Chapter 76 The Railway Station

The history of this railway station in Baoding was built in the late Guangxu period. Later, the railway tracks were pried away during the Boxer Rebellion and melted into weapons. It was not until several years ago that Yuan Shikai proposed the idea of ​​going south to the north. However, Yuan Shikai was later removed from his post and placed under house arrest in the capital. The railway was restored to Baoding without further downwards to Shijiazhuang. Because most merchants knew that there were many bandits and bandits and were unwilling to go here, the railway station became much depressed.

Like other large northern towns, Baoding has gradually become westernized. Walking on the streets of Baoding, there are Western-style newcomers wearing suits and ties everywhere, and there are many progressive young women who have long abandoned their deep dreams and hidden thoughts. Although the railway station in Baoding is much more depressed than before, it is still the most popular place in Baoding, especially today, there is a train heading to Tianjin. This is even more crowded. Even though it is not as crowded as the crowd, it can be called crowded.

Near the railway station platform, a large number of people were looking at both sides of the railway, guessing when the train would arrive. On the side of the platform, people had a vacant space, which seemed particularly abrupt in this crowded place. In the middle of the open space, four male and female students seemed to be rehearsing their patriotic dramas. The people around were just waiting for the car and were bored. Watching these four people perform can also relieve mental distress. These four students were also amazing. The serious matter of Li Hongzhang signing the traitorous treaty became a comic farce. The sarcasm for the Qing court officials was vividly displayed, which attracted the people around them to applause.

However, at the very bottom of the crowd, there were two people who looked very prominent. A strong and mighty young man dressed up like a Taoist in You Fang, his face was covered with dust, and he watched the drama with no interest, as if these things had nothing to do with him. Next to him, a monk wearing a plain yellow cassock, barefoot and elegant appearance stood. The opposite of the young man was that the monk was clean all over. Even if he stood barefoot on the mud-covered ground, his feet were extremely clean, and he felt as if he was not covered with dust. Compared to the young man, the monk was watching the drama from beginning to end, but he did not smile at all, and he was always expressionless. Only the deep contempt and disdain could be slightly noticed from the sight in his eyes.

The four students had already noticed these two spectators with completely opposite temperaments and behaviors from the surrounding environment, especially the contempt and disdain in the monk's eyes, which made one of the female students easily notice and told them to the other companions. Since they were performing, they could not stop halfway, so the four of them just focused their attention on this monk and asked them why they had such an expression after the performance was over.

"The car is here!" After a whistle sounded, everyone's attention was on the train slowly entering the platform. The four students were no exception and focused on the train at this moment. When they turned around, they found that the monks had disappeared just now. Although they wanted to search again, the crowds of people pushing towards the platform blocked everyone's sight.

"Damn it, this is something that makes people lose! You don't pay attention to it." The female student who noticed the monk's disdainful eyes complained unhappily about the students beside her, then searched around and said angrily: "I actually look at our drama with such disdainful eyes. If I don't ask him clearly, I will definitely not be able to swallow this."

A male student standing beside him said flatteringly: "Just stand on your luggage and you will definitely see them condescendingly."

"That's right!" The female student nodded, quickly put the suitcases of several people together, and then stood on it with the help of her companions, stretched her neck and looked around for a week, and soon found her target. However, the scene that came into her eyes made her stunned for a moment, and saw that the monks were walking freely in the sea of ​​people as if they were walking in the garden. When they moved forward, the people around their bodies who were waiting to get on the bus would make an inexplicable way and separate them from them for a distance. When they walked away, they squeezed together again, and then the people in front would automatically make a way out as before. This gave people the feeling that there was an invisible wall around them, separating them from the world, which seemed very strange.

The two of them did not walk fast, but they arrived at the car they were about to get on faster than the train passengers who were pushing forward with all their might. When they got on the bus, the monk seemed to feel the gaze of the female student, looked here, and smiled and shook his head, as if mocking the female student's childish mentality.

"How is it? Sujuan, have you found it?" Another female student below asked anxiously when she saw her companion's stunned look.

"Finished!" The companion's voice woke up, jumped off the salute, and said with a frown: "But they are on the No. 4 carriage."

"Ah? Car No. 4!" The others took a breath, and one of the male students said jealously: "Are they monks who can actually get into Car No. 4?"

In order to facilitate foreigners and wealthy businessmen from the north and south, the railway bureau of the Qing court specially opened several carriages for each train, separating them from the poor and ordinary people. Carriage No. 4 became the general term for these carriages. The tickets for these carriages are very expensive, almost for ordinary people to spend a year. Not only ordinary people cannot afford them, but even ordinary foreigners cannot afford such tickets. People who can ride these carriages are rich merchants and powerful people who are not rich, or are rich foreigners such as the general manager of foreign business banks.

It was reasonable for everyone to express their surprise expressions of two monks who could actually get into the No. 4 carriage. The female student in the lead seemed a little unwilling to let the monk go, especially the monk shook her head contemptuously. This was even more provocative in the hearts of the arrogant female student, and she could not let it go, so she gritted her teeth and said, "Let's go, we will get into the No. 4 carriage."

"What?" The other three were all shocked. The female companion next to her immediately took her hand and said, "Sujuan, don't go crazy, we don't have that much money to sit in such a luxurious car."

"What are you afraid of? Don't you pay a penny. I have a ticket to the Baoxiang Money House of Huizhou Chamber of Commerce, which is enough for us to sit in the No. 4 car," the female student in the lead glared at her companion and said, "Those corrupt officials of the Qing Dynasty can sit, corrupt businessmen can sit, foreign foreigners can sit, and even those two monks can sit. Why can't we, open-minded and progressive students sit?"

As she said that, she raised the salute in her hand and walked towards the No. 4 carriage. Her companions looked at each other and finally chased after her with their luggage.

The monk and Taoist who were waiting for the No. 4 carriage were Xu Changqing and Guan Zheng. Since they were both focused on the competition, they ran the wrong direction and lost their way. They finally found their position when they arrived at Gao Yang. They finally took a whole day and a night to come to Baoding. Both of them were both practitioners, and they would not have any impact on their sleeping day and night. They all maintained a refreshing spirit, but compared to their spirit, the appearance of the two was very different. Xu Changqing's method of avoiding dust has been used to perfection. Even if they did not deliberately use the spirit, the Nine-River Avenue could use the method of avoiding dust by themselves. Even if they were walking in the mountains full of dust, they still had no dust and were as clean as new. Guan Zheng chased the ground all the way. Although he was protected by the magical method, he was always covered in dust. The dust made him feel like he was climbing out of the ground.

It was precisely because of this dusty appearance that Guan Zheng felt very uncomfortable sitting in this extremely luxuriously decorated car. Moreover, the rich and well-dressed people around him looked at him and felt even more uncomfortable. He looked a little reserved and asked Xu Changqing, who was sitting opposite him: "Master, have we been in the wrong car? The tickets for such a car seem very expensive."

"Brother Guan is not nervous about dealing with those demons and ghosts. He is actually nervous when facing these common people and things. It seems that Brother Guan's Taoist heart needs to be practiced more!" Xu Changqing smiled and said, "You don't have to care about the tickets, it is not as expensive as you think. This train route was booked by someone I knew. The ticket price for this carriage is the same as that of the ordinary carriage."

Before coming to Baoding, Xu Changqing had learned from other ways that Chen Zhangping, the fourth son of the Chen family, had already booked the train route from the Beiyang New Army who controlled the railway a year ago, and also built a club near Baoding, which was dedicated to entertainment for foreigners and wealthy merchants in the Tianjin Concession. This is also the main reason why Xu Changqing did not go to Cangzhou to Baoding. Although Xuangang Tianmo is now in a prosperous state and sent people everywhere to intercept and kill people from the lower nine-rate side sects who are up north, even if he is rampant, he dare not rashly interfere in the industries of the Beiyang New Army and the things of foreigners in the concession. Compared with other places, this train seems much more stable.

When he arrived at the ticket sales site at the railway station, Xu Changqing immediately showed the Chen family's guest jade sign. The supervisor who presided over Baoding Railway Station was also an old man from the Chen family. When he saw Xu Changqing, he immediately recognized him. The old man of the Chen family knew how high his identity was in the Chen family. Even the fourth young master of the Chen family who presided over the things around Tianjin had to be respectful when he saw him. So he immediately arranged for him and Guan Zheng to sit in the highest number 4 carriage, and sent a special person to the car to serve him in order to satisfy him.

"I'm relieved!" Hearing Xu Changqing's words, Guan Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and said in a low voice: "I'm not afraid of you making fun of you. This is my first time taking the train, and it's really a bit rare."

"It's the first time I'm taking the train." Xu Changqing smiled, then waved, called the waiter, pointed at Guan Zheng and said, "Please take this gentleman to the bathroom and wash it up. Also, take all the new newspapers out these days for me."

"Yes!" After hearing the waiter who was ordered by the train stationmaster to salute very respectfully, he led Guan Zheng to the toilet in the middle of the car. Not long after, he brought a large stack of organized newspapers and placed them on the table in front of Xu Changqing, and then asked, "Master, do you want to drink something?"

"Come on a cup of tea!" The expression on Xu Changqing's face returned to his usual coldness. He gave an order and then pulled out a Tianjin Daily and started reading it.

Although there are many newspapers in front of us, and there are foreign newspapers, the content is roughly the same. It is almost the same as the new emperor ascended the throne, the regent ruled, and a series of measures issued by the Qing court. The only newspaper that attracted Xu Changqing's attention was four, and only one of them was a local newspaper. Among the four newspapers, Japanese and French newspapers in less prominent places stated that they would not interfere in China's internal affairs and refused Mr. Sun's request for entry. Another newspaper was the New York Times, which put out the words "Is China moving forward? Or is it going backward?" in the second page, which mainly mentioned two things: Yuan Shikai was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown, placed under house arrest, and the Qing government asked the Japanese government to assist them in controlling students studying in Japan.

As for China's local newspaper, it was an editorial published by an anonymous writer of the Shanghai Times, which talked about some of the current situation, problems and ways to deal with problems in the Qing court. Interestingly, in the article, it is believed that Yuan Shikai's dismissal was a good thing, and the Qing court should take this opportunity to master the Beiyang New Army and then go south to pacify the chaos of the southern revolutionary party. From the article, it can be easily seen that the writer's thoughts are an absolute royalist, advocate constitutional monarchy, and extremely oppose the revolutionary party chaired by Sun and Huang. They believe that the revolutionary party is the source of all unrest, and they believe that the Qing court should uproot the revolutionary party with a thunderous momentum.

The thoughts expressed in this article reminded Xu Changqing of a person he didn't want to think of. When he saw that the author's name at the end of the article was Sushanren, a sneer appeared on his face. When the reform was reform, Chen Deshang invested and worked hard for him. At that time, several hosts of the reform had lived in Chen Jiachong for a while and had a long talk with Xu Changqing. Xu Changqing really admired the knowledge of the six people, but thought that all of their thoughts and methods of acting were not desirable, while Xu Changqing always admired the one and two people for their character.

Sushanren was also one of the few people in Chen Jiachong at that time, and was the one who called him the most fiercely during the reform and escaped the fastest after the accident. Now this person is still wandering overseas because of the incident and dare not step into Middle-earth. Sushanren is a pseudonym he once used, and few people know it, but Prince Chun Zaifeng, one of the parties involved in that year, knew very well about his pseudonym and articles. In this way, it is worth engaging to publish such an article at this time, which is quite pleasing to you.
Chapter completed!