Butler Yang is the first person that I met when I came to the house. She took care of me and attended my daily chores. Early in her 50s, she looked young with smiling face. As far as I know, she has worked here for about twenty years, helping the wife of Uncle Ming bring four Ming brothers up. She was the one who told me to change the clothe color in case my sadness would depress the Ming family. She was the one helped me buy textbooks. She was the one who brought me delicious food when I got hungry. She was really helpful.
The other day, I was reading the novel “North and South” in the garden. “Miss Jiang, you are studying again. ” Butler Yang kindly came up, and took a tray of cookies and a pot of tea on the table.
“Thank you, butler Yang. It’s just a novel for time killing.” I poured the tea in my cup.
“There is a small library next to the study of 3rd floor. You can find more novels there. ” she smiled, “but right now 3rd floor is a total mess. Be careful don’t get hurt. ”
“Thank you, butler Yang”
“My pleasure. My daughter used to go there and look for books. She likes reading classic novels as well.” Butler Yang became livelier when mentioning her daughter.
“You have a daughter? How old is she?” It’s the first time for me to know that, and became curious about that.
“She’s twenty five and just graduated from University of Hong Kong with a master degree in Finance. Currently, she is interning in Citi Bank in Su City.” she answered proudly.
“She’s excellent. I heard that the University of Hong Kong is one of the best in the world. I wish I could be admitted into such a renowned university.”
“You would definitely. Oh, she would visit me this weekend. I’ll have her chat with you when she arrives. You girls can make friends, since this house are full of boys. I’m sure you two would get well along.”
“Good idea.” I already look forward to getting acquainted with such a promising lady, even though she is elder than me.
“Jiang Xi?” someone called my name when I was watching The Big Bang Theory in the living room. I turned back and found a young lady on high heels. Her white dress looked fabulous with brown hair. Her make-up was dedicate, in particular the eye part. She’s gorgeous.
“You must be Butler Yang’s daughter. Nice meeting you, sister. I’m Xixi
“Call me Lily. You are so sweet and tiny.” She sat besides me and hugged me. It’s strange but maybe she picked the hugging manner up from the western world.
“You like American TV series? Nice, we can watch it together. Which season is it?”
“The first season. I have just started but it is really interesting. The two nerd scientists are incredibly funny. ” I giggled.
“Could you understand the whole dialogue and the plot?” she asked.
“The plot is fine, but the dialogue sometime is obscure and we have subtitles. Ypa~~~” I said excitedly.
Nevertheless, Lily did not get my way of excitement. She smiled at me without a slight sense of delight. She noticed my staring sight and said: “have you got familiar with the whole house? If not, I can be your guide and serve you a one-day tour.”Her proposal surprised me, because she was not the owner of the house. It was not appropriate for her to do that.
Unable to reject that, I followed her and walked around the main building, left wing, and right wing. When she arrived at my bedroom, she said ”It’s strange that you are now living in my bedroom. You are supposed to live in the main building which is for the hosts. The left wing is for servant.”
Her words undermined me and herself as well. I didn’t know why she said something like that to me, so I simply smiled and told her that I would move to the main building when my room is ready. It is now under decoration. “You can visit my bedroom next time.”
She frowned and soon smiled back “I will.”
Unfortunately, butler Yang was wrong. I could not get well along with her daughter who I believe was a little bit strange and even absurd.
When we were visiting the house, that one that I have lived for one month and a half, the gate opened and a care rode in. Lily was excited about the car. She immediately abandoned me and ran downstairs. When I got to the garden, I found she chatted with brother Yang. She acted like a mature sister in front me, but now behave like a shy little girl bumping around her boyfriend. She becomes excited because of brother Yang. She loves him or they love each other? The answer would be the first one, because brother Yang was polite to her only because of butler Yang who brought him up after his mother passed away. He did not show special mood when talking to Lily. “Poor Lily, one-side love” I murmured.
“What did you say?” brother noticed me and asked.
“Nothing. I took the bag from his hand and put it on the shelf. You come home early today. Uncle would be back in minutes.” I said.
“OK, I’ll go upstairs and take a shower first. You guys can play together.”
Play? What does he mean by the word “play”. I’m not a five -year-old girl now. I’m fifteen. I was upset by that and walked straight to the dining room without saying anything to Lily.
By the time, I finished the dinner and went back to the left wing. I heard Lily and butler Yang was quarreling. It’s rude to secretly listen to others’ conversation, but I have never quarreled with anyone before, and I am quite curious about the fight between them. At last, my curiosity defeated the rituals. I opened the window to make sure I can hear their quarrel more clearly.
“Mr. Ming has already helped you get into City Bank. It’s a multinational company and millions would be crazy for such a decent job. Why are you still unsatisfied with that? Why?” butler Yang shouted. She always talked gently. She must be really angry to behave like that.
“But I don’t want to work in Su City. It’s too far away from you. I want to stay here.” Lily responded.
“It’s the capital of the whole province, the headquarter of the bank in Asia. It’s not easy to do that” butler Yang’s voice lowered down, for she thought Lily just want to live with her and take care of her.
“But, but Mr. Ming is on power. He can help me.”
“The fact that whether Mr. Ming is powerful or not is none of your business. The Ming family has no obligation to give us the favor, and it’s inappropriate to ask them for help.”
“But I already did. I have told my intention and asked Ming Yang for help.” Lily rebuked.
“What? How dare you?” butler Yang once again raised her voice. She seemed to be really angry. “Do you know how many people want to get access to this house and beg Ming family? Who are you? You would never get into the house if I am not working here.”
“You have brought Mr. Yang’s four sons and worked hard in the house for years. They would help me if you beg.” Lily yelled back.
“Me, why me. You have to understand that I am just am employee here, The Ming family pays me, and you mustn’t cross the line. No one is foolish. We all know what you are heading for. Mr. Ming is not happy about you years ago, and that’s why I sent you to the boarding school, or else, I would lose my job, and you would not stand here saying all that shit to me.”
“Why?Why? I am beautiful and holds a master degree of a top-tier university. Why can’t I stay together with Ming Yang.”
“Because you two are from different social layer. That’s fate. Suck it.” Butler Yang was driven mad by Lily.
“Then why the daughter of Mr. Ming’s mistress was able to stay here? Her mother doesn’t even have a job. The girl Xixi is a moron. She even needs subtitles to watch an American TV series. Even a middle school student can watch it without the help of subtitles” Lily yelled more excitedly. It turned out I am such a low person in her eyes. Have I done anything wrong when I talked with her? I have no idea where her judgement come from, but her words really hurt me. I’m wondering whether all people around are just pretending to be kind to me, but secretly defamed me when I am absent.
"As far as I am concerned, Xixi has no blood relationship with Mr. Ming, but it's none of your business."
I had no intention to eardrop their conversation anymore, so I closed the window and even put two earplugs to ensure the effect of noise reduction.
Next day, Lily came to me and asked me to go shopping with her. I refused saying that I was scheduled to self-study English. She did not insist because she saw brother Yang went to the tennis court, so she happily went there with him. In the evening, Uncle and four brothers were all out, leaving me alone for dinner. I didn’t want to bother butler Yang, the chef, and the young maid, so I found butler Yang and asked whether it was possible for me to have dinner with them in the left wing.
“Are you crazy?” Lily was also there and surprisingly asked.
“No, I simply thought there was no need to bother you guys since I was the only one here today.”
“But dining here and in the main building is completely different. Don’t you understand?” she tried to remind me. Her words made butler Yang, the chef, the driver, and the young maid uncomfortable. However, they did not say a word because of my presence, and maybe the existence of butler Yang as well.
“Sorry, Xixi. I could not decide that without Mr. Ming’s permission, so you still had to have dinner in the main building. Don’t’ worry, we would be there to be your company. You would not feel lonely. ”butler Yang stopped Lily and said to me kindly.
It seems that Lily not only look down upon me, but also herself and her own mother. It is really weird and hard to understand. The policy for something weird to stay away from it. From then on, I deliberately kept distance with Lily and stayed in bedroom for reading even though Lily constantly came to me.
