Silent Era - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The open-air food stalls in the small county town are at their busiest at night. Starting at six o’clock, customers arrive table after table. A few cases of beer and two boxes of dice keep these men and women, newly freed from work, cheering and cheering all night long. Only after one or two o’clock in the morning does the noise gradually subside, and they gradually leave, supporting each other.

Bai Sihuan cleaned up the mess from the last table, shook the dusty rag in his hand and threw it on the counter. He washed his hands, and the day’s work was done.

Old Li, wearing a white vest, came out and, as usual, handed Bai Sihuan a cigarette.

The thin cigarette in his hand looked different than usual. Bai Sihuan asked in confusion, “Nanjing Xuanhemen?”

“That fat woman just dropped this. I can’t bear to buy such an expensive cigarette.” Old Li sat on the steps and started smoking. He finished half the cigarette in one puff and said with disdain, “It has no flavor at all, and they’re selling it so expensive. I wonder what those people are thinking.”

Bai Sihuan sat next to Old Li and smoked the expensive cigarettes, which averaged nineteen yuan a pack. His eyes were fixed on the flickering yellow streetlight, and he decided to ask the customer who worked at the streetlight management office to have them replaced tomorrow.

“You’re from a big city. Have you ever seen how rich people live? Really rich people?” Old Li held a cigarette between his lips and used his hands to picture his imagined wealthy person, or rather, his imagined future. “Driving a luxury car, living in a three- or four-story villa, and certainly having more than one wife: a good-looking one at home and several sultry ones outside. And a figure, a figure this good!” Old Li gestured in the air with his hands to create a pear-shaped figure.

Bai Sihuan seemed amused by him and laughed out loud.

Old Li nudged him with his elbow. “Am I wrong? Isn’t that what you’ve seen? Have you ever seen it?”

“Yes,” Bai Sihuan exhaled a thick puff of smoke. Now the smoke no longer brought tears to his eyes. As if embellishing Old Li’s words, he said nonchalantly, “They drive luxury cars, live in large villas with fountains and gardens, have more than one wife and more than one child, two at home and three outside. They only recognize one son and don’t care whether the others live or die. They only smoke cigarettes that cost more than 8,000 yuan, and when they do, they have several sets of smoking utensils of varying materials, and their lighters must be diamond-studded Cartiers.”

Old Li smiled and shook his finger at him, “Scholars know so much!” He lay on the floor, unfazed by the dirt, closed his eyes, and rubbed his exposed belly, saying, “Oh, what a wonderful life that must have been.”

What a wonderful life that must have been.

Bai Sihuan exhaled a puff of smoke into the air, the smoke gathering and dispersing as memories swirled upwards, touching the white mist. The past unfolded before him like a painting unfolding frame by frame.

“Wow, you’re here early! Rich people are treated differently; they’re more efficient. Come on, come on, he’s right here. Take him home and don’t send him back!” The disheveled woman dragged her fourteen-year-old son from the cramped house and tossed him to two men in black suits outside.

Bai Sihuan, who had been thrown out, cried out, “Mom!” with tears welling up in his eyes.

The woman turned and entered the room, took out Bai Sihuan’s schoolbag, and threw it at him unceremoniously: “Don’t call me Mom! You’ll have someone else to be your Mom from now on! Get out of here!”

The eight-year-old boy, hiding behind the woman, tugging at her ripped nightgown, looked at the two men in suits before him. Realizing that his brother was about to leave for the wealthy, he grabbed his mother’s hand and said, “Mom, I want to go too!”

The woman closed the faded, moldy mahogany door, and her curses echoed throughout the dilapidated alley: “Why are you going? Don’t you think you have any chance of survival? Go back to your room!”

At the age of fourteen, Bai Sihuan was kicked out by his mother. Two strangers took him in a luxury car he had never ridden in, and they left the alley he had lived in for fourteen years, heading for a prosperous area he had never visited in all those years.

It was from that moment, as he passed through the Shikumen houses and left the alley, that he realized his mother’s last-night scolding, “Go back to your dad,” was no joke.

He couldn’t quite recall the scene that year. It was probably early summer, perhaps. The women in the alley were still wearing floral slip dresses, peeking out of the second-floor windows, their hands reaching under their skirts to button their bras as they watched these rare, bright-eyed people enter and exit this forgotten alley.

The shadows of plane trees flitted past the car window. Bai Sihuan clutched his schoolbag tightly, not daring to breathe from the moment he got on to the moment he got off.

The moment he got off the car, he didn’t even dare to look around. The white, imperial-style villa before him dazzled him in the sunlight.

The maid was the first person he met in this “palace.” She opened the iron gate, took Bai Sihuan from the two men, and led him through the fountain garden into this “grand palace,” this so-called home.

The moment the gate opened, a dreamlike, dazzling scene assaulted his vision, and unfamiliar voices filled his ears.

“Hmph, you’re telling me about this just after I got back? Don’t you think my life outside is annoying enough?” A short-haired woman with heavy makeup descended the grand metal staircase.

The maid brought Bai Sihuan forward and said, “Madam, he’s… he’s the master’s child.”

The short-haired, petite-faced woman’s gaze lingered on Bai Sihuan for a second before she said to the housekeeper beside her, “I was wondering why he’s so grumpy today. He’s already acted without asking for my permission, and he still cares about my feelings?”

This powerful woman had an elegant name that belied her: Cheng Sutang. She was the true head of the Lin family. Her sons, servants, and even her husband, Lin Huan, the man who built this family with his wealth, had to constantly look to her for help.

“Old Pei, did you get the fried peanuts I asked you to buy this morning? Did you buy them from the place on Panyu Road I mentioned?” The second person to descend from the stairs was a boy only three years older than Bai Sihuan. He was the eldest son of the family, Lin Siying.

Bai Sihuan’s mother’s name was Bai Ying, and Lin Huan’s eldest son was Si Ying. Those two names contained all the meanings of those days, meanings others didn’t need to understand.

Cheng Sutang once resented her eldest son’s name, wishing she could erase it from her household registration.

Lin Siying, wearing a pink T-shirt, bounded down the stairs, accepting the bag of peanuts Old Pei had offered her. Passing by Bai Sihuan, she glanced at him curiously: “Is this child my third brother?”

The servant, who had been afraid to move, nodded.

Lin Siying grabbed Bai Sihuan’s hand, poured a handful of peanuts into it, smiled, patted his head, and hurried to leave.

Cheng Sutang, sitting at the dining table preparing to eat, asked sharply, “Where are we going?”

“Kingsley’s in Shanghai, and I’m going out with him!”

Hearing the name, Cheng Sutang’s frown softened. “Then go! It’s fun! Does he have a place to stay tonight? If not, he can stay at ours.”

Lin Siying waved her hand, “Don’t be ridiculous! He has a house in Tan Palace too. It’s bigger than ours, and the location is better. You’re letting him stay here? Besides, his sister gave him a small mansion in the French Concession, and he’s going to try it out tonight for his birthday. Let’s go!”

Lin Siying opened the door to the villa, and sunlight streamed onto Bai Sihuan’s face. Bai Sihuan turned his head. A handsome boy with a teardrop mole, who had appeared outside at some point, waved to him, smiled like a piece of honey, and winked at him.

The villa door closed, blocking out the sunlight on Bai Sihuan’s face and the handsome boy’s smile.

Bai Sihuan froze in place, clutching his schoolbag, not daring to move. Cheng Sutang completely ignored this uninvited guest, a complete misfit in the house, and made no move to invite him to sit down.

The third person to come down from the stairs was a long-haired girl, Cheng Sutang’s youngest daughter, Lin Xianyan. She spotted Bai Sihuan from a distance on the stairs. Having overheard her father say last night that he would bring back a brother, she wasn’t particularly surprised by his appearance.

But she still glanced at Bai Sihuan curiously for a few moments, then ran to her mother, Cheng Sutang, holding the album and carefully showing her the painting: “Mom, I painted this today.”

Cheng Sutang didn’t even glance at it, her voice icy, “I’m eating. Move it.”

Someone rang the doorbell. The housekeeper checked the doorbell screen and said to Cheng Sutang, “Madam, it’s the eldest daughter.”

“Send her away. She only asks for money every time she comes.”

This family confused Bai Sihuan. In the small house where he grew up, it was always just him, his mother, his younger brother Bai Yuancheng, and the occasional stranger. There were never more than four people in his house.

Bai Sihuan bent his knees, trying to stretch his legs, which had grown numb from standing. The maid beside him was clearly more stamina than him, maintaining the same posture without even a frown.

The villa door opened for the third time, and Bai Sihuan heard the barking of a dog.

Cheng Sutang, who had been wearing a stern face, immediately broke into a loving smile upon seeing the person enter.

She waved from her seat, “Oh, my sweetheart’s back! Come over for dinner!”

A white Samoyed ran past Bai Sihuan, wagging its tail at Cheng Sutang’s legs.

The young man behind him sighed irritably after entering and asked the maids, “How do you usually feed Karen? Today, Karen was out picking up discarded bones to eat. If she’s eating well at home, will she be tempted to eat that kind of garbage when she’s out?”

An inexplicable attraction drew Bai Sihuan away.

The young man’s beauty suddenly caught Bai Sihuan’s eye, causing his unguarded heart to leap violently.

He’d often heard people say that the most beautiful people in the world are those who grew up surrounded by gold.

The man before him confirmed that statement, or rather, he looked more like someone carved from gold. From head to toe, every part of his body was polished, every detail refined. Nothing about him couldn’t make one’s heart flutter and dizzy.

Lin Heng, already in a bad mood, frowned upon seeing the boy in the faded plaid shirt. “Where did this dirty kid come from?” Thinking of Karen running past him just now, Lin Heng’s frown deepened. “Hurry up and take my dog ​​to the bath, before he gets it dirty.”

Cheng Sutang said, “Your father picked up this beggar from the street.”

The maid explained to the bewildered Lin Heng, “He’s the master’s son, your brother.”

Lin Heng froze, his hand, adjusting his cuff buttons, frozen in mid-air.

He looked back at the ragged boy, the quality of his clothes making him refuse to look at his brother’s face. He had probably never seen such cheap, tattered clothes in his life.

After nearly half a minute to digest this fact, Lin Heng sighed again and ordered the servant, “Hurry and take her in to wash with Karen.”