Chapter 51: The International Settlement
Si Yansang was indeed angry, but it was not known whether it was as Lin Zitong said. In any case, he would not give Chu Wang any chance to see him.
At first, Chu Wang thought he was just angry with her, so he showed up when she wasn't around. Later, she discovered that not only she, but everyone in the Lin Mansion, even Mrs. Si, had rarely seen Yan Sang in recent days. Only then did Chu Wang understand that he was really "angry with himself."
On the day Xue Zhenzhen returned to visit the Lin residence, Lin Yunyan was arranging her numerous boxes and crates in the living room, checking to see if she was still missing anything. Xue Zhenzhen walked in and smiled, "Second Miss Lin, are you moving your family to France? Then please bring all the pots and pans with you... I heard foreigners don't like cooked food very much."
Mrs. Qiao and Qiao Maling were playing cards with the other ladies. When they saw her, they said, "Zhenzhen, don't be so funny. You have so many ideas. She's been worried for days. Please help her find out what she needs."
Qiao Maling said, "Maybe we should go to a foreign company and buy some German vitamin tablets and seasickness pills."
Xue Zhenzhen smiled. "Then bringing a set of mahjong tiles would be a good idea too. It's boring on the boat, so it's a good opportunity for her to learn how to play. She can also entertain Mr. Zheng in the future."
Qiao Ma Ling knocked her and said, "Don't talk about her. Your father didn't tell you about anyone when you came back this time?"
"Her?" Mrs. Qiao said. "Her father holds her in the palm of his hand, afraid she'll melt away. When other ladies come to arrange marriages for her, they first criticize her father, saying, 'How old is she?' In their modern families, daughters don't marry until they're at least twenty. Maybe in five years, her father will change his mind again and say, 'Marry at twenty-five!' Who knows?"
The ladies giggled and teased Zhenzhen. She stood there for a while, listening with a smile, before going upstairs to play with Chu Wang.
Although Mrs. Ge had come to the house a few days ago to make a scene about Chu Wang, and the situation was not pleasant, Lin Yu thought that since they would not be together for two years, it would be bad to leave without telling Chu Wang everything. So he called her over and gave her some instructions, such as "Don't play too hard these two years" and "Daddy doesn't expect you to be great, but just don't learn bad things."
Chu Wang agreed with a smile, turned around and walked out of the study, and bumped into Xue Zhenzhen, who looked very sad.
"Who made our Miss Xue so angry that she turned into a bun with eighteen wrinkles?" Chu Wang asked with a smile.
Xue Zhenzhen frowned. "What era is it now? Why is it still so popular that people still rely on 'parents's orders and matchmaker's words'? Everyone in Hong Kong is free to fall in love."
"Oh? Whose son did you choose as a matchmaker?"
"I'm seriously complaining to you! Are you making fun of me?" Xue Zhenzhen spat at her. "Luckily, my father couldn't bear to part with me and sent all those uncles away." At this point, she suddenly remembered that Chu Wang in front of her was engaged as a child. She accidentally made her father look unloving and unloving. So she hurriedly said to make amends, "If someone had introduced me to a handsome young man like Mr. Si, my father might have agreed."
Chu Wang laughed for a while and asked, "What if I tell you about Master Ye?"
"That won't work..." Xue Zhenzhen began to think seriously. "My father is a scholar, a very traditional old scholar. He's probably the best at writing Chinese in his family, right? He definitely wouldn't get along with my family. I guess he'll have to marry a girl from a foreign family, or even a foreigner."
Chu Wang was a little surprised to hear her say this.
"Did you think so from the beginning, or did you figure it out recently?"
"At first, I didn't think anything of it. How could someone in a free love relationship think so much? I just thought he was cute, the ideal partner for a modern-day female student. Only recently did I realize that love is one thing, and in-laws are another. Well, let's not talk about it." Xue Zhenzhen glanced at her. "Are you really going to live in the mansion next door from now on?"
"Mrs. Qiao doesn't like me that much, you know that." Chu Wang smiled helplessly, "If it weren't for my aunt taking me in, I'm afraid I would have to live in the school dormitory."
"Aunt only likes Yunyan, I've seen it for a long time. She said that the three of us were taught the same way, but she only quietly taught her how to treat people and the way to behave in society. Now Yunyan's speech and behavior are exactly like Aunt's. Aunt summarized the successes and failures of teaching Sister Ma Ling and applied them all to Yunyan. Now that she's gone abroad for another two years and is back, Miss Lin will have higher standards than the sky and will probably look down on everyone. Just wait and see if you don't believe me."
After dinner, the two of them had planned to go to the Great World together, but a little while later, the Si family’s servant came to invite them, saying that Mrs. Si had asked someone to take a family portrait at the photo studio. Before leaving, she invited the Lin family to take the photo together so that the photo would look more lively. As soon as the Si family’s servant finished speaking, Yun Yan put down the things in her hands, and took out three or five cheongsams to ask Mrs. Qiao which one looked better. Qiao Ma Ling smiled and said, “Sister, don’t bother. No matter whether it’s purple, rose red or crescent white, they will all be gray and gray in the photo. There is not much difference.” Mrs. Qiao was about to answer, but after hearing what Qiao Ma Ling said, she said without raising her eyelids, “Let’s go with crescent white. It’s brighter.”
Zhenzhen and Chu Wang were standing in the hallway putting on their shoes. When they heard Mrs. Qiao say this, they looked down and saw Chu Wang was wearing a crescent-shaped silk shirt embroidered with little koi fish. They smiled at each other, but nothing happened. The doorbell rang, and when they opened it, Lin Zitong stood outside, dressed in a military uniform and long boots. He smiled with a dignified smile, his teeth wide and white. "Miss Xue, what a coincidence! Why don't we take a photo together?"
"I'd rather not, so that others won't point to the family portrait and ask, 'This little girl is pretty, I wonder if she's the daughter-in-law of your Lin family or the daughter-in-law of your Si family?' How will you answer?" Xue Zhenzhen waved her hand and was about to leave, but Chu Wang pulled her back, "Young Master Lin has come to invite you, why are you so proud?"
Xue Zhenzhen looked up at his rank and then reluctantly agreed, "Then I am doing this for Lieutenant Lin's sake, not for Young Master Lin's sake."
The three of them chatted and laughed outside the Si family's house. The camera stand had already been set up. The photographer was an American, but the new camera was German. By the time everyone had arrived, they still hadn't gotten the camera to work properly. Si Ying and Lin Yu sat at the rattan table in the front and chatted for a while. Then they turned and looked around, but didn't see Si Yansang. Mrs. Si observed his expression, held Yan Bo in her arms, and sent the maid to fetch the young master, saying, "The Leica camera isn't adjustable."
After a while, Si Yansang came out reluctantly, wearing a double-breasted windbreaker over his shirt, and walked to the center of the lawn with drooping eyelids. The American smiled and made room for him, and he went into the shed. After adjusting for a while, he stuck his head out and said, "Everyone, smile."
After snapping a few pictures, Mrs. Smith became anxious and said, "Tell him to come and take pictures together."
Si Yansang ignored everyone, turned the camera head around, pointed it in some unknown direction, and after a few clicks, he was satisfied. He forced a smile on his face, leaned over to the American's ear and said a few words, then walked into the crowd and scolded his father.
The two stood in the crowd, one on the left and one on the right, looking at each other from a distance. He glanced at Chu Wang from afar across the crowd, then turned his head away.
After taking the photo, Si Ying smiled and said, "If we want to develop this photo, we can only send it to you, the second lady, and Yan Sang by mail over the ocean. If we rush it, it will arrive within a month."
The American packed up his camera, loaded it back onto the studio's car, and asked in English, "Where should I send the remaining photos?"
Si Yansang glanced at the Americans and said, "Send it to the place I told you about."
"Are there any other photos?" Si Ying asked, leaning closer.
Yan Sang smiled and passed it off without saying anything else.
——
The day before leaving Shanghai, Lin Zitong brought the second-class tickets to Europe. He was explaining the reason for the second-class tickets to Yunyan: "While our family can afford first-class, Chinese people traveling abroad usually travel third class. Spending nearly a month on a ship means you're bound to interact with each other. A higher class cabin would easily attract dislike and resentment. Father sympathized with you on your first trip abroad, so he bought you a second-class ticket. That's inappropriate..."
Huang Mark smiled and said, "There's not much difference between first class and second class. It's just that the furnishings are simpler and there are no servants to treat us to brunch."
Qiao Maling then asked Huang Mark, "When you international students come back from Europe, do you all fly second class?"
Huang Mark nodded and said, "Second class will easily offend the other third class students returning from the same ship, so it's best to stay in third class."
Mrs. Qiao then asked, "So Master Si is also in third class?"
Lin Zitong said: "Yes."
A little later, Mrs. Ge sent another messenger, saying that a car would be sent to pick up Chu Wang and take him to the dock early the next morning. She had also bought the boat ticket, and Chu Wang would return to Hong Kong with her. Mrs. Qiao smiled and said, "She knows I'm in the habit of buying tickets only when it's almost time, and she even saved me the money. She's very thoughtful."
Along with it came a first-class ticket for a ship bound for Singapore. Qiao Maling glanced at it and said with a smile, "Hey, Mom, isn't this the same ship as ours?"
Mrs. Qiao didn't even look up. "Oh, really? There are four or five flights to Hong Kong that day. She just happened to arrive there by chance."
The ticket finally arrived in Chu Wang's hands, a thin sheet of paper covered in numerous stamps. Besides the two characters "Honghai," the most prominent feature was Chu Wang's English name. On the back, the top two lines of traditional Chinese characters read: "Government documents must be included. If missing, this ticket will be invalid."
The ticket was a piece of paper that was extremely light and thin, but it felt heavy in Chu Wang's hand, as if his own destiny had passed through Mrs. Ge's hands for the first time and was solemnly handed over to her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
