Chapter 145 The Yao Family's Debt Problem: Has the Young Lady Betrothed? ...

After reviewing her article, Yao Xiaoyu realized it was already dark. She casually jotted down her inspiration for the new copy of Painted Skin with her pen, only to belatedly discover that her stomach was protesting loudly. There was a bowl of egg noodles on the stool by the door, but unfortunately, it had been sitting there for too long and had gone cold.

"You eat it."

Yao Xiaoyu casually handed the noodles to Yao Xiaoli as a late-night snack, then went downstairs to take care of her business and bought a hot meat-filled rice dumpling while she was at it.

"Anything new to eat?"

Yao Xiaoyu asked the vendor that when she first arrived, she thought Shanghai's late-night snacks were quite plentiful, but after two or three years, she had grown tired of these familiar faces. It was either wontons or porridge, and either mutton or donkey meat. Only the meat dumplings were somewhat acceptable.

The vendor thought for a moment, and actually came up with a new food idea:

There's a place selling hot-cut meatballs just one street away.

Yao Xiaoyu felt the name was familiar, but couldn't remember where she had heard it before. So she asked the vendor to run an errand for her. The vendor returned quickly after receiving the money, and Yao Xiaoyu felt the lotus leaf was still hot when she took it.

Hot-cut meatballs were not quite what Yao Xiaoyu had imagined. They were more like diced egg dumplings or stuffed rice noodle rolls. They were made by wrapping stir-fried minced duck meat in a fried egg skin, cutting it into small pieces, and then dipping it in wasabi. Yao Xiaoyu was not used to the taste of wasabi, but she admitted that the color combination of the hot-cut meatballs was indeed very beautiful.

The pale yellow eggshell had no trace of brown, and the perfectly cooked duck meat was a brownish-pink color. With the addition of yellowish-green mustard, Yao Xiaoyu was already thinking about making an outfit based on this color scheme, which would perfectly match her tomato and egg-colored jacket and skirt.

The large red and yellow jackets and skirts are new products from Lan Shuangyu Factory. Although they don't have many embroidered accessories, the bright colors are attractive enough. Yao Xiaoyu thinks they are not bad, and they sell very well. The last time she chatted with Tao Jingu, Tao Jingu said that Lan Shuangyu had taken out a loan to buy a piece of land and was preparing to expand the factory.

Yao Xiaoyu was thinking about ways to improve her quality of life, and she didn't stop eating hot meatballs. Most of the time she had a good appetite, but when she was really lazy, she didn't mind keeping her body at a level where she wasn't hungry—there's a long way to go between being full and not hungry.

With food in her belly, she would wash up and go to sleep, and the days passed by like this. When Yao Xiaoyu had saved about half of the manuscript of "Changing Fate Record", it was also the time to buy New Year's goods for the Spring Festival.

The book "Changing Fate" sparked a lot of discussion, but compared to the previous books, it was relatively calm. Yao Xiaoyu was initially a little unaccustomed to it, but she gradually got used to it: after all, none of this was the focus of her life.

She didn't need to prepare the New Year's goods; giving Zhou Chun some money would be enough to handle everything properly. With the pressure of having a backlog of manuscripts, Yao Xiaoyu began to focus on the Yao family's repayment issues.

She's moving to a new house at the end of next year, and she doesn't want to be living comfortably in her old house only to have creditors come knocking on her door, pointing fingers and saying she has money to buy a house but not money to pay off her debts.

On the 29th day of the Lunar New Year, Yao Xiaoyu went with Zhou Chunhua and Yao Tianrui to pay off debts again. The two of them didn't really want Yao Xiaoyu to know about these things, but they eventually compromised. The three of them spent most of the day visiting creditors, which were fewer than before but still a huge number, and wrote down IOUs that were not much thicker than last year, but the numbers were much smaller.

During the plague last year, Zhou Chunhua secretly returned seventy silver dollars, and before the new year, she returned another seventy-three. With the 160 dollars returned this year, the Yao family only owes a little over one hundred and thirty-one dollars.

At their current rate of earning money, if Zhou Chunhua and the others were willing to go all out, they might be able to pay off all their debts by the Mid-Autumn Festival next year.

Even if this money was earned through the family's joint efforts in the eyes of outsiders, the speed at which they made money was astonishing. As a result, the creditors' attitude improved year by year. Yao Xiaoyu was quite happy when she got home, but when she saw Zhou Chunhua coming over with a serious expression, her face immediately fell. She knew what Zhou Chunhua wanted to say, but she really didn't want to talk about this topic.

The story begins when the three of them entered the home of a family who needed to repay a debt—

The amounts on the IOUs varied in size. Zhou Chunhua used a method of updating the IOUs to pay off large amounts in installments, while smaller amounts would be paid off in one lump sum once they reached a certain level. The amount owed for the house was the amount that could be paid off in one go.

The three of them had not prepared any New Year's gifts. They were supposed to leave after the servants received the money and the maids brought out the IOUs. However, the lady of the house was probably too annoyed by all the complicated matters and personally received them, quickly showing a friendly attitude to Yao Xiaoyu.

To be honest, Yao Xiaoyu got goosebumps when she realized the woman was talking to her. Fortunately, the woman, dressed in elaborate and gorgeous clothes, didn't beat around the bush for long and soon revealed her true intentions.

"Has the young lady made a betrothal yet?"

The lady stroked Yao Xiaoyu's hand with satisfaction and asked. She carried the scent of ink on her body, with only a callus on the first joint of her middle finger. Coupled with her undeniable scholarly air, it was clear that the female literary star, who had been boasted about by the Yao family patriarch since childhood, had not given up reading and writing over the years. She was a perfect match for her bookish son.

Everyone says the Yao family is having a hard time, but look at those slender fingers and soft palms, they clearly don't do any housework. They're just a bit tall and don't have bound feet. They'll have to give them a good talking-to when they come in, at least to make them look respectful.

"...No."

When Yao Xiaoyu heard the woman in the big wool coat ask her a question, she tried hard to control the urge to pull her hand back. For the first time ever, she regretted her decision to come along. If she couldn't pay it off, so be it. She could just borrow money from the Yao family to pay off the debt. Now look what happened, she's been caught.

Yao Xiaoyu tried her best to convey her refusal to Zhou Chunhua with her eyes, and in her heart, she made the decision that if she really was forced into an arranged marriage, she would go back and have Tao Xiaoxiao protect her and move out. Fortunately, things did not develop in the worst direction. Zhou Chunhua smiled and said a few words, thus changing the subject.

Yao Xiaoyu had a big plan; she wouldn't dare make decisions for her granddaughter without permission.

This lady was the first to propose marriage, but not the last. Zhou Chunhua was initially at a loss when dealing with her, but later she became numb to it and uttered a long string of polite rejections. She also belatedly realized that her children had reached marriageable age.

Regardless of her family background, her grandchildren are both exceptionally outstanding.

...

So what are your thoughts?

Zhou Chunhua sat at the table and asked Yao Xiaoyu a question, while Yao Xiaoyu glared at Yao Tianrui.

The pressure to get married should normally be a top-down process, especially since Yao Tianrui is already nineteen. Zhou Chunhua should be the one most anxious about him. But Yao Tianrui is shifting the blame, pretending that he won't consider personal matters before graduation, thus diverting all of Zhou Chunhua's attention to her!

Seeing that Yao Xiaoyu didn't react, Zhou Chunhua asked again. She had been busy making money these past few years and had forgotten that her child was growing up. Only now that someone had brought it up did she remember that Yao Xiaoyu was already sixteen years old and of marriageable age.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the marriage age for men and women gradually became later. However, if a woman married at eighteen, the six rites would take two years to complete. Now, she is just the right age to find a husband.

Zhou Chunhua looked at Yao Xiaoyu's lychee-shaped eyes and oval face, and nodded in satisfaction. But when she thought of Yao Xiaoyu's height, she frowned. Poor families believed that tall wives would cost more fabric. Yao Xiaoyu's husband's family might not care about the cost of fabric, but it was not appropriate for the man to be shorter than the woman.

"How did you grow so tall?"

Zhou Chunhua sighed and said that Yao Xiaoyu never skimped on food or drink, and even though the doctor diagnosed that her growth spurt was almost over, she still grew another three centimeters, and now she's 176 cm tall. Most of the young men who are potential partners for her are around 170 cm tall. And after that...

"What's wrong with being at a high point?"

Having witnessed modern elementary school students reaching 1.8 meters, junior high school students reaching 1.9 meters, and even having a nephew who is two years younger than her but over two meters tall and struggles to buy shoes, Yao Xiaoyu is still somewhat dissatisfied with her own height.

Her cousin, a high school freshman, is 1.78 meters tall barefoot!

"Besides, I don't plan to get married."

Marriage was never a bonus for Yao Xiaoyu; she never included it in her life plans. Don't talk to her about what to do when she gets old and sick. At that time, she'll go skiing. If she succeeds, she'll create material for Red Bull; if she fails, she won't be in pain for long—she can just open her eyes and go home.

"What did you say?"

Zhou Chunhua didn't hear what Yao Xiaoyu was muttering, but subconsciously felt it wasn't anything good. Yao Xiaoyu blinked and decided to take a breather first, so that the Yao family wouldn't have a bad New Year... although it might not necessarily have a bad one.

“I said I haven’t been to Tian Gui yet.”

one two three.

"What did you say?!"

Zhou Chunhua's brain finally received and understood her granddaughter's words, and she let out a sharp crack. Yao Xiaoyu rubbed her ears, feeling that the other party was not very pure.

Have you seen a doctor?

Zhou Chunhua looked at her neglected granddaughter with a guilty gaze, but Yao Xiaoyu remained completely unmoved, because based on her classmates' experience, the next thing she said would be—

Will I be able to get married again? And will I be able to have children after I get married?

Will getting married and having children have any impact?

A hint of smug satisfaction flashed in Yao Xiaoyu's eyes as she realized she had guessed correctly.

The strange rules of Chinese people are still relevant in the 21st century. Although Yao Xiaoyu has not experienced being pressured to get married, she has experienced school and witnessed famous scenes such as "being depressed but not being able to attend school" and "someone jumping off a building, and classmates only caring about whether they can have a holiday." The conversation about this marriage is essentially the same as those two scenes. Just ask her a few questions and you'll know what Zhou Chunhua will say.

Yao Xiaoyu still remembers that depressed girl. Her family didn't believe she was sick, but she didn't give up on herself. She worked hard and got into a university in the north, piecing herself back together little by little. Yao Xiaoyu later met her by chance, and she was slowly recovering.