It is said that Shanghai embodies the charm of the entire Yangtze River.
On the third day of September, many cities along the Yangtze River were still scorching, but Shanghai had already passed the hottest period of late July and the climate had become much more pleasant.
A blue and white bus slowly pulled away from the platform, revealing a woman who had just gotten off.
Several men and women who were waiting for the bus just glanced at the woman subconsciously, and either their eyes could not be taken away for an instant, or they turned their eyes back quickly after realizing it belatedly.
She had an ordinary pigtail with a few ordinary black hairpins hidden in her hair. Her thick dark eyebrows carried a hint of youthful childishness. Her autumn-water eyes were like a lake in a fairy tale. She had a long and slender nose and a serene face, which made her look otherworldly.
Her rosy skin was as white as snow, and her slender fingers lightly hooked the string on the pastry bun.
In the eyes of others, even the white paper on the snack package was outshined by her skin.
The girl was wearing the most common women's shirt in Shanghai.
Unlike women in other places, especially those in Northeast China, women in Shanghai are accustomed to wearing their clothes a little tighter at the waist to better show off their figure.
Her lower body was a pair of light-colored straight women's pants and a pair of brown sandals.
The sky cleared up just now after the rain.
There was still moisture on the stone slabs in the alley, but the evaporating moisture was dissipating very quickly, almost disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The woman carried some snacks and avoided the small puddles that were everywhere in the alley. With her appearance, the narrow alley that had just been quiet became lively again.
In this era, in alleys across the country, due to lack of space in the houses, residents have the habit of placing some unimportant objects in the alleys outside their doors.
The alley culture in Shanghai is quite different from that in Beijing.
If you set up something in the alleys of Beijing, just greet your neighbors and it's fine as long as it doesn't block everyone's passage.
Things placed in the alleys are rather random.
But it’s different in Shanghai.
Although the alleys are smaller than those in the north, each household will tacitly divide the area in front of their own door and the space for public passages.
It truly achieved the goal of building a temple in a snail shell, and was extremely meticulous.
Even if you have to saw off a corner of your own things, you should never let your things extend into the area that is cared for by other people.
Moreover, the placement of sundries at the door of each household is so exquisite.
People in Beijing speak in a somewhat familiar manner, but people in Shanghai are very polite.
Even the neighbors who already knew her would greet this girl, who was not yet twenty years old, in a friendly manner.
"Oh, it's Doctor Xiao Chu coming off work. Your outfit looks really nice today. Is your work going well?"
Chu Miaohong smiled and nodded.
"Sasha, it's fine."
Although the Hangzhou dialect is somewhat different from the Shanghai dialect, there is no problem in basic communication.
Chu Miaohong walked a distance further in. Two children who were writing and drawing on the wall turned their heads and saw her, then suddenly ran away laughing.
"The big sister in the painting is back... Go and tell Nong Aku (your brother)."
Chu Miaohong ignored these naughty kids and walked straight to an old red brick building deep in the alley.
It is said to be a red brick building, but that is not entirely true.
The part above the second floor still retains some white cement walls, and large areas of red bricks are exposed on the bumpy cement walls.
The height from the first floor to the first and a half floors of the tube building has completely turned into a red brick surface, and even the walls below waist height are covered with moss.
Chu Miaohong's dormitory is on the first floor.
A very trendy small room of eight square meters.
During this era, the housing shortage in Shanghai was even worse than that in Beijing.
Even a small tube-shaped building would be snatched away in a panic.
The small room that Chu Miaohong lived in was "borrowed" with the help of the Shanghai Railway Bureau.
There are seven or eight households in this tube-shaped building who are employees of the Grain Bureau, and this small room on the first floor belongs to the Grain Bureau.
Although the housing situation at the Grain Bureau was quite tight, as a large unit that had been supplying grain to Shanghai for a long time, the Construction Corps naturally had to give it face, not to mention that the Railway Bureau was there to speak for it.
Previously, there was a 14-square-meter tube-shaped single room, which was divided into two parts by a wooden wall built in the middle.
A five-square-meter pigeon room can only accommodate one bed, and the original door is used for entry and exit; the other larger room is eight square meters, and the entrance is the balcony door. If part of the balcony railing is removed, it can also be entered and exited.
Chu Miaohong went to the balcony door and opened it. After a while, she came to the yard carrying a coal stove.
She had just returned to the south and had not yet adapted to life there, so she always forgot to keep the coal fire burning.
There is no stove or firewood here, so it is extremely difficult to make a fire.
But Chu Miaohong was always enthusiastic every time.
She and Zhang Hongcheng had lived in a guesthouse for a few days before. Although they had no worries about food and accommodation, they always felt uncomfortable.
They asked to move here on their own initiative.
The small room of five square meters is where Zhang Hongcheng sleeps.
The wood paneled walls are not soundproof.
Their beds were next to each other, and they would often chat until midnight.
In the corner against the wall outside the balcony is a semi-open-air kitchen built by Zhang Hongcheng himself, where hundreds of honeycomb coals are piled up.
Although she knew that no one would come to take them, Chu Miaohong still counted them happily and seriously, and sure enough, not a single piece was missing.
She thought about the time in her previous life when she forgot her bag in her car when she parked it in Manhattan, and the terrible scene she saw when she returned five minutes later.
Shaking her head to drive the miserable state of her car out of her mind, Chu Miaohong glanced at the door on the first floor next door.
There was a coal stove by the door with water boiling on it, but it was obvious that the neighbors had not returned yet.
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