In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), on the morning of the fifth day of the first lunar month (January 23 of the solar calendar), the weather was cold, there were fine snowflakes floating in the air, the Xiheyan Street outside the front gate of Beijing, there were few pedestrians, many vendors did not set up stalls because they were afraid of the cold, the street appeared very wide, and there were many confetti after the explosion of firecrackers on the ground. A young man in a black top hat and a short gray coat walks down the street.

The young man was in his twenties, with a burly figure, a slightly thin face, a pale yellow face, a pair of large bright eyes, and a red mole on his left forehead. He stopped at the door of the "Gaosheng" Inn, which was a small third-class inn, very dilapidated, and the plaque on the door was already a little black because of its dirtiness.

"Does the gentleman stay at the hotel? Inside please! The man in the tattered felt hat at the door nodded to the young man.

"I don't live in the store, I'm here to find someone, do you have a guest named Feng Jishan here?"

Hearing that it wasn't a hotel, the guy lost a smile on his face, and said with a cold face: "There are many guests staying in the store, who remembers the name?" ”

The young man walked into the shop and said to the shopkeeper, "Sir! I would like to take a look at your hotel's guest roster and look up a person named Feng Ki-sun. ”

The shopkeeper was a round-faced middle-aged man in his forties, and he said with a calm face: "The guest roster of this store can't be shown to people casually, who are you?" ”

The young man hurriedly took out the police card from his arms and handed it to the shopkeeper, and said with a smile: "I am a detective from the Xicheng District Police Department, can I check it?" ”

The round-faced shopkeeper saw that the red official seal on the police card was real, and the words "Detective Di Xiong", he hurriedly put on a smiling face, and there was a little more fear in his eyes, he returned the police card to Di Xiong and said: "It turned out to be Officer Di, why didn't you say it earlier?" Of course, you can look it up, and the small ones will give you the roster. ”

The shopkeeper's fear of detectives is normal, since Yuan Shikai forced the Qing Emperor to abdicate through the southern revolution, the detective police of various police stations, gendarmerie and military and political law enforcement departments in Beijing not only continued to hunt and kill revolutionaries, but also blackmailed the former Qing princes and ministers, gentry and wealthy businessmen in the name of searching for royalists, there was a detective named Yuan Baimao who extorted 100,000 taels of silver from Prince Su's mansion by sending a letter to plant stolen goods, and other detectives also went to blackmail Prince Su and other princes and ministers, Prince Su was unbearable, and ran to Yuan Shikai's mansion to kneel and beg for death. so as not to suffer living sin. The prince is still like this, not to mention the victimized people.

Di Xiong took the roster from the shopkeeper's hand, and was about to check it, when he heard the guy at the door say: "Mr. Officer, don't look at it, there is a customer named Feng Jishan in the store, but he went out early in the morning, he already owes two days of rent, and we still have to look for him." ”

Diagonally opposite the Gaosheng Inn is a "He Ji" pawnshop, a tall man about thirty years old, walked into the pawnshop. This big man was born with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a straight nose and a square mouth, and wore an old thin jacket of coarse cloth with a sheepskin shoulder on the outside.

The tall man handed over a burden in his hand to the counter and said, "Be clothes!" ”

The yellow counter is tall, and because of the time, a lot of the paint has peeled off, revealing unsightly spots. The courtier, who wore a melon-skin hat and was about fifty years old and had a goatee, put down his hookah, took the baggage and opened it to see that there were three new underwear, cleanly washed and neatly folded.

Goatee said to the man: "Write, three shabby underwear, as six coppers!" ”

Six copper plates are six copper plates, and one copper plate is worth ten copper coins, but the price of goods has risen rapidly in troubled times, and one copper coin can no longer buy things.

The tall man was surprised: "Sir! I bought it for sixty coppers, but I haven't worn it a few times! ”

The goatee sneered: "According to the regulations of 'He Ji', it is worth six coppers, and if it is not good, take it back!" ”

The tall man showed a look of pain on his face, gritted his teeth and said, "I deserve!" ”

The guy handed the tall man six dark yellow copper plates and pawn tickets, and the tall man took them and went straight to the Li Kee snack bar next door, the steaming snack bar sells all kinds of breakfast, including steamed buns, siu mai, scallion pancakes and noodles, but the cheapest is still coarse noodles and wotou, and two wotou sells a copper plate. The tall man hadn't eaten two meals, he bought six nests and devoured them, and asked for a bowl of free boiling water to drink, before he felt full.

The tall man returned to the "Gao Sheng" inn, and was stopped by the guy at the door, and said, "Mr. Feng Jishan!" You have to pay the rent, a total of 20 coppers, and the rent of our shop is settled every two days. ”

Feng Jishan blushed, hesitated for a while, and said, "I'm sorry!" I don't have any money now, so I'll go to the pawnshop, put the sheepskin on my shoulders, and come back to you right away. ”

"Wait a minute!"

Di Xiong, who was sitting on a chair by the door, stood up and stopped, and said, "Mr. Feng Keishen! It's so cold, it's still snowing outside, don't you take the shoulder as a shoulder, aren't you afraid of the cold? I'll settle the money for you! ”

Dichon took out a silver dollar with white flowers from his bosom and threw it on the counter, and the silver dollar hit the counter with a soft and crisp sound.

The shopkeeper hurriedly laughed and said, "It turns out that Mr. Feng is a friend of Officer Di, why didn't you say it earlier?" With Officer Di's face, it doesn't matter whether the money is given or not. As he spoke, he reached out and took the silver dollar into the cupboard.

Feng Jishan looked at Di Xiong vigilantly and said, "You are a policeman?" I don't know you, why are you paying for my house? ”

Di Xiong said solemnly: "Although you don't know me, I know you, my name is Di Xiong, I am Wang Jinming's brother-in-law, Wang Jinming should know you, right?" ”

Feng Jishan was surprised: "Wang Jinming? Mo is not Luanzhou ......"

Di Xiong used his gesture to stop him from continuing, and said in a low voice: "This is not the place to talk, let's go to the teahouse opposite to talk in detail." ”

The shopkeeper handed the nine silver horns to Di Xiong and said, "Officer Di! Here are the nine horns that are looking for you. ”

At this time, Yuan Datou had not yet been cast, and now an ordinary Guangxu Tongbao silver dollar was worth 200 copper plates.

Di Xiong waved his hand and said, "Just store it on the cabinet, it can be regarded as Mr. Feng's prepaid house money." ”

Opposite was a two-story teahouse, Di Xiong asked for a private room on the second floor, sat down with Feng Jishan, and the man served a pot of good Longjing tea and four dim sums, and left the private room. In the lobby of the teahouse, there were only four or five guests sitting and drinking tea, and a gray-haired storyteller was shaking his head and saying the opening line: "In troubled times, life is as cheap as dogs, robbers and thieves walk all over the streets, and there are many changes in the change of dynasty, only foreigners refuse to leave." ”

Di Xiong said: "You guessed right, the Wang Jinming I am talking about is the martyr who was killed after the failure of the Luanzhou Uprising." Now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been overthrown and the Republic of China has been established, I am afraid that few people remember him except for you, Mr. Feng. ”

Feng Jishan stared at Di Xiong and said, "Are you really Wang Jinming's brother-in-law?" When Wang Jinming was killed, it seemed that he had not yet married a wife. ”

Di Xiong opened his eyes and said, "You don't believe me? What do you see this is? He took out a black wooden plaque from his arms, on which there were several small characters written in white lacquer: "Brother-in-law Wang Jinming's spiritual seat." ”

Di Xiong said sadly: "My sister and Wang Jinming have a marriage contract, but my brother-in-law insisted on expelling the Tartars before they could start a family, but the marriage was delayed again and again, leaving a lifelong legacy, and my sister was also delayed, she was originally seriously ill, and she was hit by this and died." ”

Feng Jishan looked at Wang Jinming's spiritual position, his eyes were red, tears flashed in his eyes, he knelt down to the spiritual position and kowtowed three times, and said with a sad expression: "I'm sorry for Brother Wang!" At that time, in Haiyang Town, I heard that Brother Wang and Shi Congyun were arrested, but they failed to rescue him, and they were killed by Wang Huaiqing. ”

Seeing his expression, Di Xiong obviously believed his identity, so he comforted: "This can't be blamed on you, at that time, my brother-in-law and Brother Shi dared to launch an uprising without informing you, and also declared you the chief of staff, which resulted in you being arrested by Fan Guozhang, the standard commander. After all, they lacked experience, and actually believed in Wang Huaiqing's peace negotiation deception, but they fell for his tricks and paid the price with their lives. You were in jail at the time, and of course there was no way to save them. ”

Di Xiong took a sip of tea and said: "Before my brother-in-law died, I went to see him, he asked me to defect to you, he said that if Feng Jishan did not die, he would definitely do a vigorous career, and I would follow you, and it would be very promising." ”

Feng Jishan smiled bitterly: "Since I was dismissed from the army, I have been poor, I can't even support my wife and children, so I have no choice but to come to Beijing to find an errand to make ends meet, but I can't find a place, and I can't even pay for the house." Brother Wang actually let you defect to an incompetent person like me, he really looked at the wrong person. ”

Di Xiong said: "There are always times when heroes are in trouble, your current difficulties are temporary, Liu Bang has failed more than fifty times in his life, and in the end he is not the same as the emperor?" Zhu Yuanzhang used to be a beggar, not as good as you are now, I heard that your brother-in-law, General Lu Jianzhang, was a staff officer and chief of military and political law enforcement in the city defense battalion office, didn't you go to him to find a way? ”

Feng Jishan said: "I looked for him as soon as I came the day before yesterday, and he asked me to wait at the Gaosheng Inn, saying that he would notify me if he had a chance." But so far there has been no news. ”

Di Xiong said: "At present, General Lu is busy with his position transfer, so he can't take care of you for the time being. Among the top ten veterans of the Beiyang Army, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang have all become commanders or governors, and their military ranks are generals, but General Lu is only a major general staff officer. Judging from the current situation, only with the current 100,000 troops of the Beiyang Army, it is obviously not enough to unify the south and guard against the northern border, and it is inevitable to train the new army, Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang They support the army and respect themselves, which is jealous of Lao Yuan, and the commander of the new army will consider Lei Zhenchun, Hong Zicheng and General Lu, if General Lu can become the commander of the new army, your opportunity will come, after all, you have been a battalion commander in Luanzhou, and your battalion has been rated as the best battalion in the 20 towns, and your training ability General Lu is clear. So don't rush and wait patiently for the good news! ”