Chapter 137

“Let me take you to my classmate.” Yang Yu Cicada said. After the two of them came out of the principal’s office, they had a discussion about where to meet up with their classmates. Professor Dai’s Little Red Building was the first to be ruled out, because Professor Dai said that recently very few people went to the Little Red Building to attend classes, and everyone was having small gatherings, enthusiastically denouncing the sinful municipal officials and the Japanese.

No one was interested in attending classes.

“Yeah. Is it the piano room?” Yang Yuyan asked.

By her classmates, Yang Yuchan was referring exclusively to her female classmates. It wasn’t that Miss Yang was being sexist, but although there were classes in college that both male and female students took together, more of the course schedule was really divided according to gender needs. For example, male students need to go to martial arts classes to learn about swords and spears, shooting and firing artillery, and so on. Female students would have to go to a nursing class.

The school arranges the classes to maximize the potential of the students, not to waste resources unnecessarily. Both professors and students are precious, and their energy and intelligence should not be wasted.

Moreover, when female students enter the university, it is only natural that they want to get an education that is not easily available at home. Therefore, western socialization classes such as piano lessons and ballroom dancing classes have a place in the school.

Since there were more female students attending, it had indirectly become a place where female students gathered.

Yang Yuchan led Yang Yuyan to the piano classroom. Along the way, Yang Yuyan saw fewer students than she expected. She swallowed this doubt and waited until she reached the piano classroom, after seeing all the female students in the school, she was finally sure: a part of the students in the school should not be in the school anymore.

Because there were only twenty-six female students left in the whole school. Together with Yang Yuchan and Yang Yuyan, there were less than thirty.

These female students were different from the people on the street. Most of them had white skin, long and thin hands and feet, and their faces were soft, plump and full of luster.

This meant that they were all young ladies.

Compared to their male counterparts, the female students in the university were all Missy, born from wealthy families.

When Yang Yucan and Yang Yuyan walked in, the female students in the piano room were having a lively discussion. They didn’t disturb them, they came in and found a place to sit down and listen quietly.

“We can’t live like we used to!” A female student at the head of the group was speaking, her tone was very agitated.

Yang Yu Cicada whispered to Yang Yu Yan: “Her name is Fu Peixian, she is the fourth miss of the Fu family.”

Miss Fu was tall, half a head taller than all the surrounding female students. She had a pretty face, thick eyebrows and beautiful eyes, her lips were red and teeth were white even without applying lipstick.

But what made Yang Yuyan’s jaw drop the most was not her appearance or the words she was saying, but the fact that she had short hair.

Looking around her, there are seven or eight people who also have short hair, all less than shoulder length, some shorter, some longer, it can be seen that they are all newly cut.

Yang Yuyan reflexively grabbed her braid.

Nowadays, long hair is still the mainstream of women, slightly rebellious fashionable women will choose to curl their hair, but even if their hair is curly, they will not cut their hair to the position of their ears.

The concept of “body hair and skin” is still deeply rooted. This concept is still deeply rooted in people’s minds.

However, as early as a few years ago, there were photos of short-haired actresses published on top of the pictorials in the newspaper, causing a big discussion.

At that time, Yang Yuyan was still taken aback.

It was because the popularity of women cutting short hair had spread from the United States.

In the United States, women were also deeply discriminated and oppressed, and they were also constantly fighting for the right to speak and their own power. As a result, because of the frequent exchanges between the East and the West due to the war, the women’s movement in the U.S. soon spread to China as well.

Women over there demanded to smoke as much as men, and it hadn’t been long since the images of actresses holding cigarettes in movies had appeared, but the dancers in the cabarets were putting cigarette packs in their handbags, cigarette packs like those of the American actresses, and in the dim lights of the dance halls, snapping matches to light the cigarettes and holding them in the middle of their thin fingers, what a tempting image.

American women are expected to wear pants, and Chinese picture girls are photographed in pants with their bicycles.

American women have to wear shorts, and the Chinese pictorial girls have raised their skirts to the knee, and even the length of their cheongsams have taken the opportunity to change.

American women are photographed on the beach in swimsuits, and Chinese pictorial girls are photographed in swimsuits.

In short, China now seems to be very close to Western society.

There are literati who satirize in the newspapers, saying that Chinese men are not as useful as Chinese women, and that at least Chinese women have finished catching up with American women and have reached the world’s advanced level.

Yang Yuyan didn’t cut her hair short purely because she felt that long hair could be changed into more patterns and looked better. It wasn’t that she had any rejection of short hair, much less that she didn’t accept advanced ideas.

Moreover, there are not as many short hair styles nowadays as there were in later generations, the most they can do is to cut it and perm the curls.

Yang Yu Cicada didn’t cut short hair because she felt that similarity in appearance didn’t mean progress in thought, and she was against everyone pursuing this kind of superficial effort.

Both sisters were not interested in cutting short hair. Yang Yuyan’s interest in this Ms. Fu waned somewhat, she didn’t want to be persuaded to cut her hair in a while.

After Fu Peixian finished speaking, a lively discussion began in the classroom. She walked down and joined a small group, either listening or participating in it. Finally she came between sisters Yang Yucan and Yang Yuyan.

“Yu Cicada, it’s good to have you back.” Fu Peixian warmly hugged Yang Yucan.

Yang Yucan hugged her back and turned to introduce Yang Yuyan, “This is my sister, Yang Yuyan.”

Fu Peixian nodded to Yang Yuyan, “Hello. For you sisters to come to the school at this time is a great encouragement to us.”

Yang Yuyan asked, “What happened? I see that there seems to be a lot less students in the school.”

Fu Peixian sighed, “The situation is not good right now, many people have gone home.”

The people on the street could see that the situation was bad, not to mention the people in the school. Those who were able to study at the university, besides geniuses from poor families like Shi Wuwei, most of them were powerful or rich people from decent families. These people had the sharpest grasp of the situation, and they could see what was going on now better than the people on the streets, or worse, they already knew the truth.

So there were many families who called their children back from the university in order to avoid their children being victimized, or being implicated, or running in a parade to drag the family down.

Some students didn’t want to leave, and their families even sent people to arrest them, directly arresting and kidnapping them.

But the headstrong ones were still a minority, not many could abandon their families and disregard the safety of their loved ones, most of the students left from the school after receiving letters or messages from their families.

This, of course, added insult to injury for the hot-blooded students.

Fu Peixian’s family was aware of what was going on, she had a cousin who happened to be serving in the military and was well aware of how complicated the situation was, the Japanese were forcing the issue, the mayor had no choice but to comply, the two sides were wrestling and it was hard to tell if they would win or lose in the end, but one thing was clear: a peaceful solution was basically impossible.

The Japanese will not give up, and ultimately it is the mayor who will. Until then, how much longer it can be held up no one knows at all, and even if the mayor is using the lousy tactic of losing a thousand and rejecting eight hundred, no one can accuse him of anything.

Fu Peixian herself has a big problem, she walked outside with sisters Yang Yucan and Yang Yuyan and sighed, “I’m getting married.”

Yang Yucan look at her look is not like happy, said: “I have not heard you say before, why so sudden?”

It was indeed very sudden, because this marriage was agreed upon within a month, and the wedding would be held soon.

Fu Peixian’s fiancé was her cousin, the two of them did not have any feelings for each other, and their families had never mentioned that they wanted the two of them to get married before, the two of them were just getting along and growing up like ordinary siblings.

But all of a sudden, her cousin’s army might be deployed, and he might have to leave at some point, and he would not know when he would be able to come back, or he might not be able to come back at all.

This is when her cousin’s parents became anxious, worried about their son’s lack of posterity, and hurriedly booked a marriage with the Fu family.

Fu Peixian was informed by his parents to know this matter, and she was unable to resist. It is not that she can not, but she can not refuse her parents and aunt and uncle who have always looked after her growing up, as well as her cousin who will soon go to war.

Cousin said, “If you don’t want to, I don’t want to force you. I can make it clear to my parents that we are still relatives even if we are not married.”

Fu Peixian asked him, “Then what do you think? Do you like me? Do you want to marry me?”

Cousin said, “I …… want to reassure my parents. I’m worried that when I’m gone, my parents and they will have no one to take care of them. Suppose you are willing to take care of them ……”

Fu Peixian thought for two days and accepted the marriage without love. Even though she was likely to be a widow immediately after the marriage.

“Although there is no love, we have kinship.” Fu Peixian said, “I want to take care of my aunt and uncle in name only.”

Her parents agreed with her on this sacrifice and, moreover, they were one of the pushers.

However, Fu Peixian was college educated and aspired to free love and a loving marriage. After she accepted her marriage to her cousin, she also made the condition at the same time that she would stay in the university and stay with her classmates. Even after her marriage she does not intend to leave the university.

This was tantamount to telling her family about her ambition and that she did not intend to be a traditional woman.

Her parents, along with her aunt and uncle, happened to feel guilty about her, and it was her cousin who had trouble ordering her around in her husband’s name, and a bizarre consensus was reached between the two sides, with Fu Peixian using her marriage as a bargaining chip, surprisingly exchanging it for her freedom for the rest of her life.

She thought the deal was worth it, and was even proud of it.

But even more proud, the approaching wedding date made her uneasiness steepen.

She grabbed Yang Yuchan and said, “I’m going to have a Western-style wedding, can you please be my maid of honor?”

Yang Yucan naturally agreed.

Fu Peixian said excitedly, “Thank you.” She said dejectedly, “I don’t dare to tell others about this.” The most despised thing in college was to follow parents’ orders and have a union without love. Fu Peixian chose to marry her cousin, and a very strong guilt rose in her heart toward her classmates, as if she were a betrayer and deceiver.

This made her not even dare to tell her old close friends about her marriage.

She chose to tell Yang Yuchan because Yang Yuchan was a firm and tolerant person in her eyes. Yang Yuchan never spoke ill of others, was very selfless in her heart, and had a very good reputation when she was in the book club.

Fu Peixian wanted to get recognition and blessings from her classmates, not contempt and accusations.

Yang Yuyan didn’t say anything and waited until only she and Yang Yucan were left before she said, “Ugh, I think she’s miserable.” The persecution from her parents and relatives, the shackles made of affection were the hardest to break free from.

Yang Yuchan wrapped her arms around her and gave a soft hmmm.

Yang Yuyan suddenly said, “Sister, I’m sorry. At that time, I went overboard in forcing you to break up.”

What difference was there between what she and Fu Peixian’s relatives did? Both were using kinship to kidnap each other and make the other party give in.

Yang Yucchan’s head leaned against her and gently touched, “It’s fine, I’m not angry with you.”