Tianjin Wei has four seasons all year round, long winter and summer, and short spring and autumn. Every year after late autumn, the weather begins to cool. But the weather this year was very abnormal, it was the end of November of the lunar calendar, and it would be Chinese New Year's Eve in another month. At this time in previous years, Tianjin Wei had already had a few snowfalls, but this year, until Christmas Eve, not a single snowflake has touched the ground!

When I got up early in the morning, the sky was cloudy and I thought it would be a heavy snowfall, but who knew that it would rain lightly before noon. It rained for an hour, and although it didn't rain much, the road outside was already full of mud.

In the old days, most places in Tianjin Wei were not paved with asphalt roads, which were covered in soil on sunny days and muddy feet when it rained. Han Daring changed into a new suit borrowed from Lao Bai, which was a light gray suit with a pair of dark leather shoes, which made him look exceptionally tall and heroic, and a little gentlemanly and handsome!

But the sky is not beautiful, although the rain is much lighter, but it is still ticking, there is no intention to stop, look at the mud everywhere on the street, if you just go out like this, even if you put on an umbrella, before you get to George Brown's villa, you will have to become a mud monkey!

He and Bai Chongwei agreed on the meeting place, thinking about whether to make "rubber", but it happened that there was no rubber at the door at this time.

Zhu Tianfei saw Han Daring standing at the door and making trouble, so he smiled and said:

"What's the matter? Why don't I carry you on my back? ”

Han Daring looked back at Zhu Tianfei and pursed his lips.

Zhu Tianfei said again:

"Hey! Wearing a tattered dress, I won't be able to walk down the aisle, won't it rain a little, a little mud, don't pee and brush the pot to fake clean! ”

Han Daring was anxious, and didn't want to waste his tongue here, so he said casually:

"The clothes are borrowed, and they don't fit if they get dirty!"

Zhu Tianfei was about to speak, when a car whistle suddenly sounded outside the gate. Then the car whistle sounded twice, and Han Daring heard that it was a car waiting for someone, so he bypassed the shadow wall and ran quickly to the gate.

He saw a black Buick sedan parked outside his house. The window of the back seat of the car rolled down, and Bai Chongwei was leaning against the window, waving boldly to the Korean people. Han Daring realized that it was Bai Chongwei who saw that the sky was not good, so he came directly to the door to pick him up.

Although Han Daring didn't tell Bai Chongwei where he lived, Bai Chongwei was the brother-in-law of the police chief after all, and he had an extraordinary family background, so he wanted to ask where he lived, but he was still able to get it, so Han Daring didn't feel any surprises.

He stepped forward quickly, pulled the car door and got into the car, and set off towards the British Concession with Bai Chongwei.

Zhu Tianfei stood under the eaves in front of Han Da'er, and saw that the door of his house was not closed, and there was a ready-to-wear box on the desk in the room, so he stepped into the house and opened the box with his hand.

Seeing that there was a new suit in the box, he picked it up with both hands and took a look. He himself regarded himself as a ranger, and he was very fascinated by the chivalrous rivers and lakes of ancient China, and he couldn't look down on these foreign things. But since the last time I went to eat Western food with Han Daring and watched the song and dance performance, I began to be a little interested in these Western things.

The suit in the box is Han Da'er's size, although Zhu Tianfei is big, he is small, and he can't wear this suit at all. But he still took it out of the box, put it on his coat, and looked left and right in the mirror.

The suit was worn on Zhu Tianfei, and he competed with the singing industry, and it was so big that it was out. He looked in the mirror and learned to shake the water sleeves of singing, shaking the sleeves of his clothes while singing two more sentences.

But at this moment, Zhu Tianfei suddenly felt a tightness on the back of his neck! He felt that something was wrong, so he immediately took off his suit and threw it on the kang, and then reached out to touch the stalk on the back of his neck, only to find that his neck was scratched by the collar......

Han Daring sat in the car, because it had just rained and the road was slippery, so the car didn't dare to drive too fast. The light raindrops outside the car window were still dripping on the glass window, and when I entered the concession, there were more and more billboards on the road.

Like "Sheng Xifu's Hat", "Bright Soda", "Tianxing Hospital", "Huatai Life Insurance", and even the billboards of "Fu Lulin Hotel" and "Huaqing Pool Bathhouse". The French Concession was commercially developed, and the French originally occupied this land with the intention of turning the French Concession into a prosperous commercial area.

The car drove from the French Concession to the British Concession, and when it entered the British Concession, everything suddenly became quiet. The British, unlike the French, did not want to make the concession a bustling place, but deliberately pursued purity and tranquility.

Usually, the British Concession gives people the same feeling as the British, arrogant and rigid, serious and peaceful, and lifeless. But there are always exceptions in the year, like this month. The biggest festival of the year, the Nativity Day is at the end of the month, so at this time of the year, the British Concession has a rare atmosphere, with lights everywhere, tall Christmas trees are erected, and various restaurants and restaurants in the Concession have also launched unique Christmas dinners, and the Concession is full of festive atmosphere.

This year is a bit special, the concession has changed from previous years, Christmas Eve, what a festive atmosphere, only a few Christmas trees stand in some places, hang some lanterns, when the overall atmosphere is still lifeless, there is no Christmas joyful atmosphere, and at several British concession intersections, when the car passes, it actually brings a few "spirit talismans".

After Han Da'er asked, he realized that there had been several murders of resentful spirits and demons in the British Concession recently. The news that Our Lady of the Yellow Lotus had turned into a vengeful spirit spread in the concession.

After the German Frank died in the DD Western Restaurant, the news of the resentful spirit spread even more fiercely, some people said that the ghost of the Yellow Lotus Lady would attach to the object to take revenge on the culprit of the Eight-Nation Alliance, or the children of the culprit.

In the British Concession, there were many relatives or descendants of the soldiers and officers of the Eight-Nation Alliance. Some of these people had already moved to the American Concession (which at the time was held by the British Concession), some had already booked tickets to return home, and some wanted to move to India and other British colonies such as Nanyang.

In order to calm down the turmoil, the high-level officials of the Ministry of Industry invited the bishop of the diocese to personally hold a large prayer mass, but after the mass, people in the concession were still panicked. Some officials of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau, who were very familiar with Chinese customs, suggested that they secretly find some Chinese monks and Taoists to do a ritual in the concession.

Although this proposal was ostensibly refuted by the high-level officials of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau, in fact, the proposal was passed in private, and they secretly found some Taoist priests to exorcise evil spirits in the concession. However, this kind of thing cannot be publicized, but it cannot be publicized, and if the residents in the concession do not know, it will not work, so this law is also very embarrassing.

The car kept looking ahead, and it was about to pass through the British Concession, and Han Daring heard that George Brown's house was in the British Concession, so he looked puzzled when he saw this, and was busy asking.

Bai Chongwei explained:

"George Brown's house is at the very edge of the British Concession, next to the Chinese Concession!"

Not long after, the car was already driving through the Haiguang Temple Road, when a fence and two Victorian-style wrought iron doors appeared in front of me. The two of them looked through the iron gate, and at the end of the wide courtyard, there was a two-story western-style building in the style of a medieval castle.

There are octagonal towers erected at both ends of the building, and from a distance, this western-style building looks like a small Gordon Hall. A little closer to see that the architectural style of the western-style building, with an eclectic color, does not emphasize a specific style, but some classic architectural styles are arbitrarily combined and matched, although some collocations are not harmonious, but because of the balance of all aspects, it shows a special beauty!

Because the bungalow is red brick color as a whole, it is named "Red Fort"!

Due to the collapse of a piece of road at the entrance and a puddle that cannot be avoided, cars cannot drive into the courtyard and can only park not far from the gate.

Han Da'er and Bai Chongwei got out of the car, and although the light rain stopped, there was still a little drizzle, falling on their bodies and faces.

In such a dry environment as Tianjin Wei, the rain will make people feel very wet. It's just that this month, these drizzles have quickly turned into cold. This cold chill drilled straight into the cracks of human bones, making people shiver.

At this time, the sky was still overcast and heavy, and the afternoon sun reflected on the clouds, revealing some cold white, which not only did not give people a bright feeling, but made people feel extremely gloomy and depressing.

The two of them came not far from the iron gate, although they could not get around the puddle in front of them, but they could step on a few bricks that exposed the puddle, and approached the iron gate, as if it were so, and there were some mud spots splashed on their trouser legs and shoes.

The iron door was not locked, and there was no one at the door, the two pushed open the iron door and walked in by themselves, Han Daring still wondered, why didn't there even be a gatekeeper, but when he walked into the courtyard, he realized that there was no need for anyone to watch the door in this place.

Because there were two huge black hounds squatting at the door, barking at them all incessantly!

This hound is not the same as the Chinese dog, neither as light as the Guanzhong Dog, but also much larger and more robust than the Shih Tzu Jingba. The two hounds had black bodies, erect ears, and unusually sharp eyes, and they looked so fierce.

Bai Chongwei hurriedly asked Han Daring not to move, he could recognize this dog, this is a new dog breed that appeared only a few decades ago, native to Germany, it was named after the breeder who bred this dog breed, called "Doberman", which was first used for military purposes, and this dog is loyal and very fierce.

These two dogs look very fierce, if it weren't for the fact that each dog has a collar chain around his neck, Han Da'er really didn't have the confidence that he would be able to knock down the two hounds unscathed! However, as long as the people who came stood at the door and did not enter, the two hounds only barked, and they were restrained by iron chains, and the hounds wanted to pounce, but they couldn't reach the people at the door!

At this time, an old Chinese man wearing a Western-style tuxedo and looking like a butler walked over. With two servants by his side. Although the two servants wore Western clothes, they were both Chinese.

The old Chinese man who looked like a butler couldn't be sure whether the two people in front of him were Chinese or Japanese, so he asked in English:

“Excuse me! May I help you？ sir”

This old man's spoken English is very standard, and there is no Chinese accent at that time when many Chinese speak foreign languages.

Bai Chongwei said:

"We are Chinese!"

The old man quickly apologized and said in Chinese:

"I beg your pardon, is there anything I can do to help you both?"

This old man is very fluent in English, and speaking Chinese has a bit of a foreigner's accent, which sounds very strange.

Bai Chongwei took out an invitation card and handed it over, the old man quickly saluted after reading it, and then invited Bai Chongwei and Han Daring into the gate, and the Chinese servants on both sides dragged the two hounds who wanted to pounce with all their might.

The old man led the way in front and introduced himself:

"I'm the housekeeper here, my surname is Cai! Call me "Walter" too! The exhibition banquet is 6 o'clock in the evening, and the two of you came a little early! ”

Bai Chongwei said:

"We have something to do and want to meet your lord Mr. George Brown alone before the banquet, so we came early!"

Housekeeper Lao Cai said:

"I'll report it, but I'm afraid not!"

Bai Chongwei asked:

"Why?"

Lao Cai Dao:

"Two months ago, my lord went out with a friend, and when he came back, he was very scared, so he rarely met guests, and we delivered food to the room for three meals a day."

Bai Chongwei was puzzled:

"So weird?"

At this time, the three of them came to the door of the Red Fort, and Han Daring looked up to see that on the lintel and on two or three windows, there were crosses and a lot of garlic! It was hung densely, covering the whole window glass, so he asked:

"These things are supposed to be exorcists, what's going on with you lately?"

Lao Cai sighed and said casually:

"Haunted!"