品尝完杜明贤专门做的【水晶烧麦】、【鸡蓉豆花】、【上汤娃娃菜】、以及【蓝莓山药】后,珍妮弗女士拿出随身携带的手帕轻轻拭了拭嘴,点头道:“Those dishes are absolutely fine, I think your cooking talent is underappreciated.”﹝这些食物味道不错,我认为你很有做饭的才能。﹞
“That's really kind of you to say, Madam.”﹝您这样说我很开心,夫人。﹞
“Millie and I are leaving tomorrow morning. We had a great time, thank you.”﹝米莉和我明早离开。我们这几天很愉快,谢谢。﹞
“I will miss her. Please bring her to China more often for me and of course, her father.”﹝我会想她的。请经常带她来中国玩,为我,当然也是为了她爸爸。﹞
“Certainly.”﹝没问题。﹞
珍妮弗女士虽然并不冷漠刁钻,甚至还非常礼貌,但言语间几乎没有任何温度,让人怀疑威廉口中的“疯婆子”是不是和“冰雪女王”同义?而英语并不是杜明贤的母语,平时也鲜少使用,所以用起来非常生疏僵硬——这让杜明贤开始有点儿佩服能把中文玩笑都开得贼溜的威廉了…
“Regarding Millie's father,I have a request to make and I am willing to pay for it.“﹝关于米莉的父亲,我有个愿意支付报酬的请求。﹞
杜明贤一怔,立马摇头:“No, I won't kill him. I don't want to, and I can't !”﹝不,我不会杀他的。我不想杀,也杀不了!﹞
“I didn't mean it like that.”﹝我不是这个意思。﹞
“Do you want me to spy on him and tell you about all the women he has dated?”﹝您是希望我监视他并告诉您所有他约会的女性?﹞
“Charming, but no. What I want you to do is to take care of him.”﹝想法挺诱人,但不是。我希望你好好关照他。﹞
“I already said I won't kill him!”﹝我都说过了我不想杀他!﹞
“Take care of him with love and tenderness! Make sure he feels loved and protected!”﹝我说的是用爱和温柔好好照顾他!让他感受到被爱和被保护!﹞
英文的“take care of”字面意思就是“照顾”,但在俗语中有“处理掉”的意思,所以杜明贤误会了。不过就算如此,用爱和温柔什么的对威廉实在是大可不必!
“Take this, it's a gesture.”﹝拿着,这是我想要表达的立场。﹞
杜明贤疑惑地接过珍妮弗女士早就准备好的一张纸,定睛一看发现是张支票,金额是——100万!而且还是英镑!!
“No.”杜明贤立刻把支票还了回去,甚至还在思考要不要连指纹都擦掉?
“You want more?”﹝你还要更多吗?﹞
珍妮弗女士作势要往数字后添“0”。
“This is wrong, in so many levels.”﹝这事不对,在各种意义上都不对。﹞
稍微冷静了几秒,杜明贤组织好语言才解释道:“William and I are friends who help each other equally.”﹝威廉和我是朋友,我们平等地互相帮助。﹞
“Consider the money as a gift. You can buy a bigger apartment and then help each other equally.”﹝把这笔钱当成一份礼物。你们能买套大房子,然后再去“平等地互相帮助”。﹞
杜明贤还是摇头。如果让威廉知道自己收了这笔钱,他会真的发飙——至今为止虽然见过威廉发火但从未见过他发飙,杜明贤的打算是一辈子都不要见!
“I understood.”﹝我明白了。﹞
珍妮弗女士也不强求,把支票收了回去,就在杜明贤悄悄松了一口气时,突然见到她的眼睛瞪得老大,语气也失去了最开始的冷静优雅,变得焦躁急切:“He hates me, right?”﹝他恨我,对吧?﹞
“For what?”﹝他恨你什么?﹞
“When he was my bodyguard,I threw myself at him because I hated everyone around me only because of my father's money. However,he was different,as free as a proud eagle.”﹝在他当我保镖时,我对他投怀送抱。因为我身边的人都只是为了我父亲的钱才聚集在我身边,但他不一样,自由得像只骄傲得振翅雄鹰!﹞
杜明贤心想:虽然不知道那只“雄鹰”年轻时候怎么骄傲,反正现在已经是只因为吃得太多连跑两步都费劲的“胖鹰”了!
“Did you think this is a love story about a princess and a prince? No,it's not,it never is ! He is my savior !!”﹝你以为这是公主和王子的爱情故事吗?不,根本不是,从来不是!他是我的救世主!!﹞
“Are we talking about the same Willam?”﹝您确定我们谈论的是同一个“威廉”吗?﹞
“Yes, the only Wilson Hunkins!Yet,I screwed up,and this time I can't use the money to fix that like everything else in my life!”﹝当然,那是唯一的“威尔森·霍金斯”!但是我搞砸了,而且这次再也不能像我之前所有事情一样靠钱去解决了!﹞
说完,珍妮弗女士竟然嚎啕大哭起来!精致的妆容连吃饭时都保持得一丝不苟,现在却满脸是花!
“TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!”﹝告·诉·我·该·怎·么·做!!﹞
就在杜明贤不知所措时,突然被珍妮弗女士抓住胳膊使劲摇晃!杜明贤不敢用脚,只得想办法挣脱,幸好此时威廉和米莉散步正好回来了,杜明贤像看到救星一样赶紧跑了过去!
…
等威廉把前妻和女儿送到酒店回来后,发现杜明贤还坐在沙发上,满脸惊恐。
“我曾经一直觉得你在污蔑你前妻,‘疯婆子’的称呼是在危言耸听或无中生有——我向你道歉。”
“理解就好。”威廉摆摆手,也很疲倦的样子。
“夫人怎么样了?”
“已经冷静下来了,否则我也不敢把女儿留在那里不是吗?”
“是啊…”杜明贤心有余悸。
晚上的事情我大概知道了,我替她向你道歉。不过我也告诉你:跟她最严重的那会儿比起来,这次简直是小奶猫小奶狗级别的小打小闹!”
“我不管这些了,就问之后怎么办?”
“明天早上的飞机,我去送她们,你要开店就算了。”
“不是这个啦!你前妻一会儿拿出100万英镑让我照顾你,一会儿又说你是鹰,还说什么你是她的救世主!到底是怎么回事啊!?”
“深闺大小姐头一次见街头小流氓呗!我跟她的所谓‘爱情故事’除了地位悬殊和我带着女儿外就基本上乏善可陈了,婚姻到了最后也会为洗衣服多放少放了洗衣粉而大吵一架!行啦,今天你和我都累了,明天也都要早起,快去睡吧!”
在和虞莹讨论这事时,她说了一个推测:威廉叔和珍妮弗女士都是外表要强内心不安的性格,虽然在外强上加强但单独相处时就会暴露不安和烦恼,所以恋爱中性格互补或许真的比性格相同要更和谐?