Chapter 62 Wei Ze and Qiu Niang

"At three o'clock, from the private apartment to the front of the gate of Huisheng, it was full of people. If you barely squeeze to the door, there are more than 2,000 people. They scramble to hit the door and climb the window, regardless of life and death. It's the holder in his hand, but a few one-yuan or five-yuan notes, or two or three hundred yuan for a single piece of paper.

Su Bao

On April 7, 1901, Huisheng Bank was the second day after the most severe test. Although this day is a Sunday, Huisheng Bank made an exception to open its doors, handling withdrawal and banknote cashing business, and even publicly listing unlimited cashing of banknotes. Just like yesterday, the people who came to cash the silver dollar withdrawal were like a tide, one wave higher than the other. At the critical moment of the storm, even Catherine came to the scene in person and squeezed to the most intense moment.

The squeezers lined up and swayed back and forth at the gate of Huisheng Bank. The situation was urgent. Dozens of carriages drove to the bank gate under heavy guard. The customers who came to the run looked at the nurses who wrapped steel carriages and carriages with guns, and vaguely guessed that the carriages were silver cars.

As the chairman, Catherine also walked out of the chairman's office for the first time and stood high on the steps of the bank gate in person, looking at the sea of people shouting in a somewhat stiff Chinese.

"Don't panic, Huisheng Bank will not fail, and you won't lose a penny of deposit and interest. Although I, Catherine, am a female stream, I am trustworthy. Please rest assured that these carriages are full of cash silver, and you will never lose a penny!"

As soon as Catherine's voice fell, more than a dozen employees came out of the bank, and Yunyin's carriage was handed over and opened. When the employees began to carry boxes of silver cabinets into the door of Huisheng Bank, suddenly a man rushed over and knocked down the person who carried the bar intentionally or unintentionally. With a "crying", the money cabinet broke, and the silver was shining. Yuan spilled all over the place at the gate.

Almost before people reacted, the bank's guards and employees protected the silver dollars sprinkled in front of the gate, but even so, some silver dollars were still picked up, but everyone was relieved when they saw this.

At this time, in the crowd on the street, I don't know who heard the news that Catherine had borrowed millions of silver dollars, which will arrive tomorrow. People saw Catherine standing on the steps looking at the scene in front of her very calmly. They thought of Catherine's "sexy name" in the Concession. She usually had a good relationship with various large classes. Thinking about it, she would definitely help.

Ferry, who was beside him, stood up and shouted loudly when the employees put the silver in the cabinet,

"Don't worry, whether it's cashing or withdrawing, Huisheng Bank will pay in full, and there will be a lot of money for everyone!"

The squeezer listened to this, and he was hungry and tired after a day, so they all took banknotes and silver bills and gradually left. The run finally slowed down. This scene made Catherine breathe a sigh of relief.

On April 10, such a piece of news was published in the Declaration.

"Delling this payment news, people from all walks of life feel relaxed, and Huisheng's banking business has been restored."

The run on the head office of Huisheng Bank on Nanjing Road only affects some people. For the people in shantytowns in Shanghai, the run on Huisheng Bank is not even as attractive as the price of rice.

Since the opening of Shanghai, especially before and after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the domestic natural disaster [***], the rural economic recession, especially the quasi-North exiles, have begun to flow into Shanghai City. They have built some simple huts in the open space near the industrial and commercial district and the market, and the concession. High-rise mansions form a strong contrast.

On the bank of the Huangpu River, after the opening of Shanghai, with the development of trade, many wharves, warehouses and wharves were built on the banks of the Huangpu River. Many of them came from the countryside around the north of the Yangtze River. When they first came, they had nothing to say and were as poor. In order not to sleep on the street, he set up in the wasteland near the wharf in Pudong and the Puxi River. Building low huts have formed shantytowns for decades.

In these shantytowns, many of them are farmers from Jiangbei, especially in Huaibei, who have fled from famine. The environment here is harsh, extreme poverty, endless pain and disasters. A large number of simple huts and dilapidated boats are accompanied by garbage and sewage. Tens of thousands of residents live a hungry life, although Shanghai's wharves and factories need workers, but the continuous flow of people rushing to the labor market exceeds the needs of Shanghai. For wharves and factories, they can hire helpers with extremely low wages, and even cheap workers are sometimes much more cost-effective than machines.

"Goo-goo!"

A sip of wine was poured into Wei Ze's mouth. The strong drink stimulated his throat to numb. Alcohol could paralyze his throat, but it could not paralyze his brain.

"Another bowl!"

He took out a few penny from his pocket, and another bowl of wine was brought to him by Xiao Er, and poured into his stomach in an instant.

Looking at the intersection of Tingting Station in the distance, wearing a robe and holding a white handkerchief, standing at the intersection in a panic, a woman who was at a loss, but forced a smile. Every smile of a woman is like a knife in the center of her eyes.

A seven-foot man actually wants a woman to sell his body to support him. This kind of taste, or those men in this shantytown can stand it, but he was the sentry commander of the front army of the military guard, and now he has fallen into such a field. How can he be willing?

After drinking a few bowls of wine, he looked at a man who looked obscenely and joked with Qiu Niang at the intersection, and even moved his hands and feet. Looking at Qiu Niang's extremely uncomfortable look, he wanted to break free from the man's dirty hands several times, and his anger suddenly surged into his heart.

"Wo!"

As soon as he patted the knife on the table, Wei Ze rushed over with the knife.

"What the hell is a dog!"

Wei Ze, who was carrying a knife from afar, roared, and the man on the roadside with an angry scolding shook his heart. The man who was laughing with Qiu Niang and forcibly pulled her little hands was stunned at first. Goodbye, a man rushed to him with a knife and shouted and fled. Who would fight with the drunk? Let this man cut it with a knife and die. It's still a fool.

"A...Aze!"

Seeing the dangerous rushing with a knife, Qiu Niang timidly twisted her handkerchief and didn't dare to say anything in a low voice.

The man in front of her was her benefactor. If he hadn't saved her from the foreign devils, he would have been afraid that she would have been harmed by the foreign devils. From then on, she followed the man who saved her and fled all the way to Shanghai. Although the two did not get married, she also gave her body to him. He is a good man.

Originally, when he arrived in Shanghai, Wei Ze took his foreign gun. The original two pointed out that they could live a stable life, but Wei Ze was stubborn and didn't know whether to say anything. Before the New Year, he was always easy to fight. Although he didn't suffer a loss, he couldn't get along with this dock. I don't know how many women there are in this shed. Men are working on the dock, and women are secretly who are secretly prostitutes in the shed. After coming to Shanghai for so long, some things have faded. There is really nothing she can do at home now. She doesn't want to starve to death, so she can only...

"Qiu Niang, don't be a bitch!"

Wei Ze, who was drunk, gasped and looked at the woman in front of him with red eyes. Qiu Niang gave herself her body, but she gave birth to herself... An old man, but to this point, it's really better to hit her to death and retrust her into something.

"I... I will always kowtow to apologize!"

When he spoke, he couldn't help sighing and scolding, as long as he gave himself a job.

"Aze!"

Tears gushed out of Qiu Niang's eyes. She would rather be cheap than this man suffer that.

"It's better to kowtow to make amends than to be a fake grandson..."

In the end, the words still didn't come out of Wei Ze's mouth. He took Qiu Niang's hand.

"Go! Come home with me!"

"DongDong..."

At this moment, a sound of gongs came from a distance, followed by a little shout.

"Xingye Construction Company recruits workers, a hundred or two articles a day for bricklayers, one hundred or three articles a day for carpenters, and ninety cents a day for small workers..."

The shouting was accompanied by the sound of gongs, and the originally quiet narrow road suddenly became lively, and people suddenly emerged from the ground and gushed out of the mud path between the huts.

"Qiu Niang, you wait! I'll take a look!"

As soon as he heard the man's shouting, Wei Ze stuffed the knife to Qiu Niang, spread the girl and ran towards the intersection. When he got closer, he didn't know when. There were several red backgrounds on the wall mats at the intersection, and there were several tables below. But when he saw that there were three fake foreign devils behind the table, Wei Ze couldn't help but beat Wuwei. The former army broke up the foreign devils in Tianjin. Later, in the capital, he watched the fake foreign devils kill and set fire everywhere with the foreign devils. What he hated most was these two devils who recognized thieves as fathers.

"I'm the only one. I have a lot of strength!"

"My name is Wang Dazhuang..."

"Du Niu!"

The three tables were crowded with applicants in a short time. The bustling crowd squeezed to the table one by one, and almost overturned the table several times.

"Soon up, one by one,"

Zhang Renkui, who brought people to recruit workers, saw the chaotic scene in front of him and quickly roared.

"Whoever squeezes, even if he is famous, get the fuck out of here!"

Although Zhang Renkui was wearing a gray robe, the pimples under the robe and the fierceness on his face could not be stopped. The threat in his roar and words made the scene of the original team a little chaotic quiet, and the people who had crowded at the table lined up one after another.

Wei Ze, standing outside the crowd, looked at the fake foreign devil behind the table. When he was about to turn around, he looked at Qiu Niang standing at the corner of the street. He saw the joy on Qiu Niang's face. Her heart sank, and his feet, which had wanted to turn around, walked forward.

Squeezing in the crowd and occasionally saying hello to a few acquaintances, Wei Ze has been thinking carefully. Although these people are almost two devils, this person also has to eat.

"At least you don't have to be a fucking grandson. I'll work hard at that time, and take care of the fucking two devils and foreign devils!"

Sitting behind the table, Wang Lock, who was holding notes, just looked up and glanced. The man in front of him was not short, but his body was strong.

"What's your name!"

"Danger! I can do brickwork."

The breath of wine only made Wang Suo frown, but he also wrote down the name on the paper.