Chapter 23: I'll stop doing housework after I leave some royalties.

After Yao Daniu's death, Zhou Chunhua became very attached to money, not only large sums but also small ones.

Why did Yao Xiaoli make a scene when she didn't know the specifics of her family's situation? It was because she used to be able to eat some special meals like Yao Ping'an, but later she couldn't even get a bite of meat or eggs!

Yao Xiaoyu could understand. With a debt of over six hundred silver dollars weighing on her head and no stable income at home, she relied entirely on pulling a cart for a living. In this situation, if she wanted to save money, she could only cut every penny from her teeth.

Moreover, while the whole family was scrimping and saving, Zhou Chunhua was also eating coarse food and wild vegetables. Based on this alone, Yao Xiaoyu wouldn't say anything.

However, after Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Pingan had a relatively stable income from copying books, and Yao Tianrui also found a job and their income became more stable, Zhou Chunhua's plans conflicted with Yao Xiaoyu's—Zhou Chunhua did not want the current situation to change in any way.

Yao Xiaoyu understood the old lady's calculations: her grandson earned six yuan and two jiao a month, and after deducting two jiao for pocket money, the rest was just enough to cover the rent; the father and daughter wrote three thousand characters a day, and at the minimum of seven copper coins per thousand characters, they would have nearly ten silver dollars in income each month.

If Zhou Chunhua could find work, she could earn two or three silver dollars a month. If she couldn't, she and Wenrou could do handicrafts together and earn one or two silver dollars a month. If they saved on food, they could save several silver dollars a month to pay off their debts. After ten years or so, the debts would be almost paid off.

But in Yao Xiaoyu's mind, copying books was just a temporary means to make a living. Once her family could catch their breath, she would start her own creative work and earn more money with her pen.

But Zhou Chunhua disagreed.

Paper and ink cost money, writing takes time, and it's not always approved the first time. Even if it's published in the newspaper, there's no guarantee that the next article will earn the same amount of money. It's better to focus on copying books and earn a steady, long-term income.

Yao Xiaoyu tried to mention that she earned money by writing articles. Zhou Chunhua didn't object, but she didn't tell Yao Xiaoyu to copy less or give her a single copper coin. Yao Xiaoyu understood Zhou Chunhua's meaning and decided to secretly buy old newspapers to study the writing style.

The requirements for submission and the articles to be published were all written in the newspaper, but Yao Xiaoyu's idea of ​​writing an article was interrupted as soon as she started talking about it—Zhou Chunhua assumed that she had given up on writing the article, and although she felt a little sorry for her, she still agreed.

Yao Xiaoyu knew that this excuse could only be used once, so she would choose stories from the newspaper to read to the whole family every day. Zhou Chunhua was eager to read the unfinished stories and was naturally willing to spend copper coins to buy old newspapers for Yao Xiaoyu again.

Like the girl in One Thousand and One Nights, whose reward was the morning sunlight the next day, Yao Xiaoyu's reward was the newspapers that gradually grew thicker. Then, she would seize the time to write while Zhou Chunhua was out working, and then submit her articles to the newspaper office under the pretext of looking for old newspapers.

Only after receiving the good news that her manuscript had been accepted did Yao Xiaoyu dare to ask He Family Bookstore for ink on credit—Zhou Chunhua would even carefully count the copper coins in her payment, and after each time she bought a treat, she wouldn't spend a single extra copper coin.

Yao Xiaoyu secretly asked Manager He for an extra thousand characters to copy before buying paper, and then put the paper she got in exchange for copper coins into the copying paper. On the day she bought ink, Yao Xiaoyu even wore clothes with pockets sewn inside.

"This is a silver dollar."

Yao Xiaoyu placed the still-warm silver coin into Zhou Chunhua's hand. It was a shiny new coin. Zhou Chunhua didn't close her hand, and Yao Xiaoyu understood her grandmother's meaning:

What about the rest of the money?

I won't give you all the royalties.

Yao Xiaoyu stated frankly that the way the new income is used for the first time determines where the money goes. She hadn't contested the income from copying books before, but now she couldn't possibly keep all the royalties for her family.

She needed to have some usable money on hand; Yao Xiaoyu didn't want to experience the ordeal of having to buy ink on credit again.

"So how much are you planning to give?"

Zhou Chunhua clasped her hands together, clutching the silver coins tightly, and asked. She didn't mind her granddaughter leaving some money, as they couldn't afford a dowry now, but the money she handed over couldn't be less than what she earned from copying books. Yao Xiaoyu didn't explain the situation in detail; Zhou Chunhua only knew that she received three yuan in royalties.

"I'll give you eight yuan next month. If the submission goes smoothly, I'll raise it to ten yuan the month after that. If the price of rice doesn't rise significantly, I'll keep it at ten yuan per month."

The profession of writer is one of high earnings but also high expenses. To produce something, one must first produce something. In this era, knowledge is not cheap. It is common for a book to cost several silver dollars, and rare books are even more expensive. For example, the medical book that Yao Xiaoyu copied before, Shopkeeper He mentioned its price inadvertently—twelve silver dollars.

Besides these, there were many other expenses at home that Zhou Chunhua might consider unnecessary or even incomprehensible, such as the increased tuition fees for Yao Xiaoli transferring to a better school, and the costs of Wenrou's surgery and Zhou Chunhua's nursing care.

Yao Xiaoyu didn't want to have to explain or even argue every time she needed money, so she simply cut off all contact.

"...Eight yuan...Ten yuan per month..."

Zhou Chunhua's breathing quickened considerably: If Xiaoyu contributed ten silver dollars each month, the Yao family's monthly savings would double, and the debt could be paid off in just a few years.

"OK."

Zhou Chunhua weighed the financial implications and, confirming that it wouldn't be a loss, decisively agreed.

She knew, of course, that if Yao Xiaoyu could afford this amount of money, she could definitely earn more. But Zhou Chunhua was good at convincing herself: one can't let the ten silver dollars in front of you go to waste for the sake of income that hasn't been earned yet!

The hand is on the granddaughter's body, which really upset Xiaoyu. In a fit of anger, she stopped writing. She only lost a full five silver dollars: five a month, that's sixty a year, and six hundred in ten years. Even if the family had no income, it would be enough to pay off the debt!

Besides, her family didn't help her when she was writing, so getting a share is already a bonus.

...

After calming herself down, Zhou Chunhua began to feel smug. She used to always hear how outstanding other people's children and grandchildren were, but now it seemed they were just so-so. Who could be as brilliant as her little girl? She was a veritable reincarnation of the God of Literature, earning ten silver dollars a month at such a young age!

"Grandma, this money can't be told to anyone."

Yao Xiaoyu instructed her grandmother, and Zhou Chunhua nodded in understanding—"I'm not afraid of people being poor, I'm not afraid of people being rich, what I'm most afraid of is people who are neither rich nor poor. The Yao family doesn't have any servants or guards now. Those who have the ability to climb over high walls look down on the meager resources. Those who are interested in the Yao family don't dare to provoke the Qin family. This is the best situation right now."

"I'll wait until the end of the year, then quietly go and pay back a few debtors, and let them know beforehand, so they won't come knocking on my door during the New Year."

Here, it's mostly the end of the year when creditors come knocking, but it's usually because they see no hope of the family being able to pay off their debts, or because the family has money but refuses to pay. Before Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Ping'an started copying books and Yao Tianrui found a job, the Yao family was in the first category, but now they don't want to be classified as the second.

"Grandma, let me see the IOU."

Zhou Chunhua didn't know what Yao Xiaoyu was going to do, but she still took out the IOUs. After removing the one from Manager Zhen's, there was still a thick stack, but most of them only had a few to a dozen silver dollars. Twenty or thirty dollars was considered a large sum.

Yao Xiaoyu realized that the debt was definitely more than that. Some families would send IOUs directly when they sent condolences, meaning that the debt was wiped clean. Her grandmother kept those IOUs separately, as a token of gratitude, hoping to repay them in the future.

"Give me these first."

Yao Xiaoyu took out a few IOUs with smaller denominations, intending to repay them with the royalties she hadn't yet handed over, provided she still had money on hand at that time.

"I didn't earn that much. I was thinking that when I had a stroke of good luck and suddenly had a small sum of money, I could pay it back slowly."

Yao Xiaoyu smiled at Zhou Chunhua, and Zhou Chunhua felt a lump in her throat. What kind of daughter carries debt, but their family...

"If there's anything that's really urgent, just let me know."

Nobody knows what the future holds; someone might suddenly run into trouble and find themselves short of money.

"OK."

Zhou Chunhua decided that when the time came, she would give Xiaoyu an IOU.

"After dinner... tell your family about this?"

Yao Xiaoyu originally wanted to suggest re-checking the accounts; she had even prepared the spreadsheet. However, looking at the uneven income, she swallowed her words. She knew that being the main breadwinner in the family and looking at the daily income were different experiences, and she didn't want to gamble on people's feelings.

"Um."

Yao Xiaoyu looked at her grandmother, Zhou Chunhua, who had no objections, and the matter was settled.

For dinner, we ate the same braised pork with white rice as last time, only the wine was replaced with a cheaper sauce. The cabbage with its magical, rubbery texture that was impossible to chew was temporarily put aside due to Yao Xiaoyu's strong protests. The Yao family's fighting power was as formidable as ever, and only one bowl was left, which was put into the well to be kept for tomorrow's meal.

Zhou Chunhua placed the kerosene lamp on the table, and everyone gathered around as usual, ready to listen to Yao Xiaoyu read a story. Yao Tianrui was no exception—when Yao Xiaoyu told a story, she was used to reading it once first and then retelling it in her own words, which was much more interesting than the text in the newspaper.

But this time, Yao Xiaoyu didn't rush to open the newspaper. Instead, Zhou Chunhua opened her mouth first, causing everyone to fall over in surprise.

"Xiaoyu's article has been published in the newspaper."

After Zhou Chunhua recounted what Yao Xiaoyu had been up to lately, Yao Ping'an and Wenrou belatedly realized what their daughter had been busy with. As for Yao Tianrui, who was at work, and Yao Xiaoli, who was at school—

"You're amazing!"

"Sister, you're amazing!"

Well, the words didn't have much meaning, but they were really pleasant. Yao Xiaoyu wanted to take out a zongzi candy to feed them, but then she remembered that she hadn't bought any on the way, so she could only think about bringing some snacks back when she went out again.

Right, she also needed to find a way to go out more often; staying home all the time wasn't a good idea. Speaking of which, she remembered that guns were legal in this era, so maybe…

"Little Fish said that he will hand over eight silver dollars to his family next month, and ten dollars every month starting the month after next. He will stop copying books after that."

Yao Xiaoyu glanced at Wenrou, who seemed lost in thought, and immediately raised her hand:

"I won't do any housework either!"

Yao Xiaoyu admitted that she was lazy and loved to eat. She really, really hated doing housework. In the past, when she rented a house, she would hire a cleaning service once a week. When buying groceries, she would use pre-washed, pre-cut ingredients that were ready to be cooked, along with disposable bowls and chopsticks.

After arriving in this world, conditions were limited, so she had to do some light work. She could tolerate it, but Wenrou always made her do things when she was busy. Yao Xiaoyu used writing and drawing to avoid it, but her mother evolved and said that she needed to change her mind after reading too many books. She even more confidently took advantage of Yao Xiaoyu's engrossed thoughts to make her do housework.

Yao Xiaoyu didn't know whether Wenrou was doing it on purpose or accidentally, but it didn't matter, she wasn't going to play with him anymore.

"OK."

Zhou Chunhua readily agreed, but her gentleness was unusually evident in her objection.

"No, if Xiaoyu doesn't learn some housework, her in-laws will look down on her in the future."

Yao Xiaoyu: ...

No, the Yao family's situation has only deteriorated to the point of collapse in the last two months, hasn't it? When Wenrou never lifted a finger to do housework, the Yao family never looked down on her!