Chapter 31: Xu's Residence and the Tennis Court (Part 1)
In fact, Chu Wang had no intention of interfering in whether Mrs. Qiao's adoption plan would succeed or whether Leon could go to a good school. If there was any serious concern, it was simply that with the departure of Mr. Qiao, Xue Zhenzhen would lose another supporter in the Qiao Mansion; if Aunt Michelle also left, Mrs. Qiao might direct her many grievances towards Zhenzhen and her.
This is not a big deal, but once her aunt and Leon leave, her life may not be comfortable enough.
But she had another plan in mind.
The day after talking to Aunt Michelle, Chu Wang found a coin-operated telephone booth on Nathan Road on his way to the tailor shop and dialed the five-digit number that Xu Shaoqian had reported in the seminary library a few weeks ago.
After a while, the operator came on the other end and asked lazily in Cantonese, "Who's calling?"
"Please help me connect to Xu..." Chu Wang thought for a moment and said, "Xu Mansion."
Hearing the voice of a child, speaking Cantonese very poorly, the operator grew even more impatient, responded with a few random words, and then hung up the phone. The other end kept beeping for a long time, each beep accompanied by a noisy electric current sound, making Xu Shaoqian's voice seem particularly pleasing when it sounded.
Xu Shaoqian helloed and stopped talking. Chu Wang asked slowly, "Hello, Professor Xu, I'm Linzy. I thought you weren't home."
The person on the other end of the line laughed and said, "Well, I know it's you."
Chu Wang suppressed her laughter, thinking, there was no caller ID in those days. She held back her laughter and asked directly, "Has Mr. Xu found a suitable tutor?"
"There are quite a few suitable English teachers, and I think I've already found one; the other one hasn't been found yet."
"I don't think you need any other; I think I can handle both languages," she said. "I will only take the salary you would pay for a teacher."
"Hmm, that sounds good. May I ask what made you change your mind?"
"I admit that I do need your help. But I have a condition: please allow me to bring my younger brother along. I'm sure Professor Xu knows that having a study partner is very beneficial for language learning."
Xu Shaoqian's answer was very concise: "Yes."
After a pause, he asked again: "Then may I ask, what do I need to do to give your family a reasonable explanation?"
Chu Wang thought for a moment and then said, "Could you please send two English invitations to the Qiao Mansion in the names of Mrs. Xu and Professor Xu respectively? One invitation to Mrs. Qiao's legitimate son, Leon, to come to the Xu Mansion to study English and Latin with your nephew. The other invitation, in your name, to invite me to become your preparatory student and study Latin at the Xu Mansion?"
He thought for a moment and smiled, "No problem for me. As for my wife, I'll have to ask her first."
Chu Wang said in advance, "Thank you, Professor Xu, and thank Mrs. Xu for me."
Xu Shaoqian said goodbye to her with a smile, and waited very gentlemanly for her to hang up the phone first.
Chu Wang thought: If Mrs. Qiao really registered Leon as her own, wouldn't there be gossip when she brought her brother to visit others in the future? Leon was almost nine years old now, and no matter what happened, he could still be considered a fighting force. Besides, she had her own way of preventing Leon from telling Mrs. Qiao and Zhenzhen who the real tutor was.
At the Qiao Mansion, Michelle fought tooth and nail for her son's future. After agreeing on basic needs, housing, and preschool, Aunt Michelle and Mrs. Qiao argued endlessly over whether to send him to Queen's College or St. Joseph's College, much to the dismay of Xue Zhenzhen, who was acting as a semi-simultaneous interpreter.
Mrs. Qiao scoffed. "The difference between the two schools isn't that great, except that the former needs to hire an additional Latin teacher before enrollment. Do you know what the hourly wage is for Latin teachers in Hong Kong these days? You never know how expensive food and fuel are until you manage the household."
Xue Zhenzhen was troubled by the saying "One who doesn't manage the household doesn't know how expensive firewood and rice are", so she had to translate it word for word to Aunt Michelle.
Aunt Michelle asked in return, "What does the price of rice have to do with whether Leon learns Latin? Do people still need firewood in China these days?" Then she insisted on her point, "Chu Wang told me that if you adopt Leon as your own son, you will definitely send him to Queen's College, the best school in Hong Kong!"
Mrs. Qiao was so angry that Chu Wang gnashed his teeth. The two of them went to call Chu Wang over and sandwiched her between them. One of them asked, "You promised me that, but where can I find a Latin teacher?" The other one, with red eyes, asked in disbelief, "Chu Wang, did you and Madam conspire to deceive me?"
Xue Zhenzhen said helplessly: "You dug this mess yourself, I can't help you."
Chu Wang was neither anxious nor angry, and drank his milk leisurely. Sometimes when he was in a good mood, he would kindly advise the two ladies: "Aunt, Auntie, I think it's not too late for you to argue for two days."
The two remained unconvinced and argued for two more days. Two days later, letters from the Xu Residence and the University of Hong Kong plunged the entire Xu Residence into a long silence.
Unexpectedly, Yun Yan was even calmer than Chu Wang. He said to Zhen Zhen calmly, "I remember that the student with the best grades in our class is not Zhen Zhen's sister, right?"
"My younger sister has entered the university preparatory course first, and I haven't even passed the English test yet; anyway, I'm not the one who is embarrassed." Zhenzhen glared back with a smile.
Mrs. Qiao, however, had forgotten to congratulate and express her condolences to her two nieces. Her mind was completely focused on another letter. Throughout breakfast, she kept muttering, "I hear the Xu family is a famous textile industrial family in Guangzhou. Mrs. Xu's invitation means you're interested in making some friends."
She excitedly called Zhao Ma and asked her to go to the next building to tell Michelle that Leon had found a Latin teacher.
Afterwards, Mrs. Qiao called Mr. Qiao again without stopping, reminding him to call the Chinese and English newspapers in Hong Kong and ask them to place an advertisement in both newspapers tomorrow to indicate that he had decided to record Leon as his legitimate son.
Watching Mrs. Qiao anxiously and happily speculating about Mrs. Xu's intentions in the Qiao Mansion, Chu Wang, as the hero behind the scenes, was completely ignored by Mrs. Qiao from beginning to end, so much so that when the day of taking Leon to Xu Mansion was approaching, he did not receive the lady's kind congratulations.
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The Xu Residence, where Chu Wang first visited, was located on Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok. While it was called a residence, it was actually just a simple, standalone building, tucked away behind the archway in Mong Kok. There wasn't even a fence, just a few clumps of overgrown flowers and plants, separating the residence from the archway and demarcating the property.
She rang the doorbell, and after a while, an old woman came stumbling over to open the door for them. Through the crack in the door, she cautiously asked in Cantonese, "Excuse me, are you..."
Chu Wang said: "I am Professor Xu's student, Linzy. I wonder if the professor has mentioned it?"
At this moment, the old woman's face changed drastically. She ran in almost in a panic, saying, "Madam! Madam! The teacher that the gentleman mentioned has arrived early..."
Chu Wang looked at the time. Fortunately, it was only fifteen minutes earlier than the agreed time of 2 o'clock.
After a while, the old woman came running over in a panic again, and very embarrassedly invited Chu Wang and Leon into the house to sit on the sofa, and immediately ran upstairs, leaving Chu Wang and Leon sitting stiffly on the sofa looking at each other.
The interior of the mansion was probably similar to the outside: the furniture was complete, but there was nothing else besides the furniture; the house was neat and clean, but too neat and clean, without a trace of life. Perhaps the owner only regarded it as a residence, not a warm nest to live in.
Because the room was empty, all the sounds were audible. Chu Wang just wanted to lie on the sofa and stare blankly, but he inexplicably heard the shadows of a series of family disputes.
A woman's voice, slightly smoky, probably that of Mrs. Xu, said, "Why is that English gentleman here so early?... Madam Wen, why don't you go downstairs and offer them some tea and fruit? The master isn't home, so don't let them feel neglected."
Wen Ma coughed twice and said, "There's not even a tea dregs left at home, let alone tea. There are some vegetables and fruits... but I haven't eaten the winter melon and apples you brought from your hometown last month. They're all infested with worms, right?"
Mrs. Xu then said, "Or, why don't you go knock on Wenjun's door and ask him to go downstairs and see the gentleman first?"
Wen Ma said, "I went to ask for your help a long time ago. I don't know where Master Wenjun got his weird temper from. He must be mad at you for smoking with the door open. He knocked for a long time but refused to answer me."
Mrs. Xu sighed, "You...please help me tidy up my clothes and hair, and help me downstairs."
At this moment, the door of another room on the second floor opened and slammed shut. Heavy, rapid footsteps echoed from the stairs. A moment later, a boy in a brown youth uniform hurried downstairs and ran to Chu Wang and Leon. On his angry face, a pair of cool eyes swept from the blond, blue-eyed Leon to Chu Wang, who was more than half a head taller than Leon. He turned his head rudely and asked upstairs, "Didn't you say the master was here? Where's the master?"
The author has something to say: This chapter... doesn't seem particularly well written. A lot of things aren't expressed well. I ran out of my drafts on a trip, and I've had very little time to update lately. It's easy to write a chapter on the spur of the moment and be dissatisfied with many aspects.
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Ye Wenyu is from far away and is already in college... The one to be adopted is another nephew, who is about the same age as Leon and will be in middle school. ==
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The heroine's image: You often can't remember what she looks like. She has no presence and speaks very little, but she's actually very thoughtful and observant. Consider this: a 25-year-old otaku with 800 degrees of myopia, panda eyes and a poker face year-round. In another five years, she'll be a professor who looks like a female dean.
Do you have some misunderstanding about female doctors? Female doctors are not female White Bone Demons. There's no such thing as competence, only the so-called: Foolish people of the world, please don't talk to me. I just want to think quietly. My IQ is higher than yours. As an immortal, I don't care about your mortal quarrels. No matter how fierce the quarrel, I will remain quiet and peaceful. You can't disturb me.
This is especially true for female PhDs in science and engineering. They perceive all the complexities before them as symbols. After statistical calculations, they conclude that they are not much different from a computer. They only execute the commands they deem most optimized, and any subcommands that don't affect the main command can be completely eliminated.
That is to say, for example, when playing a game: if the side quest does not affect the main quest and there is no additional gain, then the side quest = 0 and only the main quest is executed.
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Next week I'm leaving a place I've lived in for almost four years. There's all this packing, logging off the internet, checking out, canceling my account, canceling my bank card... All I can say is: bureaucracy is doomed, and long live socialism.
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Chu Wang is more careful now, please don't blame her.
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