This time Chen Xuan went to Mr. Wen's salon and met Mrs. Wen for the second time.
The last time they met was on the first day of the Lunar New Year when they came to Mr. Wen's place to pay New Year's greetings. It was just a quick meeting. This time, Chen Xuan had a better impression of Mrs. Wen. This good impression did not come from Mrs. Wen's identity, but from her own temperament. She was so gentle and beautiful. Even though Mrs. Wen was no longer young, even if there were fine lines at the corners of her eyes, it did not affect her gentle temperament at all, but added some charm of time.
Mrs. Wen was wearing a light blue cheongsam, a string of shiny pearls around her neck, and her long hair tied into a bun with a pearl hairpin on it. She was neither too plain nor too luxurious, and everything just perfectly highlighted Mrs. Wen's gentleness. Chen Xuan said sincerely, "You are so beautiful."
Mrs. Wen was probably used to hearing compliments, so she just smiled and said, "You are the youth in your prime."
Chen Xuan said, "Everyone has been young before. Madam, your temperament is really enviable."
Wei Yin had never seen such an outstanding lady as Mrs. Wen in his life. Although he did not speak, his eyes naturally revealed his amazement and yearning. Mrs. Wen was really amused by the sincere sister-in-law. Ms. Chen beside her said in a gentle voice, "It's been a long time since I saw Mrs. Wei and Miss Wei."
At Mr. Wen's salon, the person that Wei Yin disliked the most was Ms. Chen, the egg-laying hen. She didn't want to pay any attention to her. Chen Xuan couldn't say she liked Ms. Chen, but fortunately she was better than Wei Yin. Wei Yin didn't say anything, so Chen Xuan took over what Ms. Chen said, "After the Chinese New Year, there were a lot of things to do at home. My Ah Yin was busy with painting and missed two salons. It's been a long time since I saw Ms. Chen. How are you?"
"Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Wei. Where did you find the book on Mr. Rong's list?"
Chen Xuan answered very honestly, "I'm learning elementary mathematics, and I'm halfway through. How far have you gotten, Ms. Chen?"
Ms. Chen laughed, and the coffee in the white bone china coffee cup in her hand rippled a little. "You are too slow. Do you still need to learn elementary mathematics? You can learn it just by looking at it casually. At your pace, when can you become a first-level professor?"
What does this woman mean? Wei Yin's face turned dark.
"I'm a bit dumb, so I learn slowly. There's nothing I can do about it. Fortunately, I'm not incapable of learning. I'll learn slowly, no matter how slow I go." Chen Xuan said in a good-natured manner, "How can people be the same in this world? There are smart people like Ms. Chen, and there are ordinary people like me. I especially admire smart and knowledgeable ladies like Ms. Chen."
Ms. Chen still had some dignity to maintain, so she smiled and said, "I just hope that Mrs. Wei's long-cherished wish will come true soon."
"Thank you for your good wishes." Chen Xuan was still in a good mood. Chen Xuan's reaction was like a punch on cotton. She was very upset. Just as she was about to say a few more words to ridicule this country bumpkin, she heard someone interrupt her, "Is it not over yet?"
The speaker was a girl in her twenties, wearing a simple blue checkered cheongsam, with short hair and no accessories. She had a white face and a pair of big black eyes. She was slightly shorter than Ms. Chen, who was wearing high heels, and not as elegant as Ms. Chen, who was wearing a red silk cheongsam. However, the aura this girl exuded was superior to Ms. Chen. Ms. Chen snorted and shut up when she heard her words.
The girl nodded slightly to Mrs. Wen and said to Chen Xuan and Wei Yin, "My surname is Qin, and my given name is Shu."
After Chen Xuan and Wei Yin introduced themselves, the three of them said goodbye to Mrs. Wen and sat on the sofa next to them to talk. Qin Shu said, "You are really good-natured. Can you tolerate Chen Ying?"
Chen Xuan then realized that Ms. Chen's name was Chen Ying. Chen Xuan smiled and said, "I'm not familiar with Ms. Chen. Actually, it's nothing. She just laughed at me for being stupid. There are many people who are smarter than me. However, as the book says, diligence can make up for lack of talent. I can catch up if I work harder."
Miss Qin shook the milk tea in her hand and disagreed with Chen Xuan's words, "You are so good-natured that others will just think you are easy to bully."
"I said the same thing." Wei Yin said, "My second sister-in-law always said that if the salon, which only happens once a month, gets noisy, it will ruin everyone's fun. Fortunately, we don't have to pay attention to that annoying guy."
Miss Qin could tell at first glance that Wei Yin and she would get along very well. The three women talked for an afternoon and became friends. Miss Qin pointed at a young man who was talking loudly in the salon, her eyes full of admiration, "That's my fiancé."
It was the first time that Chen Xuan met a woman who talked about her fiancé so openly. She turned her head and saw a passionate man in a half-worn Zhongshan suit with a fire in his eyes. Listening carefully, he was talking about the old families and old marriages of today. Then he said loudly, "All the old things, if they cannot keep pace with the times, will become dross and will be abandoned by the times! Rather than being abandoned by the times, we might as well abandon them first! After all, only by abandoning the old can we get the new! In this era, this unprecedented era of freedom, we must find ourselves, find love, true love..."
After hearing two sentences, Chen Xuan stopped listening. It wasn't because Mr. Qin's fiancé spoke badly, but Chen Xuan herself was "old". Every time she heard people say "old family, old marriage, old woman", even though they were right, Chen Xuan didn't like to hear it.
However, unexpectedly, there was another fate with Miss Qin and Miss Qin's fiancé. Wei Nian asked Mr. Wen for help in finding a Japanese teacher, so he stayed a little later. Then Mr. Tongwen told him that he wanted to learn Japanese. Mr. Wen was a little surprised that Wei Nian wanted to ask a teacher himself. Mr. Wen knew that Chen Xuan had always been studious. Wei Nian didn't have the temperament to be studious at all. Chen Xuan was very happy to explain to Wei Nian. Mr. Tongwen introduced, "My brother Nian studied foreign languages for most of the year last year, and he learned foreign languages very well. My foreign languages were all taught by brother Nian. Brother Nian always told me that we should not waste such a good time, so he thought about learning another language. Because we heard that you studied in Japan, our family admired you very much, and brother Nian wanted to learn Japanese. But we don't know a good teacher. Do you know a good Japanese teacher?"
Mr. Wen had an idea at that time. He smiled and said, "What a coincidence." He called a young man over and introduced him to Wei Nian and Chen Xuan, "This is Zhao Cheng. He just came back from Japan. His Japanese is very good." He told Zhao Cheng that Wei Nian wanted to hire a Japanese teacher. Zhao Cheng was still a little hesitant. Qin Shu, who came with him, urged him, "Didn't you always say that you wanted to find a part-time job? I just met Mrs. Wei and Miss Wei. We are already friends. I also said that I would invite them to our wedding. Since we are friends, it is appropriate for us to communicate and learn from each other."
Zhao Cheng smiled and said with relief, "Yes." He looked at Qin Shu with tenderness in his eyes and said to Wei Nian, "Please give me more advice. My surname is Zhao, Zhao Cheng." He stretched out his hand and shook hands with Wei Nian. The two families simply set the daily class time and monthly salary with Mr. Wen.
Mr. Wen was in a good mood after making this happen.
When we got home, Chen Xuan said, "Brother Anian, the salary you paid to Mr. Zhao is higher than what you paid to Mr. Jiao."
The late spring wind has brought the warmth of early summer, and even in the evening, it is not cold at all. The two of them sat in a rickshaw, and Wei Nian said to Chen Xuan, "Mr. Zhao's clothes are all half-worn, which shows that he is not well off. Mr. Wen personally introduced this matter, so I must give him face. Besides, it's not a few more dollars. He is in a difficult time, so a few more dollars is a few more dollars, and he won't have to study for a long time."
That's true.
Chen Xuan didn't say anything more about Mr. Zhao.
However, I didn't expect to meet Miss Qin for the second time so soon.
The next evening, Mr. Zhao came to teach, and Miss Qin followed him. Miss Qin was cheerful and generous, and also very polite. She greeted Mrs. Wei first, and also greeted Wei Jin and Li, and then went to talk with Chen Xuan and Wei Yin. Miss Qin said, "I was scared to be alone at home, and I thought I would get along with you guys, so I followed him here."
Wei Yin and Miss Qin had similar personalities. Wei Yin brought some newly made wisteria cakes to Miss Qin and said, "Come over here every now and then."
Miss Qin took a piece of wisteria cake, took a bite and said, "Oh, this is the craftsmanship of Furongzhai. Their wisteria cakes are the best. The lard is also good, and it's crispy and fragrant." After praising the wisteria cake, when Wei Yin asked her to take it again, Miss Qin refused to take it.
Chen Xuan poured some water and handed it to her with a smile, "It's not good to drink too much tea at night, just drink water."
"Thank you, sister-in-law." Miss Qin took the water and they talked for a while. Chen Xuan realized that Ms. Chen was always sarcastic to her. After all, she had no grudge against Ms. Chen. Miss Qin knew about this. She said, "That Chen Ying has always been eyeing Mrs. Wen's nephew, Rong Yang. Whenever Rong Yang treats a woman better, Ms. Chen will be so weird." Miss Qin asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, Ah Yin, who of you is familiar with Rong Yang?"
Chen Xuan was puzzled. "We have only met Mr. Rong a few times in salons, so we are not even familiar with each other. It's impossible. Ms. Chen was pregnant last year. This time I see that she is a little fatter than before. I think she has given birth to a child. She has a family now, so how could she say that to Mr. Rong..." The rest of the words were really hard to say for a conservative person like Chen Xuan. Wei Yin was also stunned.
Miss Qin smiled disapprovingly, put down the water cup and talked to her aunt and sister-in-law in detail, "Second sister-in-law, you don't know Ms. Chen's background. Her family and the Rong family are old friends. Ms. Chen married well at the beginning, but her family's business had problems and gradually failed over the years. She divorced and returned to her parents' home last year. Remarriage is nothing. However, she has no intention of hitting on Rong Yang. I really don't know what kind of daydream she is having."
Wei Yin thought that Ms. Chen was being ridiculous. "She can't blame my second sister-in-law. My second sister-in-law and my second brother are very close."
Wei Yin's words made Chen Xuan blush. Miss Qin smiled and tilted her head to look at Chen Xuan's slightly hot cheeks, and said jokingly, "I can see it."
Chen Xuan had no choice but to pretend to be stern and said to them, "How can you say such things?"
Chen Xuan stayed with Miss Qin and talked for a long time until she went to the kitchen to make supper for Wei Nian and Mr. Zhao. Chen Xuan asked Wei Yin and Miss Qin if they wanted to eat, and she cooked it together, but they both refused to eat. Chen Xuan cooked two bowls of big wontons and brought them to Wei Nian and Mr. Zhao. After Mr. Zhao finished eating the wontons, he took Miss Qin and said goodbye. Wei Nian and Chen Xuan saw them off, and Miss Qin held Mr. Zhao's arm. The night wind was a little cold, and Miss Qin leaned slightly towards Mr. Zhao. The two of them looked at each other from behind, head to head, shoulder to shoulder, so sweet that Chen Xuan, who was at the gate, looked at them a few more times.
Wei Nian smiled, "What are you looking at? Let's walk like this from now on."
"Don't talk nonsense." Chen Xuan frowned, locked the door, and went back to the house with Wei Nian. Chen Xuan took out a book from the drawer and prepared to study. Wei Nian was a little surprised, "It's really strange, I didn't read tonight."
When Wei Nian asked, Chen Xuan lost all interest in reading and sighed, "I have something, but I don't know how to say it."
"Just say it directly."
"Brother Anian, do you think that Mr. Zhao is not a good person?" Chen Xuan said with some embarrassment.
Wei Nian was shocked. "What do you mean? He's pretty good at teaching."
"You don't know, he and Miss Qin lived together before they got married!" Chen Xuan lowered her voice and whispered to Wei Nian, "If I knew Mr. Zhao was such a person, I would never let him teach you Japanese, Brother Nian."
Wei Nian thought it was something else, and when he saw that Chen Xuan was talking about this, Wei Nian thought about it and said to Chen Xuan, "Although this matter is a bit unusual, it is not too rare. For example, Mr. Xu, a famous painter and the director of the Fine Arts Department of Peking University, had a romantic affair with Mrs. Xu. Mr. Xu was originally Mrs. Xu's tutor, and he abducted the girl to Japan after only two visits."
"A person like this can still be a teacher!"
"Not only is he a teacher, but he is also a first-class professor whom you envy so much." Wei Nian smiled, "I've already told you that knowledge has nothing to do with character. Besides, nowadays, people's harmonious music is a good story. When you read, haven't you read about Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun?"
"Then Sima Xiangru is not a good person! Wenjun was blind at that time!" Chen Xuan's two words almost choked Wei Nian to death. Chen Xuan turned the book with a stern face. In her cognition, although marriage is not necessarily determined by parents and matchmakers, she also felt that what Wei Nian said was reasonable. Times have changed. It is also reasonable for men and women to have some understanding before marriage and have similar personalities. However, this kind of elopement or unmarried cohabitation is definitely not included.
In Chen Xuan's opinion, the thing called "love" is far less important than moral etiquette.
The author has something to say: ps: Uh, it’s a bit late~~~~~Good night everyone~~~~~~