When the sky was bright, Xiao Zhenlei sat up on time like a timed alarm clock, he turned his head vigilantly to observe the surroundings, and relaxed when he saw that there was no movement, which is also a habit he has developed over the years, even if he has traveled to the end of the Qing Dynasty now, he can't change it.

Seeing that Ma Xiaoshuang hadn't woken up yet, Xiao Zhenlei didn't wake him up, he walked around around the abandoned factory for a while, and when he came back, he brought back some rusty wires, silk threads, cloth strips and wood, and then began to use these things to arrange some traps around, the main purpose was to prevent someone from inadvertently breaking into here to find the red soil hidden in the factory, if someone inadvertently broke into here, it would definitely touch the mechanism he arranged, and the mechanism would scare away the intruders after it was activated.

After the arrangement, Xiao Zhenlei sat at the door of the factory smoking a cigarette, thinking about the future plan, after smoking two cigarettes Ma Xiaoshuang woke up, Xiao Zhenlei immediately took him out of the abandoned factory, after a period of time came to the Shanghai Railway Station near the North Railway Station, Shanghai North Railway Station is the starting station of the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, the railway began to be built in 1905, officially opened to traffic in 1908, that is, last year, from the Shanghai North Railway Station to the North District of the Public Concession is very close, and it will enter the North District of the Public Concession in a few minutes.

Ma Xiaoshuang followed Xiao Zhenlei and asked as he walked: "Brother, what are we going to do today?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei said with a cigarette in his mouth: "Eat breakfast first, let's go buy a house after eating, and then let's find a buyer for that batch of 'red soil' after buying the house!" ”

Ma Xiaoshuang couldn't help but say, "Brother, you won't really sell those tobacco soils, will you?" ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled: "Do you think I'm like that? I said that I would burn those scourge things, and I would burn them, and the reason why I was looking for a buyer was to get a sum of money, this time let's have a black and black eat! ”

Ma Xiaoshuang was a little worried: "Brother, none of the people who do this kind of business are eating fasting and singing Buddhas, and their hands are black!" There are only two of us, but I'm afraid that we won't be able to do it, and I'm afraid that when the time comes, they will turn us into black."

Xiao Zhenlei patted Ma Xiaoshuang's shoulder and comforted: "Don't worry, brother won't do things that you are not sure of, the two of us are indeed a little weak, but it is precisely because only the two of us can keep secrets, once this kind of thing spreads, we are afraid that we will not be able to get along in Shanghai, and then both black and white will hunt us down!" ”

Ma Xiaoshuang thought about it, there are more people and there are more people, and there are fewer people and fewer people, Xiao Zhenlei's actions were seen by him, which made him feel a little relieved about the next thing to find a buyer for the tobacco, but he remembered the matter of buying a house again, and asked: "Brother, you just said that you would buy a house after breakfast?" Where to buy? We don't have enough money to buy a house in Shanghai! ”

Seeing a breakfast shop in front of him, Xiao Zhenlei pointed to the shop and said, "Go there to eat!" I now have thirty-two pounds in my hand, which can probably be exchanged for three hundred and twenty oceans, I have inquired a few days ago, with the current house price, if you just buy a house around the county seat of Shanghai, you can buy a house with two in and two out, but if you sell a house in the county or in the British and French concessions, I am afraid it is not enough, but I still decided to buy a house in the British Concession! ”

Ma Xiaoshuang was surprised and puzzled, and couldn't help asking, "Brother, why is this?" Didn't you say that the money to buy a house in the British Concession was not enough? And we have just done such a big thing, but you want to buy a house in the British Concession, this is under the noses of foreigners! In case the foreigners find out that we did these two things, I'm afraid that we will be arrested before we have time to run! ”

Xiao Zhenlei said while crossing the street: "As long as we look at the house, we can live in it first, pay a part of the deposit to the original owner, and do not need to pay the full amount, and it is not too late to pay the rest of the money when we have the front, and we will be able to get the money for selling ** in just a few days, as for the safety issue, don't worry, as long as the two of us don't say it, no one will find out that we did it, the killing of foreigners has passed, and no one will pursue the matter of robbing ** last night, no one will track it down, even if someone traces it, it will not find anything, Lu Jiasheng definitely didn't dare to say that he had hidden so many ** in the warehouse, so even if he knew that ** was robbed, he could only suffer a dumb loss, understand? We're done! ”

Ma Xiaoshuang was much more relieved after hearing this, the two walked to the door of the breakfast shop and found a table to sit down, Xiao Zhenlei's stall boss shouted: "Boss, come two bowls of gruel, twenty big meat buns, and a plate of pickled radish!" ”

In these years, coolies generally don't have much money, they only eat baked cakes and sweet potatoes, these things are full, and they are not easy to get hungry, and the big meat buns are more expensive than the boiled cakes, but the portion is less than the baked cakes, so the coolies rarely eat meat buns, only the nearby residents and slightly richer families eat big meat buns, but no one buys so much at one time.

Earlier, the stall owner saw that Xiao Zhenlei ordered twenty big meat buns at one time, and immediately put on a smile and agreed: "Okay, wait a minute, you two will come soon!" ”

Filling their stomachs, Xiao Zhenlei and Ma Xiaoshuang took the tram to the central area of the public concession and got off after a circle, and at noon the two went to the bathhouse to take a bath, rubbed their backs, and went to the barber shop to trim their messy hair, and when they came out, they had already changed into newly bought straight suits, black and shiny leather shoes, shirts, ties, and top hats, and Ma Xiaoshuang was also carrying two sets of cyan cardigan shorts, bloomers, and brand-new pointed-toe old-fashioned cloth shoes that he bought in a ready-to-wear store. All the expenses added together cost less than five oceans.

At noon, Xiao Zhenlei took Ma Xiaoshuang to lunch at a Western restaurant on Sichuan Road, which made Ma Xiaoshuang look out of his foreign appearance, thinking that he was a country boy, where had he eaten any foreign meals? Fortunately, Xiao Zhenlei taught him, but he was not despised by the foreigners who dined around.

After Ma Xiaoshuang learned, he cut the steak awkwardly with a dinner knife, and asked in a low voice, "Brother, you don't seem to have eaten this foreign meal, right?" How did you come to know how to do this? How do you know how to speak foreign languages? ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled and said angrily to the foreigners who were dining around him: "You can learn it by watching and listening, it's not that difficult!" ”

Ma Xiaoshuang suddenly realized, and said in his heart that this was the case, could it be that this foreign language is very easy to learn? Why am I so stupid?

When he was almost finished, Xiao Zhenlei snapped his fingers at the waiter, and the foreigner quickly walked over with the menu and bent down and said in English: "Sir, may I have anything to serve you?" ”

"Pay the bill!"

After paying for the meal, Xiao Zhenlei took out another small ticket and asked the foreign waiter: "Sir, I just came back from studying in the UK and want to buy a house in the public concession to settle down, do you know where to sell a house?" ”

In this era, whether it is the tavern, the inn's Xiao Er, or the waiters in Western restaurants are very well-informed, and they hear far more news when serving various customers than people engaged in other professions, so Xiao Zhenlei will ask this foreign waiter for news.

In the morning, Ma Xiaoshuang asked why he wanted to buy a house in the public concession, but Xiao Zhenlei did not say it at that time, and only Xiao Zhenlei himself knew the reason. After these days of observation, he found that most of the gang forces in Shanghai at this time were concentrated in the area of the French Concession, but mainly the local gangs in the Qing Gang; Those who seek a living in the public concession are some high-rollers, who have been engaged in murder and overselling goods for a long time, and they are not entrenched in the public concession for a long time, but have a lot of liquidity; In Shanghai County, outside the French Concession and the Public Concession, Nanshi belonged to the local Qing Gang, and the western part of Shanghai was controlled by the Huzhou Gang of the Qing Gang, and in the Zhabei and Baoshan areas, the Shandong Gang of the Qing Gang and the Yangzhou Gang of Jiangsu Province.

Xiao Zhenlei is thinking about developing his own power in Shanghai, so he must find a piece of land to settle in, not in the French Concession, the French Concession is mixed, there are many gangs, and what is more affected is that the patrol house and the gang have become a family, and his rash insertion will inevitably lead to other gangs and patrol houses to attack it, Huxi, Nanshi, Zhabei, Hudong, Baoshan are the territory of the Qing Gang, and at this stage they do not have the strength to grab land with the Qing Gang, so the only choice is the public concession, After all, this is the base camp of foreigners, and the Ministry of Industry of the Concession is still quite strict in controlling the gangs here, and there are often collusions between police officers and gang members in the French Concession, but this kind of thing rarely happens in the Public Concession.

Seeing that there was a tip, the foreign waiter hurriedly put it into his pocket and said: "Sir, you are asking the right person, there is a Mr. Fast living in Room 305 of the English Apartment on Jiujiang Road, his profession is a middleman, in the words of your Great Qing Kingdom, he is a 'tooth man', he and I are very good friends, I believe he must have the news you want to know!" ”

The analogy of foreign waiters is not accurate, the tooth man is the name of the middleman who does legitimate business, that is, he eats with a mouth, such people are basically sharp teeth, can speak, lawyers, lawyers can be said to be tooth people, through guò to do the middleman in the transaction on both sides of the commission extraction, and the middleman is in a broad sense, it does not only refer to the tooth person who does the legitimate business middleman, but also includes the matchmaker of illegal transactions, such as the pimp of the **, the middle man of the black market transaction, this kind of person is collectively called the middleman, in modern terms is the intermediary, It is a neutral term, and whether it is an intermediary engaged in legal or illegal transactions, it is called an intermediary.

"Thank you!" Xiao Zhenlei stood up, picked up the top hat next to him and put it on his head and walked out, and Ma Xiaoshuang immediately followed.

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