Chapter 42



The train took more than six hours to arrive at the station.

The prosperity of Shanghai can be seen through the train stations. The trains are taller, wider and more spacious than those in other places. The clothes people wear are more respectable and rarely go to work.

At first glance, most of them are wearing blue liberation suits and dark gray mountain suits.

Just after the Lantern Festival, another group of educated youth in their teens to twenties were about to bid farewell to their homes, leave the city, and go to the vast rural areas. When the train station was at its most crowded, a special train for educated youth was opened.

Pei Manning, wearing a scarf, took a long time to squeeze out of the flood.

Fortunately, this time she didn't vomit like she did last time.

Pei Manning carried a bag and searched in the waiting area of ​​the train station for more than ten minutes before she found a man holding a yellow cardboard with her name written on it.

"Excuse me, is this Comrade Lin from the Dong Fine Arts Publishing House?" Pei Manning walked over and asked.

Before that, after buying the train ticket and going to the post office to pick up the money on the remittance slip, she called the publishing house according to the contact information on the reply letter and confirmed that the arrival time had passed.

The person on the other end of the phone was very warm and considerate, saying that they would ask Comrade Lin Yu from the editorial department to pick her up at the station.

Lin Yu saw her and stood there for a moment, holding the sign: "Oh, I'm Lin Yu, you must be Comrade Pei, right?"

Because Pei Manning was good at painting, he had always thought that she was quite old, at least in her thirties or forties. He never expected that she would meet such a young and beautiful girl.

"Here, here are my letter of introduction, letter of certification and secondment documents." Pei Manning took out the things in her bag.

At that time, Han Jingchen helped her to apply for a temporary identity certificate and borrowed documents, and the street office also gave her a letter of introduction.

Lin Yu took a quick look and confirmed that everything was correct before saying, "How about this, Comrade Pei, it's getting late now, I'll take you to the state-owned hotel for dinner first, and we can talk about the arrangements for the next few days while we're walking?"

The train station is too noisy and not a good place to talk about business.

"Okay." Pei Manning nodded.

Lin Yu was also very hot and took the initiative to help her carry the luggage.

There were so many people that Pei Manning followed closely behind him, not daring to miss them for a moment, for fear of being squeezed out by the people.

"Ayan, what's wrong? The train is about to leave, hurry up and get on board."

In the crowded crowd, two tall men were carrying luggage and queuing in front of a train compartment. The handsome man looked at Pei Manning's back and was so shocked that he couldn't recover for a long time.

"Take your things and go up first!" After saying this and carrying a pile of luggage, he pushed through the crowd and squeezed to the front.

"Hey! How can I carry so many things?"

He could not hear what his companion said afterwards, but there were too many people in the train station. Even if he was tall and strong, he could not squeeze out from the crowd. When he finally squeezed out, the figure had disappeared.

After my companion put his luggage on the train seat, he asked the person next to him to watch and then he quickly squeezed down: "Ayan, what are you looking at? The train is about to leave."

He pulled her toward the car.

The man called Ah Yan frowned and said hesitantly, "I just saw a man who looked familiar. Maybe I was seeing things."

"Ah? What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."

"Nothing, you go back first, I'll stay in Shanghai for a few more days."

Pei Manning followed Lin Yu onto the bus.

There are many high-rise buildings on both sides of the streets in Hushang, many of which were built during the Republic of China period. The architectural style is very unique and has an exotic feel.

When you get to Nanjing East Road, you can see the Hushang Satin Store, East Asia Hotel, Hushang Clothing Store, Hushang No. 10 Department Store on both sides of the street...

In addition to buses, trams, bicycles and tricycles, there are also...

Seeing Pei Manning curiously staring at a yellow car, Lin Yu explained: "This is a taxi, but only overseas Chinese, foreign businessmen participating in trade fairs, compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, and high-ranking officials from foreign countries can take it with foreign exchange coupons."

In the past two years, there have been more foreign affairs activities in Shanghai, so there are more taxis on the streets, also known as the ambassadorial fleet.

However, these "high-end" taxis are still out of reach for ordinary people like them, and now the taxi drivers are all very arrogant.

Pei Manning nodded. She just thought the car looked a bit like a giant turtle, so she took a closer look at it.

When they arrived at the state-owned hotel, Lin Yu glanced at the small blackboard in front of him, then took out his money and food coupons and ordered a dish of braised pork, a dish of eggplant with fish sauce, a dish of stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and two bowls of white rice.

He and the waiter spoke Shanghainese, and Pei Manning couldn't understand what they were saying.

When Lin Yu brought the food over, he said, "Comrade Xiao Pei, eat quickly. You've been sitting on the train for such a long time, you must be hungry."

Pei Manning asked, "Comrade Lin, aren't you going to the publishing house today?"

Lin Yu was already very hungry, and didn't care about his image. He ate while saying, "The publishing house is closed now. The editor-in-chief asked me to arrange food and accommodation for you. At 10:00 tomorrow morning, I will pick you up from the guesthouse and take you to the publishing house. Then, Editor-in-Chief Liu will discuss the subsequent topics of the series with you."

"Your first few stories are a bit messy. The editor-in-chief thinks that it can be turned into a series of popular science comics. In addition, we also need to discuss the design of the cover with you so that we can arrange the overall publication."

"The editor-in-chief will discuss the specific situation with you tomorrow."

Although the waiter's attitude was a little poor, the chef's skills were good. The food was generous in quantity and filled a large plate, especially the braised pork, which was bright red and greasy.

He also benefited from Pei Manning's help and was able to go to a restaurant at public expense.

"Comrade Xiao Pei, eat quickly, or I'll eat it all."

Pei Manning saw that he was enjoying every dish, so she started to eat.

After dinner, Lin Yu took Pei Manning to a nearby guesthouse, let her rest for a night, and gave her a work schedule for the next few days.

"Comrade Xiao Pei, this is our next work schedule. Do you think anything needs to be adjusted? We can discuss and arrange it."

Pei Manning took it and looked at it. This work schedule was very detailed, and the tasks to be completed every day were clearly written.

Moreover, it also gave her a lot of free time.

"But I have no problem."

The next morning, Pei Manning washed up after returning from Xumijie and drank some fish porridge. Seeing that it was still early, she simply walked around the guesthouse to see the local customs and practices of Shanghai.

Half an hour later, Lin Yu came to pick her up on time.

The two walked towards the publishing house while talking.

The publishing house was not far away. After walking for seven minutes, Pei Manning saw the big words "Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House". There were also colorful paintings on the walls outside, all of which were illustrations of classic works published by Shanghai Publishing House in recent years.

She had bought a lot of small books before, so she could tell at a glance.

Led by Lin Yu, the guard let them in without asking to see their credentials. They entered the second floor of the building, and the editorial department was at the end of the corridor on the left.

"Editor-in-Chief Liu, Comrade Pei is here." Lin Yu knocked on the door.

Editor-in-Chief Liu, with gray hair, raised his head behind his reading glasses and was surprised for a long time: "This little girl?"

Others in the editorial department also raised their heads and looked towards the door curiously. One of them, a woman in her thirties, said in surprise, "Oh! You all guessed wrong. I guessed it was just a little girl!"

"Your painting skills are so good, I thought you have been painting for at least ten years!"

"Come in, come in! Come in and talk!"

After greeting everyone, Pei Manning spent the whole morning at the publishing house to discuss the next content, especially to ensure that it could pass the review while also being readable and interesting.

"Brother Chen, what are you doing now? Sending a letter?" During the lunch break at noon, Jiang Ye walked to Han Jingchen's dormitory, wanting to inform him of the content of the phone call he had just received, and saw Han Jingchen sitting at the desk writing something.

He couldn't help but stretch his head to look, and glanced at the envelope: "Oh? Sent to Comrade Pei?"

Han Jingchen said nothing, wrote the address on the envelope, and then put the military ration coupons and other tickets into it.

In fact, there was no word in the letter except the name and address.

During this period, the situation on both sides eased a little, but Han Jingchen and his team still had to go to Shanghai to carry out their mission.

The people on the other side of the strait have been using wind direction to launch balloons and drop leaflets to carry out propaganda for rebellion. Because balloons are usually at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, it is difficult for aircraft guns to hit them. They have to use the dynamic ceiling of fighter planes to shoot down these balloons.

These missions are dangerous, and a crash or stall can occur if you are not careful.

So his nerves were almost tense. Han Jingchen took advantage of his rest to send some food coupons to Pei Manning, lest she would be starving to death by the time he remembered this matter.

"Brother Chen, I don't think you need to send it back. Comrade Pei is in Shanghai now." Jiang Ye said.

Han Jing paused for a moment, almost thinking that he had heard it wrongly, and frowned and looked at Jiang Ye: "What did you say?"

Jiang Ye said, "Comrade Pei received a secondment document from the publishing house, asking her to go to the Shanghai Publishing House for a few days. The street office issued a letter of introduction, and she has now arrived in Shanghai."

After all, so much time had passed, and they hadn't found any clues that Comrade Pei was a spy, and she wasn't included in the files of missing persons and criminal fugitives.

They can't forbid you to leave your home for the rest of your life and prevent you from making a living legally and legally!

"Where is she?"

"The guesthouse on Yan'an East Road."


Recommendation