At the entrance of the old theater in the county town, when Zhang Qijie got off the carriage, he was not the style he usually paid attention to in appearance. He did not wear a hat or a bow tie, let alone a fashionable civilized stick. He opened his usual exquisite shirt and buckle, revealing a small piece of his chest, his face was black, and the newspaper in his hand was pinched like a dough stick, all of which were wrinkled. When he got off the car, he sighed from time to time, as if his child was sick and had not found a doctor.

The old theater is a building in the Qing Dynasty. Because Longchuan is too small and does not have its own troupe. This place is usually lively only during festivals or during birthdays of wealthy families. Some rich people invite the troupe to perform for everyone, but because the building is in a corner of the besieged city, it is not a prosperous area, and the land price is not high. There are poor families around it, so the building and the land cannot be sold at a good price. Usually, it is used by the homeowner as a cheap warehouse or the cheapest hotel that only gives mats a penny a day, so its doorstep has long peeled off, the door building is covered with artemisia, and when you step on the dirt road, because of the rainy mud, you smell a stinky smell, the unique stench of the small hotel.

However, when Zhang Qijie walked in with a roll of newspaper, the theater was lively. The workers were busy cleaning the tables that had not been used for half a year, strengthening the brackets, and lifting the benches out of the warehouse and handfuls of dust. Li Guangxi, a large-split head, stood in the middle of the open space, covering his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, avoiding the visible dust waves like waves, while loudly directing his subordinates to work hard.

"Guangxi!" Zhang Qijie stood at the entrance of the theater and shouted loudly.

"Ah! Why are you here? I just sent someone to your factory to ask you to come and see it, but they said you don't know where you are going! We're leaving!" Li Guangxi trotted over, his face full of joy. Then he saw the newspaper being held by Zhang Qijie and smiled and said, "You have bought newspapers too? Haha, we all went to the Emperor's newspaper! I only found out at noon, Oh, although everyone has a share, it is still very honorable, Emperor's newspaper, haha!"

"I heard from your family that you have this bag?" Zhang Qijie pointed to the busy worker in front of him and said with a helpless expression: "Why don't you notify me in advance?"

"What are you notifying you? Didn't we discuss it? A few days ago, my housekeeper Jieren sent me to invite the good opera troupe in Huizhou to perform! Now it's not the holiday, there are few people invited. The famous actors in the opera troupe are very idle. I am familiar with several opera troupe bosses in Huizhou. The price is not too expensive. I have to clean up the place before others come? The election will start next Monday." Li Guangxi looked confused.

Zhang Qijie sighed deeply and said, "Hurry up and send a telegram to your housekeeper, no need to invite him."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Li Guangxi asked in surprise.

Zhang Qijie sighed again and said what happened half an hour ago intact.

"What? How is it possible? How is it possible!!!" Li Guangxi stared at his eyes for a long time, then said three times in one breath: "How is it possible."

He couldn't believe that such a powerful opponent suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Oh, I figured it out on the carriage that I ignored the cleverness of others." Zhang Qijie sighed like a sigh, and he said, "I told you that this is the first Western learning trend. The first Western learning donation is the first Western learning to donate officials, so I have to get it. But I didn't expect that I was the only one in the Song Dynasty who thinks so? Is it the only one in the Song Dynasty who has made money and become well-behaved in Western learning? This country is built on God, and it is the national policy of the spirit of the West. I don't know how many Western learning elites have talents and their power is far above you and me. Don't they like what you and I like?"

Speaking of this, Zhang Qijie unswervingly spread his hands and said, "The elites of the entire country's government-supervising and commercial office have established American-style political parties and want to gather together to charge like the army. Fang Bingsheng was actually an expert sent by Zhong Jialiang himself. Jesus, they even seem to have professional politicians. We had to admit it."

"Aren't our Longchuan a small county town? Zhong Jialiang, Shipbuilding Bureau, Railway Company, etc., as for the fight in our place? They should also go to Huizhou, Haijing, Nanchang, and Ganzhou! Are they crazy?!" Li Guangxi still didn't want to admit the reality. He shouted wildly: "What should I do if my donation official? I want to be a member of the Huizhou prefecture!"

Zhang Qijie shook his head and said, "They are too powerful, I don't think we can do anything, so we should not choose."

Li Guangxi came up and held Zhang Qijie's arm and shouted, "How can you say that? Didn't you keep saying that election is about choosing each other? If they choose theirs, we won't quit. It's better for us to choose our own, why listen to theirs?"

Zhang Qijie let Li Guangxi shake his arm and slowly said, "The election cannot be successful, even if it succeeds, we don't have a parliament here. It means we have to burn the money. Can we burn them? They even know everything the Emperor's newspaper wants to publish! There is also a party certificate! Unified slogan! Well-trained! Strong momentum! How can we run with them!"

Li Guangxi let go of Zhang Qijie's hand, and still had an incredible expression on his face. He thought for a while and said, "Can I choose this alone? If I don't cooperate with the Democratic Party, do they have to ask for all four places? So what can I do if I give one to me?"

"Do you think they are vegetarians? Didn't that Fang Bingsheng just the guy who blew up someone else's ancestral grave three years ago to stir up civil rebellion? He is a guy who eats both black and white! That guy is not an ordinary Christian. I think he is a bad guy and knows very well about Western learning. A few days ago, he pretends not to know and makes me fool around you? If you fight him, you are in trouble!" Zhang Qijie exclaimed: "You have thought about it! Even if you lose some deposit for this venue and invite the opera troupe, it will be drizzling. If you can't let go of this drizzle, you will lose more than a huge loss! Don't be impulsive!"

Li Guangxi looked up at the large awning on his head, and he murmured: "I'm not impulsive. To be honest, I just want to get an official hat to do business in Huizhou, which is also a kind of glorious family. I thought Longchuan was small and the competition was small, so it would be unnecessary to make this hat. So, I used to be half-believing and half-doubted about the election you mentioned in Western learning to donate officials. But because the cost was small, only a hundred yuan, even if it was useless, I would rather be wasted as a waste of water than playing with this thing; but after hearing what you said, even Zhong Jialiang and the others were eyeing Longchuan, which was a scam! If this congressman was useless, why did the big crocodile and tiger in the capital come to compete with us little mice?!"

Speaking of this, Li Guangxi suddenly lowered his head, pointed at Zhang Qijie and shouted: "You are right! This member of parliament has great potential! Otherwise, they would not have come so aggressively to grab it! This must be another wealthy promotion rank!"

"I have said earlier that the parliamentarians are very valuable, but the fat meat attracts hungry wolves. There is no money picked up on the land of the Song Dynasty!" Zhang Qijie replied, but his expression was still hesitant: "I know what you think, but even if you compete with them, can you grab them? At least the election is very expensive. Today, Fang told me that there is a Western circus ready to start Longchuan, and they don't care about hireing Cantonese opera troupes. I think he didn't lie this time. Don't say how much money it costs. We haven't seen any circus, and we can't even invite anyone to hire! He said that the money for the special election they just planned to play in Shuihuan and listen to. I guess there is no 20,000, but 10,000, and each of them can afford it, let alone gather the share."

"Ten thousand yuan, you can easily buy a dock in the Qing Dynasty! Not to mention ten thousand silver dollars, how many thousand you spend in our county town? Four people compete for a virtual civil servant who is worse than a county magistrate? And this is similar to gambling and no refunds. Once you fail, all the money will be wasted! Are you sure?" Zhang Qijie said.

"Ahem, cough cough!" Li Guangxi sighed, then coughed with choking, turned his head and shouted at the workers in anger: "So much dust! Stop doing it! Stop doing it! Let it go! Let it go! Lao Zhou settled the wages for them! Don't do this damn theater anymore!"

"Let's talk about it next time." Looking at Li Guangxi looking very angry and helpless, and reluctantly accepting the reality, Zhang Qijie patted his shoulder and said helplessly.

========================================

At this moment, a burst of laughter came from behind, and someone shouted, "Where are you here?"

Zhang Qijie and the others looked back and saw that Wang Yu's family and Qi Yunlu came over shoulder and shoulder. Each of them was smiling, holding a newspaper in their hands, "Hey, we're all in the newspaper!" Qi Yunlu shouted with a smile.

"Xiao Qi, why are you here?" Zhang Qijie's words were a little unhappy and annoyed. He knew that Qi Yunlu had already left the ball and ran away. Although he was going to give up, how could he be happy about his behavior of ignoring his companions and turning his head to escape first.

"It was Li Guangxi who asked me to come here to help me see the structure of the theater. I am old here, so don't fall anywhere but hit people." Qi Yunlu said with a smile.

"Hey, do you know that Fang Bingsheng was assisted by the Democratic Party? Why did they tell you? Why didn't you notify us? If they hadn't found me, I wouldn't have known about you!" Zhang Qijie shouted.

Qi Yunlu said with a confused expression, "What's the matter? Oh, you're talking about the election! I haven't figured out what they are doing now, what do you want me to do? Lin Liuming said that I just don't do anything during the election, and give me more projects. Isn't I just not planning to do anything? Isn't this the best of both worlds? Can I not agree? Seeing that he said it was very mysterious and he wanted to decide for the people, I said how about it going on stage with you? I didn't say anything, I just smiled to let everyone know each other. That guy, Lao Lin, said I was not qualified! Why am I not qualified? What should I be qualified? He took out a Western notebook and uttered a party certificate to me, but I didn't understand it at all. Notify you? What did you notify you? I also paid the money for the members here, and asked the opera troupe to send some mimeographed flyers. I didn't plan to notify you. What's the matter? I really didn't take it seriously."

"Oh!" Knowing that Qi Yunlu couldn't figure out what was going on, Zhang Qijie stomped his feet helplessly.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Wang Yu's family looked at Zhang and Li and looked wrong, and quickly stepped forward and asked.

Zhang Qijie told the story again and finally said, "It's impossible. They asked us to go to Zhong Erzai's house for a drink at four o'clock in the afternoon. Then go. Our Presbyterian Church honestly withdrew from the campaign to watch their circus perform."

"Why are you quit the election? If you don't choose, I will continue to choose." Wang Yu's family looked puzzled.

"Didn't you figure out what's wrong? The bastard in the capital is coming to grab it with us! We can't grab it! It's a waste of money!" Li Guangxi now looks more excited and more suspense than Zhang Qijie.

Wang Yujia smiled and said, "What does this have to do with the Democratic Party? What does it have to do with who has more money? No matter how big Zhong Jialiang is, is the bigger one ever better than Jesus? I have the bigger one ever better than the emperor? I elected because of the church calling on us Christians to run for election in the newspaper. I begged God, and I feel that God asked me to choose! I came to elect for Jesus! I have nothing to do with them, and even with you. If you don't choose, I will choose."

Zhang Qijie and the other two were stunned by the words.

After a while, Qi Yunlu smiled and said, "Is Lao Wang the same as me? He just elects, but he doesn't do anything. He does his own business. This is OK. Go to Zhong Erzai's place with us and have a dinner party for the Democratic comrades."

"Who said I wouldn't do anything?" Wang Yu's family interrupted Qi Yunlu and shouted: "I do things to glorify God. If I do things, I have to be strict and work hard! To succeed! Either don't do it or do it well! Do my best to follow God's will!"

"Do you still want to beat them?" Zhang Qijie widened his eyes and shouted: "Do you know if they have much experience in financial resources and canvassing votes! They even invited Western circuses, which will inevitably cause a sensation in the county. Who will pay attention to you then? Do you want to stand alone on Sany Street and let others vote for their own votes? That is impossible."

Wang Yu's family was stunned for a moment, spread their hands and shouted, "At least I get as many tickets as I have. Isn't it better to have all the tickets God gave me? Can you enter the top four? It depends on God's will, it has nothing to do with me."

"Where are you getting tickets?! Our county town is full of rural people, who cares about you!" Zhang Qijie shouted in a tone of regret.

Qi Yunlu also interrupted, "Lin Liuming is quarreling with opium. You all know that he is too rude and sometimes he is unconscious, and he says everything. He gave me class yesterday, and what tickets are they? The people will not give you for free. They are all a group of troublemakers. You have to spend money to buy them. Only when they give them money can they vote for you. As for Mr. Fang, that man is even more ruthless. He bought tickets and asked himself to vote for dozens of votes. This is also money. So Mr. Fang has always called it "buying tickets."

"What? They did this!" Zhang Qijie shouted, his eyes full of disbelief. He thought that he had seen American elections to give beer and bread to the parade, but he did not expect that Fang Bingsheng's tricks were darker and more ruthless than he thought.

"Oh, fortunately I'm going to withdraw. I didn't expect that there were so many channels inside and the water was so deep." Li Guangxi shook his head with lingering fear, then leaned over, lit up Wang Yu's chest and said, "Old Wang, do you want to buy tickets too? How much do you plan to throw in?"

Wang Yu's family said in confusion: "I don't plan to spend much money. There are 1,000 people baptized in our church. According to the literacy rate, there are about 200 people. There must be 100 people over 25 years old. If half of them are rarely coming to the church, then there will be fifty votes. In addition, the workers in my factory and the bosses and workers who rely on me for food must also have 2,300 people. There are at least fifty or sixty people in it who are qualified, right? Then I will have 100 votes! For Longchuan, how many people can vote in the whole city??? It's only hundreds of votes to die. One hundred literate people, and those who have food and clothing think we are not bad. Is that okay?"

"Yes!" Li Guangxi suddenly punched his palm and shouted: "In the past, there were not many people in the church who would care about this, and there would not be many tickets! But many people rely on us to make a living! There are quite a few workers alone! We give workers dozens of yuan a year. No matter how rich Fang Bingsheng is, he can't spend the workers' wages to buy tickets? Workers are relying on us for many years. Who dares not vote for their boss!"

Zhang Qijie said: "But most of your and my factory are from outsiders and young people, and there are many illiterate people. How can I count this?

"The election will take seven weeks, so many people can get rid of the blindness," Wang Yu's family looked at Zhang Qijie and Li Guangxi with some complaints and shouted: "Doctor Li has told you many times, but you are reluctant to let the workers get off work and learn to read for half a day. My factory does this. Ganggang works six days a week, half a day of gatherings, half a day of literacy, how can you read the Bible? Look, God has retribution in front of you? Originally, simplified Chinese characters and newspapers are flying around, and many workers also know a few words, ask a few people to teach them, and they will soon learn to read."

"As for the naturalization of foreigners, you can actually just apply for the Public Security Bureau. Many workers have worked with me for more than two years, and there is a list of paying and tax reporting as evidence. I just have to worry about trouble and have not done it." Zhang Qijie rubbed his teeth and said.

At this time, Li Guangxi suddenly shook Zhang Qijie's arm and said, "Even if Fang Bingsheng is a cross-jianglong, he is the only one from the capital! The Opium Pavilion is also a local, so are we. Even if we are local bumpkins, they are also turtles on the ground. They bite the toads, who knows what the outcome is? They all came to rob the congressmen, which means that the congressmen are treasures. For this treasure, we can take risks, right?"

Zhang Qijie bit his lip, looking very nervous inside, as if he was hesitating with the dice in his hand, and said, "But they want to take out 10,000 or 20,000. It's enough for two months to buy all the civilians in the county."

Qi Yunlu smiled and said, "They don't have 10,000 or 20,000 yuan. Lin Liuming said that Fang Bingsheng's campaign funds are 2,000 yuan."

But after saying that, he shouted with a fear look on his face, "But even if they spend two thousand here, they are too rich! This is a completely wasteful way to play! We originally expected to raise three or four hundred yuan in total."

"Old Zhang, Zhong Jialiang and Weng Jianguang are all snatching the congressman! How precious this thing is, you can imagine how precious this thing is!! If we miss this village, there will be no such store!" Li Guangxi shouted with a fist.

"Yes, if they don't come and rob, I really don't know that this thing is so valuable!" Qi Yunlu touched her head, looked around and said, "Old Fan didn't come again? Otherwise, I will replace him as the fourth one? Maybe the MP will also hit me on the head with a black hat."

Then he covered his chest with his hands and shouted, "But I will explain that I will pay up to eighty silver dollars. According to Fang Bingsheng's set, I will pay 55 yuan per person. That's nonsense! I won't choose!"

====================================

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Democratic comrade who was sitting high in Zhong Erzai's mansion did not wait for the four defeated dogs. The one who came was Qi Yunlu, and he also brought the silver basin and silver comb that Fang Bingsheng gave Zhang Qijie in the morning.

"What's going on?! Are they crazy?" After hearing the news of the breakdown of the negotiations brought by Qi Yunlu, Fang Bingsheng slapped the table in shock and anger. The other four comrades also looked at each other, thinking that the three bastards in the Presbyterian Church had a mad attack. In this situation, they had to choose themselves.

Qi Yunlu was about to explain, and Fang Bingsheng said as he took out an envelope from his arms and handed it to Qi Yunlu: "Mr. Qi, why are they stubborn? Can you tell me?"

Qi Yunlu was stunned. She took it and opened it. It was Zhang Zhengxin’s ten-yuan banknote. He smiled in surprise and said, “You still have to pay for this? You’re so kind!”

He said this, but he put the envelope into his pocket without hesitation, and then he talked about the Presbyterian Church in all its strategies, of course, he skipped his big mouth and talked about the Democratic Party.

When Lin Liuming saw Qi Yunlu back away, Li Meng looked at Qi Yunlu's back on the steps and said to him with a worried look: "Old Lin, don't talk about everything in front of Qi Yunlu. That person is also a big mouth and says everything."

"Don't worry, I'm so strict." Lin Liuming nodded repeatedly, walked past Li Meng with the corner of his robe. After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned his head with a look of shock and anger and asked, "Comrade No. 102, what does the word 'Ye' mean?"
Chapter completed!