Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 38 Chicken talking to duck
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa."

Today is the old lady's 62nd birthday. The family gathered together to celebrate her birthday. Because there were too many people in the Kang family, Kang Qirui bought a double-layer cake. The reason why he bought it was, of course, because today, Mrs. Zhu and Zhu Wanling also came to celebrate. Just now, the old lady was making a wish and everyone was cheering beside her.

"Grandma, I wish you good fortune as vast as the East Sea and a long life as great as the Southern Mountains." Seeing the old maid blowing out the candles, the second sister-in-law immediately took out a big box and handed it to the old maid.

"Wow, such a big box?" A Yao asked in surprise.

"It must be the discounted toilet paper bought at the discount mall." A-Zu joked.

"Wrong! It's not toilet paper, it's seasoning. This box of seasoning symbolizes that our old lady has lived for most of her life and experienced all the ups and downs in this life." The second brother seemed to be very reasonable, and he was bragging about the gift of seasoning.

Then Sachiko and Ayao also took out a small box and gave it to the old lady, "They have such a big portion, so we'll go smaller." Ayao said with a grin. Sachiko quickly handed it to the old lady, "Mom, this is a birthday gift from Qiyao and I. I wish you a happy birthday every year."

The old lady was particularly happy today, "Thank you so much!" which made Mrs. Zhu next to her envious.

"Could it be a diamond ring?" A-Zu was very curious about what was in such a small box.

A Yao smiled and nodded and said jokingly: "Yes, yes, do you want to contribute some money?" A Zu just smiled and said nothing more. It was obvious that he, a member of the Moonlight Clan, had no money.

"Mom," the eldest sister-in-law Xianglan called out in Mandarin first. When the old maid turned around to look at her, she said in Cantonese, "Grandma, I'll buy you a shirt. I wish you a happy birthday, happy, happy, happy."

It can be heard that Xianglan is trying very hard to speak Cantonese, but the old lady is not happy when she hears it. The old man doesn't want to embarrass Xianglan, so he takes the clothes and says, "Be good, be good."

"Mom, I'm awesome. I'm going to give you a high-tech product." A-Zu took out something that was well-wrapped from his coat pocket. A-Yao immediately grabbed it and took a look. He smiled and said, "No way, isn't this the CD player you used before? Is this a gift?"

Grandpa argued, "This is my favorite thing. I am willing to give my favorite thing to my mother. This is filial piety."

"Hahahahahaha" everyone laughed at A-Zu's specious arguments.

Even the little kid Tianxiu prepared a gift, "Grandma, this doll is so cute. It was once a toy for me when I was a kid. I'll give it to you." Wang Yulian took it with a smile. She didn't really care whether the gifts were expensive or not. As long as the children had their own wishes, she would be happy.

"Aunt Kang, this is a birthday gift from A Rui and I. I wish you a happy new year and good health." Zhu Wanling also took out a small box and gave it to Wang Yulian. It was a pair of earrings that she and Kang Qirui had spent a long time shopping for. The old lady was naturally doubly happy to receive a gift from her future daughter-in-law.

After giving the gifts, they were ready to start cutting the cake. Xianglan, who had just been ignored, walked into the dining room dejectedly to get the plates. The boss saw that his wife was unhappy and quickly chased after her, "Xianglan, what's the matter?"

"Does your mother think my gift is too light?" Xianglan was a little depressed. She was already angry when she bought the dress today. When she heard it was 100 yuan, the store owner insisted it was 200 yuan. In the end, she bought it anyway. But her mother-in-law was still unhappy.

"No, Mom is not that kind of person." The boss just comforted Xianglan, but Xianglan still couldn't figure it out, "Then why is she unhappy? I didn't say anything wrong."

"That's right. Just now, Sachiko said happy birthday to her and she was so happy. But when you said happy birthday to her, she gave you a cold look. Why?" The boss felt something was wrong just by thinking about it.

"I spent so much time practicing 'Happy Birthday'." Xianglan became more depressed the more she thought about it.

"Sister-in-law, that's not how you say happy birthday in Cantonese." Kang Qirui saw that the boss's sister-in-law hadn't brought out the plates for a long time, so he walked in. He just happened to hear what the sister-in-law said and replied.

But what he said was so confusing that even Big Boss Guang couldn't understand, "Then how should I say it?"

"Are you kidding me, boss? You don't even know?"

"I do not know."

The two brothers were more surprised than each other. Finally, Kang Qirui had to explain, "There are songs to sing, 'Wishing you a long life and happiness, happy birthday! Every year has this day, every year has this day! Congratulations, congratulations!' That's what we say in Cantonese. Happy birthday means to fall quickly. How unlucky."

Cantonese people are very particular about meanings. What are meanings? In fact, they are some good morals, good concepts, and good omens. The practice of talking about meanings can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, when the Cantonese area was called "Southern Barbarians" and people relied on farming to survive, often depending on the weather for their livelihood. They placed their hopes of praying for good weather and a peaceful life on saying good words and talking about meanings, and this tradition has been passed down to this day.

比如说4这个数字在广府人眼里是最不吉利的，因为4同死。这边基本没有4楼、14楼，只有3A、13A(以此类推）。又比如将“空屋”改为“吉屋”、“空车”改为“吉车”。

As a traditional Cantonese, the old lady was naturally very unhappy to hear unlucky words on her birthday. "Xianglan, you should stop speaking Cantonese in the future, so as to avoid any problems." The boss only knew what a one-size-fits-all approach meant.

"No, I just want to speak Cantonese and learn it well." Xianglan was very determined. When she saw Kang Qirui taking the plate and leaving, she whispered, "I heard from Yongfang that they plan to open two branches next year. I will only ask my uncle to let me be the store manager after I learn Cantonese well." So that's why the sister-in-law was determined to learn Cantonese.

The eldest sister-in-law was very active. After eating the cake, cleaning up and taking a shower, she returned to her room and immediately asked the eldest brother to teach her Cantonese: "Husband, from today on, you will teach me Cantonese."

"How can I teach? I don't know how to teach anyone." The big boss said he was helpless.

"It doesn't matter whether you can do it or not, as long as you don't have to learn any theoretical lessons. Just teach a few fun sentences." Xianglan doesn't need to learn something very advanced, as long as she can speak the basics.

"Is it fun?" The boss thought for a moment, "Do you want me to curse at you?"

"Swearing?" Xianglan was confused.

"Oh, that's right." Big Brother Guang thought this was a good idea. "Don't you say you're always bullied? If you learn how to curse, you'll know immediately if someone says something nasty to you, and you can curse back."

"Then teach me." The sister-in-law thought it made sense.

"The first sentence is '痴线'." The eldest brother began to teach Cantonese swearing. "I've heard this sentence before. It means the nerves in your brain are stuck together, which means you are crazy." The eldest sister-in-law learned it very quickly.

"You're smart. You know all this." The big boss praised him first, and then said, "The second sentence is '戆居'."

"Foolish? I seem to have heard someone say this about you. What does it mean?" The sister-in-law felt it was very familiar, as if she had heard it.

Big Brother Guang was suddenly embarrassed and had to say, "What's the use of this sentence? Don't learn it."

"Okay, there's more, hubby." Xianglan is diligent in learning Cantonese.

"Dian Ji Du Wu Ming." The elder brother had no choice but to say one more sentence, but Xianglan still said that she had heard others say that about him, so the elder brother got angry and stopped teaching. Xianglan had no choice but to learn from A Zu, but A Zu naturally had no time to deal with Xianglan, so he gave her a notebook and sent her away.

The next day, as soon as Kang Qirui got up, he heard voices like "molestation", "dirty hands", and "help" coming from A Yao Xingzi's room. Kang Qirui was frightened and hurried over to knock on the door, "Third brother and sister-in-law? What's the matter? What happened?" Others also gathered over when they heard the voices.

"What's wrong?" A Yao asked in confusion when he opened the door and saw a large group of people gathered at his door.

"What's the matter with you? Why are you shouting for help or committing indecent assault?" the old maid said.

"It's okay, I'm just learning Cantonese." It turned out that Sachiko and Xianglan were both learning Cantonese.

"Abnormal!" Kang Qirui complained. He didn't learn Cantonese properly, but learned this weird thing.

Kang Qirui didn't have classes today, so he didn't have to go to school. After breakfast, he watched TV in the living room. "Hahahaha" he was amused by the content on TV. "Silly Zuo is not easy to turn over." The eldest sister-in-law's voice came from behind.

Kang Qirui looked back and saw that his sister-in-law was still mumbling while sweeping the floor. Kang Qirui couldn't help but wonder: Why did his sister-in-law scold me? According to his sister-in-law's personality, she wouldn't and wouldn't dare to scold me, right? Was it because the TV was too loud? Or was she disgusted with him for not working?
Kang Qirui had been thinking about Sachiko coming home from get off work but hadn't figured this out. When he saw Sachiko coming home from get off work, he greeted her, "Sister-in-law is back."

Sachiko had nothing to do when she came back, so she sat on the sofa and watched TV while chatting with Kang Qirui. At this time, the phone rang, and she picked it up, "Hello, who are you? Are you my dad? He was here for a while, and he came to me again. I don't know where he went. Me? Where am I? Wait for him to come back and talk to me so that he knows that there is someone who loves him. It's okay, you have to go and play for a while, bye."

Hahahahahahahahahaha
Sachiko was originally happy that everyone understood her Cantonese, but she heard Kang Qirui next to her laughing like crazy, holding his stomach with his hands, and it was obvious that he was laughing so hard that his stomach cramped. "Hey, what are you doing? Is what I said wrong or not standard?" Sachiko asked in confusion.

Kang Qirui finally stopped laughing, "It's not that the pronunciation is not standard, it's that the words are too rude. Don't say that when you go out, I'm afraid you'll be beaten by others, Third Sister-in-law."

"Ah?" Sachiko was stunned. What a shame! She had learned all these vulgar words for so long, but they turned out to be vulgar words. She had no choice but to return to her room in embarrassment, thinking that she would have to wait for Ayao to come back in the evening to make him suffer.

The next day, when Kang Qirui woke up, he heard A Yao singing: "Sister Lin, a sister Lin fell from the sky."

"Third brother, what are you doing again? Yesterday it was molestation and today it's Lin Daiyu. Can you let people sleep well?" Kang Qirui said to A Yao with resentment.

"Isn't it nice to listen to? It's a famous piece of Yue Opera. I think it's very nice to listen to." A Yao said.

"Third brother, let's not talk about whether it sounds good or not, why are you singing this so early in the morning?" Kang Qirui complained while eating breakfast while sitting on a chair.

"Oh, this is called learning to speak by singing." A Yao said confidently.

"What? Learn to speak by singing? Can't you speak now?" The old man didn't understand what A Yao was saying.

"But I can't speak Shanghai dialect. I made a bet with Sachiko that I can learn Shanghai dialect within a month, so I keep practicing to let her see how smart we Kang family are." A Yao was very proud and kept praising his own learning method.

"No way? Yesterday, my third sister-in-law said she wanted to learn Cantonese, but today it became my third brother who is learning Shanghai dialect? Aren't you two husband and wife changing too fast?" Kang Qirui felt that the couple were too idle and were doing something new every day.

When the eldest sister-in-law heard A Yao learning Shencheng dialect, her eyes turned and no one knew what she was thinking in her little head. She kept looking at the eldest brother who was eating breakfast.

When Kang Qirui got home from get off work in the evening, the house was bustling. A Yao was singing Yue Opera, and Da Lao was singing Henan Opera, each one louder than the other. And A Zu was walking around with something in his hand.

"Fourth brother, what are you doing?" Kang Qirui grabbed A Zu and asked.

"I want to measure the decibel level of their voices to see if they will reach the upper limit of noise management in Guangzhou." A-Zu explained while covering his ears with one hand.

"It must have exceeded that. I heard it at the street corner. If someone didn't know, they would think there was a funeral in our house." Kang Qirui said loudly and unhappily.

As soon as the old man Kang Ershou heard the mourning cry when he entered the room, his face suddenly turned black. He knocked on the door and called out A Yao and Da Lao Guang, "From today on, you are not allowed to sing these weird tunes anymore."

Big Brother Guang didn't think there was a problem: "No, Dad, these songs are very nice. You listen to them." He was about to sing live, but was interrupted by his dad.

Kang Qirui also chimed in: "Big Brother Three, you guys can sing but be careful of the impact. It's like a competition of louder voices, one singing louder than the other. Just now, my fourth brother measured that the decibel level exceeded the Cantonese upper limit. If you continue like this, I'm afraid the neighbors next door will call the police."

"Then what do you say we should do?" A Yao and Da Lao Guang both looked at Kang Qirui.

"It's not that you can't sing. But you can't sing in the morning or at night, and you can't sing loudly. You have to control the volume." Kang Qirui said the solution. It's not okay not to sing for the big boss A Yao. Singing is a matter of personal preference. Just pay attention to the time and the sound.

(End of this chapter)