Back to the Republic of China to open a department store

In the small attic, Luo Xiazhi looked up at the starry sky outside the dormer window.

Strange to say, he has been busy for several months, wearing stars and moons every day, and he has never looked up at the starry sky a hundred years ago.Now that he is in deep trouble and perilous, he has such a leisurely mood.

The last time I watched the stars leisurely was when I went to Chongming Island for the first time.Before the typhoon came, I once walked along the coast with President Gu.Headmaster Gu has a wide range of knowledge, whether it is the anecdotes of the eastern constellations or the western constellations, he can tell them one by one, and he listens with great interest.

The attic where he is now is narrow and small. Although it is not dark and humid, it still has an unpleasant smell that has not gone away for a long time-this may also be his psychological shadow. Since he got off the boat, he feels that he can smell nothing. It stinks.

But the starry sky outside the skylight was just as bright, and the stars seemed to be right in front of us.If it wasn't for his hands being tied behind his back, Luo Xiazhi would have reached out to touch the starlight.

"Guru~"

An embarrassing sound came from the hungry stomach.

After these people held themselves hostage on the boat, they tied his eyes with cloth strips.When he opened his eyes, he saw this dormer window.

For dinner, they prepared a bowl of porridge for themselves.But he really didn't have an appetite, so after laughing at his young master's hypocrisy, the two men went straight down to the attic with their porridge bowls in their hands.

"Woo~~"

The whistle of the ship came from outside the window, which seemed very sad in this winter day.After an unknown amount of time, the chiming bell of the customs building rang. With his eyes closed, Rorschach calculated the location of the attic.

He had just looked out from the attic and could see the roof of the opposite house.The house opposite also has dormer windows, and the sound of ships can be heard here, so it should still be by the Huangpu River.

This place is not in the "rolling cages" and "shantytowns" where the poor gather, but also on the riverside... Luo Xiazhi heard the sound of an old man coughing outside the window, and occasionally a baby crying, and judged that this was an ordinary lane.

The few people who kidnapped him should not be repeat offenders, and they might even be committing the crime for the first time—they actually kept him in the attic where they lived, not in some warehouse or abandoned house.

Luo Xiazhi touched the quilt under her body—it was dry and thick, which showed that someone usually took care of it.So this attic is usually inhabited.

There is no electric light in the attic, so he tried his best to move his body to the wooden boards in the attic, rubbing it with his hands tied behind his back...

If he guessed correctly, this attic should be a place for single men to sleep.Then usually around the bed, there will be one or two nails for hanging clothes.

After touching the sharp protrusions on the wooden board, Luo Xiazhi, who broke out in a cold sweat during the winter, sighed slightly.

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Wearing a gentleman's hat and a gray cotton robe, Gu Hanlin walked into an ordinary alley with a briefcase in his left hand and a gift box in his right.

It's past the busiest time in the morning. Young men and children are both going to work and school. In the alley there are only women with children in their arms and old people sitting at the door enjoying the winter sunshine.

"Who is Nong looking for?"

As soon as Gu Hanlin stepped into the entrance of the alley, a woman who was washing clothes looked over vigilantly.

This kind of old-fashioned alley is like this. Whenever an outsider comes, he will immediately be questioned by these aunts.

"Hi, I'm a teacher from Nanyang Middle School. I'm here to visit. Excuse me, is the Wang family here?"

Gu Hanlin smiled at her, and asked with a serious face.

Near here, there must be someone surnamed Wang.

"Ah, the Wang family, the Wang family is in the alley at the back. You are a teacher, you really look like a scholar."

The woman smiled and pointed behind Gu Hanlin with a finger soaked in soapy water.

"Ah, can I pass through here?"

"Okay, okay, come to the end of the alley, just turn a corner and you'll be there."

After the woman pointed the way, she lowered her head and continued to wash clothes swiftly.

Gu Hanlin lowered his head, and continued to walk towards the depths of the alley in an unhurried manner.Only the slightly trembling fingers holding the briefcase revealed the anger and tension he suppressed.

The manure dock is not within the sphere of influence of the Liang family, but the "Master Dao" who is in charge of the business of "Rice Field" in the north and south of Suzhou still wants to sell Master Liang some face.

Two hours ago, news came from the "Master Dao" that there were eight "Mr. Dao" in the North and South Wharf today who asked for leave and asked others to do the work for them.

Because the feces must be processed every day and cannot be backlogged, once "Mr. Pour" cannot collect the feces in time due to physical illness or family problems, he must arrange a replacement manpower at least one day in advance.

The five houses on the south side of the Suzhou River were excluded, and the addresses of the three "Mr. Dao" houses on the north side were located in: Tanziwan, Laobeizha and Zoumatang along the river.Tanziwan is located in Zhenru Town, while Zoumatang is close to Jiangsu, and they are far away from the last place where Rorschach appeared.

The "Mr. Dao" in the old Beizha household was registered as "Gou Asan" on the roster.Due to sudden illness, I took a day off.The person in charge of the area next door to him took over for him today and took over two hours longer than usual to get through this morning's work.

But according to his successor, Gou Asan has never asked for leave in the past ten years.Because there are three males in his family, usually they are the only ones who replace others to earn extra money, and they have never been replaced.

Hearing this, Liang Shaolong picked up the pistol on the table and put it on his waist, ready to lead someone to kill him directly.

"You can't go, I'll go."

Gu Hanlin snatched his gun, and said without hesitation, "The Luo family didn't call the police, just to avoid the reporters. We can't let others know that the Luo family is related to the Liang family."

"Is it embarrassing for Luo Sanshao to make friends with me, Liang Shaolong?"

Gu Hanlin pushed Liang Shaolong's angry palm away, looked at his flushed face, and sighed, "Cousin, you should also think about what you are going to do."

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Although very hungry, Luo Xiazhi once again rejected the white porridge that Ah San brought.

He couldn't let them find out that he had frayed the twine that held his hands together after a whole night's work.

There was a man and a woman arguing downstairs, and Luo Xiazhi leaned his head against the door panel of the attic, holding his breath and listening.

"No news in the newspaper? The department store is open today? How is that possible!"

"Really, I squatted opposite Luo's mansion early in the morning, and saw with my own eyes that Young Master Luo actually went to work in the firm as usual, and I didn't see him in a hurry to raise money."

Luo Xiazhi heard the indistinct discussion below.

"What should we do now? Could it be that this person fell into his hand?"

"I said a long time ago that this kind of business can't be done, and it will be thundered! Now it's all over, what should I do?"

"Sister-in-law, what's the use of talking like that now?"

The heated discussion downstairs was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Rorschach tiptoed to the corner of the attic.

The person who came seemed to be a teacher who was looking for the home of the student being visited.The third sister-in-law talked to him a few words, then pushed him out impatiently.

"No, no, the Wang family is in the back alley, what are you rushing into?"

"Sister-in-law, please help me. I know that the front and back alleys of your house are connected, why don't you just let me go through?"

"Principal Gu!"

Rorschach recognized the man's voice immediately, and poked his head out from the corner.

Ah San who was guarding at the bottom of the stairs didn't expect that Luo Xiazhi would break free from the bondage. He rolled up his sleeves and wanted to go up the stairs to catch Luo Xiazhi.Unexpectedly, Luo Xiazhi didn't take the usual path, but kicked his feet and jumped towards him with all his strength.

Thin and skinny, a man weighing more than 100 kilograms, kicked Ah San's chest head-on, and brought him to the ground with his whole body weight.

"Summer Solstice!"

Seeing him, Gu Hanlin who was standing at the door shouted his name in surprise and pushed the third sister-in-law aside.

"Oops, this man is here to find him!"

The expressions of the remaining two men in the room changed drastically, one rushed towards Gu Hanlin and the other towards Luo Xiazhi.

Gu Hanlin picked up a pole from behind the gate, and hit the shoulder and the crook of the leg of Ah Er who was rushing towards him.He didn't hit other places, but specifically picked a few joints and acupuncture points to hit, it was tricky and ruthless, but not fatal.

Ah Er screamed after being beaten, tears and snot poured out. I didn't expect this weak-looking scholar to stretch out his hands so vigorously and viciously.

Here, Luo Xiazhi kicked away Ah San who was lying on the ground and tried to grab his ankle, and jumped to the table like a monkey.

There was a pot of boiling hot porridge on the table, which was their breakfast in the morning.He picked up the pot with both hands, turned around, and held it high above Ah San's head.

"Stop it all! Otherwise I'll burn him to death!"

The boiling hot porridge is poured on the head, and the skin will peel off if you don't die.

"No!"

The third sister-in-law screamed.

Seeing the funny scene in front of him, Gu Hanlin threw away the pole in his hand.

He thought for a while, but didn't take out the pistol from the briefcase.Instead, he took out a pen, pulled off the cap, and pressed the sharp tip near Ah Er's temple.The other hand grabbed Ah Er's neck.

"If you don't want to die, don't move around."

Gu Hanlin said coldly.

Ah Er couldn't help but shed tears of regret - no one told him that these two guys who looked like scholars not only fought fiercely, but also became more ruthless than the other.

Seeing that the two brothers were subdued, Ah Da looked at the rolling pin in his hand and threw it to the ground with a bang.

"Get out of the way!"

At the entrance of the alley, Luo Yunze and the people from the patrol room were running towards this side quickly. The patrol whistled, scaring the neighbors to scatter.

When Luo Yunze and his team rushed into Ah San's house, he saw his younger brother sitting at the table with that Principal Gu whom he had met a few times.

His younger brother was holding a large bowl, and was gulping down the porridge. He drank in a mess, and didn't know there were grains of rice hanging from the corner of his mouth. He was obviously starving.

That Headmaster Gu was much more refined. While drinking the porridge, he also picked up two or three pieces of pickled melon with chopsticks and put them into his own and his younger brother's bowls respectively.

Around Principal Gu's legs, a bunch of people were bound like hairy crabs, both men and women, with cloth strips stuffed in their mouths

"Morning, Brother Luo."

Gu Hanlin put down the bowl and smiled at him, "This white porridge is not bad, Brother Luo, would you like some?"

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Luo Yunze didn't sleep all night - it's not that he doesn't have one hundred thousand dollars or gold, it's just that he doesn't have that much cash.After thinking about it, the only way is to mortgage all the company's shares to Shatong, who has enough gold in the bank.

But when he was about to go out to raise money in the morning, the concierge sent a note.

The handwriting is completely different from yesterday's blackmail letter, and it can be seen that the person who wrote it has some skills.

——At ten o'clock today, go to Datong Road to call the police to pick up someone.

"This note must have been written by Principal Gu."

Luo Yunze took out the note.

Just as Gu Hanlin was about to reach out his hand, Luo Xiazhi robbed him. He opened it and took a look, "No, this is not my elder brother...cough, my elder brother's handwriting."

"It's true that I'm not here. I really went to visit the homes of nearby students and accidentally found out that Xia Zhi was kidnapped."

Gu Hanlin waved his hand.

Seeing that he didn't want to say more, Luo Yunze could only keep his mouth shut angrily.

There are too many capable people in Shanghai Beach, snakes have their way, and shrimps have their way. Since he doesn't want to admit it, there is nothing he can do about it.

The three of them came out of the Zhabei patrol room, finished recording their statements, and were rushing back to Luo Mansion.Aunt Li has already prepared a brazier and a table of feast at home, just waiting to bring bad luck to the third young master.

"To be honest, I didn't expect them to kidnap me for such a reason."

The three of them walked by a small path and did not take a car, so they avoided the reporters who heard the news.

"I thought that what I did was sitting up straight, and that I would have no grudges with people in the past. I didn't expect to offend so many people."

Luo Xiazhi shook his head, he touched Gu Hanlin with his shoulder, and confirmed again and again, "Is my body really not smelly?"

"It really doesn't stink! You asked all the way."

Gu Hanlin said dumbfoundedly.

"This time, I'm really thankful to Brother Gu, otherwise I'd really die."

"Between brothers, talk about thank you."

As soon as Gu Hanlin said this, he subconsciously looked at Luo Xiazhi's "real big brother" in front of him, and seeing that he didn't respond, he smiled and continued to walk side by side with Luo Xiazhi.

Luo Yunze walked in the front, squinting his eyes to observe the two people behind them through the reflection of the roadside shop window.

Perhaps it was more than ten years of experience in the ups and downs of the business world that made him feel that President Gu Hanlin Gu was not an "ordinary person".

Or maybe it was his intuition as a "father" that made him feel that the young man in front of him, who looked plain and upright, had "bad intentions" for his son.

Although for a while he didn't know what this man wanted from his son... Money?Fame?status?

In short, Xiao Xia should not get too close to him!

"Thank you, Young Master Liang, for today's matter."

Luo Xiazhi deliberately took two steps down, and after his brother had walked a long way, he leaned over to Gu Hanlin and whispered in Gu Hanlin's ear.

Young Master Liang has a special status, and if he wants to help, he can only do it behind the scenes, but he knows very well in his heart that he must repay in the future.

Gu Hanlin looked at Luo Yunze's slowed down steps ahead, and patted Luo Xiazhi on the shoulder.

"I'll pass it on."

The author has something to say: The old lanes in old Shanghai, whether they are Shikumen or ordinary houses, have front and back doors, and several lanes can pass through each other.

I lived in this kind of lane when I was a child, and it was very interesting. Usually, the front and back doors are open, and children can walk into other people’s homes casually.Therefore, there is a saying "Chuanlongtang" in Shanghai dialect.

Of course, the old houses in the old streets were almost demolished later, and the doors of each house were closed, so I couldn't experience this kind of fun.