DBTHDCAR Chapter 24

The new stunning neighbor had sparked huge curiosity among the other residents. But after that first night, Wang Yihong didn’t appear for several days. Instead, the day before Saturday, a woman who looked like a housekeeper came early to Room 220 and spent quite a while cleaning her apartment.

When Ning Xiaobei came back from picking up soy sauce at the corner store, Aunt Tian from the second floor called him over.

“Xiaobei, come here! Auntie’s got some tangerines for you.”

At this time, the long-awaited tangerines from Changxing Island in Shanghai had just hit the market and were expensive. A few days ago, Zhao Jingwen had bought some for the kids to try.

These green-skinned tangerines were small and sour. After eating a segment at school, Fan Xia curled up into a little ball and even exaggeratedly rolled his eyes.

Of course, Ning Xiaobei liked them a lot, so he politely thanked her and took the segment.

“Xiaobei, didn’t your dad help that woman at 220… the new neighbor? Did she say what she does, or when she’s officially moving in?”

Earlier, Aunt Tian had already gone to Wang Yihong’s place to chat with the housekeeper. The housekeeper said she was just an hourly worker and it was her first time there, so she didn’t know much about the owners.

Aunt Tian looked around the apartment and noticed that while the furniture was neither brand new nor old, the material and craftsmanship were very good. Plus, all the trendy appliances of modern Shanghai were there, like a Japanese Panasonic color TV, a rice cooker, and a Frestech fridge. So she guessed the new neighbor must be pretty well-off.

“Yes, Xiaobei, tell us, what’s her family background?”

Aunt Zhang, who had argued with Aunt Tian a few days ago, fanned herself and came over to join the chatter. Aunt Tian, unbothered, broke off a segment of mandarin for her. The moment she popped it in her mouth, her face twisted up.

“Oh no, my stomach would’ve turned at that sourness even when I was pregnant. Ugh, ugh, ugh…”

“I don’t know what Aunt Wang’s family does,” Ning Xiaobei said, lowering his head and trying not to laugh. “But I heard from my dad that she won’t move in officially until everything here is cleaned and set up.”

“I see. How many people are in her family? She’s about your dad’s age, right? So she must’ve been married, maybe has kids?”

Aunt Zhang leaned in with all the curiosity of a nosy neighbor.

“I really don’t know. Aunt Tian, Aunt Zhang, I have to go home now. My dad’s fish is halfway cooked, and he’s waiting for my soy sauce.”

Ning Xiaobei picked up the soy sauce bottle.

“Oh, go on, go on. Xiaobei, you’re so sensible, you can even get soy sauce for your dad. My son just knows how to eat; if the soy sauce spills, he won’t even bother to pick it up!”

Aunt Zhang waved at him and went back to gossiping with Aunt Tian about 220.

Two little heads with tight curls huddled together. Looking from behind, they could almost pass for twin sisters.

Actually, Ning Xiaobei knew everything about the Wang family. In the real world, their families had ended up in the same building due to the old house demolition, living door to door for many years.

Wang Yihong was three years younger than Xiaobei’s dad and worked at a foreign trade company under the clothing group.

Back then, not every company could handle import-export goods. To do business with foreigners, you had to go through a state-owned foreign trade company. So being employed there was extremely prestigious.

As a rare university graduate of the 1980s who could speak two foreign languages and was charming and elegant, Wang Yihong was like a “golden brand” for the company.

Her ex-husband, Chang Weiqiang, also worked at the clothing trade company, they were colleagues. They had a daughter after marriage. On paper, their family life should have been comfortable and happy. Yet, for unknown reasons, they divorced, and Wang Yihong went on living with her daughter.

Back home, Ning Xiaobei handed the soy sauce to his dad and sat in the living room peeling mandarins.

Ning Jianguo, who had been eagerly waiting for this soy sauce, took it and poured it into the pot immediately.

A few days ago, when Ning Xiaobei had gone with his dad to the factory bathhouse, after changing clothes he was about to go to the small shop to buy cocoa milk when Madam Zheng, in charge of the union, pulled him aside.

Apparently, the factory was planning a large matchmaking event with the nearby cotton mill. The cotton mill had mostly young female workers, while the shoe factory had mostly men— perfect “yin-yang balance”.

Ning Jianguo had gotten his professional title last year and now had a place to live. It was time to consider personal matters.

Although having a son made him slightly disadvantaged in the marriage market, he was handsome, well-paid, and still had girls who might like him. If not, there were divorced women at the cotton mill as well.

“Xiaobei, talk to your dad, at least meet someone. Don’t let Madam Zheng keep bringing it up while he plays dumb and pretends not to hear. He’s still young, he should find someone soon.”

Ning Xiaobei was at a loss. How could a son possibly persuade his dad? Should he really say: “Dad, my skin’s itching for a beating. I want a stepmom to boss me around. Please, fulfill my wish”?

“And then there’s Zhao Jingwen from the business department. Every time Madam Zheng comes around, he bolts faster than anything. He’s no spring chicken, why isn’t he married? Auntie knows he’s charming with the ladies, so girlfriends aren’t lacking. But as the great man once said, ‘Love without the goal of marriage is just mischief’. Zhao Jingwen still wants to play the rogue a few more years, it seems.”

“This…”

As for Uncle Zhao’s love life, technically, there’s no shortage of women in the factory who like him, easily a whole class worth. And that doesn’t even count those from outside who got emotionally involved while doing business with him.

Why he never married and ended up living alone in the nursing home, Ning Xiaobei, even with two lifetimes of experience, could never figure out.

Maybe it was like Leslie Cheung said in 《Days of Being Wild》: Some people are born like birds without feet. They just can’t settle down with anyone.”

“Anyway, the event’s at the end of this month, plenty of time. Xiaobei, go home and talk to your dad. Get him and Zhao Jingwen to come check it out. Be good, you’d like to have a mom too, right? Then someone will cook, and someone will do the laundry at home.”

Madam Zheng beamed with maternal affection, waved at Ning Xiaobei, and left, full of hope.

Actually, in our house, Dad does all the cooking, and Uncle Zhao does all the laundry… and quite cleanly too.

Ning Xiaobei scratched his head awkwardly.

‘The textile factory girls… not practical. In a few years, most Shanghai textile mills will probably shut down. Even our shoe factory can barely keep afloat. Do we really want to end up with two laid-off workers?’

As he pondered, he kept eating the small mandarins, finishing the whole fruit without noticing.

It wasn’t that he was materialistic or insisting on a wealthy stepmom. It was purely practical.

He had even hinted to Ning Jianguo a few times about the factory’s future performance possibly being poor. Pushing him to get a chef certificate back then was for the same reason: an extra certified skill meant another way to survive.

But his dad didn’t believe that a large, old state-owned factory could go under and laughed, saying Xiaobei was worrying over nothing.

‘Dad… he must like Aunt Wang, right? Otherwise, why would he step in that day?’

Xiaobei licked the orange juice off the corner of his mouth and answered himself.

In his memory, back in the real world, when Aunt Wang first moved into the apartment across from their place, Dad often went over to help her fix appliances and move things, always very attentive.

To thank him, Aunt Wang had specially sent a box of Swiss chocolates.

It was the first time Xiaobei had ever seen such tiny, exquisitely shaped chocolates. Each about the size of a fifty-cent coin, yet rich and flavorful, far better than the gold coin chocolates that only appeared at New Year. Naturally, he ate them all in one sitting.

The next morning, he woke up to find his lips swollen like two sausages, his throat aching so badly he couldn’t even swallow. By the third day, his red, swollen lips had started to ooze pus, and Ning Xiaobei was terrified, thinking he was going to die.

Little Xiaobei didn’t know he was just suffering from too much chocolate; he lay in bed and suddenly remembered a story his grandma had once told him vividly:

Before the Liberation, in their Jiande Lane neighborhood, there was a man surnamed Li. After his wife died, he married a stepmother. She seemed kind, feeding Li’s late wife’s son egg-fried rice every day while she ate plain gruel herself. The neighbors all praised her as virtuous. But a year later, the child mysteriously died.

Grandma said it was the cruel stepmother’s doing. She deliberately fed the boy greasy egg-fried rice three meals a day, clogging up his heart. How could he not die?

Now Dad hadn’t even married Aunt Wang yet, and Xiaobei had nearly killed himself just from eating the chocolate she sent. What would happen when she actually moved in?

From that moment on, Xiaobei repeatedly tried to stop Dad from interacting with the family across the hall. He even made it clear, time and again, that he would rather die than have a new mother.

By putting it off like this, he had delayed his father’s whole life.

All because of his own ignorance and selfishness, Dad ended up growing old alone.

Ning Xiaobei reflected bitterly and made a firm decision: this time, he would never do such a reckless thing again.

“Hey, boss, is this orange really that sour?”

Fan Xia squatted in front of Xiaobei and was startled to see him holding an orange peel with both hands, his eyes red at the corners.

“So sour you’re crying like that? Then don’t eat it… here, have some chocolate. Dove — it tastes amazing.”

Ning Xiaobei snapped back to reality and looked down at the chocolate Fan Xia was holding out.

“Chocolate… you should maybe just eat a little.”

At first, Xiaobei wanted to say he might get a heat from eating too much, but then he thought, eating too many oranges probably counts too.

“Why?”

“You’re already dark enough… if you eat more chocolate, you’ll just get darker.”

“Ning Xiaobei!”

……………… 

Author’s Note:

Getting a little addicted to teasing Fan Xia~~

Tentatively, double updates on weekends. The time is still at 9 a.m so you don’t have to stay up late waiting. How thoughtful!

====================