Chun Bao does not need other people's shares, but Bai Yaozu's requirements must be met by him, not only because Mr. Bai has merit in the ransom matter, but also because he has an IOU from Lin Yanhe in his hand, indicating that he owes fifty taels of gold, which is the cost of Mr. Bai walking up and down, and when he pays the ransom, he goes all out, and he can't get more, Mr. Bai takes the initiative to pay in advance, this money only needs to be paid, they are friends for many years, and there is still this trust.

This disaster hurt Lin Ji's vitality, and the family foundation was scraped clean, but as the saying goes, there are three catties of iron in the rotten ship, as long as the people are in the people, the machine is there, and the stove is a matter of one sentence, this time Lin Ji's share capital has undergone major changes, Bai Yaozu accounts for eighty percent of the shares with fifty taels of gold white strips, Chun Bao and Lin Yanhe each account for one percent, this well-known Lin Ji on the beach for decades, has actually become Bai Ji, and the two of them work together for the surname Bai.

In order to make up the ransom, the house in Linjianan City went out, the warehouse in Pudong was sold, and the pavement on the road was also given to Bai Yaozu, and now the production workshop was moved to the Shikumen house again, working in the guest room, living on the second floor, the whole family was crowded in two rooms, the pavilion and the attic were rented out, Chunbao only recruited an apprentice, and he got up early every day and wore a short dozen to operate the machine himself. The new goods produced every day, Chunbao carried them to the store to sell, and after a while, Bai Yaozu said that the repeat customers only recognize you Chen Chunbao, otherwise, you come to the store during the day to sit in town, and go home at night to start work again, Chunbao nodded and did not speak.

The living standard of the family plummeted, the aunt and the nurse resigned, and Baozhu, the former daughter of Miss Yang, had to take on the living life of the family, buying rice and vegetables, washing and cooking, sewing and mending, taking care of the old and the young, and it was easy to dress, after all, when I had money, I bought a lot of shoes, hats and shirts.

Among them, the most difficult thing is to buy rice, the most sought-after commodity in the concession is rice, 3.5 million mouths have to eat every day, the grain production around Shanghai can not be supplied, there are luxury commercial Jardine Matheson, Swire & Co. ships bought a large amount of Siamese rice from Hong Kong, and made a fortune in a national disaster, the price of rice will always rise seven or eight times within a month, once the family has an income, quickly take it to buy rice, and buy unpalasurable Siamese rice, because the price is cheap and durable. In the past, the family ate fried small yellow croaker and braised lion's head for three days, but now they can only eat dried radish and red in the snow, Dafeng also planted shallots and green vegetables in the corners of the front and rear patios, used flower pots to sprout mung bean sprouts, and even dried salt beans on the roof.

The most difficult to serve is little John, this child is naturally squeamish, has a headache and brain fever every three or five days, walks around the hospital, and money flows out. Eating is also very picky, almost three years old still to eat milk, the wet nurse has dismissed where to find milk, Baozhu can only save money from between the teeth to buy black market imported milk powder for the child to eat.

When John was four years old, Mrs. Lin and Lin Yanhe died one after another, Mrs. Tai is life, Lin Yanhe was exhausted and suffered a stroke again, paralyzed, and lay in bed for two months before he died, before leaving, he called Chun Bao to the bed, the corners of his mouth drooled, and he said a bunch of words indistinctly, Chun Bao just nodded and clenched his father-in-law's hand until he gradually became cold. Two funerals in a row, the whole family was tortured to exhaustion, but with the loss of two people, the pressure of life was suddenly reduced, and Chun Bao seemed to have regained some vitality, sometimes with spare money in his pocket, he would give alms to beggars on the side of the road.

A major event occurred at the end of the year, when Japan finally declared war on Britain and the United States. The Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor and annihilated most of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, British Hong Kong and Singapore fell one after another, the Japanese army was overwhelmed, and the British and Americans in the concession were imprisoned in concentration camps. Some people speculated that there would be chaos in the concession from now on, but the fact was the opposite, after the Japanese entered the concession, the kidnapping and assassination incidents were extinct, and the spies of No. 76 no longer dared to fight the fire on the street, and most of the Chinese were depressed, thinking that they had made a slave to the country, and Chunbao hid a shortwave radio, and quietly turned on it every night to listen to the broadcast in Chongqing.

After the Japanese army took over the concession, in order to calm the price of grain, the implementation of the grain system, which is commonly known as rolling rice, the common people with the household registration certificate from the licensed rice shop to buy cheap rice, this kind of rice is often very poor, old rice broken rice is good, sometimes can only buy six grain flour, after the implementation of the household rice system, the price of rice has been suppressed, but it is more difficult to buy rice, at first each family can send a person to receive the whole family's household rice, and then everyone has to go to receive rice, so on the day of receiving rice, everyone has to get up early to line up, Three watch days when the rice shop door lined up a long line, in the morning the rice shop just got off the door panel, the team was all in chaos, scrambling to move forward, the police to maintain order with a long bamboo pole to split the head and cover the face of the random whipping, if it rains and snows, it is really a rice, life to remove half of it.

After two months like this, there was good news in Xuzhou, and the autumn family added Ding, a son, named Chang'an. Chun Bao raised some money to remit the past, and now the market is using the Wang government's issued reserve bonds, two yuan of fiat currency for one dollar of the reserve bonds, this kind of banknotes are issued indiscriminately, depreciation is very fast, thousands of savings bonds can not buy anything, Chun Bao can only talk about the heart.

Shanghai has entered a period of dead silence, Chunbao's cheap abacus sales have been greatly reduced, he decided to remake the high-end mahogany abacus, these days has been running around purchasing, mahogany has fallen, copper is still in contact, copper is a military control material, there is no market, even if it is hoarded, do not dare to sell out, otherwise it is better to be caught by the Japanese military police than to die. A reliable friend helped Chunbao introduce a seller, it is said that there is a roll of brass tape, and it is not necessary to use too much copper to make an abacus, and the hoop and nameplate on an abacus are only a few inches of copper skin, and a roll of brass belt is enough for him to use for a year. Chunbao specially went to Nanshi to see the sample, this is the first time he rented the world after the kidnapping case, now there is no difference between the concession and the Nanshi, they are all the world of the Japanese, but there is no need to worry about safety, the seller met with Chunbao in a teahouse, and after a while of greetings, he took out a piece of copper to put on the table, Chunbao knew at a glance that it was the high-quality copper imported from the South American intellectual country, and the batch he hoarded was the same, he suddenly thought about it, and asked the seller if he could take a look at the whole roll of copper belt, the seller hesitated and said yes, I still can't believe you Chen Dashan, so I took him to a private house, dragged out the wooden box from under the bed, Chun Bao was shocked, this wooden box is too familiar, it is printed in Spanish, and there are marks made by myself with charcoal, isn't this one of the boxes in the batch of goods that I hoarded, I didn't expect to go around, and it returned to my own hands, in order to raise a ransom, Lin Yanhe sold the copper material at a discount and sold it to the next family introduced by Bai Yaozu, could it be this person? He tried to set the other party's words, but the buyer did not hide it, saying that it was bought from a few Zhuji people, and Chunbao's head buzzed, Zhuji people! The kidnappers are three people with Zhuji accents.

Two years ago at this time, Chun Bao was lured to Nanshi to kidnap, and then sent to the countryside of Pudong to be imprisoned, locked in a dog cage, eating, drinking and Lazar are all in this four-foot square cage, imprisoned for a long time, if it is not for the family to make up enough ransom in time, no need to tear up the ticket, people will go crazy first, this memory is Chun Bao has been deliberately avoided, but it is deeply imprinted in the deepest part of his mind, the Zhuji accent of those three people, he will never forget. Chun Bao took a deep breath and asked the seller what the people looked like, and the seller said that he couldn't remember it clearly, but he remembered that one of them was a little stuttering when he spoke.

Chun Bao felt cold to the bone, he suddenly understood what his father-in-law meant by saying Bai Yaozu three times in a row before he died, this is to remind himself that the heart of guarding against others is indispensable, his father-in-law and himself are both honest and honest businessmen, I didn't expect that people's hearts could be bad like this, and he didn't stop, and he made himself into his money-making tool, long-term exploitation, pity himself for not working day and night in the past two years, and his family didn't enjoy the blessings, all cheapened this wolf.

"Boss Chen, what's wrong with Nong? His face was ugly. The seller kindly poured him a cup of tea.

Chun Bao found an excuse to leave first, walking on the street in a daze, he hated Bai Yaozu for being too despicable and shameless, hated that he hadn't found the clue for a long time, now that he thinks about it, Bai Yaozu's flaws abound, but he is too kind and doesn't want to believe that there are such bad people in the world.

Unconsciously, it was dark, Chun Bao looked up, and actually went to the Four Horse Road Club, since the outbreak of the war, people were panicked, and the patrons who used to like to go to the book and Chang San Tangzi turned to a more fashionable and exciting dance field, what Paramount, Metropolis, MGM, the floor of the dance floor is equipped with springs, and it feels more to dance, many Mr. Shuyu, the prostitutes of the Chang San and the Second Hall have changed careers to become dance ladies, and now the Four Horse Road has long lost the style of the year, and there are only a few old and decrepit station street warblers. Seeing someone coming, a woman wearing a high-slit cheongsam stepped forward and grabbed Chunbao's arm and pulled it in, Chunbao subconsciously broke free, and looked at it, this woman's eyebrows and eyes were familiar, like Aunt Tao who had not been seen for more than ten years.

Aunt Tao didn't recognize Chun Baolai, time flies, the ignorant teenager was already a middle-aged man tortured by the pressure of life, but Chun Bao recognized Aunt Tao at a glance, Aunt Tao's face was covered with cheap lead powder, and she still couldn't cover the ravines in the corners of her eyes. Chunbao took out all the coupons that were ready to buy copper and gave them to Aunt Tao, and then strode away, Aunt Tao pinched the banknotes, looked at the back of the distance and did not know why, for a while, the corners of her mouth twitched, and said "Tu Tu".

After understanding the truth, Chun Bao no longer had the heart to work, and sat at home all day long, Baozhu didn't ask him, quietly took a few old clothes to the pawnshop, and bought high-priced black market rice for her husband to cook a bowl of porridge.

A few days later, Bai Yaozu came to the door with two bags of dim sum, Chunbao knew that this person was extremely insidious, so he could only pretend to be a snake, saying that he was sick and couldn't work, Mr. Bai asked Gao Ming, his tone was light, but very resolute.

Bai Yaozu stared at Chun Bao for a while, and said with a smile: "I have one thing, I will cure you with medicine." As he spoke, he took out an IOU, and the payment was Lin Yanhe, who pressed his handprint and stamp, and had a Chinese person as a guarantee, stating that he owed Bai Yaozu fifty taels of gold, and he would return it within one year.

"It's fair to pay back the debt, right?" Bai Yaozu said, "Allah is kind, forbearance Nong for so many days, Nong wants to settle the accounts, everyone is good, take out fifty taels of gold, can't take it out, hum." ”

Before Chun Bao could speak, Baozhu rushed in, his chest rose and fell with anger, and he screamed: "How can Nong want to!" "The whole family has actually hated this Mr. Bai for a long time, although Baozhu is a mother, she is still the short-tempered Miss Jiao in her bones.

Bai Yaozu looked at the jewel, the jewel was not yet thirty years old, and it was still charming, so Bai Yaozu said: "If you can't take it out, take the house!" This house must not be worth fifty taels, and if it is not enough, take someone to pay it. ”

Baozhu said: "Nong, surnamed Bai, is unreasonable! How much money has we made in the past two years, and we owe you a long time ago! ”

Bai Yaozu smiled, lifted his suit jacket, revealed the gun pinned to the waistband of his trousers, and said: "What is the truth, this is the truth, don't think that you Chen Chunbao can hide the matter of eavesdropping on the shortwave radio to listen to Chongqing Radio, what is the relationship between Alla and Wu Sibao, and inviting Nong to Huxi No. 76 to eat a lawsuit is a matter of gossip." After that, he swaggered downstairs, walked to the door, stopped and turned around and shouted: "The day after tomorrow, Allah will come to collect the house." ”

Baozhu began to cry silently, Chun Bao didn't know how to comfort her, Bai Yaozu was a traitor spy, and he had a close relationship with the people of No. 76, and he casually buckled the hat of an anti-Japanese element, but the family was ruined, there was no way, who made himself honest and benevolent, honest life in this troubled world, he was destined to live as well as a dog.

But honest people are destined to be bullied, Chun Bao can't figure it out, since he was a child, his father Chen San taught him to be benevolent and righteous, and his father-in-law Lin Yanhe taught him to be honest and honest, he believes in Buddhism, believes in God, and accumulates virtue and does good deeds for half his life, why did he end up like this? This Shikumen house was earned by him Chen Chunbao who ran away from home at the age of sixteen and worked hard for many years to earn from scratch, just like the house that Liu Taigong won in the Xuzhou Mansion competition, it is a totem of a person's life, and he can't give it up.

Chun Bao prepared a rope, a dagger, a set of clothes, quietly hidden in the back kitchen, the family ate peacefully at night, went to bed to rest, during the fall, each family limited the power supply of seven degrees per month, the lighting was not enough, the house was dark, Chun Bao and other wives and children, old mother and mother-in-law were asleep, got up and went upstairs barefoot, put on a hidden black tunic and went out through the back door.