TRCT_37

Chapter 37: Daily Life

The next morning, the sky was a deep clear blue, the sun blazing bright.

Xiao Yang, the errand boy at Yang's Snack Shop, carried a dustpan to the mouth of the lane to dump the trash. As he turned around, he happened to see a black car parked in the shade of the parasol tree at the corner of the lane.

So early in the morning, what wealthy young master would come to this little lane?

Curious, he looked a bit longer, and then saw the back door of the car open, a familiar figure in a white shirt stepping out.

Eh? Wasn't that Boss Ji from the ready-made clothing shop across the way?

He couldn't help but widen his eyes and murmur under his breath, blinking, unsure whether he should greet Ji Qingzhou.

Ji Qingzhou, however, didn't notice him. After getting out of the car, he used one hand to shield the top of the car door and the other to hold Jie Yu'an's arm, helping him down.

Huang Youshu, in front, followed closely and got out from the passenger seat, carrying a folded rattan chair and a basket of pastries and snacks.

The bright morning sun spilled over one side of the lane , lighting up the gravel path until it gleamed.

Though Jie Yu'an couldn't see the light, he could feel its warmth.

The moment he got out of the car, the bustling clamor of the marketplace—mixed with car horns, footsteps, and vendors' hawking cries—swept over him along with the scorching heat of the sun, and his previously quiet, clear thoughts suddenly blurred into a hazy confusion.

It felt as if he had suddenly been thrust into the midst of a ceaseless flow of people, and inevitably, a thread of unease rose up from the bottom of his heart.

Ji Qingzhou left him for a moment at the corner, turning to instruct Xiao Li in the car, telling him to come back around five in the afternoon to pick them up after work.

After closing the car door, he had just walked over to Jie Yu'an's side, about to take hold of the other's arm, when Jie Yu'an raised his hand first and grasped his wrist.

Then, with practiced ease, he slid his hand down along the wrist and took hold of his palm.

Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but chuckle softly, pressing his thumb against the back of the other's hand, teasing: "Ah, how is it that our Yuanyuan is like a child who hasn't grown up, insisting on holding hands to feel at ease when we're out?"

Jie Yu'an had already grown used to his occasional provocations, and without changing expression, retorted: "If I'm a child, then what are you, a child bride raised from infancy?"

Ji Qingzhou's smile immediately faded, and he pursed his lips: "Nothing to say to you."

With that, he pulled the other along toward the entrance of his own shop.

At the turn of spring into summer, beside the shop door hanging the sign "Shiji Clothing Shop," everything was a scene of lush greenery.

In just a short month, the two rose bushes by the entrance, under their owner's careful tending, had grown thick with branches and leaves, already covering half the wall. Though the flowers had now withered, even more new shoots had sprouted, straining to climb upward along the wall.

Seeing that lush green foliage, Ji Qingzhou was reminded of two days ago, when Aunt Liu, the landlady of the inn upstairs, had specially reminded him to keep the growth of these roses under control, or else by summer, his shop would probably become a kingdom of mosquitoes.

But Ji Qingzhou actually quite liked these two rose bushes, and couldn't bear to trim them too severely. He thought that when the time came, he would cut back some of the branches near the entrance and plant a few mosquito-repelling plants instead.

On this matter, the Jie family's gardener would surely know well.

As they stepped through the door, Zhu Renqing, who had arrived half an hour early, had already begun his busy work.

Hearing the familiar footsteps, he immediately turned his head to look toward the entrance.

A smile unconsciously rose to his face, and he was just about to greet them when he suddenly noticed that beside his employer stood another tall, handsome man.

The man wore a neat, crisp dark blue shirt and trousers pressed into sharp creases. The black gauze covering his eyes was somewhat strange, but it didn't diminish the first impression he gave—noble, solemn, and not easy to approach.

Some people, at a single glance, you could tell belonged to a different world from your own.

Zhu Renqing mused to himself, glancing at their clasped hands, his smile stiffening slightly without his realizing it. He paused for two seconds before continuing his greeting: "Morning, sir... and these two are?"

"My cousin, Jie Yuanbao, and his little playmate, A' You." Ji Qingzhou introduced them briefly.

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt his palm pinched, not too hard but not too lightly either, and he couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Just kidding. His name is Jie Yu'an. He recently injured his eyes and has been recuperating at home. Seeing that he was bored, I brought him to the shop to have some fun."

"So he's your cousin, sir." Zhu Renqing's smile immediately became much more natural.

Once inside, Ji Qingzhou's first priority was to find a place to settle Jie Yu'an.

His shop wasn't large to begin with, and now with four men squeezed in, all of them tall, it was crowded to say the least.

"A' You, open up the chair and put it by the door, next to that shop sign, then help your young master over to sit."

"Oh, okay." Huang Youshu answered and was about to carry out the instruction when Jie Yu'an said, "Not sitting outside."

"Why not sit outside?"

"Too sunny."

"It's early morning, how much sun could there be? Besides, you should get more sun, getting a bit tanned is healthier. Maybe even get a white mark sunburned across your eyes, how cool would that be?"

The moment he finished speaking, his palm was pinched again, this time in warning.

"Alright, alright, no sun on your face, you can sit inside."

He compromised, having A' You move the chair to just inside the doorway, right at the boundary line of sunlight. Jie Yu'an settled into the chair, positioned so that only his shirt collar caught the sun, while his head remained entirely within the shade of the room.

Once Jie Yu'an was settled, Ji Qingzhou finally set down his backpack and took out his work notebook from the drawer to look through it.

At this moment, Zhu Renqing came up beside him and said, "Sir, the work you assigned me last night, I've finished it all. The black piping fabric has been sized and scraped smooth, and that piece of jacquard satin material has also been pressed flat. I also made two pipa knots, the kind you taught me yesterday, let me show you."

With that, he searched through the basket holding various odds and ends of trimmings and found the two pipa knot buttons he had just made.

Since these were the knot buttons meant for Yang Xinzhi's ramie qipao, Ji Qingzhou had him practice using the same fine pure hemp weave as the fabric itself.

The grey knot cord was first formed into a round ball-shaped knot, then coiled below into a teardrop shape resembling a pipa.

The technique itself wasn't particularly difficult—what was difficult was coiling it neatly and attractively.

Ji Qingzhou wasn't sure whether Zhu Renqing was simply naturally dexterous, or whether he'd been secretly practicing on his own, but the two pipa knot buttons he showed him were both delicate and flawless.

"Not bad, quite talented." Ji Qingzhou nodded, saying to him, "Then your task for today is to make nine pairs of pipa knots, using that piece of indigo-blue hemp cloth."

"Yes, sir." Zhu Renqing's tone lifted, his voice carrying a note of joy at being praised and affirmed. "Then I'll go make you coffee first!"

"Mm, go ahead."

To the side, listening to their exchange, Jie Yu'an felt a slight twitch between his brows.

Though this was his first time at Ji Qingzhou's shop, and he had never once exchanged words with the employee he'd hired, he found himself, for no particular reason, feeling that both the voice and the tone of this employee's speech were somehow displeasing to him.

This feeling arose without cause, and he could only attribute it to a clash of temperaments.

After sitting quietly in a daze for a while, and still not having Ji Qingzhou speak to him, he found it tiresome and deliberately coughed twice.

Ji Qingzhou was indeed drawn by the sound, raising his eyes to look at him and ask: "What's wrong, young master?"

"Bored," Jie Yu'an said succinctly.

After all, since he was the one who had called the man over, Ji Qingzhou did bear some responsibility for looking after his mood. Hearing this, he took two copper coins and gave them to A' You, telling him to find a newsboy and buy a copy of the Shanghai Daily.

As for why it wasn't the "Shanghai News" or "News Report", which could be found everywhere, Ji Qingzhou felt that if the shop were filled with nothing but solemn, proper news, then the clothes he made would end up far too dull and uninteresting.

In the middle of work, one would want nothing more than to find a bed to lie down on.

At times like this, naturally, what one needed to hear was a tabloid focused mainly on gossip and the amusing little stories of the streets and lanes.

Huang Youshu wasn't gone long before he returned with the newspaper. He then brought over a small stool, sat down facing Jie Yu'an, and began reading the paper aloud in his Mandarin carrying a Wu dialect accent.

"The second public beauty pageant, hosted by the New World Amusement Hall, will open this June. Those wishing to participate, please register through the following channels..."

Sure enough, being a gossip tabloid, the very first item on the front page was well-suited to stir up public curiosity.

Ji Qingzhou, too, hadn't expected the entertainment life of Shanghai's people during the Republican era to be so rich, and couldn't help but ask: "There's even a beauty pageant? How does the selection work?"

Huang Youshu thought back for a moment and said, "There was one held last year. Those who took part were either courtesans or someone's concubine. The newspaper hosting it would print the contestants' photos in the paper—to vote, you had to buy the paper, cut out the ballot, and mail it in to the newspaper. I heard that the top three chosen last year became the talk of the whole city practically overnight."

"Oh, so that's how the selection works... go on, keep reading."

Huang Youshu nodded unconsciously, then began reading the amusing little story printed below.

Jie Yu'an leaned back in his chair, feeling somewhat drowsy.

Just moments ago, listening to Ji Qingzhou speak, the sound by his ear had still felt clear and distinct, but once Huang Youshu began reading the story, his thoughts started to grow hazy.

It was simply that the sounds surrounding him were too complex—there was the clamor of the marketplace drifting in from outside, as well as the mechanical sound of the sewing machine indoors and the sound of scissors cutting cloth.

As the saying goes, when noise reaches its utmost extreme, it paradoxically seems like silence.

At least in this moment, Huang Youshu's voice reading the paper, mixed in among these sounds, blended into an indistinguishable whole, such that he couldn't make out a single word of it.

The warm sunlight bathed his body in a cozy glow, and within less than ten minutes, he began to feel drowsy.

But before he could doze off even for a moment, a voice full of spirit came calling out, instantly pulling him out of his gradually blurring consciousness.

"Brother Qingzhou! Haven't seen you in days, did you miss me!"

Luo Mingxuan called out in greeting, raising his voice as he strode quickly toward the shop door.

Upon reaching the entrance, he only then noticed that two acquaintances were also seated in the crowded little shop.

"Eh? Brother Yuan, A' You, you're here too— what a coincidence!"

Jie Yu'an truly hadn't expected to run into Luo Mingxuan here.

He asked, "What are you here for?"

"Ah, I had nothing to do, so I've been wandering around, catching acquaintances to chat with."

With that, Luo Mingxuan walked over to stand beside Ji Qingzhou, who was cutting fabric pieces against a pattern, and leaned against the edge of the table striking a flamboyant pose, saying:

"Brother Qingzhou, what do you think of my outfit today? I put this together at the Western tailor's shop following that fashion guide you taught me, and I even specially had the shop owner sew in two extra-large, thick shoulder pads!"

When he'd walked in, Ji Qingzhou had already noticed his clothes.

It had to be said, Luo Mingxuan had gained a bit of an eye for this sort of thing.

A beige shirt paired with black Western trousers, with a thin dark grey trench coat thrown over the top. His hair was clearly too much trouble to style properly, so he'd simply swept it all back behind his ears, and topped it off with a Panama hat.

The whole outfit, aside from looking a bit too warm and not quite suited to the season, still carried a fair amount of presence overall—the kind of look that made you feel he might break into a rendition of "The Bund" by the Huangpu riverside at any moment.

Ji Qingzhou glanced him over, letting out a laugh that was hard to characterize, and said: "Pretty good, double-door style."

Though he'd never once heard the term 'double-door refrigerator,' Luo Mingxuan somehow, strangely enough, grasped his meaning anyway, and grinned: "Right, it's got to be double-door. A single door wouldn't fit these broad shoulders of mine."

Ji Qingzhou shook his head helplessly and made a shooing gesture at him, saying: "Don't stand there blocking my light. Go chat with your Brother Yuan, he was just complaining about being bored."

"Is that so? Then haven't I come at just the right time?"

With Luo Mingxuan's arrival, Huang Youshu no longer needed to keep reading the newspaper.

This fellow was a thorough chatterbox—with him in the shop, there was never a moment of peace for the ears.

Seeing there weren't enough stools in the shop, he specially went next door to the barbershop to borrow one, then carried the stool over to sit by the doorway, chatting away with Jie Yu'an and Huang Youshu.

Of course, it was mainly Huang Youshu picking up the conversation with him, Jie Yu'an clearly found him noisy and rarely responded.

"Hey, I was just talking about this with Qingzhou last time. Brother Yuan, do you remember, when we were ten, I was four chi tall, and you were even shorter than me. The two of us were the little shrimps of our generation! Back then I couldn't even go out without Sanwang, or else I'd easily get bullied...

"Brother Qingzhou probably can't guess this, back when we were at school in Suzhou, it was always Brother Xin looking out for us. Don't be fooled by how round Brother Xin is now, like a snowman, ten years ago, he was the tallest, strongest one among the lot of us.

"Eh, Brother Xin was just timid, never dared to get into arguments with anyone. Whenever things kicked off, he'd just calmly try to smooth things over. I remember that gang of troublemakers even gave him the nickname 'Miss Qiu' back then..."

Amid Luo Mingxuan's endless chattering, time slipped by unnoticed until it was midday.

Ji Qingzhou set aside the fabric piece he'd just finished pressing, unplugged the electric iron, turned and stretched his body, and asked Jie Yu'an: "What shall we eat for lunch?"

"Lunch is on me!" Before Jie Yu'an could even speak, Luo Mingxuan jumped in first.

He stood up, full of energy: "It's rare that the four great beauties of the foreign concession are gathered together today, how about Tao's Restaurant across the way for lunch? Brother Qingzhou, and Xiao Qing too, shall we all go for lunch together?"

Halfway through hearing this, Ji Qingzhou couldn't help clicking his tongue: "How can you even say that with a straight face, have you no shame?"

"What did he say?" Jie Yu'an feigned deafness.

"It's a good thing you didn't hear it, don't ask. It'll offend your ears." Ji Qingzhou replied.

Luo Mingxuan protested: "Hey, the two of you going back and forth like that, does that even sound human..."

Though he said that, the two of them still accepted Luo Mingxuan's invitation, and went along with him to Tao's Restaurant at the lane mouth across the way to eat.

As for Zhu Renqing, he volunteered to stay behind and mind the shop, and didn't go with them.

Tao's was a Fujianese restaurant, and according to what Luo Mingxuan relayed from Qiu Wenxin's summarized experience, when going to a Fujianese restaurant, one had to order a set menu.

Whether you picked the 'two-yuan set,' the 'three-yuan set,' or even the eight-yuan or ten-yuan one, whatever the restaurant put together themselves was always the best and freshest, whereas ordering individual dishes yourself often fell short of expectations.

So Ji Qingzhou and the others, counting A' You, four in total, took a table in the ground-floor hall and settled on the five-yuan set.

With only four of them eating, five yuan a meal wasn't cheap, even Western food would run about a yuan per person.

When Luo Mingxuan indicated he wanted this tier of set menu, Ji Qingzhou noticed the order-taking waiter's face flush considerably rosier.

Before long, the waiter brought out two plates of cold dishes to accompany the wine, along with a small jar of sweet wine brewed from red fermented rice.

This wine also had an elegant name, 'Xishi Red,' presumably owing to the bright red color of the liquid, though what relation it actually bore to Xishi was unclear.

Sitting in the hall, drinking the sweet wine while waiting for the dishes to arrive, Luo Mingxuan's eyes drifted sideways toward the guests at the table diagonally across from them, and he muttered under his breath:

"Why would anyone be calling in escorts in the middle of the day... though that girl in blue is rather delicate-looking, round-faced, and when she smiles she's got two dimples, looks like she's got good fortune."

As he spoke, he shot a glance across at Ji Qingzhou: "Eh? Why don't we call in some too?"

Before Ji Qingzhou could quite register what 'calling in escorts' meant, Jie Yu'an called out his name in a tone laced with warning.

"Hehe, just joking, don't be so serious." Luo Mingxuan grinned, baring his teeth, and hastily lifted the teapot to pour tea for Jie Yu'an.

Ji Qingzhou, as if sensing something, turned to glance at the table diagonally across, and only then caught his meaning, letting out a snort of laughter as he asked: "You still go for those flower wine parties, kid?"

Luo Mingxuan quickly shook his head: "Aiya, don't ruin my reputation. I only occasionally go around to those establishments with a few friends, but it's strictly admiring the flowers and drinking wine, nothing else, not a single thing! I'm not even engaged yet, I've got to keep myself pure for my future wife."

Ji Qingzhou asked: "So once you're engaged, you won't keep yourself pure anymore?"

"Hey, once I'm engaged, it's not just about keeping myself pure—I can't even go around to those establishments anymore. So I've got to make the most of being single to look around a bit. Once I'm married, this body of mine, from head to toe, from the soles of my feet to the tips of my hair, all belongs to my wife."

Though his words sounded rather cloying, he said them quite sincerely.

Ji Qingzhou, listening, felt a touch of surprise.

He hadn't expected that this kid, who seemed on the surface like a player, would actually turn out to be devoted to pure romance.

He lifted his cup and took a sip of the sweet wine, then swept a glance over at Jie Yu'an.

He had no idea which category this fellow fell into either...

After mulling it over silently for a moment, Ji Qingzhou gave up on the question. He truly couldn't picture what Jie Yu'an would be like if he liked someone.

Though, given that mouth of his, if he really did fall in love, and someone asked him about it, he'd probably just say "don't know, don't like him, don't know him".

Put plainly, the kind of material destined to die alone.

About ten-odd minutes later, dish after dish began arriving at the table in succession, eight in total including the cold dishes, most of them prized delicacies, with clam meat stewed in chicken broth and plump, tender fresh oysters among them.

Judging purely by the ingredients, five yuan a table was clearly worth it.

Yet after tasting a couple bites of the clam meat, Luo Mingxuan shook his head, declaring it still wasn't fresh and delicious enough—if you wanted proper Fujianese food, you had to go to "Xiaoyoutian," or so he went on.

His voice carried loudly, without the slightest restraint, and Ji Qingzhou could only be thankful that all the dishes had already been served in full, otherwise he'd genuinely have worried the owner might spit into their food.

"About that factory business last time, I had a good talk with my brother and my father." Halfway through the meal, Luo Mingxuan suddenly remembered the actual purpose of his visit today, and said to Ji Qingzhou in a serious tone:

"Originally my father wasn't in favor of it, but after my brother and I wore our lips out persuading him, he finally agreed to allocate me a sum of funding—to first buy a couple of printing machines, set them up in the warehouse next to our dye shop, and try it out. If sales turn out well, he'll then invest in setting up a proper factory for me!"

Ji Qingzhou nodded upon hearing this and said: "That works. Once things take shape, let me know, and I'll design more printed patterns for you."

"Alright, it's settled then. I've long since witnessed Brother Qingzhou's skill firsthand, I have a feeling the two of us working together is bound to make a fortune."

As Luo Mingxuan spoke, it was as if he could already see mountains of silver rolling in. Excited, he lifted the wine jar and poured him a cup of clear, rosy-red sweet wine: "Come, to celebrate our future business success in advance, bottoms up!"

The moment he finished speaking, Ji Qingzhou felt someone lightly kick his left foot.

He instinctively glanced to his left, just in time to hear Jie Yu'an murmur under his breath: "Think about the two houses in Shanghai."

Ji Qingzhou didn't catch on at first, but then lowered his eyes to look at the wine cup, and suddenly recalled the embarrassing incident from the last time he'd gotten drunk.

So, as Luo Mingxuan raised his cup and downed it heroically in one gulp, he merely lifted his own cup and took a small sip.

Not drinking at all wouldn't quite do either—it would inevitably dampen the mood.

To keep Luo Mingxuan from noticing this, the moment the other man set down his cup, Ji Qingzhou immediately brought up another matter: "Oh right, I need to have a bolt of crepe georgette custom-made recently, solid color, I couldn't find the shade I wanted on the market. I'll show you the design sketch later, and if you're able to dye it, I'll place the order at Taiming Xiang at market price."

Sure enough, Luo Mingxuan's attention was successfully diverted, and he said: "Nothing we can't dye. Even if we truly don't have it, our dye shop masters will definitely be able to mix it up for you, absolutely no problem.

"Come, come, eat up, eat up. Brother Yuan, A' You, both of you eat more too..."

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