Chapter 195 Encyclopedia: Each Goes Their Own Way
The practice of illegal immigration can be traced back to the capitalist movement in 16th-century Europe, but the concept was not clearly defined during the Republic of China period. After all, the officials were concerned with important national affairs and were bound to overlook some details. The household registration system could bind the farmers who owned land, but it could not bind the hands and feet of the proletariat.
Poor families in the Fuzhou-Guangdong region who want to go abroad generally don't go through proper channels—they simply can't afford boat tickets. If they have a good relationship with relatives and friends, they can just say the word and set sail in a small boat. If they are alone, they can just ask Mazu for directions.
The idea of visa-free travel to other countries is indeed famous, but in this era, the difficulties of making a living in other countries are objectively real. How to navigate at sea, how to find a substitute when fresh water is swept away, how to make a small boat last longer, and how to survive in storms...
Experienced fishermen may be adept at dealing with various unexpected situations, but most people who go to sea only have a general idea, a little knowledge, or even nothing at all.
Many people go abroad not to strike it rich, but to survive. They don't understand why, despite working hard year after year, their debts keep piling up; despite good harvests, they still have to mortgage their ancestral property; despite saving every penny, they end up having to become slaves to pay off their debts, along with their families.
On land, there were eyes and checkpoints everywhere, and only one in ten could escape successfully. With nowhere else to go, people could only turn their attention to the sea. So, on the quiet coast at night, small boats went out to sea, and from then on, unless they went ashore, their fate was in the hands of the water.
Shi Yuan's family still had some property, and she came to Shanghai by the legitimate route of buying a boat ticket. However, she often heard stories from her childhood about how some people who couldn't swim were caught and beaten to death at sea in order to escape loan sharks, and how some people who sailed into the water in small boats ended up with only their corpses floating on the water. Even so, the number of people sailing abroad in small boats has never decreased, and in fact, it has increased in recent years.
Shi Yuan knew the reason. His parents' letters clearly stated it: taxes were increasing, the harvest was bad, there were illnesses or other accidents, weddings and funerals... In short, it could be summed up in eight words: exorbitant taxes, natural disasters and man-made calamities.
She could see things clearly but couldn't help. The only thing Shi Yuan could do was provide food for a few days and find temporary work for the people from her hometown who had nowhere else to go and chose to flee to Shanghai and successfully found her. Even so, she became the most famous philanthropist in her hometown.
Seeing the artwork featuring a small fish was an accident.
At that time, Shi Yuan was in a bad mood. While walking, he tripped over a running newspaper boy. The newspaper boy fell to the ground and his arm was cut by a stone and bled. His first reaction was to check if the newspapers he was protecting were damaged. After seeing that several of them had holes, the boy who hadn't cried even when bleeding suddenly burst into tears.
Shi Yuan knew it was his fault and felt quite guilty, so he bought the damaged newspapers at the original price and gave the newsboy a few coins to buy medicine. The newsboy obediently nodded, thanked him with a smile, and ran off in a flash. Shi Yuan thought the newsboy had gone to treat his wound, but when he turned the corner, he found the boy still hawking newspapers. Fortunately, the wound had stopped bleeding.
Shi Yuan: ...
Shi Yuan didn't disturb the child. She took a detour home in a different direction. She originally planned to use the newspapers to wallpaper the walls, but then she felt a little heartbroken when she thought about the copper coins she had spent. So she decided to look at each newspaper one by one before dealing with them. One of them was a novel daily newspaper that she had never bought before, which published a little fish's work.
After arriving in Shanghai, Shi Yuan began reading newspapers after realizing the importance of information. However, she was only a regular reader of a few newspapers, excluding more entertainment-oriented ones like the Novel Daily. If it weren't for this unexpected event, she probably would have waited until she had enough money before buying them. As for when she would have enough money, who knows?
Shi Yuan had only read through the newspapers because she felt that money shouldn't be wasted, but after seeing "Overseas Life Diary," she couldn't take her eyes off it. The story of Feng Xiaoman and the other two was very interesting, but what attracted her even more were the details revealed between the lines.
Fang Sanya's methods for handling various situations encountered at sea, from previously traveling on unlicensed boats to now using slang mentioned by the older waitress, and recalling the procedures other people on land went through when they wanted to go to sea on their own and found reliable vessels...
Some of these things are described in great detail in the article, while others are only mentioned in passing. The only thing they have in common is that they are all very real. It seems that if you do what is said above, you can really succeed. Moreover, these things are not limited to secretly going to sea, but also involve what happens after you actually successfully arrive in a foreign country.
How to successfully blend into the crowd, how to avoid going hungry when penniless, how to quickly find the local Chinatown, how to learn about local customs and traditions, how to get a suitable job... From working to starting a business, and even joining the underworld, there are methods to all of this. Shi Yuan was stunned as he read on, and he really wanted to know what the author's identity was and how he had such a rich experience.
At the time, Shi Yuan hadn't really thought about mass printing. She just quietly collected the entire text of "Overseas Life Diary" and would flip through it whenever she had free time. Then one day, for some reason, she followed the steps in the book to go abroad on the Black Ships and actually succeeded.
From then on, Shi Yuan opened the door to a new world. As for how she came up with the idea of printing and selling books in advance, and how she became one of the wholesalers, that's another story.
...
The meeting wasn't long, but everything that needed to be said was discussed, and everyone was assigned tasks. Shi Yuan was quite satisfied with his small group.
Although the three girls are young, they all have a strong drive and can understand human speech. Don't think this requirement is simple. Shi Yuan has seen too many people who don't understand what he's saying. If you tell them to go east, they'll go west. If you tell them to catch a duck, they'll release a chicken instead. In the end, they'll cause trouble and then put on a blank expression, blaming you for not being clear.
In modern times, there's a specific term for this kind of person: a pseudo-person. But there wasn't such a term back then. Shi Yuan just felt that some of them were worse than a dog. A dog, after being beaten a lot, knows what it can and cannot do. But these people, after being taught a lesson, showed no reaction at all, as if their minds were new every day.
The two honest men were truly honest. Apart from keeping their eyes open to show that they were listening, they didn't respond to any questions. But as long as you explained each step of the task in detail, they could do it very well. Although they wouldn't take the initiative to do more work, they wouldn't shirk their responsibilities either.
"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"
If there are no other questions that need to be answered, Shi Yuan plans to proceed with their respective tasks. In the end, they decided to use the excuse of the only child for the early printing. Although it was a bit far-fetched, it was still much more believable than using the story as an instruction manual.
Paying the copyright fee sooner and starting printing sooner means making money sooner. Shi Yuan has no idea that this book might not sell—it's not a book, it's a protective talisman, a life-saving guide, and a beacon illuminating the way to survival in a foreign land!
After thinking for a moment, everyone shook their heads, and the meeting ended just like that. While they were paying their bills and leaving the room, most of the people the middle-aged man had taken with him were still arguing about the distribution of power.
"The only son of a wealthy family, passed down through seven generations... no wonder he's so generous."
Yao Xiaoyu pondered this seemingly reasonable excuse. Although she still didn't quite believe it, her tone softened a bit. She originally thought she had enough money, but a couple of days ago she thought about the year and remembered that there would be a thunderstorm in May of this year. In order to provide financial support, the more gold and silver the better.
Pi Xiukang understood her meaning and thought of the high commission promised to him. Although he didn't know why Yao Xiaoyu had changed her mind, it didn't stop him from encouraging her and making her waver even more.
"Go ask Kaiming Bookstore first. If they are willing to pay 70% of the price, let them buy it first."
Yao Xiaoyu said this, but she and Pi Xiukang both knew perfectly well that Kaiming Bookstore disliked taking risks the most, and besides, the price offered by Shi Yuan and others was quite high, even with a discount, it was still expensive. There was a 99% chance that they would still have to sign this contract with Shi Yuan and his group.
As things unfolded as the two had anticipated, Kaiming Bookstore, considering Yao Xiaoyu's long-standing and excellent collaboration, refrained from saying anything unpleasant and gave up the copyright battle for "The Diary." They politely asked Pi Kangxiu to leave, and Shi Yuan and the others continued to come over with smiles every day. Before long, they reached a cooperation agreement by exchanging money and signing a contract.
With the author's permission, Shi Yuan and his team began the printing process without delay. Because they had made arrangements with all parties in advance, everything from printing to book transportation went smoothly. Once the last box of books was loaded onto the ship, the six of them boarded the ship with the boxes of books and returned to Fujian, eager to make a fortune.
If Shi Yuan and his group had a difficult start but smooth sailing afterwards, the middle-aged men's group was the opposite. In the early stages, they had a smooth start to printing books because they didn't need the author's permission. But once the raw materials arrived, all sorts of problems started to arise.
The first thing the factory does every morning isn't to start work, but to pay fees: wave after wave of people collecting fees for garbage disposal, site usage, road cleaning, etc. The first few groups make up some decent excuses, but the later ones just say whatever comes to mind. Unfortunately, these people are all local bullies, so no matter how absurd it is, they have to pay. Otherwise, the factory would suffer much more losses if the water and electricity were cut off today and tomorrow.
After finally managing to print the book with a lot of money, just waiting to ship it back to make money, a big inspection suddenly came to the streets. All the privately printed products were to be confiscated. However, those with powerful connections were just going through the motions. People like the middle-aged man... were grateful to the rich man for the opportunity to make extra money!
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