Chapter 44: The Mystery of the Lin Family Concubine
During the conversation, Chu Wang learned that Xie Zeyi had just returned and was not seeing anyone, but for some reason he only invited Mrs. Ge to come to the island.
Mrs. Ge's maid carried her luggage into the cabin, and Chu Wang followed her. The two chatted, and Chu Wang remained silent, listening quietly. After a while, Xie Zeyi suddenly stopped, glanced at her, and asked, "Mrs. Ge, your niece is unusually taciturn."
They both turned to look at her. Her face, like a budding bud, was childlike, its features rather plain, showing signs of maturing. She looked pale and thin, with a touch of baby fat on her face and body due to her small frame. Her chin had a cute little point, like a plump, tender peach. Her lips were pale pink, giving her a harmless look. But her dark eyes were long—she certainly didn't look like a well-behaved domestic mammal. She was wearing a peacock blue shirt and white suspender hakama, pacing slowly behind them. Perhaps trying not to spoil the fun, she didn't interrupt, but she had heard most of what they were saying. She probably had her own thoughts, though. When she heard someone talking about her, she would just narrow her eyes and smile—a true, perverse fox.
Mrs. Ge glanced at her indifferently, "You've been suppressed to this point."
Xie Zeyi thought about it briefly and said, "Yeah. I vaguely remember it wasn't like this before." After thinking for a moment, he said, "Why don't you take her in to live with you?"
"My place was such a mess before. Even if she wanted to, I wouldn't let her."
"Didn't I also grow up in the Ge Mansion?"
"You?" Mrs. Ge glared at him. "How can you be the same as her?"
Sometimes these two people are like old friends, sometimes as close as mother and son, and sometimes like the empress dowager and a treacherous minister.
Chu Wang was watching with great amusement when Mrs. Ge suddenly asked her, "Did you know that your father plans to take you and your sister to Europe during this trip to Shanghai?"
She nodded, "I heard."
"Do you have any ideas of your own?"
"There are some, but I'm not sure." Chu Wang reported truthfully.
Upon hearing this, Xie Zeyi said that he had met an acquaintance on the boat and very tactfully walked away, leaving some private space for the aunt and nephew.
"I won't force your will. But there are a few things I'm afraid you need to know before you make a decision."
"Aunt, please speak."
Mrs. Ge hummed, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's talk about your father first. You should have an idea of how he treats you, right?"
Chu Wang replied, "If I had to explain it clearly, I wouldn't be too sure. I just know that compared to my second sister, it's certainly not as good."
"During the time you've been at the Qiao Mansion, your aunt is well aware that you have your own plans. I didn't take it seriously at first, but then I heard that Si Ying's Japanese wife was about to give birth, which delayed him. Now, only your father, your sister, and Young Master Si are going to Europe, no one else. Young Master Si has his own studies, so naturally he will return to England from Marseille. Your father will take your sister and you two from Paris to Berlin and Milan, spending about a year in these three places, before going to England. You two are used to being pampered, and on such a long journey, only the three of you can take care of each other. If, by some unfortunate chance, you or your sister get sick, you have to think about who your father will choose to take care of. This is one of the things your aunt hopes you can understand."
Chu Wang smiled and nodded, "I understand."
"If you go to England, I'll feel more at ease knowing Master Si is taking care of you. Being in a foreign country, even if he wants to take care of you, I'm afraid he's not quite there yet. If anything happens to you, he won't be able to take care of you, and I'm afraid he won't even have time to cry. Similarly, if one day in the future the situation is like today, and he's distracted by taking care of you but can't take care of himself, then what else can you do except watch him lying there pale? That's the second point."
"Um."
Chu Wang nodded. She had thought of both of these points before, and the second point was also what she was hastily thinking about today.
She admitted she still lacked the skills to survive in a different world. But she didn't think she couldn't survive if she were born on the European map. Therefore, she rejected both options.
Mrs. Ge finally couldn't help herself and lit a cigarette and smoked for a while before asking, "You've never heard of Yunyan's mother, aren't you curious?"
"Didn't she pass away?" Chu Wang was shocked. "Could she still be alive?"
She had been puzzled by this for a long time: she had never heard of the concubine's death, yet the Lin family acted as if she had never existed. Lin Yu never mentioned it, Yun Yan never mentioned it either, as if it were some kind of tacit taboo. This made her think: Perhaps the concubine had also passed away early.
Mrs. Ge sneered, "He's alive and well."
"Then why does the Lin family never mention her?"
"This concubine's family name is Zhou. While her background may be poor, her ancestors were at least remnants of the previous dynasty. Even though the Zhou family fell into decline, they were still a well-known and prominent family. They sent her to Japan for a year of study, but her brothers, who were either drug addicts or playing the 606, devoured the family fortune and ran out of money to support her studies, so they sent her back. She found a different path and found a man named Lin Yu in Japan who was willing to finance her studies. They got married there and returned home pregnant with their first child, but the Lin family refused to acknowledge her. The Lin family needed money at the time, and your grandparents believed your father would be a man of great importance in the future. They wanted to find him a bride with a generous dowry, but how could a family as impoverished as the Zhou family have such ambitions? The Lin family would never agree to take her in. Even though they already had children, she refused to be a concubine. She willingly compromised and became your father's concubine, only to be expelled from the Zhou family tree."
Mrs. Ge took two puffs of her cigarette in silence and said indifferently, "Later, Lin Yu became a little famous in the political circle, and someone introduced your mother to him - she had no say in the matter. After marrying in, she was unhappy in every way, but she didn't care about it. More than ten years ago, unlike today, concubines who were expelled from the family tree had a stigma and a bad reputation for their children. Lin Yu was a good plan. First, he raised his eldest son under her lap on the pretext that she had no children. He said it was to give her a good reputation, but in fact it was to give his son a good reputation - your mother acquiesced to this and kept silent. Within two years, your mother was still pregnant, but the concubine was pregnant with a second child. Lin Yu came to ask for favors for the second child again."
"Your mother naturally refused. She simply said that if all the children were to be registered under her name, then it would be known to outsiders that the Lin family had only one principal wife, and these children were naturally legitimate. As long as the concubine was around, these two children would never see the light of day again. If she agreed, then several prominent figures from Jiangnan would be invited to the Lin family to testify that the concubine would be deposed after the birth of her second child. Your father, knowing the methods used by your mother's family, agreed. The day after your second sister was born, the principal of the Law School and the deputy secretary-general of the Nanjing Senate were invited to testify that there was no longer any Zhou in the Lin family. Afterwards, your mother sent her to Vietnam. A nameless person whom neither the Zhou nor Lin families would acknowledge, she naturally did not want to return and tarnish the good name of her sons and daughters. No one has mentioned her in recent years, and she has not caused any trouble in Vietnam."
"After your mother died, your father, for the sake of the two children, although he couldn't bring her back to China, he still asked someone to send her from Vietnam to France. Now, your second sister's biological mother, Lin Yu's beloved Zhou, is in Paris." Those charming and long amber eyes looked at Chu Wang quietly from behind the swirling smoke, and slowly said, "The three of them are reunited in Paris. Are you willing to go? This is the third point."
Chu Wang also fell silent.
She had her own plans on whether to go to Europe with Lin Yu.
To be naive, she has many idols she wants to meet, and many people she doesn't want to see die with regrets; to be serious, she can definitely survive in Europe with her language proficiency, not to mention that the academic atmosphere in science in Europe is far beyond the reach of China.
Even if she has no one to rely on: no cultural belonging, in a foreign country, alone, walking alone, without a harbor...but she can naturally find a way to make a living, although it will be extremely difficult, but not to the point of not being able to survive.
In that era, moral ethics were not seriously discussed: mental patients were treated by having nails driven through their skulls, homosexuals were treated with hormone injections... In China, where scientists were scarce, she could remain in hiding for a while by being cautious. She also considered that if something went wrong in Europe, she would likely be arrested as a mental patient and subjected to a biopsy, or worse, perhaps even put on a laboratory bench for autopsy and analysis - of course, this was just a matter of probability.
Her biggest worry stemmed from the little she knew about the original Lin Chuwang. The book only briefly mentioned her journey to Europe alone: in 1929, she said goodbye to her aunt and boarded a cruise ship bound for Marseille, France.
She didn't know which part of history had changed, causing the day 1929 to arrive earlier in 1927, or whether the year 1927 was omitted from the original history.
She didn't know which aunt this was referring to, nor did she know if her younger aunt had tried to dissuade Lin Chuwang before she left. But the Lin Chuwang of the past had still gone to Europe, and ultimately died alone in Paris.
After a while, Mrs. Ge said, "Aunt has conveyed her message. You are Lin Yu's daughter. If you still insist on going, I can't stop you. But if you don't want to go, I'm naturally happy. If your eldest aunt doesn't want to take you in in Hong Kong, then come and live with me. Don't worry about your reputation being bad. Aunt has had fewer low-ranking officials coming to the mansion in the past two years. At worst, for your sake, I will send everyone in that circle away. Aunt will provide you with good food and entertainment for these years. Study hard and graduate from the University of Hong Kong. When the time comes, you can go abroad or stay with Aunt - it's up to you to decide!"
While she was thinking, the boat landed. She thanked her aunt profusely and said that she would think about the matter seriously.
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