Sheng Qing let notice that his arm was caught and turned around immediately. Zongying's hand was slightly loose when he read the book at zero o'clock, but he didn't let go of him. He just changed his grip, took him to the dining table, pulled out the chair, and invited him to take a seat.

Sheng Qing sat down and listened to her asking from behind: "Will this important matter be fatal if I arrive half an hour late?"

"Should not.", "Then have breakfast."

Her tone was neither fierce nor anxious, but she had unquestionable authority.

Sheng Qingrang got up and took the water cup on the coffee table, took a sip, and handed a bowl of steaming white porridge to him.

Not thick or thin, cooked just right, sprinkled with some meat floss on top.

"There is no milk delivered today." Zong Ying sat opposite with a white porcelain plate and a glass of water. The plate was filled with sliced ​​baguettes that looked dry and laborious to chew. She tore the thick sheet into her mouth and looked sideways at the newspaper on the table.

An English newspaper, North-China Daily News (word Linxi News), recorded the Japanese fleet's entry into Shanghai. Both the text and the photos showed a tense situation, but the news page was full of various colors. The advertisements and the trivialities in the concession are incompatible, as if another world.

Zong Ying eats hard and earnestly. During the process of chewing and swallowing, the muscles on the side of his face move repeatedly, orderly and smoothly.

Sheng Qing let her look at her for a while inexplicably, then regained his senses and grabbed the spoon to eat porridge.

She quickly finished the baguette on the plate, put down the newspaper and asked him, "Do you want to call a taxi?"

Sheng Qing asked to look up at her, she moved her eyes, and after three seconds of staring at him, she seemed to have gotten a response, got up and dialed the phone. She sat next to the table and told the operator of Xiangsheng Company that she needed a car. The other party asked for the address, and explained to her that "there are many junctions in the concession, and the car may not arrive so quickly, please understand."

The golden period of arriving in ten minutes to pick up passengers seems to be over.

Hanging up the phone, Zong Ying picked up the porcelain plate and returned to the kitchen. He glanced at the full-length mirror in the porch and realized that he was dressed too casually. A short-sleeved white T-shirt and loose-fitting home pants in gray linen are not very suitable for going out.

Putting the dishes into the sink, she asked Sheng Qingrang, who was still eating porridge, "Mr. Sheng, are the clothes I wore last time still there?"

Sheng Qing let the bowl of porridge not finish. Hearing her question, he immediately put down the spoon and asked her in a heavy nasal voice, "Are you going out too?"

Zong Ying turned on the faucet and washed his hands, then asked, "Can you promise to be back before ten o'clock?"

Sheng Qing made silence. The situation outside was changing rapidly. He really couldn't guarantee that he would come back on time at night to bring her back. So he got up and planned to fetch her clothes, but Zong Ying came out of the kitchen: "You go on to eat, are the clothes in the bedroom?"

He could only sit down again and said, "In the chest of drawers by the door, the last floor."

Zong Ying entered the bedroom and smoothly took out a cardboard box from the last floor of the drawer. Opening the lid, the shirts and trousers were neatly stacked, apparently washed. She closed the door, quickly changed her clothes, put on her trousers, tucked in the hem of her shirt, and buttoned a row of buttons at the waist of her trousers—

Just fit.

It is impossible for her to gain so much weight in just ten days, so it is only possible that the waistline of her pants has been reduced.

Zong Ying silently folded the changed home clothes and put them in the box. When he went out, he saw Sheng Qingrang packing up a new briefcase.

Yes, the one he used yesterday has landed with her again. hope there are no urgent documents in it.

The car from Xiangsheng Company was indeed a little slower than last time. The driver's service was still attentive, but his smile was somewhat heavy and reluctant.

He asked, "Where are you going, sir?" Sheng Qing closed his eyes and replied, "Sheng mansion."

The car drove out of the street smoothly, left the French Concession, and drove to the Shengjia Mansion on Jing'an Temple Road (Nanjing West Road) in the public concession. It was still a dark blue sky in the morning. At this time, it was completely illuminated by the sun. The weather was a little stuffy. People who entered the concession for refuge could be seen everywhere. Affection.

The car was so quiet that people panicked, Zong Ying restrained his craving for cigarettes, and kept his hands in his pockets and said nothing.

Sheng Qingrang opened his eyes at this time, and asked Zong Ying's opinion in a hoarse voice: "Miss Zong, you need an identity to explain to the outside world, so that it is convenient for you and me. Can an assistant be okay?"

"Fairy Wood"

Zong Ying used the identity she used to find him at the Coppersmith's Mansion last time. She didn't care, but she thought that he was going to the Sheng Mansion, then—

"Mr. Sheng, are you going home?"

"Why do you ask, is it important?"

"Maybe." Zong Ying replied, "Going home means meeting your family, and I may have seen one of your family members last time - a young female student, I told her that I was yours before. Friends, if I appear as an assistant this time, it may cause unnecessary suspicion and trouble."

Sheng Qing made it clear that the young female student she was referring to was his younger sister Sheng Qinghui. But he said, "It doesn't matter, Miss Zong."

The car stopped outside the Sheng Mansion, with an iron gate outside, a huge villa inside, and a private garden, full of luxury.

At this time, the iron door was closed, Sheng Qing let him get out of the car, raised his hand and rang the bell on the wall.

The servant heard the sound and saw that Sheng Qing had called out "Sir" instead of the third young master.

He didn't rush to open the door, just bent down and said, "The eldest young master has told me that if your husband is here to talk about relocating the factory, then you don't have to talk about anything, please go back and do other important things, don't worry about the Sheng family's property. "

What the other party said was an obvious rejection, but Sheng Qingrang didn't intend to give up: "Please go and tell the eldest young master, I have other things to talk to him about."

The servant looked embarrassed: "Today, Miss Er's family is also..."

Sheng Qing let Qing pursed his lips, thought about it, and said, "That's right, I also have something to talk to the second sister."

The servant was very worried that Sheng Qing would get offended by letting him in, but he had no other choice but to say, "Then I'll go in and ask."

Zong Ying stood aside, watching the servants being in a dilemma, and watching Sheng Qing make the strong fighting spirit stand upright, inexplicably saw the humbleness hidden in it, the feeling was indescribably familiar.

Just when the servant turned around, a clear voice suddenly came: "The third brother is here!"

Sheng Qinghui jumped off the rickshaw, generously gave the driver a full dollar, walked quickly to the door, and called to the servant who was three or five steps away, "Uncle Yao, why don't you open the door for the third brother?"

The servant named Uncle Yao turned back and frowned, Sheng Qinghui urged him: "Hurry up, Uncle Yao, why don't you open the door for me?"

Uncle Yao sighed and reluctantly opened the iron door. When Sheng Qinghui saw the machine, he grabbed Sheng Qingrang and hurriedly led him in. Then he turned to see Zong Ying outside, and said, "Ah, you're not the one—" Passing friend?

The little girl didn't plan to delve into it for the time being, she just urged: "Come in quickly!"

Zong Ying entered the door and watched Sheng Qinghui drag Sheng Qingzang to the villa.

Sheng Qingrang looked back at her at this time, she lowered her head and quickly followed, walked to Sheng Qingrang's side, and took the initiative to take his briefcase.

As soon as he entered the door, Sheng Qinghui shouted, "Big brother and second sister! The school is closed today!"

The huge house was eerily clean, only Sheng Qinghui's voice echoed. Sheng Qinghui frowned, and a head stuck out on the second floor. It was a seven or eight-year-old child. He leaned on the railing and said, "Auntie, you're back. Mom, Dad, and Uncle are talking in the living room on the second floor!" His eyes moved to Sheng Qingrang, he just watched without saying a word.

The child's reaction was the most direct and real. He obviously knew Sheng Qingrang and knew that the other party was an elder, but he didn't even have a name, which was very strange.

Zong Ying noticed this detail and thought of the group photo in the apartment that Sheng Qing had asked—he only had most of his face in the photo.

At this time, Sheng Qinghui walked upstairs quickly, Sheng Qingrang followed, and Zong Ying walked last.

Stepping on the heavy carpet, there was little movement, as if the whole building was a monster that devoured sounds.

Sheng Qinghui was the first to open the door of the reception room on the second floor. There was smoke inside. The second brother-in-law and the eldest brother were both smoking.

Realizing that the door was open, the three looked up one after another.

First saw Sheng Qinghui, then Sheng Qingrang, and finally Zong Ying.

The eldest brother frowned suddenly, put out the cigarette butt, and directly asked Sheng Qingrang, "What else are you doing here?"

Sheng Qinghui ignored the dull atmosphere and sat down on the couch. He raised his head and said to Sheng Qingrang, "The third brother has something to sit down and talk about." After saying that, he glanced at Zong Ying again and motioned for her to sit too.

Sheng Qing made his face worse and he said, "Give me a little time, and I'll leave after I finish speaking."

The eldest brother pursed his lips impatiently, leaned back, and a heavy breath escaped from his nose: "Speak."

Sheng Qing asked him to be seated, and Zong Ying took a seat next to him while handing him the briefcase.

The smell of smoke in the room made Zong Ying desperately want to smoke a cigarette, but the situation did not allow it.

She tilted her head to see Sheng Qingjang taking out a few tickets from her briefcase, and listened to him speak in his usual unhurried tone: "Although Mayor Yu is still negotiating with Okamoto Takamasa at the Ministry of Industry Bureau today, the military forces of both sides have been stationed in Shanghai. , this negotiation is probably just a mere formal performance, and the current situation is no longer towards peace."

He paused and said slowly: "Shanghai cannot avoid war. Sheng's family's machine factory in Yangshupu is next to the Japanese Marine Corps. Once the war breaks out, it is inevitable. The elder brother negotiated again, but he also did not want to see it destroyed by the war, or even funded by the enemy. If it is evacuated now, there will also be relocation and reconstruction subsidies—”

The eldest brother was originally displeased by the news of the work stoppage early in the morning, but at this time he was even more angry, and he had the stance of breaking the jar, Huo Di interrupted him: "What about being next to the Japanese? The worst is nothing but It was all blown up! The Sheng family is more than one factory!"

"Then, aside from Yang Shupu, does it matter if the Sheng family's factory in the concession?"

"**, the Japanese army, who dares to enter the concession area to fight?"

"No, then what about the air raid?" He said calmly, "Bombs don't have eyes, and they don't recognize the concession."

The eldest brother picked up the ashtray and smashed it at him, Sheng Qingrang avoided it. The ashtray hit the floor, and the gray-white soot scattered.

Zong Ying frowned, but Sheng Qingrang suddenly turned his head and whispered into her ear, "You go out for a while."

Zong Ying looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but he was sitting upright again, as if nothing had happened just now.

The room was silent for nearly a minute, Zong Ying withdrew in this short time, the child was still playing in the corridor on the second floor, and Zong Ying was also silent.

Zong Ying walked past him, and when he went down the stairs, he suddenly noticed a huge family portrait hanging on the wall——

There is a big brother, a second sister, a young man in a military uniform, and a younger sister Sheng Qinghui.

Only there is no Sheng Qingrang.

Click to download the best app for chasing books, many readers use this to read and listen to books aloud!