This year's winter was extremely cold.
Someone who read the newspaper said that this was the earliest snowfall in Shanghai since the Qing Dynasty, and they said that this year would be a cold winter.
Aunt Ma listened to the sound of people walking up and down on the floor in the next room, stamping their feet, and tapped the thin wooden wall with her cane.
The noise that disturbed Aunt Ma's sleep disappeared for about a cup of tea, and then started again.
Aunt Ma put on a thick coat, leaned on a cane, and struggled to move her little feet. She held her old hands on the wooden wall and banged the door with the cane.
The door opened, and a man in his thirties opened the door with an apologetic smile on his face. He wore small round glasses on the bridge of his nose. One of the temples was broken and was glued together with jet black tape.
of.
"Aunt Ma, it's cold and the child can't bear the cold. I'm sorry." The man said, cupping his fists.
Aunt Ma snorted and went in with the crutch. After a brief glance, the woman looked at her with a flattering smile. The two children were curled up in the woman's arms, their little faces were frightened.
Aunt Ma snorted again and went out with a cane.
The man glanced at his wife and children with guilty eyes, sighed, and was about to close the door when he saw Aunt Ma coming back carrying a small basket.
The fussy old Shanghai aunt passed the basket forward and said, "You useless man, you're freezing to death, and you're damaging my house."
Aunt Ma turned around and left.
The man glanced at the basket and saw several briquettes, and his eyes became moist.
"Aunt Ma, you are so kind and kind."
"What are you thinking about?" Aunt Ma scolded, "Deduct it from the rent."
"Yeah, yeah." The man nodded quickly and looked at the old woman's back as she walked away, and bowed deeply.
They were already two months in arrears with rent. The old woman always said angrily that she would evict the family if they didn't pay the rent. She said this every time, every day, but she never actually evicted them...
…
"It's such a cold day." Cheng Qianfan added a piece of briquettes to the charcoal basin, which made Wang Jun shiver in distress.
"Hey, hey, save your money." Wang Jun said hurriedly, "The price of coal has gone up again, I can't afford to burn it."
"You are so petty," Cheng Qianfan muttered with a smile.
"It's incomparable to a wealthy man like yours." Wang Jun shook his head and said.
"It's almost dawn." Cheng Qianfan's expression became serious and he said, "According to the intelligence gathered, the Japanese army will start a large-scale raid in the countryside around Shanghai in two days."
"Can you find out the distribution of the troops used to wipe out the Japanese army?" Wang Jun asked immediately.
"It's difficult." Cheng Qianfan shook his head, "You know my situation well. I don't have much interaction with the Japanese army. If you want to get clearer information, unless..."
"No, unless your safety comes first." Wang Jun shook his head decisively, "It is very rare to be able to figure out the Japanese army's action time."
"There is another situation." Cheng Qianfan said, "The Japanese Watanabe Brigade will focus on raiding the Qingdong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Zone."
Wang Jun's expression became more and more serious. The Watanabe Brigade was a permanent division of the Japanese army that participated in last year's Songhu War. It had a very strong combat effectiveness. A brigade of elite Japanese troops swept into the Qingdong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Zone. This was definitely not the Qingdong Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force.
Able to resist.
"Is it the entire Watanabe brigade?" Wang Jun asked.
"The details are unclear, but what is certain is that at least the Ohta Squadron will sweep Qingdong." Cheng Qianfan said, "The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered. We must immediately notify the comrades in Qingdong to prepare."
"This information is so timely." Wang Jun nodded, "I will report it to Comrade 'Charterer' immediately."
Cheng Qianfan nodded, stood up and picked up the hat on the table, "It's getting late, I have to go."
"Be careful along the way." Wang Jun held Cheng Qianfan's hand tightly.
"The enemy's sweep is unprecedented in scale, comrades must be more careful." Cheng Qianfan said solemnly.
Wang Jun nodded heavily.
After sending Comrade "Huo Miao" away, Comrade "Dandelion" returned to the room and caught a glimpse of a stack of banknotes on the corner of the table.
Every time Comrade Huo Miao comes, he will quietly leave some money, not much, but enough to meet the urgent needs of life.
He picked up the banknotes and looked at them. They were all old banknotes. He secretly praised Comrade Huo Miao's caution and quickly put the banknotes away carefully.
…
The wind is blowing loudly.
The snow on the road had just begun to melt, and it was bitingly cold.
Before he came to secretly meet Comrade Dandelion, he had already gone to the safe house on Desilang Road in advance and reported to the Northwest Headquarters that the second-in-command of the Kuomintang, Wang Chuanhai, secretly left Yucheng and arrived in Hanoi via Kunming.
thing.
Although Cheng Qianfan is still unable to determine the meaning of Wang Chunhai's move, based on the secret message sent by Dai Chunfeng, Wang Chunhai obviously escaped secretly. Yes, Cheng Qianfan used the word "escape".
The No. 2 figure in the Kuomintang secretly left Yucheng. This incident was an earth-shattering event.
"Brother Fan, let's buy breakfast." Aunt Ma was boiling water in the coal stove at the door. When she saw Cheng Qianfan, she greeted her warmly.
"Ruolan wants to eat something sour." Cheng Qianfan raised the aluminum box in his hand and "bought hot and sour soup and fried pancakes."
"My wife will definitely give birth to a fat boy if she is a hot girl." Aunt Ma said firmly.
Cheng Qianfan was extremely happy, laughed loudly, and left a portion of the rice cake with Aunt Ma. The old woman was so happy that she took the rice cake in her hand and told everyone that Brother Fan gave it to her.
"We'll move in a few days." Cheng Qianfan handed the breakfast to Ruolan and said.
It's not that he doubts Aunt Ma and others, it's just that these old neighbors get up early every day and make it inconvenient for him to move around.
In addition, it is somewhat unreasonable that the famous Mr. Cheng Xiao, as one of the most powerful figures in the French Concession, still lives in the old house in Yendli.
"It's up to you." Bai Ruolan pursed her lips and smiled.
She should have moved a long time ago, but she had been suffering from severe morning sickness and was afraid that she would not be able to adapt to the new house, so she postponed the move.
"What is this?" Cheng Qianfan saw the gift box on the table.
"It was sent by Sister Yuman, saying it was for my health." Bai Ruolan said.
"Sister Yuman came yesterday?"
"Well, I said you were passing by for something, so you stopped by to see me."
The two of them were chatting casually when they saw the cat coming downstairs, followed by Xiaobao who was yelling.
"Cat, wait for me." Xiaobao shouted, then sniffed his nose and said, "Wow, fried fish, and hot and sour soup."
"Little greedy cat." Cheng Qianfan scratched Xiaobao's nose, "Go, brush your teeth and wash your face, get ready to eat."
Ouch, Xiaobao made a face and jumped away.
Cheng Qianfan looked at his sister's back lovingly, with a smile on his face.
…
"Brother Fan, newspaper." Li Hao got into the passenger seat and handed the newspaper he just bought to Cheng Qianfan.
"Give it to Zhou Ru later and send the report immediately." Cheng Qianfan handed a pen to Li Hao.
This pen is the same model as the one he gave to Li Hao before. To be on the safe side, Li Hao switches between the two pens.
"Yes!" Li Hao took the pen from his body and handed it to Cheng Qianfan. At the same time, he inserted the pen that Brother Fan handed him.
"Let's drive." Cheng Qianfan said casually, then opened the newspaper and looked down. Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on a piece of news on the front page of the newspaper.
"Japanese Prime Minister Konoe issued his third statement on China today."
"In this statement, Konoe proposed three principles for "building a new order in East Asia."
"The three principles are that the three countries of Japan, Manchuria and China are good neighbors and friendly to each other, jointly prevent the epidemic, and cooperate economically."
Cheng Qianfan frowned and rubbed his eyebrows, as if he saw a cunning old fox smiling at the chicken in front of him and saying, "I won't eat you, we are good neighbors."
He snorted coldly.
Then he fell into deep thought.
Although there was no evidence, Cheng Qianfan had an intuition that Konoe's statement at this moment was most likely related to the Wang family in Hanoi.
Dai Chunfeng had previously sent a secret message, in response to Wang Chunhai's "escape", judging that Japan would take corresponding actions, and asked him to pay close attention to Japan's diplomatic and military trends.
Now it seems that there is no need for him to inquire about information. Konoe's statement explains a lot of problems.
To be continued...