Qingming has long passed, and when the valley rain is approaching, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, as if spring has ended, and the summer has fallen. On the Chevrolet taxi next to Yuanmingyuan Road in the British Concession, the old driver put down his seat, took off his shoes and leisurely rested on the window, the radio was on, and inside was the white snake playing the word. In the accompaniment of the pipa erhu, the woman's voice in the black box is as bright as gold: 'Today, it is heavy to Baigong Embankment, the scenery is still unusual, I want to be in the same boat through thick and thin, where can I find a wife in the Red Mansion......

The old driver closed his eyes and hummed along with the radio, and suddenly the car door opened, and Xu Peipei, who was playing a sunshade fan, and her sister Tao Jiang Xiuyu sat in. Xu Peipei, who was sweating on his forehead, said: "Master, go back, I still can't find anyone today." ”

Hearing that he still couldn't see anyone, the old driver looked back in surprise and said kindly: "I can't find anyone yet?" ”

"I can't find it." Jiang Xiuyu also said. She is a northerner, she speaks in Beijing, she usually loves to sing Peking Opera, and she is forced to be a dancer, and now she heard that Xu Peipei wants to go to Baidai to sing, so she also came along, hoping to follow. "When I came out, I inquired about it, and said that Mr. Dejo of France had gone to the Red House for dinner, and we didn't know where the Red House was, so we had to come back tomorrow."

"Not tomorrow, it's Saturday tomorrow......" Xu Peipei followed Jiang Xiuyu to speak Beijing, because her father-in-law also spoke Beijing, and she wanted to learn. Now she doesn't go to the dance hall anymore, and in the past half a month, in addition to schoolwork, she has been practicing songs, and when she learns to be proficient in the first English song, she will go to the person in charge of EMI Records according to the 'tips' left by her husband. But after all, she was looking for the director of the company, Mr. R. Degoy, a Frenchman, so she couldn't find anyone several times.

"The Red House?!" The old driver looked back at the two of them and said with a smile: "Allah knows, it's at No. 975 Xiafei Road, French Concession!" It is the most famous French restaurant in Shanghai. It was opened by Lo Wei Sisan, and I know Mrs. Yi! ”

The old driver actually knew where the red house was, and he recognized the proprietress of the house, and the two women immediately giggled. Xu Peipei said: "The master is old and capable!" Thick take us there okay wow? ”

"Okay!" The old driver started the car and told the story of the red house, a large French restaurant, while driving. In his introduction, Xu Peipei and the two began to understand that the red house should actually be called the Lowe Hotel, the owner is Louis Lowe, an Italian, he used to work as a waiter at the Richard Hotel, and the French wife is the tenant of the Richard Hotel - a tenant who specializes in the business of goddesses and dignitaries who stay in the hotel to relieve the loneliness of the night. Maybe it's because the money is enough, or maybe it's old and decrepit, anyway, the two of them don't do it at the Richard Hotel, relying on the relationship between Mrs. and the former benefactor, the two opened a French restaurant on Xiafei Road.

The old driver started driving a taxi more than ten years ago, of course, he has always helped others work, and he is not lucky enough to help the rich and noble drive. When she was very early, Mrs. Nalowe went out to the French Concession to have a tryst with a benefactor, and she often chartered his car, so she knew it.

Along the way, the old driver chattered about how Lowe and his wife made their fortune back then, and also told some interesting stories about him and Mrs. Lowe back then - once this Frenchwoman was caught and raped in bed by a foreigner's wife, and was kicked out at night without wearing clothes, or he took off his shirt and put it on her, and sent her back to Richard's Hotel. Xu Peipei is more naïve and doesn't know the bitterness of the prostitute's skin and meat business, while Jiang Xiuyu has been in Shanghai for a long time and has seen a lot of this kind of incident. The two women listened to the old driver tell interesting stories from the past, and only laughed all the way to the French Concession in his narration.

The car turned a corner on Xiafei Road and stopped on Yalpe Road. In order to prove that what he said was true, the old driver took the lead in the front, he ignored the white-clothed doorman on the first floor, and directly took Xu Peipei and the two to the second floor.

The reason why Lowe Hotel is called the Red House is because the entire hotel is red from the door to the inside. After January 28, Hongkou, Suzhou Creek of the White Russian, and many other Huayang hotels have moved west to the French Concession, Xiafei Road is full of White Russian restaurants, every family has borscht, since the Luowei Hotel is a French restaurant, naturally there must also be signature dishes, after several secret preparations, the onion soup and snails here are famous, famous all over Shanghai.

It's lunchtime, and there are only a few guests eating French cuisine, and the waiters in white seem to be more numerous than the guests, but the fresh aroma of onion soup and the milky aroma of roasted snails are appetizing. When Xu Peipei went up to the second floor, the old driver had already found Mrs. Lowe, and under his gesture, the Frenchwoman roughly understood what he meant, but she was very hesitant: Mr. Deqiao was just a guest who came here to eat, and it was likely to make Mr. Deqiao unhappy if he was not careful.

"Are you going to see Mr. Dejo, Miss?" A French woman is in her thirties, with golden hair and blue eyes, but she is easy to age, and now she only retains the charm of the past between her eyebrows and eyes.

"Yes, ma'am." Under the scrutiny of the French woman, Xu Peipei did not have stage fright, but answered her words in English. "I want to ask Mr. Dejo to listen to a song."

"A song?" The French woman looked at her and laughed, and after laughing she said, "Can you sing to me first?" ”

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Peipei nodded and said, "Of course, madam, this is my honor!" ”

After she said that, at the signal of the French woman, she took a deep breath and began to sing. Although it is a female voice, the direct love and touching tune are intoxicating. Although the old driver didn't understand anything, he felt that it was just as good as the legend of the White Snake; Jiang Xiuyu secretly memorized the tune, but at the same time, there was an indescribable envy - no man had ever proposed to her and wrote songs for her; The French woman was immersed in the passionate singing until her husband came up from downstairs and said, "Honey, are you singing?" Oh, who's singing? My God, what a beautiful singing! ”

"Hello, Mr. Lowe." Seeing Mr. Luo Wei who came up in a hurry, Xu Peipei made a curtsy.

"Yes, very good! You've been admitted, dear miss. Louis Lowe, who didn't understand the situation, looked at Xu Peipei and said with a smile, in order to attract business, the hotel not only invited musicians to play piano music, but also wanted to invite someone to sing when the guests were dining, but unfortunately no one was found. At this time, when he saw Xu Peipei singing in front of his wife, he thought that this was a yellow woman who could sing English songs that his wife had found.

"My dear, she's not here to apply......" the Frenchwoman laughed, speaking French. She was just looking for Mr. Dejo. After explaining to her husband, she said to Xu Peipei again: "Beautiful young lady, you came too early, Mr. Deqiao's meal time is an hour later." I'll be happy to help you get his idea, but it's not polite to disturb Mr. Dejo while he's eating, and you can sing while he's eating, and I'll mention you to him. ”

After thinking about it for a while, Xu Peipei understood what Mrs. Luo Wei meant—she now saw the piano in the corner of the restaurant on the second floor, and said with some regret: "It's a pity that I can't play the piano." ”

"Honey, I will!" Mrs. Lowe laughed, and then she said to the old driver, "Your daughter is so beautiful, and she has a voice that God has kissed, may God bless her!" ”

His guest was said to be his daughter by the foreign woman, the old driver's face was flushed, and he wanted to explain but didn't know how to explain, but Xu Peipei didn't care, she stood on the side of the old driver and thanked with a smile: "Thank you, madam, and may God bless you and Mr. Luo Wei, you are really good people!" ”

The Good Guy Card is very effective in this day and age. Louis Lowe, who recognized the old driver, laughed a few words, and then went downstairs to get busy—Monsieur de Jo was French, and that was his wife's business.

For the next hour, Mrs. Luo Wei took the brief score and Xu Peipei tried to play this beautiful song on the piano, while the old driver and Jiang Xiuyu were drinking onion soup. While they were thinking about how they would meet Mr. Dejo, a chubby foreigner came in, and instead of going to the table, he went straight to the piano after hearing about it, and when Mrs. Lowe had finished playing intermittently, he applauded, "It is wonderful, ma'am." It's better than the snail and onion soup here......"

The man spoke French, Xu Peipei had a guess but didn't know who this person was, and looked at the cordial conversation between him and Mrs. Lowe, and after a while, under Mrs. Lowe's introduction, the man's eyes began to look at her carefully. In English, he said, "Beautiful young lady, do you want to sing this song for me?" ”

This time, Xu Peipei finally understood, of course, she also half-understood and guessed, her junior high school English was difficult to adapt to the fast speed of men. She bowed to the man and said a little nervously, "Yes, sir." If you were Mr. Dejo, I would be very honored to sing for you. ”

"Don't be nervous, dear miss." Hearing the wrong pronunciation of the words in Xu Peipei's sentence, Deqiao smiled. He has been studying Chinese music for more than ten years in Shanghai, and he never thought that Chinese also have a deep study of Western music - under the introduction of Mrs. Lowe, this piece was actually written by Chinese, which is really unexpected.

"May I begin, Dear Mr. Deqiang?" Xu Peipei cleared her throat, she was no longer nervous, as long as she thought of Xianggong, especially when she thought of snuggling in Xianggong's arms and listening to him sing this unlockable melody, she would forget everything.

"Of course." Dejo sat down with interest.

Smiling in response, after the piano played, the lyrics of 'Oh, my.love, my.darling......' began to echo throughout the restaurant, and the diners stopped and began to enjoy this song that they had never heard before, and Mr. Dejo couldn't help but be moved when he heard the first sentence, he stood up quickly, and sat down slowly.

However, only halfway through the song, Mrs. Lowe, who was the accompanist, could not play it anymore, and she could not get acquainted with the piece in an hour, and had to stop after several mistakes. Xu Peipei shook her head at herself regretfully, and finally insisted on singing the song after a short pause.

'......Whoa', the restaurant that was not full of people rang out with appreciative applause when Xu Peipei bowed, and Mr. Deqiao also stood up at this time, he stretched out his hand and said, "Beautiful young lady, you conquered me with this song!" ”

"Thank you! Mr. Dejo. Xu Peipei suddenly wanted to cry - how good it would be if Xianggong was by his side at this time.

Gently holding Xu Peipei's hand and shaking it slightly, Deqiao took out a business card from his body, handed it to Xu Peipei and asked, "What should I call you, beautiful young lady?" ”

"Xu Xiaoman, Xiaoman, Xu." Xu Peipei took the business card and reported her name at the same time, she suppressed the longing in her heart and asked with a smile: "Mr. Deqiao, when should I disturb you?" ”

"Anytime!" The Frenchman looked at the young lady in front of him, and then looked around, eager to pull this Miss Xu Xiaoman to sign a contract with EMI Company right now - the Lowe Hotel is a place where celebrities gather, and he was afraid that she would be snatched away by other record companies. He was still thinking about this possibility, a Chinese in a suit came over with a smile, he also held a business card, and said: "This young lady sings really well, if you don't mind......" He glanced at Deqiao, who was a little displeased, and smiled even more: "The contemptible person is Li Jinhui of the Great China Record Company, if there is a Chinese song in the future, the young lady can find the Great China Record Company to ......"

The name Li Jinhui Xu Peipei has seen it in the 'tips' left by Xianggong, even if she doesn't look at the tips, she knows that this person is the composer and lyricist of Drizzle. She took Li Jinhui's business card, but said with some hesitation: "Thank you, Mr. Li, but I have already made an appointment with Mr. Deqiao." ”

"It's fine." Li Jinhui looked very generous, he smiled and said: "This is just an English song, in the future, when the young lady sings Chinese songs, you can find Great China Records!" Great China Records is a wholly Chinese-owned company and has a good relationship with the government, and is rarely troubled by the city's censors. Miss, Chinese people should be patriotic goods! ”

In Deqiao's displeasure, Li Jinhui retreated after saying 'Chinese people should be patriotic goods'. Deqiao looked at him with displeasure, but when he looked at Xu Peipei, he smiled, and said, "Beautiful Miss Xu, the world of music should not be mixed with politics. If you don't have any objections, you can sign up with the record label in the afternoon, and I'm going to record a record for you, just use this Oh, my.love. ”

"Of course, Mr. Dejo, I would be more than happy." Xu Peipei nodded. Although the domestic product needs to be supported, the minister asked her to only sign the Baidai company, and what she started looking for was also Baidai, and Greater China was inserted halfway.

"Then we'll see you in the afternoon!" Dejo finally laughed, his eyes lit up, and he was ready to prepare a long-term contract for the beautiful young lady in front of him, at least twenty years, and not to sign with other record companies for these twenty years.