Literary Heroes of the Republic of China

When Boss Chen made a lot of money in the past, he didn't eat with the employees in the store. Even if he ate in the store, he would ask the chef to cook two other dishes.

It's just that he has been short of money recently, so he doesn't pay so much attention.

After Boss Chen sat down, the cook and the employee sat down, and Mu Qiong also sat down.

"Let's eat." Boss Chen said as he picked up a piece of meat, and then everyone ate together.

The dishes on the table are actually not very fresh. The braised pork is made from the leftover pork that was bought yesterday for making tonkatsu. The bread is also the leftover bread after baking too much. of.

However, Boss Chen and the others didn't mind at all. They immediately put their chopsticks on the braised pork.

Mu Qiong then picked up a piece of meat, and then found that the meat bowl was empty...

Everyone's ability to grab meat is extraordinary.

The meat is not very fresh, but it is meat after all, and there is thick red sauce to cover up the smell. It is quite delicious, but it is a pity that there is only one piece.

Mu Qiong ate the meat and ate bread while drinking water. As for the stir-fried vegetables left by those guests, he didn't move a chopstick.

He has no obsession with cleanliness, and he has no problem sharing food with others. He can also eat leftovers at home, but he doesn't want to take a bite of leftovers left by complete strangers.

"You don't eat vegetables?" Boss Chen asked.

"Yeah." Mu Qiong nodded, "I'm not used to it."

"It's really exquisite! No wonder you're so hungry." Boss Chen sized up Mu Qiong.

Mu Qiong just lowered his head and ate the bread.

Mu Qiong ate six breads in one go, until his stomach became round. As soon as he finished eating, guests came.

Boss Chen ordered Mu Qiong to greet the guests, and asked Mu Qiong to help clean up.

Mu Qiong has never been so tired in history.

His legs have been walking a lot in the past two days, and the injuries have been hurting all the time, and his arms are exhausted from helping to carry things in the morning...

After working with the broom for a while, Mu Qiong found Boss Chen: "Boss, do we want to make a more beautiful menu? Also, instead of hanging calligraphy on the wall, we can get some Western paintings."

"Western painting? Do you know the price of Western painting?" Boss Chen looked at Mu Qiong like a madman.

This was the early years of the Republic of China, and there were still very few people returning from studying abroad. Among these people, even fewer had learned to paint.

"I can draw!" Mu Qiong said, "Boss, give me the notebook and pen, and I'll show you how to do it first."

Boss Chen agreed and brought Mu Qiong the notebook and pen that he brought to write for Mu Qiong yesterday.

The book is thread-bound, and every page is blank. On the front, there are things like months and days, how many catties of pork, etc., and some names and addresses are written. The memory is quite confusing.

Boss Chen turned the book over, pointed to the last page and said, "Draw here."

Mu Qiong agreed, found a table to sit down, and began to draw.

He writes the menu first.

Each dish is first written in Chinese, then in English, and then in French... Although it is just a simple pen writing, in the eyes of Boss Chen, who does not understand foreign languages, it looks very tall.

"Boss, buy a piece of thick paper and some paint, I can draw a nice menu, and the wall, I think it can be designed like this..." Mu Qiong turned a page of the book and began to draw the layout on the wall.

Mu Qiong has studied calligraphy and painting for a period of time.

He is quite talented in drawing, but he doesn't like it himself, so he is very average in learning, but even if it is average, it is no problem to draw some simple patterns, let alone he plans to focus on writing on the wall.

Mu Qiong outlined a Western-style building with a few simple strokes, wrote a motto in English underneath, and drew the Eiffel Tower with a few simple strokes, and then wrote a motto in French.

"After the wall is painted white, I can paint these directly on the wall." Mu Qiong said.

Boss Chen was very satisfied: "Okay, just do it!"

"Just need some paper, some paint..."

"I'll go buy it." Boss Chen agreed.

And Mu Qiong will no longer need to greet guests or clean up, he just needs to write and draw on the paper with a pen and paper.

Customers came one after another in the afternoon, but Boss Chen didn't spare his hands. He also learned that Mu Qiong was going to design slowly, so he said that he would go to buy it in the morning.

Mu Qiong was so happy, he drew slowly and came up with a few more designs.

Western restaurants are in charge of dinner, and dinner is similar to lunch, but because there is not enough bread, Boss Chen asked the cook to make another porridge, made some pickles to eat with the porridge, and steamed salted fish.

Mu Qiong eats to his heart's content, and when he's done eating, his day's work is over.

Boss Chen's western restaurant is mainly engaged in the business of Chinese people who come to the concession, so there are not many customers at night, and the employee who works two jobs is there, so Mu Qiong can leave early.

Of course, even so, it was already dark when he left.

The bread had already been eaten, so Boss Chen didn't send a bag to Mu Qiong that day.

Thinking of Mu Changyu at home, Mu Qiong bought two meat buns in a small shop next to the tram station.

The meat buns were not big, one copper dollar each, Mu Qiong carried them in his bosom, got on the tram and walked back.

On the tram, Mu Qiong saw the boy who was waiting for the tram with him in the morning again.

Mu Qiong took the initiative to say hello this time: "Are you also working in the concession?"

"I'm studying in the concession." The boy glanced at Mu Qiong.

"Reading is good...you leave at this time every day? Do you want to go together?"

"I always leave at this time." The boy said again, but he didn't answer Mu Qiong's words that he wanted to leave together.

This is equivalent to a refusal, and Mu Qiong stopped talking.

He wants to get to know more people in this era, but if they don't want to know him, he won't cling to them.

Zhu Wanwan didn't come to pick her up today, but as soon as Mu Qiong opened the door of Yao's house, she saw Zhu Wanwan and Mu Changyu.

Seeing him, Zhu Wanwan relaxed her expression: "Qiong'er, you're back!"

"Mother." Mu Qiong smiled.

The three of them returned to the room together, and Zhu Wanwan lit a candle.

The light from the candles was very dim, but Mu Qiong had been used to seeing things in such light after living for a few days... He soon noticed that the quilt on his bed had been replaced with a new one: "Did you buy a quilt?"

"Mother went to buy quilt cores and cotton cloth today, and made a quilt." Zhu Wanwan laughed.

"Is the money enough?" Mu Qiong asked as he took out the two buns.

"Enough, I took the jade pendant as..."

"Mother!" Mu Qiong looked at Zhu Wanwan in surprise.

"That jade pendant can't be used as a meal, it might as well be used as a food." Zhu Wanwan said: "As long as our life gets better in the future."

There are a lot of things to buy at home, the rent has to be paid, and a piece of ocean is not enough... That's why Zhu Wanwan pawned the jade pendant.

Mu Qiong was silent for a moment, and finally said: "We will definitely get better in the future."

The meat bun was placed in Mu Qiong's arms. Although it wasn't very hot, it didn't cool down completely. He gave each bun to Zhu Wanwan and Mu Changyu.

"Qiong'er, what about you?" Zhu Wanwan asked.

"I've already eaten." Mu Qiong said.

Zhu Wanwan and Mu Changyu didn't become suspicious, but Zhu Wanwan still couldn't help but said, "Isn't there a lot of these buns in the store, you bought them, right? Don't spend this money in the future..."

"Mother, if you eat better, I won't spend this money." Mu Qiong said: "Well, tomorrow you go to buy bean sprouts for a copper dollar, and salted fish for a copper dollar, and eat with Changyu."

Zhu Wanwan thought for a while and nodded.

After Zhu Wanwan discussed with Mu Qiong, Mu Changyu took a bite of the meat bun, and then narrowed his eyes happily.

In addition to buying a quilt yesterday, Zhu Wanwan also bought a pot, pickles, and a small piece of lard for boiling the pot.

So the next morning, Mu Qiong ate pickle cakes fried with lard made by Zhu Wanwan.

The hot pickle cakes are very delicious. When Mu Qiong walked towards the tram station, he felt energetic all over his body.

Because in addition to buying vegetables, you also need to buy paint and paper, this day Boss Chen went shopping with Mu Qiong again.

The flour bought by the western restaurant yesterday was not used up. Today they only bought pork and vegetables, and then went to the bookstore with the pork and vegetables.

The bookstore sells books, as well as paper, pens and paints.

As soon as Mu Qiong entered, he saw some elementary school textbooks at the door.

Both Mu Changyu and Zhu Wanwan only knew a few words... Mu Qiong asked, "How do you sell these textbooks?"

"Ten copper coins a piece." The bookstore clerk said.

Mu Qiong put the book down silently, and at the same time, some things about buying the book also popped up in the memory of the original owner.

Mu Qiong suddenly discovered that the book was quite cheap.

Some books translated from abroad can sell for [-] to [-] cents a book... At this time, people who are rich in knowledge are at least rich.

Books are too expensive, and Mu Qiong wants to save money for tram rides, so he doesn't dare to spend them carelessly, so he plans to buy them after his salary is paid.

But he paid for eighteen sheets of white paper the size of a newspaper, and planned to find time to write something.

The thread-bound notebooks in the store cost two copper coins per book, and nine copper coins per piece of white paper. After looking through the pages of the thread-bound notebooks, Mu Qiong found that it is more cost-effective to buy white paper.

As for the pen... The brush is cheaper, but it is inconvenient to write, and the fountain pen is too expensive... Mu Qiong decided to use Boss Chen's pen first.

Anyway, when he goes home now, he has no place to write, so he can only write in the store.