Chapter Seventeen: British-Style Milk Tea

  Out of "Night Jinling", a sudden gust of cold wind, and it seems that winter has arrived.

  "Officer, have some sugar-roasted chestnuts! These are from Jinshui, fragrant and sweet, not like the small ones from Jiangbei." A seventeen or eighteen year old youth shouted to Huaichen while flipping the chestnuts with a large shovel.

  Huaijin stopped in her tracks, "You just mentioned which place has chestnuts?"

  The young man saw that the other person was interested, and he quickly stopped digging, "Hey, officer, this is authentic Jinshui, my second uncle just brought it over this morning. You try some, it's warm and moist to eat sugar-fried chestnuts." As he spoke, he picked up two golden-yellow fried ones and handed them to Huaijin to taste.

  "Help me pack some." Huai Jin didn't take the two handed over by the young man.

  "Alright, sir." The young man skillfully scooped up a package, weighed it, calculated the price, grabbed a few more and put them in, then handed it to Huai Jin.

  Thank you, young man. Huai Jin held the small package of chestnuts in her arms, embracing it to her chest. Suddenly, a sweet and fragrant aroma wafted up, and through the gloves and thin clothing, a warm temperature was transmitted, making her feel like she did over a decade ago when she was holding that package of sugar-roasted chestnuts on the streets of Shanghai. That package of sugar-roasted chestnuts had almost saved her life back then, and all these years, she still remembered what the person who gave her the chestnuts said: "These are Jinshui chestnuts, they're very sweet."

  Looking up, I saw a slender figure in front of me on the uphill slope, with half-long neat hair fluttering gently in the wind.

  "Dong... Zhi Yu." She called out to her, but hesitated midway, as she had never addressed her in private before and was momentarily unsure of what to call her. Dong's translation didn't count, after all, and "Miss Dong" seemed too distant, not suitable for their colleague relationship. Calling her that at the nightclub earlier had been tinged with sarcasm, and she couldn't bring herself to address her as "Zhi Yu" like Fu Qiu Sheng did - she felt their relationship hadn't reached that level of closeness.

  The other person turned around and didn't respond, just standing there waiting for her.

  As she approached, Dong Zhiyu still didn't seem to want to speak, the streetlights reflected in her eyes, showing a transparent amber color.

  "You...are you just going back like this?" Huai Jin asked.

  "It's not very far to walk, and it's good exercise," said Dong Zhiyu, with a slight smile on her face, revealing a pair of shallow dimples.

  Huaijin felt that her smile was somewhat bitter, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he had been too harsh on her tonight, or maybe she was carrying too much pressure.

  "It smells so good!" Dong Zhiyu said with a smile.

  "Candied chestnuts, want some?" Huaijin said as she handed over the package.

  Dong Zhiyu shook his head, "I'm full, but thank you, Hua Zhen."

  Huaijin put away the package of chestnuts in her hand, "I'll send you back, it's almost eleven o'clock, a girl's home isn't safe." She said as she led the way to that 82-style military jeep, not allowing any questioning.

  The next day, at the department, Dong Zhiyu found an opportunity to show his good intentions to Wu Naijun: "Sister Wu, I just got a package of Darjeeling tea from Procter & Gamble, thinking you'd definitely like it. I'm taking this chance to invite you over for a taste?"

  Wu Naijun smiled, this little girl, since entering the translation department, has been very proud of herself. In Wu Naijun's eyes, she relies on her connections in Shanghai and looks down on everyone else. But now that she is being friendly to me, it just proves that my position as the big sister in the translation department is irreplaceable. Thinking about this, Wu Naijun felt even more pleased with herself.

  "Oh dear, Dong translation, Darjeeling is indeed a top-notch red tea, the favorite of London's high society. It's just that drinking it alone can be a bit astringent, but if you add milk and sugar, it's incredibly smooth."

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, Wu Naijun's gilded life in London that year seemed to be enough for her to use up a lifetime.

  "Wu sister is certainly a person who understands the way. In that case, I'll prepare milk, sugar and pastries tomorrow and wait for your esteemed arrival at my humble abode."

  "Dong translated too politely, if it's not disturbing, let's make it five o'clock, I'm used to having a 'five o'clock tea'," she paused and whispered, "We two sisters have never had the chance to have a good chat, did you hear that Yan Kezhang's niece also wants to join our translation department? It's said that she only learned some pidgin English from Mr. Tuo, isn't this a joke?"

  On Thursday after work, Dong Zhiyu returned home early and arranged the prepared red tea, milk, white sugar, and butterfly pastry bought from a Western bakery on the table, waiting for Wu Naijun's arrival. At that time, white sugar was a scarce commodity, and Dong Zhiyu knew that this "flattery" must be done skillfully and with sufficient force.

  Wu Naijun, however, did not forget the Westerner's etiquette and brought a small bunch of lilies, which were originally very beautiful flowers, but now looked so pretentious.

  An hour of "five o'clock tea", chatting idly, until Wu Naijun was satisfied that Dong Zhiyu would definitely stand on her team in the future, and then she wiped her red lips with satisfaction.

  Dong Zhiyu put away the tea cups and saucers, poured out the milk that had been tampered with into a clean one, and prayed silently: May everything go as wished.

  The author has something to say: I haven't fully explored this website JJ yet, and when I opened each chapter just now, I discovered many comments that I had missed. Some of them are really cute and mischievous, making me laugh uncontrollably, while others are very sincere and serious. I appreciate readers who read seriously, thank you all for your support, I won't reheat old rice and respond again later, hope you don't mind.

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