Ming's Pawnshop

With cold pain, Minglou felt that his vision was blurred by the sweat streaming from his forehead. Through the firelight, he couldn't even see the pawnshop's furnishings clearly. He could only vaguely see the general appearance of the living room. The person in his arms drifted back to the distant past in a trance.

Back then, he knelt in the same way holding Ah Cheng in the sky-rocketing fire of the Ming mansion, with the black shadow's crazy laughter resounding in his ears, watching everything about him burn down along with the old house.

It's a story from the beginning of [-].

With the escalation of the war, Japan’s invasion of China accelerated, and even Hong Kong could not escape the fate of falling. At this time, China seemed to be shrouded in endless night, and the entire anti-Japanese front was in a tense and dull state.

As a place where the forces of all parties are most mixed, Shanghai is also undercurrents surging under the normal singing and dancing. Almost every day there are a few casual small frictions, and the boundary between alliance and hostility has become extremely ambiguous.

"Brother!" Ah Cheng pushed open the door of the study with the freshly warmed milk, and as expected, he saw Minglou still sitting at the desk, frowning at the confidential documents in his hand, and the official documents on the desk seemed like A hill has already been piled up, he shook his head helplessly, and approached Minglou, "Brother, don't look at it! I've been looking at this all afternoon, you said you always complain about your busy work, and finally you can take a vacation ,you still……"

"Hmph, vacation. I don't even think about taking this vacation in this situation," Minglou was not annoyed when Ah Cheng interrupted his train of thought. He simply threw the document on the table, took it with one hand, and handed it over respectfully. He took a sip of his milk, let him walk behind him, and skillfully pressed his aching temple, "Now the Japanese are getting more and more arrogant. A while ago, even the concession was hit. If it weren't for the ninth With the great victory in Changsha in the war zone, I am afraid our morale will be even more depressed."

Minglou closed his eyes and enjoyed his brother's thoughtful service for a while, felt the pain subside a little, and made a stop gesture, motioning Ah Cheng to sit across from him, and talked about serious business: "Ah Cheng, the war of resistance in China The situation is getting more and more complicated. Many factions are not in agreement. Some of them don't even have a unified opinion internally. They even want to wait for the international war situation to become clear. Under such a situation, we must be more careful in our actions and miss a single blow. , the consequence is likely to be the annihilation of the entire army. The military commander..."

"I have already ordered all the groups in Shanghai to keep silent. Uncle Li, I also sent someone to notify you." Ah Cheng knew what Minglou wanted to ask, and Minglou only mentioned it during lunch, and in the afternoon he asked Get things done.

"En..." Ah Cheng has always carried out orders in place, Minglou was very relieved about this, nodded approvingly, looked at him, and asked seemingly casually, "Is there any news from Mingtai? "

"Mingtai, he is now assigned to work in the Central Bank of Chongqing, and he is doing well. This kid has calmed down a lot in the past two years, and he has been working as a small employee in an orderly manner, and there is nothing wrong with him. I heard that he had an accident last year. Son, called Cui..."

Just in the middle of speaking, Ah Cheng suddenly remembered that Mingtai changed his name after he arrived in Chongqing, and recalled his elder sister’s wish that Mingtai would not change Ming’s surname in this life. Look at Minglou's face.

Ming Lou listened with his eyes half-closed, his face always showing no sadness or joy, but Ah Cheng still keenly caught a trace of his loneliness, a pain in his heart, he couldn't help calling out again: "Brother."

In the past two years, Minglou never mentioned Mingtai on any occasion, as if this younger brother had really passed away, but Ah Cheng knew in his heart that not only did the elder brother not want to be immersed in the grief of parting relatives, but his indifferent attitude was even more important. The deepest care and protection for Mingtai.

Even though Ah Cheng knew that Minglou had Mingtai in his heart, he did not dare to contact Mingtai openly against Minglou's wishes, but secretly collected all the information about Mingtai. Of course he knew that without Minglou's acquiescence, he would not Possibly doing these little tricks under his nose.The two of them knew this well, so as soon as Minglou asked, Ah Cheng quickly answered.

Before Ah Cheng could say anything else, the sudden burst of light and loud noise outside the window dispelled the somewhat heavy atmosphere. Almost instantly, Ming Lou drew out his gun. Just as he was about to step aside, he found Ah Cheng Cheng sat firmly across from him, looking at himself in astonishment.

"Brother, today is New Year's Eve."

After Ah Cheng's reminder, Ming Lou vaguely remembered that he had thought about giving Ah Cheng a red envelope in the morning, but he didn't expect to read the documents all afternoon, and he forgot what Xi Xi is. He let out a sigh of relief, Reluctantly, he threw the gun back into the drawer.

For the current Ming family, the day of New Year's Eve has long lost the joyful meaning of the past.

Ever since Ming Jing passed away and Ming Tai left, every year at the end of the new year, Ming Lou asked Ah Cheng to send all the servants back home early.On weekdays, the two of them are so busy with work that they don’t even come back to eat, and they don’t feel anything, but on New Year’s Eve, when the fireworks are bright outside and the sound of firecrackers, the two of them are the only ones left in the big house. The loneliness that cannot be concealed In an instant, the entire Ming mansion was swept away.

Although thinking about the days, the two of them just sat face to face with their own thoughts, and now they only have each other, as if staying in a smaller room can feel the warmth of each other, neither of them wants to get up and go out to face the emptiness living room.

"Master!"

It was Ah Xiang who broke the peaceful atmosphere. She was a maid at home. When she was supposed to be reunited with her family, her face was full of panic, and she forgot all the rules and etiquette that she kept in daily life. He just broke in without knocking, and staggered to his knees on the ground.

"Eldest young master, please! My dad is missing, please help me find him!" Ah Xiang kowtowed to Ming Lou while talking, her usual crisp voice was full of tears, " Eldest young master, I’m sorry to disturb your Chinese New Year. But I really have nothing to do, I have to come to beg you, young master! Please save my father!”

"Ah Xiang, what's wrong with your dad? Get up first, and talk if you have something to say. Ah Cheng, help her up quickly."

With Ah Xiang sobbing and talking intermittently, Ming Lou and Ah Cheng found out that Ah Xiang had a younger brother named A De.This is the only boy in the family. He has been spoiled since he was a child, causing trouble and sneaking around all day long. He neither disdains the status of a domestic servant nor is he really a material for reading, so he left home early to wander outside.

In the beginning, he was messing around in a casino on the side of the street. No one knew that this venue was actually owned by the Qing Gang. In a scuffle, he was lucky enough to save the life of a small boss of the Qing Gang. To repay his kindness, he also specially opened an incense hall for him.Joining the Green Gang and having a backer, he became more and more unscrupulous, leading a bunch of gangsters to collect protection fees all over the street.

It was also due to his bad luck. It just so happened that a new silk and satin shop opened on the street, and it was very grand. He brought his brother to the door without asking clearly, but the boss refused to give money because he had the support of the Japanese. In a fit of rage, he beat the man to death.

It's really not a big deal to kill a person in Shanghai Bund, and the Green Gang is a big gang with a reputation after all, and any force will have to give up three points when they encounter it. Generally, the police station receives this kind of case and locks it up for ten and a half months at most. Forget it.

But the bad thing is that the status of the Japanese behind this boss is not low. In the early years, he had a very good relationship with Zhang Xiaolin, a big traitor of the Qing Gang. Since his death, he has been picky about the Qing Gang. Shanghai was dominated by sex, so he didn't dare to take any action. Finally, he had an excuse this time, so he insisted on asking Ade to pay in blood.

After Zhang Xiaolin's death, under the leadership of the two leaders, Jin Rong and Du Yuesheng, the Green Gang basically advocated the resistance against Japan. However, there are many factions within the gang and opinions are still mixed. people.With frequent pressure on the one hand and complete inaction on the other, this matter was settled and sentenced to death.

After Axiang's mother heard about this incident, she cried bitterly at home, and Axiang's father also turned gray with worry, asking people to find connections all day long, let alone overturning the case, they couldn't even see their son .

Seeing that Nian was about to be executed, Ah Xiang's father was so anxious that his spirit became a little abnormal. He pointed at the gate and shouted that his son had come back, then knelt down on the street and begged passers-by to save him. With a kitchen knife, he wanted to rush out of the house shouting to kill the Japanese, but luckily Axiang and her mother stopped him together.

Although this kind of thing happened at home, but thinking that today is New Year's Eve anyway, Ah Xiang and Mu Ma secretly wiped their tears while preparing the New Year's Eve dinner, but who knew that her father was gone again in a blink of an eye, and then disappeared. And the kitchen knife on the chopping board.Ah Xiang was stunned, and immediately panicked, or her mother thought of the Ming family in a hurry, so she hurried to ask them for help.

After listening to Ah Xiang's narration, Minglou and Ah Cheng exchanged glances, and Ah Cheng immediately left the room knowingly.

Only then did Ming Lou look at A Xiang who had stopped crying, but her eyes were still swollen like walnuts, and said in a reproachful tone: "A Xiang, why didn't you come and tell us earlier? Your family members These generations have been working for the Ming family. They have been conscientious and never made mistakes. Our family is not a harsh and unfeeling family. "

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