Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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

That newspaper was actually a tabloid from three months ago.

 The title: “A certain noble family was in danger because of their son and sister-in-law’s affair.” It was not mentioned the family name in the article, but with the information there, it was not difficult to guess that the family referred to the He family.”

 For example,

“The family has two sons and two daughters. The eldest lady and the eldest son are born to the first wife, and the last two children are born to the second wife.”

 “The eldest son announced his marriage in the newspaper last year. The wedding was held at the Carlton Hotel. On that day, celebrities in the upper class gathered there.”

 “The eldest son’s lovely wife was a classmate of the second son. Although she married the eldest son, her heart was secretly attached to the second son. After the second son returned from overseas, the brother-in-law and sister-in-law faced each other day and night. Touched by old love, it ended up being a dark song. The matter was detected by the eldest son. In a rage, the eldest son drew his gun and wanted to shoot his beloved wife. Fortunately, he was persuaded in time and did not make a big mistake. However, the marriage is like torn silk, and it is impossible to survive, and the brothers have turned against each other since then.”

Yu Hongdou thought that the writer of this article had a talent for creating vivid images in readers’ minds. People always liked to read such gossip about upper-class families and celebrities, and after this scandal was exposed, this newspaper became famous overnight, and the sales of this newspaper increased.

Because there was a missing person notice, her brother borrowed this copy three months ago from the Peng family, who lived on the first floor.

Three months later, Yu Hongdou ignored the missing person’s notice and just looked at this news about the He family, and she couldn’t bear scrutiny at all. ‘ If this passionate sister-in-law really likes her brother-in-law, then why did she marry his elder brother a year ago? Today’s society no longer follows the old traditions, and parents do not interfere with their children’s affairs a lot. Compared with other rich families, the He family is following a civilised line. If the lady is unwilling, there is absolutely no reason to marry by force. Besides, it is mentioned that the second son of the He family had stayed abroad for a long time and came back this year. If he really had an affair with his sister-in-law, why didn’t he return to China before the wedding last year?’

Yu Hongdou shook her head with doubt. ‘When people hear such dirty news, they tend to listen to it and believe it, whether it is true or false. Even if the article is full of loopholes, they don’t bother to care about its authenticity. After reading this news, no matter how the Second Young Master He proves himself, everyone believes that he has an affair with his sister-in-law, she thought.

The tabloid, however, was short-lived and shut down after a few days. In order to avoid the spotlight, the reporter who wrote the article left Shanghai overnight. Maybe under the pressure of the He family, he had no choice but to do that.

Ironically, according to Mrs. Zhou, the He family had released a full-body photograph of He Yunqin’s degree in various newspapers prior to the scandal in order to welcome the second young master on his return from abroad. But it didn’t get much attention like the scandal news, and it seemed no matter where this young master He went, he would always be pointed at by others.

However, after a quick glance just now, Hongdou felt that this person went in and out very calmly. And he also seemed to be unconstrained and free-spirited. In the words of Pastor Lin of St. John’s University, “This kid has a bit of bad taste.” A crackling sound broke out of Yu Hongdou’s thoughts, and her eyes drifted down through the window.

She saw a tall and slender man who was descending the steps.

Mrs. Zhou said that He Yunqin was wearing a Western-style white shirt and a pair of suit trousers. It was a pity that, looking down from the window, she could only see the top of his head.

There was a streetlight on the opposite side of the road, and a bicycle was parked there. The man went there but didn’t get on the bicycle immediately. He lit a cigarette and smoked for a while. Then he suddenly stubbed out his cigarette, looked up, and looked upstairs.

Yu Hongdou, who was peeping at him,Yu Hongdou hastily leaned her upper body back while peeping at him so that the man wouldn’t see her. hastily leaned back her upper body so she would not be seen by the man. When she examined the man, she felt that he was only a year or two younger than her elder brother.

Some time passed, and Yu Hongdou didn’t hear the sound of the bicycle, so she peeked again under the cover of the curtain to see that the man was still there looking upstairs.

‘Is this He Yunqin has fallen with Miss. Qiu on the third floor? And maybe because of the pain of lovesickness, he was reluctant to leave.’ But after carefully studying him, she felt that the expression on his face was very strange, and there was a little playfulness in the exploration, as if something in the building interested him a lot.

‘What could this old house interest him in? After much deliberation, it can only be Miss Qiu.’

But at this time, the wind blew up, blowing up the thin white snow gauze hanging down on both sides.

Yu Hongdou got afraid that her homework papers on the desk near the window would mess up, and when she was about to hold down the window screen, two fat kids from Tailor Peng’s family ran out of the shop with a kick.

The two kids surrounded He Yunqin with grins and questions when they first met him, since they didn’t know they were terrified of strangers. Mrs. Peng scolded her sons twice in the shop, but it was all to no avail.

Fortunately, He Yunqin showed no signs of impatience. He spoke briefly to the two kids before handing the Peng family kid something from his trouser pocket.

The two kids snatched it and went off cheering, believing it to be a type of inexpensive candy.

Before He Yunqin left, he turned his head and looked inside the building again.

　　*************

Yu Hongdou pulled the curtains closed, lit the lamp next to the table, and read each headline in turn. Unsurprisingly, the lower right corner contained a notice about a missing person. There was a tiny photo alongside the text, just like the missing celebrity, Chen Baidie.

The person in the photo had a round face. She seemed eighteen or nineteen years old, with a pair of long and thickly twisted braids. As if it were the first time to take a photo, she was tightly twisting the blue cloth slanted-front jacket.

The girl, identified as Wang Meiping in the announcement, reportedly travelled to Shanghai to be with her uncle and aunt from Shaoxing a month ago. Wang Meiping’s uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, waited at the train station from the afternoon until the early morning, but they were unable to hold out for Wang Meiping.

The husband and wife thought that Wang Meiping had changed her trip date or missed the train temporarily, so they went home. The next day, Mr. Zhou went to the station to wait for Wang Meiping, and Mrs. Zhou waited at home.

At the same time, he sent a telegram to the countryside.

Unexpectedly, after waiting for four days, Wang Meiping still hadn’t been seen. And Mr. Zhou got a reply saying that Wang Meiping had boarded the train four days ago.

In a flurry, Mr. and Mrs. Zhou went to the newspaper office to fill out a missing person notice and then hurried to the police station the next morning to file a report.

Yu Hongdou still remembered that when her brother took back the newspaper and came back to study it, she glanced at it, but the missing Ms. Wang was no better than the big star Chen Baidie, and she couldn’t immediately arouse her interest. At that time, she almost couldn’t think of this person because of the lace news about the He family.

Fast forward three months, and she didn’t know if Wang Meiping had returned home.

 ***********

The following morning, Yu Hongdou awoke without seeing her brother. She found out after asking that he had arrived late at night and gone before sunrise.

During breakfast, Mrs. Yu talked nonstop and complained repeatedly about how difficult her son’s work was.

After finally finishing her meal, Yu Hongdou went back to her room to pick up her schoolbag. It was not too early, and if she didn’t want to be late, she would ride the bicycle to the university. So she hurriedly changed her skirt to a trouser.

After she had changed, her mother came in and instructed her to put on a freshly knit jumper, saying, “Today is much colder than yesterday, so we can no longer wear unlined clothes.

Yu Hongdou looked at the green and yellow fleece sweater her mother handed her. It had a unique look, and she took it with a smile. “Thank you, Mom.”

Then she carried her schoolbag and went out like a gust of wind.

The department’s most terrible Chinese class was the first class of the day. “Late” meant “disaster”. Even the most courageous students never dared to make a fool of themselves in this class.

Mrs. Yu recognised something odd in her daughter’s behaviour as soon as it happened on Monday, so she just trailed behind her and said, “If your brother comes back tonight, I will call a car to go to your uncle’s house and take the festival gift there.”

Yu Hongdou nodded in response.

Who knew that as soon as she walked through the door, a tall young man with bushy eyebrows and large eyes was waiting for her below, and she couldn’t help but feel giddy as she asked, “Brother, are you back?”

End of chapter 2

Have a nice day!