Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Seeing the young, fashionable woman, Yu Hongdou was surprised. ‘Oh! Then this is the young lady from the He family who is rumoured to have an affair with the second master, He Yunqin.’

The young lady of the He family seemed to be twenty-three or twenty-four years old, with a slightly European appearance. She was wearing a short-sleeved cheongsam. The cloth material seemed very expensive, with many unique patterns all over it.

Director Wang Meili from the Department of Foreign Languages also came in with Mrs. He. The two seemed to have a good personal relationship. Director Wang directly called Mrs. He “Mingyi”, and suggested taking Miss He to the Western medicine clinic run by a Swiss next to the school for a check-up.

Mrs. He seemed to agree to the suggestion. She then comforted Miss He and was about to help her up when Miss He saw the bag of sweet-scented osmanthus candy in Yu Hongdou’s hand. She was taken aback, remembered what had happened just now, and hurriedly thanked Yu Hongyou. “It turned out that this classmate brought the candy. Thank you so much just now. What’s your name? You’re also from the Department of Foreign Languages?” 

 [T/L: Osmanthus is a tiny evergreen shrub or tree, and this outdoor plant is from China, Japan, and Taiwan. This plant is also used to make wine, cakes, jams, and other desserts. Its lovely scent is used in cosmetics and perfumes.]

 “My name is Yu Hongdou, from the Department of Education.”

When talking to Yu Hongdou, Miss He tightly held onto Mrs. He, indicating that the relationship between the two sisters-in-law was very good.

Mrs. He nodded and said with a smile, “It’s a coincidence; we can meet again in a few days.” After saying this, she seemed eager to take her sister-in-law for a physical examination. She didn’t explain anything; she just smiled and turned around. She greeted Professor Yan and walked out with Miss He.

As they walked out, students started to talk with each other, but it was quickly suppressed by Professor Yan’s loud cough.

Yu Hongdou returned to her seat.

Gu Yun pushed the lens on the bridge of her nose and said in a low voice, “I’m right, Duan Mingyi is our new music theory teacher this semester.”

Mrs. He was Duan Mingyi. No wonder she promised to meet again in a few days because music theory was a required course at the Department of Education.

Professor Yan began lecturing, and the two feared speaking again.

Gu Yun took off the other gold pen on the lapel and rustled two words on the paper. “Excellent.” 

Yu Hongdou was puzzled. “What’s so powerful?” she wrote.

“Duan Mingyi.”

Yu Hongdou softly tapped her chin with a pen and gazed down at the three words. She wasn’t sure if Gu Yun meant Duan Mingyi could marry into the He family or have a deep relationship with her sister-in-law.

After this class, Xiao Xichun and Mei Lizhen were going to take an agronomy class, while Yu Hongdou and Gu Yun went to listen to “History of French Literature ”.

On the way to the lecture room, they met some male students from the Department of Politics.

“There is an event. Are you coming?” One of the male students, Qin Xuekai, asked Yu Hongdou.

Yu Hongdou didn’t look very interested and thought lazily for a while. “I might have nothing to do on the weekend; what event? Can you tell me in advance?”

There were many clubs at the university, and one of them was the so-called “Western Mystery”. She found it very interesting, so she dragged Gu Yun into the meeting. There were about 40 to 50 members, and they got together every now and then, sometimes looking for some mysterious literature materials for discussion and sometimes just reading some translated novels together. And the president of that club was Qin Xuekai.

Qin Xuekai stared at Hongdou with bright eyes and saw that her face was growing more lovely in the warm sun. Her voice was tense. “We plan to hold a large-scale reading tea party for several departments to exchange ideas about things in Shanghai. When the time comes, several students from Sinian University next door, a new German associate professor, and Inspector Wang Peter, who has been in the newspaper, will all come to participate together, not only talking about the mysterious event but also a lot of interesting things in real stories. If you come, you will definitely gain a lot.”

Long ignored by Qin Xuekai, Gu Jun asked, “Senior Qin, I am also a member of the club; why didn’t you invite me to participate?” 

Qin Xuekai smiled slightly and said, “Because I know that classmate Gu is the best friend of classmate Yu, so inviting classmate Yu is equivalent to inviting classmate Gu. Two classmates, come together when the time comes.” When he said the last sentence, his eyes were fixed on Yu Hongdou. He knew that Yu Hongdou was most interested in this topic, and he was confident that Yu Hongdou would be willing to participate.

As expected, Yu Hongdou was moved. “Okay. Where will the students gather then?”

End of chapter 4

Have a nice day!