Chapter 54

That night, Zhu Yanshu had already made an appointment with the hair dresser, and even took the unprecedented step of turning over her old reading notes to prepare for tomorrow’s reception for Prof. Dai.

The hair dresser came over in the evening to curl her hair one by one, so that it would be much easier tomorrow morning.

Zhu Yanshu sits on the sofa soaking her feet, going through her notes on the books she read in Russian back then with Yang Yuyan, Yang Yucan also sits on the opposite sofa, holding a notebook in her hand, she’s rather silent tonight.

Zhu Yanshu complained, ”I don’t want to lose face in front of outsiders! Your grandpa’s worldly wisdom can’t be buried on me.”

Yang Yuyan comforts her, “It’s okay, mom, Prof. Dai is here mainly to borrow books, and secondarily to see me, if you don’t want to see him, I’ll receive him.”

Zhang Ma stood behind her and pulled her braid.

Yang Yuyan didn’t take it to heart and continued, “And most of the descendants of celebrities don’t have the means to reach the heights of their predecessors, so Prof. Dai won’t be too difficult for you.”

“Ahem!” Zhang Ma cleared her throat loudly.

Yang Yuyan turned back to look at Zhang Ma, gave an ah, then turned back to meet her own mother’s icy gaze, looked down at her notes, and loudly boasted, “Mom, your handwriting is so pretty!”

Zhu Yanshu snorted coldly, rolled her eyes, and drove both of her daughters back: “Go, go, go, go back to the house. You can borrow this notebook, don’t break it for me!” She pointed at the old notebook Yang Yuyan was holding in her hand and glared, “If you break it, see if I’ll spare you!” Turning her head to stare at Yang Yucan, she said with concern, “Are you catching a cold? I’ll ask Mrs. Zhang to cook you a bowl of soup, drink it and go to bed early.”

Upon hearing that Yang Yucan was not feeling well, Yang Yuyan and Zhang Ma both flocked over to show their concern.

Yang Yuyan pulled her sister and said, “Sister, do you have a headache?”

Zhang Ma reached out and touched Yang Yucan’s forehead, then touched her own, “It’s not hot, maybe it’s just freezing, I’ll make you a bowl of ginger soup, put two green onion whites in it, and give it a shot.” Saying that, he hurried to the kitchen.

Yang Yucan said, “I’m fine.”

But it was no use, no one listened to her. Yang Yuyan played sisterly love, personally dragged her sister back to the bedroom, brought her pajamas and thick sweater, stared at her to change, forcefully pressed her to the bed, covered her with the quilt, and then ran to the kitchen to yell at Zhang Ma to see if there was any hot water. She wanted to give Yang Yucan a foot soak.

Zhang Ma had already prepared it: ”I put it in the washroom, you carry a thermos over there, and wait for me to get the rest! Don’t you make water everywhere!” Zhang Ma shouted at Yang Yuyan’s back who had already run away.

“I’m not that stupid.” Yang Yuyan was unconvinced, she’s so old and can’t even carry hot water? She’s too underestimated.

Zhang Ma quickly cooked the hot soup, poured the tea-colored soup into a bowl, and brought it over to Yang Yucan, and as soon as she entered the door, she saw a basin sitting next to the bed in the room, the stars on the side of the basin were splattered with water.

Zhang Ma huffed and put the bowl down, telling Yang Yucan to hurry up and drink it, “Don’t get cold!”

Then she lectured Yang Yuyan: “Look what you’ve done! There’s water all over the place!”

Yang Yuyan: “Just a few drops! It’ll dry up in a minute.”

Mrs. Zhang: “It won’t be dry by tomorrow morning!”

Yang Yuyan: “Then I’ll mop it up.”

After she poured out the water in the basin, she looked for the mop again, but couldn’t find it anywhere, so she went back to the kitchen and asked Mrs. Zhang: “Mrs. Zhang, where did you put the mop? What’s this?” She saw strange things in the small casserole dish, like it was all garbage ah, there were green onions, cilantro roots, and several slices of ginger.

“This is what I cooked for your sister, drink it to give her a good hairy soup. What do you dislike? It’s all Old Fang!” Zhang Ma fiercely glared at Yang Yuyan, who was showing her dislike, and threw the mop that was in her hand to her, “Go! Go mop your floor!”

When Zhang Ma finished her work in the kitchen and went to Yang Yucan’s house to look, she really saw that the few drops of water that had splashed out had been mopped into a large wet trail.

She asked Yang Yucan, “Where’s Yan Yan?”

Yang Yucan was sitting on the bed with a deep look on her face, recuperating, and at her words, as if she had returned to earth, she said, “She went to wash the mop.”

Zhang Ma immediately ran quickly to the washroom! When she couldn’t find anyone, she ran to the sink outside the front door, which was used by tenants who didn’t have a washroom in their homes, and there was no sign of Second Miss Yang either. She ran home again, and was stopped by Zhu Yanshu: “Mrs. Zhang, you are so old, don’t run around, what if you panic? If you’re looking for Yan Yan, she’s already gone back to the house and dragged her out to dry on the balcony.”

Zhang Ma thumped her chest, “Mistress! Why didn’t you stop her? What’s the point of washing a mop on a day like this! When will she be able to do it?”

The hair dresser had already excused herself, Zhu Yanshu was still mending and laughed, “Aigoo, it’s rare for her to be diligent, tomorrow morning the mop won’t be dry, so let’s all laugh at her!”

Zhang Ma angrily said, “If the mop is not dry, how can I do the work! It’s near the road, and the dust is so high that the house will be dirty!”

Zhu Yanshu saw that Zhang Ma was really angry and quickly said, “Really? It’s all Yan Yan’s fault! I’ll scold her for you! Yan Yan, Yan Yan, come out! Look what you’ve done!”

Yang Yuyan came out when she heard the call, she had already changed into her pajamas, “What are you calling me for? Mrs. Zhang, I washed the mop!” She invited credit as soon as she saw Zhang Ma.

Zhu Yan Shu pretended to be angry, “Come here!”

Zhang Ma got angry when she saw Yang Yuyan only wearing pajamas, “You go back! You’re not afraid of freezing yourself! Go back inside!” She pushed Yang Yuyan back to the house.

Yang Yuyan was still taking credit: “Mrs. Zhang, I just swished the mop!”

Zhang Ma: “Yes, yes, yes, little ancestor, why did you wash it in the middle of winter? You can’t move it! You’re doing me a favor if you don’t do these things in the future!”

“I’m doing you a favor.”

“Okay, okay, lie back down.”

Zhu Yanshu stood outside and waited, waiting for Zhang Ma to come out, both hands spread out: “See, you still don’t want to scold her.”

Zhang Ma gave her a blank look and muttered, “I’m usually the only one at home with the second miss in this house, without her to talk to me, I’ll talk to a ghost!” Saying that, she hid in the kitchen.

Zhu Yanshu listened to Zhang Ma in the kitchen and said, “Second Miss can be more caring than you guys!”

She didn’t even know how Yang Yuyan had hurt Zhang Ma, but her little mouth was really sweet, and she had coaxed Zhang Ma into not being angry at all.

The next day, the mop was still dripping.

Yang Yuyan got up in the morning and stood on the balcony to comb her hair and look at the street scene, and was surprised to see the mop not dry: “How come it didn’t dry all night?”

Mr. Su came over to keep her company, looking for something to say, “It’s just hard to dry in winter.”

Yang Yuyan’s head is inclined to pass the hair, a head of black hair is divided into two sides, one side is draped over the left shoulder, the other side is draped over the right shoulder, both have the length of the chest. After she finished, she grabbed one side of her hair and braided it into three strands, tied a rope after braiding, and then tied a ribbon.

New Year’s Eve is of course tied with a red ribbon, a left and a right two red bows hanging on the chest, eye-catching. She also took out a red hairpin, stuck in the left ear of the hair sideburns, holding up a small mirror left and right, asked Mr. Su look good.

Mr. Su can look at the side without turning his eyes for ten minutes, at this time, of course, repeatedly praised: “good-looking, really good-looking.”

She then took out the powder box, pounced on the flowing sea, combed the flowing sea loose, and then put down the comb with satisfaction, turned back to the house.

Su Chunjun followed beside her, saying sincerely, “Comb your hair like this is pure and beautiful.”

Zhu Yanshu and Yang Yucan, who were waiting for breakfast on the sofa, did not raise their heads, treating these two as nothing, and letting them stand right in the middle of the living room to talk, without sitting down, as if sitting down was a waste of time, and they were more willing to spend this effort on looking into each other’s eyes.

Yang Yuyan asked Mr. Su: “Does curly hair look good, or straight hair?”

Mr. Su, unusually relaxed in the face of such a question that often leaves men at a loss, replied, “You look good with straight hair, and you look good with curly hair too.”

Yang Yuyan, like every woman, was good at finding loopholes: “You haven’t seen me with curly hair, how do you know if it looks good?”

Teacher Su carefully scrutinized her for a few moments, and said in a learned manner, “You have a good face shape, straight hair in a braid shows innocence, and curly hair shows foreign style and more dignified.”

Zhu Yan Shu secretly rolled her eyes, looking at Yang Yu Cicada’s face showed unhappiness, rolled her eyes, gently kicked her, waiting for her to look over, went over and whispered, “Isn’t it always like this when you fall in love? You must have been this fleshy when you were with Ma Tianbao, don’t be too protective of Yan Yan, she’s a big girl, she knows the good and the bad.”

Yang Yucchan said unhappily, “Ma Tianbao and I wouldn’t be so frivolous.”

Zhu Yanshu guessed that Yang Yucan’s relationship was not going well, she was overjoyed and laughed, “What frivolous? Have you read less love poems? Love, whether it’s Chinese or Western, whether it’s ancient or modern, it’s all about what you think is sweet, but what others see is sour and numb. I don’t believe you didn’t hold hands and say sweet things when you were with Ma Tianbao.”

Yang Yu Cicada opened her mouth to reply, then suddenly stopped. She recalled the love poems she had read, those hot and spicy lines always burned her when she read them before she fell in love, but after she really fell in love, she was impressed by the warmth and gentleness of love.

Love had many faces, and she believed that there would be people in the world who fell in love like a burning wildfire, and also believed that she was more suited to a mode of love that was as gentle as still, flowing water. Passionate love was not bad, but less suitable for her.

She and Ma Tianbao were so in tune with each other when they talked about their ideals! How much they agreed on things! They were just as cynical, just as compassionate to the weak, just as agreeing that it was new ideas that would save the people and save China.

They both believed that the family needed the contribution of both husband and wife, and that filial piety to parents was not feudal dross. They did not fear poverty, nor did they envy the rich.

They have so much in common. Isn’t this love?

At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Zhang Ma hurriedly came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands while saying, “Who is it? Coming to the door so early in the morning.” She opened the door and saw a very elegant man outside, wearing a gray suit, black coat, wearing a somewhat playful brown hat, with his brown tie and bright brown shoes especially colorful. He held a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a bag in the other, when he saw her open the door, he hurriedly changed his hand, took off his hat, saluted her with his chest out, and softly said, “My last name is Dai, I teach at Nanjing University, and I have an appointment with Ms. Zhu of your house yesterday to pay a visit, and it’s an honor to visit, an honor to visit.”

Zhang Ma had heard about it yesterday, and had thought that Professor Dai was a poor man, but I didn’t think that surprisingly he was so good looking! Dressing decently as well. She immediately opened the door and invited him in with a big smile, and as soon as she closed the door, she rushed into the room to call Zhu Yanshu: “Mrs., Professor Dai has arrived.”

Zhu Yanshu was startled, quickly put down the newspaper, “So early? Aigoo, why is this person so rude? What time is it?”

Zhang Ma: “It’s half past eight, not too early!”

As soon as Su Chunjun heard this, he said, “I’ll go over with Yan Yan first, Ms. Zhu, you can just wait here.” Then holding Yang Yuyan’s hand, he left.

Yang Yucan also hurriedly got up to see if she was dressed appropriately.

Zhu Yanshu took her by the arm and said, “By the way, wait until a few days, Ms. Su will be going to work, I want you to send Yan Yan over to school every day, okay?”

Yang Yucan nodded, “Of course, it was supposed to be me taking her to school. Just don’t bother Teacher Su.”

Zhu Yanshu didn’t refute her, instead, she nodded, “Then you also need to talk to Prof. Dai more, in the future, you’ll go to him often, it won’t be convenient if you’re not familiar with him. If you’re not doing anything these days, you should also accompany Yan Yan to listen to a few classes, lest she doesn’t get along with her classmates and quarrel.”

Yang Yu Cicada thought about it and was really worried about Yang Yu Yan’s temper, she agreed, “Okay, I’ll accompany her to listen to the lessons.”

Zhu Yanshu accomplished her goal and smiled, “It’s only for a few days, you don’t have to accompany her anymore when you have to attend classes on your side.”

Yang Yucchan: “Okay, mom, I know.”