Chapter 40 Nobody's Bullying Me, Exams Start This Afternoon

"Does your young master really have such a relative?"

Pi Kangxiu put down the manuscript in his hand and asked with a complicated expression.

He came from a wealthy family, but he also went to the countryside to gather material for his writing, talking to residents of shantytowns. It was because of his on-site investigations that he began to doubt the possibility of the Miao people's existence—the story was too real!

From the crops grown in northern Jiangsu to the colloquial name for small wooden boats, to the construction of rolling dragons and the description of thatched huts, all of these things made Pi Kangxiu think that there might really be such a family in the shantytowns near Shanghai, perhaps in Yaoshui Lane? [1]

"No."

Yao Xiaoyu shook her head. The shantytown was a mixed bag, and she would never go near such a dangerous place without hiring eight bodyguards with guns.

This is Kowloon Walled City in Shanghai!

"I looked up some information."

As Yao Xiaoyu spoke, she swiftly snatched the manuscript away, thwarting Pi Kangxiu's plan to have a third chance—she had only succeeded halfway through before, and this one might not even be published in the collection of storybooks.

The current 10,000 words are just bait to lure Pi Kangxiu!

"Hey, hey, I've already given you the manuscript, how can you take it back?"

Pi Kangxiu was getting anxious, but Yao Xiaoyu's evasion skills were off the charts. The two played cat and mouse around the office for a while, but Pi Kangxiu couldn't even touch a hair on Yao Xiaoyu's head. In the end, he could only admit defeat, panting.

"We'll discuss the publication of the new book once Ding Xian's last 10,000 words arrive next week."

Yao Xiaoyu's expression turned serious. Pi Kangxiu knew there was no room for negotiation, so he could only sigh and accept reality. Then he remembered something else:

"Several publishers have contacted me, saying they want to publish Ding Xian's biography. The royalties are not a small amount, so it would be best if Mr. Xiaoyu came in person."

Despite what Pi Kangxiu said, he had already decided in his heart that he would never give the royalties to Yao Xiaoyu unless he saw the author. Ding Xian's biography was a huge hit in Shanghai. Although the royalties for newcomers were not high, publishers were winning by volume, and the royalties in hand were tempting enough.

"OK."

Yao Xiaoyu had originally planned to reveal her secrets after Ding Xian's story ended, but now she had another reason. As usual, she hid the three silver dollars in her pocket and took Zhou Chunhua out for a treat.

"Besides these, you can cook a dish and get fifty cents in change."

Yao Xiaoyu slammed the silver coins onto the table. The restaurant liked this kind of decisiveness. After a quick inquiry about dietary restrictions, the waiter readily accepted the silver coins. In no time, five silver coins and a large portion of stir-fried lettuce with pork were placed on the table.

The lettuce was peeled very cleanly, making it crisp and tender. The meat was clearly made from fresh, lean pork. Zhou Chunhua was about to say something, but Yao Xiaoyu's words, "There's an exam today," completely distracted her. She asked for more rice three times, determined to eat until she was stuffed.

True to her word, Yao Xiaoyu announced the afternoon exam as soon as she got home. The gentle spatula clattered from her hand and fell to the ground. She tore off a piece of paper stuck to the kitchen wall and began frantically reviewing her notes. The first piece of paper was glued on, but when she found it difficult to tear, the adhesive turned into rice grains.

A budget-friendly alternative to self-adhesive labels; everyone who's used it raves about it.

Zhou Chunhua's movements were similar to Wenrou's, except that she took the paper out of her sleeve. The two of them had studied very hard this week, but that didn't stop them from feeling anxious: the consequences of failing the exam were just too great!

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were flustered, and the father and son were not much calmer either. They kept repeating the complicated characters that were easy to misunderstand. Yao Xiaoyu yawned and watched the four of them scrambling around. She stuffed a face-sized steamed bun with mixed sugar into Yao Xiaoli's hand.

This was bought from a newly opened small shop. It is said that the recipe was learned from the famous Tongheju restaurant. Yao Xiaoyu originally planned to fill her stomach when she was hungry in the afternoon, but judging from the situation, it was not certain that she would be able to eat lunch. So she decided to let her younger sister have something to eat.

"This steamed bun is delicious."

Yao Xiaoli took a tentative bite and her eyes lit up. The steamed bun was a standard layered bun made by kneading, which was chewy but not hard on the teeth. After a few more bites, you could taste a faint milky aroma, which was not much different from a pastry.

"Given by my father."

Yao Xiaoli took a few bites, then took out a zongzi candy from her pocket and shared it with her sister. Yao Xiaoyu recognized it immediately and asked Yao Xiaoli where she got it. Yao Xiaoli said that Yao Pingan had just given it to her to eat when she was hungry, but since her sister had given her such a big steamed bun, Yao Xiaoli didn't mind sharing it.

"Eat slowly if it's delicious."

Yao Xiaoyu peeled open a zongzi candy and popped it into her mouth, then rubbed her younger sister's head, remembering the question she had planned to ask earlier:

Are you being bullied at school these days?

When Yao Xiaoli started school, the Yao family had already shown signs of decline. Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Tianrui attended primary schools that cost six yuan per semester, but for Yao Xiaoli, it became four yuan. When Yao Daniu passed away, they transferred to the cheapest primary school, which cost two yuan per semester.

Yao Xiaoyu knew that tuition fees shouldn't be used to judge a person's character, but people tend to stick together. Yao Xiaoli, who joined the class halfway through, might be ostracized by the small group. Even without resorting to violence, simply being ignored would be hurtful enough.

"No."

Yao Xiaoli took a bite of her steamed bun and shook her head. When she first went in, some people did not like her, but after her sister's stories became popular, she, who was the most literate, was warmly welcomed - everyone was counting on her to read the newspaper!

Now, she has the most friends among the elementary school students in her class!

However, the math teacher always got the answers wrong, even though she and many other students got the correct answers, but the teacher just wouldn't listen.

Yao Xiaoli, who had just been scolded yesterday, felt a little wronged. 382 + 198 is clearly 580, but the teacher insisted that it was 680, and even said that girls are just not good at arithmetic problems. She added that even though boys don't get many right now, their grades will improve once they get the hang of it.

The math teacher said this every day, which made several of Yao Xiaoli's friends afraid to say it even though their calculations were correct. They even changed their answers to the wrong numbers the teacher had given them.

I wish I could have a different math teacher.

Yao Xiaoli sighed like a little adult and went back to eating her steamed bun. Yao Xiaoyu didn't have mind-reading abilities, so she assumed that Yao Xiaoli was doing alright and was somewhat relieved. The winter sun shone warmly on her body, like a fluffy golden blanket, and Yao Xiaoyu fell asleep without realizing it.

"Have you reviewed enough? Then let's start the exam."

Once awake, Yao Xiaoyu is like a fully charged battery, jumping around and wanting to get involved everywhere. Unfortunately, her energy bar is limited. After the five minutes she gained from charging, Yao Xiaoyu returns to her listless state, where she can only rely on one bar of battery.

But it's okay, proctoring doesn't take up much energy.

...

after a while.

"Very good, you all passed. Keep it up."

Yao Xiaoyu looked at Zhou Chunhua, who had made three mistakes, and Wenrou, who was on the verge of failing with four mistakes, and nodded in satisfaction, casually dropping another bombshell.

"The following sections will not be about memorizing in order. Instead, based on the number of characters you recognize, a sentence or an entire paragraph will be randomly selected for you to fill in the blanks, recite, and memorize."

You absolutely cannot be like a bear breaking corn cobs, picking one up and dropping another, remembering the later parts but forgetting the earlier ones, working hard for a long time, only to end up remembering the 28 newly learned characters!

Her requirements for the two girls were to learn two thousand commonly used characters and master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of three-digit numbers. The maximum deadline was five hundred days, and the minimum... there was no minimum. How early they could leave the weekly assessment depended on their level of effort.

After Yao Xiaoyu explained the graduation requirements of Yao Family Private Double Primary School, Zhou Chunhua and Wenrou frowned at first, and then were happy—the goal of two thousand words was a bit high, but Yao Xiaoyu could draw clear lines, which made them feel much more at ease.

The first exam went relatively smoothly, and Yao Xiaoyu was in a good mood when she went to work. She no longer felt choked by the special boiled eggs every morning, and finished them off in a few bites. After taking a sip of water to clear her throat, she buried herself in her writing at her desk.

The descriptions of the rolling dragon at the beginning were inspired by Tao Erni. In her village, there was a family from the shantytown who were extremely lucky. When their small boat was about to rot, they rescued the son of a wealthy family. The wealthy family did not want to owe anyone a favor, so they gave them a lot of silver dollars as a token of their gratitude, and the family was able to move into the village.

Because she hadn't seen the shantytowns firsthand or experienced life there, Yao Xiaoyu's writing was quite difficult, even with Tao Erni's help. However, when it came to finding a job, the writing flowed much more smoothly.

Miao Wuni wanted to earn money, but money wasn't so easy to earn. Child labor positions that only provided food and no wages were highly sought after by local children. She was busy from morning till night, and her meals consisted of only two bowls of porridge a day. The only difference between her and the bonded laborers was that the rice they used was slightly better, and the pickled vegetables were properly salted and available every day without any limit.

With no hope of working in the shop, Miao Wuni set her sights on making money by shining shoes and selling cigarettes, but her heart sank when she found out the details—not to mention that those who could do these jobs were all local Shanghai kids, she didn't have a single penny to her name and couldn't afford anything.

The shoe-shining box costs money, and the shoe-shining tools need to be purchased; the requirements for the children selling cigarettes are lower, they only need to wear nice clothes, and cigarettes can be bought on credit, but this is a right only families settled in the city have.

The other children faced similar situations; they either needed to buy things first or settle down in Shanghai before being allowed to buy on credit. Miao Wuni asked about all the jobs her children could do, but none of them brought good news.

If you don't settle in Shanghai, you can't get credit; if you can't get credit, you can't get anything; if you don't have anything to sell, you can't make money; and if you can't pay rent to settle in Shanghai, it's a vicious cycle.

Shanghai is a huge city, and every possible opportunity to make money is crowded with people. Miao Wuni wanted to squeeze in, but found there was no place to stand.

To express Miao Wuni's confusion, Yao Xiaoyu added a scene description, using the setting sun to highlight the protagonist's despondency and helplessness. Once the emotions had built up to a certain point, there was a dramatic turn of events—Miao Wuni found a business she could do to accumulate start-up capital!

-----------------------

Author's note: [1] Yaoshui Lane: a shantytown, located in a desolate area on the banks of the Suzhou River, named after the fact that it was formed next to a pharmaceutical factory.

——-

————