Chapter 97: One Night, Three Days

Mrs. Zhou heard this and stepped out of her Buick.

She was of medium height, appearing to be in her early forties. Her features were plain, yet delicate thanks to her small face and well-applied makeup. Her face, dotted with spots from years spent in Vietnam under the tropical sun, was darker than the typical Jiangnan woman, making her look more like a Southeast Asian woman. Her demeanor was graceful, a touch of European pastoralism, a whiff of Jiangnan charm. Between her thin red lips, each white tooth was perfectly white, and a smile revealed a row of perfectly aligned teeth. The curve of her smile was meticulously crafted, but time had taken its toll, leaving the corners of her eyes and mouth creased with malicious wrinkles.

She knew what it was about the moment she heard it. Taking the letter from Lin Yu, she glanced at it and laughed, "If I had known she'd be in trouble, no wonder HSBC couldn't wire the money. Sure enough, she had someone do something behind the scenes. Humph, she's actually waiting for us here."

Back in Vietnam, she attempted to deposit Lin Yu's money and valuable jewelry with the French Nanyang Trading Company in Vietnam. However, the French at the company told her she had no such rights. She had no legal status and no control over his household registration or deposits in Vietnam. She could only withdraw two francs from the bank each month.

She certainly understood who was behind this. So, once the man was dead, Lin Yu sent her to France. She tried to transfer the funds from the Nanyang Commercial Bank to a Swiss bank, but almost every attempt encountered paperwork problems. A few months ago, she received even more devastating news: the funds had been frozen for various reasons, requiring her to return to Vietnam or China to sign in person.

She was cautious then.

While studying in Japan, she had a close personal relationship with Mrs. Qiao. She and Mrs. Qiao discussed all the details of the Lin family's numerous financial affairs. So much was involved that even after years of not seeing each other, they maintained a "friendship" closer than most friendships in the world. Whenever there was any disturbance at home, she was the first to call her.

When she received the telegram from Mrs. Qiao telling her about the rumor between the third lady and the professor, she was almost ecstatic, because the knot in her heart that had been there for many years might be solved.

So she did not hesitate to make the decision for her husband and sent a telegram to the largest daily newspaper in Shanghai to publish the notice.

The Third Miss must not be removed from the family tree. As long as she remains in the Lin family, that woman from Hong Kong will not dare to make any move on the Lin family; otherwise, she will not let it go.

The third young lady must be the daughter of the Lin family, and she must be a daughter of the Lin family for the rest of her life.

After sending that telegram, apart from her engagement with the Si family, which other good family would be willing to marry her in the future?

No matter who came after that money, she could simply say, "This is the property of the Third Miss's biological mother. It was prepared according to the specifications for her marriage to the Si family in Peking. I wonder who with such ambitions would dare to touch the Third Miss's dowry."

What other family, with wealth and power greater than that of the Si family, would be willing to marry such a notorious girl?

It’s not that the Lin family can’t afford to support such a girl. At the very least, a single girl’s life is no better than that of a refugee from Zhabei District.

Even if she got married casually, the amount of the dowry was still a matter of debate.

She wouldn't dare to post a message saying she wants to sever ties with her father, brothers and sisters!

Seeing that Mrs. Ge seemed to be exactly what she wanted, Zhou took her daughter in her arms and asked, "Why are you so nervous?"

Then he leaned close to Lin Yu's ear and said a few words with a smile, which was like a shot of encouragement for him. His face cleared up and he immediately asked the butler to send a telegram to Hong Kong as he said.

——

After reading the telegram, Mrs. Ge laughed for a long time. Mi Qiu peeled grapes for her and frowned, admonishing her, "Madam, don't laugh too much, or you'll get laugh lines!"

"I would have forgotten it if you hadn't told me," Mrs. Ge said, still laughing heartily, as if a child had been naughty and had made a fool of herself, and she laughed heartily as she read the telegram that tried to make a fortune with a small amount of money. "The late wife's dowry was naturally reserved for marrying off her daughter. It was originally prepared in a lavish manner according to the standards for marrying off the eldest son of Peking's leading Si family. The engagement is no longer in place, but the money is still saved for her to marry into the next family... Oh, this Zhou, I haven't seen her for many years, her methods are really amusing."

Mi Qiu said angrily, "They are determined to kidnap our daughter and use the excuse of guarding the late wife's dowry as an excuse. How shameless! Our daughter is elegant and beautiful. There are few who are more outstanding than her in the whole of Hong Kong. It's ridiculous. Do you really think our daughter can't get married because of that piece of news?

Mrs. Ge laughed for a moment, then continued, "The dowry, money, silver, jewelry, all sorts of things, it's been so many years now. Even if we look for clues, it's hard to put together the whole amount. The lawyer told me that those small things were fine, so I'd let them go. But now I'm dealing with this... Quail eggs hatched by sparrows from overseas, and they really thought they could soar to the sky? They can only flap their wings a few times. I'm going to show her what it means to suffer the consequences of your actions."

She ate a grape and took a pen to write a reply when the phone rang. Suixi answered it and was told that Mr. Jiang had been invited by Mr. Du in Shanghai to a banquet on Friday and would not be coming because she was playing mahjong that afternoon.

"Tell her for me: 'Mr. Jiang is invited to the banquet. What are you, a nobody, doing there?'"

Suixi smiled and replied. After a while, she listened to the other end's story and laughed even harder, unable to straighten her back. She said, "Miss Xie said, 'I'm going to benefit the Shanghai social circle. I can't be absent from any banquet, big or small, across the country. Otherwise, who will be the most beautiful lady to outshine the others?'"

Mrs. Ge spat, "You're so beautiful! Don't bring shame to Hong Kong society."

After hurriedly writing a few words, he called Mr. Henry and asked him to send a telegram to Shanghai.

He handed over a piece of paper: "Return this to the Lin Mansion." He then ate grapes nonchalantly: "Let's see who is more anxious."

Mr. Henry looked down and saw the paper with the following words written on it: "I'll keep this telegram you sent me as a proof. If the Lin family's daughter's future husband's family is more wealthy and powerful than the Si family, what will be the amount of her dowry?"

——

When the telegram arrived at the Lin residence, Mrs. Zhou had just called a tailor to make new clothes for her daughter. Also returning on the same ship were some young ladies from British and French middle schools and overseas students, most of whom came from distinguished families. Naturally, in Shanghai, they had to resort to various means to get them invited to the finer social gatherings.

When she was in Europe, she would often ask a tailor to come to her home to make clothes for her daughter, all of which were fashionable styles for European socialites; when she returned to Shanghai, trendy, close-fitting cheongsams were indispensable.

She sat at a distance, holding the telegram and reading it. After she finished reading it, she burst into laughter: "A family even more outstanding than the Si family back then? Marrying her as a daughter-in-law? What do they like about her? What a joke."

Not far away, my daughter, dressed in a form-fitting nightgown, stretched her arms in the dim light as her tailor took her measurements. Though the initial steps of transition from girlhood to womanhood were beginning to take shape, her figure beneath the nightgown was fluid, like water. Equally fluid was her smile and demeanor, imbued with a touch of Eastern poetic beauty. She was the only one who, during those two years in Europe—in Paris or traveling with her father through England, Belgium, and Germany—had been pursued by countless young men, both well-known and well-educated, yet invariably rejected. Some had their hearts broken by her, others persevered; countless young, passionate hearts had been trampled upon by her, even some willing to die for her.

Only her Yunyan was worthy of such affection. She had been spoiled by men, so much so that her mother, Zhou, had also been spoiled by her daughter's suitors, always thinking that the lesser-known Zheng Yimin, a man of talent and wealth, was too stingy and far from being worthy of Yunyan. She hadn't spoken much to the Zheng family in the past two years, and they seemed to have sent telegrams to ask if this temporary engagement had been cancelled.

I haven't heard anything from Young Master Zheng in the past two years. If he really has grown into a talented person, it would be a pity to abandon him. So I just sent a telegram saying: This matter is serious. I hope you can return to the country to discuss it in person.

It has been delayed until now.

If it weren't for the fact that my daughter had been in love with the eldest and second eldest master of the neighboring Si family since she was a child, she would have looked down on the Si family in recent years.

Although the boy had become famous in the past two years, and she had read his debut work, "European Love Letters," she felt as if it was satirizing someone, and even she felt a little embarrassed. Where did Master Si hear this story from, and who was he defending? The Si and Lin families were so close, and Mrs. Si was his father's second wife, so it would be wrong to be so disrespectful to her father. Thinking of this, she calmed down a little, and dismissed it as a coincidence.

Whenever she played cards with other rich ladies and talked about that "Young Master Si", she would always say: "Well, Yunyan likes him after all, and there is nothing I can do about this child." Who said she only had such a precious daughter and was willing to spoil her?

She could marry into the Si family, but in the eyes of her picky mother, she always felt that she was not a good match. Who else could she marry except Yun Yan, who could be better than the Si family?

That third girl? That's hilarious.

But the tone of the telegram seemed to indicate a certainty. What if someone really made a mistake and was willing to marry her?

Thinking of this, she felt more and more uneasy.

It happened that Mrs. Si came over that afternoon and very tactfully expressed that she also wanted to invite Miss San to go to the Shanghai Grand Hotel. She and Yunyan immediately agreed.

Yun Yan smiled and said, "It just so happens that I haven't seen my third sister for two years. She didn't even bother to write me a letter or send me a photo. I can hardly remember what she looks like."

He said this while complaining and acting cute, which made Zhou feel happy.

She and Mrs. Si immediately inquired about Chu Wang's address. They took the Si family's car to Fu Kaisen Road. After getting off, the two ladies checked the mailbox address downstairs. As they hesitated whether to ring the bell, a British captain returned with two bags of fresh food. Seeing this, he politely asked, "Are you looking for Miss Lin San?"

"Yes."

"She's not here now. But if there's anything you want to pass on, or a message you want to tell her, I might be able to help."

Zhou couldn't help but blurt out, "Excuse me...are you her...are you familiar with her?"

"I was entrusted by her aunt to take care of her in Shanghai."

"oh……"

Zhou actually wanted to wait for the officer to invite her and him upstairs to wait, so she could get a better glimpse into her life. But after a long wait, the officer just looked at her with a sullen face and said nothing more.

Mrs. Smith was the first to hand over the invitation with the address. "Please pass it to her for me. Thank you."

"Nothing."

After being turned away, Zhou followed Mrs. Si into the car. After a while of irritation, she concluded, "It's really Baihua, how can real British people be so rude?"

He also said: "Ask someone to take care of her. It's not appropriate for a grown man, even if he's a policeman, to casually enter and leave a girl's room."

Mrs. Smith just nodded slightly and smiled without saying anything.

When she got home, Zhou was even more undecided. She hurriedly sent a telegram to Mrs. Qiao, describing the lawyer's letter, the contents of the outgoing telegram, the contents of the reply telegram, and what she had seen and thought on Fu Kaisen Road today... It was a total of more than ten words, and it was really expensive.

Mrs. Qiao's telegram contained only one sentence: "What does a British inspector in the concession look like?"

She was a little puzzled by Mrs. Qiao's lack of grasp of the main point. After careful consideration, she felt that Mrs. Qiao might have some unique idea that would take a different approach. She telegraphed back her own impression of the captain: "Fair-skinned, tall, handsome, with a Cantonese accent, a captain."