Whitaker Scarlett slowly introduced each dish: fresh beef congee, crystal shrimp dumplings, fried spring rolls, and money bags, paired with a pot of tea. For two people to order so much in 1983 was truly extravagant.
Nearby, two old men were whispering about wealth. They spoke in the Sablewick dialect, which Elizabeth couldn’t understand, but Whitaker Scarlett calmly replied:
“I brought my mother to try something new.”
People in Sablewick don’t like to speak English; those who do are outsiders, and outsiders are all poor.
Whitaker Scarlett, this outsider, was boldly showing off, leaving the two old men speechless. It wasn’t flaunting wealth; it was filial piety. Their own children might not spend so much on their elders.
“Too much, too much…”
Elizabeth repeated these three words over and over.
Whitaker Scarlett was very experienced in dealing with her; she simply said it had already been served, and they wouldn’t get a refund if they didn’t eat. With a full table, Elizabeth fell silent. Nowadays, everyone has a big appetite; in reality, there’s no such thing as not finishing the food, it’s just that most people can’t afford it. Most people would have a pot of tea with two snacks and chat for two or three hours.
Whitaker Scarlett was here to eat with her mother, not to chat so much.
Is it delicious?
Of course, it is.
The ingredients are so substantial, and she chose a well-known brand; every dim sum item is above standard. Some old brands have turned into chain stores, and with the daily influx of customers, Whitaker Scarlett felt the dim sum was quite ordinary.
Now, it hasn’t been changed by the tides of the times, and if she can enjoy it a few more times, she must seize the opportunity.
Elizabeth couldn’t understand the Sablewick dialect, and she could sense the envy from the other tea drinkers around her. What were they envious of? Envious that she had a good daughter. Elizabeth realized this, and the food in her mouth seemed even tastier.
She pushed the ribs towards Whitaker Scarlett:
“Scarlett, you eat too.”
She didn’t know how much effort it took to make crab r
and flaky egg tarts; she thought meat was the best thing and left the ribs for Whitaker Scarlett.
Whitaker Scarlett didn’t explain and gladly accepted Elizabeth’s kindness.
The mother and daughter were happily eating, while the restaurant also had some private rooms separated by carved doors and windows.
Two middle-aged men sat there, with two or three plates of dim sum on their table, yet they could sit in a private room. When one of them noticed his companion looking at the mother and daughter enjoying dim sum in the hall, he sighed:
“There are more outsiders in Sablewick these past two years.”
The bespectacled middle-aged man nodded, “Sablewick’s wealth is unmatched by inland cities. With the guidance of the Pent Special Zone, the gap between Sablewick and inland cities will only grow. In a few years, residents from the inland will flock here.”
“Do you have high hopes for the Pent Special Zone?”
The current Pent Special Zone is still under construction and is far from the deep-rooted Sablewick. Originally a spontaneously formed market, can it surpass Sablewick even if it becomes a special zone?
Sablewick is filled with skyscrapers, and it’s not inferior to Capital or Zoriville.
Can the Pent Special Zone surpass Sablewick?
The bespectacled man didn’t argue with his companion. He had encountered that girl eating dim sum outside on the train last time; he had forgotten which village she was from. At that time, she wasn’t so extravagant; in just a month, it seemed she had struck gold in Sablewick.
More and more inland people like her would come to seek fortune.
In April last year, a 28-meter-high barbed wire fence began construction and is still being built today.
Can a barbed wire fence prevent the infiltration of capitalism?
People’s natural yearning for a good life cannot be blocked by a barbed wire fence. Surrounding the Pent Special Zone may not have any effect.
The middle-aged man had no intention of reminiscing with Whitaker Scarlett.
Finding time to enjoy a dim sum breakfast, he and a country girl like Whitaker Scarlett would likely never cross paths again in life, even though they had shared the same train and stayed in the same sleeper compartment, and now they could reunite in a restaurant in Sablewick… that didn’t mean he would have any dealings with Whitaker Scarlett.
Oh, he remembered Whitaker Scarlett was quite clever.
Not only clever, but she also seemed quite filial.
As for Elizabeth, he glanced over; she was just an ordinary rural woman.
…
Whitaker Scarlett didn’t know she brushed past the middle-aged man she met on the train.
She spent the day in Sablewick with Elizabeth, not limited to the area around the train station. Sablewick is more economically developed than Harborfield, including the newly built Sablewick Swan Hotel, also known as the “32 Floors,” located on Shaman Island, adjacent to the confluence of the three rivers… Elizabeth had never seen a 32-story building.
Whitaker Scarlett said she would come back to Sablewick in two years, hoping to bring Elizabeth to stay at the Swan Hotel, overlooking the three rivers, with beautiful scenery.
Elizabeth silently prayed; how could she enjoy such things? She didn’t dare to think, didn’t dare to think.
In the afternoon, Whitaker Scarlett followed the instructions to the wholesale stall, and the owner really had cotton clothes—compared to his rough handling of other clothes from the snake skin bag, he took the cotton clothes with great care.
These cotton clothes were beyond Whitaker Scarlett’s expectations: “Cold-proof clothing?!”
