Shanghai morning

In the morning, Wang Yao sent Wanwan to the station as usual, and told her: "Wanwan, hurry home after school today, don't wander around, it's not stable now, girls can't be careless."

Wanwan hated Wang Yao's long-winded words: "Okay, I got it! Brother, don't worry!"

The tram just pulled into the station, Wanwan lightly jumped into the car door, waved goodbye to Wang Yao.Wang Yao watched the tram go away worriedly, before walking to the foreign firm.

As soon as he arrived at the foreign firm, Wang Yao saw an unexpected visitor: Matthew Williams.

"Mr. Williams?" Wang Yao still felt strange seeing Matthew's face exactly like Al's.

"Hello, Mr. Yaosang." Matthew greeted politely, "As I said, just call me Matthew."

Wang Yao was stunned for a moment, the weird title "Yao Sang" made him feel bad: "I'm sorry, 'Yao Sang' is not my name, my name is Wang Yao."

"Sorry, I made a mistake, Mr. Yao." Matthew said with a smile.

Wang Yao corrected again: "My surname is Wang. Mr. Williams came so early, is there something urgent?"

Matthew smiled and said, "I'm here to look for Al, and you've probably noticed that we are brothers. It's no secret in Shanghai."

Wang Yao didn't want the scandal to threaten Al, saying, "I already know that I'm not interested in my friends' chores."

"But it's important to me," Matthew said, "like you, I don't think it's a shame, I'm more concerned that I have a twin brother and he doesn't want to acknowledge me as a brother. "

Wang Yao hated the meaning of accusing Al in Matthew's words: "I believe Al has his reasons, and I have no right to criticize how he handles family problems. Of course, your thoughts are also irreproachable."

Matthew smiled and said: "You are a reasonable person, Mr. Wang. I want you to know: I really want to repair the relationship with Al, and I cherish my family. If it is convenient, I hope you can convey my thoughts to Al , you can tell him exactly what I said."

"If you really want to restore the brotherhood, you should be more sincere. Why don't you talk to him in person?" Wang Yao thought of Hong Kong, who was far away in the sky. .”

Matthew's expression was a little sad: "I tried to talk to Al, but his attitude was very bad. I had already expressed my meaning at Mr. Vargas's painting exhibition last time, but it is a pity that Al's attitude towards me was like treating me. A dog. But he can't be blamed, no one will be happy to find out that he has a shameful brother, let alone his focus at that time was elsewhere." Matthew's last sentence was meaningful.

Wang Yao didn't understand Matthew's hint, so he asked casually, "Where is it?"

"He was looking at a wonderful piece of work, a painting with you as a model," Matthew said.

Wang Yao didn't react for a while, and then turned pale with shock: "I...that painting of mine?" When he was a model for Feliciano, he never thought that the painting would be exhibited and people he knew would see it. .

"Yes, it's a nice painting," Matthew said slowly. "Al bought it."

Wang Yao exclaimed: "How can I buy that kind of painting?"

"Huh? Is there anything wrong with that painting?" Matthew pretended to be innocent and said, "As far as I know, it's a very good Shanghai style painting, gray Shanghai, Chinese people standing by the river—I originally I thought it was an imaginary drawing, but only after seeing you did I know that there was a model in that painting."

Wang Yao breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, that one!"

Matthew simply smiled: "But I guess the reason why Al bought that painting is because the other one was preempted, and that other painting is even better, the one of you lying in the mud on the river beach, that one A true masterpiece. I've always wondered, did you really paint Mr. Vargas lying in the mud? Or did Mr. Vargas use his imagination?"

Wang Yao felt that someone poured cold water on his head, shame, remorse and remorse welled up in his heart, as well as hatred for the person in front of him - Matthew did it on purpose, Wang Yao could see it.

As soon as Arthur entered the door, he saw Wang Yao was in a stalemate with Matthew. He felt uneasy, and walked forward and said, "Mr. Williams, what's the matter for coming so early?"

Matthew turned to Arthur: "Mr. Kirkland, I was looking for you."

Arthur said: "I have made it very clear to you that I already have a partner and don't need a new one."

"You misunderstood," Matthew smiled humbly. "The purpose of my trip is not to bring up the past. I am here to negotiate with you on behalf of CA-CIB."

"Crown Bank?" Arthur thought he heard it wrong.

"Exactly," Matthew said, "You should have heard that Miss Belle and her fiancé, Mr. Carrieldo, have already left for Europe. They plan to settle in Spain after getting married and will never return to Shanghai. The banking business is now in my hands."

"You are so powerful!" Arthur couldn't believe it, unable to hide his frustration.

Matthew was a little helpless: "Let's get down to business. If you don't mind, I want to talk to you alone."

Arthur nodded and said coldly: "Come to my office and talk."

The two went upstairs one after the other, Wang Yao was still standing there, there were only two or three people in the hall now, those numb colleagues didn't care what happened here, they were only engrossed in their work to support them.

A few minutes later, Al also came to work. Seeing Wang Yao standing there with a sullen expression on his face, he stepped forward and asked, "Yao, what are you doing?"

Wang Yao came back to his senses and felt ashamed and angry immediately when he saw Al, but he had to tell Al: "Al, that Matthew Williams is in Arthur's office, and he is now the actual person in charge of CACI .”

When Al heard it, he quickly understood: "He came to declare war on Arthur?"

"I think it's a declaration of war on you," Wang Yao said, "and he's very dangerous."

"He's very ambitious, but he's still a novice. In terms of tactics, he can't compare to Arthur." Al didn't think Matthew would win this battle.

"But there is Honda Ju to help him." Wang Yao said in a low voice.

"Honda Chrysanthemum?" Al was surprised, "What's the relationship between them?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure what Honda Ju said to Matthew." Wang Yao said, "Only Honda Ju would call me that weird word 'Yao-sang'—that's what Matthew called me just now .”

Al suddenly woke up: "Why did Honda Ju target you?"

Wang Yao shook his head: "I only know that he is very dangerous. If he wants, he can kill me at any time."

Al looked at Wang Yao intently: "Yao, what did you not tell me? Is it about Honda Chrysanthemum?"

Wang Yao looked around anxiously, the employees were basically all here, and they were all doing their jobs, but Wang Yao was still worried about which of them was listening.

"Go out and talk," Al whispered.

"Absent from work?" Wang Yao frowned to express his dissatisfaction.

"It's okay, that Matthew will pester Arthur for a long time." Al didn't care at all.

Wang Yao thought about it and made up his mind - he needed someone to share that terrible secret for him. Although this increased the danger a bit, he was almost overwhelmed by his own secret.Together they slipped out of the foreign firm openly.

The two walked by the river, the river wind was already very warm, and the new leaves of the trees began to sprout, squeezing out the old leaves with old colors.Fashionable girls began to show their arms and thighs, proudly flaunting their youth and beauty.

Wang Yao suddenly asked Al: "Do you still have chocolate?"

Al took out a board from his pocket and put it in Wang Yao's hand.Wang Yao first admired the colorful wrapping paper and the cursive foreign characters on it, then carefully tore open the wrapping along the seams, folded the almost complete wrapping paper and stuffed it into the coat pocket, peeled off the aluminum foil to reveal the inside A dark candy with a satisfying bite.

"I like this so much." Wang Yao praised.

"I know." Al said.

The chocolate melted in his mouth, and the sweet taste filled his mouth. Wang Yao swallowed the sweetness, and said slowly: "Yunjian—the Chinese who was shot, I not only knew him, I helped his accomplice."

Al stopped, looked at Wang Yao's face seriously, and made sure that the other party was not joking: "What did you do?"

Wang Yao said: "Everything is something that should be lost." So he told the ins and outs of the incident: how he met Yun Jian at night and broke into the secret gathering place of the Revolutionary Party by mistake; In exchange for Aji; he helped Aji escape under Yunjian's plea; he asked Honda Ju to intercede but was threatened... He only omitted the details of Francis helping him, even if he believed Al, he should try to avoid it again Bring Francis in.

Al listened carefully, and only asked, "Did you do all of this yourself?"

Wang Yao nodded: "The fewer people who know, the better."

Al asked, "Why don't you let me help you?"

Wang Yao said: "I can't let people die with me for this kind of crime." But he said this with a guilty conscience. He once asked Francis to face the most dangerous moment with him.

"Don't you believe me?" Al was disappointed.

Al's question made Wang Yao a little annoyed. He said, "Of course I believe in you, but I'm not even sure whether I can live. I don't know when Honda Ju will kill me!"

Al stopped dwelling on the question, and said, "That Honda Ju, you really have to watch out for him."

Wang Yao lowered his head and gnawed on his chocolate carefully, not wasting a single crumb.After a long time, he said, "As long as Wanwan is fine, I don't know what kind of idea Honda Ju has come up with." That doll, and Honda Ju's ambiguous mention of Wanwan, made Wang Yao very worried.

At this moment, Wanwan was in a nervous mood in the school.She lied to her brother yesterday, and he believed it without further questioning, but she couldn't let go of her heart - she was worried that the man would come to her again yesterday.

When school was over yesterday, Wanwan was about to catch the tram home as usual, but a car stopped in front of her, and a young Japanese man got out of the car and said to her in a somewhat strange Chinese: "Miss Wanwan, Nice to meet you."

Wanwan has never seen this person before—she doesn't know any Japanese people, and the appearance of this person makes her frightened: "You... who are you?"

The man said with a smile: "I was reckless, let me introduce formally: Xia Honda Ju, is brother Ling's friend."

"My brother's friend?" Wanwan looked at him distrustingly, "but my brother never mentioned you." She had heard of Wang Yao's good foreign friends, but the Japanese were not included here.

"I'm not Yao-sang's colleague, and we don't have much contact with each other. It's reasonable that he didn't mention me." Honda Ju expressed his understanding, "But I regard Yao-sang as a true friend, and I have always wanted to know his family. I have long heard that Miss Wanwan is not only young and beautiful, but also full of poems and books, and she is a rare talented woman even in Shanghai, but it is a pity that she was born in a poor family, otherwise she must be the most dazzling pearl in the social world."

Although he still has doubts, but the man in front of him is handsome and personable, and he talks to her, an ordinary Chinese girl, so politely, Wanwan's guard is slowly let go: "Brother, did you praise me so much?"

Honda Ju smiled and shook his head: "Yaosang is a humble person and never brags about his sister, but Miss Wanwan's excellence doesn't need others to praise her at all. You are already well-known in the social circle, and many foreigners listen to it." passed your name."

Wanwan was young, so he couldn't help being a little complacent when he heard such compliments from others. His pretty face was flushed with shyness and happiness: "How can I be as good as you say? The word is out of order!"

"I have read Miss Wanwan's articles, and it is not easy to have such attainments at such a young age," Honda Ju said, "Moreover, Miss Wanwan is also proficient in English and French, which makes many men sigh. ah!"

"What's the use of learning two foreign languages? My brother won't let me study abroad!" Wanwan pouted dissatisfiedly, "I've long wanted to study in England."

"This is Yaosang's fault," Honda Ju said regretfully, "A talented girl like Miss Wanwan should receive a better education, and you have been wronged by going to an ordinary school in Shanghai."

Wan Wan didn't fully trust Honda Ju, so she changed the subject: "Mr. Honda is really good at complimenting people, you didn't come to me just to compliment me, did you?"

"Miss Wanwan is really smart!" Honda Ju laughed, "I have admired Miss Wanwan for a long time, and I asked Yaosang to introduce her, but Yaosang is eager to protect her sister, and always says that Miss Wanwan is still a child and cannot meet strange men."

"I'm not a child! I'm already sixteen, no, I'm almost seventeen!" Wanwan exclaimed unhappily, "A friend from my school is engaged, and she's one year younger than me. If they They all got married earlier than me, how embarrassing I should be!"

Honda Ju said reassuringly, "Older brothers cherish their younger sisters. I have a younger sister who stays in Japan, and she is also Miss Wanwan's age. Seeing Miss Wanwan reminds me of my younger sister."

"You also have a younger sister?" Wanwan unconsciously became interested in this conversation.

"Yes, Sister She wanted to go to Manchuria, but she was weak and weak, so she had to stay in Japan." Honda Ju said, "Although she is not as talented as Miss Wanwan, she is still a smart woman, just like Miss Wanwan. pretty."

"It's really sad that I can't see my sister. Miss Honda must also miss her brother." Wanwan said thoughtfully.

"It's a bit impolite to say that, but if Miss Wanwan doesn't mind, I would like to ask Miss Wanwan for a favor." Honda Ju chose his words carefully.

"Mr. Honda, what can I do for you?" Wanwan asked.

Honda Ju said: "Next month is my sister's birthday. I want to choose a gift for my friend to bring back to Japan, but I don't know what girls like, so I want to ask Ms. Wanwan to help me choose——Ms. Wanwan is willing Come with me to the Central Mall? It won't take too long."

"This..." Wanwan hesitated, "Of course I want to help Mr. Honda, but my brother won't let me go out with strange men, and won't let me go home too late..."

Honda Ju looked disappointed: "I thought Ms. Wanwan was an independent woman. It seems that she still has to listen to her brother. Of course, being gentle and obedient is also a female virtue."

"I don't listen to my brother!" Wanwan said angrily, "I don't need to ask him where I'm going with!"

"Miss Wanwan is really not an ordinary woman, so please get in the car." Honda Ju opened the door for Wanwan.

Wanwan got into the car without hesitation, not noticing that Honda Ju was showing an ambiguous smile behind her.

The central shopping mall is located in the concession area. It is a beautiful three-story western-style building. Wanwan has only seen it from a distance, but has never entered it.There are so many products in the mall that she is dazzled by seeing them. She usually goes to the grocery store on the street at most, and she has never seen so many good things.She was very confident when she promised to help Honda Chrysanthemum choose gifts, but now she realizes how ignorant she is, let alone picking, she doesn't know most of the things at all, so she can only keep looking at them like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

Just when Wanwan was in a daze, an opened small box was handed to her, inside was a beautiful diamond-encrusted bracelet lying quietly, Wanwan felt his eyes light up, and couldn't help but praise: "It's so beautiful. Ashamed of her reaction, she calmed down and said, "This is beautiful, Miss Honda!" Will definitely like it."

Honda Ju smiled and shook his head: "I beg Miss Wanwan to accept this gift, this is to thank you for helping me today."

Wanwan couldn't believe her ears: even that exquisite packing box was a luxury in her eyes, not to mention that he was so gracious to give her the beautiful treasure contained in that box!

"I can't take it, it's too expensive!" Wanwan waved his hand.

"It's nothing, it's just a small gift. If Ms. Wan Wan accepts the gift, I will feel calmer, so that I can continue to trouble you." Honda Ju's word "trouble" has a deep meaning, but pure Wan Wan Wan didn't hear it.

"Ah! I almost forgot the business! Let's help Miss Honda choose a gift!" Wanwan hurriedly began to choose carefully.

Honda Ju was very satisfied with Wanwan's reaction, so he talked and picked with her. The girl's rosy face was very radiant, obviously she was in a good mood.

In the end, Wanwan still accepted the bracelet.

Wanwan, who was distracted, was called by the name of the husband. The husband scolded her more than once today, but she still couldn't concentrate, and kept recalling the details of being with Honda Ju yesterday.Honda Ju is a complete gentleman, not at all like her rustic brother.Her reason told her she shouldn't accept a gift from a man she met for the first time, but she still hid the bracelet in her schoolbag and wore it on her wrist on the way to school.She knew what not to expect, but she longed to see him again.

During the lunch break, Wanwan, who had been restless all morning, saw a surprise: Isn't the man who walked in lightly just Honda Ju?She couldn't help going forward, forgetting the girl's shyness.

Honda Ju stretched out his hand to Wanwan: "Miss Wanwan, we meet again."

Wan Wan clumsily grasped Honda Ju's hand and stretched it out to her. Honda Ju suddenly grabbed her hand and lifted it up. Wan Wan's sleeve fell down, revealing her white and tender wrist and the gleaming hair on it. bright bracelet.

"I'm very happy to see Miss Wanwan wearing my gift." Honda Ju smiled, "Only Miss Wanwan is worthy of this bracelet, but compared to Miss Wanwan's beauty, this accessory is worthless mentioned."

"Stop boasting!" Wanwan said angrily.

"Can I ask Miss Wan Wan to help me again today?" Honda Ju didn't let go of Wan Wan's hand, but took that slender hand into his own.

"This...you haven't finished school yet!" Wanwan said in embarrassment.

"Is it possible?" Honda Ju asked again, with gentleness and strength.

"Then... alright." Wanwan felt that he couldn't refuse this man.

"Please." Honda Ju gestured to invite.

Wan Wan just followed Honda Ju out of the school gate and got into Honda Ju's car again.

This is Wanwan's first time playing truant from school.

tbc