Shanghai morning

It was just dawn, and Wang Yao struggled to get up in the cold and damp air.Pulling open the old and faded cloth curtains, the girl Xiaoyue in the opposite building had already started making breakfast, and the fragrant glutinous rice smell wafted into Wang Yao's nose.Putting clothes on his body mechanically, his fatigue and soreness were worse than last night, Wang Yao thought to himself why do people need to sleep, obviously sleep just aggravates fatigue.

Beating his stiff and aching neck, Wang Yao went downstairs to make breakfast, which consisted of a little porridge and steamed buns, and now he had to save everything, the rent and tuition fees made him unable to make ends meet almost every month.Carrying the hot porridge and steamed buns upstairs, he raised his voice and called Wanwan to get up, while kicking away the sundries on the stairs.Wanwan has always been in bed, and getting up takes time like fighting. Once she wakes up, she will complain like a hairy why she didn't call her earlier.

But today Wang Yao's voice attracted the landlady's wife. The fat woman crossed her waist and pointed at Wang Yao sharply with her chin instead of her finger, ordering him to pay the rent owed immediately, or she would go to sleep on the road with her sister. .Wang Yao habitually wanted to beg her and relax for a while, but today he was holding things in both hands, so he could only smile again and again, and repeatedly promised to pay the arrears as soon as the salary was paid.

"Oh, I'm late! Why didn't you call me!" Wanwan yelled, Wang Yao opened the door with his shoulder, put breakfast on her table, and watched Wanwan tuck his arms into the sleeves of his school uniform while using A comb with missing teeth combed her long, tangled hair.Wang Yao suddenly felt warm in his heart, no matter how hard life is, he would be much happier watching this girl jumping up and down energetically every day.

After hastily eating breakfast, Wang Yao sent Wanwan to the tram and walked in the opposite direction by himself.As long as it saves money, it’s okay to walk a little longer, just get up earlier.The winter in Shanghai/Shanghai is cold and humid, not as cold as Beijing/Ping. Wang Yao hates this kind of weather, but over the past few years, he has gotten used to it. At least he doesn’t have to spend money on cotton-padded clothes. can be solved.

Wang Yao's family moved from Beijing/Ping to Shanghai/Shanghai. Wang Yao's mother passed away before he could remember.Later, his father died in the melee of warlords, and his stepmother left the three brothers and sisters to remarry a certain celebrity under Sun Chuanfang.Wang Yao, who is only 14 years old, can only rely on doing odd jobs to support the young Xiaoxiang and Wanwan. Xiaoxiang and Changwanwan are two years old. After his mother left, he never smiled again. I am not deeply impressed by this, and have always maintained the lively and cheerful girl should.Later, the three of them fled to Shanghai/Shanghai. Wang Yao found a job at Jardine Matheson, a British/Chinese foreign firm with a long history. The outbreak of the Opium War played a role in promoting it. Now this foreign firm has changed its face and turned to railway, shipping, banking and other businesses.But Wang Yao didn't want to think about the right and wrong. What he needed most was a stable job to make ends meet. Both Xiaoxiang and Wanwan went to foreign schools, and Wang Yao himself only went to private schools. , It took a lot of effort to learn foreign language.

Last year, Xiaoxiang traveled across the ocean to study at a university in the UK. This was thanks to Arthur Kirkland, a partner of Jardine Matheson. He took good care of Wang Yao. Wang Yao didn't know why the foreign boss took so much care of him. It was not his own wish to let Xiaoxiang go abroad, but Arthur insisted, almost firmly, Wang Yao did not dare to disobey, so he could only reluctantly let his younger brother leave to seek a better future in a foreign country.

Passing by a foreigner's residential area, a beautiful and unique bungalow radiated beautiful piano music, like a stream flowing through a mountain stream, Wang Yao stopped subconsciously, every day he passed by here, he would hear this wonderful music, but never The performer has not been seen.Vaguely, he felt a subtle feeling in his heart, with a little timidity and curiosity in the throbbing. Wang Yao always thought that love affairs were insulated from pragmatists like him, but he fell in love with that man ridiculously. A musician who has never met before, so that he stops here to listen every day, even he himself feels baffled.Involuntarily, the foot steps forward, a little closer to the window where the music escapes.

"Hey, you! What are you doing?" A loud warning woke up Wang Yao who was intoxicated in the piano music. He trembled with fright, and saw a tall young foreigner standing beside him, staring at him vigilantly.

Wang Yao realized that he had crossed the line—foreigner’s residence was a restricted area for Chinese/Chinese, he shook his head hastily, and fled from the oppressive tall body of the young foreigner.

The foreigner looked strangely at Wang Yao's running back, the music in the room stopped abruptly, and there was a piercing loud noise of clapping hands on the keys, and a dark brown-haired head poked out from the window on the second floor, The handsome face was out of shape: "Ludwig, you idiot! Do you have to disturb me while I'm playing the piano?"

The young foreigner named Ludwig raised his gray blue eyes helplessly, looked at the angry young master and said, "I didn't want to disturb you, I thought there was a thief."

Wang Yao ran all the way to Jardine Matheson by the Huangpu River, it was still early, and he didn't want to go in immediately.He simply leaned on the railing by the river and looked into the distance, while calming down his beating heart.After the fierce run just now, his appearance was a bit untidy, the scarf was loosened, his bare neck was directly exposed to the cold river wind, the blush on his cheeks caused by the strenuous exercise had not faded, and his lips had to be slightly parted, rushing His breath made a gasp from the parted lips.The wind blew his long hair. He didn't intend to grow it, but he was not in the mood to care about it. Unexpectedly, when he applied for a job at Jardine Matheson, Francis, the interviewer who later became his boss, took a fancy to him because he liked his long hair. Therefore, after working in Jardine Matheson, Wang Yao couldn't cut his hair anymore.

After dazed for a while, Wang Yao straightened his hair and it was time to go to work.Suddenly someone said in blunt Chinese: "Hi, come and see my painting?"

Wang Yao turned his head and saw that the person speaking was a young foreigner who was taller than him, with reddish-brown hair and a long strand of hair curving to the left, smiling cheerfully, and gesticulating non-stop.

"What's your business?" Wang Yao asked in English.

As soon as the young man heard this, he immediately changed his English. He held up the sketchbook in his hand and said, "Look at this, do you like it?"

Wang Yao looked at it and took the notebook in surprise. It was a pencil sketch that he had just drawn: by the broad Huangpu River, a lonely young Chinese man was looking at the river, with slightly parted lips and flying hair. One sticks to the lips, and the picture is very vivid.

"This is me?" Wang Yao asked in surprise.

The young man said with a smile: "Yes, it's rare for me to get up early, and I was so lucky to come across a beautiful material. Of course I have to draw it!"

Wang Yao also smiled heartily, flipped through the sketchbook in his hand, and there were some Shanghai/Shanghai style paintings in it. When he turned to a certain page, Wang Yao's face changed: it was a nude portrait of a woman.

But the young artist obviously didn't notice the change in Wang Yao's expression, and introduced himself excitedly: "My name is Feliciano, from Italy. What's your name?"

Wang Yao's blushing face turned even redder. He closed the sketchbook with a "bang", stuffed it back into Feliciano's hand, turned around and walked away quickly. Feliciano was still shouting behind his back: " Huh? Are you in a hurry? Then when will you have time—" The howling wind blew away the second half of his sentence, and Wang Yao had already crossed Huangpu Beach Road.

As a Chinese, the Renaissance-style appearance of Jardine Matheson always feels oppressive and heavy in Wang Yao's eyes. He doesn't understand the art of this cold stone building, but Wanwan, who grew up with a Western education, is very impressed. Like it, she always hopes to live in such a house in the future.Sighing secretly, Wang Yao put on an expressionless face and walked into Jardine Matheson.