come out to be slaves. They feel that this is also a qualification and an honor. When they teach their slaves, they often ask, "You are also called slaves?" Let's see how we do errands in the Banner Lord's Mansion! As soon as the master coughed, the saliva was handed over, waiting for the order? When the master speaks, which sentence promises 'hey', which sentence bows up and retreats, there is a size control, can it be so casual? ”

Over the years, it has changed a little, and many masters' families have become poorer and poorer, and some can't even afford to support domestic slaves, so they simply let them pay a few taels of silver to redeem themselves. Some masters are down-and-out as coolies, carrying bags as nests. The flag slave is an official, and the businessman is a businessman, and he has made a fortune. The flag master in turn knocked on the slave's bamboo pole. There is a master who is so poor that he carries a bag for people, and his flag slave is the master of the Taifu Temple after redeeming himself, and the master has no money to use to carry the bag at the gate of the Taifu Temple, and when his slave comes in a car, he stops the car and shouts: "Boy, come down and carry a bone for the master!" The master of the Taifu Temple couldn't afford to lose this person, so he had to kneel down and pay the master to ask him to hire someone else. According to the "Great Qing Law", after the slave is redeemed, although he has the qualification to be an official, he still retains the status of master and slave. The old flag owner killed the redeemed flag slave, and was convicted by one degree of reduction according to the death of the flag slave in the clan, but it was just a "downgrade call", and no slave dared to provoke this leak.

Xu Huanzhang's parents were redeemed from slavery. But Xu Huanzhang is the son of a family, and even though he has left his nationality, he must maintain his status as a slave. Xu Huanzhang can't even look down on Wu Shibao for half an eye, how can he be willing to accept this nest of gas? Are there those who give up money and money, and those who give up slaves? It's okay to be a minion, but there's always something to catch your head. In order to compete with the old master, he has to find a new master. Now even the Empress Dowager is afraid of foreigners, so it is most appropriate to vote for foreigners, so he believes in Catholicism, and is sponsored by a Catholic priest to go to Tongbunkan, where he learned Japanese and French. For this reason, during the Boxer Rebellion, he really lost his soul for a few months, and hid in the foreign hospital in Jiaomin Lane as a volunteer handyman. It was not until the fourth day after the Eight-Nation Coalition entered the city that he dared to go home. In the first three days of the Eight-Nation Alliance's entry into the city, they killed people and robbed them when they saw them. Xu Huanzhang knew the details and didn't dare to go out. Wu Shibao is a white flag, Xu Huanzhang is a slave of the Wu family, and naturally lives in the defense of the white flag, that is, the area east of East Fourth Avenue north of Chaoyangmen. This area was occupied by the Japanese after the Allied forces broke the city. Xu Huanzhang walked all the way, and saw that there were several palaces and mansions with white flags at the door, with the words "Great Japan Shunmin" written on them. At the door of his house, he saw that he also picked up a white flag, but he didn't write. After arriving home, I asked the reason, and learned that there was an unwritten rule in the Japanese occupation area: anyone who did not hang the white flag of Guishun would be regarded by the Japanese army as Boxers and killed at will. Several big families took the lead in hoisting white flags, and the people who didn't have time to flee had to follow suit. However, some households are illiterate, and some people are unwilling to wear the hat of "Shunmin", so they only hang flags and do not write, saving some face for themselves. After Xu Huanzhang heard this, he shook his head again and again, telling him to quickly untie the flag. When his father heard this, he hurriedly stopped him and said: "Don't pay off, the Queen Mother ran away, the Eight Banners withdrew, and even the Su Wangfu hung a white flag, can we withstand the devil's foreign guns?" Xu Huanzhang said: "I didn't want to take it down, I asked her to take down the flag and write those words." The woman said: "If you don't write, the devil soldiers also approve, why bother to set up the note of the slave who died in the country!" Xu Huanzhang said: "Shut up! When we talk about national affairs, how can you speak? "Virtue!" The woman spat on the ground, went out and threw the white flag down and threw it on the bookcase. Xu Huanzhang learned Japanese in the Tongwen Museum, so he studied the ink, moistened the pen, unfolded his flag, and wrote a few authentic Japanese characters "Shunmin の家" in a dignified manner, and hung them out. As soon as this signboard was hung up, it took effect immediately, and the next afternoon, a military Cao with four Japanese army soldiers came to talk to Xu Huanzhang. At that time, in the whole city of Beijing, it was really more difficult to find two Chinese who could speak Japanese than to exchange two frozen sour pears as a medicine primer in Sanfu Tiantao. The Japanese army set up a temporary puppet regime "Anmin Gongsho" and was looking for a "tongue man", so naturally they wanted to find someone with Japanese characters written on the white flag. On the third day, Xu Huanzhang put a white hoop on his left arm, on which was written "Great Japanese Army Security and Civil Office", and covered the customs defense. Since then, he has been working with Japanese patrols to catch boxers, kill the party, and organize maintenance meetings for the Japanese army to collect local ruffians and inferior gentry, and for a time became the Tai Sui of Fu Di in the northeast corner of Beijing. The Japanese knew that none of the people who dared to come forward to maintain the society had a pound in the eyes of the common people, and it was okay to ask them to come out to temporarily maintain order on the streets, and there was absolutely no way for them to serve themselves for a long time, so they gave the maintenance association a task, asking them to inquire about the whereabouts and conduct of the princes and ministers who lived in this area, so as to discover the important roles that could be entrusted with it. It is also time for Xu Huanzhang to make a career, there is an iron hat king living in this area, who once served as the commander of the Han army with the red flag, the military adviser, and the current Shanqi of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Shanqi lived next to the previous Goshha and Xu Huanzhang. On this day, Xu Huanzhang came home from the maintenance meeting, passed by the gate of this Goshha, and saw that the man put a small kang table under the locust tree in the courtyard and drank cucumbers and burned knives. He glanced at it, but didn't care. After he walked over, he hurriedly closed the door with a bang behind him, which caused him to be alert, and thought: "Didn't this kid go to Shaanxi with King Su to protect the Queen Mother?" Why did you suddenly manifest your soul? Thinking of this, he didn't even enter the door, turned around and walked back, walked straight to the gate of Goshha, slapped the door with his hand and said, "Second Master Sha, open the door!" ”

This Goshha, last summer, was scolded by Xu Huanzhang's wife because his wife threw watermelon peels at Xu Huanzhang's door and poured laundry water. When I came back this time, I heard that Xu Huanzhang had made a career and became a general secretary, so I was a little timid at first; I just drank and forgot to close the door, and was seen by Xu Huanzhang, and I was a little uneasy, so I quickly closed the door, and after the door was closed, I walked back a few steps and was not at ease, and came back to look out through the crack in the door. As soon as he stretched out his head, Xu Huanzhang just tried to bang on the door, and a few mountain sounds scared him away first. When the door was opened, when he saw Xu Huanzhang's smirk, he simply forgot all the rules of keeping secrets for the prince, and only remembered to please the surnamed Xu, so as not to be retaliated against. So he asked and answered, and explained all the things that King Su had ordered to return to Beijing to negotiate peace.

The next day, Xu Huanzhang Gonggong was on a secret note and told the Oriental Shanqi that he had returned from the west and was hiding in the house to smoke a big cigarette. The Japanese rewarded Xu Huanzhang with ten taels of silver for this. This Shanqi is the ideal person that the Japanese are looking for, he is not only a high-ranking person, advocating foreign affairs, but also has a special relationship with Japan, the famous ronin Kawashima Naniwa, and he has always had dealings. After the Japanese occupation forces received Xu Huanzhang's information, they immediately approached Kawashima to pull the line and sent Chai Gui, the general office of the Anmin Office, to visit the Suwang Mansion in person, thus laying the foundation for the Shanqi family to serve the Japanese Empire for decades to come. Shanqi's first contribution to the Japanese army was when he came forward to recommend and introduce 300 infantry soldiers and green battalion soldiers, and organized a "patrol team" for the Anmin Gongsu. The Japanese sent Xu Huanzhang to the patrol team to handle copywriting. Later, the Eight-Nation Coalition withdrew its troops, and Shanqi used this traitor team as the basis for China's earliest police service.

When the Eight-Nation Coalition occupied the Empire, Wu Shibao was captured and buried the corpse, and once met Xu Huanzhang. I saw him wearing a cool hat, a gray cloth robe, a white armband on his arm, and a big horse stick to drive the Chinese to carry the body and dig the grave. He wanted to say hello and beg Xu Huanzhang to say something to let himself go, but the words came to his mouth and swallowed again, and deliberately turned his face and pulled his hat down to avoid Xu Huanzhang's sight. He really can't afford to lose this man! He would rather suffer in flesh and skin than let the people know that the man who drove him was his slave. At that time, he gritted his teeth and held back, but today when he saw that the fire hooked up again, not to mention that it was his friend who hit him? Usebo raised his voice and asked slowly, "Who should I be?" Xu Gouzi! How majestic? ”

Xu Huanzhang turned his head to look, couldn't help but take a breath, and said secretly: "It's a bit muddy!" "This is not in the patrol police yamen, it is on the street, and the street is still the law of the Qing Dynasty, if you want to ask him to cover his head and face and scold, how can he be an errand steward in the future and shake his majesty in front of people! The hero doesn't suffer the immediate loss, he will turn the matter into a matter first, and then talk about what the charter is going to his yamen. Thinking of this, he said with a smile on his face:

"Yo, master, you are auspicious!" Jumping out of the car and hitting a thousand, "The slave is blind, the slave is guilty!" ”

At this time, the chauffeur and the messenger who were in trouble quickly dodged. Shou Ming saw that the person in the car asked for an apology, and he was a slave of his friend, so he didn't attack anymore. Busy said: "It doesn't matter, I didn't touch it, let's go!" "It just so happened that there were a few people who knew Xu Huanzhang among the people who came to see the excitement, and they had already hated it and couldn't find a way to retaliate against him.

"This is fresh, the slave beats his own master's house!"

"People have foreign masters, do you still care about the old masters?"

"The son is not the fault of the father, and the slave bullying the master is the son of the flag master!"

"That's true."

"Don't you see, what kind of dress and identity does this slave have now? Look at these two masters again, the horses who are not as good as the slaves are bright! It's the other way around! ”

"The Great Qing Kingdom doesn't have this family law! Twenty years back, Shi Songyun became a cabinet scholar and a military aircraft officer, his master's family did white things, and he also put on filial piety clothes and became a drummer in front of his master's spirit! ”

This vegetable market entrance is the thoroughfare of the dry road into Beijing in the southern provinces, and it is the moment when the tourists climb the heights and return, and there are more and more onlookers, more and more miscellaneous. Someone shouted, "Hit! "Teach this rebellion a lesson!"

Wu Shibao had received such insults, and just drank again, so he raised his hand and raised the lotus leaf bag and smashed it towards Xu Huanzhang, and scolded loudly: "Your kid is an official, your kid has shown his face, you kid doesn't know the master!" I'm going to teach you a lesson today, so that you know what you are......"

When the people who watched the excitement saw that this brightly dressed and decent official was smashed all over his face with pig liver and pig intestines and head and hooves into the water by a poor and sour banner man, they were very happy and happy, so they made a group of people who coaxed, applauded, helped, and cheered up, making the entrance of the vegetable market look like Guanghelou where Tan is singing, and it is very noisy and hot.

Xu Huanzhang has seen the world and knows that if he wants to resist in the current situation, everyone can trample him flat with one foot, so he blushed, stood with his hands down, and said thank you: "The master beat well, the master scolded right, thank you for teaching the slave!" ”

Wu Shibao is a peaceful person, and he can't kill people more than his head, and when he sees him admit his mistake, half of his anger is gone. Although Shou Ming was very annoyed at the beginning, he was a calm person, as soon as he heard people's discussions, he felt that something was a little wrong when he saw Xu Huanzhang's dress. The biggest skill of a flag master like Wu Shibao is these two times today, this slave really wants to do something, and he may not have the ability to parry. Quickly persuaded in turn. At this time, Wu Shibao's strength had disappeared mostly, so he softened his tone and taught Xu Huanzhang a lesson: "Today I am also for your good, you are young and have a long future, so you don't know how to control yourself?" Don't forget your place! Go ahead. The surrounding spectators let out a sound of regret and disappointment, and they dispersed.

Usebo went home and slept for a while, and in the evening the wine was gone, and when he recalled it, he felt a little excessive, but he didn't think about it deeply. Two days later, the news spread, and people he knew met and praised him for his "righteousness and courage to rectify discipline", and he unexpectedly found that he was very heroic. He was wondering if he wanted to further develop his neglected virtue, when suddenly someone from the lobby of the Ministry of Punishment sent someone to take away his chains. When he got there, he asked about his experience of drawing talismans with Duanwang in Duanwang's mansion, chanting mantras in the single string and serving the Tiger God Camp, and then he knew that he was regarded as a Boxer who had slipped through the net, and shouted that he was wronged. The old man said: "You have been wronged and handed over to the people to call the foreigners, and this letter was handed over by the Japanese embassy." We're all burdened with it! With a wave of his right hand, he put forty pounds of shackles on him and sent him to death row.

The woman of Usebo is the daughter of a leader of the Zhenglan Banner at the foot of Xiangshan. The banner girl has always had a special status in her mother's family, and the whole family has to be called "aunt and grandmother", and there is no festive season, and she does not bow down to the elders with the public, because she can't keep which aunt and grandmother will be elected to the palace at which time, and she can't help but give preferential treatment in advance, which has developed the special temper of some Manchurian girls. When these tempers are combined with good content, they are remarkably confident and self-respecting, daring, cheerful and generous, and informal; If it is integrated with bad content, it will also become stubborn and self-serving, unreasonable, self-inflicted, and unsuitable for the family.

Soon after Wu Shibao entered prison, Xu Huanzhang suddenly came to see the old master with a large bag of gifts. said that he offended the uncle by the chauffeur on the street that day, and he made a special trip to apologize. Grandma Wu cried that the uncle was arrested. He was upset when he heard this, patted his chest and said that he would dig the door and drill the window to find out the whereabouts of the uncle and rescue him. The eldest grandmother was in a hurry, and such a righteous servant came, so she naturally trusted him, so she asked him to rescue the uncle.

Xu Huanzhang personally led the eldest grandmother to meet the head of the criminal department and the master who handled the case. These people said in unison that the uncle's case was personally negotiated by foreigners, and it was difficult to accommodate the uncle's head. Xu Huanzhang interceded and made a wish to these people in front of his grandmother, and these people agreed to intercede with the powerful, but the price was extremely high. At this time, it is important to save the uncle's life, where can the grandmother take care of the silver? Collect the accounts first, then sell the jewelry, and thousands of silver have been spent, but there is no letter yet. The eldest grandmother was just about to be suspicious of Xu Huanzhang, but Xu Huanzhang brought the good news: "Uncle's death penalty is exonerating, and tomorrow I will ask grandma to visit the prison in person." ”

The eldest grandmother went to the prison of the Criminal Department for the first time, and she was ashamed and afraid. Fortunately, Xu Huanzhang has already made a point, where the money should be made, where the money should be made, where the wish should be made, the eldest grandmother said that it was to visit Wu Shibao, it didn't take a big deal, and I saw the uncle. Although the two of them can't say how to be affectionate on weekdays, they both cried when they saw each other. The grandmother asked the uncle about the lawsuit. The uncle said that he was asked to join the Boxer Rebellion, burn the church and kill foreigners the day before, but he did not confess, and then threw him on death row and did not ask him again. Later, Xu Huanzhang came to visit the prison and secretly told him that he had already bought off the court officials, and he would go to the court in the future and ask Wu Shibao not to reply anything, but just cry loudly Mom, and the case would be suspended. Although Wu Shibao was suspicious of Xu Huanzhang's intentions, he couldn't help but have a glimmer of hope to try. Who knew that after crying like this, he turned out to be spiritual. Since yesterday, he has been transferred to this preferential cell, the food is better, and the prison is polite, saying that his death sentence has been exonerated but there is no verdict.

The eldest grandmother sighed and said: "I talk on weekdays, but you don't take it to heart, but take your nurse Liu's nagging as a holy decree, and only when you die will you taste the grandmother's means, right?" Tell you, I paid you for this death sentence, and Xu Huanzhang was instructed by me! From now on, who kisses whom, you should think about it! ”

Grandma and Grandma Liu have any holidays, don't talk about him. At that time, Wu Shibao was really grateful to the eldest grandmother, and promised that after being released from prison, he would not dare to disobey his wife's discipline.

After the eldest grandmother came back, she saw Xu Huanzhang, was full of gratitude, and asked Xu Huanzhang, when will the uncle be released from prison? Xu Huanzhang said: "The money spent in the past was to buy the uncle's life, which has been cleared of both people and money." If you want to get out of prison, you have to think about it separately. The grandmother said, "I have sold everything I can, where will the money come from?" Xu Huanzhang said: "Our family has managed 20 acres of land in my grandmother's house, and in recent years, there have been floods, droughts, and locust plagues, and there is no interest, so you might as well give me the deed paper, and I will use it to exercise and protect the uncle." ”

The grandmother has never regarded the acres of land as property, and she doesn't know how much income there is in one hectare and twenty acres, and she thinks how many pearls and jadeites have been sold, what is a deed paper? He found the deed paper and handed it to Xu Huanzhang. Knowing that the uncle's release from prison was just around the corner, he was worried about how to explain the expenses of this journey to the uncle.

Don't you know that from the very beginning, this matter was done by Xu Huanzhang and the director of the Criminal Department. The document from the Japanese mission was originally intended by Xu Huanzhang to scare the officials of the Criminal Department. Wu Shibao listened to Xu Huanzhang's idea, and cried his mother when he went to court, and didn't reply to anything, and the court official was really embarrassed. The Qing Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and his son cried and took the exam, even if the court officials in the hall had no right to stop him. Ask a church and cry, how can this lawsuit be explained to foreigners? At this time, the principal quietly spoke, reported that the prisoner had a mad disease, pressed aside, and waited for him to sober up before proceeding with the trial. He also said that foreigners have always had this rule when asking about cases, and they will never be embarrassed by adults. The court official was happy to push the boat along with the current, and left Usebo aside. At the beginning, he said that he had to sentence Wu Shibao to death, and he was put on death row as soon as he came, which was also the work of the director and others. Not only was Usebo in the dark, but even the court officials didn't know about it.

Usebo spent only two days in a privileged cell before he was thrown into a regular cell. The food is also bad, and the prison is not polite.