Chapter 33 Do you want to make a big fortune? Her protagonist has been found...
There were indeed bathhouses in the outskirts of Shanghai that cost fifteen copper coins, but putting aside whether those places were clean or not, the round trip would cost far more than four copper coins.
The narrow path, only two or three meters long, was quickly traversed. Grandma Zhang pushed open the door, revealing a room with a bed and a recliner. She handed the packed clothes to a woman in the corner, who then used a bamboo pole to place the package on a horizontal bar on the ceiling to prevent theft.
After making sure her package was securely hung, Grandma Zhang prepared to go through another door into the bathroom. Perhaps because of the recent cold weather, the bathroom was very humid. Grandma Zhang had to open her eyes wide to barely see the sink next to her. She washed herself by the sink before carefully getting into the bathtub and then letting out a comfortable sigh.
The bathhouse pool was similar to a modern swimming pool, only much shallower. Grandma Zhang soaked in it until she was drowsy and her skin was wrinkled before she finally got up. She changed her clothes and enjoyed herself on a recliner in the outer room for a while before leaving with her clothes.
"Make the same amount as today's braised meat, put it in one piece, and cut it in front of me tomorrow. If you have any mutton that tastes good when eaten cold and doesn't have a strong flavor, you can prepare half a pound."
Grandma Zhang gave detailed instructions. She wanted a large portion of meat, and it had to be a popular cut. The braised food stall wasn't doing a big business, so if she didn't order in advance, she probably wouldn't get enough for tomorrow.
"Okay, Grandma Zhang, don't worry, everything from my stall is guaranteed to be good."
The braised food stall owner readily agreed. Granny Zhang had high standards, but she also offered a high price. If he cut corners, there would be plenty of people vying to work with him.
"Your braised pork is quite good, how much is it?"
After giving her instructions, Granny Zhang didn't rush to leave. She swallowed hard as she looked at the braised pork on the stall. The stall owner, understanding her unspoken meaning, wrapped the braised pork in a lotus leaf and handed it over without mentioning money at all.
Braised pork is a cheap commodity that costs one copper coin. Since it was sold this morning, only seven or eight pieces of poor quality remain. The beef that Granny Zhang wants accounts for 20% of her daily sales!
Zhang Caishen only wanted some braised pork, not the stars in the sky. If he wasn't willing to give it to him, there were plenty of people who were!
Grandma Zhang carried the pork she bought for free in her left hand and her clothes in her right, walking happily home. The pork was a bit lean, but once sliced and stir-fried in oil with some shredded radish, it was so delicious it would make anyone cry!
Grandma Zhang was busy planning the second processing of the braised pork when she unknowingly arrived at the door. Just as she was about to knock, she heard her daughter-in-law complaining to her son:
“My son and I don’t even dare to eat a single pickled vegetable at home, but your mother is fine, eating and drinking well outside every day. I can bear to suffer, but Da Bao is her own grandson!”
Grandma Zhang, who always ate meat with her whole family, hadn't even reacted when her daughter-in-law had already presented evidence to her son. Based on their usual interactions, the daughter-in-law should be standing there with one hand on her hip, looking fierce, while Da Bao should be clinging to his mother's leg.
"Don't say I wronged your mother. This is the oil paper she brought back today. Smell it, it smells so strong. It must have been used to wrap a pound of meat, or even beef!"
Actually, it weighed more than a pound.
Granny Zhang mentally adjusted the proportions. After Miss Tan went abroad, she had grown up so much. Before, she was a little girl who ate nothing but birdseed and her waist wasn't even as thick as Granny Zhang's palm; now she had grown two heads taller. The moment Granny Zhang saw her, she knew why Master Tan was cutting back on his daughter's food.
Can a man be happy if his father is the same height as his daughter?
"...I'll ask Mom later why she was sneaking food behind our backs."
Grandma Zhang was calculating Miss Tan's current appetite when she heard her son say angrily, and she was immediately stunned.
You can believe this kind of thing? When she gave birth, did she sell the baby to a pharmacy and raise the placenta instead?
There is a medicinal herb called Ziheche in the pharmacy. The raw material is the placenta of women. Because the supply cannot meet the demand, it is purchased at a high price all year round.
The brain tells Grandma Zhang that her son is just a little simple-minded and that things will be fine once it's explained. But Grandma Zhang knows in her heart that her son is simply heartless.
Grandma Zhang felt a chill in her heart as she pondered how to escape. Meanwhile, Tan Qingyue had finished reading the newspaper that had been delivered and was pacing around the room listlessly.
She needs to maintain sufficient exercise to preserve her current physical condition. People tend to atrophy from disuse; if she only eats and doesn't move, the muscles that provide her with strength will quickly turn into fat like batteries. Tan Qingyue absolutely refuses to accept this outcome.
If you can't even control your own body, being independent is just a pipe dream.
When Tan Qingyue was studying abroad, she went to see a famous play with her tutor—"A Doll's House". [1]
After reading Nora's story, as the teacher and student walked back, the teacher asked Tan Qingyue a question:
"If you leave completely like Nora, how will you live?"
At that time, Tan Qingyue had no answer. Compared with the people around her, she did not feel that her life was bad. Her mother died early but left a large dowry. Her father disliked her but did not deliberately torment her. Her stepmother was not kind but not clever. Most of her loneliness came from her feelings, but she was not lacking in material things.
Her original plan was to find a reliable man to be her partner after completing her studies. She might go home less often than most women of that era, but she never considered completely severing ties with her family.
When Su Junwen's two-timing was exposed, she resolutely broke up with him, returned to the Tan family mansion, and prepared to ask her father for some financial support so that she could continue to go abroad to obtain a higher degree—and then her father locked her up.
“You’re all grown up now, it’s time for you to get married. I have a few candidates here, you can choose one.”
It's like talking about livestock mating.
Tan Qingyue took the items and flipped through them, then sincerely apologized to the beast—the people who mate with animals always seek out tall, strong, and capable ones; what she had in her hands were just rudimentary human-like creatures with basic human characteristics.
It's just that Tan Qingyue doesn't know anything about marine life; otherwise, she could easily say that even a blobfish would look quite handsome compared to them. But even though her words weren't particularly offensive, she still managed to break Tan's father's defenses.
"Guards! Lock the young lady up! She's not allowed to come out until she agrees to marry someone else!"
At her father's command, Tan Qingyue was imprisoned until now. From initial disbelief to now having prepared three sets of plans, Tan Qingyue is finally able to answer her teacher's questions:
"When I am in Nora's position, I need to have a strong body, enough money to live on, and then pursue a higher social status to provide myself with a larger living space."
As long as her mother's dowry could be sold, it would be enough for her to live a comfortable life; as long as she could get there in time for her supervisor, she would definitely get a spot in the graduate program. In this era where college graduates could almost always become officials, she had no worries about her social status.
She has already made several plans on how to travel abroad with money. Now, the most important thing for Tan Qingyue is to achieve a suitable amount of exercise within a limited space and maintain her physical fitness.
Otherwise, just thinking about having to painfully give up some of her wealth because she couldn't carry the chest full of gold made Tan Qingyue feel like tears were about to burst out.
After finishing a set of Tai Chi that made her sweat slightly, Tan Qingyue pushed the table and chairs to the corner. Before she even started exercising, she saw a small square folded neatly on the ground... It looked like a newspaper?
Tan Qingyue opened it out of curiosity, and then confirmed her guess.
It was indeed a newspaper, a newspaper from a few days ago. It must have been left behind by Grandma Zhang; it was the kind of tabloid she didn't read for entertainment.
"The Gold-Patterned Bowl?"
Tan Qingyue read the story's title word by word, a rare moment of curiosity on her part.
...
Tan Qingyue put down the newspaper, still feeling the excitement in her heart. She had never thought much of first-rate novels, but this story was different.
Compared to the growing trend of "how many white porcelain bowls and girls do you find that correspond to?", Tan Qingyue was most impressed by the ending of the story—
A young girl died in childbirth after a long and difficult labor, but was cursed for being unlucky; someone touched a gold-patterned bowl inlaid with silver and jade, and the bowl shattered into many pieces. The person who was startled cursed her for being from a poor family and unable to bear wealth and luxury.
The girl was buried in a thin coffin, and the broken pieces of the porcelain bowl, from which all the valuables had been taken, were carelessly discarded. Some time later, a new mistress came to the mansion, and all traces left by the girl were erased. A new bowl was placed in the original spot of the porcelain bowl.
A bowl is ultimately just a bowl; use it if it's not broken, and replace it if it breaks.
As Tan Qingyue read the last sentence of the article, she felt a chill seep into her bones. She then looked at the signature—a small fish?
"Mr. Xiaoyu only appeared in the last few months. Apart from this article, he has only published one novel, which is not yet finished. It's normal that you don't know this since you just returned to China."
Grandma Zhang carefully took the piece of paper from Tan Qingyue's hand and casually answered the question about the author. She was also following Ding Xian's story and was a loyal fan of Yao Xiaoyu.
How did you know 'a little fish' was a man?
Tan Qingyue hesitated for a moment before asking hesitantly. For some reason, she felt that this story did not seem to be written by a man.
"I don't know, but that's what everyone says, and these days the newspapers are reporting men's real identities."
Grandma Zhang also felt that Ding Xian's writing style was not like that of a man, but what she did was to speak to people in a way that suited them, usually picking the answer that most people agreed with and adhering to the principle of not seeking merit but avoiding mistakes.
"Do you have another story?"
Tan Qingyue didn't dwell on the author's gender issue, but instead asked about the Ding Xian biography, which was nearing its end. Mentioning this made Granny Zhang wide awake, and after a wonderful performance, she successfully sold her collection of Ding Xian's biography for a high price calculated in silver dollars.
After reading the biography of Ding Xian that had been delivered, Tan Qingyue silently revised her original plan. After repeatedly scrutinizing it to ensure there were no flaws, she finally called out to Granny Zhang—
"Would you like to make a big profit?"
***
"Hello, Miss."
A tall, slightly dark-skinned girl stood in front of Yao Xiaoyu, radiating vitality. Zhou Chunhua was still talking about how many families she had searched before finally finding this person, but Yao Xiaoyu didn't hear a word she said, only staring intently at the girl in front of her.
The female lead for her next book has been found!
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Author's Note: I've been too busy lately and simply haven't been able to finish writing. The word count I owe is on hold—as of today, I owe 5,000 updates.
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