The two of them got on the tram. There weren’t many people on it, so they chose seats by the window and sat next to each other.

While chatting casually, Chu Wan subtly brought the topic to Lu Shouyan, “Why hasn’t Seventh Uncle gotten married yet?”

Lu Jianzhao obviously also didn’t quite understand, but he still said, “From what I heard, his blind date seems to find him too cold and wants to break up. But I only heard it from one side, so I don’t know the details.”

Chu Wan thought about what he said.

It could be estimated that Sun Xueya was currently in a tug-of-war with her family. She wanted to break up with Lu Shouyan and marry her old lover, but her family did not agree. So at this time, they were keeping Lu Shouyan hanging.

Lu Jianzhao sighed, “The family definitely wanted Seventh Uncle to get married, but he was too busy before to take care of it, so it got delayed. The one he’s dating now was also introduced by Grandpa. A few days ago, Grandpa lectured Seventh Uncle and even complained that he wasn’t being serious about this.”

Chu Wan said, “Is that so?”

Lu Jianzhao smiled, glanced at Chu Wan, and said, “Actually, I can understand that. Men are busy with their careers, so they don’t think about this. For example, I just started college, and my mind is full of studies. I really can’t think about anything else. Some people pursue me directly, I just ignore them. Women are like that.”

When Chu Wan heard this, she naturally understood what he meant. He was almost pointing at her nose and telling her, ‘I look down on you, so don’t covet me.’

She thought about her great-grandfather’s intentions. He wanted her to marry into the Lu family. Old Master Lu also hoped that she would be his grandson’s wife. The old men’s intentions were naturally good, but times have changed. It was no longer the era of arranged marriages. The descendants of the Lu family were all raised in the city. They had a good family background and were well-educated. She was just an ordinary country girl now, and they naturally looked down on her.

Chu Wan then said, “Brother has great ambitions and is busy with his studies. Forget about anything else. I feel bad for having you accompany me to buy books today. I have really delayed you. I dare not delay brother for even a moment on other matters.”

After hearing this, Lu Jianzhao knew that Chu Wan understood what he meant. He was very satisfied with her understanding and tact, so he smiled and said, “Wanwan, don’t say that. You just want to make progress and buy books. It’s all right to go with you.”

Chu Wan nodded and thanked Lu Jianzhao.

Lu Jianzhao took Chu Wan to the Xinhua Bookstore in Wangfujing. He helped her pick out some reference books. Chu Wan didn’t understand anything about this, so she just bought whatever he asked her to buy.

While walking around, they happened to meet a female comrade who was wearing a tweed coat, a fleece hat, and leather shoes. She looked very fashionable and stylish.

When the female comrade saw Lu Jianzhao, she was immediately surprised and said, “Jianzhao, it’s you? Are you here to buy books too?”

After such a pleasant surprise, she saw Chu Wan.

She glanced at Chu Wan, clearly a little surprised. “Who is this? Your family’s new nanny?”

Lu Jianzhao introduced her, “This is Chu Wan, a younger sister relative who came from the countryside. Today, my elders asked me to bring her here to buy books.”

After that, he introduced the female comrade to Chu Wan.

The female comrade was called Su Hongyan, and she was Lu Jianzhao’s college classmate.

Chu Wan heard the name Su Hongyan and it sounded familiar. After thinking about it, she realized that she was Su Yuhang’s daughter.

Su Yuhang was a Boxer Indemnity student who studied in the United States, majoring in history. He returned at the beginning of the founding of New China and was able to catch up with the times. As a young and active person, he became a teacher in the History Department of Peking University.

Later, he became the head of the teaching and research section of the Archaeology Department of Peking University and conducted in-depth research on porcelain. He was a well-known ceramic identification expert, the president of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Research Association, and presided over the compilation of China’s first History of Ceramic Archaeology.

One of his achievements was his detailed research on ceramics from the blank period of the three regnants of the Ming Dynasty, and he was the first in the archaeological community to speak out for ceramics from this period.

This naturally also brought great benefits to Chu Wan. The blue and white porcelain she had hoarded from the blank period suddenly saw its value rise sharply, and she made a lot of money.

At this moment, Su Hongyan looked at Chu Wan curiously, “You are a relative of Jianzhao? From the countryside?”

Chu Wan said, “From Yongling Village, Changping.”

Su Hongyan was surprised and looked at Chu Wan with sympathy. “Changping? So far? It’s not easy for you to go to the city. Let Jianzhao help you pick out and buy a few more books.”

“Yes, it’s the middle of nowhere,” Chu wan said. “I’ve broadened my horizons since coming to the city. I must take the opportunity to buy more books.”

Lu Jianzhao smiled and glanced at Chu Wan calmly. “She has already bought books. She is planning to take the college entrance examination.”

Su Hongyan looked at Chu Wan in surprise. “Go to college, you want to go to college? It’s very difficult to get into college, not everyone can pass…”

Lu Jianzhao said, “Forget it, Hongyan, let’s not talk about this. I was just about to ask you something.”

As they were talking, the two of them started talking about school matters, and it seemed that they were planning to start a literary and reading campus newspaper together. It was obvious that both of them were very interested in this and they had a great chat.

Chu Wan waited quietly by the side. While waiting, she saw people around occasionally looking over and glancing at her.

Chu Wan’s dress obviously did not match Lu Jianzhao and Su Hongyan. In short, others saw that the fashionable couple was chatting, while Chu Wan was inexplicably standing aside.

Chu Wan waited for a long time, but they were still talking, and it seemed like they hadn’t finished yet. She didn’t want to wait any longer, so she finally said in between their conversations, “Eighth Brother, you guys continue chatting. I’m going back. I’m a little hungry.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jianzhao hurriedly said, “Are you hungry? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? If you go back hungry, the old man will definitely blame me later!”

He laughed and said, “Look at you, you didn’t even mention you were hungry. We were so happy chatting that we forgot about you. I have to take you out for a meal anyway. If you go back hungry, you will say that I didn’t treat you well.”

Then he said to Su Hongyan, “Because of her, my fifth brother was scolded! Let’s go eat Quanjude roast duck together. It’s not far from here.”

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

At that point, Lu Jianzhao took Su Hongyan and Chu Wan to the Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant next door. Quanjude’s roast duck has been very popular in recent years and there was always a queue when you come.

However, Su Hongyan’s father seemed to know the manager here, so they didn’t have to queue and directly found a very good seat. The roast duck was served quickly.

While eating roast duck, Su Hongyan introduced the history of the roast duck here to Chu Wan. When the roast duck was served, she also taught her how to wrap it, “You guys in Changping haven’t eaten this, right? This can only be made authentically in the city.”

Chu Wan nodded, “I haven’t eaten much.”

As Su Hongyan and Lu Jianzhao were talking, Su Hongyan had already figured out Chu Wan’s background in just a few words. She said, “If your academic foundation is poor, it will be quite difficult for you to get into university. The competition is fierce now, and it’s not easy to get into a regular university in the city. If you didn’t study hard in high school, then you’ve wasted your time. Besides, you’re not young anymore, so you should start working as soon as possible. If you can’t get into university, you’ll just waste your years of work experience.”

Lu Jianzhao also said to Chu Wan, “Actually, if you want to work now, you can find a good job, but it depends on what you want.”

Chu Wan, “Yes, I understand.”

She seemed genuinely clueless. Lu Jianzhao and Su Hongyan exchanged an amused glance, then stopped talking to Chu Wan and continued discussing their plan to start a small newspaper. It seemed that Su Hongyan, influenced by her father, was very interested in antiques and wanted to create a column on the subject. Lu Jianzhao agreed, and the two chatted enthusiastically.

Chu Wan was so focused on eating that she ate almost all the dishes she liked and was completely satisfied.

Lu Jianzhao, who was next to her, noticed this and said, “If you like roast duck, have them deliver it to the house and slice it up for you tomorrow. You’ve finally made it to the city, so just tell me what you want to eat.”

 Chu Wan said, “No need, I’ll just eat this once.”

Pearls and Jade Beside Me in the ’80s translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant boasts of culinary heritage since 1864 and still operates today.

You eat Peking Roast Duck by putting duck slices on thin wheat wraps, adding cucumber slices, green onions, and hoisin sauce (although authentic Beijing restaurants like Quanjude use tianmianjiang, a fermented sweet bean sauce).

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