The daughter of the Lu family was famous in the capital when she was in the Sacred Heart Girls' School, and her manners and demeanor were everyone's demeanor, and she knew English and French languages, and her dancing skills were also good, so Cao Rulin, the waiter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asked the female student to recommend a student to receive foreign envoys, the purpose was to arrange Lu Xiaoman into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, according to the regulations of the Ministry of Officials, anyone who wants to enter the government department must take the civil service examination, and Lu Xiaoman of course passed the exam, but in the end he was arranged to go to the Prime Minister's Office, as for why this is so, it is not clear.

Obviously, the act of asking the Sacred Heart Girls' School to nominate students is a hype to increase Lu Xiaoman's prestige, just like a female star in later generations. Although it is not so cheap, the reason is the same, and the ultimate goal of the Lu family is to recruit a good son-in-law. It is said that with Lu Xiaoman's appearance, of course, he can marry a general - after the European War, many revival military academy officers were promoted to generals, but those generals are really a martial artist in Wu Manhua's opinion, not to mention the rest, what if they beat their daughter with one hand? So after all, the two couples were still looking for young talents, and then they found Wang Geng, whose ancestral home is also Changzhou.

In order to take the lead, the time from engagement to marriage is only a little more than a month, that is, it is set last month and ended next month, making it seem that the daughter is unmarried and pregnant unhappily, and she will humiliate the family if she gets married. The Lu family is so anxious, it is also a last resort, first Wang Geng, who was born in West Point, has participated in the Paris Peace Conference and the Washington Naval Conference, although he is just a foil for a foil, but no matter how much he foils, he is also a leader for a while; At the same time, among the students studying in the United States, this son is respected by others, he is the only military student in Jiangsu and Zhejiang - the other two graduating West Point Wen Yingxing and Chen Yanlin are all Cantonese, and they have nothing to do with the southeast at all.

Just as the people who came to the Lu family to propose relatives stepped through the threshold, the people who went to the Wang family to talk to the matchmaker had to queue up when they entered the door. finally got on this line through the friendship relationship - in fact, the real advantage of the Lu family is still the money to accompany the marriage. As soon as Lu Ding's husband and wife return to heaven in the future, won't this property change its surname to Wang? According to the original historical trajectory. The Lu family went bankrupt precisely because of Wang Geng, a good son-in-law - then you have to hurry up, in case you have too many dreams at night.

And again. Lu Ding couldn't see the situation clearly after starting a business, and was attracted by the name of the Sino-Italian joint venture, and became the general manager of Zhenyi Bank, which now began to be liquidated last winter because it did not comply with the regulations on the management of Sino-foreign joint venture financial institutions of the Ministry of Finance, and has been closed this year. The bank was closed, but a few years ago, the stock market was hot, and Liu Wenhua, the general office, wantonly embezzled the funds of bank depositors to enter the stock market, and the war ended. The stocks sold immediately collapsed, and the loss of two million was a huge loss, and it would be good if the bank continued to do it, after all, the water kept flowing and the ghost of such a big pit under the water didn't know, but it was ......

General Office Liu Wenhua, his background is the righteous son of Zhang Xun, the former governor of Jiangnan in the Qing Dynasty. Although Zhang Xun, who participated in the restoration, and other Manchu widows were pardoned by King Min, in the end, he lost his power, and Zhang Xun couldn't stop his affairs, and Liu Wenhua had been taken away by the Inspectorate. Liu Wen fell. Lu Ding couldn't escape; Lu Ding can't escape, not to mention the family property, even if he himself has to be sentenced to ten years and eight years.

Why? There is no one in the household department to provide evidence! There is no one in the Inspectorate who prosecuted! There is no one in the Dali Temple of the trial! Don't look at the independence of the new dynasty, in fact. Neither is the fart! It's nothing more than drawing boundaries and playing one game for each one. If it really has to do with it, Wang Fa will turn the same way. And the Wang family is the one who has this kind of relationship.

All of this made Lu Ding and his wife watch Cao Rulin's Volkswagen sedan go farther and farther. And Cao Rulin in the car also lived up to his trust, so he went to the General Staff Headquarters to find Wang Geng in the afternoon, and did not want to wait in the guard room at the gate of the General Staff for a while. The non-commissioned officer who called Wang Geng's dormitory to find someone came over and said, "Master Cao, the Major Wang you are looking for is not in the dormitory. ”

"Ah, no... It's not here......" Cao Rulin pinched his sweat, he remembered that he had called Wang Geng before coming.

"It has been confirmed, and Major Wang is indeed not in the dormitory." The non-commissioned officer said politely but vigilantly, for him, everyone should be on guard.

"Good, good. Then I'll come back tomorrow. Cao Rulin was very uncomfortable by the non-commissioned officer, so he had to leave immediately. But he was very unstable in his heart, where did this Wang Geng go, the wedding date is approaching, there should be something wrong.

Cao Rulin was thinking about Wang Geng, and Wang Geng was in a movie theater at this time, of course, he didn't come to see the movie, but to attend a meeting or a secret meeting.

All the lights in the cinema room were extinguished as if a movie was showing, except for a lit candle on the table under the white canvas, and a man in a black robe and doll mask stood in front of the table, who was the host of the meeting. Except for this person, Wang Geng, who was sitting in the back, couldn't see the faces of the others clearly—even if he did, everyone was like the abbot and himself, with masks on their faces.

Although he couldn't tell who was under the mask, he could still distinguish the voice of West Point alumnus Wen Yingxing and former Columbia classmate Jiang Menglin from his Cantonese accent. As for the other dozen or so, either they couldn't hear at all, or they didn't say anything at all, but whether he knew it or not, he knew that these people were all his 'brothers'!

"Brothers, interrupt, the news I just got that the king in charge of the human world has been determined...... "The knight of the abbot's meeting is proficient in English, and although his voice is deliberately hoarse, his age can still be judged to be middle-aged. As soon as he mentioned the current political situation, Wang Geng's cranky mind immediately disappeared, and he just wanted to know who the next king was. So, in everyone's expectation, the host paused slightly before saying, "...... The next king will still be Lucifer! ”

“Shit！” “Fuck！” Hearing that Lucifer was still king, everyone present at the meeting was furious, not only some scolded loudly, but some even stood up and angrily denounced in disregard of the rules of the meeting.

"Quiet!!" The abbot in the doll mask burst into applause, and the entire movie theater fell into silence deeper than the abyss. Everyone knows what happens if you don't follow the rules, because someone has already set an example. "I have to remind the knights present that although Lucifer is still wreaking havoc on the innocent Adams, under the guidance of Mary and the efforts of all the knights, he will eventually lose the support of the people and be spurned by Adam. Brothers ......" The host deliberately raised his voice as he called out to his brothers, and the attendees immediately stood up. They struck their left chest with their right hand while shouting, "...... Freedom is eternal!! ”

Very satisfied with the discipline of the participants. Doll Mask continued from the topic that had just been interrupted: "Although Lucifer will be the next and even the next few kings of the world, he is under the persecution of Gabriel. He had to make some concessions, and the specific way was to set up a vice-king. After glancing at the still calm venue, the host continued, "Although the vice-king is also elected by Adam, the vice-king is limited to the demon king from hell, Gabriel cannot be elected, and the only one who can be elected is Abaddon or Samael......"

"I'd rather be Abaddon!" A knight sitting at the front stood up, and not only did he speak to the doll mask, but he also turned to speak to the crowd. At this time. Wang Geng saw that he was wearing a fox mask. "Although Abaddon liked only the Germans and only used the Germans, Samael did not like anything, he only liked the pagan gods, and we should oppose him becoming the vice-king of the earth......"

The fox's point of view was obviously not agreed with by the host, and he said: "Brothers, we have to remind you that there is nothing we can do to influence or change the outcome, and the haze from hell is hanging over everything before the light of freedom shines on this rotten continent. Not only did they despotize, they killed, but they also set up another demon, and it was because of this that Raphael suffered misfortune.

We are knights who seek light in hell, and brave men who fight against Lucifer and all his demons, and although we are fearless, we are compared to courage. We need patience even more—patience that is incredibly tenacious, golden! I believe that many years from now, when we look back on this period of suffering, when we look back on the past at the end of the year, we will only feel extremely proud of it. The youth, hope, and honor that the Creator has given us have not been in vain, and we have been seeking light all our lives. My dear brothers......"

The host finished his affectionate explanation. Again shouted to every brother in the seat, thus. In unison, the screening room was behind a low muffled sound. Again: "...... Freedom is eternal! ”

In addition to blockbuster films, the duration of a movie is at most an hour, and when a small part of the timekeeping candle is about to burn out, the supporter suddenly changed his tone, and he chuckled: "Okay, our dear brothers, the low-level knights who have joined this council after the selection test this month are about to appear, please come up and be a witness." ”

The initiation of newcomers is a regular monthly program, and when they heard that they were going to witness these newcomers, the knights who attended the meeting immediately stepped forward and formed a circle. At this moment, a small closed door in the screening room quietly opened, and a newcomer led by a leader walked in, cowering and stumbling because he was not used to the darkness.

It should have known the procedure for joining the club for a long time, and the newcomer who entered the circle introduced himself in a stammering voice that was not very fluent according to tradition: "My name is ......" The newcomer with a pale face forgot that he could only speak English in the meeting, and blurted out that it was Chinese, and the host immediately gave him a whip and shouted: "NO! Speaking.English。 ”

“.is. Zhang.Yiding ...... "This newcomer named Zhang Yiding, who has turned red and has a red face, bit his lip a few times to keep himself calm and not be eliminated in the first link. He said in fluent English: "...... I am 20 years old, from Lingshi, Shanxi, a student ...... Tsinghua School, and I voluntarily joined the Brotherhood of Knights of Light, volunteering to be a glorious Knight of Light, and at the same time willing to sacrifice everything and even my life for the honor of knights......"

Although there was a language error at the beginning, Zhang Yiding memorized the long declaration of initiation and the rules of the association very fluently, so that the knights around him could not find any fault. When this part passed, because of the time constraints, the abbot had to go straight to the last topic - humiliation!

Within the wall of people surrounded by the knights, twelve huge playing cards were held in the hands of the host, and Zhang Yiding's flushed face turned pale again, he had already been humiliated once when he participated in the peripheral organization, and this was the second time. He restrained his hesitation, and pulled out one of them without hurry, and then heard the host say hoarsely: "**! ”

"What?!" Zhang Yiding was surprised and the cards were flipped over, and it read: Masturbation.

His face turned from white to red again, but he finally took off his pants and stood up in public. The surrounding knights were indifferent to this, although they did not necessarily draw this ** card when they joined the club, but the process was not much better. This Yi Ding is in the process of being in public. Because the host asked him not to close his eyes, he shot a stream of white liquid from the cup when the candle was about to burn.

Zhang Yiding, who was breathing, thought that the ceremony was over. I don't want the host to say again: "Drink it!" ”

"Ahh Zhang Yiding was stupid all of a sudden, ** is cheap enough. I don't want to drink what I ejaculated.

"Everyone must be completely open to all other brothers, and only then can we become true brothers and unite in the fight against the devil. Zhang Yiding, have you forgotten the oath you just made? The host asked in a deep voice.

"I haven't forgotten!" Zhang Yiding finally found the courage and reason in the host's questioning, and the cup was brought to his lips by him, as if drinking wine, and everything in it fell into his stomach between his heads.

"Get on your knees!" The presiding officer said again, and then the knights around him drew close to him. More than a dozen men rested their right hands on his head, and in the flickering candlelight, they began to chant hymns with the same pitch:

Oh! Brother, oh! Brother, oh! My brother

I was a slave,

Now there are brothers.

I can finally die in my own cemetery,

Go to my God;

……

Zhang Yiding, who swallowed the white liquid, originally felt extremely disgusted and aggrieved, but when he heard such a holy and high-spirited singing, those grievances and holiness disappeared immediately. He felt that he was cared for by countless brothers, who had nothing to hide from him, who opened their hearts, and each of them loved and cared for him from the bottom of their hearts, and any problems he had in the future were no longer problems. Any difficulty in the future is no longer difficult......

A moment before the candle went out, the singing stopped. The host said to Zhang Yiding: "You are already a member of the brotherhood!" Then he took out a prepared jewelry box from his bosom, which contained a ring exclusive to the members of the Brotherhood of Light Knights. When Zhang Yiding took it with both hands, the candle flame that had been struggling for a long time was finally extinguished. In the darkness he could only hear the presiding officer say, "From now on you will be called Daniel in the congregation." Remember. The light will eventually dispel the gloom from hell, and freedom will be eternal! ”

When he said the last sentence. The person had already walked a long way, and after a moment of silence, the lights in the screening room began to gradually turn on. Zhang Yiding, who was still immersed in his brother's warmth, was startled, he hurriedly put on his pants and fled.

A few days later, a thick file was placed on Yang Rui's desk by Qiu Jin, and of course, the report said something else.

“…… Huang Fujin's death seems to have many suspicious points, but I have let people follow every clue carefully, and there are no flaws. At that time, there were many people who watched his warrior roll off the cliff, and everyone's confession was the same. The car was lifted up and sent to the Tonghua Vehicle Testing Institute, where the engineer thought the car was normal and there was no possibility of damage......

The autopsy report concluded that he had been drinking excessively before the accident, as evidenced by his confession at a previous banquet. However, one person mentioned that Lieutenant General Huang had a drink after receiving a phone call, and the call came in at about 12:10 p.m. on the same day, but Liaoning's communication and telephone network was the most complete, and we could not ...... it."

"Okay, let's not mention this evidence for now." Qiu Jin's voice was as sharp as a knife, and when he was face to face, Yang Rui felt as if he had become a murderer. "You tell me who will benefit after Huang Fujin's death, right? Clear the source? ”

"The relationship between Qingyuan and Huang Fujin is not very good, it seems that the two of them quarreled once during the Sino-Japanese War, and then he asked for the replacement of the chief of staff several times, but the contradiction between the two people is so obvious, common sense infers that Qingyuan will not do this kind of thing." Qiu Jin said.

"What about the corruption cases that are now being investigated? Does it have anything to do with Huang Fujin's death? Yang Rui asked again. Before Fei Yugui's execution, he had sent a message promising that if Fei Yugui could confess who he had made the phone call before his arrest, he would be pardoned. However, this transaction was rejected by Fei Yugui, and Fei Yugui's subordinates only knew that the mayor had made an important phone call before Xu Xilin led people to rush up, but no one could say who the call was made to and what things were ordered.

There is still a case within a case, and that is a certainty. But it is not clear how many people were involved in that case and who were involved. In the revolutionary war, in the war against Japan and Russia, hundreds of millions of taels of military spending flowed out of the total, and no one knows how much money this corruption gang embezzled, and you must know that HSBC is not the only bank in Shanghai, especially how much money is in the American-funded bank that finally agreed to be investigated. No one can know.

Judging by the interrogation reports of other people, corruption, corruption in the army. It is as if a parasite is attached to a baby, hidden in the Revival Society from birth. There was no reason for corruption in the first place. In the words of a lieutenant colonel officer of the General Logistics Department, 'It is better to be greedy for the success of the revolution.' ’

The lieutenant colonel's words almost made Yang Rui vomit blood, and his confession below was as justified as Fei Yugui when he was defending in Dali Temple - that is to complain about unfairness and unfairness to those who fight the world! After several years of bloodshed, desperately trying to overthrow the Manchu Dynasty, although everyone was knighted and in power, but the bullshit title was useless except for letting the people give way, and the salary was lower than that of the Manchu officers, not to mention that they could not make money, and those Manchu relics were still oily and floury, superior to others, and some people earned more silver than their ancestors for 18 generations in a few years.

Revolutionary heroes ride rickshaws. full of clothes and foreign cars; Revolutionary heroes eat roadside food stalls, and eat full Han banquets with their bereaved clothes; Revolutionary heroes live in tents and mud houses, and they live in gardens and small western-style buildings......

Together with Fei Yugui's confession, this supply will have a great impact on the entire revival, because of this, the pre-revolutionary revival army officers have been given a new allowance, but it is only an allowance, and many people are waiting and watching before all the corrupt criminals hidden in the army are found out with a thousand knives - who knows if what the center said is true? What if the center is also greedy?

"Hey....... ...... really him" Yang Rui thought of these messy things, and sighed unconsciously, but he wanted to scold his mother but held back because of Qiu Jin's presence.

Qiu Jin, who was in charge of investigating the case, also looked gloomy when he saw him like this, and after several years of investigation. This case has long become a headless case, all the clues have been broken, and now this Huang Fujin is suspicious. But there is no evidence that he was also involved, and his posthumous property. It is only his salary, the income from stock trading, and no other floating wealth.

"Xuanqing, take your time. We're just staring at it. Those people will eventually show their feet. Even if they can't show their feet, we have to let them have money to spend, and we're angry with these bastards! Yang Rui said as he spoke, and he suddenly laughed. He remembered what newspaper news he had read in later generations, saying that where and where, a certain cadre was greedy for hundreds of millions, but he didn't dare to take it out and spend it, let alone save it in the bank, so he had to pile it up in his own firewood room. As for himself, there are no famous clothes, famous watches, famous wine, famous buildings, famous cars, and famous prostitutes, and he is often still in the old Mao suit, and he doesn't dare to order hard ......dishes when he eats.

Yang Rui laughed angrily, Qiu Jin felt pressured, she slapped on the table, and said fiercely: "I can't find out this case, I, Qiu Jin, swear not to be a person!" ”

Qiu Jin's cruel words startled Yang Rui, and he suddenly went up to touch the table, "Oh, this is rosewood, how can you stand your Nine Yin White Bone Claws......"

Yang Rui was so witty that Qiu Jin finally couldn't help laughing. Yang Rui also smiled: "If you can't do it, you can only let it go first and forget about it." You must know that everything is an illusion, and we can't see clearly that it is not that it is true, but that the angle and thinking we are in now make it real. ”

Yang Rui's persuasion made Qiu Jin relax, she put away the file on the bookcase and went out, and after she left, Yang Rui looked at the official document on the side but didn't want to do it at all, he seemed to be fixed there, holding a cigarette and being dazed.

"My lord......" Someone called him, and when he saw that he didn't react and was about to retreat, Yang Rui raised his head as if he was refreshed - it was the woman he had seen in the back house a few days ago. She was wearing a nine-grade green official robe at this time, her black hair was curled up in her hat, and she only showed a slender neck with a white porcelain-like luster and no powdered makeup.

"Hmm......" Yang Rui spent a lot of time on her gradually blushing face, and when she finally remembered the fan, Lu Xiaoman had already picked it up, "It's finally finished?" He asked without knowing what to do.

"Yes, sir. It's a pity that it's not as good as that day's painting. "Lu Xiaoman is not modest, this is the case.

"It's a pity for me, too, because I don't know much about drawing." Yang Rui smiled lightly. Since that day's role-playing, he and Cheng Ying have been singing night and night, and they are no longer as throbbing as the first time they saw Lu Xiaoman. He opened the painting and closed it with a little appreciation, then picked up an apple placed on the bookcase and said, "I accepted your painting, I can't repay it, I'll give you a red Fuji apple,"

Lu Xiaoman, who was full of gloom in her heart, was amused by his move, and when she wanted to take it, her hand stopped in the air, she withdrew her hand and said, "My lord, can I ask you a philosophical question?" ”

I was worried that the woman who signed the painting as Lu Mei would make some inappropriate requests, so Yang Rui gave her an apple in return, but she didn't want it. When he heard that she only wanted to ask a philosophical question, Yang Rui suddenly smiled, "Just this once, you can say it." ”

"My lord, I want to know how a person can be happy?" Lu Xiaoman asked the question she wanted to ask, which was also a question that had bothered her for a long time. Under the persuasion of her parents, she felt that she had lost her way, and only by consulting a philosopher could she find herself again, and Yang Rui was that philosopher.

"Happiness?" Yang Rui thought it was an academic problem, but he didn't want it to be a life problem, and maybe the woman in front of him was in ...... love. Thinking that he had promised her that she would answer a question, Yang Rui thought about it sideways, Fang took out a piece of manuscript paper from the bookcase, wrote it properly before handing it to her, and said: "The answer to happiness has been a secret since ancient times, you can read this answer, but others can't read it." ”

"Understood, sir." Lu Xiaoman saw Yang Rui's solemn words, took the manuscript paper with both hands, and pushed it until the garden after the salute before opening it, only to see two lines of strong and powerful characters written on the manuscript paper: The secret of happiness is freedom; The secret of freedom is bravery. (To be continued......)