Chapter 25: After the second payment, the fee increased to 8 cents per thousand words.
In a courtyard in a county town in Shanghai.
The little girl looked at the newly delivered newspaper with little interest. Ever since reading Ding Xian's story, she felt that these articles lacked a certain meaning. It wasn't that they were bad, but... how should I put it, they were just a bit difficult to read.
Her family had some influence and had heard rumors about the promotion of vernacular Chinese, but after reading some so-called vernacular articles, the girl felt that it didn't matter whether vernacular Chinese was used or not, since it wasn't much different from classical Chinese anyway.
It wasn't until she read Mr. Little Fish's story that the little girl realized words could be used in this way.
Someone who uses "Little Fish" as a pen name must be quite young. If he gets married, will he treat his wife as well as Wen Jialang treated Ding Xian?
I think so.
A blush rose to the little girl's face. She casually flipped the newspaper back, then her eyes widened in surprise—
"Grandma, Ding Xian's story was published in the newspaper again today."
The bored old lady suddenly sat up.
"Where? Where? Let me see."
The old lady excitedly picked through the newspaper, and the little girl pointed it out to her:
"Look, the title of this story has also been decided. It's the first three characters: 'The Story of Ding Xian,' and this is the author's pen name: 'A Little Fish.'"
The illiterate old lady followed her granddaughter's finger and, relying on her memory, read aloud word by word: "The Story of Ding Xian, A Little Fish."
"This author is really interesting, giving himself such a name."
However, it is indeed much easier to remember than those frivolous recipes. Small fish are simple and common, and they are delicious whether braised or steamed... The old lady's mind jumps around a lot. In the blink of an eye, she thought of 108 ways to cook fish and reminisced about the various delicacies she ate when she was young.
When she was a child in Beiping, her mother had a fondness for shark fin soup with a green canopy. Given their family's wealth, it was considered a luxurious dish. The top-quality shark fin would be stewed in chicken broth, then paired with abalone and Yunnan ham. It would be wrapped in fresh lotus leaves and brewed for the time it takes to brew two cups of tea. Only after the lotus leaves were replaced could she pick up her chopsticks.
My mother always ate food cooked outside, which made the family cook feel resentful. So, when adding abalone, he added a touch of chicken skin from a fried chicken, making it taste even better. From then on, my mother only ate this dish at home, and the cook was very proud of himself.
The old lady had eaten this a few times when she was a child. It tasted pretty good. The aroma of ham and abalone was absorbed by the shark fin, and the chicken oil added a delicate flavor. Paired with the refreshing taste of lotus leaf, the small bowl that her mother served her was always gone before she knew it.
But compared to dishes that use artificial placement or molecular gastronomy like eggplant casserole, what she likes most is the taste of the food itself, such as the assorted ice bowls she often eats in summer, with fresh lotus root, water chestnuts, and chicken head rice, paired with fresh hazelnuts, almonds, and walnuts, plus two candied fruits, and served on a tender lotus leaf, which is both delicious and elegant.
The water chestnuts used are all freshly picked. After boiling, they turn a beautiful light yellow color. They don't weigh much when piled together, but they are extremely tender when you bite into them. A small portion costs a lot, but there is never a shortage of customers. [1]
"Grandma, are you listening? If not, I'll watch it first."
The little girl shook the dazed old lady with dissatisfaction. The old lady snapped out of her reverie and gave her granddaughter a flattering smile.
"Yes, of course I'll listen."
Food can be reminisced about anytime, but a captivating article can't wait.
The two reached an agreement and quickly became immersed in Ding Xian's world. However, as the plot unfolded, the girl, who had been charmed by the sweetness, frowned. Finally, after reading the last awful sentence, her heart died.
Yao Xiaoyu was well aware of the famous saying that tragedy destroys beautiful things. She spent a lot of time describing the love between Ding Xian and Wen Jiazi, making people feel that they were a match made in heaven.
What's even more cruel is that when Ding Xian and Wen Jialang were young, those promises and vows were sincere. Wen Jialang really wanted to grow old with his wife, and he also really wanted to make a promise to be together for another hundred years after they had finished this life.
Then Ding Xian's husband rotted.
"How could Mr. Little Fish write like that? Does he want to turn into a dried salted fish?!"
The girl threw the newspaper to the ground and cried her eyes out. The old lady hugged her granddaughter and patted her back gently, but in her heart she was thinking about buying more newspapers so that her other granddaughters could also see the story.
Her granddaughters are good in every way, except that they value relationships too much. Ding Xian is a good way to cleanse their minds—even such a perfect couple can change their minds, how dare they regard men as their everything?
Once she returns from her summer retreat, she will send all these girls back to school one by one!
***
Inside a building in the concession.
"Fifth Master, your judgment is poor."
The woman teased the man who was about to explode with anger. A few days ago, after reading Ding Xian's story, she went upstairs to confront him and found out that the man had treated Ding Xian like his daughter.
While the man was scathing in his words at the Wen family son, he was actually quite satisfied with this son-in-law. Men understand men best; the Wen family son truly cared about Ding Xian, and when today's newspaper came out, he broke down his guard.
How could his daughter have run into such a bastard!
***
The uproar caused by Ding Xian's story had nothing to do with Yao Xiaoyu. She continued to bury herself in writing at home, outlining, setting foreshadowing, creating exciting moments, revising her articles, reading newspapers, and collecting materials... It truly proved the saying: as long as you want to, there's always something to do.
Wenrou was busy with housework, and Yao Ping'an had to complete his copying task. Both of them were the type to stay home unless absolutely necessary. After hearing Yao Xiaoyu's story, they only felt that she would be very popular, but they had no idea just how popular she would be.
"When my colleague was at work, he cursed that Wen family son for not knowing how lucky he was, saying that if he had a woman like Ding Xian as his wife, he would never look at anyone else."
Somehow, the conversation after dinner turned to Yao Xiaoyu's story. Yao Tianrui, while munching on a raw pear, said, "These pears aren't big, but they're very sweet. You can buy two for one copper coin, but I bought six to share with my family."
After working for a while, Yao Tianrui gradually got things sorted out. His relationship with his colleagues wasn't particularly close, but they could still chat occasionally. Today, when he entered the office, he saw his colleagues looking excited and thought something big had happened. He then learned that the sequel to Ding Xian's story had been released.
"Ding Xian entrusted herself to the wrong person!"
Listening to his colleagues' sighs and remembering their previous disdain for this kind of romantic story, Yao Tianrui belatedly realized that his sister's story was actually written much better than he had imagined.
“Someone on my side also told this story.”
Zhou Chunhua silently raised her hand. The workshop where she cooked was all in Shaanxi. She liked to find a place to take a nap at noon, but the foreman was probably not feeling well lately. Every time he tried to sleep, he was woken up by other people's snoring. In order to keep the workers from sleeping, the foreman spent copper coins to hire someone to read the newspaper to them, but it didn't help much.
I could listen to jokes for a while, but I couldn't concentrate on any longer stories at all, until a couple of days ago.
When Zhou Chunhua went there in the morning, she heard someone shouting that a new story about Ding Xian had been published. She spent a copper coin to buy a copy of the storybook, intending to have Yao Xiaoyu read it to her when she got home that evening. However, the person reading the newspaper took the wrong newspaper and started reading Ding Xian's story instead.
Although it doesn't start from the beginning, newspapers nowadays usually dedicate a page to a brief summary of the preceding events when serializing a story. The audience listens without any difficulty, and as the reader reads sentence after sentence, the crowd gradually quiets down without realizing it, and then…
"It's a good thing you kept your identity a secret, otherwise I would have been eaten alive by them."
Recalling the reactions of everyone after the article abruptly ended, Zhou Chunhua still feels a chill run down her spine. However, her granddaughter is also remarkable; the story she wrote could captivate even these illiterate workers. She will surely earn a lot of money in the future.
“A classmate of mine is saying the same thing.”
Yao Xiaoli swallowed the pear peel, raised her hand and said that Yao Xiaoyu hadn't hidden her pen name from her sister, but had told her not to tell anyone. Feeling like an adult, Yao Xiaoli nodded excitedly and kept her mouth shut.
"She said that after her sister read this story, she cried and then went to her mother, saying that she had been cheated out of her dowry."
Yao Xiaoyu's expression turned strange, and she swore that she really just wrote it down casually.
"My classmate said she wanted to write a thank-you letter to a little fish. Sis, you're so amazing!"
Yao Xiaoli looked at her sister with admiration, took a bite of the pear, and then put on a mask of pain again—this skin is really hard to swallow.
***
"Young Master Yu has caused our newspaper a lot of trouble."
As Pi Kangxiu took the completed manuscript from Yao Xiaoyu, he joked that they originally thought the first part had been powerful enough, but after the second 5,000-word part was released, they kept getting inquiries about the plot.
This morning, the newspaper had just been sent out, and everyone was busy reading the later plot, which gave him some free time. But considering that the five thousand words were cut short just before the female lead's counterattack, Pi Kangxiu felt that he probably wouldn't have any peace and quiet for long.
Yao Xiaoyu blinked, roughly understanding what Pi Kangxiu meant, but what did a little fish's work have to do with her, Yao Xiaoyu? She was just a gofer girl—
"Then give me back the manuscript, and I'll have another newspaper publish it."
Pi Kangxiu: ...
He said many nice things and offered three plates of pastries before the stingy girl finally let the matter drop. Seeing the time, he didn't dare to delay any longer and put eight silver dollars on the table.
Yao Xiaoyu counted them one by one, then looked up at Pi Kangxiu—six cents for a thousand characters, she should have received six silver dollars, how come there were two extra?
“Your young master’s articles are very good, and our newspapers are selling better than before, so I applied for a higher fee. Now the price for ‘Biography of Ding Xian’ is 80 cents per thousand words.”
Yao Xiaoyu's eyes lit up instantly.
Eight silver dollars a week, that's more than thirty silver dollars a month. The head manager of the silk shop only earns eight dollars a month. The money she earns is equivalent to four Zhen Chengshi's!
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Author's Note: Mini-Theater
Yao Xiaoyu: The Song Dynasty and the Republic of China: Two brief springs in employment for liberal arts students.
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