Pidgin, a pigeon cage house of the cement, this room has an area of about twenty square meters. A curtain repurposed from an old sheet was pulled in the middle.

To the left of the curtain is the home of the unemployed textile worker Ah Fen's mother, her husband, and a pair of children.

The mother of the female worker Ah Fen took her daughter Ah Fen to buy a piece of fabric on Sima Road, returned home, found tools to cut, and made a light green maid dress in only half a day, the style is also modeled after a fashionable style that has been observed for a long time, they deal with cloth all year round, and the clothes are also made by themselves, and the craft is very skilled, because the daughter Ah Fen is very thin, and the three-foot fabric has been planned to be rich in advance, and it is enough to cut a small apron.

Ah Fen's mother bit off the last thread, wiped a handful of sweat, showed a satisfied smile on her face, and gestured on her daughter:

"Put it on and try it on!"

Ah Fen happily put on the clothes, which fit perfectly.

Ah Fen's mother pinched her hand on her daughter's waist, feeling that she still owed her a little bit, too thin. is so thin, at such a young age, you have to go out to work.

However, in today's world, when textile factories are still operating normally, they also use a lot of girl laborers.

"You have to be careful not to get dirty, this color is a problem, not resistant to dirt."

Ah Fen happily walked around the cramped room, and then went to the wall to shine again, and there was a cracked glass mirror glued to the wall. It was getting late, and the female worker pulled out a briquette stove from under the bed to make dinner. They now cook in their own rooms, so they don't have to pay the landlord to use the kitchen.

Ah Fen's mother only had a neighbor family of four separated by a curtain to come back lively, the only difference was that today they brought back relatives at home, a pair of vegetable-faced couples, and a tall country girl. At first glance, it was a girl from the countryside, and her cheeks were blown out by the wind with two unhealthy lumps of carmine.

"Mother Ah Fen, is dinner ready so soon?

"It's done, Aunt Qiao, you also eat a little? Who is this? ”

Ah Fen's family cooked white rice for dinner today. The female worker was glad that this was seen by her neighbors. Inviting someone to eat with them is naturally polite, in fact, they even calculated the matter of lighting the kerosene lamp clearly.

"It's my mother's brother, my son and my niece. I couldn't get along with my hometown, so I came to Shanghai to look for a job. ”

Ah Fen's mother showed an embarrassed expression:

"How hard is it to find a job now? The matter of our family Ah Fen is still thanks to you. ”

Ah Qiao's mother showed a smug look and couldn't help boasting:

"Ah Fen is only 12 years old, and this is a top job. Three meals are included, four dollars a month. ”

Ah Fen's mother smiled and thanked her again, in fact, they had already communicated the thank you gift money, according to the rules at this time, the first month's salary should be given to the introducer as a thank you gift. Introducing a maid to a wealthy family, if something happens, the introducer is jointly and severally liable, and the introducer is about the equivalent of a guarantor.

When relatives come to the door, Aqiao's mother and family are always more generous, and they take a break at home. I went out to eat together and invited my relatives to eat lo mein. It's also something to brag about.

So after coming back, Ah Qiao's mother commented:

"Now the restaurant is becoming less and less affordable, they all have tricks, the bowl makes tricks, looking at the sharp bowl, in fact, the top is very thick, the bottom is very pointy bottom, can't hold anything!"

Her brother and wife from the countryside inherited her favor. He kept praising the deliciousness of lo mein, and he had to fulfill the duty of gratitude to a relative in the countryside who had never seen the world.

After eating a full meal, naturally no entertainment activities will be arranged, and it will be just sleeping. Seven people are crammed into a ten-square-meter half-room, and they can actually squeeze in. Ah Qiao's mother put her own briquette stove in the yard. You can also sleep on the floor under the bed.

……

Ah Fen, who was wearing new clothes in light green summer bamboo cloth, was taken to the rich family to work the next day, the rich family was very rich, and the chandelier consisted of a dozen bulbs of different sizes, and the crystal was dazzling. The sofa is very fat and big. Like a cloud of white clouds in the sky, soft and elastic, the master sits on the sofa, just like the god sits on the clouds.

The wood used to make the sofa is carved into delicate flowers, and it is also wrapped in a layer of copper skin, which is golden and shiny. The black wood bogu frame is the style of making the suò Chengfu character grid with continuous heads, and the floor is made of wood.

These things with beautiful fine patterns are not easy to maintain. Ah Fen polished the furniture in the living room inch by inch, and knelt down to wipe the floor.

She is the lady who does the cleaning.

When she came home in the evening, the work clothes of the green bamboo cloth were already dirty and unpresentable, so Ah Fen's mother immediately started to clean them, and then hooked them with a clothesline and hung them on the window.

God had pity on the poor, and the next day Ah Fen still had clean clothes to go to work.

……

The female neighbor separated by a curtain takes her relatives out to look for a job every day, and the job is so easy to find. Ah Fen's mother is unemployed at home, and she will also do her best to be a neighbor.

She is in charge of fetching water for her neighbors.

The cement house where they live is not equipped with running water, so they have to go to the public water pipe every day to connect the water, and more than 100 households use a faucet.

The line was always long, wriggling like a snake.

Ah Fen's mother struggled to carry a large tin bucket, which was big enough to make a bathtub, because of the neighbors' rules, it was the turn of the queue, and only one bucket could be filled and the next one had to be resigned.

Everyone has to eat water and cook, and this rule also ensures that everyone can survive in a certain way. Ah Fen's mother used a big iron bucket, and the neighbors were not satisfied, but they had known each other for many years, and they didn't want to fall out all at once.

Ah Fen's mother was not scolded, there was a textile female worker who worked part-time as a pulp and laundry after being unemployed, and the water money for this faucet was shared by everyone.

It takes a lot of water to wash the clothes, and the female worker only pays for it, and she has to send the children of the family to queue up day and night. Naturally, the neighbors were not satisfied.

There were even cautious neighbors who went to the landlord to complain and ask the landlord to prohibit the pulp washing lady from using water. The landlord was indifferent, and directly found the pulp washing lady and built her to buy water in a big tin can.

The big iron tank is another form of water supply in residential areas where there is no running water, and it is also organized by the water company.

Ordinary people, buy a copper plate of water, a day of washing and eating is enough, saving, can even be used for two or three days, Shanghai is built on the basis of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River, so it is not a shortage of water.

The female worker who washed the pulp was short of this money, she used her red and swollen hands, wiped her red and tearful eyes, and looked infinitely miserable, Ah Fen's mother was only distressed in her heart, but she couldn't show it, after all, her own family was also very poor. Where is the qualification to stand out for others?

…… (To be continued.) )