Operation Red Book

Ivy took the sweat towel and walked towards the cobblestone road as the big man said. Soon she saw a small noodle shop on the right.

The stove in the noodle shop was emitting warm steam. Two children around eight or nine years old were greeting customers. An auntie around forty or fifty years old was busying around under the awning.

Ivy walked up to her aunt and said hello. Her aunt responded to her warmly. Her radiant smile made Ivy feel a little warmth in this cold world.

Ivy presented the big man's sweat towel with both hands. The aunt took the sweat towel from Ivy's hand. She carefully stroked the butterfly embroidery on the sweat towel and looked at Ivy with more tender eyes.

The aunt called a child in the shop, and the child, with a sweet smile on his face, held Ivy's hand, took her to the back hall of the noodle shop, and found two clean towels and a set of coarse cloth clothes from the sandalwood wardrobe.

"After you dry your hair and change your clothes, come out and I'll make you some noodles!"

The sweet voice of the child made Ivy's heart even warmer.

After drying her hair quickly and changing into ill-fitting clothes, Ivy walked out with her purse.

There was a bowl of fragrant Yangchun noodles on the empty table by the wall. The sweet and crispy bok choy left a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth, and the elastic and chewy noodles made Ivy's stomach, which had been hungry for a long time, growl.

The aroma of soy sauce whetted Ivy's appetite. She didn't care about the looks from other guests and just started to eat with relish.

After drinking the last mouthful of noodle soup, Ivy put down the bowl with satisfaction, grabbed her purse, took out ten pennies and gave it to the child who was walking over with the noodle soup.

Before Ivy put her purse back and stood up to thank him, she saw her aunt walking towards her with a smile on her face.

Ignoring her objections, the aunt stuffed the ten pennies back into her hand, sat down next to her and started chatting.

"You have met my kind husband." The aunt said with a heavy tongue, "My husband asked you to give me his sweat towel so that I can treat you well."

"It's nice to meet you, thank you." Ivy responded with a smile.

"You have fair skin, you must be a wealthy person who just came to London."

"I'm from Manchester, I just arrived not long ago. My parents...my parents are no longer in this world..."

"Oh..." Auntie's expression was a little sad. "Then why did you come to the Chinese Wharf? This is a rough place. It's better for a girl like you not to come here."

"Aunt, I need to find a job to support myself. Actually, a kid from an orphanage told me that I could find a job here, so I thought of giving it a try."

"Looking for a job... But, what can a girl like you who never goes out of the house do? Don't be deceived into going to a place like that..."

"Where?"

Ivy asked in confusion, but looking at her aunt's worried expression, she had already guessed about 70% of the answer.

"You have to go find Mr. Zhu. He is the leader of the Chinese dock area. He will make arrangements for you... Don't believe anyone else."

"Mother, my sister's clothes are ready!"

The child rushed out from the back hall, carrying Ivy's dried clothes.

The clothes touched the cold air in the store and a cloud of white steam rose up.

"I'm going to get busy now, good boy."

Aunt stood up and handed the clothes to Ivy.

"To find him, go to Shisanfang. Turn right after you go out, walk across a stone bridge, turn right again, and he's at the end."

After saying this, my aunt walked to the front of the store and continued cooking noodles.

Ivy changed into her previous clothes and gave the ten pence to the two children.

Before leaving, she specifically asked them to tell my aunt after she was far away, otherwise she would not give them candy next time.

After saying goodbye to her aunt, Ivy continued walking on the cobblestone road, crossed a small stone bridge, and looked to the right - at the end there was a five-story Chinese restaurant, all golden in color.

Before Ivy got close, she noticed a large plaque on the restaurant - Shisanfang.

The outer frame of the plaque is carved with two long dragons holding pearls in their mouths, and golden regular script is embedded in the shiny black wood board. At first glance, the plaque and the entire restaurant complement each other.

The door of the restaurant was wide open and it was bustling inside. The waiter called Ivy in, and when he heard that Ivy was looking for Mr. Zhu, he invited Ivy to the private room on the second floor.

Outside the box on the second floor, two bodyguards in black suits and with stern expressions stopped her. After Ivy explained her purpose, they asked her to wait for a moment.

But who would have thought that the wait would last for an hour.

During this time, Ivy paced back and forth outside the box impatiently. Big-breasted beauties came in and out of the box one after another, and the waiter brought tea and snacks one after another.

"I say, when can I see Mr. Zhu?" Ivy said with a forced smile, trying her best not to let it fall.

"I didn't tell my family that I was going to spend the night outside."

"Mr. Zhu will notify you."

The bodyguard at the door had said this sentence countless times, and Ivy was so annoyed that she kept pacing back and forth.

“What the fxxk!”

After waiting for more than half an hour, Ivy couldn't help but swear.

She complained to the air: "If I had a cell phone to play with, I would have waited all night, but now I don't even have a watch to check. I'm so bored!"

A few minutes later, Ivy leaned on the railing, swinging her feet constantly, and yawned.

"Ms. Ivy, Mr. Zhu said you can come in."

One of the bodyguards suddenly spoke, and it was this short sentence that made Ivy feel like she was reborn.

All her annoyance was thrown aside at once, and Ivy's mood became bright again.

She adjusted her clothes and hair, and after making sure they were appropriate, she strode in.

In the middle of the antique box was a wooden chair more than two meters wide. A man with short black hair and wearing a blue-gray cloth robe was lying on the cushion on the chair.

He held the faucet on the armrest with one hand and a long pipe with the other, smoking with a rapturous expression.

The smoke floated up with the wind, slowly drifted out of the box, and was immediately dispersed by the noisy crowd.

The box was filled with the smell of tobacco and women's makeup, which made Ivy cough a few times.

Perhaps it was because he heard the cough that Mr. Zhu lazily opened his eyes.

He looked up and down at Ivy who was standing beside him, closed his eyes and waved at her.

Unlike his cool and classical appearance, Mr. Zhu spoke in a frivolous tone: "This one is too small, let's get someone else."

"No, no, no, Mr. Zhu, I was introduced by the Yangchun Noodles boss lady. She said... you would arrange a job for me."

Ivy rarely showed a bad temper. She thought that maybe this Chinese boss could give her a job opportunity.

"Oh, the one the old man introduced... can you sing a little song?"

"will not."

"What kind of dance can you do?"

“I know a little bit of Latin and jazz.”

"This... I've never heard of it. It must be a Western thing... What else do you know?"

"I..." Ivy thought carefully, "I can play the guitar!"

"Very good, it seems that you are really useless here, go to Muyunzhai to receive guests!"

"No, I won't go!"

What kind of place is Muyunzhai? The man who spoke foul language has already made it very clear. Ivy thought that she would rather die than go to that kind of place.

"You can't do anything, yet you're still picky. What do you want to do?"

Mr. Zhu raised his eyebrows and crossed his legs impatiently.

"I, I can cook!"

Ivy shouted anxiously and counted carefully with her fingers.

"I can make egg fried rice, snail rice noodle, fried instant noodles, squirrel mandarin fish, lotus root roasted spareribs, and chili fried meat..."

"I have no shortage of cooks here. All my cooks learn from people in the palace." Mr. Zhu smiled contemptuously.

Ivy sighed softly. It seemed there was no hope. It was getting dark. Mrs. Hudson would nag her again if she went back.

As she thought this, she had already stepped out of the box.

"But..."

Mr. Zhu took another puff of his cigarette, put the pipe on the ground, stood up, put on his cloth shoes, put his arm around Ivy's shoulders and walked out.

"I'm hungry now. Go to the kitchen and cook something for me. If it suits my taste, you can stay in my kitchen at Shisanfang..." Mr. Zhu led Ivy down the stairs.

"If it's not appropriate..."

Mr. Zhu looked back at Ivy and smiled faintly, his lips were red, and his tone was as cold as jade: "I'm going to try your other skills."