Chapter 73 Patient 17
After hearing this, Xu Shaoqian was shocked, and Chu Wang himself felt that he was also quite scared.
At this time, Nanjing was pro-Japanese and was encircling and suppressing the Hunan and Hubei regions; Jiangxi, in alliance with the Soviet Union, was waging a workers' and peasants' revolution in the Hunan and Hubei regions, fighting against the local tyrants and dividing up the land. The internal strife was raging, and any hope of reuniting the two sides would require external conflict. In these circumstances, mentioning Jiangxi was simply daydreaming.
I don’t know what he was thinking.
Nanjing nominally claims that it has no money, but where is the huge amount of Boxer Indemnity between China and Britain and between China and the United States?
"Let me think about it."
Xu Shaoqian waved his hand.
Chu Wang packed up her things and left. When she reached the door, the phone on the table by the door rang. Xu Shaoqian was sitting too far away, so she pointed at the phone. Xu Shaoqian nodded, and she picked it up for him.
Just after he said hello, there was a pause on the other end of the line, and Wen Jun said coldly, "Why is it you?"
Chu Wang smiled and said, "Just about to leave. I'll give the phone to..."
"No, please. Please tell my uncle that my aunt asked him to stop by the post office on his way back."
Chu Wang nodded, "I'll pass it on."
Xu Shaoqian was about to get up and come over, but when he heard it, he smiled and sat down.
The voices of Mrs. Xu and Wen's mother could be heard faintly on the other end of the line, as if they were asking who had answered the phone. Xu Wenjun covered the receiver and replied, "No one, Uncle Liang answered the phone. Don't think too much about it."
After a while, Xu Wenjun said in a very small voice: "I advise you to stay away from my uncle as much as possible in the future. The farther the better."
Chu Wang was stunned. "Huh?"
Just as I was filled with questions, Xu Wenjun on the other end of the phone had already hung up.
After telling Xu Shaoqian, he noticed that she looked different and asked, "What's wrong?"
Chu Wang shook his head, his mind mulling over Xu Wenjun's words. Finally, before leaving, he added, "If you've been busy lately, you can allocate more time to Liang Zhang and me. Mrs. Xu is feeling better now, so she should be eager to go out more and chat with people."
Xu Shaoqian smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern on her behalf."
After a pause, Chu Wang rubbed his head and said, "Liang Zhang has been playing more and more wild recently. I didn't even see him this afternoon."
Xu Shaoqian rarely saw him in the lab. He shook his head and said with a smile, "This kid, wait and see how I deal with him tomorrow."
——
However, Liang Zhang still did not show up the next day.
This Friday, besides Liang Zhang, Meitner was also absent. The two German doctors sat in the office in a daze for a while, concluding that their work had been idle for too long, and even their superiors were going on strike.
Chandra listened thoughtfully and said, "That doesn't seem to be the case. Liang and Ms. Liz went out for a drive together yesterday afternoon. Maybe they had dinner together and spent a wonderful evening together. The night was so beautiful that they overslept."
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire institute burst into laughter.
Many people were clamoring to wait for Liang Zhang to come and ask him to treat them, and some even told dirty jokes to tease them. But most of them were well-intentioned and sincerely wished the two of them well.
Chu Wang also took the lead in making a noise: "First of all, I must thank Professor Tsu for providing the props - a car! Secondly, I have to thank our little Robert for kindly assembling a radio!"
Everyone agreed with a smile: "Thank you, Prof. Tsu, thank you Robert Achievement Institute for a pair of lovers!"
Xu Shaoqian passed by and heard this, and said with a smile, "But there are just some signs. See you later, don't scare them."
Oppenheimer didn't join in the fun. He sat cross-legged on the dark windowsill, smoking a cigarette, away from the crowd, with only a rare smile on his face.
By the afternoon, the two still hadn't arrived.
On Friday afternoon, Xu Shaoqian, as usual, went home early to be with his wife. Rutherford and Thomson had gone inland with the envoys, and without Xu Shaoqian and Meitner, the entire institute was in chaos, leaderless.
Some people grilled leftover lunch meat with alcohol lamps, while others imitated Rutherford's tone in their speeches. After the speeches, someone else added, "We will never abandon classical physics! Because we use the new quantum theory on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and classical theory on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays! On Sundays, we believe in God!"
Another person was also excited and said loudly in Rutherford's tone: "Please remember! Our cause has not only today, but also tomorrow!"
…
Chu Wang smiled as she squeezed out from the group of crazy people. Today was Friday, and she had to go to the Qiao Mansion early to get her things.
As I was walking downstairs with my backpack, I suddenly heard a commotion outside—English mixed with German. A few steps down, I saw several British soldiers blocking a pale-faced woman at the door. She pleaded, "Please... please take me to your superiors! The letter is mine! It's truly mine!"
The British soldier grinned and said, "What letter? We're only responsible for guarding the people here, not investigating letters. Oh... just now my colleagues seemed to be saying that a Chinese man was snatched from his German mistress's bed and thrown into the police station for interrogation. So it turned out to be your mistress?"
Another man said impatiently: "If it's his faith, he'll die. If it's your faith, you'll die. Are you going to die for him, German?"
After the man finished speaking, he reached towards his waist.
Chu Wang recognized the German woman's voice and saw what he was touching around her waist. Suddenly, her mind buzzed. Amid the British soldiers' laughter, she quickly rushed forward, blocking Meitner's way and shouting in English, "Is this how you treat women? You English!"
The British soldiers laughed even louder. The man in front of him changed his expression and said with a forced smile, "Who are you calling an Englishman?"
Before she could open her mouth, something cold pressed against her temples. Knowing it was a pistol, she suddenly became even calmer. She stared at the British soldier with a smile, "I'm talking about you, Englishman."
Meitner tugged at her and whispered in German, "Linzy, this has nothing to do with you. Don't worry about it."
Chu Wang shook off her hand and continued in English, "From the moment you came here to guard us, we were sanctioned by your laws and protected by your judicial regulations. Without any fault on my part, you fired the gun. You are about to be tried by a jury."
"You know quite a bit." The British soldier narrowed his eyes, his smile growing wider. "You speak very authentic English, too."
He pointed the gun behind Chu Wang and said, "Just because you are not at fault doesn't mean your companions are not either. You should persuade this lady to mind her lover's business - this is my final advice to you."
He wiped his gun and turned away, and the group of British soldiers who were watching the fun behind him also dispersed.
After everyone had left, Chu Wang turned around and asked in German, "Did you ask Liang to mail the letter for you?!"
Meitner's lips turned pale, and he nodded, almost incoherently, "He was taken away a few hours ago. I said it was my letter, and they didn't want any explanation-"
Chu Wang glanced at her, turned around and ran upstairs.
Meitner was stunned, and followed closely behind, explaining very weakly: "I don't know why... None of my letters can be successfully sent to Germany. Why my letters? Even I can't send money to my father. So last night I asked Liang to help me mail it... I don't know why..."
The more she talked, the more dizzy Chu Wang felt. She went upstairs and reached for the phone, her stomach churning and she nearly vomited. When she dialed the number for Xu's residence, her voice trembled, "I'm looking for Mr. Xu."
On the other end of the phone, Wen's mother was stunned: "Master hasn't come back yet."
Chu Wang almost cried, "...then when he comes back, please ask him to call back."
"OK."
After hanging up the phone, she rushed to the bathroom and vomited violently - she was scared of having a gun pointed at her head for the first time in her life, even though she knew the man would not shoot; she was terrified of what would happen to Liang Zhang, and even more so, she was filled with guilt and anger for what happened to Meitner and him.
Why Germany, because she mentioned the "defeated nation"; why Meitner, because she said: "Use it, but I doubt it, is it possible?"
Why does she have the final say?
I vomited heavily over the small copper basin, touched my face, and found it was wet with tears. I wiped my face and went back to sit down in the chair with Meitner. A few moments later, the phone rang again.
Before she could answer, Xu Shaoqian answered, "I know. I just went to the police station... It was useless. I tortured him for a few days, and after he suffered a little, he was released. Don't worry, he's a real man and can handle it."
Xu Shaoqian's voice on the other end was surprisingly calm. At least at that moment, it sounded strangely safe. It was this feeling that brought a pang of sourness back to her brow. She frowned, her voice changed, and she forgot to switch languages. She choked back her words and asked in English, "What are they going to do to him... Will he get the electric chair?"
Meitner, who was not far away, heard this and his eyes turned red: "His spine and knees are not good. He can't stand sitting for too long."
"...The electric chair belongs to Americans." Xu Shaoqian replied.
"What would that be? Tiger bench, pepper spray, or finger pinching?"
"That's something from the feudal era. It no longer exists in modern society."
Chu Wang pinched her nose and forced herself to calm down. After a while, she whispered in Chinese, "Does this matter have anything to do with what I said?"
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.
"Let me ask you this. If you had known this would happen, wouldn't you have told me your plan in the office that day?"
"I'll still tell you."
"Since this must be done, then the moment you take this step, you should understand: we are all ants. Today it could be him, tomorrow it could be you and me. Aren't you ready yet?"
"Everything has a price, I understand." Chu Wang thought about it, but still couldn't get over the psychological barrier, so he asked again: "Will Liang Zhang really be okay?"
"Which is more important, his matter or our plan?"
She knew she shouldn't act like a saint. But Liang Zhang was such a vibrant person, such a lively, single older man. He had rheumatism and back problems. He had an elderly, single mother in the countryside of Fuzhou. She was 5 feet tall and a bit hunched, but she seemed energetic even when scolding the two 5 feet 1/2 men.
At times like this, it is especially easy to think of such small things, but they happen to be the things that make one's eyes sore.
"If you were the one sent to the police station today, I would tell Liang Zhang the same thing. If it were me today, I would also hope that you could remain rational and clear-headed. We still have many unresolved issues. I think you should be able to distinguish between the important and the unimportant. After all, people have to look forward, right?"
——
Xu Shaoqian had just arrived home when he, following Wen Ma's advice, called the office. A few minutes after hanging up, he was still worried about Liang Zhang. Without even having dinner, he hurried off to the police station to get more information.
Wen's mother saw this and even complained as she served the meal, "I haven't had many meals at home these past few months. Every time I get a phone call, I rush off and disappear—I don't know what it is."
Mrs. Xu asked, "Whose call are you answering?"
"Who else could it be?" He then added, "The first time I called, it sounded like I was crying."
Mrs. Xu raised an eyebrow: "Crying? What's the matter?"
"Who knows? The master called back, tried to coax and persuade him, but he left right away..." Wen's mother's words became more and more outrageous. Knowing that she had said the wrong thing, she immediately fell silent. "Madam, why don't you try to persuade him?"
Xu Wenjun saw this and snorted, "Other people naturally have their own things to do. Do you think everyone has as much free time as you?"
Wen's mother curled her lips and said, "I didn't say anything."
"Then what did you do? Auntie suddenly started to love reading, reading every other day. Why did it have to be my books?" Xu Wenjun glanced at Wen Ma, making her feel guilty. Then he stared at Mrs. Xu and sneered, "Uncle said that for other talented and beautiful couples, marriage is a matter of time. So, Auntie, you should take good care of your health and don't overthink it."
After Wenjun finished speaking, he dropped his bowl and went upstairs.
Mrs. Xu knew that the child had always been precocious and meticulous. Even when he exposed her, she wasn't upset. But the second half of the sentence, however, became increasingly interesting to her. After hearing the whole thing, she suddenly had an idea.
After a moment's hesitation, she called Wen's mother and asked again, "Did she really call crying?"
Wen's mother wiped her hands and said, "It's absolutely true. When the phone call came, her voice was shaking. She was definitely crying."
Mrs. Xu thought for a moment and then asked, "That Mrs. Qiao called us before. Her home phone number should still be in the phone book, right?"
Wen's mother flipped through it and sighed, "It's still there."
She asked Wen Ma to help her move the chair to the phone. After the call was connected to the Qiao Mansion, Mrs. Xu grabbed the receiver and said with a smile, "Qiao Mansion? Looking for Mrs. Qiao... This is Mrs. Xu... You called me before. Yes. I'm calling to talk about Miss Lin San... and my husband."
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