Hong Kong Island, Winter 1943.

In the blink of an eye, Hong Kong Island has been occupied by the Japanese for two years. Although the fighting has subsided temporarily, the streets are still not as prosperous as they were in the past, but are becoming more and more dilapidated. In the cold wind, even the signboard of the store was a little crumbling.

A young man in a black trench coat waved down the street, and a taxi pulled up in front of him.

The driver glanced at him and greeted him warmly: "Sir, I've met you again, get in the car." ”

The young man smiled gently and opened the car door: "Please go to the Zheng Mansion." ”

While driving, the driver asked casually: "This gentleman, it doesn't seem to be a local by listening to the accent, why do you always visit the Zheng Mansion in the past two days, could it be that it has something to do with the famous Zheng family?"

The young man noticed the slight sarcasm and hostility in his words, and just smiled and said, "The family has committed a little thing, and they want to go through the door of the Zheng Mansion and bring people out in peace." ”

As soon as he said this, the driver couldn't say anything, since he himself was stationed on Hong Kong Island, these days have become more and more sad day by day, and every day there are not many people who have nothing to do with the Japanese soldiers who have nothing to do and interrogate them, and those who go in will be injured at least their muscles and bones, and their lives will be ruined at worst, and they don't know what happened to this young man's family, so he actually asked to come to the door of this Zheng family.

Although he despises the soft bones of Xiang Ri himself who flatters and seeks glory, he will not be angry with ordinary people. This world is too chaotic, and if you want to survive, you have to do your best, not to mention what is spineless.

The car stopped in front of the Zheng Mansion, and the young man paid the money and thanked the driver, and walked towards the gate.

The driver just now probably didn't expect that this young man was actually a distinguished guest specially explained by the young lady of the Zheng family.

As soon as he revealed his intentions, a servant immediately asked him to move into the house. Not long after he sat down on the sofa in the living room, a well-trained maid hurriedly served him hot tea and snacks.

Hurried footsteps soon came from the stairs, and a young woman in her twenties came down from the stairs, greeting him and explaining: "Please don't be in a hurry, I have asked someone to inquire about their sisters' whereabouts in private, but I am afraid that it will take a little more time to get a clue." In fact, in the past two years, I have also looked for them, but I have not been able to catch anyone, thinking that they have left, and then there is no follow-up. If it hadn't been for you, I would have thought they would have run out a long time ago, but who would have thought. ”

At this, the woman sighed softly.

The young man just smiled gently, "If I just have to wait for their whereabouts, I can wait for a long time." It's just that a few days ago, I suddenly got a clue that I couldn't find myself, so I wanted to ask you to help too. ”

As he spoke, he spread out his palm, only to see a long and rectangular seal placed in his palm.

The young woman took it and looked at it, and was overjoyed: "This is, this is ...... I didn't live in the dormitory at that time, although I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard other people mention it, and she saw that Ning had such a seal, which you carved it, and she was very precious. ”

Although no one has been found yet, with this clue, it at least means that they see some hope.

Chen Hanxiang was half happy, her smile suddenly faded, and she sighed again: "Mr. Feng, please don't blame Ning, I think she is only afraid that she has been doing very bad recently, so she will pawn this seal." I heard that this seal is not worth much, but even such old things have to be sold, but I am afraid that Ning has reached the point of exhaustion, you, you have to be mentally prepared......"

Feng Yi retrieved his seal, lowered his head and played with it in his hand: "How can I use worthless materials for what I gave her." However, according to the pawnshop owner, she still couldn't recognize Jianning, and was pawned out by the other party at a very low price, allowing him to pick up a big bargain for nothing. If she could know, maybe she could exchange some more money. ”

Since he was a child, he learned to carve a seal with his second uncle, and the stones he handled were all precious. This seal is not an ordinary Qingtian stone, but an extremely rare sealed door blue, so few people can recognize it.

Seeing that he didn't seem to be angry about this, Chen Hanxiang was relieved.

The pawnshop man said that it was indeed a young woman who had come to sell the seal, and that he had come to hide it, and although he did not remember what the other party looked like, he saw that when he went out, he saw that she had spoken to some coolie drivers on the street, and some of them were quite familiar.

It's just that Hong Kong Island is so big, and the coachmen are running around all day long, so it's really inconvenient to find people, so Feng Yi finally wanted to ask the people of the Zheng family to help find the coachmen on his behalf, so as to further find the whereabouts of the Wen Jianning sisters. The two chatted for a while, and Chen Hanxiang promised that if there was news, someone would notify him, and Feng Yi got up to say goodbye.

On the way back, Feng Yi didn't call for a car, and walked slowly back to the hotel along the street alone.

When he left Kunming, he thought that when this work was over, he would return to Kunming or Hong Kong Island and hold a grand wedding with her, so that she could marry him justifiably.

But they never thought that this sudden war would separate them for so long.

On the day of the outbreak of the Battle for Hong Kong Island, he was still working as an interpreter at the base, and when he suddenly heard that the Japanese army had attacked Pearl Harbor, he suddenly knew that things were not good, and hurriedly sent telegrams to Kunming, Chongqing, and other places to ask for news, but waited for Feng Ling's apology.

Feng Ling was very guilty about what happened that day, not only regretting her mean attitude towards Wen Jianning at the beginning, but also regretting that she didn't try her best to fight for an extra seat on the plane and bring Wen Jianning back.

But regret didn't help, she still couldn't come back after all.

The first wave of people who successfully came back was her cousin-in-law, who is said to be a pregnant woman with a big belly, and they all made it back.

Feng Yi was relieved when he first heard about this, since this is the case, then Jianning should have to get out soon.

Sister Feng Ling and the others around him persuaded him to wait a little longer, maybe Jianning would come back with the next few waves of rescuers, in case they missed again, in case even he was trapped on Hong Kong Island, then everything she did would be meaningless.

In addition, the second uncle was sick again at that time, so he could only hold back his temperament and continue to wait.

By the end of March of the following year, most of the cultural figures on the rescue list had successfully sneaked back to the mainland, but she was still missing. Later, Japan drove a large number of ordinary people out of Hong Kong Island. Several servants were mixed in, and after twists and turns along the way, they finally managed to arrive in Chongqing and join the Feng family over there.

In the end, Aunt Zhou and several of them also came back one after another, some of the people in the Feng Mansion in the past were still alive and returned to the mainland after a lot of hardships, and some died in the defense of Hong Kong Island. She was the only one who had no news, neither with Aunt Zhou nor with others.

Aunt Zhou told her that they had managed to escape under the arrangement of a friend of Wen Jianning. But at the time of their departure, Wen Jianning and her cousins were still wanted on Hong Kong Island, and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Feng Yi couldn't wait any longer, leaving everything behind to sneak back to Hong Kong Island.

On the day he left, Feng Ling's eyes were red and he rebuked him: "Do you think you are the only one who is ashamed and uncomfortable? Yes, that's right, she is already living there, do you want to put your life in vain?"

Feng Yi just paused for a moment and left without looking back.

If he didn't come to Hong Kong Island, then the person who took care of the Feng family because of him, and was left alone on Hong Kong Island because of him, should put her own life into it for nothing......? She used to say that she didn't have too many ties, and if it weren't for him, she might have managed to escape.

Whether she lives or dies, he must at least see the results with his own eyes.

When he came to Hong Kong Island, he found that the Feng Mansion had almost been reduced to ruins in the artillery fire, and because the Feng family had all gone, it was occupied by the Japanese army as a training site, and the gate was heavily guarded. He only glanced at it from a distance, then turned back and found a hotel to stay in. Later, the longer he stayed here, he simply rented a room.

Jianning knows many people on Hong Kong Island, but only the Zhong family is really familiar.

As soon as he came to Hong Kong Island, he went straight to the Zhong family, but found that the building had already been empty, and asked the surrounding residents about the whereabouts of the Zhong family, only to hear that the Zhong family had transferred the family not long after the city was broken, and only Zhong's father and daughter and son-in-law stayed. Then one day, they were suddenly arrested by the Japanese themselves, and they have not been heard from since.

Later, it took Feng Yi a long time to manage to find the whereabouts of Zhong Hui and his family. It can be seen that Ning is not with them, whether she is alive or dead, he still doesn't know.

However, even if the population of Hong Kong Island has plummeted due to the Japanese invasion and successive famines, it is as difficult to find a person on this island as if it were looking for a needle in a haystack. The artillery fire almost broke up the entire Hong Kong Island, and most of the old ones of the Feng family were scattered, and some of the people left behind were either without food and clothing, and had difficulty getting by, or they had become guests of honor in Japan.

There are very few connections he can use, and he can only rely on his own feet and eyes to find it slowly in the sea of people.

During this period, he met some friends on Hong Kong Island one after another, visited many pawnshops, and finally found some old things of the Feng family, and followed the clues given by the pawnshop people to find the church where they once lived. At the end of his pleas, the nuns relented, saying only that she and her cousins had worked there for some time and then disappeared.

Although it took him more than a whole year, and the career of finding someone was not smooth, Feng Yi felt some comfort to know this. Seeing that Ning and the others are very alert and cautious, there is a high probability that they are still hiding in a corner.

He believes that as long as he looks for it with his heart, he will eventually find it.

Until one day, Feng Yi suddenly met a young woman who was going to a department store at the corner of the street, and the other party's voice was a little surprised, and trembled slightly: "You, are you the same Feng Yi?"

He looked up in astonishment, only to see a faintly familiar face.

She seems to be one of Jianning's classmates, whom he met a few times when he was in Kunming. It's just that he remembered that the relationship between this female classmate and Jianning was not very familiar, so Chen Hanxiang's enthusiastic posture at first made Feng Yi have to be suspicious.

It wasn't until a while later that he came into contact with Chen Hanxiang's husband Zheng Changjun again, and after learning about the current situation of the Zheng family, he finally slowly figured out the couple's thoughts. It turned out that Chen Hanxiang didn't have time to graduate that year, so she hurriedly married Chong Xi, the eldest son of the Zheng family. Soon after marriage, her husband Zheng Changjun's condition suddenly miraculously improved, and the two officially became husband and wife.

Chen Hanxiang was not a hard-working student, she wandered around all day when she was in Kunming, and only ran to borrow Wen Jianning's notes at the end of the semester, but her husband Zheng Changjun was a little different, although he was born in a rich family, but he also had the heart to write from Rong, if it wasn't for the only son in the family, maybe where he is now. Fortunately, the temperament of such two people is still compatible, so as not to cause tragedy.

But it didn't take long for the outbreak of war to break their peaceful little days.

Overnight, Hong Kong Island changed. Some of the friends who had socialized with them in the past died in the shelling, some were displaced, and some, like their families, took refuge in Japan and themselves, preserving the glory and wealth of their families.

The couple is actually not bad in nature, and after a long period of suppression, they have probably developed a certain mentality of atonement, wanting to take the opportunity to help them, so that their conscience will suffer less.

After careful consideration, Feng Yi decided that the couple was still credible and sought their help.

I just hope that with their hands, I can find her whereabouts faster.

……

After that day, within three or five days, news soon came from the Zheng family, saying that he was invited to come over for a while.

Feng Yi hurriedly went to the Zheng Mansion, and sure enough, he heard good news.

- The Zheng family followed his clues and found Wen Jianning's traces.

It's just that Chen Hanxiang couldn't see any smile on his face, but his face was a little dignified.

Feng Yi said unshockedly: "I have been looking for her for a year, no matter what the situation is, I am mentally prepared." ”

Chen Hanxiang swallowed and said: "I have found a place where she lives, but some people say that she and she are married to a small man who does hard labor, not that she is married, but that kind of relationship, and the man will take food to her every once in a while......"

(End of chapter)