Chapter 184: Old Memories - More Friends, More Paths...
"I told you long ago that guy always knows how to use his gender to his advantage to seduce pretty girls. You're so beautiful and you've got such a great opportunity, who else would he seduce if not you?" Rong Juezhang and Pei Yansang, being particularly good at bickering, naturally pretended to be caring older brothers in front of Li Sishi about the sudden extra scene last night, and started ranting about Pei Yansang's misdeeds.
The colloquial term "抽水" (chōu shuǐ) originates from the commission that mahjong parlors charged each table during their heyday, and is usually used to mean "to take a kickback." Later, this term was gradually applied to relationships between men and women, and it came to mean "to take advantage of" or "to profit from."
As a handsome young man known for his good looks and charm, Rong Juezhang has only recently made his comeback and is already facing a group of younger and older actors vying for his attention. Driven by his competitive spirit, he arrived at the rehearsal early this morning, eager for the evening's performance to begin, hoping to crush all the older generation who have the advantage of being in the lead in his own way.
"Did you lose to Sister Pei again while playing cards recently?" Seeing his expression, Li Sishi asked very seriously.
"Oh dear, I've recently started working again, so I don't have as much time to play cards anymore!" Rong Juezhang waved his hand dismissively. "Now I only play ten rounds, not all night like before..."
"Alright, I understand." Li Sishi turned her head speechlessly, beckoned her assistant to bring her cell phone, and prepared to make a few calls to her family.
Knowing that Li Sishi's family would be coming to watch the performance tonight, Rong Juezhang naturally wouldn't gossip and keep pestering her. After getting up and looking at the two sets of costumes for the evening's performance, he returned to find Li Sishi handing a cell phone with a small wooden puppet hanging from it to her female assistant.
“This…” Rong Juezhang couldn’t help but ask, “Is this a Matroska?” the little wooden puppet looked familiar.
The so-called "Matröshka" is a wooden toy produced by the neighboring country of the fighting nation. It is usually composed of many hollow wooden dolls with the same pattern, nested one inside the other, with up to a dozen nested inside out, hence the other name "Matröshka".
The most common pattern for these hollow wooden dolls is a little girl wearing the same brightly colored traditional Russian clothing. A set of wooden dolls of all sizes has the same pattern, and people generally call them "Matroshka". Some more exquisitely crafted ones will dress each hollow wooden doll in different clothes. When they are set together, they have one style, but when they are taken apart and arranged in a row, they have another kind of fun.
"Ah, yes." Li Sishi said subconsciously.
Di responded, "This is the innermost one from a nesting doll that my dad gave me. After stringing it together, it's just the right size to make a cell phone pendant."
"After all, I can't always carry the complete version around, so I can only take the smallest one with me." Li Sishi couldn't help but smile as she recalled receiving the Matroska.
She happened to see it on Li Jinhao's desk and thought it was cute, so she praised it. Unexpectedly, Li Jinhao not only happily said he would give her the Matroska, but also, because he remembered that the Matroska was quite old and was worried about dust, wear and tear, or small splinters, he insisted on taking it apart one by one, wiping and checking each piece before giving it to Li Sishi to play with...
It was because of this that Li Sishi discovered that this Matroska was different from the ones sold on the market. Although the face was still the same rosy big eyes and smiling little face, each doll had a different hairstyle and wore different beautiful dresses. When they were lined up, they were so beautiful and cute that she couldn't put them down.
“He really dotes on you…” Rong Juezhang said ambiguously from the side.
"What do you mean by that?" Li Sishi turned to look at him again, sensing the hidden meaning in his words.
"Many people asked him for this back then, or tried to exchange it with him for things they liked, but he always refused to give it to anyone." Rong Juezhang's family was the kind of old-fashioned large family with many cousins and siblings, including several brothers and sisters who died young due to the times. He was the tenth in his own lineage alone.
However, as a modern version of the "Ten Brothers", Rong Juezhang does not have the magical abilities or the close sibling relationship in the myth. When the youngest brother is seven or eight years younger than him, the person he gets along with best is undoubtedly his cousin Li Jinhao, who is only three years older than him and whom he occasionally meets because the adults of the two families visit each other.
Moreover, Rong Juezhang has been a hidden person who is attracted to good-looking people since childhood.
He greatly admired his cousin Li Jinhao, who had a cool and unique temperament yet was gentle and kind. He was usually not very enthusiastic when he met others and would even deliberately hide in his room to avoid social interaction. But when he knew that Li Jinhao was coming, he would specially find all his favorite toys for his cousin who was close to his age to play with. So much so that his eldest sister, who doted on him the most, was "jealous" several times.
However, the older sister is more than ten years younger than him, and when she sees the two little boys playing together, she's basically half sister and half mother. She's "jealous," but...
I'm actually quite happy that my rather introverted younger brother has a good playmate.
As for the story of Matroska, it happened when Rong Juezhang was about eight years old.
As is well known, Rong Juezhang's father was a renowned men's clothing maker, not only the best in Hong Kong, but even Hollywood stars had come to his shop to have clothes custom-made.
Unfortunately, most of Rong's children had no intention of inheriting their father's craft. Only Rong Juezhang, the youngest, showed some interest in clothing. So, from a young age, Rong's father instilled in him the idea of making women's clothing when he grew up. The reasons were twofold: first, he wanted Rong Juezhang to expand into the women's clothing market that he had not yet covered, hoping that the father and son could join forces to dominate the high-end fashion industry in Hong Kong; second, because young Rong Juezhang had a greater affinity and sensitivity to bright colors, and women's clothing had more vibrant and diverse colors than men's clothing, which better suited young Rong Juezhang's preferences.
Under the influence of his surroundings, Xiao Rongjuezhang saw Li Jinhao's exquisitely crafted Matroska set by chance.
In those days, there were no dress-up dolls. The various outfits of Matroska immediately captured Rong Juezhang's heart. After repeatedly asking for them and proposing to exchange them without success, he simply threw a tantrum and cried. Children's last resort is often crying and making a scene. Generally, at this stage, unless it is something very important, most people will reluctantly give it up.
However, Li Jinhao also had a great fondness for the Matroska set that he had bought during a trip with his parents. He changed his usual gentleness and stubbornly refused to let go, no matter how much Rong Juezhang cried and threw a tantrum. After that, the two children disliked each other because of this and were unwilling to continue their relationship.
A few years later, Rong Juezhang was sent by his father to study in Great Britain, while Li Jinhao stayed in Hong Kong to study. When Rong Juezhang returned to Hong Kong, Li Jinhao went to study in the United States... Due to the many obstacles of time and distance, these two relatives and friends who were once on good terms gradually lost contact.
If it weren't for this reason, Li Sishi wouldn't have only learned that her family was related to Rong Juezhang when Rong's mother returned to Hong Kong to visit Madam Li.
Hearing Rong Juezhang recount this past event, Li Sishi chuckled, "It's been so long, you don't need to remember it for so long, do you?"
"Of course, now that I'm older, I realize how naive I was as a child. But back then, my best friend, who I could share anything with, wouldn't share his things with me. Of course, I was furious!" Rong Juezhang argued vehemently in defense of his younger self, then let out a long sigh.
"Actually, it's not that I don't want to talk to him clearly, but it's just..."
"But you just can't bring yourself to say no, right?" Li Sishi shrugged speechlessly.
Thinking about it this way, the reason why Rong's mother and Madam Li specifically asked her to befriend Rong Juezhang, their distant cousin, might also have been to try to mend the relationship between Rong Juezhang and Li Jinhao.
"It's good that you understand. Men have a strong sense of pride and competitiveness. Even if both sides are wrong, I'm sure I'm the one who's less wrong." Rong Juezhang snorted, then seemed to have thought of something and chuckled as he looked at Li Sishi.
“I suspect you’re thinking about something weird.” Li Sishi said, moving a step further away.
"Don't worry, it's nothing serious, it's just that—"
::
Recalling the performance they had designed together, Rong Juezhang, feeling as if it were all preordained, clasped his hands together in front of his chest, his expression exactly like that of a villainous boss who had waited for many years to finally get his revenge. "Back then, he was reluctant to give me that puppet doll, but now he's watching with his own eyes as I seduce his even more beloved 'puppet girl'... Ha! Ha! Ha!"
"Is it even possible to calculate it like this?" Li Sishi was utterly speechless.
"Of course we can calculate it that way, wouldn't that be more fun and exciting? Once people start showing off, they easily let loose, and Rong Juezhang is undoubtedly this kind of person. Not only did he say nice things, but he also gave Li Sishi a particularly charming wink."
I wonder what happened to turn that introverted and melancholic little boy in the story into this "socially frightened" person in front of me. Li Sishi felt a pang of regret for a second, but then she smiled back defiantly: "Since you have no problem, then of course I have no problem either. As the saying goes, having more friends means having more paths, and having more couples means having more homes!"
Rong Juezhang, who had intended to tease the young woman but ended up being teased back at her: ...No wonder they're father and daughter, their sharp tongues are a perfect replica of that lawyer Li!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
