Chapter 77: Smoke from the Kitchen
Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Ge saw her off to Queen's Pier, a grand farewell. When the ship was about to depart, she was alone in her first-class single cabin, a sight that even surprised the Japanese girls next door.
There were few words in the farewell, and no sadness of parting. Chu Wang assumed it was because Mr. Jiang and Mrs. Ge often went to Shanghai, but he never expected that they had other, more reliable plans in private.
The two men said casually: "Someone will pick you up in Shanghai." They did not tell her who would pick her up.
The ship was a Japanese ship, and its name, Xue Cang Wan, translated rather literary, was a Japanese ship. My first visit to Hong Kong was also on a Japanese ship, but because I stayed in a large suite, I didn't notice it then. Now, in my studio, everything is small: the tiny bathroom has a white toilet and a white copper washbasin, and behind the small black patent leather sofa, there's a wall that pulls down to reveal a bed. The furniture is wooden, with a black and white color scheme. The bedsheets are pristine white cloth, and toothbrushes made from broken wooden sticks. Wooden clogs and cotton pajamas are also readily available. While the space is small, it's well-utilized, never feeling cramped. It's small yet comfortable, and the soft, Japanese-sounding voice of the girl next door makes it easy to fall asleep.
The ship had just sailed, docking in Hong Kong in the evening, and many guests had come aboard. When a Japanese servant came to treat her to dinner, she overheard a handsome European man at the next door speaking English with a light accent to a Japanese girl, who was replying in Japanese. She was puzzled, but after listening carefully, she suddenly realized it was Japanese-English. Otherwise, she would have thought that Japanese and English had been integrated at some point.
After dinner, he ran into that waitress again. She was casually standing by the door, chatting and gesturing wildly. It was obvious she was an Italian flirt. Hearing another noise in the hallway, he turned and looked her up and down, thinking she was one of the others in the room. He feigned a "Kong Ni Qi Wa" (empty ni qi wa) at her. Chu Wang pretended not to understand, so he switched to "Lei Hou Wa" (thunder monkey wow)—and before she could reply, the door next door slammed shut, nearly breaking his nose and making Chu Wang laugh. He smiled and waved, "Notte!" He closed the door, washed up, and went to bed.
The rocking of the boat made her drowsy and there was nothing to do. She slept until she arrived in Shanghai and didn't even have time to eat. Mr. Jiang had asked someone on the boat in advance. Before the boat even docked, several servants opened a special passage for her and rushed to send her luggage down first. While waiting on the deck, she saw the Italian again - she had made a comeback in two days and now had an oriental beauty in her arms. It was not a wasted trip. She heard several familiar voices from behind. When she turned around, the Japanese girls also saw the Italian. They smiled at her and understood each other, holding a map in their hands. They asked rather embarrassedly, "Are you familiar with Shanghai?"
"Going to Hongkou?"
He was quite familiar with the place. "Kobe is very cold in the winter, but Singapore is warm. During the holidays, I just happened to take a ferry to Shanghai. My father and brother are both in Hongkou."
It turns out that these are new types of student girls who are spending their winter vacation traveling together, and everything is new.
The Japanese girl then asked, "Is your family also in Shanghai, or did you come to Shanghai from Hong Kong to play?"
She was a little stunned. Then she smiled and said, "I'm working."
The girls were surprised: "You look so small!"
Several Japanese Marines, who hadn't had time to change into their uniforms, waved and called out the names of my daughter and sisters from a distance. The girl, forgetting to say goodbye, squeezed through the crowd and ran over to warmly hug her long-lost relatives.
People came and went like a revolving lantern, all characters in a play; she was the only spectator. The servant carrying her suitcases and boxes spoke no language, and his face was as grim as a poker. Shanghai was much colder than Hong Kong, and she regretted wearing only a woolen coat over her long cheongsam. The wind whistled at her calves. She tightened her clothes, puffing out mist, and followed the poker-faced people aimlessly forward, wondering if these kings of hearts were leading her to Alice's cruel wonderland.
Her thoughts were racing through her head, her brain frozen in time, and she didn't even notice the boxes falling to the ground and the servants dispersing. She stared at the boxes on the ground, completely bewildered, and suddenly forgot where she was and where she was going.
Every time she traveled alone to a new place, she'd always be accompanied by two large 28-inch suitcases. After getting off the plane and pushing her luggage through the international exit, everyone else in her group had company, but she was still alone—and she often felt a moment of loss.
She didn't even notice that someone had been standing there waiting for her for a long time. Then he patted her arm and said with a smile, "What are you daydreaming about?"
After saying this, without waiting for her to come to her senses, he naturally picked up the boxes one by one and put them into the car.
After getting in the car, she came to her senses and stared at the person in the driver's seat in disbelief: "Mr. Xie?"
Xie Zeyi only looked at the road and not at the people, but he knew what she was thinking. Suddenly, like an old friend, he asked casually, "Is Shanghai cold?"
"It's colder than Hong Kong." He lowered his head and thought for a while, "Why is Mr. Xie here?"
"Can I come uninvited?" Still the usual style.
Chu Wang recalled the collusive look on the faces of the two men at Queen's Pier, and finally smiled, "How dare I trouble Mr. Xie?"
"Always willing to serve a lady." He drove slowly. "Want some Cantonese food?"
"I've eaten on the boat. I'm not hungry."
"Coming from Hong Kong to Shanghai to eat Cantonese food is a bit silly." Then he asked, "What does Miss San usually like to eat?"
Chu Wang said, "I'm really not hungry."
"It's common to have no appetite after traveling so long. I know a chef who can cook Chinese, Western, Sichuan, Beijing, Cantonese, and Shanghai cuisine. They're all good. Go back and have a good rest. I'll invite him to cook a few dishes of various dishes for you to eat when you wake up."
Chu Wang finally smiled in frustration, "Local food, right?"
Seeing that she was getting sleepy, Xie Zeyi stopped talking. The car drove from the Bund into the French Concession, a smooth and quiet journey, with only the faintest sound of breathing inside.
When she woke up, Xie Zeyi had already carried her luggage upstairs. She didn't know how much longer she slept, but the sky and the earth had darkened, leaving only a dim streetlight on the narrow road.
He knocked on the car window outside and said with a smile, "Come down and have something to eat."
He pushed the cart out and followed Xie Zeyi into the apartment building. He felt his stomach and realized he was actually hungry. He walked to the elevator gate with green walls and orange-red paint and rang the doorbell, but the elevator didn't come for a long time. Chu Wang couldn't understand the structure of elevators in the Republic of China. The two of them waited foolishly for a long time under the dim tungsten light, and Xie Zeyi and others laughed at him.
"The elevator operator fell asleep." He concluded, then turned and walked out. He turned back and asked her to go out first. "We have to go up the stairs."
The green-painted walls and red-gold carpets from the hallway all the way to the stairwell reminiscent of the old hotels still preserved on Montmartre. Everything was fresh... Ascending the stairs, each golden-brown door was inlaid with a piece of pale blue carved glass, faintly shining through.
A noisy and loud cry of a child came from the door of this house.
"A Soviet family. An old lady, a couple, and three red-haired boys." These two sentences summarize the family structure of this family and the characteristics of the residents of this building - the biosphere of the city's people with higher economic capabilities and the petty bourgeoisie.
"Three little Soviet boys, what a shame for the couple." Chu Wang expressed his condolences.
On the next floor above, people were listening to the radio. The faint sound of opera singing drifted out - "I have a love story, and I want to sing it for you all to hear."
"Yes. This is indeed Shanghai."
"If this isn't Shanghai, where do you think Miss San thinks I'm going to take you?"
The houses built by Europeans during this period had very high floors, usually over four meters, sometimes five. Therefore, the staircases between floors were extremely long. As she reached the next floor, it suddenly became dark, and each step was extremely narrow. She nearly missed a step and fell in her high heels.
Xie Zeyi supported her elbow from behind, and when she was steady, he walked to the front without a word. Chu Wang couldn't see clearly, and he felt his way up step by step. The already long staircase now felt like a tunnel through time and space.
From time to time, Xie Zeyi's voice could be heard from the distant ceiling, accompanied by a faint metallic sound: "The light on this floor often doesn't work. I'll buy you a new bulb tomorrow." He suddenly opened a door and turned on the light inside the room, letting in light to make it easier for her to go upstairs. He smiled and said, "Do you think the stairs here are unusually long?"
"Is this kind of house always like this?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "The French are very free-spirited in building houses. I guess they were in a good mood that day, so they built one story here as high as two stories elsewhere."
"Isn't it better to be taller?"
"Nothing. I often come home very late, so I have to come here and climb the stairs. The lights are broken, so the time I spend climbing the stairs is much longer than usual..."
"Will you be more frank when speaking?" Chu Wang suddenly thought of the Heart Sutra.
"Confessing to yourself? That's a bit strange." Xie Zeyi smiled, "It just makes you want to talk more."
Chu Wang also laughed, "I thought Mr. Xie's ability to speak was innate."
"So this is how Miss San thinks of me?"
Knowing that this person would occasionally throw out some words that people could not respond to, he just smiled and said nothing, then turned and went into the house.
Chu Wang was checking out her home for the first time, feeling a bit of a sense of novelty. Xie Zeyi stood at the corner of the corridor, but didn't follow her. He turned on the corridor lights for her from a distance and then went into the kitchen.
The house had been decorated a long time ago. Because it was a summer renovation, the predominantly grayish-blue color scheme seemed a bit chilly in this winter, but the mahogany furniture added an unexpected, ancient warmth. The electrical wiring and copper pipes had been re-routed according to her wishes. There was a small hallway at the entrance, leading to the kitchen. On the other side, a long hallway led to three doors: a bathroom with a bathtub, and two bedrooms.
Xie Zeyi had lived here for a long time before her, but all the furniture looked brand new and spotless, but not like the cold and deserted spotlessness of a new room with no people around, but rather the cleanliness and newness of a life in the real world.
When I turned back, the pre-steamed dishes were already placed on the table: braised pork, lion head, steamed three fresh delicacies and green vegetables.
Xie Zeyi stood at the door, met her gaze, and immediately asked with a smile, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Is it okay to be a little moved?"
"Since I didn't do it, you don't have to thank me specifically. I didn't know this was Miss San's place, so I should thank you." Then, "Have a good rest."
Seeing that he seemed to be leaving, I asked, "Where has Mr. Xie been living recently?"
"I'll stay in the Municipal Council dormitory for now. Once I find an apartment, I'll move out soon." After thinking for a moment, he added before leaving, "It should be safe here lately, so don't worry."
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