During these days at sea, the sky has been overcast. But when the ship entered the harbor, the wind suddenly stopped. A crack suddenly opened in the thick clouds, and golden sunlight shone down from it, dispelling the chill brought by the cold wind.

The Wen family got off the boat and looked around on the dock, waiting for their aunt Wen Jingshu to send someone to pick them up.

Wen Jianning looked at the British sailors walking around, and remembered that Mr. Qi had told them about the origin of Hong Kong on the boat.

Pushed forward less than a hundred years, the area in front of me is still a sparsely populated place. It was not until the defeat of the former Qing Dynasty that the vast majority of islands such as Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories became British concessions.

At first, Hong Kong only immigrated to the foreigners, until the abdication of the Qing Emperor more than ten years ago, the situation was turbulent, people were panicked, and many Manchu Qing relics and wealthy businessmen and squires from the neighboring Guangdong Province and even the inland came to Hong Kong to take refuge and settle down, and then successively developed all walks of life, which is what Hong Kong is now prosperous.

The second wife waited at the pier with a group of children for a long time, and there was no one from Wen Jingshu to pick them up, so she could only grit her teeth and hail a roadside taxi with an hourly charge, and send them to Wen Jingshu's villa with their luggage.

As for Mr. Qi, she went to her friends again, saying that she would send them news when she settled down.

The car drove away from the dock with the group.

The island is surrounded by hills and hills, and the sparse vegetation reveals bare reddish-brown earth cliffs. The road will slow down and steep with the ups and downs of the mountain, and it will extend in the direction of the seashore, and only then will there be sporadic people.

The car went over the mountains and mountains, bumpy all the way, and finally arrived at Wen Jingshu's residence according to the address given by the second wife.

Wen Jingshu's villa is a small three-story western-style house with a garden, black carved iron fence gates, and a neatly built lawn in the courtyard. Ascend the wide stone staircase and walk through a long corridor supported by white marble columns to a beautiful mahogany doorway.

The second wife and Mei Shan walked into the living room with a group of children, and a group of girls who looked like maids ran out of the room.

They were all teenage girls, with well-eyebrowed, dexterous, and healthy wheat complexions. Each of them dragged a big black and shiny braid behind their heads, wore a green bamboo and blue cloth blouse and narrow trousers, pulled clogs on their feet, and their heels clattered on the smooth floor, and ran to them and shouted: "The ladies are here, come and sit." ”

Apparently someone had previously told that there would be guests coming to the door.

The second wife was furious that Wen Jingshu did not greet this matter in person, and asked directly: "Where did my aunt and grandmother go?" and her tone carried a choking smell of gunpowder.

One of the girls replied, "My wife has gone to the banquet today, and she will not be back until the evening." ”

The second wife was dissatisfied when she heard this: "Not to mention that she has already sent a telegram to report that she is here today, and which family is she going to attend the banquet." ”

Another girl had an embarrassed expression on her face: "It's Sir Davis's banquet, and someone sent an invitation to our wife a month ago, so it's hard to push." ”

Although the second wife didn't know which number one person Sir Davis was, she knew that this person must be a big person after listening to the tone of this group of maids, but she still couldn't swallow this breath, and her face was gloomy.

But no matter how many children there were, they all looked curiously at the furnishings in the living room.

The furnishings here are similar to those in the Wen Mansion in Shanghai, but they are more splendid than those in Shanghai. Most of the furniture is fashionable Western-style furniture, and there are also oriental-style decorations, mixed and matched, but also have a unique flavor.

Jianwan took a few steps forward, and first saw something strange. The square bench has a square base, made in the style of a hollow carved cabinet, and a large pure copper horn is connected to it.

The youngest Jianyu said loudly: "This is a gramophone, and my father has one." ”

As soon as she said this, Wen Jianwan remembered that she had indeed seen this gramophone in the Wen Mansion.

It's just that they only went outside to look at the department store during the two days they were in Shanghai, and they didn't have time to study the furnishings in the Wen Mansion.

The second wife seemed to regard this place as her home, and commanded with peace of mind: "Go and bring the record." ”

A group of girls, you look at me, I look at you, looking at each other.

One of the girls reminded: "Madame doesn't like people to touch her things. ”

Seeing that the second wife was about to get angry, Mei Shan suddenly said: "Isn't it that I remember wrongly, aren't the records all in the cabinet below." With that, she stepped forward and opened the cabinet below, and sure enough, she pulled out a stack of records.

The second wife choked and didn't speak for a while, so she could only watch as Mei Shan handed the record to the maids and asked them to tune the stylus, and soon soft and soothing music flowed from the loudspeakers, which made several little girls listen to it fascinated. As they listened, they walked along the living room, and soon saw a black grand piano in the corner, and hurriedly ran over to look around curiously.

The maid was afraid that they would still have to move Wen Jingshu's things, so she hurriedly said, "By the way, the room for the three young ladies and the fourth wife is ready, just upstairs." Would you like to take a look? ”

The second wife glanced at Mei Shan next to her, and said in a strange manner: "It's really ridiculous, how does my aunt teach the maid to call people, our Wen family only has two masters, when did there be an extra fourth wife." ”

Mei Shan didn't bother to bother with her along the way, so she smiled and said: "No, people don't know it, if you misunderstand that I am the same age as the second wife, wouldn't it really be a joke." ”

Without waiting for the second wife to get angry, Jianyu suddenly spoke, and said in a milky voice: "Mother, I'm sleepy." ”

The second wife suddenly didn't care about being angry, and looked at her heart and liver first: "Okay, let's go up to the room." ”

As she spoke, she glanced at Mei Shan and took Jianyu's little hand upstairs. Wen Jianning and a few of them also followed.

Wen Jianning, Jianwan, and Jianxiu's rooms are all the same layout, only Jianyu's room is extraordinarily large, with a classical European layout, and the bedside is also full of all kinds of dolls, and it is connected to a large balcony. Standing on the balcony and looking down, you can see the garden and the mountains in the distance.

The second wife reluctantly said that she was quite satisfied, and Wen Jianning and Jianxiu had no opinions.

Only Jianwan was a little angry, but she didn't dare to say anything.

After looking at the room, they followed the adults to drink afternoon tea in the living room, while waiting for Wen Jingshu to come back.

The second wife originally thought that Wen Jingshu should come back in the evening, but she didn't expect them to wait until dark.

The adults were fine, Wen Jianning and the others were already hungry and gurgling, but because of their upbringing, they still sat there peacefully, waiting for the aunt they had never met to come back.

During this period, the second wife did not want to rebel against the guests and let them eat first, but the hateful maids bit them to death, saying that their wives had already arranged and refused to listen to her, so angry that the second wife trembled and lost her temper again. But she had no choice but to sit there and wait.

Until the sound of cars and chaotic footsteps came from outside the gate, the maids heard it and hurriedly ran to the door to meet them.

After a while, a young woman in a black evening dress walked in, surrounded by maids.

The young woman looked to be in her thirties, and wore a black bowler hat adorned with fluffy white feathers that bordered on exaggeration. The downing black mesh was adorned with tiny diamonds like teardrops, glittering elegantly and coldly in the light.

She lifted the net with one hand, revealing a snow-white face.

The lips were probably coated with purple-red rouge, which was lighter than the purple-black of eating too many mulberries, and deeper and colder than ordinary red. is different from Mei Shan's warm and cheesy charm, this aunt's beauty is cold and aggressive, with a little contempt for people, and she is condescending to look at people, not only Wen Jianning doesn't like it alone, but several little girls feel uncomfortable.

Seeing that the master had finally returned, the second wife said bitterly: "Yo, our aunt and grandmother are back." ”

Wen Jingshu glanced at her silently, took off her elbow-length lace gloves and stepped forward, while instructing the servants: "Is dinner ready, the family will come today and take out the bottle of whiskey that I treasured." ”

Saying that, she walked straight over the second wife beside her and gave Mei Shan a warm hug: "Long time no see, Mei Shan." ”

Mei Shan responded with a smile: "Jingshu, long time no see." ”

She entered the Wen family when she was young, and Wen Jingshu was not married at that time. Both were young girls, about the same age, and had endless things to say to each other. Although one is an aunt and the other is a daughter, they are like sisters.

I haven't seen each other for more than ten years, but the love is still there.

The second wife was on the side, her face was blue and white for a while.

Wen Jianning and Jianwan stood aside and looked left and right, although they couldn't understand the intricate relationship between adults, they could clearly feel the undercurrent surging in them.

It wasn't until they sat down at the table that they breathed a sigh of relief.

However, before this breath was finished, they lifted it again.

Dinner was Western-style.

Although Western food was also provided on the boat before, the second wife didn't like it, Mr. Qi followed them, and saw that they were seasick at the time, so they could only eat porridge and vegetable soup, and Wen Jianning could only follow along, so the girls had never eaten Western food.

The maids served the little girls and laid out napkins, but they could not hold knives and forks for them.

They had to watch the movements of their aunt and Mei Shan, and cut the steak with a knife and fork.

At first, the children were still a little bit like each other, but after a while, they were in a bad situation.

Wen Jianning has too much strength, he can't control the strength well, he always uses too much force when cutting the steak, and the knife stabs through the plate from time to time, making a tooth-souring sound, which attracts everyone's sideways;

A maid next to her couldn't help but burst out laughing when she saw it, and was glared at by Jianwan, which was slightly restrained.

They also knew that they were constantly making jokes, but the adults didn't speak, so they had to bite the bullet and eat it.

It wasn't until after eating that Wen Jingshu put down the knife and fork, wiped the corners of her mouth with a white napkin, and then said slowly: "No wonder the old man wants to send them all to me." The family is not the kind of family that is so poor that they can't open the pot, how can they raise a good girl like this. It's so big that I can't even hold a knife and fork, and I don't understand the etiquette of Western food at all. ”

The second wife's face was not good-looking, but it was not easy to refute anything, because Wen Jingshu was telling the truth.

Mei Shan smiled on the side: "What can be done about this, people like the third aunt and grandmother, staying in the old mansion all their lives, are afraid of making mistakes, and I wish the girls would become like her." ”

Seeing that Wan used to laugh at Wen Jianning, he was energetic, but now when the two adults said this, his face was red and white for a while, but he couldn't refute it.

The other two were also uncomfortable, after all, they were also the objects of dislike.

Only Wen Jianning looked calm, and it didn't matter to her what they said, just like when Jianwan said she was a country girl before.

After finally finishing a meal, the maids took Wen Jianning and them to take a bath first, while the adults stayed in the living room to talk. As for what was being discussed, it is not known.

After bathing, the little girls went back to their new rooms to sleep.

Although Wen Jianning's room does not have a balcony, it has a window, and it is said that if you open it, you can see the mountains and the sea in the distance. It's a pity that it's night, and when the thick dark gray velvet curtains are drawn, nothing can be seen, and it is even darker when the lights are turned off.

She lay on the bed, feeling that her body was finally free from the bumps and rocks of the previous days on the boat, and only then did she feel a little safe on the ground, and closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

On the first night of coming to Hong Kong, Wen Jianning finally had a good night's sleep.