Chapter 6 Borrowing a fountain pen to eat fish porridge

Yao Xiaoyu was afraid of writing in simplified Chinese characters, so she didn't copy the test paper very quickly. After finishing one copy, the sun was already high in the sky, and it was lunchtime.

They ate the same cold porridge they had in the morning for lunch. Zhou Chunhua didn't come back. The rickshaw business was very good during mealtimes. A flatbread costing one copper coin wasn't cheap for the Yao family, but they could earn it back by pulling a rickshaw once at noon. She couldn't bear to give up this income.

After swallowing the last bite of sweet potato, Yao Xiaoyu glanced at the dejected Yao Ping'an and decided to give him a pep talk:

"Dad, you and Mom should make paper boxes today. If our copied test papers are up to standard, tomorrow my older brother and I will go and ask Manager He if we can borrow a second-hand fountain pen."

Fountain pens are not cheap. The original owner's classmate's fountain pen nib broke, and she couldn't get it repaired, so she bought a second-hand one to continue using, which also cost a lot of money. However, that classmate was tight-lipped; she only knew that she used silver dollars to buy the pen, but she didn't know the exact amount.

But even at the lowest price of one silver dollar, the two of them would earn that much after copying all the exam papers. Even if their family was short of food, it would only be delayed for a few days. At this rate of earning money, Yao Xiaoyu didn't find it difficult to ask Manager He for help.

"If it doesn't work..."

The pancake smelled delicious, but fortunately, Yao Xiaoyu had prepared for the brainwashing to fail, so she countered with another bowl of bewitching soup:

"If Manager He won't lend it, I'll borrow it from my classmates. The cheapest fountain pen is only one silver dollar, and a test paper is three and a half copper dollars. After copying all the papers, I can buy one with a little more money."

Yao Xiaoyu spoke with great confidence, but she actually had no idea how much a second-hand fountain pen cost. However, she still had to give him some motivational talk. Yao Ping'an was just physically weak, but he was still capable of making money. How could he slack off?

However, it would be great if she could rent a fountain pen, even if it was a bit more expensive. Modern Yao Xiaoyu is used to clear pricing with real money and really dislikes this kind of life where she has to owe favors as soon as she opens her eyes.

After drinking a bowl of chicken soup, Yao Xiaoyu was pleased to see that Yao Ping'an had regained his enthusiasm for making paper boxes in the afternoon. As for Wenrou's disappointed look... she didn't want to read, and she didn't even read storybooks much. She decided to wait until tomorrow to see if there were any other tailor shops that would do handicrafts.

While pondering her plans for ensuring her family had enough to eat, Yao Xiaoyu copied the test papers. Each paper contained 437 characters, and writing in traditional Chinese characters was difficult. By the time it got dark, she had barely finished five papers. Yao Tianrui next to her was in a similar situation, and the two of them spent most of the day writing a total of twelve papers.

I'll send it to He's Bookstore tomorrow. If it passes inspection, I'll get twelve copper coins, enough to buy more than three catties of rice.

"I'll stop here for today."

Unless there are special circumstances, the Yao family does not light lamps at night. Candles and lamp oil cost money. They usually finish all the things they did last night before it gets dark, eat quickly before it gets dark, and then wash up and go to bed.

When Yao Daniu was building his house, he wanted to install electric lights, but at the time, private buildings were not allowed to run electrical wires. Later, when it was allowed, the Yao family no longer had the financial means.

"I'm back."

The courtyard gate opened, and Zhou Chunhua came in, carrying a lotus leaf package in each hand. Seeing that no one had eaten yet, she handed the lotus leaf package to Yao Ping'an and asked him to add it to the porridge.

The smaller lotus leaf wrapped minced fish, which cost one copper coin; the larger one was half a large flatbread, which had already cooled down, but was not difficult to break apart.

Wenrou had bound feet and, although she did some housework, Zhou Chunhua usually left the errands to other members of the Yao family.

"Add another ladle of rice in; we'll have thick porridge today."

Zhou Chunhua had clearly encountered something good, and her speech became much lighter. The Yao family members were all on tenterhooks. In the end, Yao Xiaoyu spoke first. Zhou Chunhua was obviously waiting for someone to ask her, so she kept them in suspense for a moment before telling them everything that had happened that day.

After finishing two trips this morning, she met a middle-aged man with several bodyguards. He casually picked her and a few other drivers to go to the mahjong parlor, one driver per vehicle. It was only a ten-minute ride, and she earned two silver coins.

This should have been a happy occasion, but when Zhou Chunhua talked about it, regret outweighed joy. She had come to terms with it while pulling the cart on the road, but now, looking back, she felt resentful.

"The man originally gave us silver dollars, not silver coins."

When the man got off the rickshaw, he happened to run into a woman with curly hair. Perhaps wanting to show off in front of the beauty, he casually took out a few silver dollars and asked the people guarding the door to pay the rickshaw drivers as fare.

As a result, the man at the gate simply stuffed the silver dollars into his pocket, grabbed a handful of coins, and handed them out. The gate was magnificent, and the rickshaw pullers didn't dare to argue. Although they earned much more than usual, they felt extremely aggrieved.

"If you ask me, that Ms. Rousi shouldn't have been in such a hurry to go in. If she had just stayed a little later, we could have gotten the money too."

Zhou Chunhua had been driving for two months. Although she didn't talk much, she had passively gained some knowledge. For example, she knew that the popular style in the city was to wear a padded jacket and a skirt, and that in addition to the usual "Miss," there was also the less common "Lady." But English was still a bit too far away for her.

"That guy's name is weird too, it's something like 'Shredded Meat', it made my mouth water, and I almost couldn't move when I saw the mutton buns on the street."

Because of Yao Ping'an's health, the Yao family had to buy chicken, duck, fish and meat every day. Zhou Chunhua had been eating meat with them for so many years and had long been addicted to it. In recent years, due to poor conditions, the family only bought a little meat for Yao Ping'an to eat, because she really craved it.

"That shouldn't be shredded meat,"

Yao Xiaoyu didn't react at first, but when several shredded meats appeared in a row, she couldn't help but laugh. She wasn't a language major in modern times, and she had forgotten her English after going to university, but she could still recognize some common words.

"That man was probably referring to rose, which is a Western term. In our country's terms, it's just 'rose'."

When Yao Xiaoyu said that, Zhou Chunhua suddenly realized that she had seen roses in the flower girl's basket. The bright red flowers were very beautiful. The woman didn't look very fleshy, but she was indeed as beautiful as the flowers.

"Those foreigners' terms of address are quite strange."

Zhou Chunhua sighed, went to the kitchen to look at the porridge in the earthenware pot, and saw that it was cooked. She then divided it into bowls, filling all six bowls, and there was still some left in the pot.

"Cooking more rice makes a difference."

Zhou Chunhua took her own bowl out and told the others to take their own bowls to eat. They had to work in the morning and at noon, so their meals were a little different. They were all the type to go straight to sleep at night, so there was no need to eat separately.

To prolong their shelf life, the dried samonfish are dried very thoroughly and have a lot of salt added, making them very hard and salty. However, when cooked in porridge for a while, the saltiness diminishes considerably, and the Yao family enjoys them immensely. If someone manages to eat a larger piece of fish, they are as happy as if they have found a treasure.

A small packet of dried fish, though not much when divided among six people's porridge, greatly increased the Yao family's happiness index. As Yao Xiaoyu chewed the fish in her mouth, she became even more determined to never skimp on her food in the future.

"Grandma, we have good news from our side too..."

When Yao Xiaoyu told Zhou Chunhua about the copying and handicraft jobs she had received that day, Zhou Chunhua, who was already happy, grinned from ear to ear. The fact that her family couldn't earn money had always been a worry for her. Pulling a cart did pay quite well, but how many more years could she pull it?

Now that the family can earn money, Zhou Chunhua has finally seen a glimmer of hope.

"...I'll ask Manager He tomorrow if I can borrow a second-hand fountain pen so that Dad can also copy the book."

Yao Xiaoyu was explaining her plans when Zhou Chunhua interrupted her directly:

"Why borrow? Just rent one."

Seeing that Yao Xiaoyu still wanted to say something, Zhou Chunhua made the final decision.

"Listen to me, finish folding the boxes today, and go see Manager He tomorrow. If you can continue copying books, I'll take you to find a fountain pen, and make sure it works well."

Seeing that Zhou Chunhua was determined, Yao Xiaoyu didn't say anything more, and felt much more at ease: this kind of rental service that required money was her true comfort zone; Yao Ping'an wanted to say something, but was glared at by Zhou Chunhua and shut up.

People who aren't making money shouldn't speak!

Zhou Chunhua was a bit superstitious. She only told the story of the two silver coins, but didn't mention the other thing that happened today.

She was overjoyed to receive the money. She usually only ate one pancake, but today she gritted her teeth and bought two. However, because she was used to being hungry, she couldn't eat any more after eating one. Not wanting to waste it, she asked the vendor for a lotus leaf, wrapped the pancake in it, and put it on her chest, thinking of taking it home to eat that night.

Then she took a fare, and on her way back, the person walking in the opposite direction suddenly fell down and crashed headfirst into her rickshaw.

? !

She cleaned the car spotlessly!

Zhou Chunhua hurriedly put the person down from the car and, unsurprisingly, found the other person's face clearly visible on the car seat. She turned to look at the still unconscious person and, based on the various people she had met during this time, realized that the person had fainted from hunger.

She wiped the car and was about to leave when the large pancake on her chest seemed particularly noticeable. Zhou Chunhua couldn't bear to part with it, but she also couldn't bear to waste a whole pancake, so she tore it in half, broke it into pieces, and fed it to the people on the ground with water from the bamboo tube.

After the woman woke up, she wanted to give Zhou Chunhua some money, but she couldn't find a single copper coin on her person. Finally, somewhat embarrassed, she said she would tell Zhou Chunhua's fortune. It was only after she spoke that Zhou Chunhua realized that the woman was a woman.

Zhou Chunhua wasn't very educated, and she didn't understand much of what the woman said. In the end, the woman had no choice but to tell her in plain language that she couldn't lend anything to her family recently, or she might suffer a disaster.

She didn't believe it at first, but on her last business trip, Zhou Chunhua took her customer to a small alley she had never been before, and heard the shouts of someone renting out pens. They said there were special prices today and tomorrow, and the deposit had been reduced from one silver dollar to two silver jiao, with the rental fee being one copper coin per day.

She hadn't paid much attention at first, until Yao Xiaoyu brought up the matter of borrowing a fountain pen, and she thought of silver coins from the silver dollars she hadn't received yet, and then she realized that she had met a master.

Since they had made it clear that they wouldn't lend anything, Zhou Chunhua naturally wouldn't let Yao Xiaoyu ask for help again.

Fortunately, Zhou Chunhua, who was feeling kind, was unaware that after Zhou Chunhua left, Lin Luoyu watched her retreating figure for a long time before humming a song and leaving.

"Half a pancake and half a divination stick, it's hard to say that the second daughter's soul has been replaced, and the Wenqu (a type of divination) has fallen into the Yao family's land, only returning to its nest in old age..."

A note from the author:

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Lin Luoyu doesn't have many scenes later on, so don't expect too much.

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