Chapter 120 marks the start of a new novel, "Yang Shunxin's Medical Practice".
The new padded jackets and skirts became an instant hit, and even the Lunar New Year couldn't dampen people's enthusiasm for making money. Wholesalers crowded outside Lan Shuangyu's factory, each trying their best to secure as many garments as possible. The smaller vendors below them were even more frantic, hoping to earn the equivalent of their entire year's worth of income in just a few days.
"Look, look! New clothes for the New Year, a fresh start! May wealth flow in all year round!"
The God of Wealth is always popular regardless of time or identity; otherwise, no one would do the business of delivering firewood during the Lunar New Year. People who hear the shouts instinctively look towards the source of the sound, and then their eyes are glued to it.
How come the clothes worn by that female peddler are so beautiful!
A curious crowd quickly formed a circle, and the peddler enthusiastically called out, showing off how the clothes looked on him from all angles. Although you couldn't try on the clothes at the stall, many people were still tempted after seeing the peddler's attire. After the first woman with a similar build to the peddler paid, the clothes were sold one after another.
"Your clothes and headdress have been packed, and two silk flowers have also been placed inside."
The peddler was very shrewd in business. When she used herself as a model, she didn't just sell clothes; she also bought a batch of jewelry and shoes to increase her profits. She saw off the last customer with a big smile, then quickly disappeared into the alley with her basket on her back. In just a few dozen seconds, the smelly-footed patrolman rushed over. Seeing that there was no profit to be made, he left in a huff.
The peddler weaved and skipped through the alley, shaking off the people following her, before carefully making her way home. Once she had locked all the doors and windows and made sure no one was eavesdropping, she lit the lamp on the table and began counting her money.
The light from the bowl of cottonseed oil was dim, but the silver dollars and copper coins were still visible. The peddler carefully tapped his few silver dollars together, afraid of getting a fake.
The silver coins with foreign inlay were privately minted. Because they contained less silver, they were less valuable than regular silver dollars. She was in a small business, and even if she acquired just one, she would suffer a significant loss.
Fortunately, they were all genuine silver dollars of the correct weight.
After counting the silver dollars, he counted the silver coins, then the small silver dollars, then the copper coins. He wrote down all the numbers, and after calculating for a long time, he put some of the money at home and took the rest out the door—the silk flowers and hairpins were almost sold out, and he had to go and buy another batch.
...
The methods of selling goods always spread quickly. After the first female peddler to try it out used herself as a clothes hanger, other peddlers gradually followed suit, wearing clothes as a natural way to attract customers. Since Miao Youjin's story was published, more and more women have started doing business.
No matter how hard they hawked their wares, nothing was more effective than wearing the clothes directly. Once the male vendors realized the advantage of women, they racked their brains, asking friends and relatives for help or gritting their teeth and paying people to make clothes hangers. In short, they needed a human model who could showcase the beauty of the clothes.
Some vendors who live alone and are in dire financial straits simply grit their teeth, close their eyes, and put on the clothes to attract customers. And you know what? Apart from feeling a little awkward themselves, once they put on the mask, customers flocked to them.
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the first batch of new jackets and skirts produced by the Lan Bilingual Factory officially went on sale. By the Lantern Festival, many women on the street were wearing this winter outfit, and even tailor shops and silk stores could order this type of jacket and skirt.
Shanghai's press has always been sensitive to social phenomena, but the peaceful ideals upheld before the Lunar New Year had already put opponents at a disadvantage. Although some articles still appeared that disapproved of the new clothing, they didn't cause much of a stir. Once upper-class women also wore the garment, the already weak opposition vanished completely. Lan Shuangyu's biggest ordeal passed by so inexplicably.
Then the focus shifted to Yao Xiaoyu.
Unable to provoke truly powerful people, these people vented their anger on Zhang Xiu, the author of "Back to the Ming Dynasty." After several days, various articles hurling insults at her, calling her a hen crowing at dawn, swept across the country again. Zhang Xiu, now an empress, even had her author, a nobody, get a thorough dressing-down.
"Don't read the newspaper lately."
As Pi Kangxiu flipped through Yao Xiaoyu's manuscript, he said, Yao Xiaoyu's teeth ached from the sourness of the fruit on the table, and she didn't immediately realize what was happening.
There haven't been any sensitive topics in the newspapers lately, have there?
"Your article is excellent; don't take those people's words to heart."
Besides his main job as an editor, Pi Kangxiu occasionally writes and submits articles, but he still can't understand how those people came up with so much vicious language.
"Oh, those."
Yao Xiaoyu finally understood what Pi Kangxiu was talking about, and waved her hand dismissively.
"This isn't the first time they've said that." She was used to it.
Yao Xiaoyu even found their language and perspectives repetitive and annoying. All they ever said was "the most poisonous thing is a woman's heart and a hen crowing at dawn," and they couldn't come up with anything new. Looking at them made her want to sleep.
The kids on the street would even say things like, "It's better to be a coward than a bastard, and a daughter is better than a mixed-breed." These people always use the same old tricks in different forms. Sometimes Yao Xiaoyu even felt that they might be linked to some kind of anti-fan system, and that many of the things they wrote were just for the sake of being anti-fans.
Pi Kangxiu noticed Yao Xiaoyu's unfinished sentence and frowned deeply. It wasn't a matter of being used to it or not; those extremely harsh words shouldn't have appeared in the first place... Yao Xiaoyu got goosebumps from Pi Kangxiu's gaze, but fortunately, Pi Kangxiu quickly looked down at his manuscript, and Yao Xiaoyu was relieved.
This time, Yao Xiaoyu brought the manuscript of her new book. After Zhang Xiu became emperor, "Back to the Ming Dynasty" was already nearing its end. Pi Kangxiu had urged Yao Xiaoyu to write her next book several times, but Yao Xiaoyu only brought the manuscript over today.
A new story, a new beginning. This time, the protagonist's surname is Yang, and her name is Yang Shunxin. She is an ordinary female doctor with bright eyes, and the book is called "Yang Shunxin's Medical Practice".
Yang Shunxin was born into a family of doctors, but not a famous one. Her grandfather was a doctor who only treated headaches and fevers. Although he didn't hold back his skills for his son, Yang Shunxin's father was just an ordinary doctor due to his limited knowledge. Although the family was not wealthy, they were certainly not poor either.
The Yang family's relatively high standard of living was not due to their ancestors' savings or any extraordinary stroke of luck, but simply because Grandpa Yang only had one son and one daughter, and so did Dad Yang. With fewer people and more resources, they were naturally less strapped for cash.
Like many clinics, the Yang Family Clinic is a family affair: Old Master Yang is the pillar of strength, sitting at home drinking tea every day and only playing high-level games; Father Yang is the evergreen, running the ordinary clinic and going out to see patients are his jobs.
Meanwhile, Yang Shunxin and his sister worked as apprentices at the clinic, handling everything from processing and decocting medicinal herbs to serving guests. They were the clinic's unpaid reserve laborers.
This position was obtained through blood ties; the Yang family wouldn't accept anyone else who wanted to work at the clinic, for no other reason than that they could truly learn something there.
Some families take in apprentices to find someone to do their bidding, and then fire them after three years. The Yang family couldn't do that, nor did they want others to take their livelihood, so they simply didn't take in apprentices. But they wouldn't say this to outsiders, for fear of getting into trouble. The Yang family usually said that they would teach their children from a young age.
In fact, Yang Shunxin wasn't very interested in working at the clinic, but compared to staying with her mother, life at the clinic suddenly became much happier. So she went to great lengths to squeeze in with her brother, and then when she went home, she would act coquettishly with her mother. Her mother was a bit old-fashioned and didn't like her daughter showing her face in public, but her love for her daughter overcame her feudalistic views, and a little coquetry was enough to appease her.
Yang's mother didn't get involved in the clinic's affairs. She took on the responsibility of managing the household, handling all aspects of the Yang family's life, including food, clothing, housing, social interactions, weddings, and funerals. However, since the family employed servants to manage daily life, she didn't actually have much housework to do.
Yang Shunxin wasn't deliberately taught medicine as a child, nor was her brother Yang Shunyi. They learned medicine through observation and experience. For example, when processing tongtuo wood, their father or grandfather would tell them how to do it and what ailments the herb was for. The two children probably just let it go in one ear and out the other. They even sold tongtuo wood to craftsmen and used the money to buy candy.
The core of the tongcao wood is made from tongcao paper, which can be used to make tongcao flowers, a popular type of jewelry at the time.
Of course, Yang Shunxin and Yang Shunyi were unsurprisingly discovered after eating the candy, and were then fairly pinned down on the bench and spanked. The brother and sister cried and swore that they would never touch the pith paper again.
Then the next time, I sold fennel seeds from the herbal medicine shop.
...
"Pfft!"
Pi Kangxiu couldn't help but laugh out loud. The child's writing was so realistic, it reminded him of his own and his relatives' children, those mischievous little devils who were both lovable and infuriating... Wait a minute?!
"Tell me, Shunxin and Shunyi won't end up like Ding Xian, will they?!"
Pi Kangxiu's expression suddenly changed as he thought of something—he remembered Yao Xiaoyu's first book clearly. The sweetness of the childhood sweethearts in the beginning was followed by heartbreaking pain. Although this time it was not a young couple but a brother and sister, it was still a boy and a girl. The beginning was cute and adorable, making it hard for Pi Kangxiu not to think of the opening of Ding Xian's Biography.
It's not fair to say that Pi Kangxiu was once bitten by a snake and was afraid of ropes for ten years; it's just that the shock Ding Xian gave him was too great!
"Um?"
Yao Xiaoyu, who was struggling with the hawthorn, looked up blankly. She didn't hear a word Pi Kangxiu said. Her mind was full of questions about where Editor Pi had bought the sour hawthorn. Everyone said that there was a strong liquor in the north called "Mendao Lv" (meaning "donkey that knocks you down"), but this hawthorn was so sour it could make your teeth ache!
"No, it's just an ordinary story."
Pi Kangxiu repeated the question, and Yao Xiaoyu, who finally understood, shook her head vigorously. Yang Shunxin was just like his name; his life would never be anything dramatic or exciting. He would only live a peaceful and contented life without any ups and downs.
Pi Kangxiu breathed a sigh of relief.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
