Winter Begonia, Chapter 8: The Annoying old man

Winter Begonia 《鬓边不是海棠红》Bin Bian Bu Shi Hai Tang Hong
Winter Begonia, Chapter 8: The Annoying old man

After the Huang Family Mansion meeting, Cheng Fengtai had met Shang Xirui a few more times at various gatherings. Mostly it's a greeting and a couple of jokes said to get a smile out of people. Shang Xirui can also play cards now, but is not yet addicted to it, and has to be urged to play two games on the table, on the one hand, he is also afraid of losing - in front of these ladies and masters, if he ends up losing one hand, a few days of drama will be in vain. He was supposed to be the one who was so well off that he didn't count money, and the proceeds were all in the hands of his maid, Xiao Lai, but every time he took money from Xiao Lai to pay for these bets, Xiao Lai always had a bad look on his face, and Shang Xirui inevitably had to look after her. As soon as he and Shang Xirui sat down at a table to play cards, he would try his best not to let the little playboy suffer, and Shang Xirui was ignorant of this. So Shang Xirui is very much into playing with Cheng Fengtai.


The people felt that the befriending of Cheng Fengtai and Shang Xirui was unexpected and reasonable. Although the two have a Cheng Meixin with uneven teeth in there, as long as they do not put the Cheng Meixin in the heart, two large and humorous personalities are the best to get along.

Cheng Meixin had no idea that her brother was climbing into a relationship with Shang Xirui behind her back, and she was now guarding Cao Siling, doing her best to play the role of a virtuous wife, with the three children left behind from Cao Siling's original spouse. The original so shiny scenery and social character on all sides, now had to be a "Wash all the shiny and glamour to present a vegetarian conservative posture" meaning, she will not appear at the general playing cards party, she will not appear also not as in the past as dressed up in the mountain red water green dresses, crystal light shining. Everyone else thought she had taken her heart from the social partying life and was going to be a dignified lady. Only Cheng Fengtai and her younger siblings know that she is still feeling that her position is unstable in the Cao Family. She has to exploit the family, take care of the servants like one general who buys the soldiers to his side. Especially against the three children. Without conquering them, it was only necessary to converge her position, and the real she would only be visible after a long time.

This time, it was the home of Qian Zichang who was hosting the card game, and Cheng Meixin came late in style, dressed in a silver and grey cheongsam with a few diamond charms. She had first entertained herself at Mrs. Qian's and came out to see Cheng Fengtai always sitting with Fan Lian playing cards. When Fan Lian saw her, he was even more concerned about her here than Cheng Fengtai, and he had to give up his seat after calling out to her sister. Cheng Meixin hadn't seen her brother for a long time and was bound to play with him for a while.

Cheng Fengtai was getting a good hand and shouted at Fan Lian, ''You sit down! Don't move!"

Someone at the same table got up and packed his chips, smiling: "Come on, you're related, let's sit at the same table, I'll make room for you!

Cheng Meixin was also ungracious and smiled at the man, then sat down and shuffled the cards without even asking for the top or bottom, breaking up the game in everyone's hands, Cheng Fengtai hated so much that he twisted his head and closed his eyes.

"I say, it's Brother Lian's turn to go away. I've seen you clinging to our Second Master all day long, and there's nothing serious left in the house of two men. What happens when you break up for a while?"

Fa Lian smiled, "Sister is so wronged. You saw it just now, and it's obvious that he's been clinging to me all day."

Cheng Fengtai said, ''Don't be an illiterate! I have got my eyes on you."

Fa Lian stretched his voice and said, "Then I'll have to kowtow three times and bow nine times to thank you for your grace!"

"You're welcome! Now better start preparing!"

Fa Lian glared at him.

"You two are the brothers, dear." Cheng Meixin sighed and said, ''Last time, I told my younger siblings that I couldn't find the Second Master of the Cheng Family, or the second master of the Fan Family, they are always together! I don't know what you are doing that is not tiring to do together again and again!"




Fa Lian smiled, "Both sisters were mistaken. My brother-in-law and I only get together when we eat, drink and have fun. But Brother-in-law is always eating and drinking, and we were always together when we watched."

Fa Lian taunted Cheng Fengtai in this way, Cheng Fengtai naturally wanted to return the taunts, his eyebrows moved as he smiled and teased, "I don't hide it from my sister, if Fan Lian was a lady, with this beauty, this talent, this knowledge, this family background..." Cheng Fengtai tugged his brother-in-law's chin, "I'll marry him as my wife."

Fa Lian smiled a few times, as if to say, "If I were a woman, my brother-in-law would only make me into a concubine and not marry me as a wife."

Cheng Fengtai said resolutely, "I'm only visiting a prostitute, not a hussy!"

An outsider at the table couldn't hold it together and smiled: "You're a lively couple!"

Cheng Meixin also laughed her head off and pushed Cheng Fengtai's shoulder: “This nasty thing! Tell me, brother and sister, where exactly do we resemble each other?!"

They talked and smiled, and suddenly there came a man at the door. The man was even later, but as soon as he arrived, several young masters at the next table put aside the plaything in their hands, and went up to him in earnest to remove his cloak, pat the snow off his hair, and make merry with him.

The man smiled and said, "No need! I'll do it myself! Don't squeeze me!"

Cheng Fengtai knew who it was when he heard the soft rustling voice and turned around and smiled, ''Boss Shang! You are playing eight laps with me today?"

Shang Xirui smiled as he was about to say yes when he raised his eyes and saw Cheng Meixin sitting at the top, her sullen face looking at him with a vicious gaze. Shang Xirui immediately schooled his smile, nodded faintly with Cheng Fengtai, and turned to move out and go to the next room. But Cheng Fengtai didn't know if he was deliberately trying to piss off his sister or what, and was still there shouting, ''Boss Shang? Boss Shang! Come on! Wait for you!"

Fa Lian kicked him under the table and said, "You don't think of your sister too much, why do you have to do this to her face?” Cheng Meixin "snapped" a card onto the table and glanced at Cheng Fengtai with hatred, cursing in her heart, and not having an attack in his face.

Cheng Fengtai never took the family's jealousy disputes to heart, and watched a lot of them at home as a child. He thinks that Cheng Meixin and Shang Xirui, one who is the wife of a noble family are competing for power and profit against a male concubine, their lives are so different so much so that they do not share the same fate. He was such a muddle-headed man, but Cheng Meixin thought that he was planning to do something wrong and went to the Second Mistress(Cheng Fengtai’s wife) a few days later to sue, saying, "My sister in law should also take care of my younger brother and not let him fool around with the infidel outside."

The Second Mistress, on the verge of being annoyed, was startled to hear this, braced herself and frowned, asking, "Who is he messing with again?"

Cheng Meixin helped her sit up and smiled, “Not sure if this is true but it was recently that I watched him get a little close to a playboy."

The Second Mistress frowned and waited for her to say what exactly, Cheng Meixin said, ''What sister in law knows, this person is Shang Xirui ah. That misogynistic thing is not a good person, don't ask your second brother to be seduced by him."

The Second Mistress frowned and held her big belly, she kept on saying, “You know best about your brother's character, I don't care about him. It's harder to get him to give up than to kill him! Just ask him not to bring in the women and sired bastards from outside, and I'll thank God and take his side!"

The Second Mistress and Cheng Meixin are like women from two countries in two worlds. The Second Mistress mind set was still from the morals of the Qing Dynasty, with her hair in a bun and her feet wrapped around her. Because Shang Xirui was a man, the Second Mistress wouldn't theorize about Cheng Fengtai even if something really happened with him and the Opera singer in the story. Since Cheng Fengtai was playing and fooling around all over the world, it's still the same with her whoever he was playing with. But even if she didn’t care who he was fooling with, the Second Mistress would be so nervous if she were to be replaced by a woman, and what would she do if another woman were to give birth to a child? Cheng Meixin was unable to provoke her and returned back unhappy.

Shang Xirui's Shuiyun Pavilion put on a big box show at the end of the year, and it's hilarious and novelty kept the whole city of Beiping chewing words for half a month. Cheng Fengtai has no interest in drama, and even though he made friends with Shang Xirui, he never thought of getting a ticket to hear it. Fan Lian was all about he must-see, and after returning, he was so excited that he didn't sleep for days. He compared with Cheng Fengtai back and forth, saying how wonderful Shang Xirui's rebellious performance was, how well Wu Sheng acted, and how authentic Gong Qiao was. Cheng Fengtai listened in vain, smoking a cigarette and dawdling, while Fan Lian scolded him saying it felt like he was playing the piano to a cow.

The following New Year's Day, Minister Jin from the Ministry of Finance came to Beiping on a business trip and put on a show at the Chamber of Commerce Hall. Minister Jin himself invited Shang Xirui to sing the grand finale. But Shang Xirui gave the Shuiyun Pavilion a leave of absence early on, and the opera boys who had returned to their hometowns and lived in concubines were left with a few children and Wu Sheng, none of whom could make it back for the grand finale, and even Li Bo, who played the huqin fell ill. They had to wrap two packs of gouache and ink, and he had come along with Xiao Lai.

The day was naturally full of prosperity and bustle, with the presence of countless merchants from Beiping. The business has to be of a certain size and the people who run it are older men. The only people in the room who were young were Cheng Fengtai, a rich man, and Fan Lian, the successor of his family business, who was the youngest, so young that he didn't look like a businessman and had a frivolous attitude.




Minister Jin loves to bring up the issue of the younger generation, and he was old friends with Cheng Fengtai's father and Fan Lian's father. When Cheng Fengtai and Fan Lian saw him, they could not help but address him as an uncle, making them seem closer than others. Minister Jin limped and greeted the guests for half a day, his legs were already too sore to hold on to them, so he took Cheng Fengtai and Fan Lian by the hand and took them to the left and right side by side to sit down and talk to them about business and household chores. This is already a great honor for them that not even the Business Chamber Chairman could get. Cheng Fengtai and Fan Lian, however, were full of mischief and annoying, Cheng Fengtai smiled falsely and Fan Lian smiled casually.

Knowing that Fan Lian had come south to avoid the war, Minister Jin grabbed a talking head and said to Fan Lian, “It's better for Fan Lian to go back and hold the fort himself. On the other hand, when they see that the East defenders are not here, it is inevitable that the people left there will be negligent in the family and conceal the annual production. Secondly, now that the enemy surrounds them, if the children and soldiers inadvertently clash and the Fan Family loses their land to the Japanese that will be ashamed of their ancestors."

When the Japanese came in, the regular army ran away without a single fight. Today, this official has the nerve to ask the unarmed people to defend their homes and become the cannon fodder of the Japanese who are armed with live ammunition. Fan Lian smiled coldly in his heart, wanting to say that his loss of the Fan Family Fort was only the ancestor's fault and being halved by his sister. If one loses the land, one will be disloyal and ungrateful, and all the people will spit on you. However, he has always been very generous to the outside world, and he only communicated with Cheng Fengtai privately to say, "Minister Jin is right, if you do not protect your family, how can you defend your country? When my family sister gets married next year, I'll be able to go home without worry."

Cheng Fengtai was listening, and thinking that the man lied. Or if Jinling gets married? What is that? The Year of the Monkey or maybe if Jinling doesn’t get married he won't go home for the rest of his life?

Minister Jin didn't know if he could see that Fan Lian was fooling him, so he nodded in relief, watched the play for a while, and then turned his face to Cheng Fengtai and said idly, "I remember, Brother Shi was once most in favor of 'Industry to Save the Country'. Why is the nephew in the business of hoarding and selling merchandise now? With my nephew's talent, what kind of factory can't you build if you can follow in your father's footsteps? It will be a day-to-day struggle for gold, and it will save us from having to deal with the issue of merchandise blockage on the road, which will put our elders at ease."

Cheng Fengtai's father had suffered from the loss of the factory, and the factory was so much in debt that his family was left to suffer it. Cheng Fengtai remembered that and swore he would never repeat his mistake, and now that the situation was in turmoil, it is said that war was going to be fought, and some of his original shops were not ready to be sold. So why would he build a factory which he can't dismantle quickly, can't sell the items in a short while, a bomb blows up everything and he loses everything. Besides, when his family was in distress, he had not seen this self-styled uncle give a helping hand, so now this self-styled uncle had no right to come out and take the rank of senior.

Fa Lian also quietly stretched his ears to listen to Minister Jin's words, and at this time exchanged a look with Cheng Fengtai, with disdain and sneer in his eyes. They both thought to themselves: Old Man Jin is a cripple with a crippled heart. He has the money himself, so why don't you see him holding a gun or running some kind of industry, he is just trying to push others forward while he remains in the back? When someone else revitalizes the economy, he sits there and signs a document counting oceans. Listen to him, just don’t be stupid enough to follow through!

Cheng Fengtai smiled and said, "This nephew is used to money and the superficial scenery, in fact, I still owe a huge debt to Master Fan. His family's mate had concealed his annual production, and when he ran out of money to spend, he forced me into debt. When Master Fan's sister is out of court and he returns to the Fan Family Fort, no one will force me to pay back the money, so I'll open a bank in Dongjiaomin's Lane and fight against the invaders exclusively to make our country famous!"

Fa Lian twisted his head aside so he can control his laughter. What kind of buddy did not report the annual production of the crops, and the girl was going to get married already? It was all nonsense, he followed the words seriously and acted like a fool agreeing with Cheng Fengtai words to Minister Jin, but also the country's prestige, Fan Lian burst into joy, shaking his shoulders with a smile.

Minister Jin turned around in amazement, ''Huh! Why is Brother Lin so happy?"

Cheng Fengtai couldn't say that he was smiling at me for fooling you, it just so happened that Shang Xirui came on stage and said, "Second Master Fan is a ticketed friend of Boss Shang, whenever he sees Boss Shang's play, it's like eating bee shit."

Minister Jin, in a dazed look, nodded and smiled.

Nowadays, everyone said that Shang Xirui and Ning Jiulang each had their own field, and that Qi Zhixin was on a par with them, some would even say he was a bit of a continuation of them. Minister Jin wasn't too convinced, he was suspicious that after Ning Jiulang retired from the play, Shang Xirui will be something likened to a mountain with tiger monkey for ae king, the man is a fish-eyed moron and is not as good as rumored. Today, he would like to test Shang Xirui's ability and ask him to perform his own version of "Fan Jiangguan". Minister Jin did not believe that Shang Xirui was also attainable. He ordered another play, "The Empty City Plan" written by Lao Sheng.




Shang Xirui came on stage and made an extremely spirited appearance, first winning a full house. Cheng Fengtai, after all, is a Shanghai native who does know the trade and does even know how to watch the fun. Within a few words of the Fan Jiangguan song, Cheng Fengtai did not look in the slightest awed when he saw a dazzling flurry of sticks and beatings. But those rich lords who were usually extremely well-behaved stood up to give him a shout out, and Minister Jin also smiled and nodded his head in approval, thinking that he must have acted very well.

When Shang Xirui was just singing Pan Jinlian, Minister Jin lovingly called him off the stage, his eyes changed, and poured him a glass of wine, saying, "I know you opera singers avoid wine, but this is not a hindrance, it's made from grape juice and won't hurt your voice."

Shang Xirui said thanks and slowly drank a glass. As he put down her cup, his gaze swept over Cheng Fengtai and Fan Lian with a smile.. Cheng Fengtai glanced at Minister Jin and made a bitter face at him, as if to say, "Look, I'm bored to death here with a stinking old man playing official talk!”

Minister Jin smiled, "Boss Shang's hands are really beautiful and very good at Kung Fu."

Shang Xirui said, "I grew up enlightened as a martial student and later changed my profession."

"Then I've got the wrong plan, the Empty City Plan can be played later on, I see it's no longer difficult for Boss Shang."

Shang Xirui didn't answer and smiled modestly, then retreated backstage to change, and although he received a few compliments, his face was not at all pleased. He felt that he had played well today, but he did not sing well. He complained that the strings of the huqin were very high and low and did not follow with his voice. When he was putting off his makeup, I asked someone, "Who is the one playing the huqin today?"

The man smiled, ''Does Boss Shang think it was different so too? That's He Shaoqing's eldest disciple from the 'Saint of the Writing Field', so proud!" He said, tilting the wine jug on the table to the left and pouring the wine cups on the right, ''He even came here to drink a couple of cups before going on to play the instrument, and pulled a little liveliness drunk. When people drink wine, they are poetic. He's got a lot of daringness on his hands. He's using us as a sidekick to show what he can do with a huqin! The dog can't hold four taels of oil in his belly......"

Shang Xirui nodded, secretly saying that it turned out to be his old man's apprentice, and the others didn't complain much, putting on the beard and he was getting ready to take the stage.








~ Winter Begonia ~





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