Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 139: Three Brothers-in-Law
This chapter's subtitle: Scumbag's Paradise
At the same time that Big Sister Vivian shook her head at Little Sister Enyuka, Big Brother Hongqi from Chinatown shook his head helplessly with a bitter smile.
Li Jie had just finished reading the letter brought by the foreign lawyer. This was a letter written to him by the sage of Nintendo. It was also a very troublesome letter. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
I never thought that my kindness at that time would bring me such a big trouble now. This second master is really good at making trouble. How did he get involved with Wall Street BOOOOM?
We want to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, and now the Republic of China has returned to the hands of the Han people. The Hongmen has never thought of overthrowing the American government. Why should we Chinese get involved in the affairs of foreigners?
Therefore, the political awareness of the old overseas Chinese is indeed quite low. Even senior intellectuals like Hongqi Laowu have not realized one thing, that is, if you do not interfere in the affairs of foreigners, then why should foreigners care about you?
However, he understood another thing. At this point, he had no choice but to help. The second master would not be able to escape the blame, and he and even the New York Anliangtang would not be able to escape the blame. Who asked him to let his wife, Fourth Sister Jinfeng, take in that girl?
Now the yellow mud has fallen into the crotch, it's either shit or something like that.
So after shaking his head, he sighed, nodded and said, "Um...Mr. McCall, I will do as Mr. Yuan asked. Tell him to take care of himself when you go back."
The old man was not one who was willing to suffer in silence. He had already made up his mind at this moment that he would settle the score with Yuan Er later.
Of course, Hongqi Laowu now "doesn't realize" that the time has come to settle accounts with Yuan Er, but he can no longer settle accounts with Yuan Er...Master.
"That's good. Thank you, The red flag fifth brother." John clasped his fists in a serious manner, imitating the Chinese, and then took out a letter and said, "Um, The red flag..."
The red flag fifth brother raised his hand to stop him, saying, "Mr. McCall, please wait a moment. Please stop calling me The red flag fifth brother. Just call me Mr. Li."
"Okay then, Mr. Li."
Lawyer McCall thought that it seemed that people who were not members of the Chinese gang could not use this term.
"Mr. Yuan, please help me find this gentleman."
Li Jie took the second letter, looked at the recipient, nodded and said, "That's easy. I saw him in Chinatown today..."
At noon on November 4, 1920, at the Embassy of the Republic of China in London.
"Brother Shaochuan, how are the wedding preparations going?"
"Thank you for your concern, brother Zhizhi. Everything is going well."
"Shaochuan, you don't have to be polite. We are family. If you need anything, just let me know. I know some people in London."
"It will be the greatest honor for me, Gu, to have Brother Zhizhi here."
"Hahaha, my dear brother, even if you want to chase me away, Mr. Shi will come too."
Well, Gu Shaochuan and Shi Zhizhi are two great figures who must be mentioned in the diplomatic history of the Republic of China, Gu Weijun and Shi Zhaoji.
In November 1920, they both appeared at the Republic of China's Embassy in London to handle the handover.
Gu Weijun is the current Minister to the United States and the next Minister to the United Kingdom, while Shi Zhaoji is the next Minister to the United States and the current Minister to the United Kingdom. According to the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, the two of them will swap their positions.
Gu Shaochuan is also planning to get married again this month. His third wife is Ms. Huang Huilan, the daughter of Huang Zhonghan, the richest overseas Chinese in Indonesia at that time. It is worth mentioning that his mother-in-law was known as the "most beautiful woman in Java" at that time.
So this Minister Gu got lucky again and married a white, rich and beautiful woman. You see, a "dead wife" is definitely a good thing.
Fortunately, Yuan Yanshu didn't know about this, otherwise she would have regretted it. It was too late for me to wear it. If I had worn it two or three years earlier, how could this fair, rich and beautiful woman have fallen into Gu Weijun's hands?
Of course, in addition to official business, Gu and Shi also have a good personal relationship, and they are also relatives...
Gu Weijun suddenly thought of something, frowned and said, "Oh, brother Zhizhi, does the twelfth sister still prefer to stay in London and not return to China?"
Shi Zhaoji smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, these days my wife is trying to persuade her cousin Baokun. But...ah."
If our Master Yuan heard these two sentences, his intestines would definitely turn even greener, or even purple.
That's right, Shi Zhaoji and Gu Weijun are brothers-in-law. The former married Tang Shaoyi's niece, while the latter married the fifth daughter of the former prime minister.
Therefore, his great-great-uncle was really disappointing. If he had made the matter of MS. Tang a fait accompli earlier, he would have been just a brother-in-law to them.
Moreover, these three brothers-in-law are from the same hometown. Shi Zhaoji is from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Gu Weijun is from Jiading, Shanghai, and Yuan Yanshu is from Wuxi, Jiangsu. They are all citizens of our free shipping empire of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai... and the core area of the empire .
Why does he need to return to China? Wouldn't it be better for him to make a living in the British and American diplomatic circles?
Gu Weijun shook his head with a sense of loss and sighed, "Ah, this personality... is really just like her sister..."
The groom-to-be was missing his late wife, and Shi Zhaoji had no choice but to change the subject: " It's no secret why the twelfth sister doesn't want to return to China... By the way, Shaochuan, do you know the man she loves? If it's suitable, why don't we just help her make it happen?"
Both of them were typical Westernized intellectuals in China at that time. They had quite open ideas about marriage and were not very interested in arranged marriages.
In 1913, the marriage between Gu Weijun and Tang Baoyue caused quite a stir.
There are actually two versions of this story:
The first version is based on Comrade Lao Gu's own memoirs. He was originally engaged in Shanghai, and like our Master Yuan, he was able to study in the United States with the financial support of his father-in-law, Shanghai local gentleman Zhang Hengshan.
In 1908, Gu Weijun returned to China and married Zhang Run'e, and then went to the United States again with his new wife. However, because Mrs. Zhang was not used to living in a foreign country, with the consent of her father and brother, the two agreed to divorce in the United States. Zhang Run'e returned to China alone. Soon after returning to China, she became a nun and lived with the green lamp and ancient Buddha from then on.
Of course, after Lao Gu returned to China and joined the Beiyang government, he met Tang Baoyue. The two fell in love at first sight and became a couple.
The second version is a "legend" in the community: Lao Gu first met Tang Baoyue in Beijing and then divorced his ex-wife.
Gu Weijun's father-in-law Zhang Hengshan was also a prominent figure. He was good at fortune-telling. When he saw young Gu Weijun, he felt that this boy was extraordinary, so he arranged the marriage and also funded his son-in-law's studies.
After he learned that Gu Weijun had a new love and wanted to divorce his daughter, he wrote a letter directly to Tang Shaoyi, asking the Prime Minister not to steal someone else's beauty and be ridiculed by the world.
Tang Shaoyi was a man who valued his reputation the most. He was indeed worried that people would accuse him of using his power as prime minister to break up other people's marriages, so he agreed to this matter.
But his fifth daughter Tang Baoyue disagreed. In order to threaten her father to agree to the marriage, she first went to Baiyun Temple on the outskirts of the imperial capital and said she wanted to shave her head and become a nun, but Prime Minister Tang was unmoved. The young lady came up with another plan when her father failed. She informed her father that if he still didn't agree, she would go to the Eight Great Hutongs in Beijing to officially start her business, and at the same time hang up a golden signboard of "the daughter of the current Prime Minister of the State Council".
This blow really knocked the fear-conscious Tang Shaoyi unconscious. He had no choice but to immediately call his daughter back and announce "unconditional surrender."
Of course, the story is still a comedy up to this point, but then...
Gu Weijun's father-in-law Zhang Hengshan was also a stubborn person and refused to agree to Gu Weijun's divorce. Tang Shaoyi had no choice but to ask He Fenglin, the then Songhu Guardian (equivalent to the Songhu Garrison Commander-in-Chief), to take charge of the matter.
Commander He sent several waves of people to persuade Zhang Hengshan at the beginning, but the old man refused to change his mind. Finally, this medium-level Beiyang warlord had no choice but to personally lead a hundred soldiers to Zhang's mansion to find Zhang Hengshan and force him to write a divorce letter immediately.
Zhang Hengshan refused to obey, so He Fenglin couldn't really kill him. If someone died, it would not be flattering the Prime Minister, but would bring disgrace to the Prime Minister.
When the two were in a stalemate, Gu Weijun's wife Zhang Run'e came out and agreed to the divorce.
Zhang Hengshan sighed and agreed. In the end, the marriage ended in divorce.
Gu Weijun's father-in-law died of depression not long after. Zhang Run'e, who had lost all hope, actually shaved her head and became a nun at the Guanyin Temple in Lujiazui.
Less than two months after this incident, Gu Weijun and Tang Baoyue held a grand wedding at the Beijing Hotel..
As the saying goes: We only hear the laughter of new people but never the crying of old people. There is no reason not to shed tears for this.
Oh, according to the second version, Yuan Yanshu's father-in-law, Manager Zhou, would definitely be glad that his daughter had died a long time ago.
Unexpectedly, after Shi Zhaoji said this, Gu Weijun sighed again, and said with an even more depressed look: "Ah... Speaking of which, this is also my fault. Before Baoyue died, she asked me to take care of her sister, but I was busy holding that stupid meeting in Paris in the past few years and didn't pay attention to the affairs of the twelfth sister..."
Shi Zhaoji hurriedly advised: "Shaochuan, state affairs are more important, this is not your fault. So you don't know the man she loves?"
Gu Weijun frowned and recalled, "I have secretly investigated that man. Although he is a widower, his family background is clean. He does behave a little carelessly, but it is inevitable for a young man to be reckless. It's just..."
In a sense, our Master Yuan traveled through time to an era that was like a paradise for men, especially Chinese male intellectuals. No wonder some people wanted to travel through time to become "literary giants" and "masters."
There were so many scumbags in the Republic of China that it was simply too numerous to count. Jun Dao Sha Quan and that brain-dead traitor, these two who were loyal to one person from beginning to end were truly outliers.
Men in the Republic of China were really lucky. While they enjoyed the benefits of the old traditional patriarchal feudal society, they could also abandon their wives and old lovers with a clear conscience in the name of anti-feudalism and anti-traditionalism, and pursue their new lovers and new love... or carnal desires in the name of love.
However, this is not to defend these "scumbags". In fact, this is one of the special phenomena in the transitional period when the old morality collapses and the new morality has not yet been established.
Moreover, from a historical perspective, the collapse of the old morality of Chinese feudal society is really a good thing for women. This period can only be regarded as a period of pain. In a few decades, they will usher in an even greater good thing, that is, a truly left-wing revolutionary party government will come to power. And the first law they promulgated after coming to power was the Marriage Law.》.
So in Gu Weijun's view, it was no big deal for "President Yuan" to eat steak, drink wine, play mahjong, and go to a brothel.
He said helplessly: "It's just that Wuxi thief, he himself is unwilling to continue to associate with the twelfth sister. What can I do?? "
After all, she is an intellectual and she would not do something like He Fenglin led the army to force a marriage.
Shi Zhaoji could only say: "It's a pity. But it's not a big deal if she doesn't go back. How can we ask Xiangshan Public Transport for help?"? "
“Tap, tap, tap.”
Just then there was a knock on the door and an attendant came in with a telegram.
"Mr. Minister, this is an urgent telegram from Luo Jiaxiang, the first secretary of the New York Consulate."
Luo Jiaxiang is the uncle of Luo Puxiang, the "Camel Xiangzi", and he is also a diplomat. The third letter from "President Yuan" was written to his partner, asking him to find this first-class secretary and then find the Chinese ambassador to the United States through this channel.
The Chinese ambassador to the United States, who had not yet stepped down, thanked him, but when he picked up the telegram, he was shocked.
After reading it, Gu Weijun pondered for a moment and handed the telegram to Shi Zhaoji, who also looked solemn after reading it.
Shi Zhaoji immediately asked, "Shaochuan, who is this Yanshu Yuan?"
Gu Weijun laughed bitterly again and said, "Haha, it's true that if you mention the devil, he will appear. This is the man that the twelfth sister loves that we just talked about!"
Shi Zhaoji was surprised and asked, "But...but how did he get involved in the Wall Street bombing?"
Gu Weijun spread his hands and said, "How do I know?"
"Bang!"
Just as the two great diplomats were looking at each other in silence, a graceful figure rushed into the office without even knocking on the door.
Tang Baokun came running over with a newspaper in his hand. He said hastily without even catching his breath: "Brother-in-law, cousin-in-law, please..."
"You must save him!"
Gu and Shi are such smart people that they guessed what happened as soon as they saw the situation. The twelfth sister of the Tang family must have seen the news in the newspaper.
Of course, the person who needs to come forward now is the incumbent Chinese Minister to the United States, Gu Weijun.
He was about to agree immediately, but then an idea flashed in his mind that would allow him to have the best of both worlds.
Gu Weijun coughed and said, "Sister Baokun, I will go to save her. But you have to agree to one condition..."
