The 17th year of the Republic of China - Shanghai, 16 shops in Huangpu District.

It was just the beginning of the New Year, and the dirty snow on both sides of the street was still mixed with scattered firecracker red paper. There were not many pedestrians, and the vendors on both sides began to do business.

At the entrance of the alley came a traveler with a suitcase, a black top hat, and a dark brown knee-length coat. The man paused in front of the steaming noodle shop in the alley, turned sideways, pushed the door and walked in.

As soon as he sat down, the boss who was guarding the kitchen greeted him familiarly: "Come back, Mr. Shen." You've been on this business long enough! ”

He put down his suitcase, took off his top hat and scarf, and smiled with the boss when he heard it: "I ran around, there was no train a few days ago, so I stayed in Ningbo for the New Year." ”

"What are you eating?"

"It's still the same."

"Okay!" The boss yelled at the guy, "A bowl of Yangchun noodles with oil and eggs!" ”

Thinking about it, he poked his head out and smiled at Shen Yigong: "Let's add a few more dumplings to you, how about it?" ”

Shen Yigong took off his gloves: "Okay, then thank you!" ”

The boy who was guarding the door to sell cigarettes saw him and greeted him and asked, "Mr. Shen, do you want to buy cigarettes?" ”

Shen Yigong took the money and put it on his small table, and took a pack of Hademen cigarettes. The little boy counted and hurriedly looked up: "Mr. Shen, you overpaid." ”

The man rubbed his head and put the cigarette in his hand: "I wish you a happy new year too." ”

The child bowed to him and shouted happily, "Thank you!" Then he went to the side and sold cigarettes. Shen Yigong looked at the child's back, opened the cigarette case, and took one out of it and let it go. Over the years, I have slowly become addicted to smoking, and it is not too serious. One when it's okay, and there's no more embarrassment when I was choking on a cigarette. In the past two years, most of them have been running between factories, and they have opened an office to help foreign goods as an agent. The money is not much, not too much, anyway, I haven't started a family yet, and one person is enough, and the rest of the money is enough to donate to the primary school here to buy books and stationery.

Shen Yigong always felt that everything that happened three years ago was like a dream, and after waking up from the dream, he would live what kind of life he should live, and what kind of person he should be, so he would seriously guard his conscience and be such a person. Occasionally, he would think of a person, but after a cigarette, the cold and heat left by that person seemed to dissipate with the wind with the ashes that had been burned out.

As for the madness, unwillingness, regret or pathos at that time, it probably gradually passed away with the spring rain and winter snow.

Xiao Er brought the noodles to the table. Shen Yigong took out the chopsticks from the bamboo tube on the table, and poked the tender fried egg and mixed it into the noodle soup. He was about to eat when someone sat down at the small square table. He happened to be sitting across from him.

Shen Yigong paused slightly to eat noodles, and glanced at the person in front of him with his spare light, and what he saw was a pair of thin hands. He pretended not to see it and ate his noodles by himself.

When I ate the first chopstick noodle, there was nothing to do. Shen Yigong swallowed a mouthful, and was about to pick out the second chopsticks, when the silver light flashed, and the eight chopping knives broke through the air in front of him. Shen Yigong raised his hand to take a block to meet the side of the knife, and his body slanted to avoid the blade. Then he grabbed the round chopsticks on the table, and slashed the blade with the back of his hand and hit the wrist.

The knife was sent down, and the man quickly took it with his left hand, and attacked on a different side.

Seeing this, the people around panicked and ran out of the store. The boss was also so frightened that he and his buddies shrank in the kitchen and didn't dare to act rashly.

Shen Yigong raised his head to see the person who came clearly. A white beard, a thin body, wearing a dark gray long jacket. After a few back and forth, he finally got a slight advantage. After some competition, Shen Yigong borrowed his skill to break the old man's original attack, and finally snatched the knife in the opponent's hand.

The young man held the knife in his backhand, pondered for a moment, pulled the blade, handed the knife to the person with both hands, and said to the person in front of him respectfully: "Second uncle." ”

The visitor nodded. He was not angry about the fact that the weapon was taken, and when he saw that he was still with himself, he stretched out his hand to take it and said with emotion: "There are talented people in the country." ”

Shen Yigong gave him the knife while still noticing the people sitting at the table behind him. The people in the store were almost gone, and the man who was still sitting at the table drinking soy milk was very conspicuous.

Shen Yigong staggered his gaze and picked out a pair of chopsticks from the table again. Don't forget to say to the boss: "I will make up for today's loss." ”

The boss hid behind the kitchen and didn't dare to talk. The man at the other table spoke: "Second uncle, go and pay the boss." ”

"Okay. After paying in a while, I'll wait for you outside. ”

After the old man had finished speaking, he got up and went to the kitchen. The shop was even more deserted, with only two old people left.

Shen Yigong buried his head in eating noodles and ignored it. Even if the other person was already sitting in front of him, he didn't look up. The visitor was not in a hurry, but reached for the Hardman cigarette he had put aside, put it in his mouth, struck a match, and lit it.

"Little Er, what about tea."

There was a slight movement in the kitchen, and the young man trotted out with a teapot, filled it with tea with trembling hands, and turned around and went back to the kitchen.

Huo Zuo held a cigarette in one hand and a cup in the other, the bench was quite narrow, and he only sat halfway. The strength of the waist and hips can be seen at a glance that it is a practitioner. He wore an off-white jacket and a jade wrench on his left thumb.

The man waited patiently for Shen Yigong to finish the bowl of Yangchun noodles. When a bowl of noodle soup is about to bottom, the smoke is almost burned out.

Shen Yigong put down his chopsticks and didn't raise his head, but said, "I forgot all the things on the rivers and lakes." ”

Huo Zuo took the last puff of his cigarette and threw down the cigarette butt: "But you still remember the martial arts I taught you." ”

After a pause, he swept over the box of Hademen and added, "Addiction too, can't you quit?" ”

Shen Yigong ignored him. He hung up his scarf, put on his hat, left the money on the table, picked up his suitcase and walked outside.

Huo Zuo sat behind him and said unhurriedly: "You don't want to ask why I came to you after so long." ”

Shen Yi's lunges didn't stop.

"Your worker brothers haven't had a good time lately."

He stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Also, are you going to strike after the beginning of the year? Strikes are nothing, but in the final analysis, they are about getting more wages, but if they don't work for a long time, where will the money come from? It's even harder. ”

Shen Yigong turned around with his suitcase, frowned at Shang Huo Zuo's indifferent gaze and asked, "Why did you come to me?" ”

Huo Zuo threw him the box of cigarettes that the man hadn't taken away on the table, saw that he caught it, got up and said, "This is not the place to talk." Come to your house. ”

When he came out, there was no trace of the second uncle. Shen Yigong followed behind Huo Zuo, he didn't say a word from beginning to end, let alone his current address, but Huo Zuo was extremely familiar with bypassing the streets and alleys, and walked straight towards the small apartment he was currently renting. Entering the corridor, Shen Yigong finally opened his mouth with a little unhappiness: "You have been monitoring me all the time." ”

Huo Zuo had already stopped in front of a door at this time. He didn't answer, only urged: "Open the door." ”

Shen Yigong and him were deadlocked outside the door: "There is no one here, why don't you talk about it here." ”

Huo Zuo looked around the corridor, but it didn't matter: "Yes." Anyway, I can ...... you kill people."

Shen Yigong subconsciously reached out to cover his mouth, and then neatly opened the door, dragging his luggage into the house with him. The moment the door closed, Huo Zuo raised his hand to his lower abdomen and struck a blow, and Shen Yi's bow hand fell directly to the ground with the suitcase in his hand, breaking open the lock, and dropping out a large leaflet with black letters on a red background.

Huo Zuo watched Shen Yigong squat down and hurriedly pick it up, and stepped over him and sat down on the small round stool next to the table in the living room: "It's not good to talk about this matter outside." Did you know that these were recently caught and going to be shot? ”

Shen Yigong picked up those: "Since you know everything, what are you looking for me to do." ”

"Shen Yigong, I told you a long time ago. If you leave, I'll kill you. Like I killed someone else. Huo Zuo said, taking out a gun from his waist and placing it on the table, "Your life is mine." ”

"I thought I paid you back three years ago."

"You don't count."

"Then you're here to kill me today?"

Huo Zuo watched him repack these leaflets in the suitcase, buckle them, his eyes sank for a moment, and said with a smile: "No, I'm here to talk to you about business." ”

"I don't have any business to do with you."

"The workers of the Xingfeng Flour Mill went on strike for three months, demanding a 15 per cent salary increase, alternating single and double holidays, and three months of maternity leave for women. After a year, the factory asked for a reply, but as far as I know, the factory personnel department has already recruited workers in the rural areas of Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Jiaxing with the original conditions of accommodation and board. ”

Huo Zuo cocked Erlang's legs, looked at Shen Yigong's eyes and said unhurriedly.

"The workers of the Red Star Match Factory went on strike for two months, and they also demanded an answer from the factory on the issue of wages after the year, but the factory obviously would not easily agree. It is more likely that those 'friends' of yours will lose their jobs and make ends meet, and they will not be able to solve the employment problem for a while. ”

"Factories can't always make a profit by exploiting people. The new workers will also revolt. ”

"Yes, but what about the old workers? In the end, the welfare system you are fighting for will only fall on the workers who are still in the factory. What can a person who has been fired say other than say, 'I have contributed to the improvement of workers' wages'? Seeing that Shen Yigong was obviously hostile, Huo Zuo waved his hand, "I didn't come to quarrel with you, and I don't want to listen to the 'social theory' you learned from those people." I'm going to give you a solution, which will not only save the jobs of your workers, but also ensure that the factory will promise to increase their pay, and they will have jobs to do and shifts to attend. ”

There is a small window to the left of the round table. The winter sun was shining in through the window, shining on Huo Zuo's arm that was lightly resting on the table. And his figure is more hidden in the darkness.

"Why are you doing this?" Shen Yigong looked at the vague outline of him trapped in the shadows, "You said, you came to me for business." ”

"Of course, all these things I do are clearly priced." Huo Zuo retracted the arm that was still in the sunlight and said coldly, "I want you to protect someone." ”