The entertainment tycoon of the Republic of China

"This gentleman, here!"

Just when Xie Yan was looking around to confirm a reference object, a voice came from behind him. Xie Yan turned around and saw that it was the owner of the wonton stall yesterday.

"You are..." Xie Yan was a little puzzled seeing that he was wearing an apron around his waist, obviously cooking, but he couldn't see the stall.

"Hey, I'm waiting for you! My stall is no longer here." The stall owner was beaming and pointed behind him.

"Yesterday, Chuanwang's family showed great kindness and wanted to open a breakfast cafeteria for the dock workers who live nearby, and receive meals with their work tickets. Because my stall near the dock has a good reputation and senior qualifications, we chose us to run it."

"The cafeteria is in the two rooms at the corner. Workers who have a ticket receive their meal by the ticket, and those who don't have a ticket can also pay for it. The young master has already paid for your meal for the previous month. I'm afraid you don't know the special trip. Wait here, let's eat!"

The Wen family opened a canteen for workers?Xie Yan was a little surprised when he heard this, but it made sense on second thought. After all, the ship king's reputation for benevolence and righteousness was praised by everyone in Hankou, and if he wanted his subordinates to work hard, how could it be possible to win over people's hearts without giving benefits.

It is said that those core workers who live in the Wen’s workhouse can receive a monthly salary of [-] yuan, get subsidies for illness and injury, and receive pensions for accidental death. It's not all that surprising to have a hot meal.

The stall owner showed Xie Yan the way, and hurried to the direction of the cafeteria. Now their family is hired by the Wen family to work, and the income has doubled compared to the original small stall. If you don't care about throwing away such a good job , so what to do.

Xie Yan smiled, and followed the stall owner to the cafeteria. He thought that he would be able to sit in the cold wind and eat wontons, but he didn't expect to be so lucky. He caught up with Wen's family to open a cafeteria, and the breakfast level was directly upgraded. A sheltered place to sit down and have a good meal is naturally the best.

These two cafeterias may have been built temporarily, and they don't take up too much space. The middle of the room is open, the kitchen is at the back, and the place to pick up meals is at the front, and there are two or three tables next to them. The stalls are also slightly more abundant. In addition to wontons, there are steamed buns steamed by the stall owner's wife and daughter and porridge boiled with millet.

At this point in time, most of the early workers had finished their breakfast and left, and the rest of the workers had no time to sit down and eat slowly, so the three tables in the room were all empty. Xie Yan ordered two steamed buns and A bowl of porridge, go and sit down.

"Sir, what do you do for a living?" There was no one in the shop at this time, the stall owner and his wife went outside to pick up the food, and the stall owner's daughter asked Xie Yan curiously while cleaning the steamer.

She is wearing a calico padded jacket with two thick braids. She is about fifteen or sixteen years old. She is not beautiful, with thick hands and big feet, but she is very energetic. She has a healthy blush on her face. It looks like she is doing a good job. skill.

"I teach." Xie Yan smiled, accepting this harmless curiosity.

"Wow." The girl exclaimed in a low voice, with envy on her face, looked left and right to see that no one was paying attention, and carefully took out a bamboo jar from the cabinet above her head.

"This is?" Xie Yan looked at the jar the other party placed in front of her eyes, but didn't react.

"Foreign sugar!" My daughter said mysteriously, "Add a little to the porridge, it will be sweeter."

Xie Yan glanced at the opening of the can, and saw that it contained half a can of white sugar that is very common in later generations.

"Did you give me sugar in exchange for something?" Xie Yan was puzzled.

"No." The girl didn't understand why Xie Yan asked.

"Then why are you giving me this?"

"It's a good thing, and a learned gentleman should eat it well."

"..." Xie Yan looked at her determined eyes and was speechless for a moment.

He can face thousands of malicious people tit for tat, and can confide in countless people with ulterior motives, but in the face of such pure kindness and worship, he doesn't know how to deal with it.

"My name is Xie Yan, what's your name?"

"Miao Erya." Miao Erya lowered her head, realizing that her name was very unpleasant.

"Do you want to study with me and learn something?" Xie Yan thought of the envious look in Miao Erya's eyes when she heard that he was a teacher, and tried to understand her logic.

"No! There's no such thing! I'm not!" Unexpectedly, after hearing these words, Miao Erya seemed to be stepped on her tail, and disappeared into the back kitchen in a hurry, even forgetting to put the sugar bowl back.

"..."

Seeing her disappearing back, Xie Yan didn't know why, so she just shook her head and smiled, taking this incident as an episode, put the sugar bowl back in the back kitchen after eating, and left the cafeteria.

When he arrived at Wen's house, Xi Lian, Mrs. Wen's personal servant girl, did not pick him up in the yard this time, and was replaced by Fu Zhu, another big maid with dimples.

"Madam is going to receive some wives from other families in the mansion today, and Sister Xilian is busy packing things." Seeing that Xie Yan was a little puzzled, Fu Zhu explained with a smile.

"So that's the case." Xie Yan nodded. With the Wen family's status in Hankou and Mrs. Wen's identity, this kind of communication knew a lot.

"When will the ladies arrive? Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

"It's about half an hour. Don't worry, Mr. Xie. The third lady's bedroom is on the third floor, and my wife will meet guests in the small living room on the second floor. You won't be able to see her. Let's see what my wife arranges for lunch. If Mr. Xie finds it inconvenient, Someone can send it to your room."

Xie Yan thought that he was inconvenient, but he was just afraid that men and women in this era would make trouble and accidentally do something wrong. Seeing Fu Zhu's assurance that there would be no problem, Xie Yan stopped entangled, nodded and thanked him and came to the third Lou Wen Yangui's bedroom.

The door of the bedroom was ajar, looking in through the gap, Wen Yanhui did not wait for Xie Yan at the door as usual, but was seriously reading something at the desk.

Xie Yan signaled Fuzhu to keep quiet, and knocked on the door lightly three times.

"Ah, Mr. Xie, you're here!" Wen Yanhui turned his head when he heard the sound, saw Xie Yan at the door, got up in a panic, and blushed, "I'm sorry, I was too obsessed and didn't pay attention to the time, and forgot to wait for you to come .”

"It's okay, I just arrived too." It's a good thing that students love to learn and love to read. Xie Yan has no reason to be angry. She smiled and comforted Wen Yanhui, "We are almost a few years old, so don't talk about so many rules in the future, but you are here What are you looking at, looking so seriously?"

"It's the newspaper my father sent me in the morning." Wen Yanhui pursed his lips and smiled sheepishly, looking very happy in his heart.

Although the Wen family has always had the habit of subscribing to newspapers, because Wen Yanhui's original female husband was too pedantic and felt that her daughter's family should not know too much about outside affairs, Wen Yanhui never had the opportunity to read it before.

When Wen Jiulou and Wen Heng were talking in the study room this morning, a servant brought today's newspaper. Seeing this, Wen Heng remembered that Xie Yan was teaching Wen Yanhui recently, and suggested that the newspaper could be sent there as a teaching material. Wen Jiulou I thought it made sense, so I arranged for someone to do it.

Newspapers in the period of the Republic of China contained all kinds of news. In addition to serious editorial news, there were also various novels, gossip and travel notes. Wen Yanhui had never touched these things before, and he was fascinated after getting them. I didn't miss it, read them carefully, and even forgot to wait for Xie Yan at the door on time.

"I forgot about this, I should have prepared more newspapers for you." Xie Yan slapped his head, feeling that he was too shameless as a gentleman, and he had to thank Wen Heng next time he had a chance.

Newspapers are a window to the world, and for a lady like Wen Yanhui who cannot go out, it may be the main way to understand the outside world.Xie Yan thought of An Yujing. After the Republic of China, women were much more tolerant in society. Since An Yujing was free to walk outside, if he had the opportunity in the future, he could also persuade Mrs. Wen to let Wen Yanhui go for a walk.

"Mr. Xie, can you tell me something about the newspaper?" Wen Yanhui didn't know what Xie Yan was thinking, and asked with bright eyes.

"Yes, but I have not been in Hankou for a long time, so I may not be clear about many things. What do you want to ask?"

"I used to hear Mr. Wen Qibing's name mentioned by the lady, and I also heard about his deeds from my father." Wen Yanhui dug out today's society newspaper from a stack of newspapers and folded it to the front page. Xie Yan read the article praising himself not long ago on the way here.

"I just saw Mr. Wen's article in this newspaper. I read it carefully. I was very curious about what kind of story he told about Hankou Romance. Is it so novel and powerful. Mr. Xie, have you heard of it? "

"..."

Xie Yan looked at Wen Yanhui's sparkling eyes of seeking knowledge, and it was rare that his old face became hot.

Xie Yan had already read this article in the morning, and Mr. Wen boasted in it that the presenter was unparalleled in heaven and earth, and that it would almost become a new model used in Western learning today. Even an old fritter like Xie Yan is a little embarrassed.

Now that Wen Yan regrets reading this article, the little girl has a strong thirst for knowledge and wants to know what is going on in Hankou Qiyuan, so does he say it or not?

"I know Hankou Qiyuan, but seeing it in person is not as good as telling it, and I can't tell you what kind of story it is. Isn't there an advertisement in the social newspaper that Hankou Qiyuan will be serialized in the newspaper? You can read it by yourself Once you have a look, you can make your own judgment." Xie Yan thought for a while, but in the end he didn't feel ashamed to say that he was the one who discovered it, and decided to let Wen Yanhui see it himself.

"I see, sir." Fortunately, Wen Yanhui didn't notice Xie Yan's uneasiness, and lowered his head to think about Xie Yan's statement that it is better to see in person than to recount, and you have to make your own judgment.

Xie Yan heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this, he was afraid that Wen Yan would regret asking him to tell the story of Hankou Romance and boast in front of his first student. arrive.

After a brief exchange, Xie Yan started today's formal class, and Wen Yanhui analyzed the original text of the little woman word by word.

"I'll give you the original text as a textbook. In addition to learning the language, I also hope that you can learn more about the ideas they convey. You have read the first few chapters of this book. Do you have any thoughts?"

"I..." Wen Yanhui thought for a while, then pursed his lips.

"The world in this book is completely different from the world I live in. The lives of the March girls are not good compared to mine. They have a lot of work and can't eat the food they want. Nice clothes...but I envy them, I don't know why."

"If you could exchange lives with any girl in the book, would you be willing?" Xie Yan asked a question.

"Yes." Wen Yanhui's eyes lit up, but soon darkened, regretting his gaffe.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about." Xie Yan smiled, "Don't you know why you envy them? Because although they are poor, they are free from disease and disaster, have a harmonious family, have relatives and friends who care about and help each other, and work hard with their own hands. You can get what you want."

"It's a very ideal way of life, and I envy it."

After listening to Xie Yan's words, Wen Yanhui finally felt less embarrassed. She suddenly thought of something, "Mr. Xie, in our reality, do people like this family exist?"

"There is no such ideal, but there are many similarities." Xie Yan thought of Miao Erya, the daughter of the wonton stall owner whom she met at breakfast this morning. She was hardworking, capable, optimistic and kind. Although her family background was ordinary, she could eat with her own hands. Dress warmly.

Perhaps Wen Yanhui would be envious of her family atmosphere and freedom, but Miao Erya never dreamed that she would have such a prosperous life as Wen Yanhui.

People always desire something the more they have nothing, probably only when they truly realize what they have that many people can't envy, can they be satisfied and move on.

"In fact, most ordinary people in this world are the epitome of the March family. They have their own troubles, but they also have kindness and sincerity. They are self-sufficient and live a daily life... If there are no foreigners who invade China, you can go out. On the street, everyone you see will be like this."

"but now……?"

"But now, the families of the common people are ruined and displaced. People are panicking on the land where their ancestors lived for generations, and their lives cannot be guaranteed at the most basic level."

"Sir hates those foreigners."

"I hate this era." Xie Yan looked out of the window, and the contrasts between modern society and today's society emerged in front of his eyes. He came from the bright age, how could he sink into the darkness he is in now.

So, is he a reformer who travels through time with fire, or is he a moth that burns himself overwhelmed?