No. 8 Pawnshop

Beijing in March and April is sunny and sunny,

A bright and splendid car drove into the garden house of today's Peking Prime Minister Jin Quan's proud protégé and his subordinate Bai Xiongqi. There are two Western white lion heads and a fountain. The gate stopped steadily.

The neatly dressed driver came down and opened the car door. The first to come out was a middle-aged man in a suit who looked elegant, with bright eyes and imposing manners. Parked at the door, as if waiting for another person to come out.

Two seconds later, a young woman in an ankle-length white dress and a beige bowler hat embellished with small flowers got out of the car.

Bai Xiongqi treated her very gently and introduced her, "Miss Ye, this is my house, please come in."

The one he called Miss Ye was the No. 8 pawnshop owner, Ye Li, who came to this world. And Bai Xiongqi was the first guest she met in this world, pawning his first child in exchange for this important opportunity to be promoted to an official position.

Bai Xiongqi's wife and sister Bai Xiuzhu greeted them with joy as soon as they entered the house. He came up, "Xiong Qi/Brother, you're back."

Bai Xiongqi couldn't help but have a faint smile on his face, it could be seen that he treated his wife and sister sincerely, so that when Ye Li asked for his affection, he refused and replaced it with Pawned the future's first child.

When they saw the young woman coming in with Bai Xiongqi, both of them were stunned, especially the other party's appearance was very outstanding. There has never been one at home. Mrs. Bai's calmness and generosity can still maintain her complexion, but Bai Xiongqi's younger sister Bai Xiuzhu has been coddled and willful since she was a child, and the emotions in her heart are also brought out.

Bai Xiong knew that they had misunderstood at first sight, and quickly explained to his wife and Xiuzhu, "This is Miss Ye, and also my honored guest, and must not be neglected. Her identity is special, If anyone asks, they will say that the wife's distant relatives are here as guests,"

When Mrs. Bai received the wink from her husband, she immediately understood the meaning. Her husband was afraid of this Miss Ye, more respectful than close. However, if even her husband was afraid of this Miss Ye, How could she let her live in her own home and let her get along with them?

What she didn't know was that this was Ye Li's request, and Bai Xiongqi would neither refuse nor dare to refuse.

Bai Xiuzhu on the side didn't understand the meaning. She lives under the protection of her brother and sister-in-law, and is the eldest miss of the Bai family. Before speaking, he gave a warm warning, "Especially you, Xiuzhu, put away your small temper in the past, don't provoke Miss Ye, she will only stay in our house for a while, not too long."

Bai Xiongqi ordered and entrusted his family here, but Ye Li didn't seem to hear a word, and looked up at the house.

Mrs. Bai quickly instructed her servants to prepare Ye Li's check-in, but Ye Li didn't say a word from beginning to end, just sat on the sofa leisurely and watched In the newspaper, Bai Xiuzhu almost suspected that she was dumb.

Until Bai Xiong got up and went to the study to make a phone call to handle official business, Mrs. Bai went to the kitchen and ordered the servants to have dinner. Apart from the servants, Bai Xiuzhu and Ye Li were left in the living room. Back to the room, but also sat down on the sofa.

Ye Li, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly turned her head to look at her, and the corner of her mouth curved slightly, "Your name is Bai Xiuzhu, right?"

Her words came so suddenly, Bai Xiuzhu was inexplicably surprised, and she was a little scared, but thinking about Bai Xiuzhu's sudden fear for her is a little strange, she is the famous Miss Bai family in Beiping Bai Xiuzhu, she looked pretty but she was a little more bluff in front of Ye Li.

"I'm Bai Xiuzhu, have you heard my brother say I can't?"

Ye Li smiled, "Yes, Bai Xiongqi said that he has a very beautiful sister."

A few words from Ye Li made an ignorant young lady let go of her guard. She talked and laughed, and even revealed that she liked the seventh master of the Jin family, Jin Yanxi.

During the days when the Bai family lived temporarily, Mrs. Bai listened to Bai Xiongqi's words to entertain Ye Li as a guest, and even took the initiative to invite Ye Li to go out to the theater to go shopping, accompanied by Bai Xiuzhu, Ye Li Li Du complied, and gradually, Mrs. Bai also felt that this Miss Ye had a good temper and was a good person to get along with.

She is Chinese, so it's not surprising for others to hear her say that, but they think that Mrs. Bai, the cousin of a relative's family, is too beautiful.

After having a good fight with the officials and wives, Mrs. Bai returned to the tea room where the opera was being watched. Seeing that Ye Li had already sat down there, she seemed to be quite interested in this opera. of. On the contrary, Bai Xiuzhu was a little restless. She was influenced by her brother, and she learned Western styles. She never dared to be interested in these things. Mrs. Bai didn't like watching dramas much at first, but this Peiping official wife Going out for social activities, at least one of this drama.

Mrs. Bai, as Bai Xiongqi's virtuous inner helper, also has to integrate into this circle. After a long time, she also has some hobbies for watching dramas.

She sat on the mahogany chair between the two of them, looked at Bai Xiuzhu's restless state, and sighed, "If you can't sit here, go to your office. Good sister, let's play, don't go out."

Bai Xiuzhu was overjoyed, "Thank you, sister-in-law."

She wanted to leave for a long time. I heard that Mrs. Jin is also here today, and she also brought the eighth Miss Mei Li. She wanted to chat with Mei Li, and by the way, asked how Jin Yanxi was doing recently. Didn't come to her.

She thanked Mrs. Bai, and happily went down the stairs with her skirt on.

Mrs. Bai looked back at Ye Li again, and seeing that she was still watching the actors on the stage babble and sing, she asked, "Miss Ye likes watching plays?"

Ye Li returned her a faint smile, "I like watching plays, whether on stage or off stage."

Mrs. Bai didn't understand what she said, but after Ye Li said this, she turned her head and continued with the peerless beauty in the stands.

Farewell My Concubine.

Bai Xiuzhu quickly found Jin Meili who she knew well. The first question she asked was about her seventh brother Jin Yanxi. A female student, she has also met that Miss Leng, and she is talented and elegant. To be honest, Jin Meili likes that Miss Leng very much. But of course, she couldn't say this in front of Bai Xiuzhu. She was also very thoughtful, so she changed the subject with a few words and talked about another matter.

"Sister Xiuzhu, do you know that there is a new Catholic church in Nantang?"

"I heard about it, but I haven't been there yet. I'm not a Catholic." Bai Xiuzhu pouted and said, she was educated in Western learning, but she had never studied Western religious beliefs. .

However, during this period, there were also many children of officials who had studied and been baptized, not to mention the support of foreigners behind these Catholic churches.

I just heard Jin Meili say, "One of my classmates got married, it was a Western-style wedding there, and the new priest for her was nothing like the usual white-bearded old man, and he was not a foreigner. He's not much older than the seventh brother, and he is also very good-looking, gentle and refined, and has good knowledge. His surname is Bai, and everyone in the church calls him Father Bai."

Jin Meili's words fell into Bai Xiuzhu's ears and felt novel. She had never seen such a young priest before, "I'll go take a look another day."

"But what's interesting is that he also asked Xiaolian if he would like to be baptized?"

Xiaolian, the girl Bai Xiuzhu also knows, is the maid next to the eldest grandma of the Jin family. How disgusting. She didn't ask Jin Meili why she brought Xiaolian to her classmate's wedding, but wanted to know the following,

"Has Xiaolian agreed?"

"Xiaolian didn't agree, she said that she was the maid of my sister-in-law, and my sister-in-law didn't agree how she could be baptized casually. But she wanted to go to Father Bai more, and Father Bai was willing to teach her Learning, and foreign language, she is very happy to hear it."

Xiao Lian is a beautiful and cute girl, but unfortunately, she has a humble status, and Jin Meili will really worry about her. They are not familiar with each other, and their identities are very different.

The two girls got together and chatted endlessly, but they didn't listen to the drama on stage.

The more Mrs. Bai next to Ye Li listened, the more unpleasant she was, especially when she saw the beautiful lyrics of Yu Ji on the stage, holding the handkerchief in her hand, she couldn't help frowning,

"Farewell My Concubine, why did you arrange such a play?"

I usually listen to reunion and happy dramas, why is it changed to this one today? A clever little servant next to him replied, "Today is the first play, and some masters downstairs pointed it out."

Ye Li smiled and said, "Farewell My Concubine is also very good."

Mrs. Bai stopped talking, but sighed in her heart. It's good, but life is mostly a tragedy. When you come to this theater, you want to be happy and happy, let alone pretending to be Yu Ji. The actor sang like the rebirth of Concubine Yu, I am afraid that after today, many sons and brothers have been sought after again.

Mrs. Bai guessed right. After singing Yu Ji's Huadan Cheng Dieyi tonight, she became famous and famous in Kyoto, becoming a pillar of the theater. Those dandy sons who don't know anything every day wanted to support them, but they were blocked by Yuan Siye, the boss of Peking Liyuan. His name is Yuan Shiqing. Although he is a declining nobleman, he has a wide network of contacts and a wealth of wealth. He is also the overlord of a generation of pear orchards, and many people give him face. He loves Beijing opera, knows more about Beijing opera, spends a lot of money on opera art, and is not stingy.

When Bai Xiuzhu told Ye Li that she was going to the new Catholic church, Ye Li was not surprised at all, but she also rejected the request to go with Bai Xiuzhu, Ye Li's lips slightly With a tick, she can't enter the Bai family's church.

She also has someone to meet.