Shanghai morning

It was early in the morning, Wang Yao didn't have to touch the dark in the morning, he went downstairs to the simple kitchen to prepare breakfast after a simple wash, in order to let Wan Wan sleep a little longer, Wang Yao always called her when breakfast was about to be served, but Wanwan doesn't like this, she often complains that her brother makes her late, but Wang Yao, who loves her sister, can't wake up Wanwan earlier anyway.

Sleepy-eyed Ivan came downstairs scratching his messy silver hair, followed the scent to the kitchen: "What else is delicious?"

"Not for you!" Wang Yao hurriedly stopped him, this guy's appetite is not something he can fill, feeding two people has made Wang Yao stretched, he can't bear to have another mouth to eat.Since Ivan lived in Wang Yao's attic, he often went to the kitchen to eat and drink, which made Wang Yao very distressed.

"Stingy!" Ivan said disdainfully.

Wang Yao has always wondered why the lazy Ivan always thinks he has the right to show disdain to others.What made him even more puzzled was what was the source of this Russian's income. He had never seen Ivan go out to work.

Wanwan's scream came from upstairs: "Oh, it's so late again! Brother, why didn't you call me?"

Wang Yao couldn't help laughing: "The meal is ready, come down and eat!"

Wanwan ran downstairs in a "thump thump thump" manner. After eating porridge and pickles in twos and twos, he grabbed his books and ran out the door. While running, he shouted at Wang Yao, "How many times have I said this! How disgusting!"

Wang Yao sighed impatiently, and began to clean up Wanwan's bowls and chopsticks.

"Why aren't you in a hurry to go to the foreign company?" Ivan picked up the pickles with his fingers and threw them into his mouth, "Uh! It's too salty!"

"It deserves it!" Wang Yao scolded.

Iwan grabbed the siu mai and stuffed it into his mouth while asking, "Don't you need to go to a foreign company today? Or have you lost your job?"

"It's from Wanwan!" Wang Yao found that Iwan was munching on the only siu mai on the table. Due to his poor family, Wang Yao could only prepare some delicious food for Wanwan every meal, and he never ate it himself.

"She won't eat it again." Ivan chewed the shumai a few times before swallowing it.

"Lazy and greedy!" Wang Yao despised Ivan's behavior.

"I'm not deaf." Ivan widened his eyes and made a face.

Wang Yao sat down dejectedly, leaning his elbows on the table, covering the side of his head with his hands, with his fingers deeply inserted into his hair: "Who knows how long I can work at the foreign company?"

"Are you going to be kicked out soon?" Ivan poured himself a bowl of porridge and drank it comfortably.

"It's hard to say, several employees have been dismissed now, who knows when it will be my turn?" Wang Yao was dejected.

"If you don't go to work, you will be next." Ivan asserted.

Wang Yao sighed: "Oh! There is no better time!" After that, he went upstairs to get his coat and went to the foreign firm.

As soon as Wang Yao left, Xiao Fei came in. She looked depressed, and her thick assholes couldn't hide the dark circles under her eyes.

"Oh! What kind of world is this!" Xiaofei complained as soon as she entered the yard.

"What's wrong?" Ivan mopped his mouth and walked out.

"Since an accident happened at the pier last year, the investigation has become more and more stringent! Even us girls who came out to work have to be interrogated. Just now, several sisters were arrested by the police. If I didn't run fast, this would have happened. The children are all in the patrol room!" Xiao Fei chattered.

Ivan's heart sank. The incident caused by the wharf workers caused his former neighbors, Xiaotai and Xiaoyue, to flee to Nanyang. They have not heard from them since they left. Wang Yao still talked about them at first, but then he stopped mentioning them.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Ivan smiled instead: "But this shouldn't affect your business, right? You just don't need to go to the pier. Anyway, you mainly do business with foreigners!"

"You don't understand!" Xiao Fei said seriously, "You foreigners all come by boat, and the wharf is the easiest way to do the work, but I know it very well!" He covered his mouth with an old handkerchief and smiled.

Ivan knew that Xiaofei's low-class gang didn't have any rich customers at all. Her main customer group was the Chinese laborers on the dock, and those men could prostitute her for a few copper coins.But Ivan didn't break through this layer. Anyone—even those who are struggling to survive at the bottom, if they want to retain a little dignity for themselves, he shouldn't tear off their only fig leaf.

Wang Yao stepped on the time limit and stepped into the gate of the foreign firm. There were fewer people in the foreign firm than before, which made the extra new face very eye-catching—it was a blond young man wearing glasses, with a face Wang Yao was familiar with.

"Al?" As soon as the name came out of his mouth, Wang Yao felt wrong, "Sir, who are you?"

Matthew Williams turned to Wang Yao: "Hi, my name is Matthew Williams, Mr. Kirkland's... friend."

Wang Yao was surprised that the person in front of him looked very similar to Al, and he was startled before saying, "Hello, Mr. Williams."

"Call me Matthew," Matthew smiled modestly. "I've come to see Mr. Kirkland, but he doesn't seem to be here—is he often absent from the foreign firm?"

"No, he is usually punctual." Wang Yao said.

"It's a pity, would you please tell him I've been here?" asked Matthew.

"I will definitely convey it to you." Wang Yao said politely.

Matthew then said goodbye to Wang Yao and left calmly.Wang Yao stared at his back with fascination. For a moment, he felt that it was Al who had changed his outfit, but he clearly felt the difference between the two.Wang Yao couldn't figure it out, how could there be two people who are so similar in the world?Unless it was twin brothers, there would be such a magical coincidence.Al never mentioned that he had a brother, maybe he was hiding something, or maybe he didn't think it was necessary to mention it.

It's useless to think too much, Wang Yao habitually took down today's newspaper from the newspaper rack, then sat down at the desk and started reading.As soon as he saw the headline on the front page, Wang Yao was shocked: The gangsters robbed the prison and escaped with the death row prisoners.His eyes quickly scanned over a dozen columns of text in the news. There was a serious prison robbery incident last night. The one who was robbed was the Chinese laborer who killed the Japanese in the wharf incident a few years ago. Wang Yao vaguely remembered that this What is the name "Aji".According to this report, the gangsters somehow bypassed the guards and sneaked into the strict prison, killed several Japanese soldiers and rescued the death row prisoner. One gangster was injured and captured alive during the scuffle, and the rest escaped alive. sky.

A chill suddenly rose in Wang Yao's heart, spread to all limbs, and emerged from every pore.Every time Wang Yao thinks of the night when he followed Yunjian into the tiger's den, Wang Yao would get horrified, but since he finished working as a model for Ferry, he didn't have to see Yunjian again, and this matter gradually faded away.Seeing this news now, he once again thought of the horrible moment when his life was at stake, and was very afraid that his insider would be silenced sometime.But at the same time, he also felt relieved that it is always good to have a Chinese saved.Two contradictory emotions were entangled in his heart, making him restless.

Furthermore, thinking of the "bandit" who was unfortunately captured, Wang Yao felt deeply sympathetic and a little sad. He might be one of the few Chinese people he saw that night.One person is saved, but the other is facing death. Will they feel that the loss outweighs the gain?

Arthur came at last, the first time he had come so late, and Al, strangely, was behind him.

Wang Yao stood up and went forward: "Mr. Kirkland, a man named Matthew Williams came to see you just now, and he went back when he saw that you were no longer there."

Arthur's pupils contracted suddenly, and his disgust was beyond words: "What did he say?"

Seeing the change in Arthur's expression, Wang Yao knew that this person was not simple, so he said truthfully: "He only said that he wanted to see you and that he was your friend."

Arthur said: "If this man comes again, don't tell him more."

"Okay, sir." Wang Yao replied.

"Also, Al will take Francis' place in the foreign firm from today onwards, so you can help him familiarize himself with his work." Arthur said.

Wang Yao looked at Arthur in surprise, and said hesitantly, "Okay." What surprised him was that Al agreed to take over Francis' work, and it was not logical for him to introduce to Al.

After Arthur handed Al to Wang Yao, he entered his office, and the remaining two looked at each other.

Wang Yao signaled Al: "Al, come with me, I will take you to Francis' office."

"That guy ever had his own office?" Al sneered.

"He has it, but he never uses it much." Wang Yao said, leading Al up to the second floor, and pushed open a door.

The room is not big, desk lamps, telephones and some documents of unknown age are scattered on the desk, everything is covered with dust, the air flow caused by opening the door blows up the fine dust, in the tunnel of sunlight shining through the window fly.

"It's here," Wang Yao looked at the whole room awkwardly, "Let me clean it up for you."

"No, I don't think I'll use it often." Al looked down at his own footprints on the dusty floor.

Wang Yao opened the window, and the fresh air eased the dullness in the room.

Al pushed the hem of the open coat into his trouser pocket with both hands, pouted exaggeratedly and said, "I guess you must be very curious about Matthew's identity, after all he..."

"It looks exactly like you." Wang Yao finished for him.

"Almost exactly," Al corrected. "I don't have long, messy hair. It doesn't suit my look."

Wang Yao couldn't laugh at Al's sense of humor: "Al, is he your brother?"

Al turned his head and looked out the window: "According to Matthew, yes."

"Then he is also..." Wang Yao hesitated to speak.

"If he's not lying, he's my twin brother, another illegitimate child of Arthur's father and me." Al said without changing his face.

"Why is he looking for Arthur?" Wang Yao asked uneasily.

"Maybe to get his inheritance - but the inheritance does not belong to him, nor does it belong to me. My father left it all to Arthur. I only inherited one of his estates in the United States, and Matthew probably has nothing. ’ said Al.

Wang Yao didn't know whether to be vigilant or to sympathize with Matthew, he frowned slightly: "I don't want Matheson to change hands." The most important reason why he worked in Jardine Matheson was that Arthur paid for Hong Kong's education in England, whether he could or not Earn enough money, as long as Arthur does not fire him, Wang Yao will continue to work for Arthur.If Arthur is robbed of his property and the foreign firm is transferred to others, not only Wang Yao himself may lose his job, but Hong Kong must also drop out of school.

"You don't want Matthew to take a share, do you?" Wang Yao asked, "That's why you agreed to help?"

"There's a reason," Al said, "but it won't last long anyway."

"What doesn't last long? Do you just want to help temporarily?" Wang Yao didn't know why.

"I mean, the days of foreigners in Shanghai are not long." Al's blue eyes behind the lenses became hollow, as if his soul had been sucked into some small corner of his heart.

Wang Yao didn't understand what he meant, but he didn't ask again.

Later, Wang Yao came up with a broom, mop, bucket, etc., and helped Al clean the room together.Al took off his coat and rolled up his sleeves to work, picked up piles of waste and threw them out the door. Wang Yao was cleaning the window carefully with a rag. The gray sky outside the window was reflected in his eyes like oil paint, but it was no longer It will make his dark eyes even darker.Wang Yao looked back at Al who was working hard, and couldn't help laughing out loud.

Al wiped back the messy blond hair on his forehead, and straightened his crooked glasses: "What's so funny?"

"I've never seen foreigners doing physical work." Wang Yao said truthfully.

"In the United States, there are foreigners doing physical work everywhere." Al laughed, "If you like to watch, you can go to American farms, where there are many big men with strong limbs and simple minds forking hay, feeding horses, and drinking cheap spirits .”

But Wang Yao sketched the picture of Alcha hay in his mind, which made him want to laugh again.

"Sounds like fun." Wang Yao laughed.

"Really?" Al caught a glimpse of Wang Yao's sunny face, "Everyone is interested in a life they are not familiar with, even if it is something that other people have long been tired of."

Wang Yao smiled wryly, closed the window casually, walked out from the sunlight, and returned to the pale world.

"Al, how did Arthur convince you?" Wang Yao asked.

"He just convinced me that it was better to choose to be on his side than to let Matthew get everything," Al said.

Wang Yao found that he couldn't ask more questions, so he had to give up.Why would Al keep it from him?As early as when they met for the second time, Al told him the biggest secret, but now it seems to be Al's own secret again.

After cleaning the room, Wang Yao tidied up the cleaning tools and took them out. Al put on his coat and said, "I enjoyed my first day at work. It's time for me to get off work now."

"But you just came here!" Wang Yao said in surprise.

"Arthur didn't say that this job required me to sit in an office all the time," Al said. "Like I said, I don't use this room very much."

Wang Yao felt a little unhappy: "I hope this job is not just in name."

"Of course not, but not all work has to be done in the office." Al smiled and saluted Wang Yao, and his non-standard actions were full of ridicule.

"It's good that you know what you're doing." Wang Yao sighed helplessly.

"You have to believe me, Yao, although I don't like this job, as long as I am here, I will never let you lose your job," Al said, "I know what you are worried about."

Looking at Al's serious face, Wang Yao couldn't see any signs of lying, and said, "Thank you, Al, I know you don't like doing this."

Al put on his hat with one hand, walked down two stairs and turned to Wang Yao, "Goodbye, Yao."

Wang Yao raised his right hand to his cheek and shook it lightly: "Goodbye, Al."

Al went down the stairs briskly, and strode away from the busy desks, the hem of the open windbreaker fluttering with his steps.

After Al disappeared outside the gate, Arthur came out and looked up at Wang Yao who was standing on the second floor: "He's gone, isn't he?"

Wang Yao came back to his senses: "I'm sorry, Mr. Kirkland."

"It's not you who should apologize," Arthur said. "Come down."

Wang Yao went downstairs and returned to his seat. The newspaper was still spread out on his desk, and the headlines on the front page were still black and eye-catching.Wang Yao closed the newspaper, put it back on the newspaper rack, sat back at the desk and began to deal with complicated work.

Just finished sorting out a bunch of documents, Wang Yao was about to send them to Arthur's office, but saw an unexpected visitor.

"Mr. Wang, hello." It was Luther who came.

"Mr. Beschmidt?" Wang Yao hadn't seen Luther for a long time, "Are you here to see Mr. Kirkland?"

"No, I'm here to see you." Luther's demeanor has always been rigid and polite, but today he seemed a little anxious, "It's a bit sudden to say this, but do you remember my Chinese servant?"

"Yunjian?" Of course Wang Yao remembered this person.

"Yes, Yunjian." Luther looked a little embarrassed, "You probably also read today's newspaper: a terrible massacre happened last night. A group of bandits attacked the prison and killed many Japanese soldiers. A prisoner was also robbed. In the end, only one criminal was caught, and the whereabouts of the others were unknown.”

"I saw it," Wang Yao pointed to the newspaper stand, "I hope your house will not be affected." Wang Yao thought of the friendly Feliciano and the proud Roderich.

"I'm afraid we have been greatly affected." Luther's resolute brows were furrowed into knots. "The only gangster who was arrested was Yun Jian."

Wang Yao was so shocked that he couldn't speak, his two wide eyes stared blankly at Luther's face.

"I don't know how to speak, but I want to ask you one thing: Please go and see the clouds." The hardest part has been said, and Luther's speech speed has become faster and smoother, " This is Yun Jian's only request, and it is the first time he has asked me for it."

"He wants to see me?" Although Wang Yao felt sad, he was also worried about his own safety, "Did he tell you the reason?"

Luther sighed: "He said he only trusted you, he said that only you who are also Chinese would sympathize with him, and he refused to say anything else." Luther solemnly asked again: "Mr. Wang, I take the liberty of begging you to go and see him anyway, as you may be the last friend he will ever see..."

Wang Yao lowered his eyes and nodded slightly: "When?"

"Tomorrow morning," Luther said, "I will pick you up."

"Okay." Wang Yao agreed.

"Thank you." Luther said in a low voice.

Luther turned and walked out, his tall figure looked a little lonely.

Wang Yao didn't know what it was like, too many impossible things happened in one day, some were unbelievable, some shouldn't happen.

tbc