Chapter 187 Fang Sanya: A Group Portrait of Protagonists
Compared to Feng Xiaoman and Lang Xingqiao, who are from noble and wealthy families respectively, Fang Sanya comes from an ordinary family. If there is any characteristic, it is that she is extremely poor. She is so poor that the number of people in her family has to be precisely calculated, and she is so poor that she cannot afford to raise a third girl.
The Fang family's children appear to be siblings, but in reality, they are ghost sisters and ghost brothers. In the Fang family's mind, raising one girl is enough, as she is meant to be a wife for the boys. Raising more than one would be a pure loss. It was only because their son was born weak and they felt that one wife was not enough to take care of him that Fang Sanya was allowed to live.
From a young age, Fang Sanya was constantly told by her family that her survival was entirely due to Fang Erlang, and therefore she should cherish and protect him like the apple of her eye for the rest of her life. As a child, Fang Sanya truly believed this nonsense. But as people grow older, they start to realize that something was amiss.
Her family always said she should be grateful for being alive, but in terms of the debt of gratitude for being raised, after her eldest sister got married, she took on most of the household chores. She did chores when she was busy and worked when she was free. Even though she didn't get paid for housework, her earnings from working were more than enough to cover her food and clothing.
Girls aren't considered precious in their area, but they're not exactly rare either. Fang Sanya can confidently say that even if she were abandoned on the roadside at birth, she could be picked up and raised as a child bride. She would still survive, and might even be better off than at home—at least a scalper who can earn money can get some feed, while at home she can only drink dishwater.
As for the debt of life... even tigers don't eat their cubs, they wouldn't even leave them by the roadside. A person who kills their own newborn child is worse than an animal. If someone can do such a thing, they are not family.
Fang Sanya couldn't read or write, but she had her own little account in her mind. She didn't compare herself to wealthy families, but only observed how families of similar means treated their daughters. As she observed, she gradually came to understand. The Fang family gradually lost the image of relatives in her heart, and everyone in the family became a creditor.
If you're a creditor, you have to pay back the money. Fang Sanya didn't know how much would be enough, but girls in their area could start working in factories once they turned eight, and Fang Sanya was no exception. She calculated that she would use eight years' worth of wages and dowry to repay this debt of gratitude for being raised and nurtured. Ultimately, the surrounding people's views put some constraints on Fang Sanya, making her want to behave like a normal daughter.
Fang Sanya's heart sank completely when she overheard that the Fang family had no intention of letting her get married.
Many families don't let their daughters get married out of pity, because they're prepared to raise them for life. But the Fang family is different. They're purely in it for their own benefit. Adult women can work outside to earn money and do all the housework at home, like a cash cow. The bride price can indeed bring in a large sum of money, but after working for a few more years, that money can be earned back.
The Fang family is always incredibly shrewd in this regard, whether it's a one-time income or a steady stream of revenue. But that's not what chills Fang Sanya's heart the most. What truly frightens her is the way the Fang family handles things when they say Fang Sanya is useless.
What does "useless" mean?
The most important reason the Fang family kept Fang Sanya was to earn money for the family. If something happened and she couldn't earn money anymore, or if she got old and couldn't work anymore, then she would be useless!
Fang Sanya is useless and has no value in the family. No matter how much she has contributed in the past, she will be abandoned. But the Fang family is not so kind. They will not be happy until they have squeezed every last bit of value out of Fang Sanya.
The Fang family's solution to Sanya's problem was quite simple: they found someone for her to marry.
There have always been more men than women in this world. We've only ever heard of bachelors who can't find wives, not women who can't get married. Getting older has never been related to no one wanting to marry you. At most, it's just a difference between going to a good place and a poor place. When Fang Sanya heard the Fang family planning to sell her to a remote mountain village where all the brothers would have to marry one wife when she couldn't earn any more money, she felt that her idea was a joke.
Realizing that the Fang family wouldn't let her go, Fang Sanya gave up on the idea of severing ties through marriage. She seized an opportunity to take all the money her family had saved, pawned the large sums of money to buy a gold bracelet, and used the smaller change to hire a driver to go to another city.
If this escape had succeeded, Fang Sanya should have never seen those so-called family members in human skin again. Unfortunately, the news leaked out at some point, and she was caught up by Fang's family halfway through the journey. The boatman who was carrying Fang Sanya took advantage of the situation and demanded three times the so-called speed-up fee, and even had wicked thoughts about Fang Sanya.
Fang Sanya, who had already accepted the loss, saw herself surrounded by danger and rowed desperately to escape. Luckily, she was caught at the estuary of the sea, and she drifted downstream. The people behind her, seeing the darkening sky, dared not continue the chase.
But Fang Sanya's good luck didn't last long. When she couldn't see the shore, she encountered a storm at sea. The small boat was torn to pieces. If Fang Sanya hadn't been quick-witted and tied herself to a larger piece of the boat, she would have become fish food long ago.
But the trials at sea are not over yet. Yao Xiaoyu referenced Yu Deng's days adrift at sea in this section, making Fang Sanya's various struggles seem exceptionally real. Although it is a one-dimensional text, Pi Kangxiu was so engrossed in reading it that he dared not breathe, afraid that if he took away Fang Sanya's attention, she would not survive.
After the sea voyage ended and Fang Sanya was teetering on the brink of death, luck finally smiled upon her again—the crew of a ship bound for overseas were fishing to improve their meals and happened to pull Fang Sanya aboard. After accepting Fang Sanya's gold bracelet, the captain kindly agreed to let her work on the ship and take her abroad with him.
This kindness is not an ironic or derogatory term. Many large ships now heading overseas have, for various reasons, fully inherited the fine traditions of the newly discovered continent of Black people, often offering sacrifices to the sea god. Captains like this, who actually do their jobs for money, are truly conscientious people.
He could even make people work to pay off debts, and he could do so in many places, which was no different from Jesus reincarnated.
...
Yao Xiaoyu stopped her new book at the 10,000-word mark, at the part where the three tentatively extend a hand of friendship. Pi Kangxiu was hooked, trying every trick in the book to get a copy of Yao Xiaoyu's draft, but what's not there is no matter how hard you try. Pi Kangxiu could only try to shift his attention to other things, such as—
Which of the three women do you plan to focus on?
Pi Kangxiu asked somewhat nervously. Yao Xiaoyu had a profound skill, describing three vivid girls in just a few words. Each of them was outstanding on their own, but Pi Kangxiu still secretly wanted Feng Xiaoman to be the protagonist.
It's not that I don't like the other two characters, it's just that people's hearts are naturally biased, and there are differences between what they like. There's nothing wrong with Lang Xingqiao and Fang Sanya, but Feng Xiaoman's disguise as a man to study in place of her brother really hit a nerve with Pi Kangxiu.
"Let's write together."
Yao Xiaoyu was unaware of Pi Kangxiu's thoughts and answered frankly that the three main characters had chosen different paths, but their paths would always intertwine. Everyone had their shining moments, and there was no absolute advantage.
"...It's quite difficult."
Pi Kangxiu remained silent for a while before speaking with mixed feelings. However, since Yao Xiaoyu had already expressed these sentiments before, hearing them again did not evoke any emotional response from her.
"I have to write it, even if it's difficult. I've rested for half a year, so I have to make a splash."
The editor's sighs were just something to listen to, but if Yao Xiaoyu really gave up and started a new book, Pi Kangxiu would be the first to object—the traditional appeal of a woman disguised as a man, the popular topic of escaping marriage and studying abroad, the exotic charm of life overseas, any one of these topics alone could occupy a place in the newspaper. In his eyes, a book combining these themes was already a surefire hit.
Changing the article? Have they gone mad?!
Yao Xiaoyu knew the power of her story and had no intention of changing the publication date, but she still wanted to bargain. After a 15-minute argument, although Yao Xiaoyu did not extend the frequency of submissions, she used the excuse of sorting out the outline to get herself a week off.
"I want to eat fish porridge from Bu's restaurant. Could you go and buy me a bowl?"
After seeing Pi Kangxiu off, Yao Xiaoyu pushed two silver dollars to Tao Xiaoxiao. This amount of money was far too much for a bowl of porridge, but if Tao Xiaoxiao hadn't spoken up for her, the seven-day break might have been ruined.
Bu's fish porridge is a famous local delicacy. Although it's a stall, the mother and daughter who run it are dressed in all white from head to toe every day, which makes people feel comfortable. The fish in the porridge is fresh grass carp bought early in the morning. After removing the bones and slicing it into thin slices, the fish is dried with a cloth and placed at the bottom of a large bowl. It is only seasoned on the spot when customers come to buy it.
The raw fish congee was expensive, and the ingredients were plentiful. First, they added soy sauce, which was the equivalent of light soy sauce in this era, then pepper, and then a total of ten ingredients including seven shredded and three fried ones. They had to fill the bowl to the brim before pouring in the plain congee. Other restaurants would pour the ingredients into the congee, but the Bu family did the opposite, using the plain congee to cook the raw fish and other ingredients together.
Yao Xiaoyu couldn't help but swallow hard, thinking of the fish congee she had eaten at the stall. The Bu family's ingredients sounded impressive, but they didn't actually contain any expensive ingredients. The so-called seven shreds included three kinds of ginger, which were just different methods of freshly slicing and pickling. The other four were just tea melon, lotus root, sweet potato, and candied scallions.
The three fried items are nothing special; they're just sesame vermicelli and fried dough sticks, but for some reason, the Bu family's are incredibly delicious. The porridge is hot, the fish is fresh, and the ingredients are delicious. Whenever they set up their stall, it's always packed with customers.
"Tell them to add more fish slices."
Yao Xiaoyu added that it was fine when she didn't think about it, but now that she's been reminded of it, all she can think about is fish porridge.
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