In Shanghai, when the rising sun dispelled the steaming fog that hung over the city and brought Shanghai Tang back to the glorious spring light from the wet spring rain, Miao Cuihua's former colleague Ah Xiang woke up from her sleep. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

After receiving Miao Cuihua's relief, Ah Xiang first went to the restaurant where she had been absent for a long time, and then spent a dime to wash off the old dirt of the past few months in the best "Donglaishun" bathroom in Zhabei. Then, she immediately went straight to Guldian Road, and spent three dollars to get a new hairstyle in the barber parlor of "White Rose", where she had been doing her hair - it seemed to her that she had not stepped through the door of "White Rose" for a century.

When she left the "White Rose", although the clothes on her body were a little torn, but smelling the scent of the "Hundred Sparrows" on her head, she felt that she had returned to the old well-dressed, well-dressed, and moist Ah Xiang - in this chaotic year, in addition to Ah Lian, who was lucky enough to get a "long-term meal ticket" like Ah Lian, how many of the former sisters could afford to enter the bathhouse and enjoy the consumption of "White Rose" like she is today?

So when she went to the "Hong Changxing" pawnshop to redeem her pawn with a pawn ticket, she was also swaggering. After arguing with the pawnshop guy for most of the day and redeeming the clothes and jewelry she had lost because of her embarrassment at a 7% discount, she returned to her dwelling in a small alley on Baoshan Road with a large bag and a small bag - she used to disdain to live in such a "lower corner" place, but with the sharp decline in income, she could no longer even afford to pay the rent of the snail's house. When she walked proudly through the small alleys, enjoying the surprised eyes, envious eyes, and admiring cries of the neighbors, she felt how proud she was.

Pan Laoshi, the landlord of the snail house, the fat woman with a round face, was the first to hear the news, and tried to hide her anxiety about rubbing her hands to collect the debt with a giggling expression, but Ah Xiang unhurriedly sorted out the clothes she had just redeemed - she knew that having a house in these years did not mean that she would receive rent, and that when the tenants were desperately poor, the landlord would be impoverished because they could not collect the rent - and the landlord was also anxious to wait for the money.

"Who told you to be so tight when you usually urge me to pay rent?" Ah Xiang muttered in her heart, "I can't pay the rent, and you still force me to be a thing...... Hey...... Now it's your turn to beg me, right? Ah Xiang snickered proudly and said a perfunctory word to the landlord. After the landlord had said almost all the good things, she unhurriedly took out a few copper dollars that had been prepared and sent her away, and said that she would continue to rent this snail's house for a long time - she didn't want to show her wealth in front of people and cause unexpected misfortunes, and in these years two strong men can break their heads for a dime, and they can kill people for a piece of ocean.

Then she counted the money she had left—Ah Lian gave her a total of fifteen dollars and seven dimes in fraction. She spent five dimes for a tooth sacrifice in a restaurant, eight dimes for a bath, two and a cent for ransom, four cents for rent, and ten oceans plus triangular copper dollars at the moment. She thought about it and took out a piece of three cents and put it in her pocket, and the remaining nine oceans were all hidden in the clothes under the suitcase - Ah Xiang was a woman who would live a tight life, and she knew that the ten yuan was enough for her to use for a year and a half, and she had to spend some money tightly, and she couldn't accidentally show her wealth to attract thieves or lose the money.

When everything was cleaned up, her stomach began to "coo" with hunger again, so she quietly slipped out the door, weighed a dime in the small shop at the entrance of the alley, and came back with some cooked dishes packed from the restaurant at noon, and after dinner, she turned off the lights and went to bed. It's just that this sleep is extremely unsound, and she always dreams that someone has burglarized and stole the ocean she hid in the suitcase, and several times she wakes up from the dream and jumps up to check whether the money in the suitcase is still there. It was so noisy until the wee hours of the morning that she finally fell asleep.

Now, after three o'clock in the sun, Ah Xiang woke up from her sleep, and the first thing she did was to check if the ocean in the suitcase was still there. The second thing I did was to burn some "noodle rice" for breakfast on the leftover noodles I ate last night. I just packed up the dishes and chopsticks and was about to wash my face, when I heard someone knocking on the door outside the door: "Sister A Xiang, Sister A Xiang, open the door, open the door quickly!" ”

Ah Xiang, who had just made a small fortune, woke up soon after she heard someone knocking desperately on her door, which was the voice of her little sister Ah Fang. The two used to be good friends when they were "eldest three" in the same brothel, and when the war broke out, the two still lived in the same alley after they became secret prostitutes.

I don't know why, Ah Fang's "business" is always better than Ah Xiang, and life is naturally more moisturized than Ah Xiang. Therefore, on weekdays, Ah Xiang always goes to Ah Fang to rub oil and borrow vinegar, and Ah Fang also shares everything he has with Ah Xiang without reservation, and has never had a trace of complaint. Ah Xiang wanted to go to Ah Fang's house to return a piece of ocean to her when she got up today, but she didn't expect Ah Fang to get up earlier than her.

"Hey, here we go!" Ah Xiang answered, and ran to open the door in cotton slippers with unthreaded feet.

When the door opened, both sides were stunned.

Ah Xiang was surprised by the anxious look on Ah Fang's face and the sweat on his head, as if there was something urgent. And Ah Fang was surprised how Ah Xiang, who had been down overnight, became radiant, not only dressed appropriately, but also had a very fashionable hairstyle, giving people a feeling of rebirth.

Then, the two asked each other in unison.

Ah Fang asked, "Hey, why did you change so much after not seeing you for a day?" Did you get a big deal and get a vote? ”

Ah Xiang asked: "Hey, what's the matter, look at you in a hurry, do you have to go to the army?" ”

Ah Fang pursed his lips and said, "Where, don't you know?" Today is the day when the sisters re-register, and only the sisters who have registered can get a new professional qualification certificate, otherwise it will be a black hukou, and the Japanese will catch one and shoot one! ”

"Really?" Ah Xiang was stunned.

Seeing that she didn't believe it, Ah Fang added: "Yes, this thing is true, the entrance of the alley is posted with a big-character notice from the Social Bureau, and it is also stamped with a red seal, it can't be wrong!" ”

Ah Xiang thought in her heart, although she still had ten yuan of life-saving money in her hand, she couldn't stay at home and eat nothing. Sooner or later, those who are prostitutes will have to go out and sell themselves, or they will be able to take a few customers by taking advantage of their young age, and when they are older, they will be old and yellow, and no one will want them. Therefore, this registration thing must not be missed. Thinking about her, she asked Ah Fang, "Or let's go and register together?" ”