Thin porridge and pickles, no oil and water, every afternoon, Zhong Hui's stomach gurgling; during this time they have not been to the barber shop again, both of them have long hair, simply do not go to the barbershop, they casually moved a stool in the living room with a large pair of scissors to cut each other's hair. After the cut, the two looked at each other's dog-like hairstyles and looked at each other; although it was past summer, but she didn't take a bath for three or five days, she always suspected that she had a strange smell on her body, and begged Wen Jianning to say that she wanted to take a bath, but after being counted down by her friends, she had to give up.

These are just some small sufferings, and it is people who are even more uncomfortable.

The sisters-in-law of the Qi family successively changed their excuses to ask them about food, but they were all politely rejected by the two. When Wen Jianning refused for the last time, she finally couldn't help but change her face, sneered a few times on the spot, and left without looking back.

At first, Wen Jianning and the others didn't take this matter to heart, but then the actions of the sister-in-law of the Qi family caused Zhong Hui to be extremely indignant.

Since the fall of Beiping, they rarely go to the small restaurants on the street to eat, and they can only do it themselves. Zhong Hui doesn't know how to cook, and occasionally helping will only help, so Wen Jianning simply took over the cooking work. They usually don't cook with a stove in the main three-room room, but go to the kitchen stove to cook, and when the meal arrives, they inevitably have to run into the sister-in-law of the Qi family. The other party bumped into Wen Jianning from time to time, splashed some water on the ground from time to time and splashed it on the upper of her shoes, and after a while, he stood in the yard and scolded Huai Huai and laughed at Wen Jianning.

Zhong Hui was a little angry: "How can she be like this, even if we don't give her food, the other day, when I didn't enter the city, you didn't give their children snacks to eat." Last time, we came to steal food in the middle of the night, and we didn't say anything to put the person back, and she, a person who taught children to steal, actually threw her face at us. ”

Wen Jianning sighed slightly: "At that time, the Qi family was not short of food, and I sent some small snacks just to relieve the children's hunger." It's different now, everyone is here to survive, and you just don't care about her anyway. ”

The sister-in-law of the Qi family did not react to them, but became more and more arrogant, and no longer respected them before. probably thinking that they can't be two female students after all, Beiping's connection with the outside world is broken, and without the support of their families, what can they do if they are angry again. On the contrary, the men of the Qi family bowed their heads apologetically every time they saw them in the courtyard, as if they were also embarrassed by their wives' behavior.

The days continue to move forward in the bumps of the two families.

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-October, and it was about because the weather was getting cooler, and Zhong Hui had some symptoms of coughing. Coupled with the fact that she was on a diet all day these days, she was dirty, hungry and had no strength, lying on the bed and saying sickly: "Jianning, I really want to eat pineapple buns." ”

But in today's Beiping City, not to mention pineapple buns, even ordinary bread is rare.

Wen Jianning felt sad, but he still had to write a blank check to his friend: "You are not well yet, you can't eat indiscriminately." Take care of your illness, and when you get better, we will leave Beiping together, and when you go to Shanghai or Hong Kong, I will buy you as many pineapple buns as you want. ”

Of course, Zhong Hui also knew that he was whimsical, so he quickly changed the topic.

Fortunately, Zhong Hui's cough this time was just a false alarm, and Zhong Hui's cough stopped in two days. Seeing that her body was about to recover completely, the two began to work together again about how to escape from Beiping. Most of the people Wen Jianning knew here had already left Beiping, and they couldn't count on it for a while, but Zhong Hui's side, as well as her father's old acquaintances in Beijing, might be able to ask them for help. Under Zhong Hui's careful recollection, she finally remembered a friend that her father had confessed.

Zhong Hui's father's friend was a professor at Tsinghua University surnamed Zheng, and before his father left Beiping, he specially asked his old friend to take care of his daughter, who was studying alone.

However, when Wen Jianning came to the door with the address, there was only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl wearing a blue cloth shirt who opened the door. The other party was obviously very vigilant, even if he saw Wen Jianning dressed as a schoolgirl, he refused to let her in.

But seeing Wen Jianning's gentle and sincere attitude, her guarded expression gradually softened.

It turned out that as early as a few days ago, Professor Zheng went out suddenly and never returned, and now the whole person is missing. Now the Zheng family has no elders, and everything in the family depends on his eldest daughter to take care of it.

Wen Jianning saw through the crack in the door that there were a few plush little heads behind the girl, and knew that their current situation was only more difficult than theirs, so he gritted his teeth and took out a few pieces of ocean from his pocket and handed it to her: "Although the money is not much, but Professor Zheng is not here, you still have to take care of your younger brothers and sisters, please don't shirk this point." ”

The girl, named Apple, hesitates, but refuses her money: "My father gave me all the money before he left, so that I could take care of my younger siblings. ”

She said this tactfully, but Wen Jianning understood.

I'm afraid that this Professor Zheng had already expected his fate after he invaded Beiping, so he left in a hurry. It's just that he pity his young sons and daughters, and he still has to stay in this fallen Beiping City.

Wen Jianning had no choice but to put the money back in his pocket and persuaded: "If you have the opportunity, you should find a way to escape from Beiping." ”

Apple just shook her head, "Brother and sister are too young for us to leave." ”

After Wen Jianning said goodbye to Apple, he returned to the courtyard and told Zhong Hui about the situation, and the two were relatively silent for a long time. She brought up the news she had just heard: "I heard that the three schools have now been transferred to Changsha, Hunan, and are preparing to resume classes there. ”

Zhong Hui couldn't help but come to the divine word: "Hunan...... It must be a long way, and we're going to have a lot of trouble going there. ”

"Although there are wars everywhere and there are dangers on the road, there is nothing wrong with taking this opportunity to look around. ”

The premise they said was to escape from Beiping City, and escape from here first, but it was only the first step.

The two were lost for a while, and then they cheered up and continued to think of a way.

In the next half month, the two girls tried their best to get close to some teachers and students of Peking University, but even this was not an easy task, because their current identities were really embarrassing.

The two had only been in Peking for a few months, and apart from a few acquaintances whom the elders had confessed, they had no old acquaintances in Beiping; although they had been admitted to Peking University, they had not yet been enrolled, and in addition, the personnel management of Peking University had been chaotic since they moved away, and it was difficult to verify their identities.

In addition, now that all schools are guarded by the Japanese themselves, young teachers and students are arrested at every turn, which makes them even more worried.

Other students were arrested, and some teachers, relatives, and friends ran for them, and there was still a possibility of escape. And if they are caught, the possibility of coming out is very small, Wen Jianning and they really don't dare to take this risk, so they can only hold back their anxiety and wait for the opportunity to come day after day.

When they finally approached some people, they claimed to be students who had been admitted to Peking University, but it was still difficult to trust each other.

As early as September, the Japanese themselves set up a so-called North China Student Federation, whose student officers were almost all pro-Japanese. The members of the federation often disguised themselves as patriotic students, deceived the trust of some professors, and took the opportunity to obtain the names of those involved in the transfer of students. Because of these people, many teachers and students have already been arrested by the Japanese themselves, and their fate is still uncertain. Although the rest of the professors are still secretly helping to figure out a way, they no longer dare to easily trust every student who comes to ask for help.

Wen Jianning and the others had no other way but to run again and again, trying their best to beg for help, and after a period of time, they also achieved some results. In fact, later, the other party may not believe these two girls at all, but the trapped teachers and students are too funny. The students from their own school can't be transferred, and they can't take care of the students from the two other schools for a while.

Fortunately, there are always people who are soft-hearted, and the person in charge of a university in Peking finally promised to help find a way together.

But they have to wait, as for when they will wait, they don't know, but at least they see a glimmer of light.

It was in this waiting that the first winter after the fall of Beiping finally came.

......

This was the first winter Wen Jianning and her sisters spent in Beiping.

The two of them used to stay in Hong Kong all year round, and they were excited for a while when they saw the snow, but when the novelty passed, they began to worry again. The cold in the north is said to be able to freeze people to death. There is also a pile of coal in their yard that the Wang Li brothers bought before leaving, at least they can survive this winter, but I don't know how many people in this huge Beiping City are going to freeze to death on the streets.

Sure enough, a few days after the first heavy snowfall, they were intermittently hearing from people outside that far more poor people had frozen to death on the streets this year than in previous years.

Early in the morning, as soon as Wen Jianning went out, he saw an old horse of a rickshaw driver he knew resting against the wall.

Anyone who knows her well over the years knows that she has a quirk, that is, she never takes a rickshaw.

Although she is not in the habit of taking rickshaws, she still tries her best to help these hard-working people whenever she can. After coming to Beiping in the early spring, whenever there was a need to carry heavy objects and things, he always had to call the nearest coachman. She was kind and talkative, and she didn't care about a little money, and she got along well with several of the coachmen, and Lao Ma was one of them.

Wen Jianning always felt that he looked a little like her uncle Minggui, and always took special care of him.

It's just that she doesn't need to help deliver and carry many things, and the rickshaw can't always go around this alley, and the two haven't seen each other for a while, but I didn't expect to meet them as soon as I went out today.

The two exchanged a few words, and Wen Jianning knew what happened to Lao Ma recently.

They work as rickshaw drivers, coming and going in the wind and rain, and they are so tired that they shed their skin every day, and they can barely make ends meet. However, since the arrival of the Japanese himself, several car factories have been forced to close one after another, and the livelihood of these drivers has become more and more difficult. The old horse was lucky, and he finally found a job in another garage after going around and around, and he ran again.

It's just that it's freezing right now, and there are few pedestrians on the street, so there will be no business at all, so you can only rest on the side of the road. Wen Jianning saw that the old horse was wearing a torn jacket that was so dirty that he couldn't see the color, and there were even a few strands of ash fluttering from the holes.

Wen Jianning hesitated for a moment before he spoke: "Why don't you go and sit in our house, don't freeze." ”

She was still just a girl after all, and there was only one other girl in the family, and being able to invite an adult man to sit where she lived was the greatest kindness she could release.

(End of chapter)