Chapter 130: Five-four gathering and separation
Judging from his leisurely pace, he seemed to have been lurking on the other side of the street for a long time, waiting for the two of them to finish chatting before walking across the street.
"Have you talked about it?" he asked.
"Um."
"That's good."
She looked up, but before she could ask, the Buick driven by the Ge family's driver and a Ford driven by a British officer stopped beside them.
The Ford stopped first, and a lieutenant with brown eyes, a plain face, and a stocky build got out. He spoke quickly to Xie Zeyi, saying, "Sir, the consul wants you to return to the consulate immediately." Then he added, "He looks very bad."
Xie Zeyi smiled and said, "Let him wait." He then thoughtfully found a good excuse for him, "Tell him that no one is taking my wife home."
The lieutenant glanced at the Ge family driver who was standing next to Chu Wang and was ignored by him, feeling torn.
The Ge family driver finally couldn't help himself and stuck his head out and said, "Thank you, Mr. Ge, Mrs. Ge ordered me to take the young lady home on time at lunch time."
Xie Zeyi asked, "Is it different if I send her? Could it be that Mrs. Ge has forbidden me from dating my wife?"
The driver struggled weakly: "Xie Shao, you..."
Xie Zeyi added, "Otherwise, I'll have to trouble you to drive me back to the British Consulate from the Ge Mansion later."
The driver fell silent.
Chu Wang remembered what Mrs. Ge had said to him: "The bride of the Xie family showed up at the wedding with a big belly, and then after the wedding, she continued to come for the full moon banquet for five months. There are so many people around the world waiting to see you make a fool of yourself."
However, she thought that Mrs. Ge herself was the most fashionable woman of this era. If it happened to her, she would never mind such trivial matters. But if it happened to her, Mrs. Ge, as the head of the family, would definitely be more old-fashioned and strict, carefully guarding against any chance of Xie Zeyi and her losing control of themselves and having a fight.
Therefore, every time she thought of this sentence, she would laugh to herself.
He took the car keys from the adjutant, and when she got into the Ford, she was unexpectedly kissed by the person in the driver's seat.
When she came to her senses, Xie Zeyi was already in a good mood, starting the car, with the Ge family driver following behind. She hadn't slept well the previous night, and her complexion was a little off. She casually smeared watermelon-colored lipstick on her way out. Instead of eating her breakfast, he kissed her.
She pointed it out with a smile, and he was too lazy to let go of the wheel and tried to lick it off.
She bought this one from the mall. The ingredients of lipstick during that period were unknown. She hurriedly wiped it off for him with her finger and said with a smile, "Is the lipstick delicious?"
"Because she's Mrs. Xie, she looks delicious."
She finally understood: it was indeed he who had instructed her to say those words. Suddenly, she asked, "Where is Bian Jieming?"
"Back to England."
"Is he on holiday, or has his term in Shanghai expired?"
"No more old stuff."
Lao Fan is the common name for colonial invaders.
He used more euphemistic words, but Chu Wang could still roughly understand that Bian Jieming was among the more than one hundred low-ranking military officers who were publicly tried and dismissed from their posts and sentenced to prison a few months ago.
Seeing her lower her head in silence, Xie Zeyi said, "Don't feel sorry. In the third month after arriving in Shanghai, he accidentally injured a boilerman while on duty. He died in front of him with twenty-three bullet holes in his body. The Shanghai officials waved their hands and said, 'It was just bad luck.' Without a word, easily, he wiped out his first murder case in his life, leaving him with no room for psychological burden. As a result, he gradually stopped taking it seriously. He did not hesitate to beat up poor people in the street, and he killed more than one or two Chinese people in vain. Later, he easily spent his 100-pound salary on prostitutes sent to banquets by the Provisional Government. He was full of ostentation, but I never asked where the money came from. He must have also smuggled opium and bought and sold people from White Russian nobles who lived on the streets of Shanghai."
Chu Wang was moved by what he heard. These words were so similar to what Xie Zeyi had said to him at the Red Cross Hospital.
He then added, "We went to the same school for three years, and after graduation, we came to the concession together from the United States. Before coming to Shanghai, I was stoned by striking coolies in Jinshan and Vancouver, but I never looked down on any Chinese. In Hudson, New York, I would blush even if I said a few more words to a girl. The concession was truly amazing."
The most terrifying thing is not discrimination, but the fact that the Chinese themselves agree that they are inferior to others, give up their dignity and watch themselves and their compatriots being trampled upon.
Is that why he hated the concession so much that he risked being charged with espionage and fought hard to make it disappear as soon as possible?
Chu Wang still couldn't figure out where his sudden and extremely strong sense of justice came from.
The kerosene stove radio broadcast the latest news from Shanghai, "...all land purchased in Shanghai since the 23rd and 26th years of the Daoguang reign, after the opening of the five ports to trade, will be returned to the Shanghai Municipal Government within eight years..."
She flipped the switch and suddenly asked, "Mr. Xie, which country are you loyal to?"
Xie Zeyi smiled and said, "I remember I told you that I never considered myself British, nor did I consider myself Chinese."
She stared at him intently. "So you're doing this just to assuage the guilt for yourself and the country you identify with?"
"A small part."
"What about the other part?"
He turned his head and narrowed his eyes slightly: "You told me what to do."
She was stunned. "When did I tell you this?"
At this time, the car had entered Park Lane and stopped not far from Ge Mansion.
"We're home, get out of the car quickly."
Seeing that she was unmoved and stared at him eagerly in the passenger seat, Xie Zeyi said helplessly, "I can't answer this question for you here. Please go home and think about it carefully."
She finally stopped asking questions, sighed, opened the car door, stepped out, and turned back to ask, "Are you still busy recently?"
"Some. A group of Englishmen waiting to question me."
"Isn't that too much trouble for you?"
"Not really, ma'am, please rest assured. In the whole of Shanghai, no one has a higher military rank than Mr. Xie. Even the British consul has to act according to my mood." He smiled.
Excellent. A general who is not subject to military orders while on the move, and a second Julcha who can run rampant in the Far East with impunity.
The captain who had dared to disobey even Julcha in the past now pried him off the position with his own hands and took his place.
She half-knelt on one leg on the passenger seat, leaned over, grabbed his military tie, pulled it over, and kissed his lips and cheeks profusely.
After kissing him, she adjusted his tie and buttons, stared at him and asked, "Mr. Xie, when is our next date?"
He smiled and said, "Next time, I will take you from your parents' home to your new home."
She nodded, closed the car door and strode away.
——
Mrs. Ge was indeed waiting for her at the dining table. She asked, "Did Xie Zeyi send you back?"
She reported truthfully, "The meeting lasted ten minutes in total."
Mrs. Ge glanced at her sideways, as if she didn't want to pay any attention to her.
Then he asked, "Did that kid tell you that Lin Yu's mistress had gone to Xie Hong to cause trouble?"
Chu Wang sat down and ate Yuhuan pomelo with her. "What's the fuss?"
"Money."
She raised her eyes and thought for a moment before coming to the conclusion: "Dowry."
"I really underestimated her." Mrs. Ge snorted.
"Is Sir Xie moved by a woman's tears?"
Mrs. Ge rolled her eyes at her. "It's so much harder for her to get even a little money from Xie Hong than from me. She's just daydreaming. She should be carried away and thrown out by the servants."
A woman went alone into a den of thieves, not only got nothing, but also suffered countless ridicules. Oh, that's really miserable, she thought as she ate.
Mrs. Ge added, "The Zheng family saw their daughter leave the dance hall arm in arm with a British officer at 10 p.m., and they came to ask her if she wanted to break off the engagement. She agreed so readily, completely unaware that Lin Yu had already run out of money trying to raise your dowry and couldn't afford the betrothal gift. They were furious and accused her of corrupting their daughter."
Chu Wang curled his lips and said, "It's his own fault. He has such poor vision."
"Snakes and rats are of the same ilk." Mrs. Ge added, "Don't go out much these days. Be careful that Lin Yu gets desperate and asks you for money to supplement the Zheng family's gift money."
Chu Wang thought of Lin Yu's usual upright demeanor, and wondered how his aloofness seemed to contradict historical facts. So he quipped, "How could he have fallen so far?"
However, since Mrs. Ge had ordered her not to go out, she had no choice but to stay at home and listen.
Modifying the treaty wasn't the best outcome. Eight years had passed, and they were separated by vast seas and vast oceans. Neither Chels nor Zhenzhen had the patience. She also didn't feel like going to the dock to witness Chels' farewell to Zhenzhen, and then wasting her tears as a bystander.
At dinnertime, Miya immediately called the Ge Mansion and vividly described how Chelsea had driven to the dock, jumped onto the passenger ladder as the Eisenbeck was about to set sail, and then, after the ladder had retracted into the ship, rushed to the deck. In full view of everyone, he passionately kissed Zhenzhen, who was bidding a tearful farewell to her father and friends on deck.
Mr. Xue would probably be so angry that he would vomit three liters of blood on the spot.
Thinking of this scene, Chu Wang couldn't stop laughing.
"What happens next?" Chu Wang asked. Chelsea had official business to attend to, so he wouldn't go back to Britain with Zhenzhen empty-handed.
"All the stops along the way were in British territories, so Chelsea could have come back at any time. As for whether he had the audacity to persuade Zhenzhen to return with him at that time, it's hard to say."
She didn't know if Zhenzhen would return to Shanghai in the near future. However, starting today, the other person would be away for a long time.
After dinner, the lawyer came to visit, and Mrs. Ge asked her to go to the warehouse to count the dowry. Part of it was deposited in the Hong Kong HSBC Bank in her name; the other part of the small items and jewelry were given to her to carry with her.
All those words and paintings were put into boxes one by one, waiting to be deposited in the bank. Every time he moved something, the lawyer would cross out a line.
Mrs. Ge was very surprised because she found that the estimated total amount of the dowry was almost the same as the lawyer's letter, except for one thing. Lin Yu forgot to ask for it from his sister, so he ended up like this.
She murmured, "He values family ties so much, why is he so mean to her and you?"
When they were almost done moving, Mrs. Ge opened a jewelry cabinet and asked her to pick out some nice jewelry to wear with her.
She immediately spotted a familiar gold locket. Its gold content wasn't high, and it wasn't crafted by a master craftsman. Anything else in the room easily outstripped its value. Yet Chu Wang could recite its origins: "It was the wedding of an old friend. Despite being poor and ill, Si Ying still brought his wife to visit. His wife was delighted by the bride's beauty and gentle demeanor, so she took off her gold locket and gave it to him as a token of their engagement. That year was the fourth day of the third month of the 34th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1908)."
At the end of that year, Si Ying and his family fled to Japan. The following year, Yan Sang was born, and five years later, Lin Chuwang was born.
Thus began a story that made people in later generations laugh and cry.
She put the gold lock in her arms and didn't even look at anything else.
He also had a unique gift from her. She also asked for something that was unique to her in the world. Wasn't that too much to ask?
This marks the end of the feud between the two families and their past.
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