Chapter 117: Four Lights Part 1

Mrs. Ge's apartment was a quiet Shikumen house in Park Lane, just a few minutes' drive from Xintiandi. Knowing she preferred quiet, loved studying and arithmetic, and didn't want to be disturbed, she had cleared out a small, private suite on the third floor of the rooftop with a garden for her to live in. After moving into Mrs. Ge's house, the myriad sounds that rose day and night from downstairs on Fuxing Road disappeared—the rumble of trams, the hum of car engines, the ringing of school bells, the hammering and sawing of workmen building new houses. Those hazy, indistinct sounds were gone, leaving a silence so profound that one felt as if one was sinking down.

The crape myrtles, trumpet creepers, and roses on the rooftop grew beautifully, clumps upon clumps, cascading down the wall from the flowerbeds, and cascading down into the hallway between the two buildings. Every day, as she lay in her rooftop recliner calculating data, she could see the cold pines in the courtyard, the plane trees on the street outside, and the passersby.

After she moved in, she went to City Hall to change her permanent address and immediately asked the City Hall to send a letter to Bohr. Soon after, she received a letter from Bohr, a template letter sent to multiple people. It read: "The first phase of the experiment has concluded. While awaiting the latest developments and news from Hong Kong, all members of Group G will return to Hong Kong after the port reopens. Those in Group I whose personal data has not yet been processed can come to the lab to process subsequent data. Those who have completed their data can rest at home or come to assist other members. The remaining groups will continue their work as usual. Also, given the periodic unrest in the concession and Shanghai, many restaurants and shops have closed. Researchers whose food and travel have been affected can write to me to register their names. The institute will provide three meals a day free of charge."

She has been to the institute twice.

The first time, everyone showed extra concern. She was well aware of the times and the status of the Chinese. She had never expected to gain much standing within the small ecosystem of the institute, representing her compatriots, after so many countries had enacted anti-Chinese laws. But when tragedy strikes, people are always happy to express their kindness. She spent the entire morning accepting the kind words of concern from both familiar and unfamiliar people, and no one ever gave her the task at hand.

Soon, thousands of indignant citizens from all around Shanghai flocked to the concession, creating unprecedented chaos. The concession authorities and the envoys of the six foreign powers were forced to intervene, prompting reports in Shanghai newspapers of all sizes to spread the news that the Japanese police were about to severely punish Sakuma, Fujima, and a dozen other officers at the spinning mill for their negligence. The reason for this was that they had "allowed the Anti-Human Biology Research Institute to conduct its abhorrent research in the International Settlement." Part of the Municipal Council accompanied the Japanese research institute back to Japan, while others were dispatched to Taiwan or returned to Japan. A major personnel shakeup took place, and the institute was no longer heavily involved. On the same day the reports of the Japanese officers' negligence were published, the remaining Japanese troops at the institute withdrew, and Captain Robert Hart, who had recently arrived in Shanghai from British Southeast Asia, replaced Xie Zeyi in charge of the institute.

The second time she went to the Institute, the trams inside and outside the concession had completely stopped running, so she had to take the car that Mrs. Ge arranged for her. After getting off the car, she was stunned by the sight of the tall figure in black military uniform standing at the Institute's entrance. When she turned around, she saw a typical British face with blond hair, green eyes, and a receding hairline. She came to her senses and walked past him just as someone asked him, "Where's the officer from before?"

"Oh, tse? This outstanding graduate of our fraternity, a soldier of such promise, who swore unwavering loyalty to the Empire, has recently been involved in some political problems. He is likely to suffer some hardship before he can, in the presence of the six ministers, obtain a reasonable explanation from the British authorities to the other five countries of the Municipal Council."

She stood and listened for a while, until Heard turned around and noticed the golden key on her chest. She silently put the golden key into her clothes, keeping it close to her skin; before Heard asked others about her relationship with Xie Zeyi, she turned and left.

She did not go to the institute again for a short period of time. She stayed at home most of the time, writing the paper on the principle of the "asphyxiation effect" with the highest efficiency. Fermi and Oppen would visit her from time to time with some small gifts. Fermi's wife arrived in Shanghai during the last port opening, so the gifts they brought often included some of Fermi's homemade cookies. The two would always invite her to go to bars or dance halls, but she refused without exception. The reason for the refusal was: "My aunt was very strict." The two did not force her, but Oppen would often tease her about this magnificent Shikumen house: "It turns out that girls from upper-class Chinese families are also conservative."

White society has always maintained a clear distinction between work and private leisure. A harmonious coworker relationship doesn't necessarily equate to close friendship. Even in modern society, it's rare for colleagues to go to bars or clubs together after work. For young men, after-work entertainment is a private matter, and they likely wouldn't share it with a less intimate colleague. Unless there's a hidden agenda, it would be considered a violation of protocol. The two men's willingness to invite a woman like her out meant they either viewed her as a close friend or felt she deserved sympathy for the recent setbacks she'd endured. Either way, she found it incredibly rare and grateful.

Mrs. Ge saw all of this. Once, she said to her, "A friend has invited you out to play. Don't worry, just go. I'll have a few people accompany you from a distance." Seeing that she still shook her head, she asked, "It's not a good time now. Everyone with money is fleeing to Shanghai. Who would want to come to Shanghai at this time? In Shanghai, the only people who come to my place every other day are old, shabby guys. Other girls are sent out to socialize at the age of fifteen, and you're almost sixteen. It's not good for you to stay at home all the time."

She pointed to the scar on her head that hadn't fully healed and said, "Where can I go out like this? It's scary wherever I go. It's better to stay home."

The family doctor was a Japanese. Within three weeks, her injury was completely healed, and there was no sign of injury. She still lay in the rooftop garden writing all day long, refusing to move a foot outside the yard. Mrs. Ge hated her for not fighting, and several times asked Suixi to say to her indirectly: "Mrs. Ge complains all day long. Mr. Xie has been in Shanghai for several weeks and we haven't seen him. I guess he is busy with Xie Zeyi's affairs. If he had been told about this earlier, it could have been covered up by hiring more people and spending more money. But this matter has become so big that it affects not only Shanghai citizens, but also workers and businessmen. It is too fierce to deal with it in the open, and it is impossible to do it in the dark..."

A few days later, Miya came back and said, "My mom and my third mom blamed my dad, saying that if he had agreed to let him have a girlfriend earlier, he might have had several grandchildren by now, and the Xie family wouldn't have to worry about having no descendants... My dad was so angry that he was fuming."

Chu Wang only asked: "What punishment will he receive?"

"Isn't it just acting on my own initiative, disobeying orders from my superiors, and going against the Japanese? How can I expect such severe punishment..."

Miya knew that if the British wanted to minimize the incident, they would naturally shift all the blame onto him, just like Japan. Xie Zeyi, however, was a special case. In recent months, his handling of all matters had almost completely favored China over Britain, to which he had pledged his allegiance. Therefore, the simplest approach was to pin all the charges on him and force him to confess his guilt before the envoys of the six nations. The rest of the British police would then naturally be acquitted.

As she spoke, Miya was almost in tears. "Mr. Jiang said that suffering is a small matter. There is a chance that I can come back safely in the end, but it will be a little difficult... He didn't tell me how difficult it would be. Linzy, I used to be most afraid that he would find a sister-in-law outside with a bad temper, relying on her status as the eldest daughter-in-law to make things difficult for my mother. So I asked Mr. Jiang to instigate Mrs. Ge to match you with my brother. No one in the world wants you to marry my brother more than I do, but Linzy, you know better than me how difficult this is. If you meet someone better, forget him. After all, this is not the first time he has been like this. He is the most treacherous and the worst person, and he deserves it. No matter what you do, he won't blame you. You don't have to wait for him just because you find out it's him."

She was also a bit amused and confused. She worked diligently on her paper every day, so when had she ever said she was going to wait for Xie Zeyi? She and Xie Zeyi hadn't officially confirmed their relationship yet. She had only just discovered she liked him a month ago and hadn't told anyone yet. Why did she have to tell Miya and Mrs. Ge that she was going to keep going like that for the rest of her life?

Soon, Miss Xu was able to be discharged from the hospital. On the day of her discharge, after Mrs. Ge had delivered some gifts to the Xu family on her behalf, she received a call, saying that the Commercial Press had arranged a special interview for her and Miss Xu. She went in a car arranged by Mrs. Ge, while Miss Xu was brought in by Lin Zitong. After seeing her off to the door, he drove away, saying only that he would pick her up after the interview was over. It was already summer, and in the early summer heat of Shanghai, Miss Xu still wrapped herself tightly, wearing a pair of white gloves. During the actual interview, after the newspaper staff unloaded the film camera and reel-to-reel tape recorder, she naturally removed her veil, revealing her cheeks.

Chu Wang glanced at her, speechless. Even with her veil on, it was clear her once-beautiful peach blossom eyes were gone; not only were her double eyelids gone, but her eyelashes were also no longer visible. Yet, when she removed her veil, she smiled naturally at the newspaper staff and jokingly said, "If I weren't afraid of scaring people on the street, I'd dress like I used to. I'm doing good deeds for the people of Shanghai!"

In addition to the commissioners nominated by the Commercial Press, two French journalists were also to participate in the interviews. All interview records would be translated and sent from the Taipingshan Observatory to France for publication the following day; the audio and video recordings would be used as evidence in the confrontation with the envoys of the six countries.

After hearing this, Chu Wang recounted to the French reporter in French everything from the boy in Nantong County to the Caoma Horse Farm, except for the true identities of the two underground Party members. In her story, they were just two ordinary young Shanghai girls who loved beauty, were well-educated, beautiful, and loved to dance, no different from anyone else.

She also translated for Ms. Xu once. When the interview ended, the French reporter was able to almost immediately ask someone to send all the recordings and materials to Hong Kong, saving a lot of time.

When the Commercial Press commissioner and the French journalist thanked her profusely, she smiled and said, "The man who renovated that observatory and long-wave radio station, so invincible in the multinational espionage war, was my teacher. As his student, I have to do something to honor him, right?"

She waited for Lin Zitong with Miss Xu outside the Commercial Press. Before getting into the car, Miss Xu put on her veil again and gave her a grateful smile. In front of Lin Zitong, Miss Xu said to her, "And Mr. Xie. We are all very grateful to him." Then, looking at her seriously, she said, "If we win, he will not be harmed... And this time, we will definitely win."

The next day, the French newspaper Le Monde published an interview titled "The six flags raised in the Far Eastern Concessions are used to shield all the scoundrels in China." The interview exposed the atrocities committed by the concession countries in the Shanghai Concession over the past decades, centered around the crimes committed by Japan in recent months at the Spinning Mill Hospital. The report caused an uproar across Europe. An influential French economist, upon hearing about billboards on the Bund reading "No Chinese or Dogs Allowed," British and American officers beating and scolding Chinese coolies, and rickshaw drivers being chopped off for not understanding English, criticized them with both heartache and anger: "The colonialists' rampant bullying and complete loss of decorum in the colonies are simply unheard of!"

The national scandal spread from Europe to Asia, placing immense pressure on Nanjing, China's only internationally recognized government. Meanwhile, the General Labor Union, after months of careful planning, quietly launched an armed operation from the Commercial Office to the Concession Municipal Council. This operation, in terms of organization, impact, forethought, and timing, far surpassed countless previous ones...

At the same time, people from all walks of life, businessmen, and bankers in Shanghai also flocked to the Concession Municipal Council from all over Shanghai, raising fierce slogans: demanding that foreign warships be withdrawn from Shanghai, demanding the removal of consuls from various countries, demanding that the Municipal Council be taken over by the Chinese, demanding the abolition of extraterritoriality, and the revision of unequal treaties.

Since then, the word "Shanghai" has dominated headlines around the world, with the eyes of London, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington all turning to this metropolis at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Journalists from various countries have stated, "This incident has transcended local significance and become an international one."

——

Because the turmoil outside was so intense, Mrs. Ge no longer pressed her to go out and socialize, and instead had Suixi confine her to her home. In reality, there was no need for confinement; she wouldn't have gone out anyway. She sat idle at home all day, and soon, she had finished revising her theory on "The Asphyxiation Effect."

Afterward, she spent her free time reading books and newspapers. With no internet access or television, she read the few newspapers she had at home, each one a thousand times, leaving no corner untouched. Besides the daily riots and their suppression, the gossip about a certain son returning from overseas studies, a certain daughter marrying a certain son, and so on, nearly made her eyes ache.

The only news she saw that was a bit unusual was about the 1929 Elizabeth Gold Coronet Award, presented at a ceremony held in Hong Kong, Far East, to Professor Laitsui of the Department of Physics at the University of Hong Kong. She had seen a photo of Xu Shaoqian's award in the newspaper. Besides the certificate and several thousand pounds in prize money, it also included a unique diamond ring with a "proper name" inscribed in Latin. The ring featured a 3.73-carat light blue diamond in a platinum setting, and the inside of the platinum band was engraved with the Latin words "n'antares" (Antares) and "1929." The report concluded with a joking comment: Since "Antares" is the scientific name for the star Alpha Scorpius, congratulations to Professor Xu Lai on earning the nickname "Enemy of Ares" in the astronomical community.

Another one is that after more than two months of hard work by Japanese scientists and two thousand staff members, the world's first slow-reactor nuclear reactor power plant was successfully built in Fukui.