In the French Concession, on the road outside the gate of Chen's Mansion, the sycamore trees sprouted, the rickshaw driver also changed into light spring clothes, and the obscene Annan patrol stood in the middle of the road with a baton, the breath of spring drove away the cold of winter, and Shanghai regained its vitality.

During the cold snap in early 1939, thousands of refugees sleeping on the streets of Shanghai froze to death, and 200 abandoned babies were housed in one day at the entrance of the Nursery Hall, a rather astonishing number, but considering that the concession contained more than 1 million refugees who had fled from Zhabei and Pudong in Nanshi, only 30 percent of them were temporarily living in hotels and relatives' homes, and the rest could only live on the roads, and they lacked food and clothing, so these 1,000 people were not much.

Shanghai has become an isolated island, the scope of foreigners' activities has been greatly reduced, and the traitor spies hired by the Japanese have killed people and sold goods, doing all kinds of evil in order to disturb the law and order in the concession and create an atmosphere of terror.

Lin Wenjing and her daughter Xiao Cabbage have lived in the concession for more than half a year, there is Li Yaoting outside, Xia Xiaoqing inside, life is also stable, every week Li Yaoting will send people to send milk, rice and fresh meat and vegetables, these foods were not worth much in the past, but in today's concession, they are worth a lot of money, and what is more precious is Li Yaoting's heart.

Aunt Mi often comes to see her granddaughter, although Lin Wenjing is not her biological child, but after all, they have lived together for many years, and they don't have to work here, as long as they move their mouths to support the servants, they can get a lot of food back, why not.

The Mi family originally lived in Nanshi, and the house was razed to the ground during the Battle of Songhu, so they had to move their family to the concession, and rented a room not much bigger than a snail shell from the second landlord to live in, and the uncle went out all day long, borrowing wine to drown his sorrows, and the family's life was extremely difficult, if it weren't for Lin Wenjing to give some food every week, life would have been unbearable.

Originally, Lin Wenjing was kind-hearted and wanted to take Aunt Mi's family to live in the mansion, but Xia Xiaoqing categorically vetoed it, she said that there is nothing wrong with you repaying your grievances with virtue, but this is Chen Zikun's house, it is not good to lend it to outsiders without saying hello, and it is usually benevolent and righteous to add some rice, noodles and vegetables, so Lin Wenjing gave up.

When Chen Zikun came to the mansion, Aunt Mi had not left, and she was scolding the two servants with the majesty of the old lady, there were too many refugees in the concession, there were abundant human resources, and as long as they had very little money, they could hire wet nurses and maids, and in these poor people, Aunt Mi could find a sense of superiority.

There was a knock on the door, Aunt Mi sent a maid to open the door, and there were two strange men standing outside the door, carrying suitcases, top hats and trench coats, with a very low brim, looking like dust and dust.

"Sir, are you looking for a screw?" The maid asked.

"This is my home." Chen Zikun went straight to the door, Shuangxi picked up the suitcase and followed behind, and closed the door with his hand, Xia Xiaoqing heard the movement outside, and hurriedly went downstairs, and when he saw Chen Zikun, his eyes immediately turned red, but he said: "If you have no conscience, you still know it!" ”

"This is my uncle, it's changed, I don't dare to admit it." Aunt Mi smiled and said, although Chen Zikun married Lin Wenjing, the two families did not interact much, and Aunt Mi had not seen Chen Zikun for many years.

Looking at the old and haggard old woman in front of him, it was really difficult to connect with the charming young woman on Shifuma Street in Beijing twenty years ago, Chen Zikun couldn't help but sigh that he was old.

"It's Aunt Mi, hello, hello, how is your health, everything is okay at home." Chen Zikun asked for warmth, and Aunt Mi was very moved, and as she was talking, Lin Wenjing came down from upstairs, followed by the nanny holding the little cabbage, and after half a year of recuperation in Shanghai, her complexion finally got better.

Her husband came all the way, Lin Wenjing was pleasantly surprised, the family was reunited again, Xia Xiaoqing instructed the cook to cook, Chen Zikun politely said a few words, and asked Aunt Mi to eat, Aunt Mi insisted on going back: "Allah's family is cooking, so I won't eat here." ”

Lin Wenjing said: "This time is all dependent on my aunt's care, and it is very hard to be busy. ”

Hearing this, Chen Zikun took out his wallet, took out a few US dollar bills and said: "It's hard Aunt Mi, I didn't bring many banknotes in a hurry, I took the money to buy some things first, the concession is expensive, and the family must be very poor." ”

Aunt Mi insisted on refusing, Lin Wenjing persuaded her for a long time, she accepted it, and happily went to the kitchen to direct the cook to cook.

The family is happy, Chen Zikun teased the little cabbage, and shared the things in the back with the two ladies, Lin Wenlong has arrived in Kunming, studying at Southwest Associated University, everything is fine, here in Chongqing, Yao Yilei and Jianbing Liu Ting are also doing well.

"What about your brother, what have you been up to lately?" Chen Zikun asked Xia Xiaoqing.

"He's been fooling around all day long, and he doesn't see anyone, as if he went to Peking to attend some premiere these days." Xia Xiaoqing pouted.

"Beiping is the territory of the Japanese, did he fall into the water?" Chen Zikun frowned.

"Falling into the water" is a kind of euphemism for defecting to the enemy, especially on the isolated island of Shanghai, from the political, military, business, intellectual, literary and artistic circles, there are many people who defect to the Japanese puppet. Xia Xiaoqing immediately denied this statement.

The meal was ready during the conversation, and the meal was served, and Aunt Mi was even more attentive during the banquet, and from time to time she served vegetables to her son-in-law, very politely, and sat down for a while after eating, and then said goodbye and left.

After Aunt Mi walked away for a while, Lin Wenjing found the rice bag in the corner: "Oops, Aunt Mi forgot to bring rice back." ”

Chen Zikun inquired about the recent situation of the Mi family, and Lin Wenjing took the opportunity to propose that there were many empty houses in his house, so it was better to lend them to the Mi family to live.

"Anyway, Aunt Mi is my father's wife and Wenlong's biological mother."

Chen Zikun didn't like the Mi family, but he also had to consider Wenlong's face, so he said: "You also need someone to take care of you, just let Aunt Mi move over, but the rest of the Mi family, especially the old woman and Wenlong's uncle, will be exempted, and everyone in the province will be unhappy." ”

Lin Wenjing also thinks this arrangement is very good.

……

Aunt Mi rushed back home, climbed up the low pavilion, took out the dollar bills with her back and counted them, carefully hid them in her pocket, and suddenly there was a bang, and her younger brother came in drunken eyes: "Do you want to bring back rice?" ”

"Oops, forgot." Aunt Mi exclaimed.

"There is no food to eat today, and everyone will be hungry." The younger brother and daughter-in-law squinted.

Aunt Mi was helpless and took out a dollar bill: "Brother, you take it to the Bund Bank to exchange it, buy some rice first." ”

The appearance of the dollar bill made everyone's eyes widen, and the dark pavilion seemed to be shining, and even the old lady of the Mi family who was sick in bed supported her sick body.

"Dollar bills! Your cheap daughter gave it to you, is there anything else! The younger brother's eyes flashed green like a wolf.

"It's gone!" Aunt Mi knew that her younger brother was lazy and didn't do a good job, and all the money in the family was smoked by him, and the money definitely couldn't fall into his hands.

The younger brother and daughter-in-law said in a strange manner: "Just now, I learned that Suo Suo counted the boss for a while, why is there only one." ”

The younger brother coerced again, Aunt Mi had no choice but to take out the rest, and just about to speak, the younger brother snatched it away, dipped it in the saliva and counted it: "Fifty dollars, it's developed now!" ”

Aunt Mi hurriedly said: "You can't take it all, this is given to me by my son-in-law, and the next time people ask, Allah can't explain it." ”

The younger brother stopped: "Chen Zikun has come to Shanghai?" ”

Aunt Mi knew that she had leaked her mouth, and it was too late to cover it up, so she had to admit it.

"Could it be that the surname Chen also fell into the water?" The younger brother was surprised.

"This Allah doesn't know." Aunt Mi really doesn't know.

So the younger brother and the younger brother-in-law ridiculed again, saying that she had supported her daughter for nothing, and her son-in-law was so rich, so she paid fifty dollars for filial piety, what is the difference between sending her to call Hanako.

"His family lives in a big bungalow, I don't know how to honor my mother, do I still have a conscience, I send a little rice and vegetables every week, our Mi family is also a decent person, so humiliate us like this......" The younger brother and daughter-in-law beat the side drum with bad intentions.

The younger brother yawned, and the big cigarette addiction came up, so he went out with the dollar money to enjoy himself, and came to the smoke house he frequented, and when the doorkeeper saw him coming, he stopped and said, "Mi Jiafu, Nong is here to smoke again." ”

Mi Jiafu has no money in his pocket, and is often ridiculed by the people in the tobacco house, and at this moment he proudly showed the dollar bill: "Look clearly, you are going through the eight US dollars, and give Allah a tube of good hot river smoke bubbles." ”

The rich is the uncle, the tobacco house boys immediately greeted each other with a smile, and served thoughtfully, the Mi family was too rich to smoke, full of energy, and went home, suddenly several people rushed up, put him aside in the alley, regardless of thirty-seven twenty-one, stripped off all the clothes on his body, and then scattered in a hurry.

This is called "stripping pigs", they used to rob in the middle of the night, and the incidence rate in winter was higher, because they could be stripped of leather robes, and now the concession is in chaos, and there are people who do this business regardless of the four levels, and they are also robbed in broad daylight, Mi Jiafu's remaining dollar bills were not robbed before they were warm, and the clothes and watches were gone.

Mi Jiafu also came out to mix, he asked a friend to carry a letter to Mr. Bai, this Mr. Bai used to be Aunt Mi's concubine, a famous white-faced person in Shanghai, nosy, love to help friends out, received a call and immediately came, and brought a set of clothes, listening to Mi Jiafu crying and complaining, Mr. Bai said lightly: "A word of gossip, Guan Bao caught that gang of deflated three, by the way, where did Nong get the dollars?" ”

Mi Jiafu said slowly, and at the end, he asked: "Lao Bai, did Chen Zikun also fall into the water?" ”

"Allah doesn't know." Mr. Bai's expression was a little strange, he made an excuse and left in a hurry, got into the rickshaw and said to the driver: "No. 76 Jisi Feier Road." ”

……

It was getting late, a truck and two cars were quietly parked in the warehouse of the sixteenth wharf, and the man in the windbreaker looked around vigilantly, and the traces of the gun were faintly exposed on his waist.

In the warehouse, Chen Zikun personally opened a wooden box with a crowbar, took out a Remington shotgun, fiddled with it, and then threw it to Li Yaoting.

"With this thing, I won't lose anything by fighting the fire on the street with the girls of No. 76." Li Yaoting praised.

"And this." Chan threw another Thompson machine gun.

Li Yaoting's eyebrows suddenly danced: "This thing is good, I also have a few of them, but unfortunately the bullets are difficult to handle, and they have all become burning sticks." ”

Chen Zikun said: "I'll introduce you to a friend, and you can find him when you run out of bullets in the future." ”

"Who?"

"His name is Bill. Chandes, a captain in the U.S. Army, stationed in Shanghai, is in charge of munitions, supplies and oil, and by the way, he is my classmate at West Point, and he has a very strong relationship. ”