I wrote novels in the Republic of China

Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying had not returned yet, and Sang Qianshi and Lu Ying were very worried.

The two had been standing guard at the door. When they heard the knock, Sang Qian hurriedly opened the door: "Ayun, Aying, why are you back so late today?"

Sang Jingyun said: "I stayed in the concession for a while longer."

Sang Qian said: "You must come back earlier next time. It's not safe to walk at night..."

Sang Jingxiong also ran out at this time: "Big sister, second brother, what delicious food did you bring back?"
Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying would bring some food over every weekend, and Sang Jingxiong had been thinking about it for a long time.

"You only know how to eat." Sang Qian held Sang Jingxiong and looked at Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying. Then her face changed drastically: "Ayun, where is your basket? Did something happen to you?"

When Sang Jingyun went out, he carried a basket, but it was gone now. Sang Jingying's backpack was also empty.

Even if the two of them didn't bring back any delicious food, they shouldn't have failed to bring back the newspapers they bought every day and the comic books they would definitely buy when they went to the concession.

Sang Qian had lived to such an old age and had experienced a lot of things, so her first reaction was that the two of them had encountered trouble.

Sang Jingyun said, "Grandma, let's go inside and talk."

Their family is eating pork today. The method is very simple. Just cut it, pour a little soy sauce into it, and steam it on the steamer.

In addition, there were three bowls of vegetables and tofu, and a large plate of cold seaweed.

Sang Jingyun mixed the steamed meat soup with rice and ate while recounting what happened on the way: "Grandma, on the way back, we met a group of children. They took away my basket and the things in Aying's backpack."

Sang Jingyun said it lightly, she didn't want Sang Qian and the others to worry.

"Those kids are really messing around!" Sang Qian frowned and complained.

Sang Jingyun said: "I can't survive, that's it."

After hearing this, Sang Qian said no more.

If their family's situation had been any worse, the four children might have ended up on the streets.

She could only remind Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying to be careful.

Sang Jingyun nodded seriously.

She has always known that this world is not safe, so she is very careful in her daily life.

The road they usually walked on was lined with houses, so it was relatively safe. What happened today was an accident, but not really an accident.

In troubled times, being robbed is actually very normal, and so is death.

Sang Jingyun used to go out early every day and saw the body collection team picking up the bodies and burying them.

In addition, in Shanghai county towns, you can often see homeless people lying on the roadside. Some of them have lost their families due to smoking opium, and some have lost their ability to work.

It is not uncommon to see children pestering people and demanding money or food, and some even kowtow to them right away.

In his previous life, Sang Jingyun once saw someone filming the terrible current situation in some foreign countries on a short video website, and the current situation in the Republic of China was like this.

It's just that she was too busy with her own affairs and had too many things to do, so she always tried to ignore it.

After all, she couldn't help much, and she didn't even dare to give money to those children, because once she did, everyone would rush up to ask for money.

In the 1990s, when she was young, there were still many chaotic situations in their country. Sang Jingyun remembered that when she was a child in her previous life, things like motorcycle gangs snatching bags and children begging on the road were common.

But compared to now, it was really safe then.

Sang Jingyun planned to go to the county town tomorrow to buy some chili peppers, make some chili water, and buy a small knife to carry with him.

It’s okay if you meet a group of children like today, but if you meet adults, you must have some ability to resist.

As for staying indoors and completely avoiding all this, that's not realistic.

There is no place that is absolutely safe these days. Hong Yongxiang had previously reminded them to be careful even in the concession.

Not long ago, a drunk foreigner abducted a beautiful girl on a busy street in the concession.

Of course, compared to the declining Shanghai county town, the public security in the concession was still much better, and the public security was even more guaranteed in some areas where people lived.

The next day, Sang Jingyun went to the county town as usual.

She didn't care about the rice cakes she lost yesterday. She could buy comic books and magazines next week. Even yesterday's "New Novel" she didn't know if she could still buy it.

After arriving at the county town, Sang Jingxiong went to the pastry shop, Sang Jingying went to school, and Sang Jingyun and Sang Qianshi went to do needlework.

The place where the needlework was done was not far from where newspapers were sold, so Sang Jingyun went there alone to buy newspapers.

Sang Jingyun had just been robbed yesterday, and Sang Qianshi was a little worried, but thinking that it was broad daylight and it was relatively safe in the county town, she did not stop him.

Sang Jingyun asked the newspaper seller and learned that yesterday's "New Novel" had been sold out, so he could only buy three copies of today's "New Novel" and one copy of "Shen Bao".

After buying, Sang Jingyun looked up and suddenly saw a thin and dark boy peeking around not far away.

The man's clothes were so tattered that they couldn't even be called clothes. They were just some strips of cloth, and his trousers were tied up with straw ropes.

Sang Jingying was already very thin, but he was even thinner than Sang Jingying, and there were bruises and scars on his face.

But he was carrying a brand new basket.

When Sang Jingyun saw the basket in the boy's hand, his eyes narrowed slightly.

That's her basket.

Just as he was thinking this, Sang Jingyun met the young man's gaze.

The young man smiled ingratiatingly at Sang Jingyun.

Sang Jingyun was confused. Did this person want to return the book to her?
Jiang Lai saw that Sang Jingyun was alone and looked easy to talk to, so he walked up to her with a book in his hand and asked, "Miss, do you want to buy a book?"

There are many orphans in Shanghai.

The children who followed Jiang Lai were either orphans or the same whether they had parents or not.

Some of them lost their parents unexpectedly, some were kicked out of their homes by their parents, and some just couldn't stand staying at home and had to run away.

A girl who joined them one and a half years ago ran away from home because her father always beat her and didn't give her food. She couldn't stand it and ran away from home.

She felt that begging and wandering outside was better than living at home.

Most of them are boys, and a small number are girls. The reason why there are fewer girls is that many girls were sold into brothels.

Because there are no adults to look after them, they have to find ways to survive on their own.

They would beg for food in the county town, steal swill from restaurants, and steal crops from nearby farmers.

Recently, sweet potatoes have matured, so they often dig them up. After digging them out, they wipe off the mud with sweet potato leaves and start eating them directly.

Yesterday, they didn't get anything in the county town, and they didn't steal any sweet potatoes at night, so they were woken up by hunger early this morning.

After waking up, Jiang Lai jumped into the river to take a bath and washed his clothes clean. Then, in the slightly cool autumn day, he went to the county town in his wet clothes.

While the other children went out to beg for food, he watched along the way, looking for buyers for the books he had.

Jiang Lai did not recognize Sang Jingyun.

When they robbed Sang Jingyun last night, it was already dark. Sang Jingyun was wearing a straw hat and his clothes were different from today.

He targeted Sang Jingyun because Sang Jingyun bought the newspaper, and also because girls of this age are soft-hearted. Even if he couldn't sell the book, he might be able to get a copper coin by showing his sympathy.

After hearing Jiang Lai's words, Sang Jingyun also realized that Jiang Lai did not recognize him.

This is normal. They moved very quickly yesterday. If she hadn't recognized the gourd on Jiang Lai's waist and the basket in his hands, she would not have been able to resist Jiang Lai.

"How much?" Sang Jingyun asked.

"Miss with a kind heart, you can give it to me as you wish." Jiang Lai said.

Sang Jingyun asked again: "You don't look like someone who would buy books, where did you get this book?"

"I picked up this book... Miss, my parents are both gone, and I have a bunch of brothers and sisters who need food. Miss, please be kind and buy this book. I want to buy some rice to cook porridge." She started to play the victim and rolled up her sleeves to show Sang Jingyun the various wounds on her arms.

Sang Jingyun pointed to the Lanxin Clothing Store not far away and said, "Wait for me for a moment. I'll go get the money from my grandma."

Jiang Lai nodded and watched Sang Jingyun enter the store from a distance.

He was ready to escape at any time, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sang Jingyun coming out of the clothing store alone.

Of course Sang Jingyun didn't go to get the money. She just told Sang Qianshi that she had something to do and asked her to wait for her in the clothing store for a while.

She didn't want Sang Qian to see Jiang Lai. If she saw him, Sang Qian would definitely stand up for her and beat Jiang Lai.

Coming back to Jiang Lai, Sang Jingyun said, "I got the money. You want to buy rice, right? I know someone at the rice shop. I can sell it to you at a lower price."

Jiang Lai is not very old, but he has been living alone for many years.

At first, he hung out with some older kids. Later, most of those kids died, and the small number of survivors were recruited by gangs and became thugs for those gangs. Unknowingly, he became the oldest among the group of kids.

"Kind lady, please buy some rice and exchange the books with me. We want the worst rice, as long as it can fill our stomachs. Some rice bran is also fine..." Jiang Lai was a little shorter than Sang Jingyun. He followed behind Sang Jingyun, nodding and bowing as he spoke. But after Sang Jingyun came near the rice shop, he hid in the corner and watched from afar.

Sang Jingyun didn't mind. She took out fifty cents and bought fifty kilograms of broken rice mixed with rice bran. Because she had nothing to put the rice in, she spent ten cents to buy a cloth bag to put it in.

Fifty kilograms of stuff was very heavy for her. Sang Jingyun carried it with difficulty and walked towards Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai came up in a hurry, opened the bag and saw that it was a bag of rice. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Sang Jingyun, saying good things: "Miss, you must be blessed by God, and live a long and healthy life forever. I wish you wealth like the rolling river, and your career like the bamboo shoots..."

These words are often said by beggars these days.

Sang Jingyun did not smile because of Jiang Lai's flattery. She looked at Jiang Lai seriously and said, "I have something to tell you."

Jiang Lai said, "Miss, if you have anything to say, just tell me."

Sang Jingyun said, "The books in your hand were snatched from me yesterday. I am exchanging them for food now because I feel sorry for you. It doesn't mean that what you did is right. The person you met was me. If it was someone else, they might have beaten you to death."

Jiang Lai was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Miss, you are a kind person. Miss, you will definitely find a good husband in the future and have two grandchildren in three years."

Sang Jingyun was quite helpless, and finally said: "Stealing and robbing is wrong. If someone beats you to death, you will have no place to seek redress."

Sang Jingyun didn’t know whether these kids had ever stolen other people’s things before.

Yesterday, these people robbed their things and got a taste of the sweetness, so maybe they will continue to rob.

But this matter cannot be stopped.

Only those who have enough food and clothing can have a sense of shame.

People who are starving to death will only try every possible way to find food, regardless of whether that method is illegal or not.

Sang Jingyun suddenly thought of the stray cats in the neighborhood where she lived in her previous life.

At that time, there were people in their community who would feed the stray cats. Even if no one fed them, these stray cats could find food in the trash cans.

But there are no kind-hearted people in this era, and the trash cans are always clean. I’m afraid these children’s lives are even worse than those of stray cats.

If we want to stop these children from stealing or robbing, we must at least ensure that they have enough to eat, but this is very difficult.

But among that group of people, those who are a little older, like the one in front of me, are still okay, as they can go to sweatshops to work as child laborers, but those who are younger may not even be wanted by the factories.

Sang Jingyun felt powerless.

She didn't feel responsible for these children, nor did she feel that these children were her responsibility.

But she is a normal person who grew up in peacetime.

In her previous life, she would feel sympathy even when she saw stray cats and dogs. Now, when she sees living people living worse than cats and dogs, how can she not feel anything?

Sang Jingyun picked up the basket that belonged to him and left the fifty kilograms of rice: "Take the rice back and make porridge."

"Thank you, Miss." Jiang Lai grabbed the bag of rice and ran away. Sang Jingyuan saw from afar that two children, about five or six years old, with bare upper bodies, thin limbs and only protruding bellies, came out from the alley next to them and followed Jiang Lai.

Sang Jingyun didn’t know whether what he did was right or wrong, he could only say that he was doing it according to his conscience.

Some people feed stray cats and dogs, she feeds stray people.

Then, Sang Jingyun, who was carrying the basket back, was scolded by Sang Qianshi.

Sang Qian thought Sang Jingyun was too kind: "Ayun, you are so easy to talk to. Maybe people will stick to you and ask you for food all day long."

Sang Jingyun also thought of this before giving the food.

"Grandma, just think of it as a charity. Didn't grandpa also donate money to the orphanage in the past?" Sang Jingyun said.

After making money, Shanghai businessmen usually do some charity work. After all, having a good reputation is beneficial to doing business.

But these good deeds are just a drop in the bucket and cannot take care of everyone. Sang Qian grumbled: "He did a lot of good things, but he didn't get any reward."

Although she grumbled like this, Sang Qianshi didn't say anything else.

Sang Jingyun was a little distracted.

Is there any way to improve the lives of children living in shanty towns?

Sang Jingyun faced the life of the lower class people in this era. With mixed feelings, he had completely forgotten what happened with Zhang Zhuangmao yesterday.

She didn't even mention it to Sang Qian.

At this moment, Zhang Zhuangmao was still suffering because of Sang Jingyun.

He had a big fight with his mother yesterday and was unable to return to the concession on time.

It was not until this morning that he rushed to the concession with red and swollen eyes.

As a result, just some distance away from the tram, he was stopped by an old beggar.

The old beggar was holding a "knocking board" made of two bamboo pieces, which made a sound when they hit each other, and he was asking for money while muttering auspicious words.

In the past, Zhang Zhuangmao might have been willing to give him a copper coin, but today he was in a hurry and in a bad mood, so he waved his hand and drove the man away: "Get away!"

The old beggar had experienced many things like this, and he was afraid of being beaten, so he hid aside.

Zhang Zhuangmao quickly got on the tram. He felt ashamed and angry when he thought that in Sang Jingyun's eyes, his family were ungrateful bastards.

I don’t know what people in Shanghai’s county towns think of them.

Are they cursing the Zhang family behind their backs?

How could he have such parents?
When Zhang Zhuangmao arrived at school, his classmates had already started class.

Instead of going to the classroom, he went to the dormitory and lay down.

In those schools with expensive tuition fees, students all have their own room, but in the school Zhang Zhuangmao attends, students share a room with four.

Zhang Zhuangmao didn't know how long he had been lying on the bed when he suddenly heard footsteps and some sounds floating over.

"That Fourth Master Zhang is really a piece of shit."

"I hope I can kill him soon!"

"Master Zhang is so shameless!"

……

Zhang Zhuangmao jumped up from the bed, rushed towards his classmate and punched him.

These people are too much! They even cursed his father behind his back!

Before Zhang Zhuangmao's classmate could react, he was punched. He was careless and dropped the bowl in his hand. The bowl broke into pieces on the ground, and the lunch inside was spilled all over the floor.

After being stunned for a moment, he started to fight back and fought with Zhang Zhuangmao.

The classmate next to him tried to stop him, but Zhang Zhuangmao was not polite at all and punched the man again.

Finally, a melee broke out, and several people were covered in spilled food, and some were scratched by broken porcelain pieces.

Zhang Zhuangmao was the worst off. He was so angry and kept crying that the teacher thought he was being bullied.

When the teacher finally understood the situation, he didn't know what to say.

The Fourth Master Zhang mentioned by Zhang Zhuangmao’s classmates is the villain in the recently popular martial arts novel "The Two-Faced Demon Lord".

In "The Two-Faced Demon King", the man who led the martial arts masters to wipe out Meng You's entire family was named Zhang, fourth in line, and was known as Master Zhang Si by people in the martial arts world.

Because Yun Jing also liked to write "Master Zhang Si" when he wrote books, readers also called him that when they mentioned him.

"Teacher, we didn't even know that Zhang Zhuangmao's father was also called Fourth Master Zhang."

"I don't know either! Teacher, even if Zhang Zhuangmao thought we were slandering his father, he should have verified it with us first before talking about other things. How could he just come up and hit someone?"

"Teacher, we are innocent!"

……

Zhang Zhuangmao was extremely embarrassed when he learned the truth, and his teacher was also helpless.

This time, Zhang Zhuangmao was entirely at fault. However, because it was a mutual fight and Zhang Zhuangmao was seriously injured, the teacher did not ask him to pay for the medical expenses, but only asked him to compensate his classmates for other financial losses.

Zhang Zhuangmao lost money and became more and more upset.

I don’t know how his classmates will look at him in the future!

Will he be excluded?
Will people at school talk about him?

Zhang Zhuangmao was not openly excluded in school, but his classmates were indeed not as close to him as before.

The people who were beaten by him were the ones who had the best relationship with him in the past. When Zhang Zhuangmao did not come to class that morning, they were very worried.

Who could have thought that after listening to what they said, Zhang Zhuangmao didn't even ask for confirmation and just started beating them?

As for people in school talking about him... that's true.

After all, "The Two-Faced Demon" is so popular now!

When this book was first serialized, many people only thought the punctuation was interesting, but they didn't like the book too much.

After all, at that time, the book only had a beginning.

But now, the plot has gone through a lot, and more and more people like Meng You.

In their school, some people copied this story from the newspaper and kept it carefully, while others excerpted some sentences from it and recited them from time to time.

“Life is precious, but without freedom, what is the difference between a human and a pig in a pigsty?”
“Being hurt only makes me stronger.”
“I can accept failure, but I can’t accept giving up.”
“Sometimes whether a person is successful or not does not depend on his talent but on his persistence.”
"If a drop of water can wear away a stone, why can't I?"
……

Studying is hard, but looking at Meng You, they don’t seem to be having a hard time either?
Many people like Meng You, so they naturally hate Mr. Zhang Si in the book.
All the students in the school knew that Zhang Zhuangmao had a fight with someone, and naturally everyone also knew that Zhang Zhuangmao's father was called "Master Zhang Si".

After knowing this, these people couldn't help but talk about it.

As a result, Zhang Zhuangmao felt that everyone was talking about him and his life became increasingly difficult.

Zhang Zhuangmao felt that life was difficult, but Tan Zhenghong was different.

Recently, he has become more enthusiastic about learning Chinese and has become much more positive.

Meng You wants to bring peace back to the martial arts world, and he also wants to bring peace back to the world!
Although he hasn't figured out how to do it yet!
After lunch that day, Tan Zhenghong's Chinese teacher arrived on time.

"Teacher Zhang, have you read today's New Novel Newspaper?"

"Not yet." said Mr. Zhang.

"Come and take a look! This book is really interesting!" said Tan Zhenghong.

His favorite book used to be "The Count of Monte Cristo", but now it has become "The Janus".
They are all stories about the protagonist who becomes stronger after suffering hardships and finds ways to take revenge, but because Meng You is Chinese, he likes Meng You more.

Some clips brought tears to his eyes.

Mr. Zhang read today's newspaper and suddenly said, "Although this is a martial arts novel, the author's thoughts are different from those of ordinary people."

This is a martial arts world where the strong prey on the weak, but the protagonist is an exception. He believes that killing someone must be paid with one's life, and his eyes will fall on the weak.

Mr. Zhang can also see the rebellious nature in Meng You. The author seems to be shouting, trying to break through something.

It is obvious that the author is spreading his own ideas through novels.

There are many metaphors in it.

The poison of the evil cult is obviously opium, and the so-called Western evil cult may refer to the Western powers.

As for the Central Plains martial arts world...nowadays there are warlords everywhere and small wars have never stopped in various places. Isn't it just the endless fighting between the various sects in the Central Plains martial arts world?
This morning, he went to meet a friend.
His friend left his hometown and traveled thousands of miles to Shanghai because two warlords were fighting in his hometown.

One of the warlords occupied the city where his hometown was located. Not only did they rob and conscript men, they also captured those people in the city who they thought were disobedient and threw them off the top of the city wall. They watched the refugees and beggars outside the city rob those people of their belongings and enjoyed themselves doing so.

His good friend had a fellow tribesman who wanted to send his mother out of the city for burial after her mother passed away. However, the soldiers caught him and said they wanted to send him to be reunited with his mother, and then threw him off the city wall...

In reality, human life is worthless.

In the novel, the evil leaders of the demon cults do not take human life seriously. Some of them capture people to test various poisons, while others enjoy killing people for pleasure.

I don’t know what Meng You will do.

Mr. Zhang collected his thoughts and began to teach Tan Zhenghong Chinese.

Tan Zhenghong studies very hard.

He hoped that one day, when he met Yun Jing, whom he admired, he could have a good communication with Yun Jing, instead of Yun Jing saying something that he could not understand at all.

I don’t know what kind of person Yun Jing is.

Sang Jingyun, who is being remembered by Tan Zhenghong, is writing "The Two-Faced Demon Lord".

When writing this book, she will include some famous quotes in plain language.

She doesn't remember the source, but she will write a few words as long as it is appropriate.

This kind of inspiring speech is something modern people are tired of seeing, but it is very fresh to people at this time.

Sang Jingyun didn’t know about other people, but when she was feeling down, she would like to read some inspirational stories to motivate herself, and now she had added them to her collection as well.

There are quite a lot of people who like it. She noticed that Sang Xuewen likes to recite these sentences.

Sang Jingyun continued writing, completely oblivious to himself.

At the same time, in the shantytown, Jiang Lai and the children under his command were cooking porridge in clay pots.

The firewood was stolen by them, and a little girl about ten years old was stirring the porridge in the pot with a wooden stick.

If Sang Jingyun saw it, he might think that this porridge was similar to modern pig food, but at this moment, the children were all drooling.

Some children secretly grabbed a handful of uncooked food and stuffed it into their mouths to chew dry.

Jiang Lai wanted to stop them, but after thinking it over, he didn't: "The porridge will be ready soon, sing along with me what I taught you yesterday, and eat after you finish singing."

The children sang while swallowing their saliva: "Good sir, please be kind, and may wealth flow in and disasters be avoided..."

After they finished singing, Jiang Lai began to distribute the porridge.

They didn't mind the heat and ate voraciously. They also licked the bowls clean, making them cleaner than if they had just been washed.

Sang Jingyun is now in much better health and has more energy.

She wrote the book much faster.

The plot was thought out in the morning, and after writing four thousand words, Sang Jingyun stopped writing.

She opened the magazine she had bought yesterday and looked at it.

Most of the things published in one of the magazines were purely theoretical and very serious.

These things were difficult for Sang Jingyun to read. She had to read a sentence several times before she could understand it.

After reading a page, she put the book down and planned to continue reading slowly.

She opened another magazine and found many articles written by progressive people. Some of them cursed this and that, while others put forward various bold ideas and opinions.

She still read very slowly, and after reading a few pages, she put the book down again.

Sang Jingyun took out a pen and paper, planning to write a short story of several thousand words, titled "The Life of Turnips."

"I met Da Kohlrabi in early autumn. He was malnourished, skinny, and had a particularly large head, so he was called Da Kohlrabi. He was an orphan who wandered around the county town all day, begging for a living..."

Sang Jingyun had never been to the shantytown, and she didn't dare to go.

But across the river, she had seen many things and had a rough idea of ​​what kind of life the children there lived.

She planned to write about a very pitiful child named Turnip and submit it to the New Novel Newspaper. If the New Novel Newspaper did not publish it, she would submit it to other places.

She hoped that someone would notice those children, and if there were rich people who donated money to the charity, she could help a few people.

(End of this chapter)