The three of them came to Dade Western Restaurant, which had a Republican-era style. Su Qingmeng liked this kind of bourgeois place. They ate potato salad, fried pork chops, creamy pasta, and Kang Kang's favorite chocolate cake.
After dinner, they walked across the overpass and went to the Shanghai Art Museum to see the exhibition. Kang Kang had been studying painting with Su Qingmeng for two years, so it was a good opportunity to cultivate his aesthetic taste.
The family gradually adjusted to life in Shanghai. On Monday mornings, Kang Kang went to kindergarten, Lin Xiuyao went to work on his business, and Su Qingmeng had some free time to sort out her manuscript. She was nearing the end of "A Lively Family," a novel set in Beijing in the 1980s. She had been working on it for three years and had finally finished it.
She was busy for a month and sent the manuscript to Bai Fu. The book was published under the pen name Xinghe. Bai Fu replied that the manuscript was approved and would be serialized next month. Su Qingmeng breathed a sigh of relief.
For her new book, she wanted to write a spy novel set in the Republic of China. Every afternoon, Su Qingmeng would ride her bicycle and take her camera to wander around the area, observing the cultural landscape of old Shanghai. This city has too many marks of the Republic of China period. When Su Qingmeng was in it, she often felt as if she had traveled through time again.
The nanny, Sister Wei, was at home in the morning, but she was worried because she was new and they were not familiar with each other, so she went out in the afternoon. Su Qingmeng wandered around for a month before she started writing.
Zhou Wenxi asked her to go out and play on the weekend, so Kang Kang followed her father to the company. Lin Xiuyao's company was not close to home, and it took about an hour to ride a motorcycle.
When he arrived at his father's office, he took out his books and studied quietly. The new employees coming and going exclaimed that the boss's son was so well-behaved and good-looking, but he probably looked like his mother, and had a different style of handsomeness from the boss.
Zhou Wenxi took Su Qingmeng to a clothing store run by a master craftsman. The store provides custom cheongsams. Su Qingmeng opened her arms and let the clerk take her measurements to make clothes. Zhou Wenxi complained to her about things at home.
"Now that the country's economy is developing, my family's shop is becoming more and more valuable. My sister has been clamoring for my parents to transfer one to her."
Her sister returned to the city in 1985. Her family found her a job at a food factory, and she now lives with her husband and three children. Her husband works as a porter at the docks, and they live a very tight life.
"I don't want to go back now. Every time I go back, my sister-in-law and younger sister are arguing. It's so annoying." Her parents' home has a three-story house with more than ten rooms. Now her parents, her eldest brother's family of four, and her younger sister's family of five live there, which is barely enough for everyone to stay.
Su Qingmeng sat down next to her and said, "Then you should come back less often. You and your old Chen live in the university anyway."
"Alas," Zhou Wenxi sighed, "I feel sorry for my parents. You said that the relationship between brother and sister was very good when they were young, so why did it become like this now?"
Su Qingmeng looked at her worried expression and felt that although Sister Wenxi was now a strong woman in her career, she was still immature in her family relationships. Even if they were brothers and sisters, after getting married, they would think about their own family first. People are selfish.
"This is the price of growing up. Think about it, in your heart, do Professor Chen and your daughter Qingqing come first, or do you put your older brother and younger sister first?"
Zhou Wenxi thought, "I understand." In her heart, her daughter, husband, and parents are the most important, so she also understands her younger sister and elder sister-in-law. "But they are still too impatient. My parents are still alive, and they are already planning to take over the family business."
"After my family was rehabilitated, we got our house back, along with our two shops. They were fighting over the shops. My younger sister wanted one, but my eldest sister-in-law disagreed, saying the family business should be given to her son."
Su Qingmeng: "It depends on what your parents think. Should we divide it now or later? Well, divide it before we leave." As far as she knew, Zhou Wenxi's parents had no jobs after returning to the city, so it would be better for them to keep the shop and use the rent for their retirement.
Zhou Wenxi: "My parents favor my eldest brother, but they don't like my eldest sister-in-law. When my family got into trouble, my eldest sister-in-law divorced my eldest brother and remarried ten years ago. After my family was rehabilitated, she came to reconcile with my brother. If it weren't for the good care she took of my two nephews, my parents wouldn't agree."
Su Qingmeng was curious, "Didn't she have children after remarrying?"
"No, that man was also remarried, and they raised the child together, so she divorced my eldest brother as soon as he came back." Zhou Wenxi felt that if her sister-in-law remarried and had children again, it might not be so easy.
"My sister keeps picking on my eldest sister-in-law for this. The two of them are at loggerheads and quarrel every day." Her sister has changed a lot. She was a well-educated and ladylike girl when she was young, but now she curses when she gets angry.
And every time I see her, she is always sarcastic. Zhou Wenxi insisted on not getting married in the countryside, returned to the city, was admitted to university, married her current husband, and lives a happy life.
Her younger sister Zhou Wenjing married a countryman who had only graduated from elementary school and gave birth to three children. When the family was rehabilitated, Zhou Wenxi was allowed to return to the city first. When her younger sister mentioned this, she said that her parents were biased. In fact, after she came back, she heard her parents say that they originally wanted to let her younger sister return to the city first, but it was difficult to do so for a married educated youth.
After the resumption of the Gaokao, her younger sister didn't get into university, but she did get into Fudan University and was assigned a good job after graduation. Her younger sister was always sarcastic, and Zhou Wenxi had noticed. But they had both gone to the countryside together, and whether they married or not was their own choice. Thinking of this, she sighed again. The close and intimate days of their childhood were gone, after all.
Su Qingmeng secretly thought that every family has its own problems. "Sister Wenxi, since you don't care about your parents' property, just stay out of it. Otherwise, getting involved will only cause more trouble."
Zhou Wenxi said, "Let's not talk about such troubles anymore. Come on, I'll buy you some coffee."
There are many coffee shops in Shanghai, and the two of them randomly entered one. "I saw the movie adapted from your novel. The plot is quite good."
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