Chapter 188 Giving a Little Hope with a Popcorn Machine
The fish congee tasted quite good, and time passed quickly when there was no need to write. Yao Xiaoyu rested for three whole days before picking up her pen again to prepare to improve the outline.
Ensemble stories are much more difficult to write than single-protagonist stories. Fortunately, this wasn't Yao Xiaoyu's first time writing, and she managed to smoothly weave together the growth of the three characters, albeit with some stumbles. Although the ending was a bit tragic, as the saying goes, "one who eats a hundred meals cries a hundred graves," Yao Xiaoyu believed that her readers wouldn't mind such a small matter.
Creating an outline is quite an energy-consuming task. After Yao Xiaoyu had built the skeleton of the article, she didn't rush to fill in the details. Instead, she took a day off to check which popcorn machine the blacksmith was working on. After confirming that the popcorn machine Ye Junshu had sent was usable, Yao Xiaoyu kept her word and went to the blacksmith's shop to place an order for one hundred.
"Oh right, I haven't received a reply yet!"
Mentioning Ye Junshu, Yao Xiaoyu finally belatedly realized what she had forgotten, but looking at the already tidied table and thinking about the whole process of writing a letter... she decided to go to the blacksmith shop first, as Yao Xiaoyu didn't really want to write anything during her holiday.
Ge Dali's rickshaw was very steady, and they soon arrived at their destination. Tao Xiaoxiao gave her some copper coins and told her to go have some tea. She then followed Yao Xiaoyu into the shop. Ge Dali didn't spend the money he received; he just opened the bamboo tube he carried with him to drink water and quench his thirst. He then sat down to rest on the footrest of the rickshaw.
She had her own calculations: a pot of tea outside cost eight copper coins. Even if a large bowl of tea was cheaper, it would still cost copper coins. It didn't seem like much, but it added up to an expense every day. It would be better to bring water from home and use the money saved to buy her daughter some sweets or to help with the cost of buying a car. Wouldn't that be better than spending money on tea?
Yes, over the past few days, Ge Dali has truly made the Wutong Courtyard his home. He just plans to wait until he receives his first month's wages and then, once he has no more worries, go and buy a car.
Yao Xiaoyu was unaware of Ge Dali's plans. She led Tao Xiaoxiao into the blacksmith shop, and before she could even speak, she was hit in the face by a wave of heat—at this time, the blacksmith shop was still operating the bellows, and the temperature difference between the inside and outside was huge.
The blacksmith beamed when he saw Yao Xiaoyu. Yao Xiaoyu didn't stand on ceremony and took the assembled product directly to the backyard to test it. The blacksmith's little daughter ran around them, but Yao Xiaoyu pretended not to see her. She hadn't planned to keep the popcorn machine's operation a secret anyway. The more people who learned it, the more career paths they might have in the future.
Flames licked at the gourd-shaped vessel, and the sounds of fireworks exploding appeared from time to time. It was just that the blacksmith's house made a lot of strange noises; otherwise, people would call him "Stinky Foot Patrolman" because of the high and low pitches.
Each popcorn machine undergoes two rounds of testing, one with rice and the other with corn. If both are successful, it is considered合格 (qualified); otherwise, it must be reworked or scrapped. The blacksmith's young daughter watched several rounds and boldly suggested that she also wanted to try, but she said it very nicely—these trivial matters should not bother the customers.
With someone else doing the work, Yao Xiaoyu was happy to relax and immediately became a supervisor. After all the popcorn machines had gone through a round of qualified inspection, the little girl had become a skilled popcorn worker.
The blacksmith's skills were quite good. Of the fifty-odd popcorn machines assembled, only three were unusable. Yao Xiaoyu was a straightforward person, so she paid the balance for the number of usable popcorn machines, packed them up, arranged a delivery time, and left the blacksmith's shop.
The blacksmith smiled as he saw off the Goddess of Wealth. After his apprentice ran back and said that Yao Xiaoyu had already gone far away, he looked at his little daughter.
"The two girls called this thing a popcorn machine. The corn kernels go through it, and to me, apart from not being as bright, it looks no different from the popcorn sold outside the movie theater."
The bright color of popcorn is related to sugar, but Yao Xiaoyu just throws in corn kernels, so it's normal that its appearance can't compare to caramel popcorn.
The blacksmith's family wasn't poor; they could easily afford to spend a few copper coins to go to the movies. The little girl often went to the popcorn machine to smell the sweet aroma, but buying any was out of the question. She knew the price of corn kernels and corn on the cob, and even if there was sugar in them, it wouldn't stop her from thinking she was being ripped off—unless she suddenly became rich for no reason, but unfortunately, the little girl never had that kind of luck.
"You can even stuff rice into that thing, and the rice that pops out is the same size as cooked rice. You can eat it directly, and it goes soft as soon as you put it in your mouth."
The little girl's eyes were bright. Yao Xiaoyu wasn't stingy, so after making the rice puffs, she gave her two handfuls. The little girl tasted them but couldn't bear to finish them all, and there are still quite a few left in her pocket.
"I'm saving the rest for Grandma; it's soft, and she can eat it."
The little girl took out most of the rice puffs and refused to touch the bag anymore. The blacksmith knew his daughter's temperament and didn't say anything. He just grabbed a handful for himself and let the apprentices come over to share. The apprentices didn't take it seriously at first, but their eyes lit up after tasting it, and even the blacksmith's face became serious.
This flavor, plus the fact that even a little girl can make it... this is a great way to make money!
"The lady doesn't care if we make rice puffs, but we have to finish the order she placed first."
Yao Xiaoyu doesn't mind the widespread dissemination of popcorn machines; what she wants is a time lag, allowing the most disadvantaged groups she plans to give them to to secure a share of the market in advance.
"real?"
The blacksmith's eyes lit up, and everyone's gaze turned towards him. The little girl nodded frankly.
"real."
The woman told her herself.
"Keep up the good work and finish these as soon as possible. Once you make the new ones, we'll sell them to you at a discount."
As soon as the blacksmith spoke, everyone cheered, and some even greedily shouted:
"Are you selling everything cheaply, no matter the price?"
The blacksmith's response was to kick the young man who had spoken.
"Do you think I'm going to work on air? And it's cheap no matter how much you buy, one for each person."
After laughing for a while, everyone started working. This time, they were obviously working much harder, and everyone had a burning desire: once they finished the other companies' orders, they could start making money by doing their own!
Yao Xiaoyu was unaware of the sudden surge of enthusiasm in the blacksmith shop. After transporting the popcorn machine back, she told the workers about giving it away and emphasized the selection criteria: they had to be people of good character, truly desperate, and those with ordinary or minor difficulties were not acceptable. Under the same conditions, she would choose women first.
There are only so many popcorn machines. Yao Xiaoyu can't help everyone. She can only give a small number of people at the bottom a way to survive. As for the women, it's entirely out of her own selfishness: no matter how difficult the world is, men always have more ways to survive than women. If it favors men, one more woman won't make a difference, but if it favors women, one less woman won't make a difference.
As for why she chose people close to her... on the one hand, it was out of personal motives to keep the benefits within the family; on the other hand, Yao Xiaoyu really didn't understand the specifics of the situation, and it would backfire if she tried to do something unwise.
"Each household can choose one machine at most. There are only one hundred of these machines available. First come, first served."
Yao Xiaoyu didn't say much about this matter, but everyone's hearts were filled with turmoil - who doesn't have a few relatives and friends who have reached a dead end? Even if there really isn't a suitable candidate among their close relatives, aren't there just as many suffering people around them?
...
Yu Anan touched each child's head to make sure they were all asleep before quietly going into the yard and hanging the straw rope on the tree branch. His hands, full from eating, were strong, and he quickly tied the rope into a knot.
The house was so poor that there wasn't even a stool left. Yu Anan stepped on some thick firewood and struggled for a while before finally managing to stand up. She apologized to the owner of the house in her heart, then quickly put her head into the rope knot. The firewood under her feet didn't even need to be stepped on; it just crashed to the ground the moment it wasn't stepped on.
The feeling of not being able to breathe was not good at all, but Yu Anan only felt a sense of relief. She did not try to grab the knot and struggle, but just let her hands hang down, closed her eyes in dizziness, and looked at the family members with angry faces as their vision cleared.
The sound of the wind in his ears gradually faded away, but the figures of his family members became more and more recognizable. Yu Anan could hear someone climbing over the wall, but he was too lazy to open his eyes—a bunch of beasts who valued lust over life, they deserved to be scared to death!
"Bang bang bang—"
"Sister Annan, Sister Annan, open the door, I need to talk to you urgently..."
Hua Qing pounded on the door under the cover of darkness and stars. It was already late at night, and it was quite impolite to look for someone at this hour, but Hua Qing couldn't care less—there were only so many popcorn machines, and if she didn't hurry up and reserve one, they would all be taken by someone else.
What face can compare to a way to survive?!
"Ouch!"
The man climbing the wall, his mind filled with thoughts of women's bodies, was startled by Hua Qing's voice and fell to the ground with a scream. Hua Qing, sensing something was wrong, immediately grabbed a wood-chopping knife and rushed over. The man, terrified, scrambled away and disappeared into the darkness.
Once she was sure the man was gone, Hua Qing didn't chase after him—she was mostly just trying to scare him; this place wasn't safe, and who knew how many people were lurking in the shadows? If she didn't have a machete in her hand to bolster her courage, she wouldn't even bother to chase him.
Hua Qing was just feeling relieved that she had listened to her master, Aunt Pang, and taken the wood-chopping knife to bolster her courage when she suddenly realized something was wrong: despite all the commotion, there was still no sound inside.
"Sister Annan, are you home?"
Hua Qing knocked on the door so loudly that the neighbor next door, finally unable to bear the disturbance any longer, peeked out:
"Stop knocking. The Yu family is all inside. If they don't open the door, they probably don't want to talk to anyone."
These words only made Hua Qing feel more uneasy: Yu Anan's temperament had indeed become somewhat eccentric in recent years, but he was definitely not the type to refuse to open a door. Could it be...?
"Auntie, something's probably happened to Sister Annan. Could you watch my things for me? I'll climb over the wall and go check on her."
As Hua Qing spoke, without waiting for her aunt's reaction, she used her basket as a stool and quickly climbed onto the wall. Before she could even marvel at her own skill, she saw someone in the tree cosplaying as a Teru Teru Bozu!
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