In the hidden basement, Wei Ran still did not go to bed after eating something simple. Instead, he stood by the electric fan at the vent and smoked. He quietly watched Mei Xiang bring Qiushi to the still unconscious woman.
The young man selling cigarettes took off his clothes, cleaned himself, and put on the long shirt and underwear borrowed from Tao Canhua's room.
"Aren't you going to sleep?" After everything was done, Mei Xiang sat next to Wei Ran again and lit a cigarette as well and asked.
“I’m not sleepy yet”
Wei Ran waved his hand, he still had four cigarettes to smoke, not to mention he didn't know where to buy a pack of Camel cigarettes to complete today's cigarette buying task, so how could he sleep?
Secondly, while people outside were busy fighting, he was hiding in the basement of this overly safe British concession like a mouse who cared about his life. How could he possibly sleep?
"What are you thinking about?" Mei Xiang looked at Wei Ran curiously and asked.
Hearing this, Wei Ran pointed to the top of his head, and Mei Xiang sighed silently. For a moment, in this hidden basement, only the sleeping Andy's murmurs from time to time, the soft sound of the electric fan, and
Qiushi made a rustling sound as she turned the pages while reading under the desk lamp.
I don’t know how long it took, but when only the last two Qianmen cigarettes of the day were left in Weiran’s cigarette box, the young man selling cigarettes finally woke up.
"Are you awake?" Wei Ran was the first to come up and ask, "How do you feel?"
The young man selling cigarettes first looked around blankly, and then looked at the long gown worn by rich people. When Mei Xiang also came over, the young man finally came to his senses and struggled to get up.
At the same time, he said hello in a panic, "Mei...mei mei mei...Miss Meixiang, and also, sister Qiushi, I...where am I?"
"Lie down, lie down, you are in a mouse hole."
Qiushi pursed her lips and smiled and replied, "What's your name? I remember that you used to sell cigarettes at the entrance of Zhongyuan Company, right?"
"Yes, I did sell cigarettes at the gate of Seventh Heaven. Everyone called me Chen Pike."
The young man replied a little shyly. He supported the bed with his hands and knees and tried hard to sit up his upper body. However, he inevitably grinned in pain due to stretching the wound.
"Lie well"
Mei Xiang comforted her gently, and the young man who called himself Chen Dogfish also blushed with flattery and lay down again with some caution.
"You kid, what I asked you was that you didn't answer a single word. You only know how to talk to pretty girls, right?" Wei Ran asked jokingly after the other party lay down.
"No, no, I..."
The young man's originally slightly red face suddenly turned red, and he waved his hands nervously.
"Okay." Mei Xiang rolled her eyes at Wei Ran angrily and asked gently, "How do you feel now?"
Back to business, the red-faced young man Chen Gouyu subconsciously touched his crotch, and then he grinned and replied, "It hurts, it hurts a little."
"Can you move this foot?" Wei Ran gently patted the opponent's right leg, "Try to move your toes."
Hearing this, Chen Xiuyu tried to move the toes of his right foot. The calloused foot also followed his thoughts, and separated and closed the five toes with black mud inside the toenails.
Immediately afterwards, Chen Pike also tried to hide his not so clean foot behind the other leg in embarrassment.
"not bad"
Wei Ran shook it off with his uninjured left hand and used the blanket at the end of the bed to cover the young man's feet, "You hurt your hip bone, and it will probably take you two or three months to recover. But fortunately, you didn't hurt your nerves, so you don't have to worry about yourself."
Become a cripple."
What he said was originally good news, but after hearing it, Chen Pike's eyes instantly turned red, and tears fell down one by one.
"What's wrong with you?" Qiushi asked in confusion.
"It's okay...it's okay." Chen Gouyu wiped the tears that he couldn't hold back with the sleeves of his gown, but his tone was full of despair.
"You silly boy, are you worried that you will starve to death if you don't make a living in two or three months?"
The person who said this was Andy who had woken up at some point. While the girl was speaking, she had already sat up with her hands on the bed.
Sure enough, after she finished speaking, Chen Gouyu also started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Just rest here and recover."
Meixiang just touched the top of the young man's head gently and said, "Don't worry about not having enough to eat until you heal your injury."
"Speaking of this, do you still have cigarettes?" Wei Ran changed the subject at the right time and asked, "I have no cigarettes in my pocket. If you have cigarettes on you, can you sell me a pack of them?"
"I..."
"Yes, yes!"
Qiushi answered quickly before Chen Xiuyu could speak, then turned around and ran out of the room. Not long after, he made two trips from the outside and dragged in two wooden boxes with seals.
These two boxes were brought back by Cao Mute before. In addition to the word "Cao" on the seal, there were also fingerprints one by one.
"Which of these two boxes has your things?" Qiushi put the two boxes on the ground and asked.
"That one," Chen Gouyu pointed to the one on the right, "my cigarette case is in that box."
"Then can I open it?" As Qiushi spoke, she had already pinched a corner of the seal with her hand.
"Open it"
Chen Gouyu said to Weiran without even thinking, "You can open any cigarette case and pick out the one you like. It doesn't cost any money. We owe it to Uncle Cao to make a living selling cigarettes. From now on, the Japanese will
If Jinmen is occupied, our business of selling cigarettes will not be known..."
"Japs have to smoke too, don't worry, your business will not be affected." As Wei Ran spoke, Qiushi had already torn off the seal, lifted the copper buckle that had been sealed by the seal, and opened the lid of the box.
"Chen Gouyu, which cigarette case is yours?" Qiushi turned to look at the injury number on the bed and asked.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "On the left, fourth from the left, the one with the red cloth strip tied on the handle." Chen Dogfish said generously, "The cigarette inside
You can smoke whatever you want."
While he was talking, Qiushi had already taken out the cigarette case. After opening it, he imitated a cigarette vendor, hung the strap of the cigarette case diagonally on his shoulder, and shouted seriously, "Cigarettes."
, cigarettes, who wants to buy cigarettes?”
"Bring me a pack of camels."
As if he was cooperating with the performance, Wei Ran took out a piece of ocean from his pocket and put it into the cigarette case.
"Camel... Camel..." Qiushi lowered her head to search, pointed at a pack of cigarettes and asked, "Is this it?"
"right"
Wei Ran took the cigarette from the other person's hand, then waved his hand and said in a joking tone, "Looking at how pretty you are, you don't need any change."
"Thank you!" Qiushi was not polite at all, and thanked her with a smile. Then she picked up the silver dollar, puffed up her cheeks and blew it hard, then put it to her ear and listened, feeling dissatisfied.
He said, "Why didn't it make any noise?"
"It's probably a fake silver dollar."
While talking, Mei Xiang also took out a silver dollar and threw it into the cigarette case. She also said in a joking tone, "Give me a pack of cigarettes too. I want the Fairy brand. If you, little sister, can light a cigarette for me, too."
No need for change."
"become!"
Qiushi was quick this time. She found the cigarette that Meixiang asked for in no time. She skillfully tore it open and pulled out one. She even tapped the cigarette box skillfully before taking the gold cigarette holder that Meixiang handed her and putting it on.
, brought it to Mei Xiang's mouth, and after she took it in her mouth, she took out a silver-shell Ronson Kowtow lighter from her pocket, lit it, and put it next to the cigarette Mei Xiang was holding.
"Another dollar!"
Qiushi, who obviously often waited on Mei Xiang to smoke, put away the lighter, and at the same time proudly picked up the silver dollar and shook it.
"The girl selling cigarettes"
Andy greeted in a tone of voice, "Give me a pack of cigarettes, too. I want a beautiful brand. You can light them for me, and I'll reward you with a piece of the ocean."
"Then you are not allowed to cause trouble!" Qiushi said with some vigilance.
"What harm did I do?" Andy asked with a smile, took out her tortoiseshell cigarette holder, and handed it to Qiushi along with a piece of ocean.
The latter took the cigarette holder, found the cigarette the other party wanted, put the cigarette holder on and brought it to Andy's mouth, and then helped her light it.
In the blink of an eye, he earned three yuan. Qiushi immediately put on the cigarette case. While complaining about how heavy this thing was, he stuffed the cigarette case back into the box that was missing three packs of cigarettes but had three yuan more.
into the wooden box.
"Sister Qiushi, you...you...oh!" Chen Gouyu on the bed was obviously an honest child with a stupid mouth, but he didn't know how to express his inner gratitude.
"I helped you earn three oceans."
Qiushi said proudly, "When your injury heals, you have to buy me a soda."
"Please! I will definitely please!" Chen Gouyu wiped the corners of his eyes and made a serious promise.
"Keep your tears away"
Wei Ran sat back by the vent again and asked curiously, "Chen Xiuyu, who gave you your name?"
"My parents have been gone since I was a child. I was raised by Mr. Chen Erye, a fishmonger who didn't care about others. He thought I would always open my mouth and bite when I was fighting with others when I was a child, so he gave me such a nickname. I
My previous name was Chen Pingyuan."
Chen Gouyu explained, "After the second master Chen died, I kept using the name Gouyu. No matter what, it was the second master who raised me. I want to leave this as a thought."
"He is a kind and righteous child"
Meixiang sighed and asked, "Originally, I was thinking why this name is so unpleasant. In this case, we will call you Chen Dogfish. Dogfish, how did you get this injury?"
"When everyone and I went to deliver ammunition to the front line, we were beaten with guns by the devils from the Japanese Concession." Chen Gouyu said with some pride, "Last night, we spent the whole night delivering ammunition to the security team.
, they and I even burned down a Japanese opium den."
However, when he said this, Chen Gouyu's eyes turned red again, he covered his eyes with his sleeves, and said intermittently with a cry, "Several brothers have died, and the little leftover who sold cigarettes in Quanyechang was beaten.
He was dead. Wang Liang, who was selling cigarettes at the British Hospital, was killed by a bomb. The third brother was also dead. He dragged his intestines and crawled several meters. I just wanted to save him.
Hit by the Japanese."
For a moment, the only thing left in the smoke-filled basement was Chen Pike's painful and sad sobs and the occasional sighs from the others.
