Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Republic Era Intern (Five)

During the day, Song Qi described Yu Manyi's purse as having "commendable courage," but she knew she didn’t have much courage. True courage is when a person chooses the unknown over the better option—that’s against human nature. What she had done was simply choosing the unknown over something worse.

So, not only did she lack courage, her luck was also not very good. Otherwise, why would she always be faced with these kinds of choices?

However, now that things had come to this point, Yu Manyi just hoped to gather all her luck for this exam. She had spent all her money and still owed Song Qi both a favor and money. She hated owing others. She wanted and needed to go to this place called the Commercial Press so badly.

She minimized her activities in Song Qi’s house, only using one cup and one chair, and when she slept, she lay on the very edge of the large bed in the guest room. She had managed to find all the light switches, and when she fell asleep, she left only a desk lamp on the nightstand.

At the hotel, she always fell asleep to the sound of other women’s snoring. But Song Qi’s house was quiet. She slept through the night, not having to worry about being woken up by others, not fearing that Liu Fengyan’s men would suddenly burst into the hotel to capture her. Even the fire that had tormented her for over half a month didn’t come to disturb her in her dreams.

However, her sleep was still very light. Just before dawn, Yu Manyi heard the sound of the door opening in the living room. She immediately opened her eyes, and before she could get up, she heard someone place something on the table and then quickly leave.

Yu Manyi ran into the living room and saw a bag of things on the table. It was some daily necessities Song Qi had bought for her. He wasn’t very good at choosing. Yu Manyi flipped through the items and could tell that he had probably been tricked.

He was in a hurry, putting the things down and leaving without waiting for her to come out and speak. Yu Manyi put the items into her room and then went out to eat the breakfast he had bought. This time, he should have seen the art textbooks she bought because those were spread out on the dining table. After washing her bowl, Yu Manyi sat back at the table to continue reading and sketching.

The utensils in the apartment were a bit different from those in the house, but the difference wasn’t that big. Yu Manyi felt that Song Qi wasn’t coming back anytime soon. She couldn’t stay hungry, so she carefully took out a potato from the cupboard. The pot was already set up with a layer of solidified transparent material underneath. Yu Manyi nervously experimented and tossed a lit match into it. Sure enough, she saw flames rise, and the water in the pot quickly began to boil.

Just as she was about to boil the potato, there was a knock on the door.

She was startled and immediately blew out the flame, keeping the house silent and still. Fortunately, it wasn’t the police at the door. She heard Uncle Qi’s voice outside:

"Miss Yu, is it convenient now? I’m coming in."

Yu Manyi felt that Song Qi trusted Uncle Qi too much. He had full access to the keys to his house. She had just sat back down at the dining table when Uncle Qi entered, carrying a plate of food, and placed it on the table for her."No, no," Yu Manyi immediately said, "I can cook myself."

"Mr. Song asked you not to start the fire, as you’re not familiar with the things in the house," Uncle Qi said, "Besides, you're preparing for the exam, so I'll bring you some food in the next few days."

He had indeed noticed the textbooks she bought, but didn’t mention it at that moment. However, Yu Manyi was distracted by another statement: "In the next few days? When will he be back?"

"He’ll be back tomorrow if it’s quick, or it might take three to five days," Uncle Qi replied. "Miss Yu, Mr. Song said you’re going to take the exam for the Commercial Press?"

"Yes."

"That's a really good company," Uncle Qi sighed. "I heard the workers have their own union and reading clubs, plus dedicated bathrooms and canteens. The first batch of employees are about my age. I’ve never heard of workers who don’t have to work but still get paid by their employer—what they call a pension. It’s a really good place."

Yu Manyi had never heard of it either. Tenant farmers stop working, and their mouths stop eating. No matter how hard they worked when they were young, they couldn’t escape a miserable old age. If there were such a thing as a pension, then wouldn't they not need to rely on their children for support? That saying about raising children to care for you in your old age would probably become invalid.

Some amazing thoughts flashed through Yu Manyi's mind—amazing and rebellious. Capitalism and modern civilization were shaking her agricultural mindset to its very core, and the feeling lasted for almost two seconds.

Two seconds later, she snapped back to reality and said to Uncle Qi, "Uncle Qi, thank you for bringing this meal. From now on, I’ll cook for myself. I’ve learned how to use that pot."

It was then that Uncle Qi noticed the smell of alcohol in the house. He glanced over and saw that the pot Yu Manyi was using was an alcohol stove. He had been entrusted by Song Qi, but Yu Manyi also had her own views.

After a moment of thought, the old doorman said, "In that case, Miss Yu, I’ll buy some food and bring it to you tonight. You can cook with this pot. Don’t use the other utensils, okay?"

The old and the young came to an agreement.

Yu Manyi’s range of activities was expanded to the kitchen, and she now had an extra pot and bowl. She cooked, studied for the exam, and slept at home, passing another day, night, and day. Liu Fengyan’s men were searching for her outside, but she had no desire to go out and get into trouble.The next evening, Song Qi finally returned.

Yu Manyi had a keen sense of smell. She first detected the strong odor of engine oil seeping through the crack in the door, and then she heard the sound of light footsteps. She could recognize Song Qi's footsteps and immediately got up to open the door.

Song Qi was fiddling with his keys when he suddenly saw the door open. Instinctively, he took a step back, only relaxing when he clearly saw Yu Manyi’s face through the door crack.

She looked like a cat, or a mole, or a sparrow—never quite like a human, stretching her head through the crack in the door and observing him with her black eyes. Song Qi noticed she was wearing the new off-white dress, tightly cinched at the waist, no longer hiding her figure under loose robes and wide sleeves.

Yu Manyi also noticed him looking at her dress and said, “I was afraid the police would suddenly come.”

“It’s been much quieter these past few days,” Song Qi said, squeezing through the crack she had left open.

With two people in the room, it felt like there was a huge time difference despite only one being away. The moment Song Qi returned, Yu Manyi felt the room shrink, no longer just her walking around alone.

Song Qi brought food back with him and noticed the alcohol residue left behind by Yu Manyi in the kitchen. He sighed, “Surprised you didn’t burn the house down.”

“What’s so surprising? I can do anything,” she replied.

She hurriedly stacked the books that were piled up on the dining table to one side of the wall, waiting for Song Qi to set the food down. He seemed a bit apologetic, having left Yu Manyi alone in the house for two days—even though she didn’t seem to mind at all.

Song Qi glanced at the books and realized she had been studying.

When he first arrived, he hadn’t noticed, but sitting down now, he realized the strong smell of engine oil on him. Yu Manyi didn’t ask, as it seemed she had already decided not to ask him anything. Song Qi immediately went to the bathroom, washed himself with cold water, and changed into clean clothes before sitting back down to eat with her.

After chatting for a bit about the situation at home, Song Qi took an envelope from the clothes he had tossed on the sofa. The envelope was slightly open, and three things tumbled out—

A rental agreement folded in three, a green-covered booklet labeled "PASSPORT," and an intentionally aged boat ticket.The three items were handed to Yu Manyi, and along with her in the dress, they formed a complete set of falsifications.

The rental agreement and the boat ticket were easy to understand, but the passport was the first time Yu Manyi had seen one like it. She immediately opened it. The photo used was the same one she had submitted earlier, only it had been reduced in size and cropped. The printed sections were easy to forge, but the foreign stamps were so well-done that they could easily deceive, with cursive words curving in all directions. She didn’t understand a single word.

However, under her own photo, she found a long string of names. She had never imagined that a person could have such a long name.

"R..." She could only read one letter at a time.

"Rossela Borrelli," Song Qi completed it for her. "An Italian name, Australian passport."

She had been in Shanghai for a few days already. Due to the concessions, she was familiar with English, American, and French law, so she had expected one of these three countries. She never expected Song Qi to get her such an unusual combination. Yu Manyi boldly asked, "How did you decide on this?"

"The passports from the UK, the US, and France are too common, easy to spot as fake," Song Qi explained. "There are very few Australians here, and their passports aren’t common either. Even if they check, they won’t find any reference copies immediately."

That made some sense.

"As for the Italian..." Song Qi pressed the passport down in her hand, pointing at the name. "There are quite a few Italian immigrants in Australia. I picked the most common Italian female first and last name. Another important point is that the Italian accent and fluency in English are very..."

Yu Manyi: ...

"That way, if you speak poorly, you'll have an excuse," Song Qi said diplomatically.

"Isn't that like the difference between the Ningbo accent and the Shaoxing accent in Shanghai dialect?" Yu Manyi quickly drew a parallel. "It’s something you can tell."

"You can tell, but people from the north won’t be able to," Song Qi said. "As long as you don’t run into any Italians, people from other countries will just think your accent is unusual. The only problem now is..."

There's another problem? Yu Manyi listened intently.“Italian has many trilled sounds, which is common knowledge in the West. The Italian person who made the passport for me only told me after the fact that when you introduce yourself, the ‘R’ at the start of Rossela needs to be trilled.”

...Trill?

What a mysterious problem.

So, Yu Manyi tentatively asked, “You... you can trill, can’t you?”

“I can a little, because French also requires trilling,” Song Qi said. “It’s probably…”

He indeed produced a strange trilling sound from his throat. Yu Manyi tried to imitate it, but only managed to produce a dry, weak bird call.

“No, no,” Song Qi focused and started guiding her. “Your sound is too far forward—”

He was giving her very professional guidance, but all it did was move the bird call from the front of Yu Manyi’s throat to the back. This kind of trilling sound depends on one’s natural ability—Song Qi was born with it and never considered the need to think about the method of producing the sound.

However, this pronunciation was crucial. After several rounds of guidance with no success, Teacher Song became a bit anxious. He sighed, suddenly taking Yu Manyi’s hand from the table, holding her fingertips and touching them to his own throat, asking:

“Can you feel this position?”

He had just showered, and Yu Manyi only felt the coolness of his fingertips before a rush of heat flooded her. The skin on Song Qi’s throat vibrated with his voice, just a very slight motion, but it made Yu Manyi’s entire hand feel hot and tingly.

“Do you feel it now?” Song Qi asked, with the literal meaning in his words, looking completely innocent.

Yu Manyi: ...

Yes, she did.She quickly withdrew her hand, her knuckles brushing against Song Qi’s Adam’s apple, her fingertips lightly grazing his damp collarbone. She didn’t respond to Song Qi’s question, instead focusing overly on eating.

Yu Manyi refused to produce the trilled sound, and she also refused to recall what had just happened. Her self-preservation system was sounding an alarm, telling her that, as a remnant of feudalism, what had just occurred was indeed a bit too forward.