Chapter 77 Chen Yuzhu: I want to try running a small shop.

"Before the book officially went on sale, some people said that those who wanted to read it had already read it in the newspaper, and not many people would buy it. But when I opened the door this morning, wow, there were so many people!"

Feng Zhen spoke with great enthusiasm, saying that returning home in glory is like wearing fine clothes at night, and that if you don't speak of the best, unrepeatable choice, you'll lose much of the joy of making money. Men have plenty of partners to show off in the business world, but women have far fewer. Yao Xiaoyu just happened to be there by chance.

The newspapers promoted the sales of Ding Xian's biography, but there have been quite a few famous authors in the past two years, and there have been one news story after another. The two-week advertising campaign didn't seem to make much of a splash.

Booksellers are shrewd people. They've determined that this book is outdated. Many established booksellers, only considering their relationship with Kaiming Bookstore, order two or three hundred copies, intending to sell them for a year or two. Some smaller booksellers even order only thirty or fifty copies. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been up to Feng Zhen, a relatively new owner, to order such a large number.

The books that are truly predicted to be popular are those that are distributed directly to buyers based on merit and personal connections as soon as they leave the printing press.

Unfortunately, they messed up this time.

Feng Zhen proudly recalled her decisive actions, and then remembered the girl who was the first to shout that she would read and collect every book, and then bring back a few more for her relatives and friends, which directly doubled and doubled her personal purchases afterward. She said that one of the books was for her mother who was about to return home. She wondered if the girl's family had been reunited yet.

...

"Mom, you're finally back!"

When Chen Yuzhu saw the figure in front of the table after school, she exclaimed in surprise and wanted to rush over, but then remembered something, so she went upstairs. A moment later, she came down carrying something in one hand. The way she skipped and hopped made her father's veins throb.

"There aren't many steps, can't we just go down one by one?"

They can take big strides of three or five steps with each lift of their leg, without worrying about falling.

Chen Yuzhu jumped to the ground, her free hand seemingly unintentionally resting on the stair railing. The familiar action evoked memories for Chen's father—when his daughter first went downstairs, she slid down the railing directly, and even tried to skateboard down the stairs using the railing.

"Dad, don't be so nervous... Ahhh, Mom, help! Dad's going to beat his daughter as soon as he gets back!"

Chen Yuzhu originally wanted to make a few jokes, but when she saw her father's face getting darker and darker, she felt something was wrong. She jumped forward to avoid her father's grabbing hand and hid behind her mother using all three limbs—one of which was still holding a book.

"Come out here!"

Recalling his unpleasant memories, Chen's father rolled up his sleeves, preparing to let Chen Yuzhu reminisce about her childhood.

"No!"

Chen Yuzhu watched her father warily as he returned, ready to attack. She tapped her toes on the ground, prepared to dodge at any moment.

"come out!"

"No!"

"out!"

"No!"

...

The father and daughter walked around the pillar with Chen's mother as the center for a while before finally sitting down face to face, panting heavily. Chen's mother was watching the two of them staring at each other with their eyes crossed when she noticed that both of their heads turned towards her.

"mother--"

"young married woman--"

Chen's mother lost interest in watching the show and gestured for a pause.

That's enough!

After forcefully suppressing the father and daughter, the family was finally able to continue their conversation in a calm manner. Chen Yuzhu didn't delay and handed the book in her hand to her mother like a treasure. Her mother subconsciously shrank back.

"What are you doing? You know your mother wants to sleep as soon as she starts reading."

Chen's mother was shrewd in her calculations, but her education was only passable. She never even glanced at the Four Books and Five Classics, and she had no interest in storybooks. In her words, they were full of the dreams of poor scholars, and she would rather sleep more than read them.

"There are plenty of interesting stories on the market now, not just about poor scholars... This one is definitely different, you have to believe your daughter's words!"

Chen Yuzhu originally wanted to try to change her mother's mind, but seeing the determination on her mother's face, she decisively gave up and decided to start with Ding Xian's biography and work her way up little by little.

She went through all that trouble of queuing for so long, not to leave all her books except the one in her collection, the biography of Ding Xian, to gather dust on the shelf!

"Okay, okay, I'll believe you."

Chen's mother looked perfunctory, clearly not taking it to heart. Chen Yuzhu wasn't in a hurry either, and kept chatting idly with her mother, whom she hadn't seen for over a year. She also ordered her father to peel apples and oranges, acting like a little princess. Chen's parents felt very sorry for their daughter whom they hadn't seen for so long, and they took turns peeling fruit and patting her back, serving her without complaint.

"Mother, how many shops have been closed this time?"

For the first time, Chen Yuzhu showed concern for the family business. Her parents assumed she was worried about money when she got married, so they comforted her:

"Don't worry, we've been saving up your dowry since you were born. We'll prepare everything from head to toe, enough to last for generations."

They only have one daughter, and they would never mistreat their own girl.

The Chen family had a very large business, with shops in most parts of the country. However, when the emperor abdicated, things were chaotic. In order to avoid getting involved, the Chen family used 30% of their assets to ensure the safety of the whole family. But people thought they had lost their mind and were now restless about selling the shops they still owned.

The Chen family was disheartened, and business had been tough in recent years, so they decided to liquidate all their shops except those in bustling cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou, to raise cash and build good relationships. This is why they left last year and only returned this year – traveling around most of the country at this time is no easy task.

As for what to do with the money they get, they haven't decided yet, but it doesn't really matter. At worst, they'll just put it all into the girl's dowry list.

"I don't need a dowry."

Chen Yuzhu blushed with embarrassment. When she was young, a branch of the Chen family had malicious intentions and bribed the people around her to instill in her the idea that girls should just happily wait to get married and that doing business was not respectable.

Later, her parents discovered this, and the servants were kicked out. However, her mindset had become fixed. Although she didn't regard business as worthless or power as a latrine, she lost interest in managing the family business. Once her parents were certain that she didn't intend to inherit the family business, they began to gradually turn the family property into her dowry.

"I just want to know what my home looks like now, and also, I want to find a small shop to practice my skills."

After hearing their daughter's words, Chen's parents exchanged a glance, and their expressions immediately turned serious.

"Yuzhu, can you tell your mother what you're thinking?"

Chen's mother patted her daughter's head. Before she left, she had chosen many reliable and suitable people to entrust her daughter with, including some small families who depended on the Chen family for their livelihood, and her mortal enemies who were always thinking about crushing the other family. She used conflicting interests to ensure that her daughter could live a comfortable life, but Yuzhu's words... A cold light flashed in Chen's mother's eyes.

Before she got married, she was also known as the "Abacus Fairy." Those who had designs on her daughter had better pray that they had never touched a drop of oil in the shop or done a single wrong thing!

"...That's right, that's right..."

Chen Yuzhu mumbled and rambled on for a long time before finally finishing her story hesitantly. Her parents were anxious and worried. It was only because it was their daughter; if someone else behaved like that in front of them, they would definitely teach her a lesson.

But Yuzhu is her own daughter, so she has no choice but to endure it.

Chen Yuzhu's change of mindset is inseparable from a little fish, a pink fluffy rabbit, a paper wedding dress, and Miss Qiu—from afar, it looks like a gathering of heroes; up close, it looks like Xiaoyu is holding a meeting.

The story begins with a small fish called Ding Xian.

After her parents left, Chen Yuzhu quickly became engrossed in various novels. At first, she devoured them, buying any newspaper that contained a story. Later, after reading many, she became more discerning, only buying newspapers that she liked.

Because of her childhood experiences, Chen Yuzhu's favorite stories are those of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School. If things had continued as they were, she would have gradually become a love-struck person with a mind full of romance. But then a little fish suddenly appeared, and her story of Ding Xian dazzled Chen Yuzhu!

Vernacular novels were just beginning to develop at this time, and Ding Xian's work was simply a game-changer. After reading the first issue of Childhood Sweethearts, Chen Yuzhu, with a doting aunt smile, felt that other love stories lacked literary merit, had unclear protagonists, and were tinged with an unnatural sweetness—it's hard to go from extravagance to simplicity.

Then she anxiously awaited the second issue, hoping to see the sweet life of the young couple. She had even planned to find a husband like Ding Xian's childhood sweetheart. But then she saw that the innocent young man had fallen apart!

When Chen Yuzhu saw the last sentence describing the perfect couple as feudal dross, she felt as if a thunderbolt had struck her head. For the first time, her deeply ingrained beliefs were cracked open—if even such love could turn sour, could she really live a good life by getting married?

Chen Yuzhu didn't want to read any further, but her mouth wouldn't obey her. When she heard someone hawking a complete collection of storybooks, she opened her mouth to buy one. Then her hand uncontrollably flipped through the pages, and her eyes expertly glanced over... and then she began to experience the feeling of being struck by lightning.

The dark thoughts of her in-laws, the inability to find help at home, and the transformation of her imagined life of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting into a complete mess—this was a devastating blow to a young girl longing for love!

All of Yao Xiaoyu's books share a common characteristic: they are very relatable. Chen Yuzhu rejoices with Ding Xian and rages with her. Her childhood-founded ideas about marriage also begin to change gradually—she still wants to get married, but she has decided to be more discerning and find a way out for herself.

Then she saw Miao Youjin's story.

Chen Yuzhu smoothly shifted the perspective to Miao Youjin's, and for the first time, she looked down and saw ordinary people bustling about, just trying to earn a few coins. She began to realize that money was not just a number, but something that could allow people to eat well, stay warm, and live a good life.

When Yao Xiaoyu wrote Ding Xian's biography, she deliberately obscured the price situation due to limited information. However, in Miao Youjin's story of a small person's struggle, she vividly described the fights over a few copper coins and the scheming among maids for a monthly salary of two silver dollars.

What is love? Is it something that fills your stomach when you're hungry, or warms you when you're cold? Being a romantic is something only the wealthy can afford. For the poor, if they don't work, they don't eat. How many people have fallen off their carts and died on the roadside?

This is a line from a beggar in the movie "Shanghai Get Rich," which completely shattered Chen Yuzhu's romanticized notions. She began to realize that the shop in her dowry, which her parents had mentioned, could give her confidence. It was this piece of cash that gave her some real interest in doing business.

The interspersed articles about the white jade hairpin, two ounces of oil, and a piece of melon intensified Chen Yuzhu's fear of marriage. The story of Plum Blossom had only just begun, and Chen Yuzhu had not yet considered the possibility of becoming the heir to the family business, but that did not stop her from wanting to increase the value of her disposable assets.

Putting everything else aside, just so she wouldn't suffer in the underworld after death, she had to do something, no matter what—Chen Yuzhu took Bai Yuzan's description of hell seriously.

"I don't have much experience right now, so I only plan to find the smallest shop to practice in."

Chen Yuzhu cautiously looked at her parents. She wouldn't ask to take over everything right away. Miao Youjin had made that mistake before and it took her a lot of effort to get back on her feet.

"My daughter has grown up."

After a long silence, Chen's mother finally sighed and said, her gaze falling on Ding Xian's book on the table for the first time—this book could actually open her daughter's mind, so she had to finish reading it no matter how sleepy she was.

Is that okay?

Chen Yuzhu didn't get a definite answer, and looked at her mother expectantly.

“Sure, the entire Chen family is yours. There’s a rouge shop on the corner, a tiny place, perfect for you to practice your skills.”

The fact that her daughter is willing to manage her dowry is already a step forward. Chen's mother doesn't plan to talk about inheriting the family business right now, so as not to make her daughter, who has finally stepped out of her shell, shrink back.

However, this means that the original plan may have to be scrapped. If things continue to develop as they are now, Yuzhu may need a lot of help in the future.

But in this precarious world, where can one find so many reliable people?

The thought only flashed through Chen's mother's mind. With their daughter's short attention span, it was hard to say how things would develop. Besides, weren't parents just there to protect their children? How many more years could these old bones last?

"Mother, you are so good..."

Chen Yuzhu clung to her mother for a while, acting coquettishly, when she suddenly remembered something and turned to look at her father:

"Dad, what about the dog you promised me?"

When Chen Yuzhu's parents left, she was reluctant to part with them. Her father coaxed her, saying that when they came back, he would bring her a very impressive dog so they could go hunting in the countryside. Now that her parents are back, where is the dog?

Mr. Chen's smiling face froze.

"You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"Forehead……"

"You really forgot?!"

"Don't cry, don't cry... Honey, please don't hit me... I'll buy it, I'll definitely buy it, I'll buy anything!"

...

"Have a meal."

Mr. Chen called to his daughter and daughter-in-law. Chen Yuzhu obediently sat down at the table. Mr. Chen put a piece of pork rib, which Chen Yuzhu liked, into his daughter's bowl. The girl chewed and swallowed it, and that was the end of it.

The default rule in gardening: Parents will not back down, but when they want to apologize, they will call their children to eat; putting their children's favorite dishes into their bowls is an apology; once the children eat, it means the matter is over.

Three days later.

"I really owe you one!"

Mr. Chen angrily slammed the pistol into Chen Yuzhu's arms. This girl was practically here to collect a debt. He had forgotten that she was just a dog and was actually trying to exchange her for a gun. Did she know how expensive guns and bullets were these days?

Let him find out who corrupted his girl, and he'll skin that person alive!