Chapter 410: True Feelings and Schemes

Li Siya and Li Mo looked at each other with tears in their eyes for a long time. The carefree days when the three sisters played together seemed like a lifetime ago.

“I never thought we sisters would see each other again!” Li Mo said with a trembling voice, tightly clutching the lilac tassel in her hand. This was something she had woven herself back then, one for each of the three sisters. Her own had been lost long ago during her wanderings, but she never expected her sister to have kept it so well.

The two of them spoke of their longing for each other over the years. When asked about her life these past years, Li Mo could no longer suppress the long-held sorrow in her heart and cried as she spoke, which made Li Siya wipe away her own tears.

“…Thanks to sister Chuqing’s help in the Gou family village, and later I met the kind-hearted Brother Zhang who took me to join the short-hairs… the chiefs…” Li Mo sobbed, “Your sister and your niece suffered all kinds of hardships in the Gou family village, it was like going through hell.”

Of course, Li Siya knew about the Gou family village. She had colluded with Gou Er and made him an insignificant pawn. She had never imagined that Li Mo had been so bullied and abused on this man’s estate, and her heart was filled with mixed feelings.

She felt both anger and guilt, but then again, Li Mo had brought this upon herself. Recalling how she had secretly eloped without a word, leaving the young Li Siya with a deep shadow of abandonment and betrayal in her heart.

Seeing her now, overcome with guilt and crying her eyes out, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

“Let’s not talk about these sad things anymore,” Li Siya sighed softly. “Sister, you left us just like that, how cruel of you!”

Li Mo was already filled with guilt, and this complaint made her even more ashamed. She was, after all, a wet nurse with a semi-servant status, used to being inferior to Li Siya. Pressed by these words, she couldn’t bear it any longer. She stood up and knelt before Li Siya with a thud, holding back her tears and saying, “I know I was wrong. I was blinded by love back then. The hardships I’ve suffered these years are the punishment I deserve…”

Seeing her kneel, Li Siya was pleased. Li Mo had reaffirmed her status as her mistress. After being away for more than ten years, it was not enough to win her over with sisterly affection alone. She had to make her submit and admit her mistakes to re-establish her authority. So, the seemingly childish complaint just now was actually loaded with meaning. Li Mo’s parents had died one after another because of her elopement, and Li Mo had not returned for their funerals or to sweep their graves. By accusing her of “unfilial piety,” combined with her own authority as her mistress, she couldn’t help but kneel and submit.

Seeing that she had already knelt and admitted her mistake, Li Siya stopped there. She put on a look of intolerance and helped her up, saying, “Sister, don’t be like this. It’s all in the past. What’s the point of talking about right and wrong? You’ve suffered so much, and I couldn’t even help you…”

Li Mo had no idea about the schemes in her sister’s heart. She thought she was being considerate and didn’t want to embarrass her too much, and she felt even more grateful. The two of them cried for a while longer, and then Li Mo asked about how Li Siya and Li Quan had been doing all these years.

Speaking of the past years, Li Siya didn’t say much about her own actions, only that she had been “drifting” at sea all these years. Seeing her sister’s weathered and experienced look, Li Mo knew that she had probably been involved in some kind of shady business at sea, most likely the “black trade” that their master used to be involved in. She couldn’t help but worry.

Although her life and work had been a straight line between the farm and the hospital for the past few years, she had more contact with the Senators than other naturalized citizens and could overhear some policies and news. She knew that the Senate despised pirates. If they didn’t surrender voluntarily, they would either be “re-educated” or face death. She couldn’t help but worry and advised her a few times not to get involved with money that smelled of seawater. Whether it was returning to Portugal to live with their master or staying in Macau to live a carefree life, both were good options.

Li Siya sighed and didn’t want to talk about it. Her mother was of humble birth and had never had a Catholic wedding with her father. In fact, her father had a formal wife and children in Portugal. Although her father and his Portuguese wife had written to say that they would recognize her as a legitimate daughter if she was willing to return, her birth was still a step below others. She was a proud woman, how could she be willing to suffer this injustice? Besides, if she returned to Portugal, she would have to properly style her hair, wear dresses with gold thread, and sit at home every day, waiting for some gentleman to take a fancy to her or her dowry and propose…

She had already accumulated a fortune of one or two hundred thousand. Rather than going to Portugal to live a restricted life, it was better to live a free and easy life here.

She said, “My mother is Chinese. Besides, I wouldn’t be at ease going to Portugal without seeing you, sister.” She avoided answering the other questions and asked, “Sister, are you doing well in Lingao?”

“Good, good,” Li Mo said, wiping her tears and smiling. “Master Wu is a good person, and sister Chuqing is also very good to me. I work in the Ministry of Health and get paid monthly, and your niece also has a school to attend. The chiefs are really good to us mother and daughter.”

From her words, Li Siya already knew that her big sister was grateful to these “short-haired thieves” and that it would be impossible to persuade her to work for her.

However, as long as she valued this sisterly affection, she could at least get a lot of internal information about the short-haired thieves. The priority now was not to get her sister to work for her, but to win her over first.

So she also put on a “smiling through tears” look and said, “Now that sister has a good home, I can also be at ease.” She then took out two small gold ingots from her bosom. “This is a small token of my affection.”

Li Mo saw that they were two small gold ingots in the shape of “a brush and an ingot, symbolizing good fortune,” weighing more than one tael in total. Although it was a “heavy gift,” Li Mo knew that such a gift was very common among wealthy families for their children’s relatives and friends, so it was not out of line, and she did not refuse.

“A little bit of gold, for my niece to make some jewelry to wear,” Li Siya said, looking like a good aunt. “My niece is a big girl now. It would be a joke if people found out she’s never received anything from her aunt.”

Li Mo then asked about Li Chun’s whereabouts.

“Sister Chun is no longer with me,” Li Siya said with a look of “sorrow.” “She’s grown up, and I can’t control her anymore. She insisted on going out to sea on her own to make a name for herself—saying she wanted to find you, sister. She’s been gone for several years. She used to come back to see me occasionally at first. In recent years, there has been no news at all, just some occasional rumors, true and false. But she’s probably safe and sound now.”

“It’s better not to be in this line of work,” Li Mo said, feeling even more guilty. “It’s a dangerous life, and ships sink and people die all the time.” She mentioned the recent shipwreck in Lingao: a transport ship from Kaohsiung had sunk in a storm, and several other ships were damaged, killing hundreds of people at once.

Li Siya listened very attentively. Although this news was of no use to her, it showed that as long as she could see her sister regularly, she could get a lot of such scattered information, and maybe some important news would be leaked.

While she was scheming, she heard Li Mo say, “Sister, you should stop your old business and move to Lingao. It’s easy to make a living here. You can do business, and the Australian masters here are very welcoming. Whether you work for a chief or open your own foreign trading house, you can make a living. And we sisters can be together for a long time.”

Li Siya’s heart skipped a beat. This was actually a good idea, but she had already shown her face in front of Chairman Wen. Living in Lingao for a long time would be walking right into a trap. If only she had killed Chairman Wen back then.

She put on a long sigh and said, “Sister, you don’t know, but I can’t go to Lingao.”

“Why?”

“When the Australians first came to Guangdong, I was ignorant and offended them, and we’ve been at odds ever since. If they catch me, I’m afraid it will be more bad than good…”

Li Mo was startled. “What? Sister, you—”

“Sister, don’t ask anymore,” Li Siya had to reveal this to make Li Mo keep this meeting a secret. “However, the Australians are now a power at sea, and they probably don’t care about my old affairs anymore. You don’t have to worry, sister—but I can’t go to Lingao.”

Li Mo nodded. “I understand.”

“Sister, I have to go. You should take a bath before you leave.” Li Siya estimated that they had been talking for about an hour. If they wanted to express their longing for each other, they could talk for a whole day and night, but if they stayed too long, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of the short-haired thieves.

Li Mo was reluctant to part, but she knew there was nothing she could do. Since her sister had offended the Australians, she couldn’t stay here for long. She didn’t know when they would meet again. She stood up to see her off and said, “Sister, you have to be careful…” She started to cry again.

“I will write to you, sister,” Li Siya said. “Where should I send the letters?”

Li Mo thought for a moment. “You just need to drop the letter into the mailbox of the Qiwei Escort Agency here, and write ‘To Li Mo, Bairen General Hospital’ on the envelope.”

To facilitate communication between the Guangdong immigrants in Lingao and their relatives in Guangdong, the General Post Office had opened postal routes to various parts of Guangdong using the routes and branches of the Qiwei Escort Agency. It was very convenient for sending letters.

“If you want to deliver the letter directly, send it to Building 12, Unit 105, Nanhai Farm Dormitory Area,” Li Mo said.

Li Siya said, “I know. Take care, sister!” She put the gauze scarf back on her head, pushed the door open slightly to take a look, and seeing that no one was around, she quietly slipped back to her own private room.

Li Mo wiped away her tears, filled the bathtub with water, took a quick bath, and then ordered a glass of iced drink with a lot of ice. She knew that the fastest and most effective way to hide her teary eyes was to apply a cold compress with ice.