Amao vaguely owed Lin Chaoyang a favor and left happily. However, Lin Chaoyang took the invitation letter to the curator's office and explained the situation to Xie Daoyuan.

There is no small matter in diplomacy these days. If Lin Chaoyang really goes to attend the Christmas dinner hosted by the American Embassy, ​​he will definitely report it to the school.

After returning home in the evening, Lin Chaoyang received the invitation letter from the American Embassy in front of Tao Yushu. Tao Yushu asked Lin Chaoyang with surprise on his face what was going on.

Lin Chaoyang explained the situation to her again. The invitation letter from the embassy stated that he could bring a female companion, so he planned to take Tao Yushu to open a meat restaurant.

Tao Yushu was very happy after hearing this. Although she did not worship foreigners, she had a positive attitude towards going to the dinner to broaden her horizons.

And as Lin Chaoyang said, you can also enjoy Western food. If you go to Xinqiao Hotel or Lao Mo, it will cost you at least twenty or thirty yuan.

The dinner at the embassy wouldn't be as good as eating at a Western restaurant, right?

Deciding to happily go have a meal, Tao Yushu suddenly became worried again, "What should I wear?"

Although he didn't want to admit it, at this time, Chinese people always felt inferior to foreigners when facing foreigners. Tao Yushu was afraid that if he didn't dress formally enough, he would lose his image as a Chinese.

Compared with her struggle with dressing, Lin Chaoyang is much simpler, wearing a Chinese tunic suit and leather shoes.

It may seem a bit rustic in the eyes of Americans, but that's their business. Lin Chaoyang feels that wearing this outfit is more spiritual and more formal.

"Hey, Chaoyang, can you use a knife and fork?" Tao Yushu suddenly remembered and asked.

"Fork left and knife right."

Due to some unexplainable psychology, Chinese people always overemphasize etiquette when eating Western food. Lin Chaoyang simply does not have this burden in his heart.

When they heard that Lin Chaoyang was invited to attend the Christmas dinner at the American embassy, ​​Lin Erchun and his wife looked surprised and confused.

Of course they knew "America", but "waiting for the embassy" and "Christmas dinner" were too unfamiliar to them. These three terms were put together, which made the two of them feel a little confused.

Lin Erchun just asked Lin Chaoyang worriedly, "You won't make a mistake, will you?"

Lin Chaoyang said easily: "No, my superiors have approved this, and I'm just going to have a meal."

"That's good." Lin Erchun felt relieved.

Zhang Guiqin on the side was very happy and asked: "Chaoyang, you are so famous now? Are you invited to dinner by the American envoy?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and explained: "Mom, the dinner is just like our rural banquet."

When he said this, Zhang Guiqin immediately understood and asked: "Then we still have to follow the etiquette?"

"No, just go have a free meal and chat casually."

Zhang Guiqin said: "It's free to eat, what do they want?"

Her simple concept did not understand the American way of thinking and doing things. Lin Chaoyang could not explain to her what spreading cultural influence meant. He could only say: "Christmas in the United States is equivalent to our Spring Festival. People are happy during the New Year.

So I’m treating you to dinner.”

"Oh, I understand." Zhang Guiqin said this time that she completely understood.

The next day, as soon as Lin Chaoyang arrived at the library, Du Rong approached him and asked in a low voice: "Chaoyang, I heard that you are going to attend a banquet hosted by the American Embassy?"

Should I say it or not, the information processing capability of the library is fast enough. He just reported the situation to the librarian yesterday afternoon, and Du Rong came to ask this morning.

"Um."

"Hey!" After getting Lin Chaoyang's affirmative answer, Du Rong shouted in surprise, "You are going to enter the international market!"

"What the hell! They are celebrating Christmas for the Americans in the embassy and inviting some people to cheer them on. It's just a lively affair."

Du Rong didn't believe him, "Then why did they invite you instead of inviting others?"

Lin Chaoyang looked at her speechlessly, not knowing how to explain for a moment.

For a whole day, the matter of Lin Chaoyang going to the United States to have dinner at the embassy became a hot topic in the Yanda Library. From time to time, colleagues came to ask him a few questions, which annoyed Lin Chaoyang.

Another day passed, December 24th.

Because he was going to attend the Christmas dinner in the evening, Lin Chaoyang changed his clothes at home in the morning.

In the evening, Amao came to meet Lin Chaoyang. The embassy was holding a Christmas dinner and symbolically invited several American students who were studying in China, and Amao was among them.

Amao was wearing a black leather jacket. He looked at Lin Chaoyang's tunic and said, "Cool!"

The two of them rode their bicycles all the way to the southeast. They first met Tao Yushu at the gate of Yanshi Normal University, and then the three of them rode together in the direction of the Yanjing Hotel.

The Yanjing Hotel on East Chang'an Street is brightly lit at night. There is no place in China with more cars than here.

Because it is an important place for receiving foreign guests, there is never a shortage of cars in front of the Yanjing Hotel.

Today is Christmas, and many foreign envoys, students and business people have come here to celebrate the holiday. The number of cars at the door is even more than usual.

As soon as the three of them entered the lobby of Yanjing Hotel, they felt a Christmas festive atmosphere.

Lin Chaoyang and the others walked into the east building of the Yanjing Hotel, which was specially built by Comrade Wu Hao in 1973 to receive foreign guests. All the decorative paintings in the building were created by famous painters such as Wu Zuoren, Li Keran, Huang Zhou, and Wang Xuetao.

.

The hotel's front lobby alone covers an area of ​​more than 2,000 square meters. At this time, there are several tall Christmas trees in the hotel lobby with gift boxes hanging on them. It seems that they are specially prepared for Christmas.

Almost most of the people coming and going in the lobby are foreign faces, and many of them are wearing formal clothes.

Lin Chaoyang was inevitably a little confused when he was in it. Is this still the Yanjing City in his memory?

Tao Yushu quietly asked Lin Chaoyang: "Why do you feel that all the foreigners in Yanjing are here today?"

"At least people from European and American countries should come here to celebrate the New Year!" Lin Chaoyang said.

Several people followed the instructions and got on the elevator and came to the door of the restaurant. People were coming and going. Several people were stopped by the security guards at the door of the restaurant. Then they showed their invitation letters and were able to enter the restaurant.

There are several restaurants in the east building of Yanjing Hotel, among which the Golden Hall is used for state banquets, and the large restaurant is used for general foreign affairs receptions.

The dinner to be held by the American embassy was not held in these two restaurants, but in the hotel's lounge. For today's banquet, the original round table and dining chairs were removed and replaced with a long dining table that Westerners are accustomed to.

Having just walked along the way to see no less than a hundred foreigners, Lin Chaoyang originally thought that today's banquet would be a grand occasion with a large number of people.

Unexpectedly, their table was the only one in the lounge. The length of the table was nearly ten meters, and almost every side could accommodate a dozen people. It seemed like this was just a small banquet.

Under Amao's recommendation, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu met Leonard Woodcock, the current U.S. Ambassador to China, and his wife, Sharon Woodcock.

Leonard Woodcock was the first envoy to serve after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. Before him, the United States had only the Beijing Office in Yanjing, and the person in charge was the director of the Beijing Office.

The two parties briefly exchanged a few words. Leonard Woodcock went to socialize with other newly arrived guests, while Shanlen Woodcock continued to chat with Lin Chaoyang and his wife.

Sharon Woodcock was originally a medical nurse assigned to the Beijing Office. Leonard Woodcock met her in 1977 when he first came to work in Yanjing, and soon fell in love and got married.

Sharon Woodcock has worked in Yanjing for more than eight years and can be said to be half a China expert. Not only can she converse in Mandarin proficiently, but she can also write Chinese characters and read effortlessly.

This time, Amao invited Lin Chaoyang to the dinner mainly because she was very interested in the writer Lin Chaoyang.

"Mr. Lin, I really didn't expect that I could get to know you through Amao. I especially like the movie "Raizi's Summer" written by you. It's very well written."

"Thank you, Mrs. Woodcock."

Lin Chaoyang responded politely and complimented Sharon Woodcock a few more times. As they chatted, she realized that it turned out that what she was reading was not the Chinese version of "Lai Zi's Summer", but the English version serialized in "Chinese Literature"

Edition of "Raiko's Summer".

"It's a pity that this novel is only serialized in magazines. I really hope that it can be published in English so that more readers in the English-speaking world can see this wonderful novel."

After some exchanges, Lin Chaoyang could see that Shanlen Woodcock really liked "The Summer of Raiko", and almost all the topics of conversation with Lin Chaoyang revolved around this novel.

It wasn't until Leonard Woodcock asked her to go chat with other guests that she said hello to Lin Chaoyang and walked away.

"I didn't expect you to have foreign readers."

When Lin Chaoyang was communicating with Sharon Woodcock just now, Tao Yushu had been listening quietly. She felt sincerely happy when she saw that Lin Chaoyang's works were loved by the envoy's wife.

"There's just one more reader." Lin Chaoyang disagreed.

Tao Yushu said: "You can't think like this. Since Mrs. Woodcock will like it, then at least some of the many foreigners in Yanjing will also like it. And those foreign readers, if you accumulate a few readers with each work,

Maybe he will become famous internationally in the future.”

When she finished speaking, her eyes couldn't help but reveal a bit of longing.

While the couple was chatting quietly, guests began to arrive one after another. Among these guests were not only Americans, but also Chinese. They were almost equally divided.

Guests from the United States are mainly embassy personnel, political and business people, and international students.

The guests from China are mainly government diplomats and cultural figures.

At the beginning of the banquet, Mr. and Mrs. Woodcock sat at the head of the table on both sides of the long table. The other guests took their seats in sequence. The order was basically in the order of men and women, old and young, and Chinese and foreigners. Lin Chaoyang and his wife happened to sit together.

While everyone was greeting each other, the waiter had already started serving appetizers.

French-style appetizers are usually simple cold dishes made of vegetables. Of course, the American embassy must not treat guests with shabby food. The appetizer is French-style pan-fried foie gras.

The appetizers had just been served, and Leonard Woodcock, who was sitting at the head, tapped the wine glass with his spoon and made a crisp sound.

"Gentlemen and ladies, I am very happy to see you here tonight..."

As the host of today's treat, Leonard Woodcock made a simple opening remarks, and then everyone ate.

Tao Yushu has eaten Western food once or twice every year at one of the few Western restaurants in Yanjing since she was a child. She is quite familiar with Western food etiquette. She was originally a little worried that Lin Chaoyang was not used to using knives and forks.

Unexpectedly, after the meal started, he became more familiar with the knife and fork than she did.

The most important thing is that her attitude is relaxed and freehand, unlike herself, who is always a little nervous and tense in front of so many foreigners.

"Stab it!"

The knife cut through the steak and made a harsh sound when it collided with the dinner plate. People around him looked at him with concern. Tao Yushu couldn't help but feel a little shy and his face felt hot.

Upon seeing this, Lin Chaoyang placed his cut steak in front of her and exchanged it with her.

The two looked at each other, and Tao Yushu suddenly felt relieved and sweet, completely forgetting the eyes of the people around him.
Chapter completed!