Chapter 41: The Outlying Island Part 5
The soldiers had come for the booze, and once drunk, they began to riot, regardless of gender. The two men watched from their hiding place for a moment, as if to witness a joke, before heading back inside. The radio played "Drizzle" melodiously, and the people inside danced. Unfortunately, the gender ratio was severely imbalanced. Soldiers from both countries, regardless of their military service or gender, danced together, creating a scene more reminiscent of a drunken scene than the scene outside.
It was late at night, and the two of them leaned over the hotel corridor railing to watch the excitement. Neil was also drunk and unconscious, and had to be carried back home.
Chu Wang smiled and said, "It's a pity that you have to sleep with a drunk tonight."
"I hope he doesn't snore too loudly."
Chu Wang remembered something and tilted his head to look at him with a smile: "On the cruise ship from France to England——"
"Please forget it as soon as possible." Si Yansang smiled helplessly.
Chu Wang rested his chin on the back of his hand, his eyes slightly narrowed. They both stared silently at the chaotic scene below. Chu Wang said softly, "I'm just a little interested. Don't take it personally. You shouldn't be so rash. You're much better than them."
Actually, the drunkards' dance wasn't much to watch, but they both couldn't bear to go upstairs to sleep. A servant passed by several times and saw that they seemed a little annoyed by the group on the dance floor and didn't know what to do. So he enthusiastically said, "There's a movie showing downstairs in the hotel early tomorrow morning. You can come and see it then."
They both smiled and thanked the servant, neither asking what movie would be shown. After watching for a while, they agreed to meet downstairs the next morning and then went back to their rooms for bed.
Mrs. Ge and Xie Zeyi were not seen that night. They probably felt annoyed by the noise and went off to play mahjong.
While lying in bed, Chu Wang suddenly saw a large copper magnetic telephone at the headboard, and inexplicably recalled the scene in the Repulse Bay Hotel in "Love in a Fallen City." She thought to herself, if she could tell Si Yansang tomorrow, "If Neil gets too loud, call my room. We can go explore the Wu family mansion at night and come back to sleep during the day." But then she thought, Neil probably wouldn't be drunk again tomorrow. So, she felt a little annoyed that she had forgotten that high-end hotel rooms have telephones, but she forgot about it after waking up.
After getting up and washing up early in the morning, a servant knocked on her door and asked, "There's a sitting room at number 215. The two gentlemen would like to have breakfast with you."
Chu Wang remembered that Neil was hungover yesterday. If he got up early today, he would definitely have a splitting headache. He must want to sleep a little longer. Just as he refused, Si Yansang walked over to the corner of the corridor with a smile and said, "Then let's go downstairs to eat."
Chu Wang thought to himself, "You're really weird. You clearly wanted to go downstairs to eat, but you went to the trouble of asking someone to come over and treat you." Then, smiling, he followed him downstairs silently.
After passing through the dim hallway, a door opened. Mrs. Xie leaned against it, waiting for her companion to leave, saying, "I heard they were playing 'Metropolis.' It's long and cumbersome, not nearly as good as 'The General.'"
The female companion laughed and said, "It's German stuff after all." Then she added, "Why didn't Tse come?"
Mrs. Xie complained, "We played mahjong all night last night. What's so good about mahjong?"
The female companion said, "Yeah, there's not much money to bet on, and most Chinese people are just boring."
When the two bumped into each other, Chu Wang said with a smile, "Good morning, Mrs. Xie."
Mrs. Xie immediately put on a perfect smile and said, "Good morning." She then looked her over and said, "Oh! You're dressed very beautifully today."
Chu Wang thanked her politely, barely saying hello before going downstairs.
Sure enough, "Metropolis" was playing downstairs, presumably a version edited in the US. Last night, the lychee-red ballroom had become a dimly lit restaurant. The guests ate and chatted, most not watching much of the movie. Chu Wang found it amusing: foreigners had come all the way to Hong Kong to see China, only to see a quirky Western world.
The two of them ordered ham and eggs and juice, then sat down to watch the film carefully for a while. Si Yansang smiled and said, "A lot of the interesting parts were cut out."
"Have you read the full version?"
"My film classmate saw the preview, and later secretly brought a remastered copy to a casino for screening. I was lucky enough to see it once."
Chu Wang felt a surge of envy. It was said that film copies were incredibly expensive back then; a single copy of "Metropolis" might have consumed as much as one-twentieth of the mark used to produce the film itself. This film, arguably the forefather of all subsequent science fiction, was distorted beyond recognition by Paramount's editing. The original film was lost, but it was repeatedly restored and even registered as a World Heritage Site. To say that seeing the original film would be like stepping back into the true 21st century was truly enviable.
Seeing the expression on her face, Si Yansang said softly, "If you want to see it, I'll be able to watch it with you again when I go to England in June."
Chu Wang was about to speak when Si Yansang said with a smile, "But I heard that classmate's family has fallen on hard times. I wonder if the replica still exists."
It probably doesn't exist anymore. Chu Wang thought with great regret, but he couldn't help but feel a little curious. He asked with a smile: "What will the real year 2000 be like? Will it be like the metropolis?"
She really wanted to know what kind of future world a young man with abundant imagination would depict in this era.
Si Yansang narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "After the Treaty of Versailles, the Germans will probably find ways to create a world like a metropolis: daily life will be highly mechanized and industrialized to alleviate the pressure on manpower. The British will still be a very elegant and leading empire, continuing to prosper with their black humor... But hopefully their food will taste better than it does now."
Chu Wang smiled and asked, "What about the Chinese?"
Si Yansang frowned slightly, perhaps sensing a more complex and weighty issue. After a pause, he said, "I hope the debt can be paid off sooner than Germany. By then, there will be no more foreign colonization, the country will be intact, and the people will be free." He finished with a smile, "I always have too many expectations for my own country, so my imagination is a bit lacking. What do you think?"
Chu Wang held his chin in his hand, pretending to think for a while before nodding. "The Germans probably invented a lot of machines for their homes, but they're all like furniture, rarely used. Their kitchen equipment is definitely complete, but it's all pretty useless. British food was the same a few hundred years ago, and it's still the same a few hundred years later. By the year 2000, it probably hadn't improved much. As for China, the country is complete, and the people are free, but perhaps it needs a little more freedom... Like you, I lack a lot of imagination about my own country."
After breakfast, there was a bus from Da Wan to Nan Wan, but the two who had watched the entire "Metropolis" did not catch this only bus. At this time, Xie Zeyi and his girlfriend also came down from the building, wearing sunglasses, beach capes, and matching floral outfits, and it was obvious that they were going to the sea. Xie Zeyi asked the servant, and learned that he had missed the only bus. "Mrs. Xie" frowned again, and accused Xie Zeyi of "playing mahjong" and "getting up too late", and the words were passed on to the ears of the two. Xie Zeyi listened with a smile on his face, and did not get angry. After asking again, he heard that the hotel provided bicycle rental service, so he went out. When he came back, he was holding a large black bicycle in his hand, standing outside the door with an elegant and unique smile. "Mrs. Xie" was easily coaxed into laughing, and went out happily in slippers.
The two of them then went to Tongpuou to ask about bicycles. Chu Wang did most of the talking, though, while Si Yansang listened with a strange smile on his face. When they finally settled on two bicycles and were pushing them out, Neil finally woke up.
Hearing a full-throated "S, Lin—" they looked up and could just make out his head, swollen from a hangover and rounder than usual, from behind the palm tree fronds. Then, leaning his head against the window, he uttered a "huh" and laughed, "S! When did you learn to ride a bike?"
Si Yansang hummed, his eyes dazzled by the sunlight reflected from the bright green window glass on the roof. "Recently."
Neil said, "If you go to South Bay, please give me a ride!"
Si Yansang narrowed his eyes and said, "I refuse."
The round head behind the green window on the second floor disappeared. A minute later, the round figure of Neil ran out from the door. Upon seeing him, Si Yansang got on his bicycle and stumbled out for a short distance. But because he rode too slowly, Neil grabbed the back seat and dragged him back.
Neil clicked his tongue twice, "Why are you running? Are you afraid I'll expose you for not being able to ride a bike?"
Si Yansang frowned: "You've already said it."
Chu Wang was quite curious and asked with a smile, "Really? Then why didn't you tell me just now?"
"As for riding a bike, I don't think it would be too difficult."
After he finished speaking, Neil said, as if he had just heard something particularly amusing: "It won't be too difficult? So, when I was a cadet at a public school, who was it that always refused to ride a bike to keep up with the rest of the group when we went out on weekends? It was always the effort of taking the tram or walking ahead. Wasn't it because they were afraid of riding bikes?"
Si Yansang's face darkened again, and he said coldly, "I suddenly want to try it."
The three of them pushed the cart and walked forward side by side. After a while, he added, "To some extent, we want to try everything."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
