Chapter 100: The Republican-Era Young Lady Stops Making a Fuss 11 – Lu Zhu, I Want to Go See

“Knock knock knock…”

Someone rapped on the car window.

At last, the man was willing to spit out what was in his mouth, then bent over that soft place and panted.

“Knock knock knock…”

The person outside knocked on the window again.

He Dusheng adjusted his breathing, then got up and pulled the curtain over the car window open a crack.

In a deep voice, he asked, “What is it?”

“Mr. He, this servant is Wang Geng, the gatekeeper of the master’s household. I saw that your car hadn’t left, so I came to ask. Have you run into some trouble? Do you need any help?”

He Dusheng said, “No need. I’m leaving right now.”

“All right then, sir. Take care on your way.”

He Dusheng said, “Wait. Come back.”

The gatekeeper turned back around. “Sir?”

“Go to the street corner up ahead and call my driver back to drive the car. He went off with someone from the police station just now.”

“This servant will go at once.”

He Dusheng drew the curtain shut again.

Supporting herself on the back of the seat, Song Xuange sat up and looked down. Her clothes were simply not fit to be seen, and even the frog closure at her collar had come loose.

One hand covered her chest while the other hurried to fasten the closure again, leaving her flustered and scrambling.

Seeing this, He Dusheng reached out to help her.

“Don’t panic. The driver won’t be back for a while.”

With deft fingers, he fastened the frog closure for her. Then he searched around in the back of the car for a moment, pulled out a spare suit jacket of his, and draped it over her shoulders.

He even said, “Like this, no one will be able to tell.”

Song Xuange glared at him.

It was as if she had come to understand this man a little better.

She had never imagined before that he was the sort of person so skilled at pushing his luck. Give him the slightest encouragement, and he’d run wild with it.

Once the driver returned, the two of them stopped talking.

All the way home, He Dusheng sat with one leg crossed over the other.

Song Xuange noticed, and was so embarrassed and annoyed that she tried her best not to look at him.

When they got back to Song Mansion.

The gatekeeper came to open the car door, and even Nanny Wen and Ruixin came out to receive them.

He Dusheng did not get out of the car, nor did he even change his posture.

For some reason, Song Xuange suddenly found it a little funny again.

She got out from the door on the other side.

Pulling Nanny Wen and the others along with her, she headed inside, signaling for the driver and gatekeeper to leave as well.

As they walked, Nanny Wen kept looking back. “Sir, he…”

Song Xuange lowered her voice and said, “He’s terribly heartbroken. Let’s not bother with him. Let him have some time to cry by himself.”

Nanny Wen suddenly understood.

She nodded repeatedly and whispered to Song Xuange, “Miss is doing the right thing. Men care about their pride more than anything. When they’re vulnerable, they don’t want anyone to know.”

Ruixin nodded along too, looking as if she had learned something.

Holding back her laughter, Song Xuange said, “Quick, let’s go farther away.”

Nanny Wen said, “Yes, yes, let’s go.”

Inside the car, He Dusheng, whose hearing had always been very sharp: “…”

It was only after Song Xuange had bathed and changed clothes that He Dusheng returned to the room.

He locked the door from the inside. The moment he turned around, he lunged straight at Song Xuange by the bed and pinned her down.

His manner was fierce enough to give Song Xuange a fright.

But when he pounced, his movements were actually extremely gentle.

Rather than pinning her down, it would be more accurate to say that he held her and laid her onto the bed.

The man pinched her cheek, his tone like a thug’s. “So you were making things up about me, huh?”

“How was I? I was clearly helping you out of an awkward situation.”

Unable to do anything about her, He Dusheng could only tickle her.

He tickled her until she was laughing and rolling all over the bed.

After the two of them messed around for a while, Song Xuange remembered the injury on his hand and fetched some ointment to treat it for him.

She scolded him sweetly for not taking care of his body.

He Dusheng held out his hand and let her fuss over him. She carefully applied the ointment, then wrapped it in gauze to cover it.

Suddenly, he grew serious. “Xuange, I want to acquire Dexing Cotton Mill.”

Song Xuange lifted her head and looked at him from where she lay in his arms.

He Dusheng explained, “The Chinese Cotton Millowners’ Association has many enterprises, but if we’re talking about the leading few, there are only our Fenglong, the Wang Family’s Dexing, and Jintaixiang in Changzhou. Now that Dexing has fallen, it will soon be our turn and Jintaixiang’s. As for those small cotton mills, they’re not worth mentioning in front of Japanese capital.”

“Half of the purchasing contracts for the finest long-staple cotton producing regions along the Yangtze River are in the Wang Family’s hands.” His voice was low and heavy. “That’s why the Japanese targeted Dexing first.”

“Our family has brought in quite a few new machines over the past few years, so our equipment is still fairly decent. The other mills, especially the smaller ones, have terribly outdated equipment to begin with. Their market share was already small. Now, under the pressure of Japanese capital, once their cash flow breaks, who knows how many will collapse. Right now, Japanese cloth is selling for less than what it costs to produce domestic cloth. How are we supposed to fight that?

“From what I know, quite a few mills have already started using inferior cotton in their cloth just to hold out in this price war and control costs. Yes, that brings prices down, but the quality won’t be as good as Japanese cloth. That kind of tactic might work for a short while, but in the long run, customers aren’t blind. They’ll see the difference sooner or later. It’s nothing more than draining the pond to catch the fish.

“We can’t go on taking blows like this and waiting to die. I’ve thought it through. The only way to contend with Japanese capital is for the Chinese cotton industry to have one enterprise that can truly stand tall, one that dominates above all others. Only by becoming the industry’s leader and monopolizing the market will we have the strength to fight Japanese capital.”

Without realizing it, he had been toying with a strand of Song Xuange’s hair. By now he was gripping it tightly. The pull on her hair made Song Xuange cry out in pain, and only then did he loosen his hand.

Two blazing flames burned in He Dusheng’s eyes.

“The first step is acquiring Dexing. After that, we’ll go negotiate with Jintaixiang. The remaining small mills won’t be a problem. This is no longer just about cotton mills and the cloth trade. If foreign capital can control what we wear, then controlling what we eat, and everything else, will only be a matter of time…”

“I support you! You can do it,” Song Xuange said.

He Dusheng froze. He had originally still had many more things he wanted to say.

He had wanted to say that in this battle, fortune and disaster were impossible to predict.

He had wanted to say that Fenglong had originally been the Song Family’s property, and she ought to know what he intended to use it for.

He had wanted to say that if he lost, they might end up in the same situation as the Wang Family…

Song Xuange had complete confidence in him. This was something he had done in his previous life, something he had succeeded in doing.

Back then, she had known nothing of the internal and external troubles of the business world. When she went out, people flattered her by saying her husband had become a magnate in the cloth trade. Not only did she feel no pride, she had been annoyed instead.

She had thought he really was a man who had clawed his way up from the streets, that there was a savage streak in him, and that he was too ruthless, having crushed quite a few of his peers.

Only now did she realize how naive she had been back then.

“Go ahead and do it. Don’t worry so much. I know you’re choosing the right path for our people.”

It was not only because she knew he would succeed, but also because, “At worst, our whole family will just go back to the countryside in Suzhou and live by farming.”

He Dusheng pulled her tightly into his arms, his voice trembling. “All right, I’ll give it everything I’ve got. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll go back to Suzhou and farm.”

Seven days later, Fenglong borrowed from the bank and acquired Dexing Cotton Mill for 400,000 silver dollars. It then used Dexing Cotton Mill as collateral to take out several more loans from the bank in batches.

He Dusheng said to Song Xuange, “I’m going to Changzhou on business for a few days. I’ve asked Jintaixiang’s Chief Manager to come to Shanghai. If he won’t come, then I’ll go find him.”

Even though she knew the outcome, Song Xuange still felt rather troubled. “Jintaixiang keeps to its own corner. Most of their goods are sold in county and city markets, so Japanese cloth hasn’t hit them nearly as hard as it hit Dexing. It probably won’t be easy to negotiate.”

He Dusheng smiled. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

That night, He Dusheng intercepted the late-returning Song Pingzhang in the entrance hall.

Originally, Song Pingzhang had planned to sneak back to his room quietly without alerting anyone.

To that end, he hadn’t even turned on the lights.

But before he could reach the stairs, the table lamp beside the sofa suddenly switched on.

Its light revealed the figure sitting beneath it.

Song Pingzhang jumped in fright and nearly fell over.

He Dusheng glanced at the shoes dangling from his hand and his bare feet on the floorboards, and couldn’t help sighing.

Since he had already been exposed, Song Pingzhang simply put his shoes back on.

Then he complained, “Brother-in-law, people can literally be scared to death like that.”

He Dusheng found it baffling and asked, “You’re a half-grown kid. You don’t gamble, you don’t visit brothels, so what exactly are you doing out there that keeps you away from home all day?”

At that, Song Pingzhang immediately perked up. “Brother-in-law, you’re too straight-laced, of course you’d think nothing outside is fun. But I’m different. This is Great Shanghai. Do you know how many restaurants there are to try, how many novels there are to read, how many new things there are to experience, how many societies there are to join…”

“Hold it.” He Dusheng cut him off. “What society did you join?”

“Oh, I recently joined a Foot-Binding Release Society¹.” Then he added, “The Women’s Footbinding Emancipation Promotion Association.”

Once he knew it wasn’t some shady organization, He Dusheng felt a bit more at ease.

Still… he had heard of this group, and as far as he knew, it was mostly made up of modern women campaigning for women’s bodily freedom. He had no idea how a kid like Song Pingzhang had managed to get himself mixed in with them.

Song Pingzhang began speaking in righteous indignation. “Brother-in-law, you have no idea…”

“Keep your voice down. Your sister’s asleep.”

“Oh, right, right, got it.” Song Pingzhang scooted a little closer to He Dusheng. “I never paid much attention before when I was younger, but this time when I went back home, I saw quite a few aunties and sisters-in-law around my sister’s age with bound feet²… Brother-in-law, don’t glare at me, their skirts were covering them, I didn’t see anything. I just noticed that they spend all year sitting down. Even going the short distance from their rooms to the dining hall, they have to hold onto the wall or be supported by servants after just a few steps. On rainy days, they basically can’t go out at all… It’s really pitiful. Then after I came back, I saw a notice in the papers about this society, so I joined.”

Song Pingzhang looked very proud. “I’m the only man in the society. All the older sisters and aunties like me a lot. They said they needed fresh blood like me.”

So they were using him as free labor?

He Dusheng saw his eyes shining as he chattered on and on.

With a quiet sigh, he thought, fine, at least it counted as doing something worthwhile.

So he instructed him, “I’m going away on business for a few days. During that time, stop going out to play and stay home with your sister. She’s not in a convenient condition right now, so keep an eye on her. And if you’ve got nothing to do, cheer her up a little.”

Song Pingzhang thought it over. “That works. Our society doesn’t have activities every day anyway.”

He thumped his chest loudly. “Don’t worry, brother-in-law. With me here, I guarantee my sister will be laughing nonstop every single day.”

He Dusheng thought to himself that if acting silly counted, then yes, it probably would be very effective.

But his expression remained extremely serious as he solemnly patted him on the shoulder. “I’m leaving the house in your hands.”

Then he started upstairs.

Song Pingzhang called after him, “Heh heh, brother-in-law, give me a little more pocket money too.”

“???”

“Our society is always running around all over the place. It’d be much more convenient if I had a bicycle. I want to buy one.”

He Dusheng nodded. That did count as a legitimate reason.

It was a lot better than those wastrel rich boys who smoked opium and kept dance-hall girls.

When Lu Zhu got the news and learned that He Dusheng was going to Changzhou to discuss the acquisition with Jintaixiang’s Chief Manager, she showed up at the door carrying a suitcase.

Barely able to contain her excitement, she made a demand of her boss. “I’m going too.”

She rubbed her hands together eagerly, as if she were the one about to go to Changzhou and accomplish great things.

He Dusheng’s face darkened. “Going where? What are you going for? You said you could improve the existing textile machines in the cotton mill and the steel roller mill in the flour mill. Have you finished the redesign drawings, or are you already thinking about going out to play?”

Lu Zhu was completely unaffected by her boss’s dark expression and patted her suitcase. “I’ve brought pens and paper. I can draw when I have time on the way.”

He Dusheng said, “Nonsense!”

“I’ll pay my own way, all right?” Lu Zhu was unhappy now, and complained to his face, “It’s just a matter of one desk. The desks in Changzhou aren’t missing a leg compared to the ones in Shanghai.”

He Dusheng was about to say more.

But Song Xuange stopped him, afraid he would drive away their technical talent by yelling at her.

Trying to smooth things over, she said, “If Lu Zhu wants to go, she must have her reasons. Let’s hear her out. Right, Lu Zhu?” The last sentence was directed at the girl standing there with her suitcase, ready to leave on business at any moment.

Lu Zhu grew excited again, her eyes sparkling as she clasped her fists in front of her chest and gave them a little shake. “Of course! I have a reason I absolutely must go!”

He Dusheng cast her a sidelong glance.

Filled with heroic fervor, Lu Zhu announced, “I’m going to witness a historic moment!”

He Dusheng: “…”

He stopped wasting words on Lu Zhu and turned directly to Song Xuange. “She’s probably eaten some wild mushrooms and hasn’t sobered up yet. It’d be more practical to get a doctor for her.”

Translator’s Notes