Chapter 30 The potatoes and pork stew with small fish was sewn very roughly, but Yao Xiaoyu felt...

Who is that girl?

Zhou Chunhua felt a mix of satisfaction and unease as she watched those who had spoken out of turn get slapped. Then, looking at her granddaughter's expression, she realized it must be related to Yao Xiaoyu.

"I have no idea,"

Yao Xiaoyu shook her head honestly, then skillfully dodged her grandmother's hand that was grabbing her collar, and hurriedly explained:

"But she sent me a letter."

Yao Xiaoyu organized her thoughts and slowly explained her relationship with the girl to Zhou Chunhua—she received many letters, but for various reasons, not every letter had a return address, and the letter sent by this girl was one of those.

"She didn't say her name, only her usual attire. I recognized her clothes, but I didn't know her."

Shanghai is neither big nor small, and meeting a reader she knew was an unexpected surprise for Yao Xiaoyu.

"She's a girl waiting for her lover."

The term "bride-bride" is similar to "child bride," except that when the girl arrives at her husband's family, the husband is often still in his mother's womb. An age difference of eight or nine years is considered fortunate, and the "eighteen-year-old bride and three-year-old groom" in the folk song is also common.

The girl was abducted by human traffickers during a temple fair. She was so frightened that she developed a fever and lost her memory. She was then sold to a rural area in Shanghai. Because her husband had never been born, her in-laws considered her "unlucky" and she did not have a good life.

It wasn't until she was sixteen that her brother found her and paid twenty silver dollars as ransom, finally freeing her from her misery. She returned to a home she had long forgotten, only to learn that her future husband's family was only thirty miles away.

It took her more than ten years to walk a journey that only took a few hours.

But he didn't have many good days after returning home. In the first few days, when he was excited, the girl was treated like a pampered guest at home. But after the initial period of guilt passed, the extra daughter needed food and lodging, and since only the brother was earning money at home, he started to dislike the girl.

"...She said in her letter that it was after reading my article that she decided to set up a stall. It was difficult at first, but now she is able to support herself."

The girl didn't mind that her "in-laws" had to pay twenty silver dollars to release her. Although her life wasn't easy, it depended on who she was compared to—there were two other girls sold to the same village with her, and three others sold to the village, all of them either child brides or girls waiting for their husbands.

The girl's life was tough, but she could at least get a bowl of cold rice after working from morning till night. The quilt in winter was as hard as a rock, but it could still keep out the cold wind. Her mother-in-law had a sharp tongue, but she rarely used her hands. As for illness... her parents-in-law would get through it on their own, and they would not call a doctor or get any medicine. They treated each other the same.

She survived until her eldest brother came to pick her up, partly because she was resilient, and partly because her in-laws didn't deliberately torment her.

And the others—

A child bride worked at home but had no food to eat. She was so hungry that she stole chicken feed and was beaten to death for being greedy. A girl waiting for her husband slept in a shack in winter and froze to death. A girl went fishing in winter to feed her newborn husband and died of illness. A girl was constantly teased by her mother-in-law because her mother-in-law had not given birth to a son and her in-laws were all bullies at home. They tormented her to death.

As for the last one... her in-laws sold her to pay off their debts, but she didn't say anything after learning about it. She just somehow got hold of a packet of powder and killed her in-laws, including their dog.

Then, with the mindset that killing one family was the same as killing several, he went from their village to the girl's village, achieving the feat of single-handedly wiping out five families, and then disappeared without a trace.

The villagers said the woman had gone mad and repeatedly warned their children not to follow her example. But after the five families were wiped out, no more girls died in the village, and even the girls were treated better.

"...She planned to save up twenty silver dollars to pay off her elder brother's debt, so that it wouldn't be brought up whenever there was a quarrel at home."

Yao Xiaoyu smiled broadly as she thought of the words in the letter, "After making money, I can stand tall." There were only a handful of such letters among the mail that had been sent, but they made Yao Xiaoyu extremely happy—each letter symbolized at least one person's life moving in a better direction.

"She said in her letter that she had sewn a pair of little fish on her clothes. If you don't believe me, we can go and take a closer look. The bubbles that the little fish blow are all nail-shaped."

Her pen name is "A Little Fish," and the female protagonist of her novel has the surname Ding, which is a homonym.

Zhou Chunhua neither said she believed it nor she didn't, but on her way back, she did indeed pass by that stall again.

The little fish on the girl's body was crudely made, and the nails were just a very simple template with horizontal and vertical lines, but Yao Xiaoyu thought it looked extremely beautiful.

The dried goods store had dried bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms, but the grandmother and granddaughter walked back and forth on the street several times without encountering a single vendor selling water chestnuts. The key issue was that the chicken vendors had also disappeared. Yao Xiaoyu, a skilled cook, was at a loss for what to do without ingredients, and could only sigh and comfort herself that stewed potatoes with meat was quite delicious.

"If there are chickens tomorrow, I'll secretly buy one."

Zhou Chunhua had just finished listening to the girl's story and was in a sentimental state when she saw her granddaughter looking dejected. Her heart warmed, and she made the promise.

"Grandma, you're so kind! I want chicken stew with mushrooms, and I also want chicken meatballs!"

Yao Xiaoyu suddenly raised her head and showered her grandmother with compliments until she was dizzy. By the time Zhou Chunhua started to feel the pinch of the money spent on the chicken, Yao Xiaoyu had already told everyone in the family about having chicken tomorrow.

What's done is done, there's no going back now. I should think about whether there are any cheap chickens for sale in the nearby villages. We're running out of firewood anyway, so I'll see if there are any cheap and good ones that can be delivered to my door. I can also drink water when I'm hungry. In winter, if you don't have firewood, you'll really freeze to death!

Zhou Chunhua was preoccupied with calculating necessary expenses and didn't pay much attention to her meal. If the meat hadn't been pre-portioned, given her absent-minded state, it would have been a testament to the Yao family's filial piety that she even got to taste two pieces of meat.

【tasty! 】

Yao Xiaoyu squinted and sighed inwardly. The piece of lean meat, about the size of a mahjong tile, had been stewed for quite some time, yet it was not dry at all, and its taste brought a sense of satisfaction.

She picked up another potato from the pot. The potato had been stewed until it was half-melted. Yao Xiaoyu's chopsticks encountered no resistance when she reached for it. If she hadn't brought a bowl underneath to catch it, the potato would have fallen back into the pot with a splat.

Yao Xiaoyu picked up some mashed potatoes with her chopsticks and put them in her mouth, instantly understanding why there is such a carbohydrate combination as mashed potatoes with rice.

It's really delicious!

After eating and drinking her fill, Yao Xiaoyu lay in bed and took a long nap. When she opened her eyes again, the sun was only halfway up the horizon.

Dinner was winter melon and lean pork congee. It tasted good and the portion was generous. However, although there seemed to be a lot of shredded pork, there was only about two bites in a bowl, which was a bit unsatisfying. But since the dishes at noon were not bad, Yao Xiaoyu simply considered this meal as a way to cleanse her stomach.

After dinner, Yao Xiaoyu read the newspaper and stared blankly at the bright kerosene lamp. Writing is also a profession that requires practice; she hadn't written anything all day and needed to write at least a few hundred words to keep her skills sharp.

However, Ding Xian had already written a detailed outline and had a stockpile of drafts, so she didn't really want to continue writing this methodical development.

To put it more bluntly, Yao Xiaoyu wants to start a new story.

This is a good thing, but she got stuck on the subject matter and character design.

The pseudonym "A Little Fish" is the most important economic foundation for the Yao family right now. Although it can be written a little outrageously, it would be bad if the account were banned if it went too far. Yao Xiaoyu could only reluctantly give up the infinite flow genre for the time being and waver between the three relatively acceptable options of time travel, rebirth and transmigration into a book.

The evolution from choosing one out of N to choosing one out of three is a good thing, but it doesn't mean that the difficulty of making the choice has been reduced. Yao Xiaoyu's excessive imagination and knowledge have become obstacles at this time.

Every theme and character she came up with had a wonderful story. The protagonists of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums each had their own charm. Yao Xiaoyu's heart, like a jackfruit, was full of people, and she couldn't bear to give up any of them.

trouble.

While Yao Xiaoyu was racking her brains for a new female lead, the story of "The Golden Bowl" had already quietly appeared in the newspaper. Zhou Chunhua had a long argument with her granddaughter because Yao Xiaoyu had secretly submitted a new manuscript. Even though Yao Xiaoyu explained that she was afraid it wouldn't be published and would only disappoint her, Zhou Chunhua was still fuming when she accompanied Yao Xiaoyu to collect the manuscript fee.

A few days was enough time for the discussion about the article to ferment. As Yao Xiaoyu walked down the street, in addition to hearing people praising Ding Xian for her courage and resourcefulness, they also talked about the little girl.

The protagonist of the gold-patterned bowl has no name. Before she got married, her parents called her Nannan and Da Nu. After she entered the bridal sedan chair, she was called Madam and Daughter-in-law. Because she died young, everyone followed the name given to the protagonist by Mr. Xiaoyu and called her Xiao Gu Niang (Little Girl).

"A bowl is a bowl, an object that can't speak or move. How did it become that little girl?"

This wasn't the first time Yao Xiaoyu had argued about the article about the gold-patterned bowl, but it was the first time she'd heard it. She was immediately rooted to the spot. Although Zhou Chunhua was angry that Yao Xiaoyu hadn't told her about the new article, she also pretended to be unable to move. The two of them openly eavesdropped on each other.

"Haven't you noticed? Every time something happens to the little girl, that bowl also gets into trouble."

A female student nearby chimed in, perhaps not in a hurry to start class. After confirming that the person who couldn't understand had genuinely read the story several times and wasn't just being unreasonable, she stopped and said a few more words:

"When the little girl's feet were bound, the bowl got chipped. Do you remember what the bowl mender said?"

The person who couldn't understand recalled for a moment and quickly spoke:

"This bowl was ultimately repaired after it was broken; even if white copper and a similar-colored paste were used, it could never be exactly the same as the original."

The female student clasped her hands together:

"That makes sense, doesn't it? The family that the young girl was betrothed to didn't want girls with bound feet, so her family unbound her feet. But after unbound feet, could she still run and jump?"

Someone nearby greeted the female student, probably because class was about to start. The girl didn't give anyone much time to think, and continued speaking rapidly, like popping beans:

"Even if this is a far-fetched explanation, when the young girl went to her husband's family, they looked down on her lowly status and changed her identity to marry. That's why the bowl was wrapped with a silver rim, becoming a pretty but worthless silver wire bowl. Isn't that a perfect example of changing its appearance and the superficial glamour of the dowry?"

"And what about the husband who overturned the little girl's table, breaking the porcelain bowl in two, right in front of the couple's growing estrangement?"

"Later, we found a bowl mender to make a paste, and then used gold powder to draw patterns and white jade to decorate it, turning an ordinary white porcelain bowl into a precious gold-patterned bowl that everyone loved."

"Didn't you learn to dress in fine clothes from that little girl and become a lady who pleases everyone? It's exactly the same."