Chapter 9: Prostitution

  At that time, the Japanese brought in a large number of Japanese residents to Nanjing, supported Japanese enterprises, and as early as after the massacre, they had designated an area in the city center as "Japanese Street". All houses and shops in this area were allocated by the special service department to Japanese who applied to move to Nanjing. Chinese people had to move out within 12 hours.

  The old Dong family house was unfortunately located within the Japanese concession. After his parents passed away, the old house had been left to the steward, Dong Xun, to take care of. In the past, whenever Dong Zhiyu and her aunt returned to Ningbo to pay their respects at the tomb, they would stay in the house for a while. That evening, after finishing work, Dong Zhiyu rushed to the old house to check on it. She had long known that the house belonged to the Japanese concession, but she didn't know whether it had been occupied by the Japanese or if the Dong Xun family still lived there.

  Arriving at the entrance of the alley, I only saw lanterns with red backgrounds and black characters, which were dazzling. Walking all the way to the gate of the mansion, the lanterns gathered together here, and the gate was wide open. Inside, it had changed greatly compared to before. Dong Zhiyu's heart felt a chill, it seemed that this mansion had indeed been occupied by the Japanese.

  Right thought, a drunken Japanese officer walked out from inside, being supported by a geisha wearing a kimono with her face and neck painted white. Dong Zhiyu quickly dodged to the side, waiting for the officer to be sent away, then looked back in to see the geisha walking back into the depths of the courtyard with small steps.

  As she walked away from the hospital gate, Dong Zhiyu leaned against a wall in an alley and closed her eyes. Two crystal-like tears rolled down her cheeks. Her hometown had fallen, her home was occupied by such places, now only the vast motherland remained, not completely lost yet. How could she not fight to take it back?

  "Are you waiting for someone?" A soft voice suddenly rang out.

  Dong Zhiyu was startled, and turned her face back in astonishment. It was that prostitute from earlier who had returned, and under the red lanterns, her face looked even paler than before. Only a pair of eyes sparkled brightly as they stared at her, revealing that she was indeed a living being.

  Dong Zhiyu didn't respond, thinking that trouble comes from the mouth, and this Japanese woman doesn't know where she learned Chinese, it's better not to talk to her. Thinking of this, Dong Zhiyu turned around and left.

  "Wait a minute, do you need help?" The other party's voice sounded again.

  "Help?" Dong Zhiyu smiled coldly and turned around, "No need, thank you. It's too dark at night, I took the wrong road." After saying this, she walked away without looking back. When she reached the entrance of the alley and stepped onto one side of the road, Xu's grocery store was closing up shop, and Dong Zhiyu vaguely recognized the owner of the store.

  "Excuse me... I'd like to ask you something."

  The mistress looked her up and down, thinking to herself that in these times, anyone dressed so neatly was either Japanese or a traitor. She turned back with disdain and continued with her work, saying lightly: "What is it?"

  "Excuse me, where did the Dong family who used to live in this alley move to?"

  The boss's wife turned around and sized her up again, "Do you know them?"

  "Ah, acquainted."

  The old lady felt that the other party was a bit hesitant and unwilling to say more, and she didn't know what reason, only said: "I don't know where they moved to, the Dong family's mansion has been turned into an inn by the Japanese."

  "Hotel?"

  "Inns, wine houses, and secretly doing that kind of thing... Our neighborhood is all decent families, now it's been turned into this state..." Xu Ji's wife took another glance at Dong Zhiyu, "Huh, with your dark skin, what are you doing here as a young lady?"

  "I was just asking about the whereabouts of old steward Dong Xun, thank you, Auntie." Dong Zhiyu said and turned to leave.

  The woman from the Xu family's restaurant looked at her back and had a vague idea in her mind, but then thought it didn't seem quite right. In these chaotic times, one less thing to worry about was better than one more. She locked the door and headed home.

  It's already Saturday, and many colleagues have greeted Dong Zhiyu and mentioned the weekly gathering of "Night Jinling". The male colleagues are especially looking forward to her attending, hoping to dance with this beautiful new colleague.

  As dusk fell, Dong Zhiyu wore a dove-gray embroidered dark flower cloud brocade cheongsam, with her hair styled in a bun and red lipstick applied, and rushed straight to Ye Jinling.

  Two questions lingered in her mind: what was the task that Fu Qiusheng mentioned last time? Would "Que" appear?.