胡堡胡同 Huburg Hutong：010 第十章：赵莉俐 Lily

第十章：赵莉俐

我快要看完这箱文件了。 再喝一口咖啡，虽然咖啡已经冷了，再努力一下，我就做完了。

林经理管账，还负责法律事务。林经理做记录做得很仔细。据我所知，创立人做的每一笔交易都有文件，都放在这些箱子里。

胡老板、林经理和王厨师都是有抱负的人。而且，他们喜欢自己动手做事。

创立人开饭店的时候，他们向房东付租金。不久，他们从房东那里买下了那栋楼。然后，他们买下了白龙饭店旁边的那栋楼。然后，他们成立了一个公司——白龙兴业集团。然后，他们买下了白堡广场——白堡市中心的一栋办公楼。我的办公室就在白堡广场。

创立人去世了以后，胡家、林家和王家的孩子们觉得事情太复杂 了，他们自己不能再管了。他们需要请自己的会计师和律师。这时候，后屋的每一面墙都堆满了箱子，从地上堆到天花板。

那儿就是鬼坐的地方 。

我想了很久很久，才决定申请做家族的第一个律师。虽然林豪杰和我现在除了工作以外不再说话，但是在我们早期的一次约会中，他告诉我，家族也想了很久很久，才决定请我做律师。

显然，他们开了很多次会。我猜有三个话题被提到了：我是胡家人，我是女的，我很年轻。

但是我猜，我和家族都有相关的、没有说出来的问题。我在想：“我会不会有足够的权力去做对的事情？”而他们在想：“我们能不能保留足够的权力来影响她？”

当家族对事情应该怎么做有一些信念，而且他们一起做生意的时候，事情就变得复杂了。

我很快地看这箱六十年代的文件。这些老收据大部分都放进了要回收那堆。我喝了一口黑咖啡，然后看了看下一张收据。

这是什么？一张1965年飞往台湾的机票收据吗？这怎么可能？谁坐了那班飞机？

Word List

管账 guǎn zhàng manage accounts, keep the books
仔细 zǐxì careful, meticulous, thorough
据我所知 jù wǒ suǒ zhī as far as I know
笔 bǐ measure word for sums of money/transactions
交易 jiāoyì transaction, deal
有抱负 yǒu bàofù ambitious
而且 érqiě moreover, furthermore, and also
自己动手 zìjǐ dòngshǒu to do things oneself
做事 zuòshì to do things, to get work done
付租金 fù zūjīn pay rent
栋 dòng (measure word for buildings)
楼 lóu building, floor, story
栋楼 dòng lóu a building
白龙兴业集团 Báilóng Xīngyè Jítuán Bright Dragon Development Corporation
会计师 kuàijìshī accountant
律师 lǜshī lawyer, attorney
显然 xiǎnrán obviously, apparently, clearly
台湾 Táiwān Taiwan
班 bān (measure word for scheduled trips/flights, classes, shifts)

Chapter 10: Lily

I was almost finished going through the box of documents. One more sip of coffee, now cold, one more effort, and I would be done.

Manager Lin kept the books and kept track of legal affairs. He kept meticulous records. As far as I could tell, a document for every single transaction conducted by the founders was stored in the boxes.

Boss Hu, Manager Lin, and Chef Wang were ambitious men. And they liked to do things themselves.

When the founders started the restaurant, they paid rent to a landlord. Soon, they bought that building from the landlord. Then they bought the building next door to the Bright Dragon. Then they founded a corporation, the Bright Dragon Development Company. Then they bought the Brightsburg Plaza, an office building in downtown Brightsburg. My office was in Brightsburg Plaza.

After the founders had died, and by the time the Hu, Lin, and Wang children conceded that things had finally become too complicated to handle on their own and they needed to hire their own accountant and attorney, every wall in the backroom was stacked to the ceiling with boxes. Where the ghosts sat.

I thought long and hard about applying to be the families’ first attorney. Although Harry Lin and I no longer speak except for business reasons, on one of our early dates, he told me the families thought long and hard about hiring me.

Apparently, many meetings were held. I imagine three topics were mentioned: that I’m a Hu, that I’m female, and that I’m young.

But I imagine both I and the families had related, unspoken questions. I was thinking, “Would I be given enough power to do the right thing?” They were thinking, “Can we keep enough power to influence her?”

When families hold beliefs about how things should be, and are in business together, things become complicated.

I was moving fast through this box of documents from the 1960s. Most of these old receipts were in the recycling pile. I took a sip of black coffee and looked at the next receipt in the box.

What was this? A receipt for a plane flight to Taiwan? Dated 1965? How could this be? Who was on that plane?

Huburg Hutong 胡堡胡同 is a serialized novel written at the intermediate level in both Simplified Chinese characters and in English. Chapters are published weekly. The novel is written by Anne 安妮 Giles, edited by 侯慧颖 Hóu Huìyǐng “Mary,” and illustrated by Lear.

Huburg Hutong: Start Here
Huburg Hutong: Table of Contents
Huburg Hutong: Background
Huburg Hutong: Places and Characters
Huburg Hutong: Just English