When Wang He Di leaves the small village he grew up in, to find work in the streets of glamourous and dangerous Shanghai, the first thing that catches his eye is the beautiful Shen Yue, a young woman also trying to make her fortunes in the "Paris of...
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In the pretty garden on the perfect summer's evening, Shen Chuntao sips her Baijiu while closely watching her daughters assisting each other. They are decorating the table with Yue's best finery in preparation for the special dinner tonight. He Di has strung up the garden with handcrafted lanterns made from Saigon silk, creating a night of kaleidoscopic shadows.
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Enchanting is the word that comes to Shen Chuntao's mind as she sits in the middle of it all, waiting for the supper to begin. If she were a romantic, she might find it charming.She was surprised when she received the news that her daughters wanted her to visit them in Hong Kong. She gladly accepted, eager to see them again and eager to spend more time with Yuèqín, who turned a year old over a month ago. She had last seen her granddaughter when she was 4 months old and had been pleading with Yue and He Di to come visit her in Hunan for the little girl's birthday, but apparently they needed to go on some big trip to the Sichuan province instead. Knowing her precarious position in her son in law's heart, Shen Chuntao did not push the issue any further. And now here she is in this "magical" garden set up, waiting to meet her future son in law.
Shen Chuntao is in two minds about this new and very sudden development...at least sudden to her. While Chao Xing's demeanour is no longer as worrisome as the last time she saw her, all tears that she was, Shen Chuntao hates the idea that this suitor of her daughter's, was sprung on her at the last minute, as well as the fact that the wedding will be taking place in Hong Kong and not in Hunan.
"But your uncles need to be a part of the proceedings?" She said, when she was told her real reason for being in Hong Kong.
"We are having a "New Style" wedding mother and besides, Yue already gave you one traditional wedding... that's more than some mothers will ever have. In any case your brothers are welcome to come to Hong Kong and attend the wedding, no one is stopping them." Was the Smart Alec retort she received from her youngest child.
What was left unsaid is the fact that her uncles are so miserly, they would never spend a single cent travelling all the way to Hong Kong for a "New Style" wedding for their niece who has deliberately excluded them from all the wedding arrangements. Shen Chuntao had wanted to insist but she knew that her protests would fall on deaf ears. Chao Xing has always been the less obedient one and whatever she was doing in Nanking, certainly made her recklessly unafraid of any filial consequences. Besides, Shen Chuntao could hardly ask Wang He Di to take money out of his own pocket, to accommodate the very same uncles who had once prevented Yue from being with him, marrying her off to another. And she knows very well that she herself is in no position to foot the bill for her beloved brothers.
