The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

At the end of November, Zhou Hexuan was able to get out of bed and walk, but the wound on his abdomen still needed to heal slowly.

The women got along fairly well. Zhang Leyi did not embarrass Ruan Lingyu and Zhou Xuan, but she also did not allow them to live in the country villa in the suburbs. Ruan Lingyu and Zhou Xuan were obviously treated differently. Zhang Leyi found a hotel for them and booked a set of top-notch luxury rooms for a long time.

Zhang Leyi did this very beautifully, not only not embarrassing Zhou Hexuan, but also preserving the face of Ruan Lingyu and Zhou Xuan, and also showing her authority as the hostess.

On November 26, Zhou Hexuan received a telegram from Li Shoumin - Zheng Zhengyin and Shi Jianqiao had successfully assassinated Sun Chuanfang and had been transferred to the Tianjin District Court Procuratorate for investigation.

Historically, Sun Chuanfang was assassinated by Shi Jianqiao alone, which caused a nationwide sensation. People from all walks of life praised her as a "hero among women" and strongly demanded an amnesty from the government. Later, Feng Yuxiang, Li Liejun, Yu Youren, Zhang Ji, and Song Zheyuan came to the rescue. As a result, Shi Jianqiao was sentenced to ten years in the first instance and seven years in the second instance. After 11 months in prison, he was personally pardoned by the prosecutor Lin Sen.

As for Zheng Zhengyin, the life of this martial arts novelist was completely changed by Zhou Hexuan. He, who was supposed to remain unmarried throughout his life and only kept company with guns and sticks, actually married Shi Jianqiao, and this time he also participated in the assassination of Sun Chuanfang.

Six months ago, the couple learned about Sun Chuanfang's residence in Tianjin, and they had already been making secret preparations. First of all, Shi Jianqiao underwent surgery to widen his feet so that he could move more quickly. At the same time, Zheng Zheng became a monk because of his ordination and relied on a relationship to practice with a certain mage.

September 17 was the tenth anniversary of the death of Shi Jianqiao's father by Sun Chuanfang. The couple held a commemorative ceremony at Guanyin Temple, and then purchased guns to prepare for the assassination plan.

It wasn't until November 13th that they finally got their chance.

On that day, Sun Chuanfang, who was "devoted to Buddhism", came to the lay grove to listen to Buddhist scriptures and study Buddhism. Shi Jianqiao came to the scene as a female lay practitioner. While everyone was chanting sutras with their eyes closed, Shi Jianqiao and Zheng Zhengyin acted at the same time and fired 12 shots directly at Sun Chuanfang's head, chest and vest, turning his upper body into a sieve.

After the assassination was successful, Zheng Zhengyin and Shi Jianqiao threw the "Report to the People" prepared in advance to the crowd, loudly announced their names and the purpose of the assassination, and called the police station to wait for arrest.

In the afternoon of that day, the "New Tianjin News" published an extra report. The next day, newspapers in Tianjin, Peiping, Shanghai and other cities carried front-page headlines, causing a sensation across the country.

The one who was killed was Sun Chuanfang. The three major Beiyang warlords who were as famous as Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu and the "Southeast King" of the five provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Su, Anhui and Jiangxi were actually killed at the hands of the daughter and son-in-law of their enemies.

Some media have now dubbed Zheng Zhengyin and Shi Jianqiao as the "Couple of Condor Heroes"...

When Zhou Hexuan received the distress telegram from Li Shoumin, he couldn't laugh or cry. He immediately wrote to Chang Kaishen and Zhang Xueliang, hoping that they could help.

This matter can definitely be solved. Sun Chuanfang has many enemies to begin with, so it would be very satisfying to have him killed. Even if Zhou Hexuan didn't take action, Feng Yuxiang and others would take the initiative to help, and they would only be detained for a year at most.

Let’s turn our perspective back to the UK.

On December 1, "Titanic" premiered in London, immediately triggering a movie-going frenzy. The leading actors and actresses Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh have become the most popular movie stars these days. Both of them can cause traffic jams when they go out.

In the London Grand Theater, the movie had just ended. A middle-aged man took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears silently, and another man in his 50s sighed with regret.

The middle-aged man is called Vincent Astor. His father Astor IV was once the richest man in the United States and owned more than half of the real estate in New York City. At the most glorious moment of Astor IV, he boarded a luxury cruise ship named "Titanic". From then on, the throne of the richest man in the United States changed its owner.

The old man's name was William Waldorf Astor. He was the younger brother of Astor IV and the founder of the British branch of the Astor family. Decades later, his great-granddaughter Samantha married British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"Vincent, let's go!" William Astor patted his nephew on the shoulder.

Vincent Astor suddenly said: "Uncle, I want to find the descendants of the victims. If anyone is in difficulty, I should help them."

"Great idea, count me in," said William Astor.

The Astor family was once the largest real estate developer in the United States, but they were even more famous for their philanthropy. There are two ancestral mottos in this family. One is: "Don't sell the real estate in your hands unless it is to increase the value of other real estate." The other is: "Money is like fertilizer. If you don't use it, it is waste."

This family's charity is true charity, not a fake charity for the sake of reasonable tax avoidance.

Astor IV, the richest man in the United States at that time, was also a true gentleman. He sent his wife, maid and nurse to the lifeboat, but he sank into the sea along with the Titanic.

Whether it is Vincent Astor, the current head of the family, or William Astor, the head of the British branch, they have inherited the Astor family's philanthropic tradition and are equally charitable.

Unfortunately, these two people's ability to make money is very poor, and the Astor family is rapidly declining.

When he first inherited the family fortune, Vincent Astor was still the richest man in the United States. More than 20 years later, he is not even ranked among the top ten richest people in the United States.

On the night after watching the movie, Astor and his nephew sent people to find the descendants of the victims, and they jointly donated 1 million US dollars to provide relief.

The next day, they came to the hospital to visit Zhou Hexuan and wanted to meet the original author of "Titanic".

Vincent smiled and shook hands and said: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, my name is Vincent Astor, and this is my uncle William Astor."

"Nice to meet you two." Zhou Hexuan said.

Zhou Hexuan didn't know them well, but he was familiar with Vincent's wife - the future famous American Charity Queen, a woman who didn't know how to make money and could only donate and spend money, and almost destroyed the Astor family's huge industry. Completely defeated.

By the way, the philanthropic queen lived in Peiping during her childhood, could speak Chinese, liked Chinese culture, and collected a lot of Chinese antique furniture. It's just that this woman is currently living with her second husband and is not yet married to Vincent Astor.

Why does Zhou Hexuan know so clearly?

Because before he traveled through time, he visited the exhibition of Queen Charity's collection during her lifetime and also saw photos of Queen Charity when she was young. Well, she is a beautiful woman with a celebrity face and a supermodel figure. Out of curiosity, she asked about the life experience of the Charity Queen.

Expressing some respect for Zhou Hexuan, Vincent Astor asked: "Mr. Zhou, how did you come up with the idea of ​​writing the novel "Titanic" in the first place?"

Zhou Hexuan has long been accustomed to making up stories: "When I was wandering in France, I once met an old woman and listened to her tell many stories about the Titanic."

"Really?" Vincent was very interested in this. "More than 20 years ago, my father was also on the ship. Unfortunately, he died. If there is a chance, I would like to meet the old lady and listen to her tell the story of that year. .”

The person who was sent to the lifeboat by Astor IV was Vincent's stepmother. The relationship between mother and son was very bad, and they were once involved in a property inheritance lawsuit. He couldn't listen to stories from his stepmother, and he didn't want to know the news about the Titanic, but when he was stimulated by the movie recently, he suddenly felt nostalgic.

Zhou Hexuan said regretfully: "I'm sorry, that old lady has passed away, and she didn't leave any children."

"That's a pity." Vincent expressed regret.

William Astor also began to join the chat, talking about many topics related to the Titanic, and finally the three gradually talked about charity.

Vincent expressed his charity philosophy: "Charity is not about giving food and money to the poor. That is too low-level and can easily breed a bunch of parasites. Charity should be public welfare, such as donating to build civilian hospitals and libraries. , schools, and can also help the poor to support themselves.”

"That's so good." Zhou Hexuan finally met a wealthy philanthropist and immediately started to trick him, "Have you two been to China?"

"No, I don't know much about China." Vincent and William shook their heads at the same time.

Zhou Hexuan began to talk about the misery of the Chinese people, and also talked about the Hope Primary School he founded. He talked for more than ten minutes: "The people who need help most now are not Americans, but the Chinese people living in dire straits."

"It's really bad. If I have the chance, I would like to visit China and help the suffering people there," Vincent said.

William Astor shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid I don't have the ability. Doing charity in London is already my limit."

William Astor not only likes to do charity, he also likes to enjoy himself. This guy lives an aristocratic life full of paper and money. When the world economic crisis hit, he had sold off many properties for his own luxury.

To put it bluntly, William Astor was a top-notch old man who lived by squandering his family fortune and also spent money to buy the title of British hereditary Viscount. His charity is not entirely based on the precepts of his ancestors. The main purpose of charity is tax avoidance, so that his two congressman sons can inherit the property.

Vincent is much simpler. He is really doing charity. After hearing Zhou Hexuan's description of China, he has already made plans to go to China for on-the-spot investigation.

Zhou Hexuan invited: "Mr. Astor, why not come to China with me? We can cooperate to set up a charity fund, not only to help the Chinese, but also to help the poor around the world."

"I will seriously consider it." Vincent nodded.

William Astor suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, when will you go to Sweden to receive the award?"

"Next week." Zhou Hexuan said.

"When you come back from Sweden, I can hold a celebration dance for you." William smiled.

"Of course." Zhou Hexuan accepted immediately. He also wanted to trick the Astor family into donating money to China.

William Astor was also very happy. He liked to hold balls and invite nobles and celebrities. Holding a celebratory ball for Zhou Hexuan was a good opportunity to increase his face. Also, his eldest son is a member of the British House of Lords and is now seeking a higher hereditary title. Zhou Hexuan seems to have a good relationship with Prince Albert, and he can take the opportunity to invite the prince to come.

This is the old guy's plan. In comparison, his nephew Vincent is much cuter.