Chapter 5: A New Journey
After seeing the father and son of the Si family off from Shaoxing, the three siblings were called to Lin Yu's side to talk to them about their future plans.
Lin Zitong had known for a long time that they would be going to Peking with their father. But when she heard that the two sisters were going to Hong Kong with their aunt, Yunyan was obviously surprised and burst into tears, expressing her deep reluctance to be separated from her father and brother.
Chu Wang had foreseen her future from Si Yansang's biography. Upon hearing this "bad news," she didn't know whether to cry or rejoice, simply accepting her fate. This prompted Lin Yunyan, nearly fainting from crying, to use ten precious seconds of her acting time in front of her father, brother, and aunt to point at Chu Wang and yell, "Third sister is the coldest and most heartless!"
Chu Wang was helpless. What could she do? If she had that much acting talent, she would have applied to the Beijing Film Academy and appeared on the big screen long ago. Otherwise, she wouldn't be spending all day in the lab grappling with microorganisms.
Her eldest aunt jokingly said, "Young Master Si has been reluctant to leave since he boarded the ship, repeatedly telling you, 'You must wait patiently for him to come back.' You're so happy right now, how could you possibly have time to accompany me, 'You're reluctant to leave your father?'"
After hearing this, Yunyan cried even harder.
For the next period of time, everyone in the Lin Mansion was kept busy. Some who didn't want to leave the master and the eldest son followed them to Beijing to settle down. As for the two young ladies, Mrs. Lin had instructed that they didn't need to bring any maids or servants with them to Hong Kong. She had enough staff, and the journey was long, and the habits there would be different. So she paid the maids their wages and sent them away. Yun Yan almost fainted from tears again because of this.
Several old housekeepers, who had served three generations of the family, stayed behind to look after the house. After nearly a month of hard work, they had basically packed everything. Lin Yu and Zi Tong, who were heading north, took the sea route, and their packed boxes filled about two boats. Yun Yan and Chu Wang's group looked much more pitiful in comparison—there were only two cars to pick them up to meet their aunt at the Shanghai dock. After filling them with Yun Yan's luggage, Chu Wang looked and thought: where was there room for her suitcase?
Chu Wang only had one suitcase, containing only a few spare clothes. Although she wanted to advise her sister to be selective, or else she would suffer the consequences, her sister seemed to have a serious fetish—she guarded her suitcase, which was filled with a ton of random things, and wouldn't let anyone get close to her luggage.
Chu Wang had no choice but to give up and compromise by stuffing his pitiful little suitcase into the back seat.
The two sisters set out before their father and brother. After they had arranged everything, they were in the yard.
There was a pear tree in the yard, in full bloom. Lin Yu looked at the tree and seemed quite moved, so he wanted his three children to express their feelings in the same way.
Zitong said, "Soon the pear blossoms will fall, and we'll be able to eat delicious pears again. But we won't be able to eat pears this year."
Yunyan said with tears in her eyes: "Daddy's pear blossoms are about to wither, and Yunyan is an adult now."
Then the three of them looked at Lin Chuwang again.
Chu Wang: "Uh. The acceleration due to gravity is 9.81m/s². The pear blossoms are falling at an estimated speed of 0.08m/s at this moment, and in a southwesterly direction. The air density in this season is about 1.3k³, and the vertical force area of the petals is 4 square centimeters, so the wind speed is about 3.6m/s at this moment."
Father, brothers and sisters: "..."
Chu Wang looked up at the sky speechlessly: "This is a light breeze, accompanied by small waves. So Daddy and Big Brother, everything goes smoothly."
Regardless, the father reluctantly accepted her awkward farewell words and then sent the two sisters to the car.
After getting in the car, Lin Yunyan began to cry uncontrollably. At first, Lin Chuwang could still comfort her with a few words, such as "Hong Kong has beaches," "There are many people wearing very little clothes on the beach," and "There are many Westerners." After a while, she fell asleep to Yunyan's endless solo.
When she woke up, she was annoyed to find that she had missed the famous Concession scenery. So all she had left was the Bund Pier scenery. When she was woken up, Yunyan stopped crying and shouted out the car window in a very cute and obedient manner: "Hello, Auntie."
After Chu Wang came down with his small luggage, the two cooks immediately helped Yun Yan unload the luggage. At this time, the eleven or twelve-year-old girl standing next to the aunt couldn't help but complain in Shanghainese: "Why don't you move the house with you?"
After hearing this complaint, Chu Wang couldn't help but look at the little girl with some relief and admiration - she should have the standard appearance of a girl from the Republic of China period, with fair skin, a few freckles, a slightly convex face, and a goose yellow plaid cheongsam skirt with a navy blue coat on the outside. She looked very cute and lovely.
At this time, her aunt also laughed and joked with others, "If Yunyan moves her family here, what about Xue Zhenzhen who wanted to take all the maids, servants, and cooks from the Xue Mansion to Hong Kong a few days ago?"
Xue Zhenzhen blushed for a moment, and suddenly noticed Lin Chuwang, who was carrying a lonely suitcase beside Yunyan. So she pointed at Lin Chuwang and said, "Aunt, why can she bring a maid, but I can't?"
Chu Wang: "..."
Mrs. Qiao: "...This is the third sister of the Lin family."
Actually, Xue Zhenzhen couldn't be blamed for misjudging him. Lin Chuwang, now extremely thin and seemingly malnourished, was cloaked in a simple coat that made the heavy material feel light and empty. The little girl, carrying a lonely suitcase, followed the well-developed Lin Yunyan, who was only twelve years old. Didn't she look like a personal servant of a wealthy family's daughter?
After saying this, Xue Zhenzhen couldn't help but look her up and down, scoffing softly before tilting her head to the side. Lin Yunyan saw it all. She had always been proud, and even though she was her least favorite sister, she couldn't bear to see her bring shame to her family. She simply pretended not to hear and pretended not to know Lin Chuwang.
But at this moment, Chu Wang forgot about others in the blink of an eye, and looked at the scenery around the harbor: Dutch ships, British ships, Japanese ships...; people coming to the dock by tram, by rickshaw, and by their own cars...
They were to travel first class on a Japanese ship. The ship departed from Kobe, stopped in Shanghai, and then proceeded to Hong Kong, Malaya, and finally Singapore. Third-class tickets were already expensive, hardly affordable for the average person at today's prices, let alone first class. So, when her aunt's maid presented the ticket for boarding, she took a careful look and saw the charming figure of 38 silver dollars.
In the Titanic, sailing from England to New York, the third-class ticket Jack won with his gambling money was like winning the jackpot for an ordinary citizen like him. And in The Pianist on the Sea, the Virginia was a microcosm of European high society...
Chu Wang roughly estimated in her mind that during the early to mid-Republic of China, one silver dollar could buy 18-20 jin of rice. At today's eight yuan per jin of rice, one silver dollar was equivalent to about 360 yuan. Therefore, a boat ticket would cost 13,680 yuan... Thinking of this, she couldn't help but think of her own experience buying plane tickets while studying abroad. At that price, she could easily get a business-class ticket from Shanghai to the US East Coast, and with a little luck, she could even get first class.
So Chu Wang guessed that his father either got a very good job in the new government, or his aunt's family was really wealthy and naturally generous to his three nieces.
First class had their own dedicated boarding lane, so they didn't have to squeeze in with passengers in other classes, which naturally made things much more relaxing. There weren't many first-class passengers from Shanghai, so when they found their own private room, they noticed that the doors of the other first-class cabins were tightly shut and quiet. They must have been sleeping after all the hard work at sea. Although it was a Japanese ship, the interior furnishings were classically European. The economy of space and the thoughtful planning would put other European ships to shame.
Overall, the suite was small, but it had everything, and five people wouldn't feel cramped. Three rooms, six beds. Lin Yunyanfei cried and insisted on staying with her aunt, saying she'd be scared at night. Her aunt's maid had a small single room, so Xue Zhenzhen and Lin Chuwang had to squeeze into the other room with three beds.
After packing up and having an early dinner at the restaurant, Lin Yunyan heard the sound of a waltz in the ballroom and said she wanted to go see it. Xue Zhenzhen also wanted to go to the deck to watch the sunset before it got dark. So the eldest aunt and her husband decided to watch the sunset first, then go back to the ballroom to watch the people dancing.
They had just finished their meal when the wind picked up, and since it was Lin Yunyan's first time out at sea, she soon became seasick and vomited profusely on the deck. Xue Zhenzhen observed this and sneered at her, saying, "You're really from a small town!" A little later, the eldest aunt also felt unwell after a gust of wind, so the maid helped her back to the cabin.
At this time, only Xue Zhenzhen and Chu Wang were left on the deck.
The sea breeze blew Xue Zhenzhen's natural curls onto her face, mushing them into a mess. She glanced at Chu Wang, who stood still, and said, "Your sister is so vomiting that she doesn't even want to go to the dance. It seems she's really seasick."
The little figure's coat was blown like a kite in the wind, almost blowing the person inside away. The little figure's eyes were squinted by the wind, and his overly dense eyelashes were wrinkled on his face, but he just stared into the distance, no one knew what he was thinking.
Xue Zhenzhen was a little annoyed when she saw that she ignored him. She said angrily, "It's really rude of you to ignore others when they talk to you."
Suddenly the little man muttered something and spit out a long string of numbers.
The wind was strong, and with a whooshing sound, the string of numbers was blown away. Xue Zhenzhen adjusted her hair and shouted, "What did you say?!"
Chu Wang glanced at her, and when the wind died down a bit, he said, "Big waves are coming. Go back to the cabin and lie down quickly."
Xue Zhenzhen said with some disdain, "It's not my first time out to sea. I've never been seasick before."
Chu Wang estimated the centrifugal force and felt that it was beyond the ability of an ordinary person like herself to withstand. So she stopped trying to persuade her and ran back to the cabin. Not long after she returned, the ship's whistle began to sound, announcing in Japanese, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin that a big wave was coming and everyone on deck was asked to return to the cabin.
Chu Wang had just laid down when Xue Zhenzhen returned, her face sullen, and she lay down on the boat beside her, not saying a word. A moment later, the boat began to rock violently, and even the lightest items in the room began to scatter. A suitcase toppled over, sliding along the floor like a bowling ball, before hitting the other wall.
The vomiting in the next room was so loud that it could be heard from here. She thought to herself, it's a good thing that my aunt brought a maid, otherwise I wouldn't know who would take care of the old, weak and sick people in this room.
But she was relieved for only a moment, because she suddenly turned her head and saw Xue Zhenzhen looking at her with a pale face, begging, "Help me get a spittoon."
Chu Wang immediately jumped up and rang the bell for the boat's servant to bring a spittoon. However, by the time the servant arrived, it was too late; the aisle between Lin Chuwang and Xue Zhenzhen's beds had already been damaged. The servant remained calm and called in several more servants to mop the floor, change the sheets, and fetch seasickness pills. After a while, another steward came to apologize, saying in stiff Chinese, "The wind and waves will last for about two hours. I'm very sorry."
As he said this, he bowed several times, until Chu Wang almost wanted to bow back to him. Then he closed the door and apparently went to the next room to apologize.
After Puou left, Chu Wang lay down again. After all, the easiest way to maintain stability under strong external forces was to lower her center of gravity, increasing the friction between her body and the external objects (that is, increasing the surface area between her body and the bed). She didn't want her stomach contents and body fluids to be churned into a paste like juice in a centrifuge.
After a while, the wind and waves subsided considerably, and the sounds of movement and laughter outside the corridor gradually increased. She also wanted to go to the ballroom to see if there were any other figures like The Legend of 1900 on the Shanghai ferries during this period. However, after several people in the room collapsed, they didn't recover for several days. The slightest sway of the boat would cause them to vomit violently. In the next room, Lin Yunyan was the one who vomited the most. The stench of vomit was so strong that even the old woman felt a little unwell.
Chu Wang couldn't help but sigh, thinking back to when she used to take long-haul flights, often over ten hours. She felt like she was drying a bunch of grapes—she was the grapes. Not only did her butt get numb from sitting, her calves swelled, but the air was so dry it made her skin peel and her nose bleed. So, she absolutely hated long-haul flights.
Nowadays, just getting from Shanghai to Hong Kong takes four days on a ferry. Waking up to find yourself trapped in a tin box, floating in the middle of the ocean, with the ocean basin thousands of meters deep just ten meters below your feet... The mere thought of it makes me dread.
If she were asked to cross the Eurasian continent in one go... Chu Wang simply couldn't imagine it. So, studying abroad during this period was really not an enviable job. As a group of pioneers, Chu Wang couldn't help but think that their courage was truly admirable and awe-inspiring.
In short, for the past few days, Chu Wang had asked the servant Ou to have the kitchen prepare some light meals and send them over daily, and she would eat whatever she could. When several people in the room vomited, she would help the maid take care of them. When they stopped vomiting, she would just lie in bed with her arms and legs spread out to increase her bearing capacity. She didn't take a good look at the scenery at sea, nor did she go down to the lower decks to examine the style of cruise ships at that time.
Before we knew it, the ship slowly sailed into Victoria Harbour. With the roar of the ship, everyone ran to the deck and applauded the coast.
The author has something to say: more details so that everyone can get into it more easily.
If you have anything to say, please leave a comment. It's ok even if you don't rate it. Don't make me always have 40 hits, 3 favorites, and 1 comment (or the first chapter, I don't know if you have seen this). Tragedy
Otherwise I feel like no one is watching and I feel lonely...
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Xue Zhenzhen is the daughter of the younger sister of Mr. Qiao, the husband of Mrs. Qiao (the eldest aunt of the three Lin siblings), and is a niece on the other side.
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