trct_42

Chapter 42: A Pure Lookist

The next afternoon, Luo Mingxuan drove his black Ford car to the Jie residence, picked up Ji Qingzhou, and went to the grand restaurant called Yipinxiang.

Although the name sounded like a Chinese restaurant, it was in fact a grand establishment specializing in Western cuisine. Both its interior and exterior decor could be called luxurious—it had guest rooms, a ballroom, and also a restaurant and private dining rooms open to the public.

By Luo Mingxuan's reckoning, inviting someone to dine here was already showing considerable courtesy.

By the time they arrived, Luo Mingxuan's eldest brother was already waiting in the private room he had reserved.

The private room was on the second floor, facing the window, and the light was very bright. Through the pristine white French lattice windows, one could see the cars and people passing on the street below.

When the waiter led them in and pushed open the door, his brother was sitting on the sofa chair by the window side of the table, flipping through the menu.

Luo Mingxuan's brother was named Luo Qingying. Judging by the name alone, one might imagine someone refined and elegant in appearance, but upon actually seeing him, Ji Qingzhou felt the image somewhat shattered.

He resembled Luo Mingxuan somewhat around the eyes and mouth, but was clearly much older than Luo Mingxuan, and was not very tall, with a somewhat plump build. He wore a smiling, squinting expression on his face, looking every bit like a smooth-talking businessman.

"I've heard Mr. Ji's name from my brother's mouth no fewer than eight hundred times. Now that I finally get to meet you in person—what a fine, dignified bearing you have!"

Luo Qingying greeted him and invited Ji Qingzhou to sit, adding politely, "It's no easy feat to turn this little monkey into someone presentable. Thank you, sir, for looking after Xiao Xuan."

"Since we're friends, it's only right that we look after each other."

Ji Qingzhou replied with a smile. Considering that he was only tagging along to broaden his experience and was not the main player in this gathering, he sat down together with Luo Mingxuan on the long sofa bench to the side, leaving the seat of honor across from Luo Qingying for the foreign firm's comprador.

Another ten-odd minutes passed before Manager Rong, the Chinese comprador of Bell & Co., arrived, fashionably late.

He had his hair slicked back into a shining, oiled style, and despite the sweltering heat, he wore a full Western suit. By the time he arrived he was already flushed red from the heat, and the moment he entered the private room, he took out a handkerchief to wipe away his sweat.

Halfway through wiping, his eyes rolled and landed on Luo Qingying, and a smile immediately spread across his face: "Ah, isn't this Brother Luo? I haven't walked into the wrong room, have I? It was you who invited me to dinner, wasn't it?"

From his manner, it seemed he had only just learned who it was that wanted to discuss business with him today.

At this point, Ji Qingzhou vaguely understood why Luo Mingxuan had repeatedly failed before when trying to buy machinery from trading firms—likely because, wanting to prove his own ability without relying on his family, he had never mentioned his family background to anyone.

And in the business world, when some unknown nobody with no background whatsoever suddenly showed up saying he wanted to spend a large sum to buy machinery, most trading firms probably wouldn't take his words seriously at all, and would just brush him off carelessly.

"Yes, yes, my brother is new to the business world, he must have caused Manager Rong some trouble." Luo Qingying had evidently also understood what was going on. He gave Luo Mingxuan a meaningful glance and shook Manager Rong's hand with great enthusiasm.

"So it's Young Master Luo who wants to buy this printing machine. I was wondering, this young fellow is so generous, inviting me to dine right here at Yipinxiang."

The two of them exchanged a few laughing pleasantries, and Luo Qingying introduced Ji Qingzhou's identity to Manager Rong. After the Chinese manager exchanged a few polite words with the two younger men, he sat down facing Luo Qingying and called the waiter over to order food.

Ji Qingzhou glanced casually over the menu and found that although the Western dishes here were numerous in variety, they weren't actually very authentic, consisting mainly of dishes like salad, steak, curry chicken, and oxtail soup.

Called Western food, but it was actually a mishmash of Chinese and foreign, a fusion of various countries.

The dishes came out quickly, and along with them came a bottle of champagne.

Just as Luo Qingying opened the bottle, and Ji Qingzhou thought they were about to seriously get down to business, the door of the private room opened again, and the waiter led in two girls dressed in embroidered jackets and skirts, done up gaudily.

Ji Qingzhou was just wondering whether they had wandered into the wrong room when Luo Qingying raised his hand and called out, "Yuchun, this is Manager Rong. Be sure to keep him good company drinking tonight."

The girl called Yuchun immediately responded, lifting her skirt as she went to sit beside him.

The other girl looked around the room, then sat down close by, next to Ji Qingzhou.

As she sat down, Ji Qingzhou caught a strong whiff of powder and rouge.

Before he could react, the woman picked up the opened bottle and poured a glass into the wine glass by his hand, saying in a soft dialect voice, "Sir, please have a drink."

Ji Qingzhou glanced at the glass now filled with wine and said, "Thank you."

With the others' eyes on him, he obligingly picked up the glass and took a light sip, then switched hands to set the glass down, and under the pretense of wiping his mouth, leaned his head toward Luo Mingxuan, whispering by his ear: "Is this how your brother does business?"

Luo Mingxuan, who had been cheerful just a moment ago, felt his head buzz at the words, and his ears instantly turned red.

At first, seeing his eldest brother call for girls to keep them company drinking, he hadn't thought much of it—after all, he had grown up seeing such scenes since childhood. Just how used to it was he? Even back when he was living in Suzhou as a child of only seven or eight, his father and eldest brother had taken him aboard flower boats.

In his impression, this was simply the norm in the world of business.

But for some reason, hearing Ji Qingzhou ask that, he suddenly felt a bit embarrassed and awkward.

He turned his head toward Ji Qingzhou, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile, then leaned forward and beckoned to the woman, saying in a half-joking tone:

"Hey now, miss, I know he's handsome and you want to keep him company drinking, but he's only just gotten married and his household keeps him on a tight leash, so let him be and come sit over here with me instead."

Hearing his blunt teasing words, the woman's face flushed slightly as she said, "I won't go over there to you. Just look at you, so improper."

Though she said this, none among the flower world's women were anything but sharp, and she naturally caught Luo Mingxuan's meaning. She promptly rose and went to sit beside Luo Qingying instead.

Seeing this, Ji Qingzhou sighed quietly to himself, and picked up his knife and fork to continue eating his steak.

Although he didn't much approve of their way of doing business, that Manager Rong seemed to eat it right up—after two glasses of the fizzy champagne, his tongue began to loosen.

This fellow was also one who knew which way the wind blew. Seeing that it was the Luo family who had come to him to buy this machine, he immediately dropped his earlier attitude of naming an outrageous price, and assured Luo Qingying that he would go back and have a proper talk with his foreign boss, pressing the price down to within three thousand silver yuan.

Not only was the roller printing machine negotiable, but the secondhand flat-screen printing machine could be had for next to nothing as well—his words brimming with an exaggerated, extravagant flourish.

The first half of their conversation was at least about business, but for the second half, Manager Rong's attention shifted entirely elsewhere.

Ji Qingzhou even felt that they'd hardly exchanged more than a few words of actual talk—in the time it took to eat one steak, the deal had been settled just like that.

All that remained was for the Chinese manager to go back and discuss the price internally with his boss; once both sides could agree on a figure, the contract could be finalized.

This meal had left Ji Qingzhou feeling utterly bewildered.

He wasn't in the best of moods, so once Luo Mingxuan was driving him home and they were in the car, he said directly: "I can't learn your brother's way of doing things, but if we're going to start this business together, someone has to be good at handling negotiations and social dealings, and that'll have to be you. You should spend more time from now on learning from those proper businessmen."

Luo Mingxuan also felt some regret. In the past he'd never paid this any mind—such was simply the prevailing custom, whether in Suzhou or Shanghai, where drinking with flower-girls was the accepted way of socializing.

And in the past, on such occasions, he had only ever been a bystander, rarely participating in the business talk itself, thinking that as long as the deal got done and both sides had a good time at the table, that made for a competent businessman.

But now that he himself was a party involved, looking again at his father's generation's way of negotiating, he found it not particularly reliable.

Hearing this, he agreed at once: "I'll take the chance to talk more with Brother Yuchuan going forward... actually, Uncle Jie is even more impressive—back in the day he came to Shanghai all alone with almost no one to help him, and built up this whole enterprise purely on his own judgment and skill. It's just a shame he's so busy, even when I go to the Jie house I rarely get to see him..."

Chatting idly along the way, Luo Mingxuan dropped him off at the Jie residence.

Whether out of guilt or something else, the kid didn't dare come in to sit for a while, and slipped away in a flash.

Ji Qingzhou had left at four, and after mooching a meal, got home at only half past five—even Jie Yuchuan hadn't gotten off work yet.

He went straight up to the second floor, and as he walked toward the study in the east wing, he heard the sound of a newspaper being read aloud coming from within. Ji Qingzhou deliberately softened his footsteps, pressed down on the door handle, and opened the door without a sound.

The moment the door opened, Ji Qingzhou saw Jie Yu'an lying sideways across the reclining chair, listening to A' You read the news with an air of quiet, leisurely ease.

He raised a finger to his lips and made a "shh" gesture toward Huang Youshu, who had looked up at him, signaling for him to keep reading the paper.

Then he crept up behind Jie Yu'an on tiptoe, suddenly reached out and covered the lower half of his face with his hand, saying with a cold chuckle: "Not a sound, you've been taken hostage by me. Confess your biggest secret at once, or else, hehe!"

Jie Yu'an remained still, neither startled nor appearing angry. Very calmly, he took hold of Ji Qingzhou's wrist and moved it aside, then remarked flatly: "Childish."

"Why weren't you startled?" Ji Qingzhou asked, a bit deflated.

Jie Yu'an didn't answer this question, but instead said, "Have you been drinking?"

Ji Qingzhou raised an eyebrow in surprise: "I only had two sips, you can smell that too? Were you a police dog in a past life?"

"There's also a scent of powder and rouge." Jie Yu'an savored the lingering smell in the air, saying with some displeasure, "Where exactly did you go?"

Ji Qingzhou walked over and sat down in the chair across from him, replying in a casual tone: "Didn't I already tell you? I went to eat and talk business with Luo Mingxuan and his brother."

Hearing this, Jie Yu'an frowned slightly, and—whether he had misunderstood something or not—his expression turned displeased as he said, "Go less often with him to those disreputable places."

"No, no, what were you thinking? It was at a proper Western restaurant. I went to learn about business negotiations, how was I supposed to know his brother would call for girls? One of them plopped herself right down beside me, so embarrassing..."

Ji Qingzhou relaxed his body against the back of the chair and sighed, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone. I didn't learn a single business skill on that trip, all I picked up was some useless social know-how."

He mused idly to himself, and as his gaze wandered, it suddenly landed on the stack of newspapers in the corner of the desk.

The one on top bore the bold title "Shanghai Daily."

"Hey, when did you subscribe to the Shanghai paper?" he asked, somewhat curious, and stretched out his arm to pick it up and flip through it.

Jie Yu'an didn't respond, so Huang Youshu answered on his behalf: "Just a few days ago, the young master had it arranged."

Ji Qingzhou flipped to the back section, originally intending to idly browse Qiu Wenxin's food column out of boredom, but when he turned the page, he found the entire spread filled with photograph after photograph of young women.

Had the beauty pageant started?

Ji Qingzhou realized at once, and scanning quickly, soon found Jin Bao'er's photograph.

Her photo wasn't placed particularly prominently, but her fashionable attire and striking features stood out among a sea of thin brows and narrow eyes.

Remembering that Jin Bao'er had once asked him to canvass votes for her... Ji Qingzhou glanced at the bottom of the page and found the voting ballot form, then said to Huang Youshu: "A' You, bring me a pair of scissors."

Scissors were a standard item in the study, so Huang Youshu went to the outer room and fetched him a pair.

Seeing Ji Qingzhou sit up straight and take the scissors to cut out the voting ballot form from the newspaper, he asked curiously: "Mr. Ji, are you voting for one of the beauties?"

"Mm." Ji Qingzhou said as he cut, "Number twenty-four is a client of mine. This dress she's wearing, I made it myself. We'd agreed before that if I bought the Shanghai paper, I'd cast a few votes for her."

Huang Youshu immediately began searching for number twenty-four, and almost without needing to look closely, his eyes locked onto the photograph of the woman with the rose-adorned, alluring face, and said, "I've found her. This young lady looks to be the most refined-looking one among them."

To the side, Jie Yu'an listened to their exchange, the fingers resting on the armrest twitching restlessly a few times.

Unfortunately, this drew no attention from either of them.

After cutting out the ballot, Ji Qingzhou marked a checkmark after number twenty-four with his pen, then asked Huang Youshu: "So I just need to send this ballot to the newspaper office like this?"

"It's not only the newspaper office. I've heard quite a few theater entrances have ballot boxes set up too, or you could also mail it directly by envelope."

"That's too much trouble. I happen to be going to Wangping Street tomorrow anyway, so I'll just drop it off then."

The reason he was going to the street where the newspaper offices were was that two months had already passed since he'd rented the shop, and when he'd initially rented the sewing machines, the agreement had been to pay rent every two months—tomorrow he needed to go find Old Widow Wu's son to settle up two months' rent.

With this in mind, Ji Qingzhou folded up the ballot and set it aside, then added, "Oh right, A' You, from now on when the paper comes each day, if you have a spare moment, help me cut out the ballot, and I'll mail them all to the newspaper office together before voting closes."

Just as Huang Youshu was about to respond, Jie Yu'an suddenly cut in: "Starting tomorrow, cancel the subscription."

"Cancel it?" Ji Qingzhou tilted his head, looking at him, "Why cancel it? I'm just casting a friendly vote for my client, why such a big reaction?"

Jie Yu'an seemed to have already thought out what to say, and spoke directly: "A vulgar contest cooked up by a bunch of merchants and whoremongers just to profit off it, and you want to take part in that too?"

"Ha, I really didn't peg you for an idealist!" Ji Qingzhou scoffed on hearing this, "The contest is already happening regardless—if I don't take part, does that make it not exist? Or is it that if you just pretend not to see it, all those brothels and pleasure houses will simply vanish?

"Since this client of mine has already entered, and hopes to make a name for herself through it, gain another way forward in life. Given that this dress of hers was designed by me, is it wrong for me to cast an anonymous vote for her?

"You clearly understand this perfectly well in your heart, yet you're still moralizing at me over it. If this isn't you deliberately targeting me, then why bother waving some banner of righteousness?"

He rattled all this off in one go—not particularly fast, but Jie Yu'an simply couldn't get a word in.

Off to the side, Huang Youshu had already quietly retreated to the corner of the room, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Ji Qingzhou leaned back against the chair, crossed one leg over the other, and continued: "And taking it a step further, so what if I do appreciate and champion beauty? Everyone has a love for beautiful things. If it were your photograph printed in there, I'd take out a bank loan if I had to and buy up every newspaper in all of Shanghai just to vote for you."

Jie Yu'an, who had just been left somewhat dazed by this lengthy lecture, was caught off guard by the last part: "What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm just giving an example, what a shame there's no beauty contest for men, or else I'd have entered you no matter what." Ji Qingzhou's tone softened slightly.

"Even though your personality is rather annoying, I've never once denied your looks. Honestly, if you didn't have a face like this, I wouldn't have been able to accept the luck-marriage so quickly in the first place."

"......" Jie Yu'an was rendered speechless.

This was the first time he'd ever been praised in quite this way, and it was also the first time he learned that Ji Qingzhou had, all along, appreciated his face—leaving him with a feeling that was strangely hard to describe.

For a moment, he seemed able to make sense of Ji Qingzhou's line of thinking: he was simply a pure lookist who appreciated beauty for its own sake, with no regard for gender, occupation, temperament, or closeness of relation.

A quiet stillness spread freely through the room.

After hesitating for a long while, Jie Yu'an finally continued from where they'd left off: "Then what if it had been my face that was burned instead, back then?"

"Wouldn't that just make you a shrimp-man?"

"What?"

Ji Qingzhou glanced at his pair of long legs, so pleasing to the eye, and replied with a touch of teasing amusement: "Discard the head, still edible."

"......"

No need to spell it out further—Jie Yu'an immediately grasped his meaning, and turned his head away without another word.

In the corner, Huang Youshu pressed his lips tightly together, barely managing not to burst out laughing.

Truly, Mr. Ji's tongue was every bit as sharp as his young master's.

The atmosphere fell into complete silence after that, with neither willing to acknowledge the other.

After sitting a while longer, Ji Qingzhou lazily got to his feet, stretched, walked over to the reclining chair, and patted the armrest, saying:

"Alright, stop making that face at me, it's about time to eat. Get up. I'll walk you downstairs—though I already ate, I could still eat a bit more, that steak portion was barely bigger than an appetizer."

Jie Yu'an's mood was still caught up in the topic from a moment ago, but at the sound of his voice, he rose to his feet almost without thinking.

Gripping his cane, listening to the sound of footsteps as he walked toward the door alongside the other man, he found himself, rather unusually, growing a little curious—if Ji Qingzhou held beauty in such high regard, then what did he himself look like?

Unconsciously, he found himself piecing together in his mind the descriptions he'd heard from Shen Nanqi—refined features, handsome, good build, fond of wearing white shirts... but in the end, what surfaced in his mind was still that same sharp-tongued rabbit.

A rabbit whose temper was tolerable on occasion, but detestable most of the time...

"What are you zoning out for? We're going downstairs to eat, not back to your room."

Seeing Jie Yu'an looking rather absent-minded, he turned right the moment they stepped out the door, so Ji Qingzhou hurriedly grabbed hold of his forearm and pulled him toward the left, laughing helplessly, "Whatever would you do without me, Jie Yuanyuan?"

Jie Yu'an's movements froze for a moment, and coming back to his senses, he made up an excuse: "I'm going to the bathroom."

"What, is the bathroom next to the dining room out of order for repairs?"

Ji Qingzhou replied without thinking, then, recalling this fellow's stubbornly face-saving personality, decided it wasn't worth wasting more time on this, and let go of his arm, saying, "Fine, fine, fine, go ahead, I'll wait here."

Jie Yu'an hesitated for a few seconds, then turned around as if nothing were the matter, saying calmly, "No rush, actually. Let's go downstairs."

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