Chapter 32: Xu's House and the Tennis Court Part 2
Chu Wang looked straight past the restless boy in front of him and towards the large clock beside the closet. The pendulum swung a few times and then began to chime - it was exactly two o'clock.
At this moment, the door clicked and Mrs. Xu's voice came from the stairs: "Is the master back?"
A voice answered at the door, "You're back. Is the master here?"
Mrs. Xu said, "I've been here for a long time."
Chu Wang heard a voice near the door saying "Why are you here so early?", so he sat up from the sofa with Leon, bowed respectfully and said "Hello, Professor Xu".
Xu Shaoqian glanced briefly at the three people sitting by the sofa, smiling and nodding in a friendly gesture. Seeing Wen Jun's expression, he squinted his eyes towards the stairs and asked softly, "Did you smoke again?"
Chu Wang also looked in that direction. He saw a frail woman descending from the upper floor, led by an old maid in a yellow cloth jacket, slowly walking towards the living room. Mrs. Xu was very thin, so the slim, medium-sleeved cheongsam in gold satin seemed airy and fluttering on her, letting the wind blow through her as she walked. This cheongsam style was currently the most fashionable among young women, flattering the figure, but on Mrs. Xu, it simply added a touch of bleakness and frosting. Her hair was black and shiny, tied in a bun. Aunt Wen helped her sit shakily on a leather sofa not far from Chu Wang. Chu Wang then realized the source of her slow, swaying gait: beneath her long cheongsam lay a pair of slender, three-inch golden lotus feet that could be held in one hand.
Chu Wang only smiled at Mrs. Xu as a gesture of friendship since it was their first meeting, and didn't look at her for too long. But Mrs. Xu's eyes were fixed on her from head to toe: a kind look, an older woman's appreciation for a younger girl, with a little bit of doting and concern that was beyond words.
She was undecided about whether to call her "Mrs. Xu." Judging from her appearance, she looked to be in her thirties, perhaps thirty-five or thirty-six. She looked at least ten years older than Mr. Xu, so she just smiled back at Mrs. Xu. Then, as if to help out, Xu Shaoqian naturally leaned on the armrest of Mrs. Xu's sofa, one hand resting on the back of the chair behind her, which made Mrs. Xu look even older. Mrs. Xu seemed to know this, and angrily said to everyone, "I really don't like sitting with him. It makes me look a few years older for no reason."
Chu Wang then gave an apologetic smile: "Mrs. Xu is not old, she just looks more stable than Mr. Xu."
Xu Shaoqian smiled and said gently, "Madam, do you think my instability is making her old?"
Xu Wenjun was thinking about the teacher who would come today, so he asked anxiously, "Didn't he say he would be here at two o'clock?"
Mrs. Xu then nodded towards Chu Wang and said, "Isn't it over there?"
Wen Jun then turned back and took another look at Chu Wang. Although she was taller than him, she was only about half a head taller. She had fair skin and was more handsome than the other girls, but she wore a look of studied maturity and indifference that reminded him of the didactic teachers in his old school. Her eyes were not large, but they were exceptionally dark. He couldn't tell whether they were lifeless or full of insight.
Wen Jun asked doubtfully, "How old are you?"
Chu Wang didn't even blink: "Sixteen."
Wen Jun then opened his mouth slightly and looked at Mr. Xu with a questioning look. Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xu both looked at Chu Wang with a smile, neither exposing nor commenting, but just giving a very consistent faint smile.
Wen Jun couldn't help but look at Chu Wang again: based on her looks, he wouldn't doubt that she was the same age as him; but the expression on that slightly chubby face was something that a child of the same age would never have.
Xu Wenjun still didn't quite believe it, so he said to Chu Wang in English: "My name is Wenjun Xu, and I studied English for three months before coming to Hong Kong."
The pronunciation is very rhythmic and standard Chinese English.
Chu Wang smiled and said, "I'm Linzy. I'll teach you English for a while first. After about three months, we'll start learning Latin."
The Scottish accent is occasionally interspersed with one or two American pronunciations.
Leon finally understood these two sentences. His native language was Portuguese, and he could speak very little English, but every sentence Mr. Qiao taught him was spoken with a pure British accent: "I am Leon, your classmate."
Wenjun was still not happy: "I thought it would be a British teacher."
Chu Wang smiled gently and said, "I think different countries and different races naturally have different ways of understanding languages. Unless you are in the golden period of learning a language, you can be taught by a native British person. But Wenjun, you are not a two-year-old child anymore, right?" After saying that, she looked at Leon again, "Now, you have a very good study partner."
Wenjun struggled to follow the flow of long English paragraphs, so he only roughly understood the last sentence. Chu Wang smiled and asked, "You don't understand, huh? Then you should be more humble and learn."
Xu Wenjun was embarrassed by her words, and the arrogance and dominance on his face were reduced by 7 or 8 points. In front of Mr. and Mrs. Xu, Chu Wang was not afraid. He opened the textbook prepared by the Xu family, asked Xu Wenjun a few questions, and then began to explain naturally and calmly.
Mrs. Xu looked at the three heads gathered around the coffee table and couldn't help but smile. She then hurriedly called Wen Ma over and asked her to go to the store to buy some fresh fruit.
——
Most doctoral students serve as teaching assistants under their professors. Professors are naturally overwhelmed, and sometimes, when they're too busy to teach students, they delegate the work of doctoral students to undergraduates. Sometimes, when a professor's schedule is so tight, she'll teach the entire semester. Since she started teaching, she's realized that the 45-minute lecture and 15-minute break between classes is actually a concession to professors, allowing them to rest and recuperate.
In those days, there were no loudspeakers or PowerPoint presentations, so lecturing college students was likely quite demanding. Xu Shaoqian probably knew this, so at a quarter to three, he had his wife tell Mrs. Xu to tell Aunt Zhao to call the three children over for some fruit.
Mrs. Xu was particularly flattering towards Xu Wenjun. With a smile on her face, she asked, "How was Mr. Xin's class?"
Xu Wenjun was eating dragon fruit silently, as if he didn't hear her and just ignored her.
Mrs. Xu seemed accustomed to this, so Xu Shaoqian looked up and asked Wen Ma, "You're unhappy again, what's going on?"
Wen's mother then complained, "My wife took him to a restaurant for a seafood meal at noon. She felt a little sleepy when she came back. She was afraid she would fall asleep before her husband came, so she couldn't help but smoke a few times, and Master Wenjun smelled the scent."
Wenjun was furious: "Only two? The whole room is filled with smoke, like he's ascending to heaven. Are you afraid that others don't know that there's a heavy smoker living in the Xu Mansion?"
Xu Shaoqian glanced at Xu Wenjun and sneered, "Madam brought you here from the interior, but how could she have treated you badly? You've developed such a bad temper, huh? I'd really like to hear what you have to say."
He had always been a gentle person, with a warm smile on his face, making people feel warm and relaxed even before he spoke. But no one had expected that Xu Shaoqian, as the head of the family, would possess such a powerful aura of authority without even getting angry.
Wen Jun was also stunned, and with a lot of resentment in his heart, he could only lower his head.
The entire mansion was already cold and quiet, and the utter silence made it even more chilling. Chu Wang wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure how serious a sin it was for a woman to smoke in an old-fashioned family. She didn't have much say, though. After all, she'd been a fan in her previous life: two red Marlboros when she got tired from staying up late. It was refreshing and cheerful, better than being a god.
Mrs. Xu smiled and tugged at Xu Shaoqian's shirt, saying, "It's not Wenjun's fault. To be honest, I can't get used to this villa: each room is enclosed in a square stone box, and any smell in this house can be smelled everywhere - it's still more comfortable to live in an old house with a single entrance and a single room."
Xu Wenjun glanced at Xu Shaoqian's expression, stared at the half dragon fruit in front of him, and whispered, "I went to look at houses with my wife a few days ago."
Xu Shaoqian hummed calmly, and when he turned to ask Mrs. Xu, his expression eased a little: "Which one did you like?"
Mrs. Xu thought for a moment and said, "Outside the Gray Highway, the one with the palm trees. That road only has an English name, but I can't remember it."
Without even looking up, Xu Wenjun said, "lotusa|venue."
Xu Shaoqian hummed, "That's where all the old houses that haven't been demolished are."
Mrs. Xu said, "That house looks good to me! It has a big yard, and you could find someone to plant some flowers and plants there. It'll have some life. It's nothing like your place, which is completely deserted! If you didn't know, you'd think it was an abandoned house..." Mrs. Xu smiled and told Chu Wang a funny story about Xu Shaoqian: "When I was in Guangzhou, I thought he was living a life of extravagance and debauchery in Hong Kong, but when I first came to stay with him, he didn't even have a pair of decent chopsticks in his house. What a waste I brought all those fresh vegetables from home."
Chu Wang looked at Mrs. Xu and smiled, "Professor Xu must be very busy at school."
Mrs. Xu looked at her with increasing fondness. After a while, she suddenly remembered something important and said, "Oh, right. I like that house for another reason: it's old, but it has a brand new tennis court in the yard." She then turned to ask Xu Shaoqian, "I remember Wenyu is a very good tennis player, isn't he?" After receiving Xu Shaoqian's nod of agreement, she smiled and said to Chu Wang, "When the yard is cleaned up, you can invite some classmates over to play when you have time. I'll ask Wenyu and the others to teach you how to play tennis."
Chu Wang smiled and hummed.
The two-hour class ended quickly. Although she'd assumed her salary was paid monthly, Mrs. Xu insisted on personally getting the money to pay her that day's wages. Chu Wang secretly weighed the amount, but with an unusually calm smile on his face, he bowed deeply to thank Mrs. Xu.
After sending Chu Wang and Leon away, Mrs. Xu said with a smile: “I like this girl the most.”
Xu Shaoqian narrowed his eyes and said, "Well, this kid is really good, quite smart."
Mrs. Xu asked again, "Is she really sixteen?"
Xu Shaoqian smiled and said, "He's not that old."
Mrs. Xu said, "She looks quite small to me... but girls all look small these days. Have you promised her?"
"I heard that the marriage was arranged early this morning." Xu Shaoqian smiled again, tilted his head and gently stroked a strand of his wife's hair that had fallen by her ear, and asked, "Why, are you feeling addicted to matchmaking again?"
Mrs. Xu sighed and waved her hand, saying, "If there wasn't someone like Xu, I'd really like to find a good family for her. What a pity, what a pity." But she turned around and thought for a moment, then said, "Speaking of which, among your nephews, only Wenjun seems promising, but he's a bit young. The others, I don't think they're very promising and aren't worthy of the girl."
Xu Shaoqian pulled her into his arms and whispered, "Weren't you three years older than me when you married me? When you first met me, you acted like an arrogant, bossy adult."
Mrs. Xu rolled her eyes at him. "When I married you? And now, you're getting older."
"She's becoming more and more childish now, just like my daughter."
Hearing the word "daughter," Mrs. Xu suddenly remembered the fetus that had slipped from her body, and her heart ached again. Xu Shaoqian naturally knew what she was thinking, so he hugged her tighter, bent down to kiss the top of her head, and said in a deep voice, "What does it matter if we don't have children? I love you no less. You are still the only wife I will ever marry..."
"You won't understand." Mrs. Xu gritted her teeth and pushed him away, but couldn't. Instead, a tear inexplicably rolled down her cheeks.
——
When the bus was still some distance away from home, Chu Wang rang the bell in advance and got off with Leon.
At the corner of Earl Street, there was a row of tall, broad palm trees, and beneath them, oddly enough, a cluster of tall roses. At this time of year, the large clusters of roses were in full bloom, their heads rising high, blocking the view of the two men.
Chu Wang got out of the car first and walked to the bottom of the flowers and stood there. When Leon came over, she asked softly, "How was your English class today?"
Leon said: "Sister, you explained it very well! I understood it very well!"
Chu Wang shook his head and said, "It's the gentleman, not my sister. After returning to the mansion, no matter whether Sister Zhenzhen, Mrs. Qiao, or Leon's mother asks who the English teacher is, Leon must not say it's my sister. If people find out, not only will my sister lose her job, but Leon will also be unable to study English and Latin anymore."
Leon nodded, not quite understanding.
Chu Wang looked up and thought for a moment before saying, "If anyone asks you, just say: The teacher is American and grew up in Scotland. If anyone asks you your last name, just say it's..."
"Thomson. I once had a teacher named Thomson." Leon said.
Chu Wang smiled and nodded, "Come on, let's pretend I'm Sister Zhenzhen, let me ask you: Leon, how is that English teacher teaching? Which country is he from? Is he as good as Teacher Mary?"
"The English teacher spoke very quickly and taught very clearly. She was an American who grew up in Scotland and was younger than Teacher Mary."
Chu Wang lowered his head and thought for a moment, then asked, "If Sister Zhenzhen asked: What does Sister Chu Wang do when you are in English class? How would you answer?"
Leon said: "Professor Xu is teaching Sister Chu Wang Latin."
After the two of them had negotiated a little, they leisurely walked towards the Qiao Mansion. By six o'clock, the sunset had already begun to rise, and the lights of the Qiao Mansion gradually brightened. They opened the iron gate at the bottom of the garden and climbed the steps. From a distance, they could see Xue Zhenzhen, wearing a long white gauze coat, swinging on a rattan swing. Seeing her and the other woman return, they swung down from the swing, quickly walked over to them, and stopped them on the steps.
Leon looked up and whispered "Sister Zhenzhen," and the lines went through his mind. But Zhenzhen didn't have any other questions. She just looked Chu Wang up and down, snorted, and said, "The top student is back."
Chu Wang smiled: "Miss Xue has been waiting for us for a long time."
"Who's waiting for you?" Xue Zhenzhen curled her lips. "It's just that you're not here, and I'm too lazy to stay under the same roof with your sister and stare at each other, so I came out to have some peace and quiet."
Chu Wang still smiled and said, "That's also waiting for me at Baba."
Xue Zhenzhen spat at her and said, "Who wants to wait for you?" After a while, she raised her eyebrows and looked down at her: "I'm quite happy that a physics professor appreciates you. It's to prevent your self-admiring sister from ignoring you all day long."
Seeing that Chu Wang didn't answer but just looked up at her with a smile, Xue Zhenzhen raised her eyebrows again and said, "What I said in your room before about meeting a worthy opponent doesn't count for you. It only counts for your sister."
Chu Wang tilted his head and smiled for a while, then said, "I'm a little touched. What should I do?"
Xue Zhenzhen rolled her eyes and smiled: "How many times have you treated Xie Miya to Bluebird Coffee? You have to treat me as many times as well. Otherwise, I won't forgive you for abandoning your comrades."
The author has something to say: I suddenly don’t know what to say.
Please feel free to discuss without holding back!!
Weibo... I'll open one later~
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1927 is going by really fast. There are probably a few more chapters before that, but I can’t say exactly how many, because once I start writing I tend to drift…
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