"Is this Mr. Lu?" the man riding a green bicycle and wearing a postman's uniform asked.
"Well, do you know me?" Lu Ming said with a smile.
"I know. I have sent you letters before, but I never delivered them to you personally. But today this letter has to be delivered to you personally." The postman came here by car. It was so cold in the winter, and there was actually a tattoo on his forehead.
Beads of sweat broke out.
"Oh, where did the letter come from?" Lu Ming was a little surprised.
"You'll know just by looking at it. It's very valuable." The postman wiped his sweat and handed him three letters with a smile.
Lu Ming looked at the three envelopes. There were no stamps on them, which obviously did not go through the post office. They were local mail from Shanghai.
The three signature addresses on the envelope are famous, namely the U.S. Consulate General, the British Consulate General, and the Japanese Consulate.
Lu Ming was full of doubts. He didn't know why three consulates suddenly sent him letters, and they had to be special letters signed by the recipients in person.
During the Republic of China, Shanghai was very fashionable, and there was already a city-wide express delivery service similar to today's. Time is money, and this has been deeply embedded in the hearts of Shanghainese since Shanghai opened as a port.
Lu Ming opened the letter and revealed a gold-gilded invitation. He immediately understood that it was an invitation to the Christmas Eve party.
He opened the other two letters, and sure enough they were invitations to the Christmas party.
He gave the postman a generous tip and went upstairs with the invitation.
In the blink of an eye, it’s Christmas again. Time flies so fast, as if I just stepped out of last year’s Christmas party and stepped into this year’s Christmas party.
After returning to China, he returned to his old habit of using the New Year's number of the Republic of China and the lunar calendar, so he often forgot the date of the Gregorian calendar. Today is December 24th of the Gregorian calendar.
After several consecutive winter rains, the weather became increasingly cold.
Lu Ming thought he was still very cold-resistant, but he had to put on a thick snowflake tweed coat, a top hat, thick wool socks on his feet, and a wool scarf wrapped around his neck.
Armed.
A fire had already been lit in the apartment, and firewood was crackling in the fireplace. The firewood cost was a considerable amount every year.
Yuan Mingzhu was warming herself in front of the fireplace, her beautiful face turned red as if she had drunk wine.
Seeing Lu Ming come in, she asked about Du Juan, and was completely relieved when she heard that Du Juan had been arranged to go to the workshop as an apprentice.
"Then will she come back to stay at night?" Yuan Mingzhu asked.
"She shouldn't be coming back. The factory will arrange a dormitory for her. It's too far away from the factory and commuting to and from get off work every day is too troublesome. She will come back to pick up her things in two days." Lu Ming said more carefully in order to reassure Mingzhu.
.
"You won't be reluctant to let this little girl go, right?" Yuan Mingzhu asked with a half-smile.
"Can you think of her better? If she hadn't been forced to the point where she couldn't survive, I wouldn't have bothered with this." Lu Ming said a little annoyed.
"Look, look, I haven't said anything yet, but I'm so impatient now. It's obvious that I can't bear to part with you." Mingzhu said, stamping her foot.
Lu Ming smiled bitterly. Once a woman became jealous, he could not reason with her. He could only say nothing.
"By the way, where do you want to go to the Christmas party?" He took out three invitations and handed them to Mingzhu.
"This invitation is so beautiful. Where did you come from?" Yuan Mingzhu asked casually, her interest immediately rising.
When she saw invitations from three consulates, Yuan Mingzhu immediately pouted, showing no interest.
"It's boring. I hate seeing these foreign devils the most. They all speak in bird language and I can't understand them at all. They look like monkeys, and it's uncomfortable to look at them."
"But I have to go to one at night. Which one do you think I should go to?" Lu Ming also had a headache.
In fact, he was bothered by these social interactions, but sometimes they were unavoidable. Opening a private detective agency required a large number of sources of information, interpersonal relationships were important, and social interactions were indispensable.
Normally, his first choice would be to go to the U.S. Consulate. After all, he still holds a U.S. passport. However, there are his college classmates in the British Consulate, so he should go and meet them.
But his eyes lingered on the invitation from the Japanese Consulate. He took Zheng Chunyue away from the Shanghai Police Station, which was tantamount to publicly defying the Japanese. Why did he send him an invitation?
Could it be what Kenda Eikichi meant?
"Then you go ahead. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going home to have a drink with Sister Xin'er." Yuan Mingzhu said with a smile.
"Are you planning to live back?" Lu Ming asked in surprise.
"Yeah, Du Juan doesn't live here anymore, and I don't have to watch you anymore, so you don't have to sleep on the sofa every day." Yuan Mingzhu said, her face suddenly turned red.
"You haven't been back these days. Is your elder brother worried?" Lu Ming asked.
"No, no, don't ask so many questions about it, I just want to go back." Yuan Mingzhu said coquettishly.
Lu Ming saw that she was a little embarrassed when she spoke, so he wanted to ask what happened.
Yuan Mingzhu had no choice but to tell Lu Ming in a low voice that it turned out that Ning Xiner and the others thought that Mingzhu had slept with Lu Ming these days.
They were already engaged, so it wouldn't be a big deal even if they lived together. Ning Xin'er just asked her if she was used to it.
Women all over the world have a special sensitivity to "being a wife", which is equivalent to a different kind of life.
"Who do you think they are? How can they be so venomous?" Yuan Mingzhu said angrily.
Lu Ming thought to himself, this is normal, why is it called a slander? The woman's thoughts are really strange.
But having said that, another man might not be able to handle it and would have climbed into Mingzhu's bed long ago, and Mingzhu might not refuse.
"I repeatedly said that we were innocent, but they went even further. They said that if you were innocent, there might be something wrong with you and you were not a real man. They also asked me to take you to the hospital for a good check-up." Yuan Mingzhu said, her face turning red again.
, half angry, half ashamed.
Lu Ming smiled. This kind of speculation is not new. He often hangs out in romantic places, drinking, dancing, etc., but never goes to bed with any woman. Therefore, some people suspect that he is physically possible.
There were problems and some rumors spread.
"Then have you ever thought about what you would do if I were like they said?" Lu Ming asked with a smile.
"Ah, how could it be possible? It couldn't be possible?" Yuan Mingzhu looked at Lu Ming suspiciously, showing a puzzled expression.
What is a real man and what is not a real man? In fact, Mingzhu has only a half-understanding, but she can vaguely guess a thing or two.
Then she said calmly: "Whether you are what they say or not, if I identify you, I will live with you for the rest of my life. No matter what, I will admit it."
"Wouldn't that be wronging Miss, how about we give it a try tonight? You'd better not go back." Lu Ming said with a smirk on his face.
"Bah! Shameless." Yuan Mingzhu couldn't hold it any longer, she cursed with a smile, ran to the bed and covered her face with the quilt.
At noon, they still asked the restaurant to bring food and drinks. Lu Ming didn't know how to cook, and Yuan Mingzhu was not much better. Normally, when young masters and ladies like them live in Shanghai, cooks, maids, and attendants are all standard.
However, neither of them likes to have people following them, and they don't like Ding Ding hanging in the way. They are both responsible for keeping the whole family hungry if one person is full.
Yuan Mingzhu followed Ning Xiner in Caobang and enjoyed the service of maids and servants, but she never took the initiative to order the servants. On the other hand, Lu Ming lived alone and had meals at nearby restaurants. There was a laundry room for washing clothes and cleaning.
Hire people and everything is very convenient.
The two were chatting while eating. Yuan Mingzhu suddenly sighed while drinking wine: "Last Christmas Eve was spent with my sister and sister Mu Yi. I didn't expect that just a year ago, sister Mu Yi disappeared, and now Ziyuan doesn't know
Where have you gone? Why didn't Ziyuan write to me? Did I say the wrong thing and offended her?"
"Don't think so wildly. How could you possibly offend her? You are biological sisters. You grew up together. Even if there is a little conflict, she won't be angry with you." Lu Ming comforted her with a smile.
"Yeah, then tell me why she didn't send a letter to me. She sent a letter to home, to Sheng Di, and even to Uncle Sheng. But she didn't send a letter to me. Why?
What?" Yuan Mingzhu said a little aggrieved.
To be honest, Lu Ming didn't know why, but Ziyuan definitely had her reasons for doing this.