Red Bean Lives in the Republic of China - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When Yu Hongdou arrived at the entrance of their house, she said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Peng, then pushed the bicycle and walked into the building. When she was struggling with the bicycle, suddenly someone gave her a helping hand from behind. Yu Hongdou looked back and saw it was Mr. Xiang, who lived on the third floor.

 “Thank you, Mr. Xiang,” she said while smiling at him.

 After Yu Hongdou managed to take the bicycle onto the floor where they were living, Xiang Qicheng just nodded and brushed past Yu Hongdou.

 That was how Xiang Qicheng was. He had no intention of interacting with the other residents of the building after moving in, and he exuded such mystery that everyone avoided him.

 Yu Hongdou had heard that Xiang Qicheng was a professor at Aurora University who taught literature. He had studied in England and published many poems and articles before returning to China. She had read some of his work, and it was very well written, although some of the words he used were a bit harsh. She could still remember the sentence that said “Smokers and prostitutes are also human beings”.

 No wonder Mrs. Zhou muttered all day that Mr. Xiang was in love with Ms. Qiu, who was a dancer.

 When Yu Hongdou knocked at the door, it was Mrs. Zhou who opened it. After entering the house, Yu Hongdou didn’t see her mother in the living room as usual and asked Mrs. Zhou about that.

 Mrs. Zhou said to Yu Hongdou, “Madam just came back from her brother’s house.” After speaking, she rolled her eyes halfway and said in a low voice, “It seems she is angry.”

Hearing that, Yu Hongdou was startled. ‘Didn’t my mother ask me and my brother to go to my uncle’s house in the afternoon? Why did she go alone?’ Thinking that, she hurried to her mother’s room and twisted the handle, but found that the door was locked. Then she knocked on the door for a long time before her mother opened it.

 As soon as the door opened, she was dragged into the room by her mother before she had time to talk. Yu Hongdou raised her head in surprise and saw the two small boxes on the bed. She knew it; her mother was counting gold bars again.

 When Mrs. Yu got angry, she had this habit. According to her words, as long as she could see the bright yellow gold bars, her anger would vanish.

 Those gold bars were Mr. Yu’s hard-earned work. Although they had a few of them, they would be enough for their family of three to live for the rest of their lives.

 “What’s wrong with you?” Yu Hongdou looked at her mother calmly.

 Mrs. Yu walked to the bed without making a sound, put the gold bars back into the box one by one, and said angrily, “Don’t go to your uncle’s house in the future.” 

 Yu Hongdou realised that her mother might be angry with her uncle’s wife.

 Her uncle worked in a company called “Nanbao Foreign Firm”, and was promoted to a big comprador from a small clerk a few years ago. He did earn a sum of money, and they moved into a mansion a few years ago. Now they were living a lavish life.

 When her father was alive, her uncle was just a clerk, and her aunt (uncle’s wife) once proposed marrying Yu Hongdou’s elder cousin to her brother. Both Mr. and Mrs. Yu accepted the proposal happily.

 But after the unexpected death of Mr. Yu, the Yu family’s business went down, and Yu Hongdou’s uncles’s family postponed the marriage between the two children. Later, when Yu Hongdou’s aunt saw that Yu Hongdou’s brother didn’t look like he would have a big future, she refused to mention the matter of the past.

 Now, Yu Hongdou’s eldest cousin was working as a clerk at Sinian University. She had many suitors because she was a beauty, and the aunt wanted to marry her daughter into a wealthy family. Because of this, the aunt deliberately began to alienate the relationship between the two families.

 Yu Hongdou’s uncle also knew about his wife’s plan, and he also wanted to climb up by marrying his daughter into a powerful family, so he also didn’t care much about his sister’s family anymore.

 “Your aunt said that the eldest cousin is now being pursued by many people. Because of those young masters and professors, they look down on your brother. What was her attitude when your father was alive, and what is her attitude now? Look down on my child! Bha! I thought your cousin was a good child, but she also wanted to be so powerful. Ok, I want to see what kind of good family your aunt’s two good daughters will marry in the future! They all have forgotten how my third sister died back then!” Mrs. Yu’s voice choked up a bit when she spoke about her third sister.

 Yu Hongdou was at a loss. Thinking about her mother’s mood, she felt very uneasy. ‘What will happen if she gets to know that my brother is planning to change his job? Did he just want to change the job because he is bored, or did he encounter some difficult things at the police station?’

 She pretended not to see the tears flickering in the corners of her mother’s eyes, hugged her mother, and said lightly, “Mom, my brother doesn’t like cousin Yuqi, and he won’t marry her. An American professor in our school said that it seems dangerous for cousins to marry each other. Cousin Yuqi can marry whoever she wants, maybe the sister-in-law that my brother will find in the future will be much more beautiful than cousin Yuqi.”

“Who wants her to marry your brother? I gave up on it a long time ago. I’m just angry with your aunt. Mrs. Yu said angrily.

 Yu Hongdou simply kicked off her shoes and laid down on her mother’s lap. She then looked up at her mother and said, “Mom, when I was young, I always said that my cousin Yuqi was beautiful, but last time my brother said that I am much more beautiful than her. Don’t you think so too?”

 When Mrs. Yu noticed her daughter’s serious expression, she started to laugh while wiping her tears and said, pointing at her daughter’s snow-like cheeks, “I don’t know how to be ashamed.”

 Her daughter’s facial features had developed over the years and had become more open; in her eyes, she was no less beautiful than Yuqi. However, she had never dared bring it up in front of her daughter out of fear that she would turn wild and neglect her studies.

 Seeing her mother wiping her tears and smiling, Yu Hongdou breathed a sigh of relief and said with a grin, “Mom, I’m hungry. When will we have dinner? Do you want to wait for brother?”

 Mrs. Yu couldn’t care less that she was depressed when she learned that her daughter was hungry. “Your brother has been busy looking for people all over Shanghai recently, and the day and night are upside down,” she said as she tugged her daughter to get up from her lap. “He told me not to wait for him because he couldn’t tell when he would come home.”

 …………………..

On Saturday, Gu Yun and Xiao Xichun waited for her downstairs at Yu Hongdou’s house, as agreed in advance. Mrs. Yu saw that they were all female students, so she let her go with confidence.

 Xinya Tea House was not far from Aurora University. It was a small, two-story western-style building with a park next to it. In the living room, there were French musicians playing authentic classical piano music.

 The light and elegant music was accompanied by coffee and black tea. In addition, the Western dim sum in this tea room was very delicious, and it was very famous in Shanghai. Therefore, scholars and celebrities come here from time to time.

 Yu Hongdou, Gu Yun, and the others showed the invitation letter to the person at the entrance. When they entered, they saw that there were many participants today, and the huge living room was full of people.

 As soon as they showed up, a waiter led them to a seat, and several enthusiastic eyes fell on Yu Hongdou, as if they wanted to get acquainted, but Yu Hongdou didn’t realise it.

 When she casually glanced into the living room, she was startled to see several familiar faces; one of them was dressed in a western-style cloth and was taller than he had been a few days earlier, standing in front of the window. When she initially saw him, he was more stylish and impressive, but this person’s eyes were wandering, and he appeared to be a little disoriented. ‘It appears that He Yunqin is the German associate professor that Qin Xuekai said.’

 Seeing He Yunqin, Gu Yun was also a little taken aback. Because she was a newspaper owner’s daughter and was highly familiar with He Yunqin’s news, she was able to identify He Yunqin right away. He Yunqin was standing close to He Zhuyun, who fell ill at the university that day. She seemed to have been paying attention to the door, and when she saw Yu Hongdou and the others, she was slightly taken aback, put down the plate in her hand, and walked lightly towards this side.

Yu Hongdou just stared at another girl in a western dress in the hall who was holding a coffee cup and was talking enthusiastically with a middle-aged man. Her curly hair was tied up high, revealing a beautiful face.

 “Cousin Yuqi?

End of chapter 6

[Chapter update schedule: every Monday, Wednesday & Friday]