As the car drove out of the Sassoon Villa, Zhou Hexuan suddenly stopped and turned around to ask Zhou Xuan in the back seat: "Where do you live?"
"Zhabei," Zhou Xuan asked timidly, obviously having been frightened these days, "Mr. Zhou, you... are you really willing to take me home?"
"It's okay, don't be afraid," Zhou Hexuan comforted him and said to the driver, "Go to Zhabei."
The car passed through the public concession, crossed the Suzhou River, and arrived at the boundary of Zhabei.
Zhabei was originally a very desolate place, but as it bordered major concessions, it rapidly prospered in the late Qing Dynasty. The "prosperity" mentioned here does not mean feasting and high-rise buildings, but a large population and all kinds of religions and streams.
Ordinary people cannot live in the Shanghai Concession. Not only is the rent extremely expensive, but they also have to pay a patrol fee of nearly 20 yuan per month (equivalent to public security management fees).
According to the survey statistics of the National Government in 1935, the average monthly salary of Shanghai cotton mill workers was 15 yuan, the average monthly salary of store clerks was 10 yuan, and the average monthly salary of white-collar workers was 19 yuan. In other words, even small white-collar workers working in foreign companies, every
The monthly salary is not enough to pay the patrol tax, let alone the rent which is several times higher than the patrol tax.
Therefore, anyone who lives in Shanghai's concessions is a high-income group, even if they only rent a house.
The Three People's Principles include "people's livelihood", so the Nanjing National Government had to show off and built many "civilian residences" one after another since 1928. In fact, it should be called "poor residences", but the government thought "poor people" sounded ugly, so in official documents
Always write "civilian".
"Public housing" is the version of "low-rent housing" in the Republic of China. There is one each in Yangpu, Luwan and Zhabei. There are more than 600 low-rent houses built everywhere. The monthly rent is generally between 2 yuan and 2.5 yuan.
It's just that it's very difficult to apply for a "low-rent house". Most of the people who can live in it are related households, or the companies and factories where they work are relatively good, or they bribed the clerk when applying.
There are records from later generations that Zhou Xuan moved into the Zhenliu Apartment in 1932. These contents are still widely circulated in articles introducing Zhou Xuan. In fact, it is all nonsense. With Zhou Xuan's current situation, she simply cannot afford to live there.
rent.
After the car drove into Zhabei, there were still a few streetlights in the busier areas, but it was pitch black the further you went.
"My home is right in front!" Zhou Xuan suddenly shouted.
The driver stopped at the door of an old-fashioned apartment building. This type of house has a brick-and-wood structure, a bit like a later tube house. It was built by local gentry specifically to collect rent in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
Zhou Xuan's family lived on the second floor. After knocking on the door for a while, a woman finally came out and opened the door. It was Zhou Xuan's adoptive mother Ye Fengmei.
"Xuanzi!"
Ye Fengmei was surprised and happy. She hugged Zhou Xuan excitedly and asked, "Why are you back?"
Zhou Xuan seemed to have a deep relationship with her adoptive mother, and said with tears in her eyes: "Mom, it was Mr. Zhou who sent me back."
"Mr. Zhou?" Ye Fengmei looked at Zhou Hexuan and Ruan Lingyu curiously. It was dark in the corridor and they couldn't see clearly.
Zhou Hexuan explained: "Hello, I am Zhou Hexuan. Mr. Sassoon gave Xuanzi to me. This is her 20-year employment contract. Please keep it."
"You...you, you, you are that Mr. Zhou in the newspaper?" Ye Fengmei was so happy and excited that she suddenly pushed her daughter towards Zhou Hexuan, "Mr. Zhou, since the employment contract is in your hands, Xuanzi will follow you from now on, please
Treat my daughter well!"
Zhou Hexuan sweated furiously and said: "Madam, I'm afraid you have misunderstood. I just treat Xuanzi as a sister, and I hope she can reunite with her parents. The matter has passed, and I will return this contract to you. No one will
What should I pursue further?"
"No, no, no," Ye Fengmei said firmly, "Mr. Zhou, I beg you to accept Xuanzi!"
"I really don't mean anything else." Zhou Hexuan was speechless.
"Mr. Zhou, I kneel down for you!" Ye Fengmei suddenly knelt down and kowtowed, "Please accept Xuanzi!"
Zhou Hexuan looked confused and couldn't figure out what was going on. He had to ask: "Where is Xuanzi's father?"
Ye Fengmei's face suddenly changed: "Don't mention that damn ghost. He took Xuanzi's money from selling her body and hasn't gone home for three days. Now he is either fooling around in a brothel or enjoying himself in a cigarette shop. Sooner or later, he will lose all the money.
Light!"
"Well, let's go into the room and talk." Zhou Hexuan felt that things were a bit complicated.
Ye Fengmei quickly stood up and said: "Oh, yes, yes, Mr. Zhou, please come in quickly!"
The light in the room was very dim. Ye Fengmei brought two glasses of boiled water and said sheepishly: "There is no tea in the house. Don't make me laugh." As she said that, her eyes suddenly widened, "You...are you Miss Ruan Lingyu?"
"Hello, I am Ruan Lingyu." Ruan Lingyu said with a smile.
Ye Fengmei said happily: "Today is really brilliant, we have two distinguished guests."
Zhou Hexuan asked with a cup of water: "You'd better tell me what happened."
"Alas!" Ye Fengmei sighed.
It turned out that Ye Fengmei was an opera singer and was born as a famous actress. She had never been popular when she was young and could only perform in some small opera troupes. As she got older, life became more difficult.
Ye Fengmei and her husband have never had children. When she saw Zhou Xuan was homeless, she fell in love immediately and treated Zhou Xuan as her own and loved her very much.
Unfortunately, Zhou Xuan's adoptive father Zhou Liugen was an opium addict and spent more money than he earned.
When Zhou Xuan was less than 10 years old, she was sent to a song and dance troupe by her adoptive father to learn skills. She also worked as a maid in the song and dance troupe. The money she earned over the years was basically used to support Zhou Liugen to smoke opium.
Two years ago, when the Lianhua Song and Dance Troupe was disbanded, Zhou Xuan didn't even dare to go home because her adoptive father Zhou Liugen wanted to sell her to a brothel. Zhou Xuan was only 13 years old at the time. Fortunately, there was a kind man named Yan Hua who recommended
Zhou Xuan joined the Xinhua Opera Society, thus avoiding her fate of becoming a prostitute.
Historically, until Zhou Liugen's death, he was still looking for money from his adopted daughter Zhou Xuan to buy opium.
Due to the butterfly effect brought about by Zhou Hexuan, Zhou Liugen now made a fortune and received 50,000 yuan from the Sassoon people for selling his body. He went crazy and stayed away from home all day long, either sleeping in a cigarette shop or sleeping in a cigarette shop.
He slept in prostitutes and restaurants and fell completely into a state of intoxication.
Ye Fengmei felt sorry for her daughter. She was originally worried that Zhou Xuan would be bullied by the elder. Now that she knew that Zhou Xuan was given to Zhou Hexuan, and Zhou Hexuan was a great scholar and a good person, she immediately had other ideas to keep her daughter with Zhou Hexuan. She must not do it again.
Go back to this home, otherwise you will be dragged down by your opium ghost husband sooner or later.
This is a respectable woman who silently endures her husband's nonsense, silently supports her broken family, and has a motherly love for her adopted daughter.
After hearing this story, Zhou Hexuan could only lament that opium harms people. He knows how many families have been destroyed by opium.
Ye Fengmei suddenly knelt on the ground and kowtowed, and begged with a tearful tone: "Mr. Zhou, please, please accept Xuanzi. She is very good, she can do everything in washing and cooking, and she can also sing and dance for you."
To relieve my boredom, don’t let her come back again, she shouldn’t come back…”
"Hey, hey, don't kowtow all the time," Zhou Hexuan said with support, "I see, you should divorce your current husband and live alone with your daughter."
Ye Fengmei said coquettishly and resolutely: "Mr. Zhou, although I am a dirty actor, I still understand the principle of sticking to the end. Since I am married, I should take care of the family well, and divorce is immoral.
, I absolutely can’t do it. If I die, someone will stab me in the spine!”
Zhou Hexuan suddenly didn't know what to say, as if he had traveled through ancient feudal society.
Mr. Lu Xun’s work of healing people’s hearts and awakening their minds still has a long way to go!
Ruan Lingyu understood Ye Fengmei's thoughts very well. She secretly pulled Zhou Hexuan's sleeve and said, "Just keep Xuanzi, so that I can have a companion."
Zhou Hexuan's mood is extremely complicated now. The feeling of sadness for his misfortune and indisputable anger fills his chest, and his whole body is about to explode. But he can't get angry at this woman. Their thoughts seem to be separated by centuries.
, there is no possibility of normal communication at all.
"Oh," Zhou Hexuan took out his checkbook depressedly, filled in the numbers, tore it off and said, "This is 1,000 yuan. Keep it for your own household use. Don't buy opium for your husband."
Ye Fengmei said happily: "Mr. Zhou, you are such a good person. My Xuanzi will enjoy happiness in the future." She hugged her daughter again and warned, "Xuanzi, remember to listen to Mr. Zhou in the future and serve Mr. Zhou well. Do you understand?
?”
"Mom, I don't want to leave." Zhou Xuan cried bitterly while hugging her adoptive mother.
Ye Fengmei patted her daughter on the head and said: "Don't be stupid, there is no good in staying at home. You are different from mom. Mom is a miserable person and is doomed to suffer all her life. You are a blessed person and you deserve to enjoy it. Be good,
Stop crying and follow Mr. Zhou quickly."
Zhou Hexuan was silent, feeling that this world was so absurd.
