The steam turbine off the coast of Tianjin broke down and had to reduce its speed to sail, so it was finally driven to Yantai Wharf to replenish coal water and repair the machine, but it was delayed for a whole day, and when it entered the Huangpu River, it was already a week later.

After finally returning to Shanghai after the ordeal, Chen Zikun finally breathed a sigh of relief, and tossed in the third-class cabin for a week, without even changing his clothes, he is now unkempt, his clothes are crumpled, his leather shoes are dull, and he looks like a homeless man at the end of his rope.

After getting off the boat, Chen Zikun bought a declaration for the first time, flipped through it, and finally saw the title he wanted to see on the third page: Sun Kaiqin went to the field for the second time, and the situation in Jiangdong Province has been decided.

Looking at the content carefully, it turned out that Sun Kaiqin gathered the old troops in a vain attempt to take advantage of Chen Zikun's absence to regain the territory of Jiangdong, but under the attack of the Jiangbei Army led by Yan Su, it finally ended in a farce, and the former overseer Sun Kaiqin had to be electrified again and completely withdrew from the political arena.

Looking at the other contents of the newspaper, the headline is that Feng Yuxiang expelled the deposed emperor Puyi from the Forbidden City, Wu Peifu was defeated and fled, Duan Qirui was appointed as the temporary ruler, and the Fengjun entered the customs in a big way, except for the expulsion of Puyi, it was all expected.

The base camp was safe and sound, Chen Zikun's heart was half relieved, and he suddenly felt hungry, so he came to a small noodle restaurant, ordered a bowl of Yangchun noodles, and looked around while waiting for noodles, and found that this was the place where he and Li Yaoting came to Shanghai for the first time to have their first meal, and it was here that he met Jiang Zhiqing and began an experience of mixing in Shanghai.

Yangchun noodles were served, Chen Zikun devoured them, and said, "Settle the account." ”

The man listened to his northern accent and said, "Two dimes." ”

Chen Zikun took out a big ocean and threw it over, and the man took the empty bowl and took the money, and went to the cabinet to find a few banknotes for him.

At a glance, the money I was looking for turned out to be a military ticket of Jiangdong Province, one of the denomination of Wu Yuan, and three of one yuan.

"How do you find so many?" Chen Zikun wondered.

"No more, no less, just right, Allah Shanghai uses this kind of change." The guy said perfunctorily.

took the military ticket out of the noodle restaurant, only to hear someone behind him sneering in Shanghainese: "The countryside capital, I don't understand anything, I took a bunch of waste paper and treated it as a good thing." ”

Chen Zikun is not stupid, the shopkeeper clearly sees that he is a passenger who has just disembarked, so he uses military tickets to fool himself, and the military tickets with a denomination of five yuan are regarded as five dimes to make change, which shows how far the price of the military tickets issued by himself has fallen.

He didn't go back to find the gang to settle the accounts, picked up the military ticket and was about to leave, when he suddenly inadvertently turned around and saw a slender figure by the dock, vaguely familiar.

……

Except for the day of his father's death, today can be regarded as the darkest day in Lin Wenjing's life, when he worked at the tap pen counter of Sincere Department Store in the morning, an old man in his sixties with a big belly came to buy a pen, and he didn't buy it for a long time, a pair of eyes swirled on his body, the salespeople of Sincere Department Store were all top beauties selected from all over Shanghai, and they often encountered this kind of harassment, and Lin Wenjing didn't take it seriously.

After getting off work, she went to Huang's house again, and has been teaching for a month so far, it's time to settle the salary, Mrs. Huang pushed three and four, only played mahjong in the living room, and hung herself aside, and accidentally found that Young Master Huang was secretly rummaging through his schoolbag, Lin Wenjing realized that the fifteen yuan was stolen by him!

Because of the fifteen yuan, Lin Wenjing was scolded by Aunt Mi for several days, and her aunt was also sneering, and her grandmother, who was fasting and reciting Buddha, looked at herself more closely, and stabbed people with an awl if she didn't like it a little.

So Lin Wenjing felt that she had to ask about the whereabouts of the fifteen yuan, but she was a cowardly girl, so she just asked in a low voice: "Young Master Huang, have you ever seen the fifteen yuan in my bag?" ”

Young Master Huang retracted his hand, blinked his eyes, and suddenly pushed a vase on the table to the ground and smashed it, and the sudden movement stunned Lin Wenjing.

Mrs. Huang came in when she heard the voice, and Young Master Huang pulled the male duck in the young voice change period and said, "Mom, Miss Lin Gang Ala stole Yi's Tongdian!" Alagon, Ira dropped the vase. ”

"Okay, you Miss Lin, you look like Sven, why are you so vicious, Bao, let Mom take a look, is it hurt." Mrs. Huang hurriedly checked whether her son's legs and feet were injured by the fragments of the vase, and scolded viciously: "Little **, if you hurt Ala's son, let Nong go bankrupt!" ”

Lin Wenjing shrank back in fright: "I don't have ......"

"What's nothing, although Allah is not rich and expensive, he will not steal fifteen yuan, and the villagers will screw it!" The son was not injured, and Mrs. Huang's anger decreased slightly, but she still did not intend to let Lin Wenjing go.

Lin Wenjing fully understood, Young Master Huang didn't mention the specific amount of money just now, but Mrs. Huang blurted out fifteen yuan, which shows that this money was not only stolen by Young Master Huang, but also his mother knew it completely.

The three aunts and six women who were playing cards outside came in and scolded Lin Wenjing with gossipy.

Lin Wenjing was not good at quarreling, not to mention facing a group of long-tongued women, tears kept rolling in her eyes, and she couldn't say a word.

was arguing, Mr. Huang came back with a briefcase, and after understanding the reason, he said: "Miss Lin, this is your fault, if you lose the money, you should look for it carefully, and you can't rely on our son." ”

Mrs. Huang said aggressively: "Let her pay for the vase, this vase is handed down by Alazu, during the Kangxi period of the Ming Dynasty, it is worth a lot of copper tin!" ”

Lin Wenjing was almost laughed at angrily, the vase during the Kangxi period of the Ming Dynasty, the lion's big mouth can't be so false.

Mr. Huang seemed to be reasonable, and said: "Forget it, Miss Lin is not rich, so let's do it, we adults have a lot, don't worry about you, you can tutor John for three more months of English, let's clear the two." ”

In the end, Lin Wenjing left the Huang family with tears in her eyes, and when she returned home, the game continued, no one paid attention to her, silently climbed up to the attic, and sat in a daze for a long time, tears falling down.

Suddenly, my aunt downstairs shouted: "Xiaojing, go downstairs, there are guests." ”

Lin Wenjing hurriedly wiped away her tears and went downstairs, and was about to serve tea and water, but was stopped by Mr. Bai: "Xiaojing, you sit down, let Mr. Lai take a good look." ”

The fat old man sitting opposite and laughing turned out to be the guy who harassed him in the morning at the Sincere Department Store, the old man changed into a robe and a horse coat, wore three thick gold tweezers on his hands, shook a gold watch chain on his chest, and had a row of gold teeth in his mouth, and his family respected him as if he were a guest.

Lin Wenjing felt a chill in his heart, and vaguely guessed something.

Mr. Lai stared at Lin Wenjing unscrupulously for a long time, revealing his golden teeth and smiling: "Okay, very good." ”

Aunt said: "Xiaojing, you go, the adults have something to say." ”

Lin Wenjing hurriedly retreated, hid behind the door and eavesdropped for a while, and sure enough, as he guessed, this old man surnamed Lai was a friend of Mr. Bai and planned to marry him.

The family is very excited, because Mr. Lai is a big business, and there are many banknotes, listening to his tone, the bride price will definitely not be less than 1,000 yuan!

Lin Wenjing was dizzy for a while, and when she was stared at by Mr. Lai, she had goosebumps all over her body, thinking that she was going to marry such a disgusting old guy, she couldn't bear it, and subconsciously ran out of the house.

Shiliupu Wharf is Lin Wenjing's favorite place to visit, with its wide Huangpu River, countless sailboats and ships, and hurried travelers, all of whom are from Tiannan and Haibei, just like herself, and are passers-by from Shanghai.

The whistle sounded, the seagulls soared, the river breeze was swaying, the tears on her face had dried, Lin Wen stood on the shore in a daze, not knowing where to go, all kinds of misfortunes and bullying suffered for a long time had accumulated to a critical point, she was unwilling to face those dirty faces anymore, and she was unwilling to stay in this dirty world.

Looking at the turquoise Huangpu River, Lin Wenjing said in a low voice: "Mom, Dad, I'm here." "Close your eyes and jump down.

Suddenly, a large strong hand grabbed her, and her light body was pulled back to the shore like a feather.

"You're crazy! Is it really you? The familiar Beijing official dialect sounded in my ears.

Lin Wenjing looked at the man who pulled him back stupidly, and it took a full minute to recognize that this person was Chen Zikun, who took him to Shichahai five years ago, bought rock sugar gourds, taught himself to learn bicycles, and promised to take him away in Beijing.

Those dusty memories of the past seem to have been in the last century, but once they come to mind, they are like a flood that opens a valve, and tears pour down in an instant.

Chen Zikun has never seen a person crying so sadly, even a tough guy like him who kills like hemp can't help but be moved, Lin Wenjing's thin shoulders kept shaking, tears wet his clothes, and a pair of hands grabbed him, as if he was about to be separated by yin and yang as soon as he let go.

"Okay, don't cry, with me, no one dares to bully you." Chen Zikun gently patted Lin Wenjing's back, he is a person with two wives, and he also has some understanding of women's psychology, so he can force Lin Wenjing to commit suicide by jumping into the river, and crying so sadly, he must have suffered a great grievance.

After crying for an hour, Lin Wenjing gradually changed from crying to sobbing, and asked, "You, why didn't you come?" ”

Chen Zikun knew that she was talking about the agreement of the eight years of the Republic of China, and sighed helplessly: "Mistakes, creation and deception, don't mention the past, from today on, I will never bear you again." ”

Lin Wenjing pounced on Chen Zikun and bit him the shoulder, this bite was really exhausted, and Chen Zikun, who was in pain, grinned his teeth, but he didn't dare to say a word.

"But I'm getting married." Lin Wenjing raised her head and pushed Chen Zikun away, her eyes were red and swollen, and her voice trembled.

"I swear, as long as you don't want to, no one can snatch you away, no one!" Chen Zikun said viciously.