Winter Begonia - Winter Begonia - Chapter 96

Chapter 96

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Shang Xirui’s return to Beiping did not last

long, the Shuiyun House went awry. First, Li Qiaosong’s huqin went out of tune

when he gave Shang Xirui the opening scene, a very unforgivable mistake and

Shang Xirui came offstage to slap the table and stomp his feet at Li Qiaosong

and complain, after all, it was Ning Jiulang had recommended him, he could not

be disrespected and huqin was a big part of Peking opera, the troupe always

respected huqin masters. One day later, Zhou Xiangyun was singing well on stage,

it was not a kung fu performance, when he suddenly collapsed on his knees, causing

the audience to shout at him, throwing peanut shells at Zhou Xiangyun’s face

and shouting at him: “Get up, good boy, the year has passed. The year is over, Daddy

doesn’t have any money for you!”

Shang Xirui put on half of his make-up and went on stage with a fan to cover his face to apologise to the crowd, only then did the storm die down.

Zhou Xiangyun was not so afraid as to fall on the stage, he was only embarrassed but when Shang Xirui came on stage, Zhou Xiangyun was so scared that a cold sweat ran down his back, he looked up shivering and saw Shang Xirui’s hand behind his back clenched in a fist. Zhou Xiangyun’s heart seemed to be clenched in Shang Xirui’s fist at that moment, so tight that the blood was wrung out of it and there was no heat at all. Shang Xirui is indulgent but not forgiving, of the opera singers under him. That means, he doesn’t care if the opera singers are fighting with each other and with their moral integrity, the Shuiyun House is so bad, he’s fine with it. But if anyone broke the rules and came under Shang Xirui’s nose, Shang Xirui would take him on one on one, he was very ruthless, the little opera singers had all been beaten up by him, not to mention the sell-out opera singers, even the senior ones They would rather hide in the street with their makeup on than go backstage and face an angry donkey.

Zhou Xiangyun was taken backstage to rest, Shang Xirui came offstage to continue his make-up, not a word of blame was spoken but it was quiet backstage, everyone was giving Zhou Xiangyun looks of pity or gloating, they knew he was about to be in trouble. Shang Xirui sang Princess Shuangyang tonight and when he came on stage, Yan Baoli came up to Zhou Xiangyun and said in a serious way: “Why don’t you run away too! We’ll cover you up, say you’re too sick to go see a doctor.”

Zhou Xiangyun shook his head wearily. Li Qiaosong looked at him from the side.

The torturous moments passed so quickly, Shang Xirui had finished singing but he had not yet come out of the play, his back was erect, his head was held high, his peach blossom face was proud, his big red cloak was shaken, the thick spiked whip in his hand was still in place, as if he was ready to mount his horse. Shang Xirui walked up to Zhou Xiangyun, Zhou Xiangyun rushed to his feet, Shang Xirui speaks with a female voice in the play: “Take off your costume!”

Zhou Xiangyun realises what is about to happen and resignedly took off the layers of his costume, revealing a layer of intimate water wear underneath. Shang Xirui raised his hand and lashes out with a whip. The whip is called a whip in the opera, it is actually a wooden stick full of spikes, Zhou Xiangyun is so skinny, the stick hits the bones hard, it hurts like hell. Zhou Xiangyun’s body shook, he bit his lip and did not say anything. Shang Xirui had already seen how Zhou Xiangyun had been so listless these past few days, he thought he had been slack in his mind after a year of freedom, so he had to be beaten to the skin? On the third blow, Li Qiaosong came up and stopped Shang Xirui, saying: “Enough Troupe master, you’ll break his bones!”

Shang Xirui looked at him and said: “You have no right to speak!”

Raising his hand to strike again, Li Qiaosong caught his wrist. In the Shuiyun House, it had been a long time since anyone had confronted Shang Xirui, how could Shang Xirui tolerate a rebel, the two men fought like arm wrestlers. Xiao Lai looked on in disbelief, La Yuehong shook his head and knew without looking that Li Qiaosong would be no match for Shang Xirui. In a matter of seconds, Shang Xirui dropped the whip, pinned Li Qiaosong’s hands behind his back, Li Qiaosong cried out in agony, his forehead is instantly covered in cold sweat and his lips turn white. Shang Xirui was dumbfounded, he had never exerted such force to cause such pain, he let go of his hand, he looked at Li Qiaosong in disbelief, he was innocent. Li Qiaosong took a few breaths and said weakly to Shang Xirui: “Troupe master, a word.”

The two men were talking in secret in the utility room next door, when they heard Shang Xirui roar like a thunderbolt, thinking that Li Qiaosong had no sense and continued to provoke Shang Xirui, who would have beaten him to death in a fit of rage, with no one in front of him to intercede. There was no one in front of him. Yuan Lan and Si Yijiu and the others patted their chests, exchanging frightened looks, Si Yijiu whispered: “Ouch, do you think Troupe master is beating someone up, I’m scared to death!”

Xiao Lai forced Zhou Xiangyun off the floor, laid him across the sofa and gave him two gulps of hot water. Zhou Xiangyun doesn’t dare move but he’s too weak, even Xiao Lai can easily handle him.

The backstage door bursts open, Shang Xirui walked straight towards Zhou Xiangyun and touched him on the forehead. Zhou Xiangyun is completely exhausted as soon as he laid down, his eyes were dazed. Shang Xirui turned around and wrote down five or six phone numbers instructing: “Little Pear call Second Master Cheng, tell him to drive over, if one place is not there, call them one by one, we must find them.” Yan Baoli went off, Shang Xirui looked at Zhou Xiangyun and said to Xiao Lai: “Take the make-up off his face and change your clothes.” Xiao Lai was relieved, she felt like crying tears of joy and glanced gratefully at Li Qiaosong. Li Qiaosong’s face was flat, he was still standing with his hands down.

Ever since Yuan Xiaodi’s Third Mistress came to the Shuiyun House a few years ago, Cheng Fengtai had given Shang Xirui a copy of the phone numbers of all the places where he usually stayed and asked him to keep them on hand, today was the first time he had used them. Shang Xirui’s memory is so good that he can keep a few numbers for years. But Yan Baoli had a hard time making these calls, Cheng Fengtai was not at home or at the office, he was at the small public house with Zeng Aiyu. Zeng Aiyu hadn’t seen Cheng Fengtai all Chinese New Year, no one cared for her, no one took care of her and when she got the chance she had to make a big show of it, a pain here and there. Cheng Fengtai at first coaxed her into eating cherries for the sake of her bulging belly, she bought her some Daoxiangcun’s Honey biscuits but she got carried away and wanted cherries again. Where could she get cherries in the freezing weather? Zeng Aiyu backed up and said that the cherries in sugar water that were served on the cream cake would be fine, Cheng Fengtai went to the Six Kingdoms Hotel to get them for her. Cheng Fengtai pointed at her nose and laughed in anger and said something serious: “Not to mention that this is not my child, even if it were my own flesh and blood, I wouldn’t want it if I was angry! You’ll never get into the Fan family, just think who else will want him if I don’t!”

Zeng Aiyu was silenced. The phone rang, Cheng Fengtai picked it up and listened for a while and turned around and left. On his way out, he turned around and saw Zeng Aiyu curled up on the sofa, her body was shaking. Cheng Fengtai sighed. After dinner, Lao Ge brought two bottles of canned cherries on the table in the cold air and said: “This is what Second Master told me to buy.” Zeng Aiyu, who had not shed a single tear in the war of words with Cheng Fengtai, now had tears in her eyes.

Shang Xirui has finished removing her make-up, she sat opposite Zhou Xiangyun and does not move, he did not look very happy. Cheng Fengtai has not yet arrived, Xiao Lai handed him a bowl of red bean jelly, he looked at Zhou Xiangyun and eats it with a gulp. Zhou Xiangyun’s eyes were opened by his noise, Shang Xirui has just punched him by mistake and said in a kindly way: “Do you want some?” Zhou Xiangyun did not have the strength to shake his head, he closed his eyes again. Xiao Lai pleaded softly: “Boss Shang, don’t invite him.”

When Cheng Fengtai arrived, the backstage had almost dissipated. Shang Xirui said nothing more, pointing at Zhou Xiangyun: “I’m taking him to see a foreign doctor.” Cheng Fengtai, not knowing why, went up and touched Zhou Xiangyun’s forehead, it was burning and he said: “Oh! Little-Zhou’zi is very sick! Let’s go to the hospital and get some saline.” Seeing that Zhou Xiangyun was asleep, he took a cloak and wrapped it around him and carried him to the car. Shang Xirui didn’t want to be next to Cheng Fengtai, he wasn’t lazy at this point, he said: “I’ll do it!”

Carrying Zhou Xiangyun like rice on his shoulders, he asked Li Qiaosong: “Can you have your arm treated too?”

Li Qiaosong sat in the shadow of the lamp and shook his head, he is aloof and eccentric, Shang Xirui does not try to force him.

Cheng Fengtai took the man to the Xiehe Hospital, the fever is clearly an internal problem, Shang Xirui must see a wound specialist. Cheng Fengtai explained to him, he just ignored him and finally found a British military doctor who was experienced in bruises and injuries, he was said to be able to stitch you back up even if you lost your head. The doctor took Zhou Xiangyun’s fever and told him it was pneumonia, he told him to transfer him to an internist. Shang Xirui said to Cheng Fengtai: “Tell him, Little-Zhou’zi’s asshole has been stabbed (rape).” Cheng Fengtai was astonished and reluctantly passed on the message to the army doctor. The doctor had seen a lot of this in their foreign army, his eyes darted around the faces of Cheng and Shang and pulled back the screen to examine them.

Zhou Xiangyun was in for a real treat this time. He had been living in a small public house, eating maternity food with Zeng Aiyu and had put on weight. But because he was so isolated, he didn’t think Shang Xirui would be late returning to Beiping and on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, he wanted to go back to the Shuiyun House to have a look around, so that no one would know where he was and no one would inform him and he would miss the opening of the box. By this time most of the opera singers in the Shuiyun House were singing at the Prince-An Mansion, helping to support the Old Madam’s funeral, when Yan Baoli came back to collect the headliner. Yan Baoli was upset to see Zhou Xiangyun at ease and dragged him to the Prince’s residence to work there, saying: “They are all busy there! You’re the one who’s lazy! Did the Troupe master tell you to take a break?” Zhou Xiangyun was so honest, he felt a little guilty when he heard the word “lazy”, thinking that after all those people and at the funeral of the Old Madam, Prince-An wouldn’t do anything to him. But Prince-An was a living beast, Zhou Xiangyun had one foot in Prince-An’s palace and the next he was covered and dragged to his room and raped. Li Qiaosong is very careful, he saw something wrong and followed him, he failed to save him, he was also beaten in the arm.

As Si Yijiu had predicted in the past, Prince-An had in his sights Zhou Xiangyun and finally got his hands on him. The British doctor came out with a hard face and said that Zhou Xiangyun’s wounds were very inflamed and needed to be treated before being stitched up. In addition there were several bruises from the beating, not the result of a violent sexual encounter, it was clearly rape and had to be reported to the police.

Cheng Fengtai was furious but knew that the police would not do anything to Prince-An, if it came out, Zhou Xiangyun would be subjected to greater reprisals. Shang Xirui, hearing this, also shouted: “If you call the police, Little-Zhou’zi won’t survive!”

He had seen so many opera singers live and die, a little opera singer, Prince-An could have had someone beat him to death unnoticed. The army doctor, who did not understand Chinese society, looked at them with sadness and disappointment and said: “If you are his relatives, you are cowards!”

Cheng Fengtai did not dare to translate this to Shang Xirui.

Cheng Fengtai kept saying that Prince-An was inhuman even after he left the hospital: “Boss Shang, you saw it, two big bruises on his body! To say he’s not human is an understatement, even a dog couldn’t do such a thing! He’s a son of a bitch…”

Shang Xirui’s face sank and he said: “No swearing!”

Cheng Fengtai slapped the steering wheel and said: “You shouldn’t curse when you do something like that?”

Shang Xirui was too ashamed to say that the bruise was his own, he just said: “No swearing anyway, swearing is not a skill!”

Cheng Fengtai nodded and said: “You’re right, I’ll kill him for Little-Zhou’zi when I get the chance.” He had stood up for Zhou Xiangyun, had gone to great lengths but in the end he had failed to protect Zhou Xiangyun and felt a sense of frustration.

Shang Xirui looked at him and said: “What are you so excited about! You’re going to get someone killed for him!”

Cheng Fengtai grunted: “I’m doing what’s right.”

Shang Xirui said: “I see, it’s because you’re good looking Little-Zhou’zi.”

Expecting Cheng Fengtai to contradict him but Cheng Fengtai thought for a moment and said: “Little-Zhou’zi is quite good looking.” Shang Xirui was about to spit on him, Cheng Fengtai said again: “But even if a man is decent looking, I don’t think he’s good looking.” Cheng Fengtai, because he did not like men, could not look at men’s beauty with emotion, beauty like a god was not attractive to him, his heart was not moved. But Shang Xirui saw the word beauty as omnipresent, as a strikingly obvious presence, capable of arousing in him many deep feelings, from the sun and moon to the smallest flower and hairpin, all of which could cast a shadow on his heart. For example, today, Shang Xirui thought, if it wasn’t for Zhou Xiangyun’s good looks, he would have struck harder.

Cheng Fengtai turned his head and looked quickly at Shang Xirui and said sincerely: “I do think Boss Shang is good looking.”

Shang Xirui, like the heroine of a romance novel, couldn’t help but follow up with: “I’m a man too, I’m not good looking.”

Cheng Fengtai gave him another look and said: “Good eyebrows and a good nose.”

Shang Xirui was flattered.

Back at Shang’s house, Xiao Lai had prepared a meal on the stove, asked how Zhou Xiangyun was feeling, Shang Xirui made a few casual remarks, he was too embarrassed to tell the truth to a girl in his bedroom, besides, Zhou Xiangyun had been injured for so many days, for fear that people would see it, for the sake of not telling. Shang Xirui decided not to tell anyone about Zhou Xiangyun, to keep his secret, except for Cheng Fengtai.

Xiao Lai stammered: “Boss Shang, I want to go to the hospital to take care of Little-Zhou’zi for a few days. He has no relatives and is injured in such a place.”

Shang Xirui was stunned and said: “You know? How do you know?”

Xiao Lai did not answer. Shang Xirui thought about it and said: “No, you can’t go, who will cook for me if you do, I’ll get Little-Zhou’zi a nurse.”

Xiao Lai said: “I’ll ask the street food shop to bring him food every day.”

Shang Xirui said: “No, then there will be no one to boil water and make tea for me.”

Xiao Lai knew that Shang Xirui was often selfish but asked for nothing and left without saying anything else. Cheng Fengtai said: “You can let her go, it’s a good thing she’s so kind, it’s nothing to eat and boil water, it won’t take more than a few days.”

Shang Xirui shook his head, sat diagonally opposite Cheng Fengtai eating in the middle of eating he suddenly said: “Second Master, I suspect Xiao Lai likes Little-Zhou’zi.”

Cheng Fengtai laughed and said: “You’re so stupid, how can you tell who likes who?”

Shang Xirui said: “Xiao Lai is my big brother’s girl, I can’t let her be with anyone else.”

Cheng Fengtai didn’t bother to listen to his foolishness, blowing hot soup from his bowl, he said: “Fine, you keep Xiao Lai close, when you have a son, he will take your name.”

Shang Xirui muttered that my nephew would have to take his surname, after dinner he walked Cheng Fengtai out the door, the red plum tree was in full bloom in the moonlight, the flowers were clustered in full bloom in a mass on the branches.

Cheng Fengtai saw it and said: “Tomorrow I’ll ask the florist to come and trim the branches, it’s such a nice plum tree, it’s going to grow bad if you don’t take care of it.”

“Don’t cut it, it’s a plum tree from the Forbidden City, it was given to Jiulang by the Emperor, Jiulang said to let it grow untended, otherwise it would be hard to see the original shadow of the plum tree shining in the window and the country and the world would be gone.” In fact, after years of not repairing the branches, the form designed by the palace florists has gone out of shape, it is about to blossom into a wild tree. Shang Xirui was a bit emotional, saying: “I was away this winter, I don’t know when the white plum blossoms bloomed.”

Cheng Fengtai pinched a red plum and put it in his hand, brought it to Shang Xirui and said: “Boss Shang, say it again, what kind of flower is it?”

Shang Xirui said: “A white plum blossom.”

He was so righteous, Cheng Fengtai wondered if he was colour blind!

Cheng Fengtai pulled Shang Xirui into the room and asked him again in front of the light bulb: “What colour is it now?” Under the tungsten bulb, the pale rose red was gilded with a yellowish hue, so Shang Xirui said: “It looks like this, it’s colour of the sunset.”

Cheng Fengtai drew a cold breath and said: “I’ve never known Boss Shang until now, I’ve never known Boss Shang to be colour-blind. Doesn’t it ever look red?”

Shang Xirui said: “White plum blossoms.”

He’s so righteous, Cheng Fengtai wonders if he’s colour blind!

Cheng Fengtai pulled Shang Xirui into the room and asked him again in front of the light bulb: “What colour is it now?” Under the tungsten bulb, the pale rose red was gilded with a yellowish hue, so Shang Xirui said: “It looks like this, it’s colour of the sunset.”

Cheng Fengtai drew a cold breath and said: “I’ve never known Boss Shang until now, I’ve never known Boss Shang to be colour-blind. Doesn’t it ever look red?”

Shang Xirui said: “I saw it as carmine during the day.”

Cheng Fengtai laughed and said: “You are very careful about colours. If you know it’s carmine, why did you change your mind at night?”

Shang Xirui, on the contrary was surprised: “It is whatever colour you see. One colour under the sun, one colour under the moon, another colour under the light bulb, what’s wrong with that. Why does the colour of the day have to be the colour of the day? Maybe it’s already pink and white, the sun makes it blush! You’re all wrong, you’re blind.”

Cheng Fengtai was caught off guard by his question and was unable to think of anything to say in reply but refused to admit that he was blind either: “So in your opinion, do the ink costumes in the opera house also have two colours, day and night?”

Shang Xirui said: “Of course not! Those are artificial colours, they are dead things, dead things don’t change, they only get old. Living things change with the day, the night, the stars, the spring, the summer, the autumn and the winter, what’s a colour change, you can even make a chicken out of an egg, right?” He said and sighed helplessly, he had known since he was a child that his perception of the world was often different from that of others, even his beloved Second Master could not fully understand the ways of his world: “Second Master, you are too boring, you ask me superficial and boring questions all the time, I don’t care anymore. I don’t care to explain it to you anymore.”

Cheng Fengtai listened to his serious nonsense, on reflection, it made sense and finally went home in a daze with Shang Xirui’s reasoning in mind.

In the following days, the only gossip in the Shuiyun House was that Shang Xirui had unilaterally announced that he had cut off all diplomatic relations with Prince-An, no one was allowed to receive any postings for the Prince-An Residence sessions and whoever let Prince-An backstage, would never be allowed backstage again. Backstage opera singers were divided, they can’t figure out why Shang Xirui has an axe to grind with the House of An. Of all the old families of princes and lords, the House of An was the most prosperous, there was no sign of decline and it was very generous to the opera singers, they were rewarded with gold after a performance. Even if there was a big conflict, as long as it didn’t go as far as killing his father and taking his wife, it was not wise to let go of such a living god of wealth, it was childish. The brothers and sisters had a little meeting overnight to plan their fortune but with Shang Xirui’s unforgiving temperament, they couldn’t come up with a solution, because no one dared to be the one to ride the donkey. Shang Xirui didn’t tell them what it was for, for the sake of Zhou Xiangyun’s reputation, he was so thin skinned that he had to stay injured for days to keep it a secret. Secondly, if they knew that it was for Little-Zhou’zi’s sake, they would have been even more dismissive and might have tried to harm Little-Zhou’zi in the end.

Shang Xirui for Zhou Xiangyun, that’s best we can do.

Although Xiao Lai could not take care of Zhou Xiangyun, she could not stop herself from making thick rice porridge and bringing it to Zhou Xiangyun every day. One day Shang Xirui had a sudden urge to visit Zhou Xiangyun and asked Cheng Fengtai to take him. After a while Cheng Fengtai drove up himself and said impatiently: “I have to go to Dongjiaominxiang Alley first, the grandmother is causing trouble again.”

Shang Xirui got into the car and said: “I want to go too!”

Xiao Lai wanted to go too, with the congee jar and salted duck eggs, Shang Xirui’s eyes flashed and took the pots and pans, saying: “I’ll take them with me, you stay at home.” Xiao Lai was also wronged, she felt compassion for Zhou Xiangyun, she pitied him as an honest man but Shang Xirui was wary of them as a thief.

Zeng Aiyu is pregnant, soon to give birth so she spends her days lying on the sofa reading pictures and eating snacks, or walking around the courtyard, teasing the foreigners at the embassy next door over the fence. When she heard Cheng Fengtai’s car, she scratched her hair and lay down, as soon as Cheng Fengtai entered, Zeng Aiyu said, breathlessly: “The little baby in my belly keeps turning over all night, it’s killing me. It’s a life for a life, I’m going to die in his hands!”

Zeng Aiyu was lying on the back of the sofa, Cheng Fengtai couldn’t see her but she could sense the obvious scent of a sick man taking Joe and sneered: “You don’t say, that’s a lot of money for your life, you’re not bad.”

Zeng Aiyu barked: “Fuck you!”

She was about to say something else, Shang Xirui’s voice rang out and said: “Second Master is right!”

Zeng Aiyu sat up with a jolt and saw Shang Xirui hiding in the dining room. Shang Xirui took a caramel biscuit from the table and ate it without asking. Cheng Fengtai went upstairs in two or three steps, went to his room to search for a cigarette case, came down empty handed after a while and asked Mama Zhao: “Strange, have you packed my old cigarette case? It’s got an eagle carved into the shell.”

Mama Zhao said with fear and trepidation: “I haven’t seen it, I know how valuable Second Master’s things are, I’m sure I’d keep it if I did, I haven’t seen it.”

Cheng Fengtai

said with a smile: “It’s not valuable, it’s just that it’s been used for years,

I don’t want to part with it, I’m just confused, I don’t know when I lost it.”

Shang Xirui was annoyed with Cheng Fengtai’s little manly temper, grabbed Cookie’s hand and waved it away, said: “Don’t look for it, I’ll buy you another one later, let’s get out of here.”

Cheng Fengtai then said to Zeng Aiyu: “Zhao Ma, brush her hair and get a thick coat, the doctor will be off duty later.”

Zeng Aiyu looked at Shang Xirui, as if she was wincing, she said: “I’m having a bout of pain, it’ll pass, I’m not going to the hospital.”

Shang Xirui said for Cheng Fengtai: “No, you have to go, you have to go when you say you will, you can’t change it. If you do, we’ll have come all this way for nothing are you playing with us?” He sounded very serious, a little aggressive. Zeng Aiyu didn’t dare to say anything back, she just looked at him and stared. Cheng Fengtai laughed and said: “Yes, Boss Shang is right! How can you change what you’ve agreed?”

Zeng Aiyu, because Cheng Fengtai cared for the child, despite all his pampering and tormenting, bought Shang Xirui a hundred times over and cursed the rabbit in his heart, he had to get dressed and get into the car with the nurse. When they arrived at the hospital, Shang Xirui wanted to take Cheng Fengtai with him to see Zhou Xiangyun, Cheng Fengtai only cared about the baby’s growth, he didn’t care about Zhou Xiangyun at all and sent him on his way: “Boss Shang go by yourself, his injury is hidden, it’s embarrassing to see me.” Shang Xirui thought it was right.

Zeng Aiyu saw Shang Xirui leave, almost immediately she regained her arrogance and asked Cheng Fengtai to do her errands, Cheng Fengtai looked at her, the nurse said: “Miss Zeng, I’d better go, I know this place well. I know this place.” Zeng Aiyu leaned on the nurse and said: “You stay with me, I’m too tired.” Cheng Fengtai also said to the nurse: “You stay here and look after her.” Zeng Aiyu was proud of herself. While waiting to be seen, there were already four or five people in front of Zeng Aiyu, Zeng Aiyu couldn’t keep her mouth shut, she talked to them and realised that most of them were gynaecological patients, Chinese women who had a hard time getting pregnant, did not go to Western hospitals for medical treatment at most they took a couple of birth control pills. The other patients saw Zeng Aiyu smiling and laughing instead they thought she was being petulant and advised her: “If you’re uncomfortable with your belly, you need to protect it, it’s not good to go out, when I was pregnant with our eldest, I spent nine months in bed!”

Zeng Aiyu was at least a high school student who had attended a foreign school, she didn’t care for such words, she turned to a young woman sitting next to her and said with a smile: “I see you look very well, you don’t look like you have a gynaecological problem. When a woman has a gynaecological problem, her face shows it, it’s waxy and yellow.”

The young woman heard this, as if she was ashamed to say it and her face was shy and peachy red as she said: “I’m not sick, my husband asked me to come and check if I was pregnant.”

Zeng Aiyu laughed and said: “You don’t know whether you are pregnant or not, your husband asked you to come and check?”

The young woman smiled softly and bowed her head, Zeng Aiyu looked at her kindly and gradually talked to her, telling her all the signs of pregnancy, the young woman listened for a long time and said: “I was not well in the past, I have been taking pills to help me conceive for a while and as a result… I don’t know if I’m pregnant or if I’ve taken the pills, I need to come and see for myself.”

Zeng Aiyu lamented: “Hey, it’s human life! I wish I could change it.”

The young woman said: “Don’t say that, even if you have to suffer for the child, think that he is half your husband’s blood, you are suffering for your husband, you will be willing to do anything.”

Zeng Aiyu’s eyes moved and her expression softened, she said with a smitten look: “Hearing you say that, I can see how much you and your husband love each other.”

The young woman laughed and said: “I see how you are dressed, you have someone to accompany you and your husband must treat you well, he loves you very much.”

Strangely enough, Zeng Aiyu was obviously pregnant with Fan Lian’s child, when she heard these words, all she could think of was Cheng Fengtai. Isn’t it? From the discussion of the price of the child, to the care of the child afterwards, Cheng Fengtai was as responsible as a husband could be. Of course, Zeng Aiyu knew in her heart that all the kindness was for the child, not for her but a woman who had been on the move for so long and who had suddenly received genuine care, could not help but feel the illusion that she had never wanted a husband as much as she wanted one now.

Zeng Aiyu stroked her belly with pity and said softly: “What a relief! He’s always fighting with me, he’s always trying to get me to do something, he’s always pretending with me for a while, he won’t take any of it but in the end he has to do it for me, that’s stubborn temper of Shanghai men…”

At this point, she remembered to ask the nurse to find Cheng Fengtai: “Go and look for the Second Master, where is he, bring me the registration form.” The nurse was just about to get up, when she saw Cheng Fengtai strolling leisurely down the corridor, Zeng Aiyu smiled at the young woman and said: “Look at their man, I’m suffering here, he’s still acting like a master, probably can’t stand the sickness, he’s gone out for a smoke.”

When the young woman saw Cheng Fengtai approaching from a distance, her face turned red, her mind was confused, without saying a word, she turned her head and ran into the toilet room diagonally opposite. Zeng Aiyu was dumbfounded, how could she be so ashamed to see a man? Cheng Fengtai threw the registration slip into her hand and said: “You’ve been waiting for so long and you still haven’t had your turn? This gynaecologist is even more difficult to see than the chairman of the committee, I’ll go outside for another cigarette!”

Zeng Aiyu still had a trace of tenderness in her heart, she tugged down on the hem of his shirt to make him sit down and said: “Just stay here for a while, what’s point of wandering back and forth!”

Cheng Fengtai didn’t move, fidgeted and said: “I’m a man, it’s not appropriate to stay at the door.”

Zeng Aiyu said: “I’ll be out soon, I know all the things the doctor said by heart but just get more fresh air and take more vitamins.”

Cheng Fengtai

said: “You know all that by heart, what’s point of coming here? Did Boss Shang

really say that, he was trying to trick me?”

Zeng Aiyu’s tone changed, she said: “But you have to see it to be sure? If anything happened, you’ll have waited for nothing and I’ll have suffered for nothing! Is your Boss Shang in charge of the birth or the raising? He’s just talking nonsense! I think, he just doesn’t want to see me as capable as I am!”

He patted his belly proudly and gave a thud.

Cheng Fengtai followed with a shudder and said: “If you have the guts, tell Boss Shang to his face, don’t use my daughter as a show off.”

Zeng Aiyu’s eyes rolled up and she said: “What about the boy?”

Cheng Fengtai said: “There are plenty of boys in my family, I don’t care about him.”

The two talked for a while, soon it was Zeng Aiyu’s turn, Zeng Aiyu was about to enter the consultation room, when she suddenly remembered the young woman, so she went to the toilet door and peeked inside and shouted: “That… Madam, it’s your turn to see the doctor.”

A stammering voice came from the toilet stall and said: “Thank you, I’m not feeling well, you can go ahead.”

Zeng Aiyu heard this and said urgently: “Yo! Are you okay? Do you want me to call the nurse for you?” Inside, she said: “No need, it’s nothing.” At that moment Cheng Fengtai impatiently came and gave Zeng Aiyu a hand and said: “What are you doing? The doctor is rushing.” Zeng Aiyu had to walk away and muttered: “This lady was just in front of me, how embarrassing to take her place!”

Cheng Fengtai then couldn’t help but look back once, he always thought it sounded a bit like Jiang Mengping.

~Winter Begonia~

Winter Begonia:

Chapters List

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