Chapter 15 Drinking Chicken Soup and Borrowing a Newspaper from Manager He

For the next two weeks, Yao Xiaoyu's life was very regular. In the morning, she copied books, and in the afternoon, she took Yao Tianrui to go door-to-door asking each shop if they had any job openings. After a week, Yao Tianrui, who had only graduated from elementary school, had found several jobs, while Yao Xiaoyu, who had only graduated from middle school, still had zero job openings.

"Maybe you're too young."

On the way home, Yao Tianrui comforted his dejected sister, but both of them knew it was just an excuse.

In that era, it was difficult for women to find jobs other than maids and factory workers. After the reform of the education system in 1912, women could go to school, but universities were not open to women. It was not until February of the 9th year of the Republic of China that the first batch of female students went to university.

It was only after 1920 that the opportunities for women to work began to expand.

"...I still want to give it a try."

Yao Xiaoyu remained silent for a long time before speaking.

Her plan was to find a full-time job, then write as a side job. Once she achieved some success in writing, she would decide whether to adjust her work and writing priorities or simply focus on writing.

Yao Xiaoyu has no doubt that she can establish herself in the writing industry. The modern world's great upheavals have not washed her away. Her writing may seem too colloquial in this era, but she has caught the right moment—last month, the first issue of Youth Magazine was published.

This magazine may not be widely known, but it later changed its name to New Youth, promoting Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science. Several terms related to "new" and "old" became essential points in history textbooks. Its vernacular writing style happened to be in vogue; after all, a few years later, a famous writer's vernacular poem looked like this:

Two yellow butterflies flew up into the sky together; for some reason, one suddenly flew back. The remaining one was lonely and pitiful; it had no desire to fly up into the sky, for the sky was too lonely. [1]

But in this era, travel and royalties were slow—even if the manuscript went smoothly from the moment it was sent out, it would still take several months to receive the first payment. If she didn't grasp the pulse of the times and the manuscript was returned for rewriting, it would take even longer.

She could copy books in the morning and write in the afternoon, but this put a great strain on her body—tenosynovitis, cervical spondylosis, muscle adhesions, trapezius muscle strain. Even in modern times, with computer typing and voice input, she has not escaped any of these problems. Is she the chosen one in this era?

Yao Xiaoyu doesn't want to finish writing in the morning and start writing in the afternoon unless she has no other choice.

"Then I'll go with you."

Yao Xiaoyu didn't tell Yao Tianrui about her plans, and Yao Tianrui didn't discourage her. The next day, he still went door-to-door with his sister to ask around, but they made an agreement beforehand:

"If I can't find a job after I start working, then I'll stop looking for a job for now and come out with you when I'm off work."

Yao Tianrui has already secured a job. It was found through someone Yao Daniu knew. He will be an office clerk with a monthly salary of 6.2 yuan, without room and board included, and will have one day off per week.

The salary for this job is above average in the industry, the workplace is only a half-hour walk from Yao's house, and the work is easy and stable. The only downside is that you can only do it for one year.

The family didn't hide it from the two siblings: they had found the job for their son, but since he hadn't graduated yet, they had asked a distant relative to reserve the position. However, that relative recently quit, and since their son wouldn't graduate until next year, and Yao Tianrui happened to come to them, they let him take the position.

“My child is very good at studying and will not have any worries about finding a job after graduation. It’s just that as parents, we always want to provide a safety net for our child.”

The lady of the house smiled broadly when she mentioned her son who was studying at school.

***

The miracle did not happen. The day before Yao Tianrui was to start work, Yao Xiaoyu still had not found a suitable job, but she did find a job for Zhou Chunhua: a newly opened small workshop needed to hire a temporary cook, with meals provided but accommodation not provided, and a monthly salary of two silver dollars.

Yao Xiaoyu felt the wages were a bit low, but Zhou Chunhua was very tempted. The next day, she changed her clothes and went to the workshop. They had just met a few unkempt cooks there, but the clean Zhou Chunhua immediately won them over. After confirming that she was efficient, they hired her on the spot.

"One pound of rice a day, that's thirty pounds of rice a month. It would cost a silver dollar to eat at home."

Zhou Chunhua knew her granddaughter wanted to find her a job that was good in every way, but she had a clear understanding of herself and her own ideas.

Yao Tianrui's fixed income of six yuan and two jiao was enough to cover the fixed expense of rent. But people need to eat. Two silver dollars wasn't much, but with one less mouth to feed, the extra income would make things a little easier for the family each month.

Preparing three meals a day is not an easy task, but it's better than pulling a cart. At least other people's rice is free, so I can eat my fill without worry, and I don't have to run around all day.

"But it's only for two months..."

Yao Xiaoyu's brows remained furrowed, while Zhou Chunhua seemed more relaxed about it.

“That’s good. It’s already August, and it will only get colder and colder. Two months is just enough to avoid winter. It took me ten years to heal the chilblains on my hands, and I don’t want to see them again.”

...

"Manager He, may I borrow the newspaper you've been reading to take home and have a look?"

Yao Xiaoyu accepted the six silver dollars and received a new job copying books before asking a question.

If she wants to make a living by writing, she needs to understand the preferences of publishing platforms. Newspapers are not expensive, but they are not cheap for her now. Yao Xiaoyu originally planned to ask the newsboy if he had any cheap overdue newspapers, but today she ran into Manager He reading the newspaper, so she boldly spoke up.

Even if it's cheap, it still costs copper coins, so every little bit saved counts!

Manager He agreed, only instructing Yao Xiaoyu to keep it safe. Yao Xiaoyu automatically converted the newspaper in front of her into copper coins and nodded repeatedly.

On the way back, Yao Xiaoyu found the newsboy and spent five copper coins to buy some old newspapers—Manager He hadn't bought all the popular newspapers on the market.

Zhou Chunhua, who was standing next to her, thought that the money would be better used to buy meat, but when she thought of the six silver dollars she had just put in her pocket, she felt that it was no big deal to buy her granddaughter's favorite things occasionally.

"Little Fish, keep the newspapers you want to keep safe. If there's anything you don't want, then deal with it for me."

Newspapers are very useful. They can be used to paste on walls and windows, and they are also a good way to start a fire. When Yao Xiaoyu was a child, she even folded a newspaper into a frog. If you blew on it, it would jump forward with a thud. In the past, when cleaning the old house, her mother would fold a newspaper into a big hat in a few strokes to prevent the spider webs on the ceiling from getting on her hair.

"good."

Yao Xiaoyu agreed, and Zhou Chunhua smiled happily. Then she started discussing with her granddaughter what food to buy to take home.

Apart from Yao Ping'an, no one in the family had tasted meat since the last braised pork. Yao Ping'an didn't eat much either—the five-cent salmon had kept him from getting sick until yesterday, just barely hanging on.

Zhou Chunhua suggested buying meat buns so they could be eaten directly at home and distributed among the people. Yao Xiaoyu shook her head vigorously without the slightest hesitation.

When Yao Xiaoyu was looking for a job here, she witnessed someone bite into a meat bun and find a large piece of whole meat with tiny bumps on it, and happily thought they had made a profit.

Not eating pork neck and lymph nodes is considered basic knowledge in modern times, but in this era, those who use these to make steamed buns are already well-known conscientious merchants. Some vendors, in order to save costs, will use diseased pork, or even rotten or spoiled meat.

Yao Xiaoyu doesn't consider herself a particularly picky person, but... if she wants to eat steamed buns in the future, it would be better to wait until she has more money and hire a chef to make them in person.

The same goes for pies.

Wontons are the same.

...

Yao Xiaoyu didn't want them to buy it, and Zhou Chunhua didn't insist either. In the end, the two of them bought a quarter of a chicken and took it home, planning to make chicken soup to treat their family to a meat feast.

"It would have been so much better to have bought the top one back then; the little money saved is nothing compared to the price of the chicken head."

Zhou Chunhua kept nagging for a while, but Yao Xiaoyu just smiled and thought, "Let her nag. She'd rather go back like this than eat chicken heads."

Chicken butts are not allowed either!

Everyone was delighted to bring back half a chicken. There was no need for any fancy preparations; just two peppercorns, a pinch of salt, three slices of ginger, and a simmer. The stewed chicken soup had a layer of chicken oil floating on top, and the bottom looked clear and bright. But after one bite, you felt like swallowing your tongue along with it.

The chicken was roughly divided into pieces, with each person getting only a few bites of meat. However, the chicken soup with rice was quite filling. Yao Xiaoyu could clearly see that the chicken bones, which had been stewed for an hour or so, were still very hard. When Yao Xiaoli, who was sucking on the bones, bit down hard, there was only a shallow mark on them.

"Sis, when will we be able to enjoy the good life of eating chicken every day?"

Reluctantly tossing the tasteless bones into the winnowing basket, Yao Xiaoli looked expectantly at Yao Xiaoyu. Ever since the family's financial situation was made public, Yao Xiaoli had never complained about not being able to eat meat and eggs. But as sensible as she was, she still craved meat and eggs.

"Next week when you have a day off, I'll give the copied material to Manager He and buy some meat, but it might not be chicken."

Yao Xiaoyu rubbed her younger sister's face, half-coaxing and half-seriously saying that she was planning when to go and see her sister's school. If it wasn't good, she would have to earn enough money as soon as possible to transfer Yao Xiaoli to another school.

Yao Xiaoli is currently in the third grade of elementary school. After finishing the remaining year of primary school, then the three years of upper primary school, and the four years of middle school, university will be open to women. Maybe Yao Xiaoli will be her junior then.

It's not easy for girls to study. As long as Yao Xiaoli doesn't go astray, she's willing to pay for Yao Xiaoli's tuition and living expenses at university. Oh right, she remembers that universities also have an auditing system... Yao Xiaoyu looked at Zhou Chunhua and Wenrou and felt that she should finish reading the newspaper as soon as possible and decide on her first book.

Zhou Chunhua and Wenrou, who were shelling beans, shivered and felt a sudden chill down their spines.

A note from the author:

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[1] This poem is from Hu Shi’s “Two Butterflies”.

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