Chapter 13: The Dandy and the Lady Part 6
Xie Zeyi pondered for a long time, his Cantonese-style Mandarin interspersed with English, and he worded it slowly, like a primary school student writing an essay, "...I will soon leave Hong Kong and go to the other side of the Pacific. I may not be back for a year or two..."
Chu Wang struggled to comprehend, as if filling in the blanks in a cloze test. "I'm leaving Hong Kong and heading to the other side of the Pacific. I might not come back for the next year or two."
After noticing she had finished writing this sentence, Xie Zeyi continued, "...Nowadays, you and I, whether in marriage or love, are not free. At least now we have no way to make decisions for ourselves as free people. No matter how much Western education we receive, our families are traditional Chinese families..."
This sentence was basically spoken in English. Because his voice and pronunciation were so refreshing, Lin Chuwang reluctantly treated it as a return to school, doing a dictation, and quickly wrote it down on the paper.
"...I hope that when I return, we will both be free, if you are willing to wait for me. Of course, for someone like me, the phrase 'wait for me' is too much of a luxury."
Chu Wang hurriedly wrote a sentence, but Xie Zeyi suddenly said, "This sentence is not good."
Chu Wang paused and asked, "Should I cross it out and rewrite it?"
Xie Zeyi said calmly: "Just write it."
Chu Wang said, "It's okay. It's just two crosses. It just looks a little unsightly. Generally speaking, the more attractive a person is, the uglier their handwriting is. So based on this theory, my sister probably won't care how many patches you put on this letter."
Xie Zeyi laughed, "Whose theory is this?"
Chu Wang: "Uh... it still needs to be verified. Who knows, maybe someone will bring it up a hundred years later."
Xie Zeyi said, "Cross out that sentence."
Chu Wang nodded, and the tip of the pen drew several horizontal strokes on his back in a wild and unrestrained manner.
Xie Zeyi immediately said in broken Mandarin: "I wish you happiness - when I see the moon, I will wish you peace and happiness. But I also have a humble request: please forget me soon."
Chu Wang sighed and thought, "This love talk is fine, full marks. This scumbag is also quite fine, zero marks." Total score: failing.
After writing this sentence, Xie Zeyi said, "Regards, zoetse."
Chu Wang bit the pen cap, hesitated for a moment, and decided to make a slight change on his own: "Always your most sincere: Xie Zeyi."
Lin Chuwang, who had finally finished the English/Cantonese cloze test, let out a long sigh and unfolded the letter. "Would you like to take a look?"
Xie Zeyi shook his head, "No need."
Chu Wang folded the paper and put it in her pocket. She took a few steps forward and saw Xie Zeyi, a tall man, kneeling on one knee under her balcony, standing like a small mountain. This posture was very elegant. If someone else had done it, it might not have had such momentum and flavor.
Chu Wang was in a daze, wondering, what the hell is this guy doing?
Xie Zeyi tilted his head slightly and gestured with his shoulder, "Come up."
Chu Wang looked at his coat, which might be worth quite a bit of money, and exclaimed, "Huh?"
Xie Zeyi thought the height was still too high, so he squatted lower.
Chu Wang: "..."
Xie Zeyi looked up at her and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid."
Chu Wang was caught in a dilemma. He swallowed his saliva, climbed up with difficulty on his bent left leg, and sat on his shoulder.
Xie Zeyi gently held her elbow. "Are you sitting firmly?"
Chu Wang nodded, "It's stable."
Then Xie Zeyi slowly helped her stand up.
Chu Wang watched his altitude gradually increase, and thought to himself, it’s good to be tall, the field of vision is much wider and the scenery is better.
"Can it be done?" Xie Zeyi asked.
Chu Wang's line of sight was now level with the edge of her balcony. If she had learned rock climbing, climbing up like this wouldn't be a problem. However...
She shook her head. "I... don't have much strength in my hands."
After she finished speaking, she was lifted up by the waist. When she came to her senses, she was already sitting on the railing.
Chu Wang: “…” Why do I feel like I’m just an insignificant object?
When she jumped from the railing to the balcony and turned back, Xie Zeyi was no longer in the garden.
Running so fast... Lin Chuwang couldn't help scratching the back of his head, suspecting that he was just dreaming.
——
Still in confinement. Dier came over early in the morning to help her wash up, then went downstairs to get her breakfast.
Chu Wang felt more alert after washing his face. After a moment of calming down, he called Die'er, "Has today's newspaper arrived?"
Dier nodded, "The Hong Kong News just arrived."
Chu Wang said, "When you bring up breakfast, can you give me some too?"
Dier responded and went downstairs.
Die'er brought up breakfast and a newspaper. Lin Chuwang spread out the newspaper, sat upright, and read while eating.
Dier couldn't help laughing when she saw her appearance.
Chu Wang drank a sip of milk, with milk foam on his mouth. He asked in confusion, "What are you laughing at?"
Dier wiped her mouth and said, "Girl, if you put on a beard, you'll look like an old man from some family."
Chu Wang stuck out her tongue and laughed, then went to look for the news she wanted in the newspaper. But she didn't need to look for what she wanted to know, as it was prominently displayed on the front page of the Hong Kong News.
The news was:
"A match made in heaven: Ma Ling Qiao, the eldest daughter of Sir George Joe, of Hong Kong, and Mark Wong, the second son of Mr. Huang Xing, a Chinese expatriate in France, have tied the knot."
There were some random congratulatory messages written inside, and at the end, in bold, large, eye-catching words, it was written:
"Ms. Qiao was born with a brilliant mind, earning the affection of Sir Xie Hong, who adopted her as his adopted daughter. Upon hearing the good news, Sir Xie Hong was overjoyed and gifted his adopted daughter a property on Barton Road as a dowry."
Lin Chuwang couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, his aunt and Sir Xie really had the ability to turn things around. Overnight, Sister Ma Ling's marriage was settled and it even made the headlines in the newspapers.
Ma Ling's sister simply got a cheap imported godfather. It must be said that Sir Xie went to great lengths to clear his son of the matter. He was quite generous to casually give away a piece of property.
Having said that, Lin Chuwang didn't know whether he should sympathize with Sister Ma Ling or envy her.
Seeing that her doors and windows had been locked all night, Dier went to open the window for her to get some fresh air. As soon as she pushed the window open, light came in, and Dier couldn't help but exclaimed "Huh?"
Lin Chuwang asked, "What's the matter?"
Die'er raised her head towards the balcony and said, "Look, young lady."
Lin Chuwang followed her gaze.
Lin Chuwang: "..."
A circle of colorful bottles was placed on the balcony railing, as if a circle of colorful reliefs had grown on her white marble railing - all bottles of soda.
Lin Chuwang opened the door and stood on the balcony, looking down. No one was there. It was obvious that this person had put it up at night, or had gotten up very early.
She looked at the bottles of soda again. There were various brands of Sarsaparilla, glass bottles of Watsons Coca-Cola, and some sodas that she couldn't name, which looked like tropical fruit-flavored beer.
Bottles of glass were neatly stacked in a circle on the railing, which really made it difficult for him.
Die'er asked, "Where did all these drinks come from?"
Lin Chuwang sighed and asked Dier to fetch a box for her. Dier went down the hallway and retrieved a wooden crate from a previous sea move. It was slightly moldy from the humidity. Lin Chuwang nodded, thinking it would work, and asked Dier to help her stack the sodas on the balcony into the crate.
Just doing this made both of them sweat profusely. Lin Chuwang couldn't help but imagine how much effort it would take to put all those soda bottles up there one by one.
But when Die'er pushed the box into the room and stuffed it under her bed, Lin Chuwang threw himself on the bed with great joy: "Oh my God, I am so rich. I became rich overnight."
Dier smiled helplessly and shook her head.
Lin Chuwang then remembered something important and asked, "Is my aunt out?"
Dier nodded and said, "I'll go out after breakfast."
Lin Chuwang said, "Quick! Go and call big sister over!"
After a while, Qiao Ma Ling quietly opened her door and came in and asked impatiently, "He...he came over last night?"
Lin Chuwang nodded and moved to the side of the bed to make room for her.
After Qiao Maling sat down, Lin Chuwang took the letter out of his pocket and handed it to his sister.
Qiao Maling spread out the letter and saw patches of black and white on the paper. She smiled helplessly and said, "It's so ugly."
Lin Chuwang stuck out his tongue, it was just the situation that forced him to do so.
Qiao Ma Ling was a little confused again, "It's ugly, forget it, but why is it written horizontally?"
Lin Chuwang was stunned. That's right, horizontal writing from left to right hadn't been popularized at that time. She scratched her head and said, "Maybe it's just the English writing style."
Qiao Maling thought Xie Zeyi had written it stroke by stroke, and she couldn't help but feel deeply moved. "It's really hard for him."
His handwriting was once again despised. Lin Chuwang curled his lips and remained silent.
Qiao Maling quickly read the letter and said with a gloomy expression, "It's really over now."
Seeing that she was about to cry again, Lin Chuwang hurriedly comforted her, "Instead of living together in misery, it's better to forget each other. Maybe he will come back in three to five years, and you can..."
She originally wanted to say, "You're divorced too, so you two can happily embark on a stunning romance that will shake the heavens and tear the gods away." But then she realized she had just gotten engaged, so how could she curse someone for divorce? It seemed unlucky. So she changed her tone and said, "You have children now, and seeing them in the crowd would make you smile with relief."
"I smiled with relief," Qiao Ma Ling raised her eyebrows, "Well, this is also good."
Lin Chuwang thought for a moment, then asked, "Sister, is there anything you want to tell him?"
Qiao Ma Ling then took out a letter from her pocket and handed it to Lin Chuwang, "If he comes again, give this to him."
Lin Chuwang nodded, then remembered something, dragged the box of soda out from under the bed, and asked, "Sister, do you want some soda?"
Qiao Ma Ling finally smiled, a rare smile. "He really knows how to bribe children."
Lin Chuwang was indignant: What's wrong with me just liking to drink soda? Why do I become a child?
"Third sister, keep it and drink it slowly," Qiao Ma Ling scratched her forehead, "I, I have to go. If mom comes back and sees us, she will punish us."
The author has something to say: Although there are few people...
But I really want to collect a name with more connotation
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