Wednesday at 10:00.

The streets had already quieted down. The iron gate of the textile factory that had experienced the collapse of the sky and the earth during the day was closed tightly, as if a frightened person had closed his eyelids. At this time, the iron gate was pounded, and someone outside shouted: "Are you asleep? Open the door for me!"

It was like a fearful person heard a terrible sound, his eyelids were closed and he didn't dare to look at it, but the eyeballs under his eyelids had already begun to turn in a panic.

There was a noise behind the iron gate. Although he deliberately lowered his voice and let his hands and feet lighter, the people outside the door could still hear him as if he was startled a nest of sheep: the footsteps inside, accompanied by a terrifying low conversation, and the sound of metal rubbing metal, at least a dozen people pressed behind and around the iron gate;

"Who?" It was a noise inside for half a minute. After the sound completely calmed down, a timid question came from the door.

"Me! Qi Yunlu! If you have an urgent matter, look for Lao Zhang! Hurry up, open the door!" The person outside the door shouted. Hearing this tone, he knew that he must be anxious to jump and say this.

There was another small noise behind the door, and he discussed it timidly like a group of mice behind the cave entrance for a long time. The small door on the large iron gate for people to enter and exit opened, and Qi Yunlu immediately lowered her head and crawled in.

As soon as he stepped into the ground of Longchuan Textile Factory, Qi Yunlu saw more than a dozen people around him, some holding iron rods, some holding wooden sticks, and three foreign gun barrels shining metallic in the night. Of course, there were also brooms and inverted foreign wine bottles.

The manager stood beside Qi Yunlu. Seeing that it was him, the manager breathed a sigh of relief. He put the wooden stick in his hand against the iron door on the ground, pulled out the palm-shaped fan from his waist and fanned it. He even slapped his neck with one hand, which had been slapped countless red bumps there.

"Boss Qi? When is it now? Do you have any major issues to look for our boss?" The manager asked in horror.

Qi Yunlu shrugged her shoulders and did not answer the question, but pointed to a piece of ragged mat not far away and asked, "Are you sleeping outside today?"

The manager sighed and said, "If there is such a big deal in this factory, how dare we relax? What if there are even criminals who will harm us at night? Can we defend the factory day and night?"

As he said that, he waved his hand and said, "Boss Qi, come with me. Dr. Li and the others of the Presbyterian Council and Editor-in-Chief Zheng have also come, and they haven't left yet."

Looking at the lights on Zhang Qijie's office on the second floor in front, the manager shook his head and sighed, and said to himself: "Today...ah..." He led Qi Yunlu over in a hurry.

The door of the textile machinery inside the building was also cross-sealed. Because the dormitory building was also set on fire, the workers slept in a stairs and corners of the corridor and stairs outside the door. Qi Yunlu followed the manager carefully and stepped over one worker after another, snoring like thunder or looking at the ceiling with his eyes open or sighing with his eyes closed. Looking up, the door of Zhang Qijie's office was covered in a false sense, and the orange light of the candle inside gushed out, hitting the corridor floor, and making a huge shiny "l" in the dark.

As I walked closer, the sound inside the door also came out clearly, echoing in the corridor. Others could not hear the clear voices. Only Zhang Qijie's tone was heard higher and higher. Just listening to this tone, you knew that Zhang Qijie was furious:

"Elder Hou, what do you say about God's belonging to God, and Caesar's belonging to Caesar? They are shattering me! Am I not a brother of our church? Wouldn't you help me?"

"Where have I ever evaded taxes? I didn't have time to apply for naturalization and tax reimbursement for workers from other places! What? I haven't done it for two years? Dr. Li, try sitting in my position? How busy I am every day! It's like five minutes, and it's just a blink of an eye! I'm really a bit procrastinating, but I really have no intention of evading taxes! Besides, who doesn't evade taxes? Everyone is doing what I do! I've always paid taxes first in Longchuan!"

"Elder Hou, if you don't help me, I will fight against Liu Guojian with Li Guangxi! We'll be dead!"

"What? Doctor Li, you just said that what I said was not what Christians should say? I ask God to help me! But I have to work hard myself, do you want me to die?"

At this time, Qi Yunlu finally walked to the shiny "l" light column, and he pushed open the door: Two French candlesticks were lit in the room, each with five candles on it. The room was brightly lit, and four or five people inside turned their heads to look at him - Dr. Li and Elder Hou and Zhang Qijie were standing in the local area, and Editor Zheng sat on the sofa and ate fruit.

"Xiao Qi, what time is it? Are you still here? Have you written the letter from Li Guangxi?" Seeing Qi Yunlu coming, Zhang Qijie looked excited and immediately pointed at him and asked.

A big wry smile appeared on Qi Yunlu's face. He stood in the door frame, spread his hands, and said, "Old Zhang, Guangxi asked me to send you a message: He has withdrawn from the election."

"What did you say?" Zhang Qijie was stunned, then stretched out his arms, stared at him, and opened his mouth to be stunned. After a while, he shook his head with his ears in disbelief and asked again.

"Li Guangxi withdrew from the election. He will go and apologize to Fang Bingsheng tomorrow." Qi Yunlu shook her head.

"What's going on? Has someone thrown into the body in his factory? Or should he notify him to check the tax tomorrow?" Zhang Qijie ran to Qi Yunlu for a few steps, held Qi Yunlu's shoulders with both hands and shook them desperately.

After all, Li Guangxi is Zhang Qijie's only and most powerful allied army. Only by joining forces can you win. Now I heard that this only victory hopes to leave him, how could Zhang Qijie believe this fact?

Qi Yunlu was still shaking by Zhang Qijie. He raised his head, his usual smile still appeared on his face, but the corners of his mouth drooped, as if there was a coptis chinensis stuffed inside. He said in embarrassment: "Don't ask. It's nothing. Anyway, Guangxi has resolutely withdrawn."

At this time, he was indeed a mute and had trouble saying that eating Coptis chinensis. Li Guangxi was threatened by a son in Huizhou, so how could he dare to choose again? And even so, he was afraid of being Zhang Qijie and the others knew that if Zhang Qijie got into trouble because of threatening the child, Fang Bingsheng felt dissatisfied, wouldn’t his son still be in danger?

So he was uneasy, and should he immediately take his son back to Longchuan or go to Huizhou to see his son, and he was full of his mind. Secondly, how could he face Zhang Qijie's words like this? A big man was tearfully mourned by others?

He begged Qi Yunlu to withdraw from the election on his behalf, but never talk about his son.

"Old Zhang, don't ask, Li Guangxi is also suffering. He will not fight against Fang Bingsheng anyway." Seeing that Zhang Qijie had become stiff, Qi Yunlu walked around the arm that the other party put on his shoulder and patted Zhang Qijie's shoulder comfortably to express sympathy and understanding.

"Mom!" Zhang Qijie let go of Qi Yunlu, strode to the desk, and punched him hard: the force was so strong that even a French lampstand on it jumped up, and the room suddenly became dark, and the shadows of candles were shaking, like countless ghosts flying around the wall.

He smashed the table and stood still with his back to everyone, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Qi Yunlu nodded to the workers and managers who came over hearing the sound, saying that they were fine, then closed the door, stepped on the cat steps, walked around the coffee table, and sat side by side with Editor-in-Chief Zheng. While staring at Zhang Qijie, she reached out to grab a fruit and ate it. She ate it very carefully, bit it slowly and chewed it without making any sound.

After a while, Zhang Qijie turned around and held Dr. Li's hand. His face was no longer the unyielding expression of the tough guy just now, but a spasm expression of fear and fear. Tears turned into his eyes. He shouted in tremblingly: "Doctor Li, what should I do? Doctor Li, should I hurry up and ask Fang Bingsheng and Liu Guojian? Let them let me go?"

"What do you ask them for? Why don't you ask God to forgive you and help you?" Dr. Li exclaimed and asked in confusion.

"Please God?! Ah!" Zhang Qijie raised his face with pain, as if he was asked by Dr. Li why he didn't eat meat. He lowered his head and roared, "How can God treat me like this? Haven't I been working hard for the church in the past few years? Didn't I run around for the glory of? I have done so much for? I have worked hard without any credit. It would be fine if I didn't give me rewards and rewards, but how could I treat me like this?!!!!"

Elder Hou looked at Zhang Qijie's face that was about to collapse and did not dare to speak; Editor Zheng and Qi Yunlu, who were sitting side by side on the sofa chewing food carefully, slowed down their mouths, and they did not use their teeth but squeezed them with their upper and lower jaws.

But Dr. Li remained calm at all, as if he was not facing a heartbroken old friend, but still a disbelief who often faced a disbelief who questioned his God. He responded to this sad question in a resolute tone, which made him speak with a ruthless and cold feeling: "Lao Zhang, what qualifications do you have to speak to God like this? Do you want to give God to God and give me rewards? The so-called reward and reward are you to give to the other party first, and the other party gives you equivalent gold and silver or praise! But what can you give to God first? All your things, including your life, are given to you first!!! You have nothing to your own, all of them? Give it to you!!! Since they are all of God, God will give you as you please, and God will take it back if you are willing to take it back!!! What do you howl!!!"

This was said too ruthlessly, and Elder Hou let out a breath of silence, expressing his shock; the two foodies on the sofa stretched their necks together to see Zhang Qijie's reaction.

It was like an angry fighting dog carrying a basin of cold water in his head. Zhang Qijie was stunned at first, then he was at a loss. Finally, he held back his tears and lowered his head, his voice choked: "I was wrong... but... I don't want to do this..."

Dr. Li sighed and continued to say it, but these words sounded even more ruthless in the ears of others:

"Old Zhang, this time it was probably a lesson that God taught you. You think you have become rich and prosperous, and you think you can be outstanding. You have wealth and reputation. Everyone respects you wherever you go, but this is not yours, they all belong to God. When you are in the church, you often bring your subordinates and workers. As soon as you come on stage, they applaud you warmly. Are they sincerely praising you for witnessing? Are you really aware that your preaching is reasonable? They are afraid of you.

When you tell your testimony, you always say that you are pious, so God gives you glory and wealth. But how many people are there like you? Brother Xi Xiangdao used to have more money than you, but how did God treat him? He let him run a church bookstore; how many people in our church are as successful as you? How many poor are there? Do we say that people are poor because God doesn’t love him? Or is God the god who gives us gold and silver? What’s the difference between this and the Guanyin Buddha in the temple?

Our God doesn't like you to value worldly success? What you value is your heart. Do you really love? Do you love money? Do you really love your neighbors? Look at you not only lower the wages of workers; your factory will not smoke on Sundays, and you are worried that our church will say that you are still working on Sundays, you deliberately do not preach to workers, and you will not let most poor workers be Christians, or even Christians, they will not feel your love;

You let the workers live in the wooden building of Zhou Laosan. This building has not been 50 years or forty years!! I have been there several times. There are dozens of workers who can live in the size of a palm. People lie on the floor. Even if the workers are not humans, they are wooden crates, and there are not as much wooden crates as you put in the warehouse, right? Rats, cockroaches, fleas, and mosquitoes. On rainy days, rainwater comes in from the roof and flows along the attic wall to the first floor;

The walls are full of holes, and the wooden boards are layer by layer and nails are even more scary than beggar's patchwork robes; they shake when they blow, and they may collapse at any time. Have you ever cared about the lives of your workers? Do you really lack the money for a good dormitory? Or do you want your children to live in such places, get bedsores, and work hard for sixteen hours, seven days a week, until you get sick and get two pieces of ocean and get kicked out of the factory and wait for death? Is this what God taught you to love like this?"

Zhang Qijie bent over after saying this, as if he had to lean his butt on the edge of the table and support his hands on the table so that he could stand on his body. His five fingers of the other hand were spread out and covered his face. The skin between his fingers turned red. He said tremblingly: "Doctor Li, don't talk anymore..."

"Doctor Li, forget it, this is not Elder Zhang's fault. I have been to the factory in Beijing. It turns out that Longchuan is not very poor?" Elder Hou also advised Dr. Li.

Dr. Li shook his head, but continued, "I still remember you criticizing Fan Linhui in the fellowship, saying that he was wrong in this and that, but now I think every word is said to you. What are you worried about now? I am worried that if you have no money and no factories, others will not respect you, and you will be embarrassed? So do others value you or your money? Does God value you or your money? Or are the rich Zhang Qijie and the poor Zhang Qijie the same person?"

"You said Liu Guojian framed you, but you did recruit black workers, did evade taxes, and did use foreigners to make them unable to do it when they get sick, and then kicked them away, leaving them homeless and waiting to die in bridge holes and straw sheds after they were out of work. Last week's sermon was 'obeying the authority on the ground', saying that even a village chief had to obey with a gentle heart. Why did you call us to march when you meet Liu Guojian? I suggest you wait for the tax check result with peace of mind. If you want to pay the fine, pay it. As for the railway company to sue the railway company for lack of supervision and let your goods mix into opium, I personally agree to you as a layperson in the Presbyterian Church to initiate a lawsuit. But I will not agree to you initiating any lawsuits and protests about tax evasion and black workers, because you have done it."

Hearing this, Qi Yunlu and Editor-in-Chief Zheng looked at each other in surprise: Although Dr. Li became a layperson due to his early mistakes, he has always been the most respected person in the Presbyterian Church. What he said is a matter of words. Since he said so, it is almost the final result of the internal vote of the Christian elders of the Presbyterian Church: The Presbyterian Church only supports the textile factory to file a lawsuit against the railway company, but does not support the textile factory to fight against tax checks and the sky-high penalties that followed.

No one spoke in the room and fell into a dead silence.

Zhang Qijie was still trembling all over, but he still covered his face with one hand and said with a hoarse voice: "Xiao Qi..."

"Ah? Call me? I'm here!" Qi Yunlu swallowed the food in her mouth and responded in a speechless manner.

"Tomorrow you come to me with the drawings. Let's discuss it. You can investigate the geography. I will demolish the old dormitory first. You can build a brick and stone Western tube building for me as a dormitory." Zhang Qijie said slowly.

"Okay!" Qi Yunlu was stunned, and then shouted ecstaticly: "No need to survey! I have done it for you a long time ago! I will bring the drawings tomorrow! Don't worry, I am the best at this kind of tube building. I have used it for a hundred years and it looks good..."

Zhang Qijie covered his face and waved his hand, stopping Qi Yunlu from confessing his outstanding engineering skills in a nagging manner. He said: "It's too late, I need to be quiet by myself. Can you please leave first?"

Everyone quickly stood up and said goodbye, and walked out one after another.

Zhang Qijie locked the door, knelt on the ground with a click, crossed his hands and clenched his fists, and looked at the shaking light and shadows on the glass, two lines of tears flowed down from his face. He cried in a low voice, shouting: "My Lord! Yesterday, just yesterday, I was still thinking that I had a member of parliament and had power to call the wind and rain, and make this textile factory more profitable. I also became the number one big man in Longchuan County, and even my credit and money made the emperor summon me! But in just one day, I became a poor man! Lord, the Gospel of Luke says: - There is a rich man with abundant land. I thought in my heart that my production has no place to collect.
Chapter completed!