Rebirth of the Northern Giants

Yue Lai Lou is a well-known Lu cuisine restaurant in the Tianjin Concession, close to the Haihe River, and it is the best restaurant.

Under the night, you can see the reflection of the sparkling lights on the river surface. On the river surface, there are row upon row of golden powder towers;

Ye Zhikui leaned on the third-floor private seat by the window, looked down from time to time, and could see a group of ragged beggars begging back and forth below from the window.

On the round table, there was a staggering of cups and cups, singing and laughing, and everyone was enjoying themselves in a wild manner, enjoying themselves in a timely manner. There were also famous prostitutes playing the piano to accompany the wine, making the atmosphere of the private room extraordinarily lively.

Rong Lu's old face was slightly red, and he sat in the first place, leaning on the red and snuggling up, hugging left and right, raising and lowering his hands, and flirting with the hostess by his side from time to time.

Yuan Shikai's face was tense, pretending to be serious, allowing the two women on both sides to stick to him and persuade him to drink frequently; Dong Fuxiang was originally looking like a king of glaring eyes, but the women on one side didn't dare to be too presumptuous, they just kept pinching him and Ye Zhikui's Taishan Sheng Xuanhuai is a seasoned veteran of the shopping mall, he is skilled at socializing, and with a few words, he makes the women on the left and right laugh non-stop.

"My lord, why don't you drink this glass of wine, I almost drank three glasses." The charming woman next to Rong Lu said in a gruff voice.

"Okay, okay, I guess the old man is afraid of you little goblin."

Rong Lu gulped it down, looked up, and saw Ye Zhikui sitting opposite him in a silent voice, not even the women on either side dared to get too close, he couldn't help laughing and said: "Why is this so, could it be that your father-in-law is present here?" , can't let go of your hands and feet?"

Sheng Xuanhuai smiled and said nothing when he heard the words, but nodded in satisfaction.

Ye Zhikui smiled faintly, put his hand on the waist of the woman beside him, and replied: "I see that you are always strong and strong, my lord, I can't help but sigh in admiration, and feel ashamed."

"Congyun, to be happy in life is to be happy to the fullest, and there are flowers that can be broken straight away. How can a young man be inferior to an old man? He should punish himself with three cups." Rong Lu said loudly very boldly.

The women who accompanied the wine laughed idiotically, and the woman next to Ye Zhikui even rubbed her swollen breasts back and forth on his arms, and said with a coquettish smile: "General, you see, everyone is laughing at my family for not serving you well. .”

"It's better to be happy alone than to be happy with others, and it's better to enforce the drinking order. The loser drinks, how about it? My lord." Yuan Shikai suddenly said, and suggested with a smile on his face.

Rong Lu lifted his head from the woman's chest, pondered for a while, and then said meaningfully: "According to what Weiting said, it happens that the old man knows that there is a wine order that requires four people to order, Xingsun, you will wait for me." How do you behave?"

Sheng Xuanhuai had an old fox, and was slightly startled when he heard the words. The remaining four were Ye Zhikui, Yuan Shikai, and Dong Fuxiang. Could it be that Ronglu has some deep meaning in it, but he has been around for a long time, and he readily agreed without the slightest pause.

Seeing that everyone had no other opinions, Rong Lu said loudly: "This wine order is called 'Officers and Soldiers to Catch Thieves'. , "thief" four characters, the four of us draw one at random, and the one who gets "catch" has to distinguish who is the "thief" according to the expressions and movements of the rest of the people, and he will be punished if he guesses wrong. The person who draws the word decides how to punish, and the person who draws the word "soldier" will execute it, what do you think?"

Everyone naturally agreed, and several brothel geishas also stopped their coquettish laughter and noise, waiting curiously for the game to start.

From time to time, the bamboo sticks are ready and brought to the table.

Seeing this, Sheng Xuanhuai picked up the bamboo stick, made a peace, and then brought it to Rong Lu, and said with a smile: "Master Rong will do it first."

Rong Lu didn't refuse, he took out one with a smile and didn't care, and replied: "In that case, the old man will not be polite."

The three then drew one each, and Ye Zhikui took the last one. He put the bamboo stick in his palm and glanced at it. It's because the visitor is not good.

The women on one side wanted to see it too, but Ye Zhikui had already put the bamboo sticks on the table, which whetted their appetites.

I also thought that the drinking order was proposed by Yuan Shikai. When did his old Yuan play such an elegant game, but he didn't know when he hooked up with Ronglu.

Ye Zhikui glanced at Yuan Shikai lightly, and saw Yuan Shikai looking at the bamboo sticks slowly, with a confident look.

Looking at Dong Fuxiang again, the bamboo stick was placed on the table by him indifferently, and he didn't even look at it absent-mindedly. Ever since Rong Lu proposed to play games, this old man has neither opposed nor agreed with him, neither sad nor happy, just like a statue The mud bodhisattva, but none of them are simple people who can reach such a high position. It's just that he wants the red lantern to hang up, and Ye Zhikui can't help it.

Several women are holding their breath, waiting for the answer, it depends on how these big shots play.

Rong Lu had a panoramic view of everyone's expression, opened the bamboo stick and said with a smile: "This old man just happens to be a 'catch' stick. It seems that I need this old man to catch the thief, but I don't know which of the three of you It's a thief."

Rong Lu looked at Yuan Shikai first, and Shi Shiran said, "Weiting, are you a thief?"

Yuan Shikai quickly waved his hands, smiled honestly, and replied: "Your Excellency, you can joke, you don't look like a thief."

Rong Lu smiled and didn't turn back, but his eyes swept towards Dong Xiangfu and Ye Zhikui, finally settled on Ye Zhikui, and suddenly said: "It seems that the thief should be you, Cong Yun."

Ye Zhikui's expression didn't change, and he answered the wrong question: "Your Excellency, you still have to think carefully, except for your lord, the three of us may be thieves."

Sheng Xuanhuai asked expectantly from the side, "Did the governor make a decision?"

But Rong Lu pointed at Dong Fuxiang and said, "I'll take a gamble, Xing Wu, are you a thief?"

Dong Fuxiang flipped over the bamboo sticks, and jokingly replied: "The governor seems to have miscalculated. I used to be a thief, but now I have changed my past and become an official."

Rong Lu laughed, and said: "The old man lost his eyesight, the general regarded him as a thief, Xing Wu said how to punish the old man."

Dong Fuxiang drank a glass of wine by himself first, and then said: "Your Excellency, you should punish yourself with three drinks."

Yuan Shikai on the side stood up, poured the wine and said, "Then this junior soldier will carry it out. Your Excellency Governor, please drink."

Rong Lu drank three cups in a row, looked at Ye Zhikui, sighed, and said, "It seems that Congyun has hidden himself very deeply, even the old man has been fooled."

Ye Zhikui touched the woman beside him, and teased, "Your Excellency is not good. If you want to tell me, if you say it's a thief, it's a thief. What do you think?"

Yuan Shikai and Dong Fuxiang only nodded in agreement, Sheng Xuanhuai took back the bamboo stick and said: "Left and right are just a game, come on, go on, go on, Congyun, you have to behave well this time, so that the governor can carefully see your loyalty."

A few brothel geisha women were good at adjusting the atmosphere, took the opportunity to grab a bite of food for everyone, then dared not make a sound, opened their eyes wide and watched everyone draw lots with smiles, this time it was Yuan Shikai who drew one first, Sheng Xuanhuai had to follow the order It was passed to everyone, and it was Ye Zhikui's turn, so he could only get the last one.

Ye Zhikui picked it up and saw it turned out to be another 'thief' stick. He was slightly surprised, but after thinking about it for a while, he realized that the bamboo stick must have been tampered with and marked.

It seems that Rong Lu is here for me this time, but I don't know what he has in mind. Could it be that he wants to force me to hand over the military power? Ye Zhikui's eyes flashed coldly. If Rong Lu dared to do this, wouldn't he be afraid of being criticized by the people of the world, chilling the hearts of the soldiers and causing riots?

The woman next to Ye Zhikui seemed to feel the chill on his body, and moved slightly to the sides involuntarily.

This time it was Yuan Shikai who got the catch word, Yuan Shikai pointed to Ye Zhikui and said, "Congyun deceived the Governor-General last time, this time Yuan can't be deceived by you again, Yuan will guess that you are a thief."

Ye Zhikui opened the bamboo sticks, and when everyone saw it, it was indeed a character for thief. The others also opened the bamboo sticks. Ronglu was an official character, Dong Fuxiang was a soldier,

Ye Zhikui was expressionless, pretending to be annoyed, and said coldly: "Brother Wei Ting has a good look, and without thinking about it, he knew that I had drawn the word thief. Could it be that Brother Wei Ting has tampered with the bamboo stick?"

Yuan Shikai also lowered his face and said, "Congyun can't afford to lose, he wants to play tricks."

When the prostitutes saw the big shots quarreling, they were shy to say anything. If any of them crushed them to death, it would be as easy as crushing an ant, so don't be affected by anger.

Ye Zhikui stood up and said to Rong Lu: "Since your lord has drawn an official name, please set your punishment. How can I, Ye Zhikui, be the one who can't afford to lose?"

Rong Lu persuaded: "Don't be angry from Congyun, Wei Ting is just joking, I believe you will not be a thief!"

Then Rong Lu's face tightened, and he said without haste: "Thanks to Lafayette, I was promoted to governor of Zhili, and I deeply feel the heavy responsibility. I can't sleep at night. I would rather be the commander of the infantry.

Rong Lu glanced around, and continued: "Why? It's all caused by the boxers in Shandong. Congyun is not a thief, but there are thieves in Shandong. The boxers fled from Shandong to Zhili, but the roots are still in Shandong. Every time the old man thinks about this, he can't feel at ease, now that Weiting has been transferred back from there, Nie Shicheng is alone, but fortunately Congyun's Wu Yi army has not returned from the Shandong battlefield, so why don't you just stay there and suppress the bandits."

Ye Zhikui didn't expect that Rong Lu was afraid that his military strength would be too strong in Tianjin, so he started to split up and left part of Wu Yi's army in Shandong. Fortunately, Rong Lu didn't know that he had a close relationship with Nie Shicheng, but at this time he had to bow his head under the eaves.

Ye Zhikui didn't show any dissatisfaction on his face, instead he said with a smile: "Suppressing the bandits is our responsibility, I'm under the command of the Governor."

Rong Lu nodded appreciatively, and said: "Congyun is the blessed general of the country, and I will rely on you a lot for military training in the future." Rong Lu hit a stick and gave a sweet date.

Since Ye Zhikui and Yuan Shikai started to face each other coldly, ridiculed, and everyone was already full, they lost interest in drinking any more, and the banquet ended soon.

When Yuan Shikai went out, he passed by Ye Zhikui's side, bowed his head and said softly, "I am ordered by the superior, and I dare not disobey." It seems that he was also afraid of offending Ye Zhikui severely.

But Ye Zhikui snorted coldly in his heart, good you Yuan Datou, double-faced and three-faced, shoving the responsibility away completely, wanting to have both sides, but I, Ye Zhikui, will not let you do what you want.