Chapter 48 Flower Tax: Everyone who can move should go and make money!

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I took a nap and ate braised pork meatballs with radish.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I took a nap and ate braised cabbage with meatballs.

Grade 9, Yao Xiaoyu, how can you be so lazy? Have you forgotten your literary career? You can't go on like this! Eat braised pork meatballs with potatoes.

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, I took a nap and ate braised pork meatballs with winter melon.

...

On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Maria Hospital reopened and people went back to work.

Holidays are always both joyful and short-lived. The Spring Festival passed in the blink of an eye. Yao Xiaoyu ate the glutinous rice balls she bought from the vendor and finally had to end her leisurely time of lying around eating and had to get up and go to work in the cold wind.

"Finally, I can go out and earn money."

Compared to Yao Xiaoyu, who was listless because she couldn't sleep in, Tao Erniu was bubbling with happiness. Her family had already given in to her before the New Year, but seeing her start acting up again at home during the New Year, they could laugh at her once or twice, but after a while, they got annoyed.

"Why is that little fish still talking about selling flowers? When are you going to come up with a new way to make money?"

Before the New Year, Yao Xiaoyu told Tao Erni about Miao Wuni selling flowers in the story of getting rich. Tao Erni immediately grasped the new way to make money. After sending Yao Xiaoyu to the hospital, she would carry a basket and sell wildflowers without any cost. At noon, she would work at the vegetable preparation area, and after finishing work, she would go back to selling flowers. Then she would estimate the time to pick up Yao Xiaoyu.

Yao Xiaoyu didn't know how much she earned, but she must have gained something, because Tao Erniu, while accompanying her on her rounds, finally decided to occasionally buy her a pancake to fill her stomach.

"I remember your business was doing well?"

Yao Xiaoyu looked at Tao Erniu with some doubt. Although you could run into girls selling wildflowers every few steps, Tao Erniu had a natural talent for matching flowers. No matter how many she prepared, there was never any left over.

"It's actually not bad,"

This business was started thanks to Yao Xiaoyu's guidance, and Tao Erniu would never hide the truth from Yao Xiaoyu.

"But there are more and more flower sellers, and I'm worried that the smelly-footed patrol will come and collect a tax on flower sales."

"Stinky-footed patrolman" was a nickname for patrol officers in this era because they wore large leather shoes all year round while on duty, which had a strong odor.

"Have they all become this shameless?"

Yao Xiaoyu's eyes widened, but she already believed the flower tax. There was no other reason than that the tax system these days was really all over the place, with everyone from top to bottom trying to find ways to make money. Not to mention living people selling flowers, even corpses had to pay a dead person tax.

There is a line in a famous movie that says that taxes have been collected for ninety years. Originally an exaggeration, it is now considered a realistic statement. [1]

[…tax on inhalation, tax on exhalation…][2]

Recalling the famous lines from the animated film, and thinking of the new nickname "Tax Beauty," Yao Xiaoyu can only say that the world is a giant boomerang, and the magical realism she described back then is now stuck in her heart decades ago.

"Who can argue with that?"

Tao Erniu sighed. If only she could sell flowers peacefully, that would be fine, but the world just won't let people live a good life. The price of rice had already risen before the Lunar New Year, but it showed no signs of going down. It would probably stay at this price in the future.

The story of Little Fish is really well written, and Miao Wuni is also very likable. But no matter how much you like her, she still wants to find some ways to make money that she can do herself.

It was certainly gratifying that Miao Wuni had established herself in Shanghai, but Tao Erniu also needed to make a living.

Tao Erniu couldn't express these worries, and in the end, she could only express her hope that Xiaoyu could write some other ways to make money. Yao Xiaoyu listened to the continuous sighs around her and silently recalled the plot she had arranged.

In "Getting Rich in Shanghai," Yao Xiaoyu continues her writing style of luring people in and then killing them. The first 10,000 words mainly focus on Miao Wuni's life in her hometown, while the second 10,000 words describe the family's disorientation after arriving in Shanghai and Miao Wuni's search for business opportunities. It is not until the 30,000 words that Miao Wuni officially begins selling flowers.

In the last issue of the novel before the new year, the story of Miao Wuni's triple win in the wildflower incident was completed—that is, while others sold shop flowers, she sold wildflowers; while others sold wildflowers, she found shop flowers; and she also took the opportunity to figure out some relationships at the bottom of society.

At this time, the newspaper would take a break during the Chinese New Year, just like most shopkeepers would go to work on New Year's Eve and resume publication on the sixth day of the new year. In order to let readers have a good New Year, Pi Kangxiu specially communicated with Yao Xiaoyu and published more words to completely end the Wildflower Incident, so that they would not be worried about the Get-Rich Chronicle during the New Year.

Also, because she didn't want too much commotion during the Chinese New Year, in the 50,000th word after the republication, Yao Xiaoyu shifted her focus from Miao Wuni to the entire Miao family—making money! Making money! Everyone in the family who can breathe, get up and make money!

During her time selling flowers, Miao Wuni became familiar with the people on the regular route. Although they weren't close enough to help each other, at least she wouldn't be maliciously driven away. She used this to get her two younger brothers and one younger sister into the shoeshine line.

She only bought a set of shoe-shining tools for the three of them to use in turns. She didn't expect them to earn too much money; she just wanted them to earn enough for their own meals each day, so they wouldn't be kidnapped by loan sharks.

This kind of behavior would be condemned mercilessly in modern times, but in this era, it is already a rather enviable treatment—a shoeshine box is a fixed asset that can be exchanged for money!

With the younger children taken care of, the older siblings couldn't be idle either. Her fourth brother, who was a year older than her, went to work as a newspaper boy, while her eldest sister, third sister, and second brother carried baskets and went to the factory gate to sell tea eggs and glutinous rice balls.

During the day, with space available on the boat, they can take on larger manual labor jobs, as well as tasks like washing and mending clothes. This is the main source of income for Miao parents.

Don't be fooled by the fact that these things seem like something anyone can do. Before Miao Wuni infiltrated the local Shanghai community, these things had nothing to do with the Miao family, who lived on a boat, or even with most of the landlocked families.

They could only live off their meager savings, like moles dragged to the ground, asking around for any work they could do. They tried to lower the price again and again, but most of the time they were disappointed. Even when they did earn a little money, it wasn't enough to cover their costs.

For the people on the "hat ship," becoming male workers who would be overworked to death or female workers who would barely survive in their thirties or forties was a dream they never dared to imagine.

While selling flowers in Shanghai, Miao Wuni realized this fact and gradually developed the idea of ​​moving to Shanghai with her whole family after saving money: being treated as a local was not enough; only by actually renting a house there, moving in, and starting a business would those tangible and intangible resources truly open up to the Miao family.

When the whole family was forced to work to earn money, Yao Xiaoyu wrote individual short stories for each person. During the day, everyone worked hard on their own, and at night they would gather together to tally their income. Although the space was small and the lights were dim, it exuded an indescribable warmth. These peaceful 10,000 words were the two publications in which Yao Xiaoyu had the fewest arguments.

But it's not really suitable for Tao Erniu—a person only has so much energy, and once you start one thing, you won't have time to do another. It's also impossible to call on family members to help out, given the character of the Tao family, it's already a miracle if they don't hold you back.

However, this 10,000-word paragraph is just a buffer for the resumption of publication; the rest of the story...

"You might have a business opportunity to do it soon."

Yao Xiaoyu swallowed the meat and egg in her mouth and said, while Tao Erniu chewed on her flatbread and hummed in agreement, not taking it to heart.

"Meat and egg" is what the stall owner calls it in his hometown. If you were to categorize it by ingredients, this snack should be called "Pork and Mushroom Soup with Rice Noodles". The method is to boil water with chopped green onions, add soaked mushrooms, then add pre-fried pork coated in batter, along with fermented rice noodles, salt, and other seasonings, and simmer until thick and flavorful. One bite and you'll feel warm all over.

"This is a main dish at banquets. In our area, we only get to eat it during the Chinese New Year, except for weddings and funerals."

The stall owner enthusiastically solicited new customers. Yao Xiaoyu got up to take the bill, thinking that if the stall owner was still there when she finished get off work, she would come back for another bowl.

Tao Erniu dropped Yao Xiaoyu off at the hospital entrance and then continued her daily flower-selling routine. However, the competition had become increasingly fierce recently, and even if she wanted to sell all her flowers, it was a struggle. Today, for the first time ever, she still had a single red plum blossom left in her basket.

Compared to the large basket, this single flower was nothing, but Tao Erniu wasn't sure if it was a bad start. She stared at the red plum blossom for a long time, then sighed and stuck it into her braid, sincerely hoping that Miao Wuni's next story would give her a new way to make money.

Even street vendors are buying wildflowers; how are they going to make a living?

"Want to see? Buy one item and get one plum blossom as a gift, all picked today."

A woman with a pair of small fish embroidered on her clothes greeted her warmly. The plum blossoms in her basket were crowded together. Tao Erniu shook her head with a stiff face, and only began to wail silently after she had walked a distance away.

Flower delivery people have all started showing up; this business is really not going to work!

After enduring several days that felt like an eternity, Tao Erniu finally saw Miao Wuni's story continue to be published. Without hesitation, she took out two copper coins to buy the newspaper, only to realize upon looking at it that she only knew about a hundred characters.

Tao Erniu: ...

Fifteen minutes later.

"Last time we talked about Miao Wuni finding a way to make a living for her family..."

Tao Erni stood at the entrance of the teahouse, her ears perked up, listening to Old Han inside read the newspaper. The slightly overweight Old Han knew which story everyone wanted to hear, so he symbolically read a few headlines before turning to "Shanghai's Path to Wealth" and reading it aloud.

The story begins with a psychological description of Miao Wuni's family moving to Shanghai. She then ponders which street has the best and cheapest houses and how much money they need to save to move from the small boat to the mainland.

"Four silver dollars."

Miao Wuni muttered to herself, her eyes shining like burning fire.

Now that the weather is gradually warming up, we don't have to worry about catching a cold sleeping on the floor. The whole family can squeeze in; one room is enough.

Two silver dollars a month, plus a month's rent, totaling four silver dollars. Once handed over to the landlord, you'd have a house that wouldn't be exposed to the wind and rain, and your family would have a foothold in Shanghai.

Old Han was reciting Miao Wuni's calculations, while Tao Erniu wanted to get through these words quickly and jump straight to where she could make money, but at the same time she was involuntarily drawn in.

A room of my own, that's wonderful.

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The author has something to say: [1] Taxes will be collected ninety years later: This comes from the movie "Let the Bullets Fly".

[2] Inhale and add tax, exhale and add tax...: from the anime Garfield's "The Cat Story".

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