The Jade of the Republic of China

In the past four years in England, Shen Yutong was indeed homesick every day, thinking of his father and brothers and sisters, but when he returned home, facing the enthusiasm of the entire Shen family, he really couldn't bear it.

Just when eating, the older sisters just wanted to feed him into his mouth like they did when they were young, which made it hard for him to resist.After all, he is already a 21-year-old youth who graduated from university, and he is no longer a child who needs to be held in his arms.

In order to welcome him, Shen Xingzhi also specially invited famous actors in Shanghai to sing at home.The entire Shen family garden was as lively as New Year's Eve.

Shen Yutong was exhausted from traveling and traveling, and was bombarded by the enthusiasm of the whole family for a day. When dusk fell, he felt exhausted. When the troupe came on stage, he sneaked back to his room to rest.

The room was packed in advance, and the bed was still exuding the fragrance of the sun.

Although he was exhausted, he was lying on the bed, but he didn't feel sleepy. He listened to the commotion outside, and he felt indescribably happy.

After a while, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" He opened the door and said lazily.

It was his sister-in-law's personal maid, Taozhi, who entered the room. When she left, Taozhi was still a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, and now she is a big girl.

The eldest girl blushed and said, "Second son, the youngest mistress is afraid that you may not be full tonight, so let me bring you some white fungus soup."

"Put it on the table!" Shen Yutong laughed.

How could he not be full? After eating at night, under the feeding of a large family, he was just about to break his stomach, and he is still holding on right now.

Taozhi hummed, and secretly raised his eyelids to look at the half-lying person on the bed. He saw the second young master of his family, wearing a lake blue silk nightgown, with the open collar revealing a patch of white, under the warm yellow light. Zhang's lazy face is also fair and flawless, he is really the jade-faced gentleman from the playbook.

Needless to say, Europa is really a supportive person. Although the second young master was beautiful when he went out, he was still a child after all.

Thinking of this, the eldest girl's cheeks became even redder, and she hesitated and said: "Then young master, don't forget to eat."

"Okay." Shen Yutong was unaware of the little maid's deer bumping, and only responded gently, as if thinking of something after speaking, "Wait a minute."

"Ok?"

Shen Yutong picked up a beautiful box from the bedside table, got up and walked to Taozhi: "This is the perfume I brought back from England, you take it and share it with other girls."

Tao Zhi happily took it over and said, "Thank you, Second Young Master."

Shen Yutong smiled: "It's just a gadget, I hope you girls like it."

Tao Zhi hurriedly nodded: "I like it, I definitely like it."

It is not known whether the girls really like these foreigners' things, but it is obvious that the little maids of the Shen family who received the perfume tonight will inevitably dance a few more times for the second son who has returned from abroad. Down.

When the big play kicked off on the stage in the Shenjia Garden, the porters who had worked hard all day on the pier also called off their work one after another, and went to settle their wages with the boss.

Because he got a silver dollar from your noble son in the morning, Meng Liansheng was in a good mood for the rest of the day.

He carried the shoe shine box on his back, and when he found his cousin, he was hunched over, arguing with the two bosses about something.

It turned out that my cousin was able to get five cents for the work he did today, but two cents were deducted from him, and he was only given three cents.

The heads were two brothers, surnamed Chen. The people on the pier called them Chen Da and Chen Er, but their specific names were unknown.

The two brothers spoke with a suburban accent and worked at the pier for several years. It is said that they used to be porters, but now they are the top leaders and take over the work of all the merchants. The porters can only take jobs from the two brothers. .

Originally, the porters did piecework hard work, and they were paid as much as they carried.But these two brothers are black-hearted and black-hearted, and they often deduct a dime or two from the porter's hard-earned money.

My cousin is in his 40s, and he is not in good health.Seeing a lot of goods today, in order to make more money, I gritted my teeth and worked until it was almost dark. My back, which was already slightly bent, became even more bent after a day.Unexpectedly, almost half of his head was knocked off, and he immediately started arguing with Chen Da and Chen Er.

However, the brothers of the Chen family didn't bother to pay attention at all, and just waved their hands impatiently: "If you think you have little money, you won't use it for work tomorrow."

The cousin stepped forward and grabbed Chen Da's arm, blushing, "But I clearly carried fifty cents worth of goods today, why did I only give three cents? You can't bully people like this?"

Chen Er pushed him away impatiently, and said in a vicious voice, "I'm bullying others, what can you do?"

The two brothers of the Chen family were able to do well from coolies, not only because of their brains, but also because of their good skills. The two of them are under [-], and they have a sturdy five-short figure. .

Seeing this situation, several porters next to him who originally wanted to fight the injustice for the cousin, immediately left silently with a few dimes of their hard-earned money in their hands.

Meng Liansheng frowned, stepped forward to help his cousin who fell to the ground, and looked up at the arrogant Chen brothers.

He was young, and he had a pair of dark, innocent deer eyes. Such eyes really did not have any deterrent power.Chen Er raised his hand and waved away disgustedly: "Hurry up! Don't get in the way here."

Meng Liansheng didn't say anything. The uncle knew that he couldn't get the money back, so he could only sigh in resignation, and patted his thin shoulder: "Forget it, let's go!"

Meng Liansheng looked at the Chen family brothers expressionlessly, and finally helped his cousin turn around and leave.

The uncle and nephew walked hundreds of meters away, and the cousin shook his head and sighed again: "I think your uncle and I fought with bandits when we were in the darts, but now we have to fight for a few cents with two brats." My subordinates are angry."

He used to be a good man with ambitions, but it is a pity that he encountered a bad world. The high-spirited and high-spirited man back then has long since passed away.

Meng Liansheng on the side said: "It's okay, uncle, today I met a shoe-shiner with a lot of money, and he gave me a big ocean. Let's go eat pork noodles."

Uncle was very happy for him when he heard the words, raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Really? Then add another bowl of pig water."

Meng Liansheng nodded: "No problem."

A noodle stall that the uncle and nephew often eat is near the pier.The boss is a middle-aged couple. The man is honest and honest. Some accident happened to his left hand, and only half of it is left, which is hidden in the empty sleeve all day long. The noodle stall is showing a bit of prosperity.

On weekdays, people who come to eat noodles are peddlers on the wharf. Ordinary sauerkraut noodles cost only two copper dollars, which is enough to fill a full-grown man’s stomach. Meng Liansheng's favorite food for more than a month.

It was past meal time, and two of the three greasy old wooden tables were empty.Meng Liansheng helped his cousin to sit down at a table, took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket, and ordered two bowls of pork noodles and a large bowl of pork offal.

For a noodle stall, this is a big business, the proprietress responded with a smile, grabbed two handfuls of noodles and put them into the big iron pot on the coal stove.

Meng Liansheng took out the money he earned today and put it on the table to count. Among the twenty or so copper coins was a shiny silver coin, which was very eye-catching.He held it in his hand to feel the cold temperature for a moment, and he couldn't help but see the appearance of the noble young man in the daytime in his mind.

"Liansheng—" Seeing him staring at the money in a daze, my cousin brought him back to his senses, "There are many pickpockets nearby, so hurry up and collect the money."

Meng Liansheng nodded, put the money away and put it in a hidden pocket in his clothes.

A few dock workers at the table next to them left after eating, but before the boss came to collect the bowls, two beggars who had been waiting for a long time rushed over quickly, picked up the eaten bowls, and poured out the leftover soup left in them. Pour into a broken bowl.

But the few workers ate cleanly, and the two little beggars got very little.

Meng Liansheng silently looked at the two scrawny children, and when the proprietress brought the noodles to the table, he recruited two of them and poured his bowl of noodles into the porcelain basin with a hole in the children's hands.

The two little beggars were overjoyed, bowed vigorously to him, and ran towards the night holding the broken pot of the harvest.

Meng Liansheng took out another three copper coins and ordered another order of noodles.

Cousin looked at him with a smile. The boy under the dark light had the usual indifferent expression, not showing too much emotion, but he was born with a pure and kind appearance, which made people believe that he must be a kind-hearted child.

Liansheng is indeed, my cousin thought to himself.But he is only 17 years old, and his life is still so long. In this troubled world, being honest and kind is obviously not a good thing.

"Liansheng, now that I have enough to eat, I can think about my future. What do you want to do?"

Meng Liansheng was slightly taken aback, pursed his lips and thought about it seriously, but unfortunately he didn't think of what future he should have, so he shook his head: "I think it would be good to shine shoes, save more money, and wait for my hometown to get better. Just go back to the country."

The cousin smiled and said: "Your uncle and I don't have much to do at this age. You are still young and there are many opportunities. People go to high places. Since you are here in Shanghai, you will go back to your hometown if you don't make a name for yourself. Are you willing?"

Meng Liansheng came to Shanghai only to have a full stomach, and now he still has a little money left over after eating a full meal every day, which has far exceeded his expectations. He is very satisfied, so he can't think of anything not to be reconciled to.

It's just that when those glamorous modern men and women on the pier popped up in his mind, he seemed to vaguely know why.

He lowered his lips, wanting to say something, but finally shook his head noncommittally.

The hot pork noodles and the fishy pigs are poured into the stomach, and the tiredness of the whole day is swept away in this taste.The uncle and nephew had eaten most of their food in suspense, when suddenly there was a bang bang not far away.

Meng Liansheng looked up and followed the sound, and saw a dark night in the distance, lit up by colorful fireworks, and gorgeous flowers bloomed in the sky.

The cousin also raised his head, and sighed with emotion at the magnificent scene: "This is a big family in the concession holding a wedding. I'm afraid this fireworks can last for a few years for ordinary people to live."

Meng Liansheng stared blankly at the grand fireworks blooming in the distance, only to feel that this ordinary night suddenly became magnificent and charming, like a dream.

He seemed to suddenly understand what his cousin was talking about.

At the same time, in the garden of Shen's family, Shen Yutong was leaning on the balcony of his room, admiring the fireworks that were set off for him.

The joyful faces of the Shen family downstairs were faintly visible in the intertwined light and shadow of the fireworks, and a few juniors were chattering and chasing and playing in the courtyard. They were prosperous and harmonious, as if the wind and rain outside had never had anything to do with this beautiful little world.

It seems that all the precarious mountains and rivers that I have read in the newspapers these years are all illusions.

The author has something to say:

Don't be cruel, don't worry