Chapter 100: 24th Night 16th
"Which one do you think is better?"
Before going to bed, Mrs. Si told Si Ying everything that had happened in the Shanghai hotel. From Yan Sang being outnumbered to Mr. Yu's foul language, Si Ying still had a smile on his face. But when the third girl stood up and accused Mr. Zhou of abandoning his ex-wife, Si Ying's face gradually became more and more gloomy.
Mrs. Si looked at her nose and then asked tentatively, "The third girl is a good child. I really like her. But it's a pity, isn't it?"
Si Ying shook his head. "My brother Lin's family has an old score, stemming from the Third Young Lady's mother. It's true that he's at fault, but in today's world, most students from established families who go abroad have romantic debts, and he's one of them. A year ago, I received a letter from Yan Sang about this, and I was deeply saddened. Even if I had a few words of criticism, it was long past the time to remonstrate with him. I think Yan Sang's fame stemmed from this incident, and he was simply speaking up for the Third Young Lady. A woman with such insight and courage, and someone who stands by Yan Sang through thick and thin, is unlikely to find another in the world like her."
Mrs. Smith sighed. "He went to the tiger den knowing there was a tiger there. No matter how powerful the Third Miss is, she's still just a woman. After what happened today, I wonder how much newspapers will cover him in the future. Can she help him every time? I originally wanted to find a good wife to help him, to calm his temper and quell his anger. But now, here comes someone with an even more fierce temper. That one is fire, and this one is just kerosene..."
"Isn't it good to burn vigorously? It's better to burn vigorously!"
"It's burning vigorously?" Mrs. Smith was so angry that she wanted to leave. "You two, father and son, are like the same fire starter. Burn, burn to death!"
Si Ying coaxed his wife for a while and then asked hurriedly, "What about the big one?"
"The older one is only slightly talented and charming. Perhaps she was spoiled by her mother, or perhaps she was spoiled by someone else somewhere. She is inferior to the third girl in every way. If there is one thing she has going for her, it's that she is more cunning and more patient than the third girl."
Hearing the phrase "I don't know who spoiled me" brought back a bad memory for Si Ying. Even before the change of dynasties, they had already arranged for the marriage between the Si and Lin families. He and Yan Sang were adrift, and at the height of his poverty, Lin Yu suddenly wrote, promising his third daughter, born to his first wife, to Yan Sang. He was forever grateful and moved. When he returned to Peking, Lin Yu invited him and his son to Shaoxing, and his words seemed to hint at promising the second daughter to Yan Sang. Whenever he thought of this, he recalled the many ties and entanglements between the Si and Lin families over the years, and felt ashamed and self-critical for judging others by his own standards.
He then asked, "I heard that the second young lady was promised to the Zheng family in marriage?"
Mrs. Si was stunned: "Yunyan's mother said that the marriage with the Zheng family has been cancelled."
Si Ying nodded and said, "That's true. It's just a child marriage arranged as a joke by the two elders."
"Since we've agreed to the marriage, it's not good to let the parents of another girl take the initiative. This matter can't be delayed any longer." Mrs. Si glanced at him. "If you want to fulfill Yan Sang's wishes, then it will be the third girl, but she will have to suffer. If you want him to live a peaceful and smooth life in the future, the third girl won't be able to do it. Let's see what you, as a father, think."
After hearing what his wife said, Si Ying pondered for a while, then picked up the pen without hesitation and wrote the next line.
——
Miss Xu brought very optimistic news as far as she was concerned: she had been granted an internship at the Spinning Mill Hospital.
She went with two male students studying in Japan, one in biology and the other in medicine. Both were more specialized than she, but both were rejected by the spinning mill. However, she, the unplanned half-hearted student, unexpectedly secured an internship. She initially suspected a hidden agenda, but later realized the Japanese simply assumed she was a woman, so there was nothing to be wary of.
"There's nothing to be wary of? They're completely unscrupulous! When they were in Japan, they didn't even bother showing us Chinese students materials about Japanese soldiers killing Chinese people. I told Mr. Zheng and the others everything I saw and heard. I was shaking with anger and wanted to tell the reporters about their atrocities right away. They tried to dissuade me, simply because they couldn't bring a camera and leave any evidence. Without evidence, all this would just sound like a sensational story, and no one would believe it."
It was an abandoned hospital in Shanghai's old county town. The workers and Japanese soldiers called it "G Hospital," and she called it the "Garden of Horror." It was a large courtyard surrounded by high-rise buildings, with several two- and three-story buildings. It was the lowest point of the nearby buildings. It was hidden from prying eyes because it was like a garden, with its ancient and dense trees and shrubs. It was a shadowy place under the sunlight, a perfect shelter for criminals.
The buildings in the compound were marked with capital letters A, B, C, and D, each separated by iron fences with strange locks. Some areas, typically the second or third floor, were accessible only to the most important figures.
Not having access to the second and third floors, she wandered around the secure area whenever she got the chance.
The design and layout inside are very complete: initially, the power supply was drawn from the Chinese Electrical Company in the French Concession, and later, independent power plants, high-pressure boilers, soft water rooms, ice making rooms and gas generators were gradually built in the basement of the laboratory.
The generator is buried deep in the second floor below, silently providing alternating current to the top floor for lighting and driving various pumps day and night, so that it can generate electricity spontaneously in extremely severe situations.
There, she also saw animal sheds and an animal carcass incinerator, but she didn't know what was used there.
There were many water pipes on the second floor below, but she had no idea what they were used for. Miss Xu took off her coat, revealing a sleeveless cheongsam underneath. She stretched out her fair arm, the inside of which was densely covered with pipe models written in pen.
Chu Wang identified them one by one. "These are the cold water pipes and the hot water pipes. This one is for cold drinking water, this one is for cold salt water, this one is for gas, compressed air, vacuum, and also for sterilizing steam and heating." As he spoke, Chu Wang frowned. "The most advanced place where Chinese people live, Shanghai, the International Settlement, the best houses, there are only two kinds of hot and cold water pipes. What kind of experiment would require the tedious construction of so many pipes?"
"To create 'blood meal', an extremely low temperature and oxygen-deficient environment is required. Do you know what that is?"
"I know. Powder made from cow blood is flea food. The only purpose of feeding fleas is to cause plague." (m.) 138TXT
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