"I'll do as my parents say..." After speaking, Li Suzhen lowered her head again.
"You..." Zhao Meizhen's lips twitched. She turned and shouted at Song Tianyao, who had already risen and was preparing to come out: "Hey! Your bride-to-be is getting ready to marry someone else as his concubine! Are you dead or something?"
Song Tianyao walked over and took the half-smoked cigarette from his mother's hand. He smiled at the family of three. "You said it yourself. She hasn't married me yet, so of course she isn't my wife. Calm down and go make some congee."
Zhao Meizhen hadn't expected her son to show no anger at all. She stared at Song Tianyao in shock and fury, unable to speak.
Song Tianyao spoke gently to Li Suzhen and her parents:
"Uncle Laoshi, Auntie Hong, don't worry. I'll definitely come to Suzhen's wedding banquet next month. Congratulations."
Song Tianyao's tone startled Li Suzhen and her parents. At a loss, they looked at the young man they had known since he was a child. Song Tianyao held the cigarette back to Zhao Meizhen's lips.
"I'm not coming home for dinner tonight. I'm meeting a friend. If possible, I won't be back to sleep either. Don't wait up for me."
With that, he walked past Li Suzhen and out of his home.
Only when her son had disappeared from sight did Zhao Meizhen turn viciously on Li Laoshi and his family. "If anything happens to Tianyao, I won't let you off even as a ghost! Are you standing around in my house waiting for me to throw a farewell feast for the three of you? Lift your feet. I'm sweeping!"
As she spoke, Zhao Meizhen grabbed a broom and swept furiously in front of their feet, kicking up great clouds of dust and driving Li Laoshi and his family straight out.
Having already left, Song Tianyao felt little anger over Li Suzhen breaking off the engagement. In his previous life, when he had been in his thirties, he had seen plenty of women who fawned on the powerful and scorned the weak, turning their sails with the wind. One more Li Suzhen was hardly surprising. Besides, although Li Suzhen was pretty, her compliant nature didn't suit Song Tianyao's tastes now. A compliant woman who could also attract men had to have stunning looks; otherwise, she was less appealing than women with a distinctive charm of their own.
Li Suzhen had some looks, but she was only on the level of a nightclub dancer, not even enough to qualify as a nightclub's top attraction. There was no need to work himself into a rage over a woman like her. Besides, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
After leaving Jialin Road, Song Tianyao went straight to the Flying Leap Tailor Shop on Prince Edward Road West. As he pushed open the door, the owner immediately came forward with a smile.
"Sir, would you like a Western suit or a changshan made?"
"Sir, may I ask if you have any Western suits I can wear right away? Having one made takes too long," Song Tianyao said politely, returning the owner's smile.
In Hong Kong at the time, there were no clothing stores yet. Poor people bought fabric and made their own clothes, while the wealthy went to tailor shops to have their measurements taken and clothes made. Wealthy Chinese who were more particular would even go to Shanghai and pay handsomely to hire veteran tailors to make clothes for their whole family.
"Of course I have a few suits, but they were made to order for customers who paid deposits in advance..." the owner said, sounding as though he was in a difficult position.
Song Tianyao took out ten dollars and handed them over. "Is this enough for a rush fee?"
"Enough, enough! I'll get them right away." The owner hurried into the back room and came out carrying three or four suits, along with shirts and ties to match.
Seeing the delight on the owner's face, Song Tianyao knew these suits weren't waiting for customers who had paid deposits in advance. They were stock that no one had ever come to collect after paying the deposits. He simply couldn't be bothered to make an issue of it.
Song Tianyao rejected two suits that were too tight and narrow, finally choosing a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a bright blue striped tie. He also put on the leather shoes the owner brought him.
Seeing Song Tianyao in his new outfit, the owner couldn't help asking, "Sir, are you a Chinese manager at a major foreign trading firm?"
The corners of Song Tianyao's mouth lifted, but he neither confirmed nor denied it. His reflection in the mirror still had a trace of youthful immaturity, but in the suit he looked more refined and spirited. He really did resemble one of the young Chinese managers from the major foreign trading firms the owner had mentioned.
"How much is it altogether? Oh, and if you have a leather wallet, get me one," Song Tianyao told the owner.
The owner brought Song Tianyao an elegant leather wallet, then worked his abacus and named the price. "Two hundred and forty-three dollars altogether. Thank you for your patronage, sir."
After Song Tianyao paid him the full amount, the owner found a bag and packed the clothes Song Tianyao had changed out of, intending to return them to him. Song Tianyao smiled.
"Send them to a charity collection point for people who have no clothes to wear."
The Christian churches in Hong Kong had set up many charity collection points across the territory. People regularly took unwanted clothes, toys, tools, and other items there to help more of the poor.
"You're very kindhearted. Take care, sir, and please be sure to come to me whenever you need anything." The owner saw Song Tianyao to the door, not forgetting to offer a few polite words.
Customers like this were the tailor shop owner's favorites: they didn't haggle, had good tempers, and bought a lot.
Dressed in his new outfit, Song Tianyao hurried to Tsim Sha Tsui and took the Star Ferry back to Central Pier. From there, he took a rickshaw to the Luk Yu Tea House in Sheung Wan.
The Luk Yu Tea House was one of Hong Kong's long-established teahouses. Its owner had come to Hong Kong from Shanghai to open it in the 1930s, so its decor retained the old-fashioned style of the Shanghai Bund in that era: fine rosewood chairs, broad mahogany screens, yellowed scrolls of calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls, waiters and "senior sisters" in old-fashioned Tang suits, a changshan-clad musician tuning his instrument, and Cantonese opera actresses in light makeup, ready to take the stage for the guests at any moment. It gave patrons entering the teahouse the instant, unreal feeling that they had traveled back to that dazzling, pleasure-soaked old Shanghai.
As soon as Song Tianyao entered the Luk Yu Tea House, a shrewd, brisk middle-aged man came forward to greet him warmly.
"Sir, is this your first visit? Would you like a private room upstairs, or would you prefer to drink tea and listen to opera on the ground floor?"
"It is my first visit. I've just arrived in Hong Kong, but I've long heard of the Luk Yu Tea House. I came especially to see it for myself today," Song Tianyao told the waiter.