Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Kite Soaring High (Part Two)

The advertisement was only a few short lines, clearly stating the course schedule and registration method. One subject was fine art, the other was commercial art, teaching practical techniques for trademarks, advertisements, etc. The course was divided into two terms, completed in half a year, and to expand enrollment this year, the tuition was halved—only eighteen yuan.

There were two parts she didn’t understand—one was what exactly “correspondence” teaching meant, and the other was why female students needed to be accompanied by a father, brother, or husband when registering in person...

Yu Manyi pressed her lips together, picked up the newspaper, and walked to the adjacent prep room.

Song Qi had sent off Director He in the middle of the night, and had come to teach early this morning. He was currently resting with his head on the desk. Yu Manyi glanced at the line of his shoulder blades, then carried the newspaper over to Fang Qian and began asking her about correspondence learning.

“Correspondence?” Fang Qian took the newspaper and thought for a moment. “That’s amazing—now even painting has correspondence schools. I hadn’t noticed before.”

“Aren’t you all learning by correspondence?” Yu Manyi asked.

“Of course not. We attend class and study face-to-face with the teacher,” Fang Qian said. “Correspondence means people who can’t come to school can still study on their own. They receive textbooks and assignments by mail, and send them back to be graded. In the end, they can still receive an academic certificate or diploma. Society’s short on talent these days—lots of people with correspondence diplomas have found pretty good jobs.”

Yu Manyi: “Then why is it that when girls apply, they need to be accompanied by a father, brother, or husband, and even provide detailed information… I don’t see any such requirement for male students.”

“That I’m not sure about,” Fang Qian stared at the line for a while and guessed, “Maybe it’s because some girls go to school but halfway through get taken home by their families. So when they enroll, they need to be accompanied by family to prevent problems with the tuition or the schooling later on.”

Yu Manyi seemed to understand. Even in a place like Shanghai, there were many women who still couldn’t make decisions entirely for themselves.

She came to ask Fang Qian with a bit of hope in her heart, but that hope was extinguished after understanding the details.

The correspondence course was excellent and very suitable for her, but she couldn’t afford the tuition and travel expenses. Most importantly, no man from the Yu family would accompany her on a tiring trip to Shanghai just to register. Once she understood that, she turned and left the prep room, without even taking the newspaper with her.

Fang Qian watched Yu Manyi’s back for a while, also feeling a little sorry for her. Getting a correspondence diploma didn’t require attending in person—just mailing in the coursework could let her study Shanghai-level classes. But the Yu family…Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone move—Song Qi seemed to have woken up. He lifted his head from his arms. Fang Qian turned her head and saw him press his fingers to his brow, then reached his hand out in her direction.

“Shen Bao, is it?” he said. “Let me take a look.”

…

Yu Manyi hadn’t drawn for four days now. She didn’t dare go for the first three days. Today she went, but Su Wen had already left. News of Su Wen's departure spread quickly. Combined with the car that had stopped in front of the Yu residence yesterday, and Yu Manyi’s painting at the school, the villagers pieced the story together—roughly close to the truth—and passed it on to the Yu family.

This truth, of course, didn’t include the fact that the portrait of Miss You had been painted by Su Wen. It was only said that Yu Manyi had been a student of this "Teacher Su" who left by boat that very day. Second Aunt brought up the topic at dinner, and Yu Manyi had no choice but to say what she could. She even made up several lies for Su Wen—like how he had left because a classmate was starting an art school and invited him to be a teacher.

Truly, what she saw during the day lingered in her thoughts at night. That art school mentioned in the newspaper had clearly taken root in her mind.

“It’s good that he left,” Third Aunt suddenly blurted out from the other side of the dinner table. “Saves you from constantly thinking about painting and going out to classes, showing your face around.”

Yu Manyi fell silent.

This summer, the students had all been eating dinner with the Yu family. Third Aunt had held her tongue lately, mindful of appearances and especially after being rebuked by Fang Qian several times early on. But it seemed that the arrival of Reporter Huo yesterday had agitated her. Not only did she take back the money awarded to Yu Manyi by Master Yu, but today, upon hearing that the teacher Yu Manyi was studying under had left, her tone was particularly sarcastic and bitter.

Hearing her speak, Fang Qian and Song Qi exchanged a glance, put down their chopsticks, and looked over with a frown.

“We only agreed to let you take literacy classes, but now you take it upon yourself to go all that way to learn painting in the afternoon—your nerve is getting bigger by the day. Since when did the daughters of the Yu family get to make decisions without the permission of their parents or husbands?”

“Third Young Madam,” Fang Qian couldn’t help but speak up, “the journalist from Shanghai and the county leader came all this way to visit Manyi exactly because she made the decision to study painting. What are you so dissatisfied with?”

“So what if they came? Is that supposed to be something great?” Third Aunt slammed her chopsticks down onto the porcelain bowl. “If she has time to study such useless things, she’d be better off learning proper needlework and embroidery. In the end, she’s going to marry her cousin anyway. She’ll have to manage the household inside and out—what’s the point of painting then? What use is literacy?”"Not turning into a woman like Third Young Madam—that alone is the greatest use," Fang Qian said calmly. She never backed down in a war of words. Yu Shen-shi couldn’t out-argue Fang Qian, and for a moment was at a loss for words. She could only turn to look at Yu Manyi.

"Don’t think just because these students speak up for you, that means you’re doing the right thing," she said. "They’re just here to run a literacy class. Once the course ends in a few days, they’ll be gone. In the end, the ones who’ll raise you and teach you are still the Yu family. Even if you’ve studied and learned to paint, it doesn’t make any difference!"

"Don’t turn on Manyi just because you can’t out-talk me!" Fang Qian’s face turned grim.

"How am I wrong?" Yu Shen-shi, having suppressed herself all summer, had originally planned to endure until the students left, and everything would return to peace. But things only grew more uncontrollable, and now all her anger burst out. "Aren’t you all leaving when the course ends? Or are you planning to stay in this countryside forever? Yu Manyi, let me be honest with you—once they’re gone, they’ll forget about you quickly. Not a single one of them will remember you!"

The dinner table erupted in a heated argument, until it was finally stopped by Master Yu, who normally disliked meddling in matters between the younger generation. The head of the household slammed his chopsticks and bowl onto the table and said angrily, "Enough! Do you think I’m not here?"

In truth, Master Yu neither approved nor disapproved of Yu Manyi learning to paint. As the head of the Yu household, he only cared about two things: the family’s reputation on the outside, and stability on the inside. All rewards and punishments stemmed from that.

The visit from the two esteemed guests yesterday had brought honor to the Yu family, so he had rewarded Yu Manyi with money. But he also understood that what the Third Daughter-in-law said wasn’t without merit: Yu Manyi dared to make decisions on her own without consulting the family, and that threatened internal stability.

He was objective—at least within the scope of Yu family affairs, he was:

"No more arguing about this. Manyi likes painting—I’ve heard, and liking painting is not a crime. But since your teacher has already left, you are not to attend any other classes. Especially not with so many men in the same room—if word of that reaches your cousin’s ears, it won’t sound good. I also had the accountant give you silver coins yesterday. That’s more than enough to buy painting albums and paints. From now on, just paint at home."

The table fell silent, the only sound was the clinking of chopsticks. Yu Manyi lowered her head, clutching her chopsticks tightly. She realized that even before she had the chance to speak, this statement had already blocked off any possibility of attending correspondence classes.

Busy mourning for herself, she didn’t notice that Song Qi had put down his chopsticks earlier than usual and quietly left the table.

The fight at the dinner table left Yu Manyi's heart in a tangled mess, and it made the pain from Su Wen’s departure even duller but deeper. She tossed and turned in bed for a long time and found that the only thing that could ease her sorrow—was painting, and only painting.

She got out of bed, lit a lamp, and tucked a sketchbook into her clothes. She knew that all her paints and brushes were hidden in the cellar, just to prevent Third Aunt from searching her room and finding them. Once again, she set off on the path she was already more than familiar with—tiptoeing downstairs, fumbling her way through the dark, and finally arriving at the cellar door, which was slightly ajar.

At that moment, Yu Manyi realized something she hadn’t noticed before: she was aware of Song Qi’s presence.This kind of perception was evident in how, when she walked down a path, she would feel that Song Qi had just passed through, and then when she looked up, she would see him standing in the place she was heading to. Or, whenever Song Qi was near her, the air would subtly shift, and Yu Manyi could sense his presence approaching.

And so, in the many years that followed, even when Song Qi was not by her side, she would often perceive his existence. She couldn’t share this perception with anyone else—she could only tell herself in her heart that Song Qi had come to see her, just like back then when she repeatedly went to the cellar to see him.

This was one of those times she went to the cellar to see Song Qi.

It seemed she wasn’t sulking this time the way she did last time, just because she came to find Song Qi on her own. In fact, she was very eager to see him. She didn’t know whether Song Qi had known she would come tonight and waited especially for her in the cellar, or if, as he once said, he simply found inspiration to write in that place.

She guessed it was the former, because when Song Qi saw her jump down from the ladder, he wasn’t surprised at all. He just looked up to greet her and then lowered his head again to continue writing. Yu Manyi noticed there was a newspaper placed beside his hand. At first, she thought it was the one he had edited, but as she got closer, she realized it was actually the copy of the Shen Bao she had left with Fang Qian.

But unlike the one she had seen earlier that day, a large square hole had been cut out of this paper, as if someone had snipped something away. Yu Manyi stared at the paper for a while, flipped the page with the hole to the back, and couldn’t help saying, “You cut the ad illustration I wanted to trace in half.”

“Did I?” Song Qi continued writing, his tone apologetic, though his expression was anything but, “Well, that’s unfortunate. I needed what was on the front.”

After saying that, it seemed he had finished his writing, so he put down his pen and looked at Yu Manyi. Her anger had always been more for show—being looked at by him, she immediately shifted her gaze away.

She seemed unable to interact with Song Qi the way she used to anymore. This awkwardness had started since she saw him under the Chinese trumpet vine yesterday. The time had been too brief, and he hadn’t come to find her alone during the day, so Yu Manyi only now realized it.

Not wanting to be at a disadvantage, flustered and unsure, she forced a conversation and asked, “What Sanma said during dinner—was it true?”

“She said a lot of nonsense,” Song Qi replied. “Which part are you talking about?”

“That one sentence,” Yu Manyi became annoyed with how unpleasant her chosen topic sounded, “about how, once you all return to Shanghai… you’ll forget me very quickly.”

The cellar fell silent for a while. Then Song Qi said, “I suppose not. After all, you’re… quite different from any girl I’ve met.”

“There’s nothing different about me,” Yu Manyi quickly clarified, thinking he meant she was different from Fang Qian and the others, “There are many girls like me here. My cousin once said, girls like us are like being carved from the same mold—not standing out, not falling behind. That’s best.”Song Qi knew she had misunderstood, but he didn’t make any further effort to clarify. Still, that cousin’s comment left him a bit displeased on Yu Manyi’s behalf. He said, “Then perhaps it’s because his eyes are no good—he can’t tell what makes you different.”

He had originally wanted to say the man was blind, but then thought, since he and that person were total strangers, using such a word might be too harsh—even if he did think that in his heart.

He hadn’t meant to say much more—he was actually planning something else. But Yu Manyi’s sudden mention of her cousin reminded Song Qi of the first time she brought up her cousin—it was also here in this very place. Song Qi felt that the Yu Manyi before him today was completely different from the one who had dragged him into the cellar that first time. Everything else about her had changed—except when she spoke of her cousin. The tone still carried remnants of the past.

He wasn’t sure if that cousin really had such a strong charm, or if matters of marriage simply left more stubborn marks on a woman than other things.

As for Yu Manyi, bringing up her cousin seemed to unlock her natural tendency to ramble. After all, this engagement was her only remaining link to her former self—she didn’t even need Song Qi to probe; she simply laid all her thoughts bare.

She said:

“Song Qi, I’ll be honest with you. At first, when I read those serialized love stories in the newspaper, I really liked them. I even showed them to Sister You. I imitated the side characters in those stories—passing along messages and love letters for her and Teacher Su. Watching her cry and laugh at the same time—it was just like the main characters in those stories. But later…”

“She said free love would turn the whole household upside down. Honestly, even saying that is putting it lightly. Free love—it causes more than just chaos! The uproar at the You family that day was huge. If it weren’t for my ability to paint, she wouldn’t even know how much she’d have suffered. And Teacher Su… Women who fall in love freely end up with bad endings, but even as a man, he didn’t fare much better. The studio shut down, and now he has to leave home and start over elsewhere. You don’t even know how pitiful he looked today, standing on that black-sailed boat, drifting away with the current—”

“Sigh… free love may be wonderful, but for people from our kind of place, the price is just too high. Those who obey their parents and accept arranged marriages don’t end up with stories that tragic.”

What she said wasn’t wrong. The young madams of the Yu family had all been married off by matchmakers and parental arrangement. For decades they had managed households and raised children, and at least on the surface, everything seemed quite stable. Moreover, although her cousin was only distantly related to Third Aunt, he carried the refined demeanor of Second Uncle, and Second Uncle and his wife appeared to be very much in love.

“And also, I only realized today that the Yu family never really opposed me learning to paint. Turns out, as long as I earn money, earn some face, they actually appreciate my skills a little more. Their bottom line isn’t literacy or painting—it’s that no matter what I do, I mustn’t jeopardize my engagement with my cousin or ruin my reputation. Compared to painting or going to class, that’s the one boundary they truly won’t tolerate being crossed.”

She was now analyzing things with surprising clarity. Song Qi looked at her, full of helplessness. He only wanted to peer deeper into her head to see whether her enlightenment had only activated the logical part. By all logic, this kind of mind should be great at arithmetic—so why was she so bad at it?

She was so clear about her own thoughts that Song Qi could only lower his head, write a few words on a brand-new sheet of paper, fold it, and place it in Yu Manyi’s hand.

Yu Manyi immediately went to unfold it: “What is it?”“Let’s look again tomorrow night,” Song Qi said, getting up and folding the cut-up copy of Shen Bao, then tucking it into his clothes. “I guarantee it won’t make you cross the Yu family’s bottom line.”

“The newspaper, I…” Yu Manyi started.

“Once tomorrow night has passed,” Song Qi said, “you can buy as many copies as you like.”