For years, Jiang Xianbang had been leading a wandering life all over the world, for example, in Hong Kong, which was both a haven and a resource camp for power brokers from all walks of life, which resulted in the Four Seasons Hotel having an astronomical price for its room rate. The North Tower, anyway, had been a shelter for countless power people who dared not go back home.
The people there had nothing but money. Yet they were still unhappy because they lost the connection with their homeland and their power was no longer useful. They finally realized that money was not almighty, at least, it couldn’t offer them a safe return ticket.
But when money met with the key resources, things could be different. These people would do anything in order to return home from abroad. However, quite a lot of people had involved themselves in dirty things that were not easy to get away with, as a result, the people who got scammed were not in the minority. There were people, in particular, who had known perfectly well that they might be defrauded in the end yet still handed great sums of money over to the middlemen in case they made it, anyway it would be waste paper if money couldn’t get into circulation.
Jiang Xianbang was no exception. He had spent quite a lot of money only to find that Hong Kong was no longer a safe place for him, as a result, he had to move to Singapore, and later Australia.
In Jiang Xianbang’s mind, he had given up hope of going back home and finally came to realize how Yu Guangzhong was feeling when he wrote the famous poetry Nostalgia, which was a true reflection of his own life now.
Yet much to his surprise, Jiang Xianbang found that there might be a turn of events that came from a young man named Qin Sheng.
Jiang Xianbang didn’t know what the young man had been through all these years, yet he chose to trust Qin Sheng still since he made this offer. Based on his knowledge of Qin Sheng and his past acquaintance of all these inside stories, he deemed that the young man wouldn’t bring it up if he wasn’t sure.
Then obviously Jiang Xianbang would take a shot whether it worked out or not; at least he saw a glimpse of hope again.
“Well then, I’ll wait for your call,” Jiang Xianbang nodded and said. He didn’t ask for too many details. Anyway, he had to wait, regardless of how long it would take.
Qin Sheng replied, “Well, Uncle Jiang, you take care.”
“Anyway, thanks,” Jiang Xianbang said with a bitter smile after a sip of his cocktail. He used to call all the shots in his circle back in his county, and now the only thing that was still in his control was his money. He might not look that down and out, but it was quite lonely and suffering for him to live abroad since he knew nothing about English.
Qin Sheng smiled and said, “Uncle Jiang, don’t say that.”
Jiang Xianbang laughed after hearing this, and then he said, “Well, Qin Sheng, since you’ve come back to Shanghai, would you please keep an eye on Qing’er for me. You know, I’m useless now.”
“Uh, can I skip that? She never listened to me.” Qin Sheng glimpsed at Qing’er and sighed. The latter frowned at Qin Sheng, wondering in her heart what they were talking about on the phone.
Jiang Xianbang laughed at his words. He had always known that they were like happy foes whose connection evolved through small arguments and quarrels. Obviously, he didn’t take it to heart and insisted on saying, “All right, she is all yours now and you’ll be held responsible if anything goes wrong. Now, I’ll leave you guys to talk. Catch you later. Bye.”
Qin Sheng told him to take care and hung up the phone.
As soon as he finished the call, Qing’er walked toward Qin Sheng and asked, “What did my uncle tell you?”
“What do you want to know?” Qin Sheng responded by asking this, thinking that the girl really needed to be taught sometime later in order to learn to be polite.
Qing’er stared at Qin Sheng and said, “Everything.”
Qin Sheng was about to tease her by singing a different tune, but he had to hurry back home soon to show up at the scene where his uncle and cousin-in-law would drop by tonight, according to his sister.
Therefore, Qin Sheng told her truthfully, “Nothing special. He asked me to take good care of you since he worries about you and can’t do anything for you when he is alone out of the country.”
Qing’er pouted at him and said, “Do I look like I need your care?”
“Well, great. That’s music to my ears, anyway it skips all the trouble for me.” Qin Sheng shrugged with indifference, rose to his feet, and bid her farewell. “Business is done, I’m off now. See you when necessary.”
He stepped out soon after his words. Yet Qing’er was not about to keep him there either since she felt uncomfortable every time she saw the man. But when Qin Sheng was about to be out of sight, she realized that she hadn’t gotten his phone number, in case she might need his help someday or at least she might want to get some progress about her uncle. So she quickly asked him to stop. “Hey, wait.”
Qin Sheng stopped naturally, turned around, and asked her, “What else? Can’t let me go?”
Qing’er hurried up to him, totally ignored his flirtation, handed her cell phone to him straightforward, and said, “Give me your phone number before you leave, or else, how am I supposed to reach you in case I need you?”
“I thought you’d never want to see me again.” Qin Sheng pretended to be innocent after taking her advantage, yet he still took her phone, dialed in his number, and hung up after it had gone through.
After finishing all that, Qin Sheng gave her cell phone back, waved goodbye, and took a taxi, straight toward the old bungalow located on Sinan Road.
Qing’er stared at the courtyard absentmindedly, recalling the dribs and drabs with the man. From her perspective, Qin Sheng seemed to be a nice guy, except for his occasional flirtation. Otherwise, her uncle wouldn’t speak so highly of him.
Qing’er sighed and said to herself, “What an unpredictable man he is. Nah, I guess I should be nice to him, anyway, there are times when we’ll need him.”
Upon hearing the door creaking, Uncle Wang, the housekeeper, came downstairs only to find that Qing’er was staring at the front door. He then asked, “Dear, Qin Sheng has left?”
Qing’er came back from her thoughts and nodded lightly.
Uncle Wang mumbled to himself, “I thought that he would stay for lunch, and he just left? The young man is really… But as far as I’m concerned, Qing’er, Qin Sheng is a nice and dependable man. You might want to take him into account.”
Absorbing his words, Qing’er blushed suddenly. “Uncle Wang, what are you suggesting?”
Then she fled all the way upstairs into her room…
When Qin Sheng arrived at the old bungalow on Sinan Road, his grandma was still asleep. His cousin-in-law had already come with his family, while his Small Aunt was still not in sight.
“You’re back?” Qin Ran noticed his presence and asked with a smile, “Met your friend or not?”
Qin Sheng sat down and replied, “I dropped by and met her by chance. Didn’t expect to.”
Zhu Jiayou went close to Qin Sheng, bent over to take a deep breath, and said, “There’s a slight scent of a woman on you. It’s not a fragrance. It’s actually a unique body scent, mixed with an odor that comes from tea leaves and tambac. Bro, this friend of yours must be a beautiful young lady, and prefers quietness.”
In the beginning, Qin Sheng didn’t take it seriously, but when he heard him out, he was shocked and would have exclaimed “What the hell?” if his brothers and sisters weren’t present. Both Qin Ran and Zhu Qingyuan felt skeptical and couldn’t believe it.
“Bro, am I guessing right? Tell me, who is this beauty? So that explains it. You don’t want my company for fear that I might steal her from you. Trust me. I love beautiful ladies but I’m a decent man, and I never poke someone else’s girlfriend,” Zhu Jiayou said proudly. Anyway, he was the so-called prince of the nightclub around the Bund, and he was keeping a low profile recently because of his tightened family rules.
Zhu Yi had always known that his little brother was worthy of the name dandy. According to his own words, he could identify exactly what perfume a woman was wearing, except for those newly in the market. By this unique skill of his, he had succeeded in getting girls to fall for him and seldom missed.
“Qin Sheng, come on! Shoot.” Zhu Yi teased him as well.
Qin Sheng thought Zhu Jiayou might do it quite well with Xia Ding, for they shared the same hobby. Therefore, he asked, “Jiayou, you really impress me with this. Where do you learn all this stuff? This friend of mine is sure a beauty and a teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She loves a quiet environment, tea, and playing instruments, some of which she’s quite proficient at. And most importantly, she is single and available. I’ll pass, but I can introduce you two to each other some other day, perhaps you might have a chance with her.”
“Hahaha, bro, I’ll spare you the effort. I’ve got a girlfriend and would be a dead man if she finds out I mess around.” Zhu Jiayou laughed while saying so. He seemed to figure out that Qin Sheng was not available either and turned the page after the joke.
Time passed quickly during casual talks. Old people were used to a regular schedule, with one and a half hours of napping after lunch. Thinking that it was almost time, Qin Ran then went upstairs to check on her grandma. As expected, the old lady had already woken up the moment she went into the room. After a short cleaning-up, the old lady came downstairs with the help of Qin Ran. The living room began to warm up again, lighting up the whole bungalow with waves of laughter and cheers.
The old lady still sat next to Qin Sheng, held his hands and said, “Sheng’er, I thought it was all but a beautiful bubble that you are back. Fortunately, it’s not. I was so scared.”
It pained him a lot when those bitter words came out of his loving old grandma. Hence, he held the old lady’s hands and comforted her, “Grandma, I’m back and won’t leave you again. You will get used to it.”
“My good boy, I don’t have too much time left for you. The irony of it all.” The old lady sighed with emotion, tears shedding from her eyes.
People were afraid that something unexpected would happen to the old lady as she was in such emotional turmoil, therefore, they offered their comfort at once so as to ease her pain.
Not long after this, Zhu Yi’s husband and child showed up. Zhu Yi introduced Qin Sheng to her husband, who knew him only by hearsay and it was quite unexpected when he learned this from his wife today. Qin Sheng started a short conversation with his cousin-in-law who was servicing at Pudong New Area, then gave lucky money to the child. All that was left was just to wait for that high ranking uncle-in-law of his.
It wasn’t until dinner was ready that everybody heard the sound of a car locking, then finally Zhu Qingwen and her husband came in.
Qin Sheng was quite looking forward to this moment since his sister had asked him to take a wild guess about the official rank of his uncle-in-law if he failed to recognize his identity.