Chapter 70 The Moon of Yesteryear

Since the Laba Festival charity event, the restaurant's business has boomed even more, much to Aunt Liu's surprise. Upon inquiring, she learned that it was the customers who had voluntarily promoted their restaurant. This made Aunt Liu both happy and worried. She really didn't want to become famous; their identities were not good for attracting attention and could easily lead to trouble. It seemed she had to find an opportunity to close the restaurant.

"Boss, a plate of baked flatbread and a few of your signature dishes, please. Do you have any alcohol?"

Liu Zi wiped the table clean and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, sir, we only have rice wine and tea in the shop, no other drinks. Please sit down and wait a moment, the dishes will be served shortly."

"Go on, go on." The customer waved impatiently at Liu Zi, then said somewhat obsequiously to the man next to him, "Mr. Shi, this place is very simple, I hope you don't mind, but I heard that the dishes here are quite good, you can try them."

The man surveyed the simple but clean little restaurant, a dark glint flashing in his eyes.

Aunt Liu was carrying a basket of white radishes when she passed by. She glanced at the new customer who looked unfamiliar, but it wasn't unusual to see unfamiliar faces here, given the frequent comings and goings of businessmen and the high turnover of people. However, Aunt Liu felt that the man's features were somewhat familiar, but she was certain that she had never seen him before.

Before Aunt Liu could think any further, Xiao Yang squeezed in through the back door of the kitchen. His eyes lit up when he saw Aunt Liu, and he quickly stepped forward to take the things from her hands. "Auntie, Miss Xie wants you to go back and talk to her. I'll take care of things here."

Xie Ning, having shaken off the gloom of the past few days due to the authorities' pro-Japanese remarks, took out a small box and handed it to Aunt Liu as if it were a treasure.

"What is this?" Aunt Liu asked curiously. It was just a small box, about the size of a palm.

"These are sanitary napkins, also known as menstrual pads or menstrual strips. However, this box is different from the ones made of cloth strips; they are disposable and more hygienic."

In 1928, Mr. Hong Xing published an article titled "A Study on Women's Menstrual Cloth" in a magazine. I have read it; it was very well written. However, most people cannot accept such an article. But we should all know that women's menstrual period is unavoidable, so we should pay more attention to hygiene.

Nowadays, we mostly use menstrual belts made of cloth strips. Some women use sanitary napkins, but their usage rate is not high, mainly because they are expensive; a box of sanitary napkins costs one yuan.

Aunt Liu nodded in deep agreement. One yuan, if you eat sparingly, can last one person a month.

Xie Ning handed over another letter, "This is a letter from Ms. Chen Heyi. She owns a textile factory in the United States, and these sanitary napkins are a derivative product of the factory. Knowing that there are many female anti-Japanese fighters in the guerrillas, she donated a batch of sanitary napkins to ease the burden on our female fighters."

At first, Xie Ning didn't pay attention to how modern women deal with their periods because she bought a lot of things at the department store to stock up on, and the price wasn't a big deal for her.

It was only after Mrs. Zhang mentioned it that she realized sanitary napkins were not widely available at that time, and this hygiene issue did not attract the attention of most women. Menstrual shame and menstrual poverty were long-standing phenomena that were not easy to overcome.

When Mrs. Zhang was looking for business opportunities overseas, she discovered this gap in the domestic market. So she worked hard in this direction. She was not short of money, but if she could make money while doing something meaningful, wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?

Women already have a harder time in this society. Facing the enemy's guns and cannons, the female soldiers on the battlefield were no less courageous than the men, risking their lives just as much. As a woman herself, she knew the hardships women faced, so she wanted to do something about it.

Aunt Liu's eyes were slightly red as she carefully accepted the letter from Xie Ning. "I will report this to my superiors. Please convey my gratitude to Ms. Chen Heyi on behalf of the female soldiers in the guerrilla area."

"Yes, she'll be very happy."