There has been no war in Shanghai for several years, and this Spring Festival is even more lively than in previous years. Foreigners only celebrate foreign festivals, but the Spring Festival makes the concessions next to Shanghai County feel a little less festive.

Precisely because there is no bustle in the city, every move of Ren Yu'er, a "fake foreign woman", is particularly eye-catching, and things about her have become a hot topic that people talk about after dinner.

Before, she was just the daughter of the late Jiading Confucian tutor and the adopted sister of Mr. Han, the Shaoqing of Taipu Temple who had served as an official in Shanghai. Years ago, Mr. Su Songliangdao and Mr. Xue were transferred to Shanghai Dao, and Mrs. Daotai didn't know she was drinking.

What kind of enchanting soup, he actually offered to marry her Jinlan, and just like that she became Xue Daotai's sister-in-law again!

If she just wanted to climb the high branches of the newly appointed Taoist platform, on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, she actually held a banquet in the mansion like foreigners, inviting consuls, vice-consuls, interpreters and senior managers of various foreign companies from Britain, Buddhism and the United States. Not only did she follow

The foreigners ate, drank, talked and laughed, and after eating they even hugged and danced with the foreigners.

This is no longer unruly, it is simply immoral and shameless!

What is even more unbelievable is that she actually sent an invitation to Daotai, and Xue Daotai actually went to the banquet. Other civil and military officials were afraid of foreigners without knowing it, but Xue Daotai actually fell in love with her, a "fake foreign woman"

Many well-educated people in the city felt that if this continued, Xue Daotai's future would be worrying.

Ren Yu'er didn't care what others thought or what others said behind his back. When he learned that the British missionary Bao Er came to visit, he immediately asked Lian Er to take Bao Er's living room.

Liu Shanyang stood on the terrace on the second floor of the guild hall, looking at the naughty kids chasing Baoer all the way here, and sighed: "With a confidante like Yu'er, I will have no regrets about doing this!"

How could Zhou Xingyuan, who came here to celebrate the New Year after the Yamen was sealed, not understand the implication of Liu Shanyang's words, and sighed: "For the fourth master, Miss Ren is risking her life, and she really doesn't hesitate to ruin her reputation."

"She is doing this not only for the fourth master, but also for the imperial court." Liu Shanyang turned around and walked into the room. While asking Zhou Xingyuan to sit down, he said solemnly: "They say that accompanying a king is like accompanying a tiger. This is not true at all. Your Majesty,

When he got Ye Mingchen, he was a very loyal minister. But now, not only has he been dismissed, but he has also become a big joke of "no war, no peace, no defense, no leave". He has been kidnapped by foreigners, who will care about him?

Life or death?"

"Mr. Liu, you mean..."

"When the emperor needs the 'Hou Yi Tang', Yu'er is a strange woman who doesn't hesitate to go deep into the tiger's den to find out the barbarians' feelings. One day, when the 'Hou Yi Tang' is no longer needed or even angered by the 'Hou Yi Tang', Yu'er is a private person.

A cheap maid of a foreigner!"

Zhou Xingyuan was shocked: "With Fourth Master here, it won't be a problem."

Thinking that Xiao Wuzi had mentioned the rumors about Ren Yu'er in the city intentionally or unintentionally when he came yesterday, Liu Shanyang smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone is drunk now and you and I are sober. Not to mention the capital, even Shanghai is full of pedantic people.

Most of them have disliked Yu'er for a long time. The reason why they tolerated it before was because Yu'er has no father or mother and cannot care about a lonely woman. Now that Yu'er is married to Lord Xue's wife Jinlan, it is hard to say that they will.

I won’t make a fuss out of this.”

"But Miss Ren is also Fourth Master's foster sister!"

"The fourth master is far away in the capital. Even if someone impeaches him, he can just push it aside. No matter how he is impeached, the fourth master will not be implicated. If the fourth master cannot be implicated, then it is Yu'er's business alone. The imperial court can govern civil and military officials.

Is it possible that I can also punish Yu'er for the sins of a woman?"

"According to what you say, Miss Ren's situation is not good!"

"Guangzhou has been occupied by foreigners. Not only is the matter unfinished, but there is also a condition of compensation, which the court will naturally not agree to. So sooner or later the foreigners will sail north, and sooner or later the court will fight the foreigners. If this battle can be won,

Yu'er has merit; if we lose this battle and someone adds insult to injury and impeaches Mr. Xue for having an affair with a foreigner, then Yu'er will be the culprit who helps thread the needle."

Liu Shanyang didn't think that the imperial court would really embarrass a woman named Ren Yu'er, but thinking that Ren Yu'er was indeed too flamboyant, thinking that the scholars in the city wanted to catch her and put her in a pig cage, and thinking that there were many people who were jealous of Xue Huan, she couldn't help but ask

Said: "Mr. Liu, should we send a letter to Fourth Master to remind him?"

"I have already mentioned this to Fourth Master," Liu Shanyang picked up the tea cup, thought about it and said: "Not only has Master Xue arrived, but under the guidance of Yu'er, he has met with the consuls of Britain, France, the United States and other countries.

Once we have met, you can directly negotiate with foreigners if anything happens in the future. It is a good time for Yu'er to retire after success."

"Then do you still want to inquire about this Yiqing?"

"To be honest, there is a letter from Fourth Master. Xiao Wuzi sent it yesterday afternoon."

"What did Fourth Master say?"

Just as Liu Shanyang was about to speak, Su Jueming ran up from downstairs, held on to the door frame and said, "Mr. Liu, Bao Er has left. Miss Ren heard that you have something important to discuss, and she said she would change her clothes and come over."

"Didn't Baoer just come here? Why did he leave as soon as he came?"

"He didn't have anything else to do. It seemed that they planned to preach somewhere the day after tomorrow and asked Miss Ren if she was free to go."

"Oh, come in first and wait until Yu'er gets together to talk."

…

The three of them sat and waited for a while, before Ren Yuer changed into clothes that an official lady should wear and hurried over.

Without waiting for her to salute, Liu Shanyang picked up a letter from the case and got straight to the point: "Everyone, the fourth master said that the emperor ordered Huang Zonghan, the minister of the Ministry of Punishment, to be the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and awarded the imperial envoy Guan Fang to go to Guangdong to handle barbarian affairs. The emperor also ordered

We, the Hou Yi Tang, were ordered to select a few people who are familiar with both Guangdong and barbarian sentiments to accompany us.

There are a few Cantonese translators in the hall, but none of them want to go. First, they are used to living in peace and are unwilling to take risks anymore; secondly, even if they go back, they can only serve under Master Huang, but they cannot work under him.

As an official in this province, I feel that there is no future in returning to my hometown in Guangdong."

Zhou Xingyuan came to his senses and couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Liu, is the Fourth Master planning to transfer people from us and send a few of us to Guangdong?"

"The fourth master has no such plan. The fourth master said that our 'Hou Yi Tang' was originally a yamen that was not within the economic system. It was only a temporary measure when it was established. Now that the situation in Guangdong has changed, there is no need for the Guangdong semicolon. We might as well let Yun Qing

My brother went to Guangdong with Mr. Huang and ordered all civil and military officials in various branches of Guangdong to be controlled by Mr. Huang from now on."

"Fourth Master plans to abolish the Guangdong branch?"

"It's not a dismissal, it's just a replacement of the superior officer."

Liu Shanyang paused and continued: "As for our Shanghai branch, from now on everything will be under the control of Mr. Xue. Xiamen, Fuzhou, and Ningbo branch will also be under the control of Mr. Xue from now on. And we don't need to inquire in such detail in the future.

All we need to do is figure out when the British and French coalition forces invaded Zhili from the north."

"Listen to Mr. Xue, if you have any barbaric feelings, should you report it to Fourth Master?" Su Jueming asked with a bitter face.

"We will report it if Mr. Xue asks us to do so. If Mr. Xue does not allow us to report it, we will not report it." Liu Shanyang paused and emphasized: "Fourth Master made it very clear in his letter that 'Houyi Hall' belongs to the imperial court, but it is not

His, so please don’t think too much about it.”

"But……"

"No, just follow the instructions." Liu Shanyang didn't want to tell them that the fourth master was disheartened, that he was preparing for the worst, and that the imperial court was focused on suppressing long hair and did not take foreigners seriously.

He didn't even regard foreigners as enemies. It was useless to try to find out more about the foreign affairs. He sighed secretly, looked at Ren Yu'er and said: "Yu'er, Fourth Master asked me to ask you, what will happen to you in the future?"

What are your plans?"

Ren Yuer was stunned and hesitated for a while before asking in a low voice: "Mr. Liu, why did my fourth brother ask you to ask this?"

"Your fourth brother is also thinking about you. You are a woman after all, and you can't show up in public like this anymore. Besides, there is nothing to do in Shanghai now. If you want to go back to Hai'an, I'll ask Brother Zhou to send someone to take you back. If you want

When you go back to your hometown in Yangzhou, Fourth Master will help you write a letter to Mr. Guo to ensure that no one will dare to bully you after you return."

Ren Yu'er didn't want to go back to Hai'an, let alone Yangzhou. She couldn't help but raise her head and said, "Mr. Liu, I don't want to go anywhere. I'll just stay here and help my fourth brother look after the house."

Liu Shanyang didn't want to go around in circles with her, and said bluntly: "Yu'er, you are well-educated and should understand that people who have no long-term worries must have immediate worries. So your fourth brother said in the letter that you can go anywhere, but you can't go anywhere.

Stay in Shanghai!”

"Why?"

"What do you think?" Liu Shanyang asked.

Ren Yu'er didn't expect Liu Shanyang to ask such a question. She thought for a while before she suddenly realized it. She couldn't help but murmured: "You are right, I can go anywhere, but I can't stay here."

"I will keep an eye on the guild hall and the house behind it. You can take all the money from home with you. Jueming, if I remember correctly, there are still more than two thousand taels in the semi-colonial account. You can go back and withdraw one thousand taels."

To Miss Ren."

"Yes, I'll go get it later."

Ren Yuer never thought that this day would come. She bit her lip and thought for a long time. Suddenly she raised her head and asked, "Mr. Liu, I can leave. Can Juhua and my brother stay here?"

"Okay, but if the two of you stay here, where can you go alone?"

"Go to the capital, I'll go find Fourth Brother!"

"Inappropriate."

"What's inappropriate?"

"Fourth Master... Fourth Master has sent all those who can leave back to their hometowns. Cuihua has taken her two children back to Hai'an with Wang Qianli's family. Isn't it inappropriate for you to go to the capital at this time?"

Others may not understand why Han Xiufeng drives people to his hometown. Ren Yuer, who goes to the foreign consulate every three days, is very aware of Han Xiufeng's good intentions. After weighing it, he resolutely said: "Mr. Liu, please don't persuade me.

At this time, I want to go more and more. You know, I not only understand the English language, but I can also understand some French. I will definitely be able to help when I go to the capital."

Seeing Liu Shanyang thoughtful, Ren Yuer said eagerly: "Besides, there is something I have always wanted to do but never had the chance to do."

"What's the matter?"

"I brought Lian'er out from the capital. She is too timid to go back with others. I have to send her to her mother."
Chapter completed!