Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Greater Shanghai (Part One)

The train from Nanxing Bridge departed in the morning and arrived in the evening. By the time they reached Shanghai, it was already dusk. The city greeted Yu Manyi with an immediate setback—

It took nearly an hour to get from the train station to Jian Road in the French Concession, and by the time they arrived, the registration window facing the street was already tightly shut. A notice was posted outside the window, written in small characters with a fountain pen:

“Registration for today has ended. Interested parties, please return by 8 a.m. tomorrow.”

“It’s closed,” said Yu Manyi. After speaking, she turned back and finally took a proper look at the so-called Shanghai Bund paved with redwood, as described by the little postboy.

But Jian Road was just a small street within the French Concession. There was no redwood, no riverside bund. The only thing that stood out was the plane trees on either side, forming a dense canopy overhead. There weren’t many shops; instead, there were rows of alleyways. Stalls for haircuts and tailoring were set up along the lanes, and each alley had its own character.

All in all, it was quite different from the residences in Shaoxing. Yu Manyi observed for a moment and asked Song Qi, “Do you live in a place like this too?”

Song Qi followed her gaze and said, “More or less.”

They had come all the way from Shanghai South Station outside the concession, and what they saw along the way wasn’t exactly refined. Yu Manyi felt a tinge of disappointment. As expected, what Song Qi had said was more realistic. As for the postboy’s embellished stories, they were probably exaggerated hearsay from boastful folks.

However, although the window was shut tight, a newly posted registration notice on the frame offered more details than what the newspaper had reported. For example, applicants needed to bring a photograph and submit it along with the filled-out registration form. Yu Manyi hadn’t brought a photo, and it was too late to go to a studio now. After a short discussion, they decided that early the next morning, Song Qi would first bring Yu Manyi over to register, and then head to the newspaper office to get a developed solo photo of her from Reporter Huo.

Speaking of which, her literacy class report ought to be published these few days as well.

Having failed to register the first evening, Yu Manyi suddenly found herself a bit idle. She stood at the street corner, looking around, still trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary charm of this city. Song Qi looked at her and said, “It’s been a long day, better to rest first. After you register tomorrow, I’ll take you to see Zhongshan East Road.”

“What’s on Zhongshan East Road?”

“It’s by the Huangpu River. Along the road, there are banks, a telegraph office, insurance companies, foreign firms…”“It all sounds related to money.”

“Indeed, Teacher Meng said that when he returned from studying abroad and looked at Shanghai from the sea, the entire city seemed like a ship floating on a sea of money.”

Such a vivid description made Yu Manyi regret that she came by train instead of a passenger ship, missing the scene that Teacher Meng had painted. The two of them were standing in front of a tightly shut window, talking, when Yu Manyi caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye and saw a sneaky little head peeking out from behind Song Qi.

She was startled.

Song Qi turned his head and also saw the little girl, who was only about waist-high to him. The two of them locked eyes for a few seconds, and the little girl blinked, then pulled out a stack of flyers from behind her and asked, “Sister, are you here to register for the art school?”

“Yes, but we’re too late,” Yu Manyi said.

“What a coincidence,” the girl said, “You’re too late, but you ran into me. Sister, his art school teaches poorly. You might as well check out my teacher’s school; it’s much better than Lu Yueting’s!”

Lu Yueting was the principal of the Yue Ting Art Correspondence School, and he was a notable figure in Shanghai's art scene. The little girl shamelessly belittled his art, calling it worthless. Yu Manyi smiled faintly as she took the flyer from her, reading aloud, “Jiang Yu Correspondence…”

“Sister, you don’t know!” the little girl added with exaggeration. “Lu Yueting runs his art school just to make money. He says the course lasts six months, but he always drags it on for another term before giving out the graduation certificates, just to make the students pay for an extra term! But our Jiang Yu Art School is different! Oh, this older brother has the name of the neighboring university embroidered on his clothes. Brother, have you heard of Lu Yueting’s story?”

“I don’t study art,” Song Qi said, “And I haven’t heard of these things.”

It wasn’t that Song Qi was indifferent, but the little girl spoke with the tone of a street scammer, and she looked so crafty. He took the flyer from Yu Manyi’s hand, folded it up, stuffed it inside his coat, and pulled her away from that troublesome place.

“The address is on the flyer!” the little girl called out behind them, not giving up. “Sister, if you're interested, come back and have a look tomorrow!”

Song Qi continued walking with Yu Manyi, the flyer tucked into his coat pocket. She reached for it for a moment but didn’t take it back.“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to register. Don’t pay attention to those street scammers. You look too familiar; they must have picked you out.”

“Maybe they saw you and then decided to approach.”

“No, before today, I’d never received a flyer. I look like I’m hard to deceive.”

“She might not be a scammer…”

“Not a scammer, but definitely not a good art school either,” Song Qi said. “If you really want to find work in the future, people will always look at your school background. Even someone like me, an outsider, has heard of Lu Yueting. As for Principal Jiang Yu…”

He paused, as though recalling something, but then shook his head and continued walking. “I’ve really never heard of him.”

Song Qi had already discussed accommodation with Yu Manyi on the train. At first, she insisted on staying at a hotel, but when she learned the price, she immediately changed her mind and said staying at Song Qi’s place would be fine. The way he had held her waist on the bicycle had already melted away most of her remaining reservations. After all, Third Aunt had once seen her cousin talking to her and yelled at him—if she knew now that Yu Manyi had no qualms about staying at a man’s house, she’d probably faint from anger.

But right now, because of the risk of a plague outbreak, the Yu family had locked her in her bedroom. They would likely never find out.

Song Qi’s place was also in an alley in the French Concession, though it looked newer than the ones she had seen before. Outside, as usual, there was a group of street vendors. The gossip in the alley was exaggerated. After eating dinner, Song Qi took Yu Manyi back, walking quickly through the sparsely populated streets, and finally reached the second floor of a small red building at the back.

He had told Yu Manyi that they rented two rooms on the second floor—one for sleeping, the other was occasionally used by reporters from the newspaper to finish their work, so it doubled as a living room. Since there were so many visitors, the landlady often shouted about raising the rent, but she was always pacified by the students' sweet words, so it hadn’t gone up yet.

“Walk quietly,” he signaled to her as they climbed the stairs. “If she hears someone’s here to stay, she’ll ask questions again in the morning.”

Sneaking around was her specialty. Even on the rickety stairs of the Yu family’s house, she could step without making a sound. The two of them cautiously opened the living room door. Song Qi shielded Yu Manyi, letting her pass him first. After confirming no one was outside, he finally closed the door.

He didn’t want to be so cautious, but if the landlady found out he brought a girl back, by tomorrow, the whole alley would know he was getting married and having a wedding banquet.

When he wasn’t home, his classmates might have come by a few times. There were several drafts and sample editions scattered around the living room, as well as some unpublished work. Yu Manyi stood behind him, waiting for him to tidy up. She watched him bend down, picking things up, but after a while, he got frustrated. He only cleared a space to sleep and then piled the documents on the desk.“Enough, enough for me to sleep,” Yu Manyi immediately said.

However, Song Qi looked at her strangely, then took out a key and unlocked the door to the inner room—the bedroom, compared to the living room, was naturally much smaller. The single bed was pressed up against the window, and there were a few stacks of books underneath it. There was no wardrobe, only a clothes rack beside the bed, with Song Qi’s clothes hanging on it.

Yu Manyi glanced at it and noticed that the clothes on the rack were clean but not new. However, at the very back was a complete suit, and a black coat hung on the outside, neatly pressed. But the suit was pushed all the way to the back, as if it hadn't been taken out or worn in a long time.

“Go to bed,” Song Qi said. After thinking for a moment, he took out a washed summer jacket from the clothes rack and tossed it onto the single bed’s blanket.

It was just a jacket, but for Yu Manyi, it was enough to serve as a nightgown.

Yu Manyi twisted her left hand's fingers with her right hand, feeling that her decision to stay overnight at Song Qi’s place was a bit hasty. This felt completely different from when they had slept in the cabin of the fishing boat together, and there were too many details to face now.

“Water and... everything are downstairs,” Song Qi said, then felt a bit awkward, so he quickened his speech, “If you need to go, just wake me up, and I’ll take you downstairs.”

“Is there oil lamp lighting?” Yu Manyi asked.

“Electric lights,” Song Qi replied.

She had only seen electrically powered buildings like post offices in the town. After thinking for a moment, she continued, “Then with electric lights, you’ll be able to see when it’s on, right? Also, electricity is very expensive..." she guessed, "If you use electricity at night, your landlady will blame you.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Song Qi hesitated.

“My Third Aunt always complains about the servants not conserving oil for the lamps,” Yu Manyi said. “Electricity and oil may look different, but when people are stingy, it’s the same.”

Song Qi thought Yu Manyi’s ability to see the essence through the surface was impressive. Electric lights were just technically more advanced than oil lamps, but human nature, whether in the city, countryside, at home, or abroad, was the same.

“Then no electric lights,” Song Qi said. “We’ll use a flashlight.”Yu Manyi: "What’s a flashlight bucket? Is it a wooden bucket that generates electricity when you put your hand in? Then your landlady probably won’t complain about you wasting it; it would be like we bought our own oil lamp."

Song Qi: ...

He thought, Yu Manyi truly lived up to her natural talent in painting; her imagination was also quite remarkable. Moreover, this phrase “it would be like we bought our own oil lamp” took such a winding path, yet somehow still came back around.

However, in the end, one couldn’t live off imagination alone. Song Qi rummaged through the cabinets and finally found their “oil lamp.” The two of them then spent some time studying the flashlight, and Yu Manyi finally figured out how to control the brightness of the lightbulb with the button. She kept flicking the switch, and the lightbulb kept turning on and off, like the twinkling stars she had seen on the canal.

"Stop playing around," Song Qi said, stopping her. "If you keep doing that, the lightbulb will burn out."

"Ah," Yu Manyi suddenly understood. "It really does resemble an oil lamp."

Song Qi: ...

His mind was now more disordered than his living room.

After mastering the flashlight, Yu Manyi quickly learned how to use the bedside lamp next to Song Qi's bed. Having learned both, she now understood the basic usage of the room.

Song Qi had already closed the door for her. She changed out of the dress she had worn for two days and put on Song Qi’s coat. Fortunately, it was an old coat, and the fabric had softened with wear. The coat almost reached her knees, and she took a cloth from the clothes rack to use as a belt around her waist.

The shoulders drooped low, and the sleeves were too long, but there was nothing to be done. Yu Manyi fastened the top button and finally made up her mind to get into bed.

Song Qi was someone who, even after hiding in the cellar for ten days, would still wash his clothes and wipe his face, so the room was naturally cleaner than most. Yu Manyi didn’t feel burdened as she lay down. She fumbled for the lamp's button, and with a “click,” the room was plunged into darkness.

The only light in the room was the faint starlight from the window. The Shanghai night was no brighter than Shaoxing. Perhaps some places were bright, like the Bund that Song Qi had mentioned during the day, but the areas where the residents lived were very quiet.

As Yu Manyi lay on Song Qi's bed, for the first time, she felt a subtle, almost imperceptible homesickness. It was the kind of physical response one gets when separated from the place where they were born.She realized that Shanghai wasn’t as great as she had imagined. Of course, Shaoxing wasn’t exactly wonderful either, but it wasn’t as bad as she had thought before she ran away. It was like the Yu family—although there were many constraints and rules, she had grown up eating the food prepared by the Yu family, wearing the clothes they bought her. Despite her many grievances, those feelings weren’t enough to constitute a complete hatred that would lead her to leave entirely.

Her thoughts wandered and it became hard to bring them back, from everything she had seen and heard along the way, to the flashlight and lightbulb she had just learned to use. After drifting for a while, what finally anchored her was the brochure she had glimpsed earlier in the day.

Jiang Yu.

Such a mysterious pair of words, though they seemed simple, together they had a kind of jade-like texture, like precious stones from the mountains. Yu Manyi hadn’t even properly looked at the brochure, and Song Qi had already shoved it back into his clothes. She lay there with her eyes open, trying to recall, and remembered that there were two paintings by the principal printed on it. She suddenly really wanted to take a good look at Principal Jiang’s artwork.

Yu Manyi blinked in the dark, remembering that Song Qi had placed a pile of things on the work desk earlier, and that the brochure, which had fallen from his chest, also dropped. She quietly got up again, tiptoeing to pick up the flashlight standing by the bed. With a “click,” she turned on the lightbulb.

She had no intention of waking Song Qi. She wasn’t going downstairs to get water either. She simply wanted to take another look at that brochure.

Yu Manyi, barefoot and wearing Song Qi’s oversized coat, silently floated out of the bedroom. She used a piece of cloth to cover the flashlight’s light, dimming it as much as possible, just to find the brochure that had fallen along with the manuscript paper.

Song Qi had traveled with her all day and night, and with the plans they had made earlier, he must have been exhausted and was now sleeping soundly. Yu Manyi used the light to shine on the worktable, quickly flipping through the manuscripts, looking for the brochure that had slipped in among them.

This article on a certain ideology, that article on another ideology.

The summary of this thought, the dissemination of that thought.

Qi Song’s novel from the previous chapter, Qi Song’s novel from this chapter.

Qi Song’s...

Novel?Yu Manyi's hand, which had been searching, suddenly stopped. She picked up Qi Song's novel manuscript and noticed the handwriting in fountain pen was subtly familiar.

She stared at it for a long time before finally realizing that the handwriting... was the same as the one on the piece of paper with "Kite Flying High" written on it, and the same as on the paper-wrapped parcel with "Pepper" and "Dull Candy."

Song Qi... Qi Song!

Qi Song!

Traveling back and forth, from boat to train. After much effort, Song Qi finally lay down in the familiar living room, sleeping quite peacefully, except for the dream where Yu Manyi held an oil lamp and with a "snap" turned it into a flashlight.

In his dream, he felt confused, as if his body was being shaken violently. Song Qi, in his dazed state, thought he was still on the fishing boat, with the wind and waves stirring the canal, causing the boat to sway like this.

He forced his eyes open, preparing to ask Lu Xiangcang outside the cabin what had happened, but suddenly, a burst of white light exploded in front of him.

Song Qi squinted, shielding his eyes with his hand, peering through his fingers. In the darkness, he saw Yu Manyi holding a flashlight, shining it on his face as if interrogating a criminal.

Yu Manyi was wearing a coat that resembled a long trench coat, the belt cinched at her waist. With one hand, she held the "evidence" in front of his eyes, and with the other, she held the flashlight, questioning him: "Song Qi! You big liar!"