Chapter 79: Smoke from the Kitchen Part 3
It gets dark early in winter. It was just lunchtime, and the alleyway outside couldn't see more than five meters. Fortunately, two pale yellow streetlights, barely enough to catch a glimpse of the young Jewish man smoking in the darkness.
Seeing her come out, he slowly put out the cigarette and walked towards the door of the apartment building where she was standing with two envelopes.
Chu Wang was instantly amused and said with a smile: "Robert, who invited you here?"
He handed her an envelope first.
The manila envelope was opened, revealing a contract for a Shanghai research lab. It said: Salary: 220.
I vaguely remember that at that time, Hu Shi, a well-known overseas Chinese and Peking University professor, only earned 240 yuan.
With this salary, she was already an uncrowned noble. She put all her things back into the envelope and asked with a smile, "Who pays our salaries?"
"With a big tiger around, isn't it hard to apply for research funding from Kavan? George V, or Baldwin, who knows? It's not your government anyway."
"You don't feel bad about spending pounds in China, do you?"
"We are still waiting for the lead suits from you."
She sighed.
She stood at the door of the apartment building with her back to the doorman and spoke to Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer suddenly raised his finger holding the cigarette butt, pointed behind her, and said, "I'm afraid I've become your next scandal target."
The doorman was eavesdropping on their conversation. When he saw her turn around, he immediately retracted his head and pretended to read the newspaper as if nothing had happened.
"Go out for a walk?"
"The hot water pipe is frozen, so I'm going to buy a garden hose," she said.
"I saw a grocery store near the tram station when I came here."
She stuffed her red, frozen hands into the pockets of her windbreaker, and the two of them walked through the dark alley together.
Oppenheimer smiled, pulled a second small envelope from his inside coat pocket, and handed it to her.
The second one felt thick and heavy, and even before I opened it I knew it was a five-yuan silver note.
"A total of 1,160. Xu asked me to give it to you. I heard it's your salary for this year." Oppenheimer smiled slowly. "It seems to be higher than my salary?"
It was indeed very high. As far as she knew, Liang Zhang's monthly salary was only 100 yuan.
Two French policemen patrolled past them from behind.
Oppenheimer saw the two policemen and said, "Xu asked me to come to Shanghai as well. I asked him why, and he said it was because I knew you well, and he asked me to look after you in everything. So, what dangers would I encounter in Shanghai?"
She wasn't sure. The concession wasn't very friendly to Chinese people, and especially to single women. Her only real reward was a small apartment with two hundred and twenty yuan a month, which kept her from ending up in a shantytown made of oil barrels.
"I heard that you were involved in Xu's marital dispute. What? He wants to marry you as his second wife?" He suddenly asked with a smile.
"Do you believe it?"
"I don't believe it. If Liang were a woman, they might think he would be more willing to marry her. If I were a woman, I'd probably go through the same thing as you. Our Jewish family hates inter-Jewish marriages, so I'm sorry, I'm glad I'm not a woman, otherwise I would be even more unfortunate than you."
"Thank you for your congratulations."
We walked out of the alley and arrived at the general store behind the tram station. The wooden doorway was covered in a pile of paper cards written in calligraphy. The cards listed the items the store sold: chess pieces, rulers, brushes, ink, inkstones, and other stationery, as well as cotton towels, horse oil, hair wax, slippers, and even Pechoin face cream.
She chose the towels she had bought today for scrubbing the kitchen countertops and bathtub basin, which also came with a pair of slippers and a watering can.
Oppenheimer pointed to the candles used for lighting in the store and asked the grocery store owner in broken Chinese: "Everywhere in the concession is powered by electricity. There are lights, but you don't turn them on?"
The boss said, "Electricity costs 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is five or six dollars a month. Who can afford it except foreigners and rich people?"
Oppenheimer barely understood the gist of it, and curled his lips, seeming to understand but not quite.
She thought to herself: Fortunately, there are no high-power appliances such as ovens, microwave ovens, air conditioners and refrigerators, otherwise how could I get away with spending thirty or fifty yuan a month?
Then I thought, if there were no war, their research would be more likely to turn to controlled slow reactors. By then, everyone in China would have access to electricity at least 50 years earlier.
She was looking forward to the future with great enthusiasm, carrying her recent purchases to Oppenheimer's desk as she walked to the tram stop when she heard the grocery store owners, who had been so servile and kind just a moment ago, say, "At this hour of the night, you're dressed so extravagantly and brazenly out with foreigners. Aren't you just a hostess assigned by the government to keep foreigners company overnight? You've made the foreigners so happy by sleeping with you that you've given her an apartment with electricity and running water. Do you really think you're superior? Pah!"
The boss didn't speak Shanghainese, but some other dialect, but she could barely understand what he said.
She glanced back at the grocer. He hadn't expected her to have the courage to look back, and with a look of pity and sorrow; that glance filled him with shock and fear, a shudder of fear. Then, seeing her turn, Oppenheimer followed her gaze, looking at the trembling grocer behind him. His eyes were already gloomy, and this glance frightened him enough to drive him back inside and hide.
"What happened to him?" Orben asked.
"Nothing, just a poor fellow."
She didn't know what the owner's past was with the hostesses, but these words made her heart ache. It wasn't for herself, but for all the hostesses in Shanghai who were being scolded. They were all pitiful people, some toiling away, others rising to prominence. It wasn't easy for anyone to make a living in this foreign land. The government and the foreigners were also guilty, so why were they the ones being scolded?
The tram stop was only a five-minute walk from the apartment building, through the dark alley. Oppenheimer had never considered what might happen to a woman walking home five minutes from her doorstep in this bustling city; since her own door was only a five-minute walk away, she naturally didn't ask him to take her home.
The distance from the tram stop to the entrance of the alley was only more than ten meters, and suddenly someone followed me.
As the light grew dimmer, she quickened her pace, and the footsteps of those following her also quickened. Two French patrolmen came towards her, facing the light. Seeing her panicked expression, they shouted behind her, "What are you doing following this lady?!"
One of the French policemen grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him. Facing the light, she could see that the man was a short man wearing glasses.
The man spoke in broken English: "I'm a headhunter for an advertising company. I just happened to see her at the tram station and I think this lady is perfect to be the model for one of our cigarette ads..."
Judging from the man's clothing and appearance, he really did look like a headhunter. Unfortunately, the French seemed to be disgusted by people speaking English. They slapped him across the face, a resounding reverberation echoing through the empty, dark alley. How could the little man withstand it?
His head was knocked sideways, and when he turned around, two streams of blood streamed from his nose. He hurriedly pulled his business card from his pocket and humbly handed it over, saying, "Look! I'm from Hardman Cigarettes. My last name is Lu! I'm really looking for a model for this cigarette company..."
Without waiting for her to answer, the Frenchman unexpectedly slapped him in the face again. This slap was heavier and more brutal than the previous one. He was stunned and sat half-knelt on the ground.
The French police said, "You're following a young woman in the middle of the night and claiming you're shooting a commercial? These two slaps will teach you a lesson. Get lost!"
Chu Wang hurriedly translated the words to him: "I thought you were a gangster. I'm really sorry - I'm not filming commercials, and you should leave quickly. They don't want to hear anyone speaking English."
The man escaped death and ran away as fast as he could, no longer thinking about his own business.
The two French policemen were burly, almost a head taller than her. Under the immense pressure, she took two steps back and whispered in French, "Thank you so much."
Without hesitation, she turned and strode home. As she got closer to the second light, a towering shadow almost completely covered her. Then a heavy arm fell upon her shoulders, nearly crushing her.
A heavy breath echoed close to her ear, echoing repeatedly. The patrolman said to her in ambiguous French, "The concession is not peaceful at night. How can a beautiful lady like you travel alone at night without a protector?"
She pushed the arm several times but couldn't move it away. To avoid angering him and causing her to die in pieces, she laughed and retorted, "My house is just up the street. I'm just taking a walk. I don't need a flower protector."
"Oh? It's nearby? Then would you be so kind as to let me buy you a drink? It's not far away, at the bar on Rue d'Aifson." The French policeman smiled meaningfully. "I don't think you would refuse this small request, would you?"
Even in the peaceful world of the 21st century, if a stranger invites you for a drink or coffee for the first time, it's a completely sexual suggestion. Don't refuse? No one would believe it!
She quickly thought of a response plan in her mind.
After shouting "Xie Zeyi" to the upstairs people and angering the French police, what are her chances of survival before he rushes down from the upstairs?
Or if you walk past the door of an apartment building and ask the concierge for help, what are the chances that he will come up to help and not be shot dead by the French police first?
She had considered countless options, but she had never felt that this five-minute journey felt so long. After careful consideration, she asked in French, "Before you came to China, did you know that you should abide by the Regulations on the Punishment of French Nationals in China?"
The two were stunned for a moment, then turned a blind eye and said, "Ah. What?"
Seeing their answer, she understood. Usually when signing a contract, there will be a clause "I have read and complied with relevant laws and regulations"
Almost no one will read this article carefully. Many people cannot even recite the name of the regulation, let alone memorize it carefully one by one.
She closed her eyes and racked her brains to come up with a rule. Suddenly, a familiar male voice behind her said in French:
"If the French army commits a crime in China, they will be punished by the French courts. But if the person you violate is protected by British law, guess what will happen to you?"
The man whose arm was on her shoulder froze. Seeing the man's Asian appearance, the French police officer still sternly asked, "Then tell me, what will happen to us under British law?"
"I don't know either." The two Frenchmen looked grim and embarrassed, while Xie Zeyi smiled brightly and spoke cheerfully, a stark contrast. "Although I'd love to see it, as a colleague of yours of a different nationality, I still want to give you a piece of advice: Don't touch this lady."
Suddenly, her arms were grabbed and she was pulled back, and she was dragged to Xie Zeyi's side.
"aurevoir."
Xie Zeyi made a very annoying goodbye gesture to them and strode towards the apartment with her in his hand.
After a few steps to the apartment door, Xie Zeyi let her go. The doorman looked at them with an expression of excitement. The two of them were silent and got on the elevator one after the other.
Xie Zeyi was the first to break the silence: "The doorman called and said he has a tip about Ms. Lin. If I give him some benefits, he will tell me."
“…”
"It's a blessing in disguise. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be coming downstairs right now, and I wouldn't be seeing you being blatantly kidnapped by two Frenchmen. Fortunately, you were so quick-witted that you casually made up a French military regulation in China that even I didn't know. Otherwise, I don't know what the chances of winning against two French soldiers would be to get you back intact."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, but why are you looking so grim?"
"I don't know. It's only six in the afternoon, and I'm only five minutes away from home. I knew there might be some unexpected dangers in Shanghai, but I never expected to encounter them the first time I went out alone... I was careless."
"Just remember this and be more careful next time, okay?"
After exiting the elevator, she paused, suddenly remembering the laws of the Three Kingdoms. She still had Xie Zeyi and the regulations of the British Academy to protect her. But what about all the other Chinese besides her? Whether it was the wealthy gentlemen and ladies within the concession, or the millions of ordinary farmers living in simple shacks outside. What if it were them, not her, who faced this today?
Xie Zeyi also stopped, seeing her dejected expression, as if she were telling a meaningless joke. "This is Shanghai. Gang fights and gun battles at night, foreigners show off their power during the day, and foreign patrolmen casually beat a few people to death. People pouring in from the mainland could never earn more than 20 yuan a month. And in the concession, where every inch of land is valuable, even a small room in the corridor costs 15 yuan a month in rent. And outside the concession is the larger Shanghai, where there is no water or electricity, and hundreds of people share a single tap in the shacks. If you enter the International Settlement with a meager 8 yuan a month and offend the foreign patrolmen, you will be beaten and scolded at best, and at worst, you will die in the Suzhou Creek and Huangpu River. That is modern China. Such prosperity only exists in a few cities with open treaty ports, isolated islands of prosperity amidst the devastation." He paused, then asked, "Do you understand?"
She nodded, then shook her head.
This city of this era felt strange yet familiar. In the Republican era she had seen, the protagonists were often young masters and young ladies from wealthy families, driven by cars and enjoying a life of luxury, all living in the International Settlement. Yet, none of this had ever dawned on her: beyond the peaceful and prosperous world lay a world of misery. She was wary of this place, but it wasn't enough. The consequence of her inadequate vigilance was this: on her first trip out, a mere five minutes from her home, the present age gave her a complete rude awakening.
Pushing open the door, Xie Zeyi took the watering can from her hand, poured in a pot of freshly boiled hot water, and poured it on the water inlet pipe. It immediately melted the ice and snow, making a sizzling sound.
She leaned against the bathroom door and called out with mixed feelings, "Thank you, Mr.
"Um?"
"From now on... I'll be bothering you." In the afterlife, she refused to beg for anything from others. She had once felt that admitting "I need you" to others was a sign of incompetence and shameful; but in this world, she needed someone like Xie Zeyi by her side. The research institute needed her, and she carried a treasure, so she didn't want to disappear without a trace.
What could be more worthwhile than living well and witnessing with your own eyes this devastated Far Eastern country finally become a strong, unified country with happy people?
He seemed to have considered his words for a long time. After a long pause, he finally said, "When Mrs. Ge entrusted you to me, you were in a difficult situation to some extent. Although with the tacit consent of the elders, I hope to have a possible future with a young and beautiful woman. But since you have clearly rejected me, I am only responsible for your personal safety and have no right to interfere with your future. Therefore, I will not take advantage of you."
The hot water pipes were unblocked, so he rinsed the bathtub and filled it with steaming water. He closed the bathroom door and came out, patiently instructing, "Take a hot bath. There's hot soup in the kitchen. You haven't been home for a while, so I had to eat dinner first. Lock the doors and windows. It's very safe here, don't worry. Get some rest. I'll come by tomorrow morning... every morning." (m.)138TXT
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