George Brown, the Red Fort, covers an area of not small, and can be regarded as the premier mansion in the British Concession. Although it can't catch up with the traditional British manor house, it is almost like a small castle.

The exterior wall of the two-storey building is brick red as a whole, hence the name Red Fort. The towers on both sides are octagonal, and the external layout is very similar to Gordon Hall, but the details are decorated with many oriental elements, and some of them are matched with Gothic and Baroque architectural styles.

The courtyard of the Red Fort is very large, most of the grass and trees near the courtyard wall and iron gate, and the part near the Red Fort uses flower tiles to extend to the gate of the Red Fort, partially exposing the lawn and flowers. There is a huge locust tree on the east side, although it is already winter, only full of dead branches, but this acacia is very high, the branches are vertical and horizontal, even if there are only dead branches left, it also looks very luxuriant, at a glance the dead branches into a forest, dazzling.

Lao Cai said that this locust tree is an ancient tree that was originally here, and it was there before the Red Fort was built, because the location is just in the courtyard, so the construction place is retained, and at the turn of spring and summer, the branches and leaves are flourishing to block the hot summer, and the tree is very shady. When the locust flowers are in full bloom, the fragrance of locust flowers is everywhere.

When Han Daring saw this locust tree, he remembered that every early summer, the scrambled eggs made at home with locust flowers, the full fragrance of flowers, always makes people have an endless aftertaste, but this thing is also what Chinese love to eat, foreigners eat some nectar at most, petals they don't eat.

The courtyard of the Red Fort is very wide, and it takes one walk to get closer to the Red Fort. At this time, I can see a corridor in the window on the second floor, through the window, you can see a large oil painting hanging on the wall, in the middle of the corridor, there is also a set of medieval European knight's armor wearing a velvet burqa, at that time, many castles and manors, there are such furnishings, especially the homes of some knights and noble descendants.

Standing in front of the Red Fort, I felt that this building was tall and majestic, although Han Dada'er studied in foreign books, but he had never stayed in the West, and he didn't know what level of a building of this size was in Great Britain, and whether such a large mansion could be seen everywhere.

At this time, Han Daring saw that the doors and windows of the Red Fort were hung with crosses and garlic, which in Western legends, all had the effect of exorcism. Then he asked:

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

The housekeeper Lao Cai sighed and said casually:

"Haunted!"

Bai Chongwei asked:

"Haunted?"

Lao Cai suddenly felt that he was speechless, and hurriedly stopped answering again.

Bai Chongwei then asked again, but Lao Cai was silent. Bai Chongwei knew that although this old Cai was Chinese, he was a British butler, and the British had big rules, and when training these butlers and servants, the first priority was not to let this person talk blindly, not to mention that they were only first-time guests.

Bai Chongren saw that Han Dada'er's eyes were concerned, and he wanted to know the details of the haunting of the Red Castle, but Lao Cai kept his mouth shut, so he spread his palms to Han Da'er and introduced to Lao Cai:

"This gentleman next to me has the ability to exorcise ghosts and punish evil spirits, and he solved the water ghost case that Tianjin Wei made a lot of noise before!"

Han Daring himself hated pretending to be a ghost the most, but he knew that Bai Chongwei said this mainly so that Lao Cai could tell what happened here and give himself a chance to have a deeper understanding of the situation, so he kept silent and pretended to be mysterious.

Lao Cai was silent, stretched out his hand and was about to open the door, when he heard Bai Chongwei say this, he suddenly turned his head and asked:

"Wasn't that case solved by a policeman surnamed Han?"

Bai Chongwei saw that Lao Cai had heard of Han Da'er's name, so he hurriedly added:

"That's right! This is Mr. Han Zhigang, the detective of Jinmen! ”

After hearing this, Lao Cai looked Han Daring up and down again, but Lao Cai has been trained by British housekeepers, so he knows that it is very impolite to look at people like this, so he hurriedly looked away and just nodded slightly.

Han Da'er said at this time:

"You can just talk to me, and maybe I can help!"

Lao Cai's expression was hesitant and hesitant, as if he was considering whether to talk to him. The hand that was going to pull the door open stopped on the doorknob.

Han Da'er asked:

"When did it start? Are there any witnesses? ”

Lao Cai frowned, paused and said:

"It's just that after the master came back from his last outing, he started haunting in the middle of the night! Two servants have seen it! ”

Han Da'er asked:

"What did the two servants see? Ghosts? ”

Lao Cai opened the door of the Red Fort and said:

"One said that in the middle of the night in the corridor, I saw a knight in armor walking around, although the corridor was very dark, but through the moonlight I could see the reflection of the knight's armor! This knight's armor has no head! ”

Han Da'er asked:

"Headless Horseman?"

Lao Cai nodded, and continued:

"When the servant saw the headless horseman coming at him with his sword, he ran to call for him, but when I and the other servants came, they saw the knight's armor and put it there in good shape. At first, everyone didn't believe it, thinking it was him making it up, but then they ......"

Han Daring said:

"What happened?"

Lao Cai Dao:

"Later, in the middle of the night, many people heard the click of metal armor pieces of knight's armor moving! But every time I looked at it, the armor was just sitting in place. The lord was worried that it was a ghost possessing the armor, so he asked people to move the armor from the first floor to the corridor on the second floor, which he didn't often visit! ”

Han Daring thought that the knight's armor he saw through the window on the second floor just now was probably what Lao Cai was talking about.

Lao Cai said again:

"Recently, there is a legend in the British Concession that the red light shone on the ghost of the Yellow Lotus Lady, and came back to find the culprit who killed him to take revenge, and this resentful spirit can be attached to the utensils, and some servants suspect that it is the ghost of the Yellow Lotus Virgin."

Han boldly pondered, could it be that this George Brown and the German Frank Heinrich were the culprits who killed Our Lady of the Yellow Lotus? If that's the case, isn't it too coincidental that they also founded Xinghe Trade together?

I heard that there were two victims of the Yellow Lotus Virgin's revenge before, what does those two people have to do with Xinghe trade?

If the house is haunted, why is George Brown holding this show? That's a lot of questions!

In fact, according to Lao Cai, George Brown was the most taboo to refuse visitors because of the haunting, and they did not expect that the master, that is, George Brown, would suddenly hold a small antique exhibition, which made Lao Cai and several servants feel very puzzled.

Some servants guessed that because the master was well versed in Chinese culture, he followed the method of Chinese folklore and wanted to find more people to come to the house to increase yang energy to dispel evil spirits! But that's all just speculation.

Lao Cai pushed open the door and invited Bai Chongwei and Han Daring to enter the hall. The hall on the first floor is very wide, and there are five square columns in the center of the hall, each thirty centimeters square, and the height is less than one meter three. Presumably the booth used tonight for the antiques that George Brown restored.

The hall is surrounded by a number of long tables with neat tablecloths, on which some of the prepared meals, drinks and soft drinks are placed, which should be specially prepared for the exhibition.

Han Daring thought that it was a long table dinner, but he didn't expect it to be a buffet in this form, which is a buffet, which is now called a buffet, which originally originated from the Vikings, and was later gradually standardized and civilized by Western-style catering.

Although the traditional Chinese at that time still ate around the table and were not used to this kind of social dinner party, Han Daring had studied foreign books after all, and when he was studying, the school would also hold this kind of cold meal once or twice a year, so it was not unusual for him.

Han Daring and the others came two hours early, and at this time, the cold meal was not ready, and the booth was still empty. Although the scale of this exhibition cocktail party is not large, it is said that there are only a dozen guests, but the meal and drinks are really prepared.

At the end of the hall on the first floor is a staircase leading to the second floor. Bai Chongwei wanted to meet George Brown in advance, so he asked Lao Cai to pass it on.

Lao Cai invited Bai Chongwei and Han Daring to the reception room on the right side of the hall on the first floor to rest. Then he turned and went upstairs to ask George Brown if he could meet them alone in advance.

Bai Chongwei sat on the sofa and picked up the tea that the servant had just served. The UK is estimated to be the most tea-drinking country outside of China and Japan. Since tea was introduced to England in the 17th century, this unique drink quickly became popular throughout Great Britain. Since there were no indigenous tea trees in Great Britain at that time, the price of tea remained high for a time.

Although Han Daring also likes to drink tea, he likes to drink green tea such as jasmine and Longjing, and is not interested in the British favorite black tea at all, especially the British black tea is also added with milk and sugar, and it is not a taste to drink it in his mouth.

Chinese drink tea is to like bitterness with a little sweetness, but the British deliberately use sugar and milk to dilute that bitterness, Han Daring always thinks, you foreigners drink coffee without feeling bitter? The tea is a little bitter, but I have to add this and that, which makes it extremely unpleasant, and it is really a big move to take off my pants and fart. Instead of drinking this nondescript tea, it is better to drink high crushed and high foam!

Bai Chongwei picked up the teacup but said "Huh"!

Han Daring stood in the reception room, looking at a few oil paintings hanging on the wall, and heard Bai Chongwei ask a question, not knowing what he had discovered. When he turned around, he heard Bai Chongwei say to himself:

"It turned out to be Ming Qian Longjing! I can't imagine it! ”

Han Daring leaned over to see that there was no tea in the cup, but there was a faint fragrance of tea. Chinese tea was crushed into foam and then made into porridge, so at that time it should be called eating tea, not drinking tea. Later, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, they gradually began to make tea like now.

Chinese make tea, and the tea leaves can be seen in the tea, so they used to use covered bowls, in order to drink them, leaving aside the tea leaves floating on the tea water. The British are different, they like to use a teapot to make tea, and the tea leaves are separated by a strainer in advance, so there is only tea in the cup when you pour it, and there is no tea leaves.

Even if there is no tea in the cup, just by the color of the tea and the aroma, Han Dada'er can smell that this is indeed Longjing rather than black tea, and his father's favorite drink is Longjing before Ming, so Han Dada'er knew when he smelled it that what Bai Chongwei said was true.

Han Daring said:

"This George Brown is worthy of being a China expert, and he also knows that he doesn't need black tea to entertain Chinese guests, but makes Longjing!"

At this time, the gate of the Red Fort suddenly opened, and in walked in a Japanese man in a kimono, who was thirty-five or sixteen years old, with a chubby little round face, medium build, squinted eyes, and a Rendanhu. At first glance, it looks like a typical Japanese dress.

His face was full of anger, and he walked straight into the hall on the first floor, looking very rude. One of the servants tried to stop him, but he slapped him hard.

Han Daring is the guy who can't bully people the most, especially since this guy is still a little devil! At that time, I was going to run out and give this little Japanese man a look! Bai Chongwei stopped Han Da'er and shook his head slightly, meaning that he should not act rashly.

Bai Chongwei said:

"Don't you want to meet George Brown? Don't make more complications first, this is the British Concession, and the Japanese don't dare to do anything! I really want to cure him, there is a chance! ”

Han Daring felt that what Bai Chongwei said was right, so he could only endure this breath first, but he couldn't wait for later, as long as he met George Brown for a while, he was not interested in any banquet at all, and when the time came, he must give this little Japanese devil a dragon!

At this time, the housekeeper Lao Cai walked down the stairs quickly, the Japanese shouted a few words of Japanese loudly, and he didn't know what he was talking about, although Han Daring had two hot classmates, all of whom could speak Chinese, he really didn't understand Japanese at all, and he couldn't understand what the person was talking about at all.

Lao Cai walked to the Japanese, and the two said a few words, but the distance was too far away, and they only heard Lao Cai talking to him in English. Then Lao Cai turned around and went upstairs again, while the Japanese paced back and forth in place. After a while, Lao Cai walked downstairs and invited the Japanese to the second floor!

After a while, Lao Cai returned to the reception room and told Bai Chongwei that he would have to wait for a while, the old man was sorting out the exhibits on display, and he would not be able to meet them until later. Han Daring said in his heart that this George Brown must be seeing the Japanese little man, and he just wanted to ask about the identity of the Japanese, when he saw a servant find Lao Cai and said that there was another guest at the door.

When Lao Cai followed the servant out, he invited a richly dressed young man from outside, and the young man was accompanied by a tall and mighty man, who was the young man's bodyguard at a glance.

This young man has a delicate face, with gold-rimmed eyes, combing his hair, and looks polite, and his age is about the same as Han Daring'er. A tailor-made high-end suit, but it shows incomparable luxury, and the placket of the suit hangs a shiny pocket watch chain, and it is estimated that the pocket watch is also expensive.

This person has an elegant temperament, giving people the feeling of a dragon and a phoenix among the race, and compared to him, even Bai Chongwei is suddenly three points shorter. Although Han Daring is also very heroic and upright, compared with this person, he looks stupid and rude, and there is a sense of the gap between the porcelain bowl and the white jade bowl.

As the old saying goes, it's really better to throw away than goods, and people have to die more than people!

Han Daring took a closer look at this young man's appearance, and even saw it, it seemed to be the young man named Zhao Gongzi who was sitting in a Cadillac car with Mei Ruohong before!