Chapter 2: Mr. 002
The houses in the south of the Yangtze River are inevitably a bit cold and damp in February. With so many people crowded in the house, the noise and bustle are bound to make people feel a little stuffy.
The young man was wandering around the yard when he suddenly heard the intermittent coughing of a little girl in the alley. Puzzled, he stopped and suddenly saw a group of maids gossiping, saying things like, "Don't get infected," "Leave the medicine on the windowsill," and "It's unlucky."
The young man was furious when he heard this. He strode to find the source of the cough and stopped under the eaves of a dark house.
A window lattice was pierced through the bluestone wall, and a bowl of medicine sat high on it. He peered through the lattice and saw a nine-year-old girl in a midriff-baring gown, her cheeks rosy and her steps steady, though she was still coughing. The girl slowly slid down from the bed and walked towards the window. The boy was about to hide, but he realized the girl's height was just enough to block her from the high window sill. Without her, the bowl was carried away to her with a gurgle.
When the boy looked again, he saw the girl placing the medicine on the ground next to the charcoal fire. She held the tongs in both hands, picked up the charcoal from the charcoal basin one by one, put it into the medicine bowl and extinguished it.
The boy couldn't help but smile and turned away.
——
After Lin Zhi put out the fire, she finally lay back on the bed with peace of mind. Her stomach was empty, and she was thinking, if she went out now and asked the maid for food, wouldn't it be a little weird?
Just as she was thinking this, two maids suddenly came back. Lin Zhi thought to herself, "Why don't they mind my tuberculosis now?" At the same time, the two maids smoothly put on her coat, shoes and socks, and carried her to the main hall.
Arriving at the main hall, Lin Zhi saw a crowd of people inside. Sitting at the head of the table was a serious-looking, middle-aged man with a goatee, estimated to be about thirty-five years old.
Lin Zhi thought about it and felt that if he shaved his beard, he would look much younger and more handsome.
The middle-aged man with a goatee should be her father Lin Yu.
Lin Yu glanced at her, and everyone in the room said, "The third girl is the most mischievous in the family."
Everyone in the room immediately burst into joy, with laughter rising one after another.
At this time, a slightly older woman in a black long coat sitting at the head of the table beside Lin Yu said with a smile, "The third girl is shy, so she had to pretend to be sick and hide away from people."
A middle-aged man sat on the other side of Lin Yu. Hearing this, he also laughed and said, "Yan Sang said that his sister Chu Wang is the smartest. Although she is young, she understands some things that others don't understand."
Lin Yu looked at her with an annoyed look on his face, "Why don't you call Aunt and Uncle Si?"
Lin Zhixiao called out softly, "Aunt, Uncle."
Then Lin Yu said angrily, "And your brother Yan Sang."
Lin Zhi looked around in a hurry, scanning the crowd for a long time. Lin Yu angrily nodded and winked at her uncle. Only then did Lin Zhi realize that Yan Sang was only a boy of sixteen or seventeen years old.
The boy had his hair combed back, the fashionable style of the time, which accentuated his already handsome features. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, his figure standing straight as a hanger. He smiled at her, revealing his white teeth and a mischievous canine fang. Yes, this was what Si Yansang must have looked like as a teenager.
Before Si Yansang could speak, the eleven or twelve-year-old girl next to her aunt said in a soft, thin voice, "Third sister knew that Brother Yansang was coming today, but she acted so arrogant and refused to come out to see anyone, forcing someone to go look for him."
At this time, Si Yansang spoke up, and seemed quite happy after hearing what she said. She leaned over and asked softly, "Is that so, Third Sister?"
Before Lin Zhi could answer, her aunt laughed again and said, "Yan Sang, tell me, what did the third sister do that you discovered?"
Before Si Yansang could say anything, her second sister Lin Yunyan spoke first, "She pretended to be sick all night and tricked away all the maids and servants who served her. She refused to take medicine and just played with charcoal and water in the house."
Si Yansang shook his head and said, "Second sister is not entirely right." He immediately looked up and smiled at Lin Zhi with a brilliant canine smile, "If it were me, I would have simply driven those girls away in one go to avoid getting angry."
The maid holding her froze in her arms, and hurriedly explained, "What are you talking about, Master Si? The young lady is sending us away, and we don't want to cause trouble in front of others."
Having been brought up there, Si Yansang couldn't get angry. A hint of displeasure flashed across his face, but he smiled at Lin Zhi and said, "If it weren't for Third Sister's extraordinary intelligence, I'm afraid she would have been killed in the house by that ignorant girl."
Lin Yu shouted, and the girl holding Lin Zhi hurriedly knelt down. Lin Zhi also got out of her arms and stood aside.
The little girl kept shouting "I dare not", which made Lin Zhi have a splitting headache.
As others were criticizing him one by one, Lin Zhi thought to himself: the original Lin Chuwang is gone, and the real culprit is actually the father in the hall. This maid can only be considered an accomplice to his indifference.
The girl seemed to be looking for an easy target and kept looking at her, hoping that she could say a few good words for her.
She tried to minimize her presence, quietly walking to the far corner, ready to wait and see what would happen. However, her eldest aunt was unwilling to let her go, and immediately asked, "Third girl, this is your maid. Tell me, how do you plan to punish her?"
How should she punish him? It was a major holiday, and if she punished him too lightly or too harshly, she would be criticized by others. So she said, "I always listen to my father and my second sister."
After she finished speaking, she smiled at everyone with a well-behaved face, and was very happy in her heart: I am so clever.
She was not happy for even a minute. The second sister was about to punish the maid on her behalf, but was immediately interrupted by her aunt.
The eldest aunt didn't seem to intend to let her go. She smiled and said, "I'm here today. Let your father decide for you how to punish her."
Lin Zhi was somewhat speechless under the expectant gazes of the crowd: "..."
Well……
Fortunately, my fiancé's classmate smiled and said, "Since Third Sister is in such a difficult situation, please don't embarrass her."
She was extremely grateful and immediately looked to her fiancé's classmates for help.
The second sister immediately sneered at her: "You are looking at Brother Yan Sang like this, are you asking him to punish our Lin family girl for you?"
Yan Sang smiled frankly and said, "Oh? Is this okay?"
Everyone in the room's expressions changed. Si Ying coughed lightly and said with a hint of anger, "Yan Sang!" He immediately apologized to his friend, saying, "Yan Sang has only recently returned to China and doesn't quite understand the rules."
Lin Yu immediately smiled and smoothed things over: "Nothing. Since Yan Sang is so kind, and you were the first to discover this unruly maid, why not do the Third Girl a small favor and punish this maid."
Yan Sang didn't understand the reason and said with a smile, "Great." After thinking for a moment, he said cheerfully, "I just learned an idiom called 'leaving the family with nothing'. Why not tell her family not to take a penny and send her back home immediately—"
The girl immediately knelt down and cried.
Yan Sang continued, "If you kneel down and kowtow to Third Sister and admit your mistakes a hundred times..."
Lin Zhi looked disgusted. When the girl knelt down and kowtowed to her, she immediately retreated to the corner and waved her hand, "No need to kowtow."
Yan Sang immediately fell silent and looked at her with a smile: "Are you satisfied, Third Sister?"
Lin Zhi nodded gratefully.
Lin Yu grunted, "Let's do as Master Si said. Someone, send her back to her hometown in the countryside of Wuxi."
The maid was dragged out crying.
After dismissing the maid, Lin Yu was about to reprimand Lin Zhi when Yan Sang spoke first, "Sister, your skill in burning charcoal was taught to you by your teacher when you were in high school in England with your father. Back home, the maids would carry it outside and bury it in the ground. Third sister, knowing she was not strong enough, used a more clever method, using local materials. Tell me, isn't that clever?"
Lin Yunyan's face darkened as she heard this. "When father taught me lessons, my third sister was the slowest to learn. It's more like a coincidence than a clever one."
After she finished speaking, Lin Yu smiled and said, "The smartest and most well-behaved girl in the family is definitely the second girl. Even at such a young age, she's even better at writing poems than her brother."
The eldest aunt nodded in praise, "I've seen Yunyan's talent and knowledge before. It's no exaggeration to say that a child as clever as him wouldn't appear again in a hundred years. Times have changed. In the past, people said, 'Virtue lies in the absence of talent.' Nowadays, any wealthy family in Shanghai with a little money is eager to send their children abroad to study."
Lin Yu turned around and asked Si Ying, "After the spring, the eldest master will also go to Germany, right?"
Si Ying turned around and gave his son a kind look. Si Yansang smiled and nodded, saying, "Stay a year longer. Wait until you graduate from high school and come back... then go to college."
So Lin Zhi's aunt smiled and joked, "When you graduate from high school, your third sister will only be twelve years old. It would be better for her to finish her studies in one go and get married right after returning from college."
As soon as she finished speaking, the adults all laughed. Lin Zhi looked up at the other teenagers. Yan Sang didn't comment, her eyes narrowed slightly with laughter. Her second sister, Yun Yan, huddled in a rattan chair, her eyes flicking back and forth between her and Si Yan Sang.
Amidst the laughter, a young man entered, about the same age as Si Yansang. He had heard the conversation from afar and, entering, joined in, saying, "It's been six years since we've been back and forth. Don't forget to write to Third Sister more often. It's always good to share your experiences and insights."
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