Chapter Fifty-Four: Spray You All Over Your Body

  The "Temple of Confucius case" in Tianjin caused a great stir among the scholars, it was a public outcry. This is an attempt by foreigners to destroy our Confucian teachings and enslave us spiritually. Public opinion forced the imperial court to send an investigation team to Tianjin with the French ambassador to conduct an investigation.

  The leader of the investigation team gave Cixi another headache. Those stubborn people were not willing to deal with foreigners, and the disciples of the sage could not be sent even more. Some of them had already proposed that if you want to destroy my holy religion, I will destroy your foreigner. So Kang Youwei, who was full of nonsense, continued his career of submitting memorials to the throne. Cixi had no choice but to bring out Li Hongzhang, the number one expert in foreign affairs, again. Li Zhongtang was also very helpless. For this kind of case, he really didn't want to take it on. If you say that foreigners are intentionally humiliating Chinese people, it's not quite right, but if you look at the problem from the perspective of Chinese people, things will get bigger.

  It was still the imperial court's will that prevailed, and Li Hongzhang had no choice but to find Wu Tingfang, Xu Jingcheng and other diplomatic experts to accompany French Minister Grévy to Tianjin.

  Yeh's superior, the Tientsin Commander-in-Chief and Governor-General Wang Wen-shao, went together to meet Li Hung-chang, who asked for his assistance in handling the case and resolving this diplomatic dispute.

  Tianjin, in the French concession, the French minister Grévy had been in China for a long time and obviously understood Chinese culture at the dinner table. He knew that "good things are done on the wine table" was a true saying, so he invited Li Hongzhang and his party to a banquet at a French restaurant. Ye Zhiwei, as the Chinese official handling the case, was also invited and sat below Li Hongzhang.

  Glory obviously had the pride of being a Gallic rooster, and before the banquet even started, he walked up to Ye Zhiqiu with his head held high, looking down at him with an air of superiority, stretching out his hands in a patronizing manner, and said in his stiff Mandarin: "Ye, I've heard of your great name, and I admire your straightforward personality, but this time, I hope you can control your temper and not let it affect the relations between China and France."

  The leaves are mysterious and wonderful, do you need to appreciate them? However, out of politeness, he still stretched out his hand and lightly shook hands with the Frenchman, then picked up the napkin on the table and carefully wiped the fingers that had just touched Griselda. Smiling, he said: "My little cabbage, I won't let you down." Cabbage is a term used by the French to refer to their mistress.

  Glory's face turned from white to green, and she glared at Ye Zhi Kui with a hateful gaze. What made Ye Zhi Kui stunned was that before he left, she actually coquettishly replied: "Ye, so you're one of them too! Let's meet tonight then!"

  Yeh's face turned from yellow to green, and Li Hongzhang, who had not noticed the conversation between the two earlier, asked in a somewhat puzzled tone: "Yun, your complexion doesn't look good. What did you just say to that Frenchman?"

  Ye Zhiyuan rubbed his hands together and replied: "Zhong Tang, he said he has always admired you!"

  Li Hongzhang said seriously: "Really? Then I'd like to have more exchanges with him. By the way, how's your new army training going?"

  Ye Zhiqiang suppressed his smile and replied in a mouthful: "With Old Master Zhong in the court to take care of you, how can I still make you lose face? It's just that there are too few people who understand Western military tactics nowadays, so Master Zhong still needs to borrow a few more people from me... Wait, Master Zhong, I haven't finished speaking yet."

  Li Hongzhang had already turned his head to the side and was talking to others, it was clear that Ye Zhiwei had a "digging wall corner hobby" Li Hongzhang was afraid that if he spoke a few more words with this kid, he would lose a few more subordinates.

  Ye Zhi Kui innocently opened his eyes and asked the only person beside him, Jian Ren: "Did I say something wrong?" After asking, Ye Zhi Kui regretted it again, what use could this cheap person be?

  Indeed, at the sight of Ren, I couldn't help but praise him twice: "A superior is always right in the eyes of an inferior, but I must say that I admire you, sir. You are the only one in our great Qing dynasty who makes even the Grand Councilor want to turn around and leave upon seeing you." Is this a compliment or an insult? That's for wise people to decide.

  Before long, the banquet began. The French served a dish of roasted chicken. Grelée introduced it saying: "We in France are known as the land of the rooster, and chickens are considered noble animals. This dish is most suitable for entertaining nobles like you, Your Excellency."

  Li Hongzhang listened, looked at the white and clean dinner plate with a greasy roasted chicken on it, and was taken aback for a moment. After thinking for a while, he picked up the whole chicken with one hand, tore off a piece of meat with the other hand, stuffed it into his mouth, tasted the flavor, and spat out two words: "Not bad!"

  The Frenchman opposite was stunned, the French ambassador Grévy was also stunned, and Ye Zhiwei secretly laughed and picked up the roasted chicken with his hands, tearing it apart and eating it: "Middle Hall, what's going on? You're cheating me! This chicken tastes ordinary!"

  Most of the Qing officials who didn't know how to start saw that the two were eating with gusto, and suddenly realized: So French people eat chicken by hand! Alas, it's really a barbarian country, but still, when in Rome do as the Romans do. And so one by one, they started grabbing the chicken and shoving it into their mouths. In an instant, all that could be seen on the French dinner table were pairs of hands flying up and down like claws.

  Glacé was helpless, had to put down the knife and fork, gritted his teeth, and also picked up the whole chicken with his hands. The other French people saw that Glacé did so, what else could they do? They also used their hands! Glacé ate like this and really got a feel for it. This way of eating seemed not bad, flavorful! A few years later, when Glacé returned to France, he introduced this way of eating into Europe. From then on, Europeans ate chicken by grabbing it with their hands.

  After getting drunk and full, Grally summoned the French soldiers who insulted Confucius' mud statue to ask about the situation. In fact, there was no need to ask, everyone understood what was going on.

  As expected, a moment later, Grelley returned to Li Hongzhang and said: "Li, our soldiers say that they were just curious about the sculpture, went forward and touched it with their hands. Who knew that the sculpture was made of mud? Accidentally, they damaged their arms. This is just a small accident, our Gallic warriors did not mean any offense, so we hope you can let this go."

  Mr. Burlingame, Confucius holds a position in our country similar to that of Napoleon in the estimation of your people; therefore, disrespect shown to his image is equivalent to disrespect shown to us Chinese. We hope you will make a formal apology and take charge of repairing the image of the sage.

  "No! No, Mr. Hsu! My soldiers don't understand this matter, they haven't done anything wrong, and we won't apologize to the Qing Empire. Helping to repair the statue is negotiable, after all, my soldiers damaged the statue."

  Xu Jingcheng had no choice but to explain again that the imperial court must apologize to the French soldiers.

  The two of them quarreled until their faces were red and their ears were hot, but they still couldn't come to a conclusion. Ye Zhi Kui really had no patience for this kind of verbal sparring. You're just a French guy who damaged cultural relics, we only want you to apologize and that's it, why do you have to make so many excuses? Isn't it because you're relying on your arrogant identity and refusing to bow your head to us "inferior nations" in your eyes? Are you afraid of losing face and being ridiculed by other countries?

  Ye Zhi Kui was getting angrier the more he listened, and seeing Xu Jing Cheng almost begging others to apologize to him made his heart feel stifled. It's really a case of "good people being bullied by dogs", giving face but not wanting face. He sank his face and said to Xian Ren Shi: "Go, bring a basin of water."

  When Yan saw it, I was stunned for a moment. With his IQ, he certainly didn't understand why Ye Zhui wanted water at this critical juncture, but that didn't stop him from quickly fetching a basin of water.

  Ye Zhi Kui said, "Spit a mouthful of phlegm inside." Seeing Ren's expression, I cleared my throat and spat out a big mouthful. He always followed Ye Zhi Kui's orders completely.

  Ye Zhi accepted the water, took two or three steps forward, and under the astonished gaze of the Sino-French negotiating personnel, suddenly splashed all the water onto Grellet's body.

  The Chinese and French personnel were caught off guard, staring at Ye Zhikui with wide eyes in surprise, forgetting to speak or think. Grellet was drenched from head to toe, his face twisted in anger as he thundered: "Ye, what are you doing?! I demand an apology from you, now! Immediately!"

  Ye Zhi's mouth twitched, and he retorted, "Apologize? Why should I? Your Excellency, I don't think I've done anything wrong!"

  Glare wiped the water off her face and said angrily: "Ye, you've gotten me into this state now, haven't you done anything wrong?"

  "Mr. Grely, in some places in Yunnan, China, it is a sign of respect to pour water on guests, so I am not insulting you, but respecting you."

  Li Hongzhang's face twitched, a bitter smile, this guy from Yun, has started again.

  Glory stamped her foot, pinched the thumb and index finger of both hands together, and pointed at Ye Zhiwei: "No way, you must apologize to me! This is an insult to me!"

  Ye Zhi's face changed, and he said coldly: "Mr. Envoy, is this your logic of robbery? Your French soldiers damaged our sacred statues, we felt insulted and asked you to apologize, but you pushed three and blocked four. I just gave you a splash of water, and you thought you were insulted and asked me to apologize. Is your justice what you think is right? Envoy, I'm very disappointed in you. I've long heard that there's a famous saying in the West: Justice is only within the range of cannons. Fortunately, your concession is also within the range of my cannon. I hope you can understand that on Chinese soil, we must respect Chinese customs."

  "Glory exclaimed, jumping up: 'Yue, you are provoking a war between China and France!'"

  Ye Zhiyuan coldly snorted and replied, "Even if it's a provocation, what can you do? Your country's President Cano has just been assassinated, and the various factions within your country are vying for power. Those big shots probably don't have the mood to care about this minor matter happening in East Asia. Ambassador, on our Chinese people's land, watch your back!"

  Gleeson had never met such a straightforward and threatening Qing official, like a wet rooster, trembling with anger, unable to speak. Li Hongzhang observed coldly for a while before walking over calmly and saying: "Alright, Minister, we have something good to discuss, why don't you go back and change your clothes first, then we can talk."

  Then smiled and said to Ye Zhikui: "From the cloud, you are also tired, go back and rest first, leave the remaining things to this old man to handle."

  Ye Zhiqi revealed a victorious smile, stretched out two fingers to Li Hongzhang, made a victory gesture, and then left with Jianren.

  Li Hongzhang did not understand the meaning of the gesture, and after thinking for half a day, he suddenly realized and muttered to himself: "This fellow is always trying to poach people from me, Li Hongzhang. He must be asking for two more talented individuals again."

  After Ye Zhiqi returned, the result of the negotiation came out soon. The French agreed to apologize and compensate China, and were responsible for repairing the Confucius Temple sculptures. Ye Zhiqi once again proved his unique style to the world. Li Hongzhang praised him to the imperial court, saying that this young man is reasonable and outstanding, and has already started to go abroad.