Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 1

[T/L: The chapters will uploaded without a fixed schedule for the time being, and the schedule will be informed from next month. ]

This story takes place in the era of the  Republic of China. 

Chapter 1 – The Case of Chen Baidie

Mrs. Yu’s family lived in an old bungalow in Tongfu Lane.

That house was originally a property owned by a Russian nobleman when he lived in Shanghai. When he first arrived in Shanghai, the Russian man and his family were very particular about food, clothing, housing and transportation, and because of that, they spent a lot of money to build their mansions. 

Unexpectedly, it didn’t take long for the Russians to become addicted to cigarettes and after they didn’t have enough money to spend they started to pawn their property and when they were unable to settle the payments they had no choice but to sell them. 

After more than a decade, the foreign-style house had lost its former glory. Now there were four families living in this three-storied mansion. 

Let’s take Mrs. Yu’s house as an example. She and her family lived on the second floor. Besides their family, there were two more houses on that floor. In one house, a middle-aged man called Xiang, who was a university teacher was living. Mrs. Yu couldn’t understand why Mr. Xiang was still single with such a handsome appearance and a good profession.

On the other side of her house, there lived a charming woman called Fen Dai. 

Mrs’ Yu looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was six in the afternoon. She then moved toward the closed door and shouted, “Hongdou, stop working, go downstairs and see why your brother hasn’t come back yet.” She yelled twice in succession, but didn’t get any response. So she opened the door without yelling again and went inside to see that her daughter, Yu Hongdou was half-snuggled on the bedside reading a newspaper. She was wearing a jade-coloured jacket and trousers and her black hair was pinned up with a cherry-red celluloid hairpin.

Seeing Mrs. Yu was coming in, the young girl didn’t show any intention of getting up from the bed and she was still looking at the newspaper in her hand. “Mom.”

“Didn’t you hear me calling you? I asked you to go out and see if your brother is coming.”Mrs. Yu was so angry and she snatched the newspaper from her daughter. Seeing that the newspaper was a tabloid that was focused on entertainment gossip, her anger rose up. “Is this how you are studying? Reading such messy things. Did you finish your homework before doing other things?” Before she finished her scolding she saw the article on the cover page. “Tianyi Film Company’s top star Miss Chen Baidie disappeared mysteriously recently, suspected to be kidnapped by thieves, the news spread like wildfire, causing a sensation in Shanghai—”

Mrs. Yu was stunned. It seemed the city was not peaceful and incidents like kidnapping happened frequently. When she was playing  mahjong with neighbours together, they happened to talk about these things, and they all guessed that it was the work of the demolition of the Bai Party.  For the sake of their safety people should give money for them and they dared to kidnap a star like Chen Baidie.

[T/L: Mahjong is a tile-based game in China. It became very popular in the 19th century and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century.]

She took a closer look at the article and saw a photo of the famous star. ‘Yes, it’s indeed Ms. Chen.’

Yu Hongdou sighed and said, “I just went to see Ms. Chen’s new movie with my classmates last week. I thought that Chen Baidie was good-looking and good at acting. She would have a bright future. Who would have thought that in just a few days, such big news would come out?” 

When Mrs. Yu heard the word “classmate” she just pushed Chen Baidie aside and looked at her daughter with a doubt in her eyes.  “I didn’t know that you went to the movies with your classmates, male or female?”

Yu Hongdou smiled and said,”Male classmate.” After saying that she just wanted to get up from the bed but was stopped by her mother. 

“Hongdou, be serious.”

“Mom, even if I said it was true, would you believe it? You will question again and again and force me to tell a lie.”

Mrs. Yu: “Mom knows that you are a good boy. But the atmosphere outside is too bad now, and free love is preached everywhere. If young people only care about their emotions now, they will regret it in the future. When you walk outside , when you meet those male students who speak sweet words, be careful not to be coaxed by them. Besides, you have always been ambitious, and you have finally been admitted to such a good school, so you should focus on homework.” 

Originally Yu Hongdou was going to joke a few words, but seeing her mother’s expressions, she knew that her mother was thinking of her aunt who died young. “Mom, don’t worry, your daughter knows. I went to see the movie with Gu Yun. It’s actually good to go out with classmates to enjoy once in a while.”

Mrs’ Yu didn’t understand from where her daughter had inherited such a  cunning and lazy temperament. Sometimes she was very confused and sometimes she was very sensible. Normally, when she lectured her daughter, Yu Hongdou would just say some unnecessary things but today she talked in such a serious way. After a while, she sighed softly and embraced her daughter. “Your brother is working in the police station now, and it is not up to mother to discipline him. There is only you, who is only nineteen years old, and you girl, your mom doesn’t worry that you would do unnecessary things.” 

Yu Hongdou circled her hands around her mother’s neck and smiled sweetly at her. “Mom, don’t worry about it. Look, the lines around your eyes are getting deeper. If this continues, the Sanhua brand cream won’t work anymore.” 

Hearing the words, Mrs. Yu hurriedly pushed her daughter away, looked at the small mirror on the table, and said carefully, “Nonsense——”

“Mom, take your time, I’m going downstairs’, Yu Hongdou said as she headed to the door with a smile on her face. “I’m going downstairs to look for my brother and aunt Zhou, aunt Zhou has been shopping for an hour, and she still hasn’t come back. My brother is going after a gang recently and I’m afraid that he will be late.”

Mrs. Yu turned her head and said, “It’s getting dark. Don’t wait outside for long.”

Yu Hongdou agreed, and just walked into the living room, just in time to meet Mrs. Zhou entering the house. She seemed to have brought a lot, with leeks in her left hand, shallots in her right, and a small bag of flour under her armpit.

“Hey, aunt  Zhou, you’re back.”

Mrs. Zhou hurriedly stood in front of Yu Hongdou, and said in a low voice, “Miss, are you going out?

“What’s the matter, aunt Zhou?”

” Miss, there are people outside and it’s not easy to go out at this time.”

Yu Hongdou was very curious, and hurriedly lowered her voice. “Who is there?” ?”

Mrs. Zhou put a bunch of things on the table, pointed upstairs and said, “Who else could it be, the woman on the third floor.” 

At this time Mrs. Yu came from the room and heard Mrs. Zhou’s words.

Miss Qiu, who lived on the third floor, was a famous dancer from Paramount. Although she was a courtesan, she had always been very well-behaved. But hearing the tone of Mrs. Zhou’s, Mrs. You wondered whether Miss Qiu had bought a man in. 

If that was the case, because of Hongdou, the house cannot be rented no matter what.

Mrs. Zhou stated mystifyingly, “I just happened to run across a young man downstairs. He was wearing decent clothes and looked really handsome. When I saw him, I felt I had seen him before and after thinking for a while, I remembered he was a young master of the He family. 

“The tycoon in the yarn industry?” 

“Yes. He is the second son of the tycoon He Meng Mei.  I saw it in the newspaper that the young master bought last time.  It said that this man came back from studying engineering in Germany.“

Mrs. Yu coughed sternly, and said coldly. “Sister  Zhou, the beef is simmering on the stove, it should be almost done, go and see it and wash some vegetables by the way.”

Mrs. Zhou quickly shut her mouth tightly and went to the kitchen.

Yu Hongdou had also heard about the news. Out of curiosity, she still quietly opened the door and looked outside. In the stairs leading from the second level to the third floor, she noticed two people standing there. Because of the haze in the evening, she was unable to properly see the man’s face.  He looked tall. He would occasionally say one or two sentences, but his voice was frigid and low, and he appeared to be quite young. After a brief exchange, Miss Qiu twisted her slim waist and walked up the stairs while simultaneously turning on the lamp in the hallway. At that time, the man lowered his head to light a cigarette, so Yu Hongdou still couldn’t see his face.

She lost interest and returned to the living room where her mother was keeping an eye on her. She said, “Hey, I’m going back to school tomorrow,” as she stretched while walking. “I’m going to go over my assignments.” She entered the bedroom and relaxedly leaned against the stained glass window  intending to look at her brother, and she saw a bicycle. The bicycle was parked in front of Peng Tailor’s shop on the first floor. It was about 50 to 60 percent new. There were no other new guests in the building, so this semi-old bicycle could only belong to Mr. He. She thought and was surprised at the same time. 

Recently, the trend was exaggerated. Everyone wanted to write the word “money” on their foreheads. Those who had a little money in their hands, often travel in foreign cars. So such a rich man using a bicycle was quite rare.

She tilted her head and thought for a while, and seeing that her brother hadn’t come back, she bent down and dragged out a cardboard box under the bed, digging out a newspaper from several months ago.

End of chapter 1

Have a nice day!