An "Invitation" from Shanghai

"What is all this ridiculous nonsense!"

In the living room of the Su Family Compound, Su Zhenbang glared at the two large wooden crates lined up on the floor, his whiskers bristling with anger.

The crates had just been brought back from the post office that afternoon. The return address was in Shanghai.

The moment the crates were opened, a strong whiff of "capitalism" came wafting out.

The first crate was packed with a dazzling assortment of dolls and stuffed toys. There were blonde, blue-eyed Barbie dolls in billowing princess dresses, and adorable teddy bears wearing pretty bows.

In the Capital at that time, many people had never even heard of these dolls, let alone seen them.

The second crate contained all sorts of fashionable little dresses and leather shoes: pink dresses trimmed with lace, white puff-sleeved blouses paired with plaid pinafores, and pairs of little red leather shoes polished to a brilliant shine.

Besides these, the corners of the crates were stuffed with all sorts of premium imported candies and chocolates, their colorful wrappers almost dizzying to look at.

A letter had arrived along with these things.

The stationery was scented, and the handwriting swept across it in bold, flamboyant strokes.

"To my dear old man, old lady, and esteemed elder brothers:

Upon hearing the astonishing news that our Su Family's lost pearl, our adorable little angel, our future darling-my niece Nuannuan, whom I have yet to meet-had returned safely, I, Su Minglang, was so overjoyed here in Shanghai that I could not sleep!

Alas, worldly affairs keep me tied down, preventing me from flying straight back to the Capital to behold my niece's peerless beauty. This is truly a lifelong regret!

I have prepared two crates of humble gifts as a small token of my affection. Be sure to dress my niece up as the prettiest little princess in the whole world!

Also, Shanghai is looking lovely just now. I sincerely invite the whole family, young and old, to choose a day to travel south for a visit. I shall have everything ready to welcome you, and all expenses are on me!

-Respectfully yours, your most good-for-nothing but most money-savvy son/younger brother, Su Minglang."

After reading the letter, Su Zhenbang slapped it down on the table in anger.

"That little scoundrel! Just look at what he's written! 'Peerless beauty'! A little princess! All that slick talk-not a trace of a revolutionary soldier's plain and simple ways!"

He pointed at the things on the floor and told Lin Wanyi, "Throw all this flashy nonsense out! Children of our Su Family don't wear such outlandish clothes!"

Laughing, Lin Wanyi took out the little dresses one by one and held them up against Nuannuan.

"All right, all right, you old man. Why get so worked up over your own son? Minglang meant well."

Nuannuan stood beside the crates, staring wide-eyed.

She had never in her life seen such lovely dolls or such beautiful clothes.

Back in Li Family Village, she had owned only one red padded jacket, washed pale and covered in patches. When winter grew cold, all she could do was stuff straw into her clothes to keep warm.

She cautiously reached out and touched a Barbie doll's golden hair, then the soft lace on a dress.

"Grandma... is this for me?" she asked softly, her eyes shining.

"Of course it's for you." Smiling, Lin Wanyi tucked the biggest teddy bear into her arms. "Your seventh uncle sent these all the way from Shanghai especially for you."

"Seventh Uncle..." Nuannuan repeated the name, hugging the teddy bear that was taller than she was.

That seventh uncle whom Grandpa and her other uncles "looked down on" seemed... not quite as bad as they said.

Su Mingfeng and Su Mingzhe came over too.

Su Mingfeng frowned at the "flashy" clothes, but when he saw how much Nuannuan liked them, he said nothing.

Su Mingzhe picked up a piece of chocolate, peeled off the wrapper, and handed it to Nuannuan.

"Try it. Your seventh uncle got this from abroad."

Nuannuan took a tiny bite, and a strange flavor, both bitter and sweet, melted in her mouth.

"It's yummy." Her eyes curved into crescents.

"That seventh brother of ours," Su Mingguo said from beside them, shaking his head with a sigh. "He has plenty of shady tricks, but you really can't fault how he treats his family. The last time I went to Shanghai on business, he insisted on giving me a Swiss watch. I absolutely refused to take it."

"That's just how he is." Su Mingyuan smiled too. "He never says anything seriously, but he's warmer at heart than anyone. This is his own way of caring for Nuannuan."

Watching the family gathered happily around the two crates, Su Zhenbang gave a loud "Hmph!" and went back to his study alone, hands clasped behind his back, to sulk.

He might have said, "Throw them out," but how could he bear to?

In the living room, Lin Wanyi and the nanny, Auntie Zhang, had already drawn Nuannuan over to try on her new clothes.

She changed into a pink dress with a pair of little white leather shoes, and Grandma tied two pretty bows for her.

When she came out of the room, everyone in the living room fell silent.

The little girl looked as though she had stepped out of a painting. Her skin was fair, her eyes were big and bright, and in that beautiful dress, she looked like an exquisite porcelain doll.

"So pretty." Lin Wanyi's eyes reddened as she gazed at her.

"This is how a daughter of our Su Family should look." Su Mingfeng's gaze, too, grew incomparably gentle.

A little shy, Nuannuan pinched the hem of her dress and twirled in place.

Her skirt flared like a flower in full bloom.

Looking at the unfamiliar, beautiful little girl in the mirror, she gained, for the first time, a faint glimmer of recognition of herself.

So she could be this pretty too.

Her heart filled with gratitude and even greater curiosity toward that seventh uncle far away in Shanghai, whom she had never met.

And that "invitation" from Shanghai was like a tiny pebble dropped onto the Su Family's tranquil lake, sending out a small ripple.

Go to Shanghai for a visit?