Chapter 81 The Story of Bao'er I want to build a tomb for Bao'er...

"Miss Qiu sent you another letter... Why are you crying?!"

When her friend saw how carefully Editor-in-Chief Lü was holding the manuscript, she knew that the mysterious Miss Qiu had sent another letter. She was about to say something envious, like she was monopolizing the author, but she was startled by Editor Lü's red eyes.

No, what exactly did this manuscript say? She and Lü Qingyu grew up together. That girl never shed a tear when facing those predatory relatives who wanted to ruin their family; she single-handedly protected the five women in her family. And now…

"This article is extremely well written."

Lu Qingyu tried her best to appear as a reliable leader, but she couldn't suppress the sobs in her throat. Her friend felt sorry for her, but was also very curious about Miss Qiu's article.

The Daping Daily isn't a free-for-all; there's competition. If a writer can keep their work to themselves, the editors won't release it—that all comes down to connections!

Although Miss Qiu is a bit of a mystery, once the power of the Kaiba work was confirmed, after Miao Youjin sent over her continuation, Editor-in-Chief Lü decisively claimed it for himself, writing his own address in the envelope so that Miss Qiu could send her letters directly to his home in the future.

When Yao Xiaoyu picked up her letter, she saw this request. Although she found it strange, she knew the money in her hand wouldn't be fake. After hesitating for a while, she made a bold attempt. Now, as long as she was sure that her royalties wouldn't be embezzled and the articles wouldn't be attributed to him, this would be the address she would use to send the newspaper to Daping from now on.

Moving from a public address to a private address makes it even more discreet.

"Publish it as soon as possible, and have Xiao Wu copy it first."

Xiao Wu's surname is Wu. He is a copyist in the editorial department. Many authors are unwilling to copy their manuscripts and will send over the original manuscripts after making corrections and corrections. Xiao Wu specializes in copying these manuscripts. Many newspaper and magazine editorial departments have one or more similar positions.

"I'll deliver it."

Her friend's eyes lit up. Xiao Wu was in the habit of copying one thing to the end before copying another. Even if she had to cut in line, she would finish copying the manuscript she was currently working on first. She had just glanced at it and found that Xiao Wu still had more than two thousand words left in her manuscript, enough for her to finish reading the article.

"Don't leave."

Lü Qingyu understood what her friend meant, but simply reminded him—someone had previously checked a manuscript while using the toilet, resulting in the manuscript paper being mixed up with the paper he used to wipe his butt. Not only did he end up staining his hemorrhoids black, but the article still passed the review, and because the author refused to make a copy, there was no backup.

The last editor covered his nose while copying the manuscript onto paper stained with the residue of the five grains' cycle, trying to recall the illegible parts of the writing. He managed to roughly restore the manuscript through sheer willpower that most people could not endure.

Then the original author came knocking on his door and berated him for half an hour over the issue of the revised text: the editor had mistakenly written roses as chrysanthemums, turning a romantic confession into a scandalous affair. If Lü Qingyu hadn't covered his mouth in time, the reputation of the Daping Daily would have suffered a significant blow.

From then on, the editorial department had a bizarre rule: no manuscript paper was allowed in the toilet.

"I sat next to Xiao Wu and waited."

Her friend also thought of the editor's tragic deeds and immediately made a serious promise. She knew that Lü Qingyu valued Miss Qiu. Every time she finished copying, the manuscripts sent over would be collected by Lü Qingyu. If she dared to let these manuscripts suffer, Lü Qingyu would dare to chop her into pieces.

True to his word, his friend sat down next to Xiao Wu to read the manuscript, though the distance was a bit far, about three meters. But in a public place, unless someone deliberately acted crazy, there was little chance of the manuscript being damaged, so Lü Qingyu turned a blind eye.

"Waaaaah—"

Xiao Wu was a skilled copyist, but he still couldn't get used to working with a kettle of boiling water next to him. He endured it for a while, but finally couldn't stand it anymore and turned around, wanting to call someone or take the kettle away himself...

"Editor, what's going on...?"

Xiao Wu looked at the editor next to him, who was sobbing uncontrollably, and was a little confused—he was working, why did his colleague run over and start crying? Need help urgently!

"It's alright, you can continue copying. I just feel that Bao'er is really too pitiful."

Lu Qingyu's friend waved her hand, choking back tears. Seven or eight sobs escaped her lips as she spoke. The people in the editorial department had already quietly looked over, their eyes filled with bright curiosity.

Xiao Wu: ……

With you crying like this, I can't concentrate on copying.

The editor-in-chief of Ta Kung Pao's friend knew that she was affecting the work efficiency of those around her, but she just couldn't help it. She could understand Lü Qingyu now. Writing such a story in such cold words was like dissecting the tragedy of the human heart. Crying was the most insignificant emotional release.

"Where is Bao'er buried? Can I pay for a grave to be built for her?"

A friend walked into Lü Qingyu's office and asked anxiously, but Lü Qingyu shook her head.

"Miss Qiu didn't say, but I plan to write to her and ask."

Lu Qingyu wasn't very confident about Miss Qiu's reply. When the other party sent manuscripts to her home, she never included a mailing address. Previously, their closest contact was sending manuscript fees, but this time the other party didn't even want the fee. This letter might not be addressed at all.

"If you have money, you might as well donate some to orphanages."

His friend seemed to have realized something and looked at Lü Qingyu with a puzzled expression. Lü Qingyu nodded.

"Miss Qiu said that she wants us to use all of her royalties to buy coarse grains and send them to a reliable orphanage."

This was added by Yao Xiaoyu on purpose, learning from the lesson of how a bowl of mung bean soup was worth money – cheap things like cornmeal might be too much trouble to buy, but real money is something everyone loves!

His friend nodded blankly, and as he left the office, he saw that Xiao Wu had finished copying the article in his hand. So he put the article on Xiao Wu's desk and went back to his own seat, but the story written by Miss Qiu was still playing in his mind.

This time, Ms. Qiu wrote another short story, with the protagonist being a homeless little girl named Chai Bao.

There are many homeless children in this era, but there are far fewer female homeless children than male ones. This may sound strange, but upon closer examination, it makes perfect sense.

Not counting unborn babies, the mortality rate for newborn girls is much higher than that for boys. It's considered good if a family can give away or sell a baby girl, at least they can save her life. Even abandoning or giving away baby girls is still considered relatively good, as it leaves some hope for survival. Most baby girls are thrown into basins, chamber pots, latrines, or rivers from birth, disappearing from the world without even a cry.

Slightly older girls also had options—child brides, girls waiting for their husbands, maids serving others, child prostitutes… there were ways to go everywhere. As for how long they could live, that wasn't a concern. People would just say that girls were lucky, that they could be kept by anyone.

Teenagers are more popular. They are fed and raised for a few years, and when their menstrual period comes, they can get married. The dowry can be used to marry off their sons. This is a relatively benevolent idea. As for other paths, there are many more.

Under the layers of fishing bans, very few homeless children on the streets could reveal their identities, and Chai Bao was one of them.

Yao Xiaoyu's story is told in reverse chronological order. It begins with Chai Bao pitifully begging, but her real name is not Chai Bao. Everyone calls her Bao'er, mocking her for being a homeless child who gives herself the name Bao Bao.

Bao'er's first appearance was not glorious. She put on a pitiful look and clung to a respectable gentleman. She refused to leave even when he scolded her with very dirty language. Only when the man gave her a few copper coins did she pounce on the ground like a dog to pick them up and then run away.

But the homeless children were also very observant and quick to catch up. She was soon overtaken and, despite her best efforts, she couldn't withstand the punches and kicks from so many people. Once the homeless children scattered, Bao'er was left with only the one coin she had in her mouth. She grinned as she pried it out, spat out a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood and teeth, and used the coin to buy cornmeal.

But Lu's friend knew that Bao'er was not a homeless child at first. She had a home, a name, a father and mother. Her name was Chai Bao. Because she was born in a chaotic world, her father wanted her to have enough to eat for the rest of her life, so he gave her this name.

Chai Bao was born into a scholarly family. Although her family was not extremely wealthy, they were still well-off. Two years after giving birth to her, her mother gave birth to her younger brother. If her father hadn't been beaten to death by thugs, her life would not have been much better, but at least it wouldn't have fallen so drastically.

But there are no "what ifs" in life. Those close uncles and kind elders, who were still in human form when their father had just passed away, revealed a frightening light in their eyes after hearing that their mother was going to remain a widow for their father and leave the family business to her son.

Five-year-old Chai Bao didn't know what that meant until half a month later, her younger brother, who never left his mother's side, fell into a well, and she, as an extra, was sold to a boat with her mother.

Chai Bao had no idea where her mother had gone. Since they parted ways on the boat, the two had never seen each other again. Chai Bao was not particularly beautiful and was not worth training as a boat girl. She was originally to be given to Master Wang by the people on the boat, but a prostitute saw that she looked honest and decided to take her with her.

But this wasn't out of kindness. The purpose of the firewood she left behind was as proof that she could have children—being able to bear children was a problem when others were using them to make money, but once she was free, it would be a guarantee that she could get married.

As for "doing business," that's not a big problem: most of the lower classes live by men selling their sweat and women selling their bodies, and there are even quite a few men who sell their bodies. It's common to see people wearing mourning clothes during the day and red robes at night—everyone is just trying to survive, so no one can say anything to anyone else.

She wanted to be Chai Bao's mother, but Chai Bao had her own parents. Adults had many ways of dealing with children, the most common being beatings. The child who was beaten dared not cry, dared not shout, dared not think of home, and over time, she really forgot. That's how Chai Bao blurred her memories and became Bao'er, truly seeing herself as a woman's daughter.

The woman was lucky; she left that place with Bao'er and actually married a man. Life was alright at first, but after the woman became pregnant, her parents, who were not her biological parents, started to dislike Chai Bao.

One day, Bao'er couldn't remember when, the woman dressed her in tattered clothes, saying she was going to dig for wild vegetables. But she took Chai Bao to a place with many people, and then disappeared without a trace. Bao'er cried until her voice was hoarse, and she could only start living alone. It took her a long time to figure out that the place where the woman abandoned her was called the shantytown, a slum in Shanghai.

At first, Bao'er could still be recognized as a girl, but no one was willing to raise her as a child bride—Bao'er had six toes on her right foot, and children with extra fingers or toes were considered unlucky at the time.

When Bao'er was still Chai Bao, her parents didn't care because they planned to bind her feet. They thought that if the feet were bound tightly, the toes would naturally die. But before the binding even started, the Chai family's life was turned upside down, and Bao'er's little toes have remained to this day.

Life on the streets was not easy. Bao'er quickly became like any other child left unattended on the street. After her sixth toe was frostbitten and she lost all ties with the girl Bao'er, she began to live as a male homeless child.

Bao'er was beaten into a blank slate by the woman, and her time with the woman was not long. She did not receive much discipline as a girl. Under the pressure of survival, she quickly abandoned her little education and perfectly integrated into the group of homeless children.

Her knees were weak; a single copper coin could make her kowtow. She was cheap; she'd fight tooth and nail for a rich man's leftover dog bone. She was deaf and blind, unable to hear rejection, only able to see when offered charity…

Bao'er was always being beaten, and she was always beating others. Compared to humans, she was more like a wild beast that survived by instinct. She had companions and enemies, but in the end they all died, and Bao'er also died, starving to death in a cold winter.

The closest she ever came to happiness was when she collapsed at the entrance of an orphanage. A woman from the orphanage gave her a steamed bun and tried to take her inside to live, but she didn't know what the place was for, so she ran away. The woman tried to chase after her, but the children in the orphanage were crying out that they were hungry, so the woman sighed and went back inside. There's even a dialogue later to explain why.

The orphanage hasn't received any funding for a long time, so it's just barely keeping them from starving. It seems that the child was ultimately not meant to be.