Chapter 45 Buying Winter Flowers on the Street to Pay Off Debts Before the New Year
"This article should have been published in the spring."
Pi Xiukang pushed the fourteen silver dollars over, and Yao Xiaoyu skillfully divided them into two portions, looking up with some curiosity:
"What's wrong?"
After her manuscript was published in "Getting Rich" for two weeks, totaling 10,000 words, her payment increased from one yuan and one jiao to one yuan and four jiao per thousand words. After deducting the five yuan payment on the surface, she could have an extra nine silver dollars in disposable income every week.
But even though this number seems like a lot, it's just a reward earned through hard work. Writing traditional Chinese characters takes a lot of effort, and authors who write several thousand words a week are already extremely diligent. Yao Xiaoyu, who regularly submits 10,000 words a week and still has 4,000 words in reserve, is seen by others as being like an octopus.
"It's winter now. Camellias and apricot blossoms only bloom in spring. Right now, the flowers sold on the street are winter plum blossoms and lilies."
"I should have asked Ms. Xiaoyu to change the flower sale part in the article," Pi Xiukang didn't say it aloud, but Yao Xiaoyu understood his meaning, only—
“Miao Wuni’s business can only develop in the spring; winter is too long for the poor.”
Unemployment, cold, hunger... Every day, frozen corpses are taken away from the streets, and many people never see the sunrise of the next day. This is not a problem that can be solved by simply changing a nickname.
Seeing that Pi Kangxiu understood her meaning, Yao Xiaoyu refrained from revealing her darker speculations.
In this era, people are also considered commodities, and parents are born with the right to control their children. Although there's a saying that even tigers don't eat their cubs, when there are many children crying for food, lively, strong, and disobedient girls...
Seeing that Pi Kangxiu was still immersed in the family drama of the Miao family, Yao Xiaoyu decided to be a good person and not reveal the plot of Miao Youjin breaking with her family.
...
"A noble character is reflected in a flourishing flower. Miss, please buy a plum blossom that is as noble as you."
"Lilies, lilies, may your marriage last a hundred years! Sir, buy a bouquet of lilies for your wife, so that your love may last a hundred years!"
The flower girl was calling out enthusiastically. Only a few flowers in her basket were from a flower shop wholesale; most were seasonal flowers like plum blossoms and lilies. Her speech was also much better than her previous dry inquiries, clearly showing that she had learned from Miao Wuni.
"Miss, how about a bunch of tulips as beautiful as you? They'll last a long time."
Yao Xiaoyu paused briefly, and a little girl, only as tall as her chest, ran over, looking up at her expectantly. Yao Xiaoyu's gaze, however, was fixed on her hands—covered in chilblains.
"……How much?"
Yao Xiaoyu asked softly, and the girl quoted a very reasonable price. Seeing that she didn't have many flowers left, Yao Xiaoyu simply bought them all. She also bought a hot steamed bun and chatted with the girl for a while.
The little girl was holding the steamed bun with some worry, afraid of encountering some difficult questions, but Yao Xiaoyu only asked her why she thought of selling tulips, and the little girl immediately relaxed and started talking.
"...I used to wash clothes with my mother, and my hands were raw from washing them, but I couldn't earn much money. Luckily, the book on getting rich mentioned that you could make money by selling wildflowers. Now I don't have to be soaking in cold water all the time. Now I can earn a living by doing this risk-free business. Life is much better now."
The story of getting rich only mentions that the girl sells flowers, but it doesn't say that someone her mother's age can also sell flowers. Otherwise, she would have brought her mother along to work. Washing clothes is tiring and hard on the hands, especially in winter, and it doesn't earn much money.
Yes, although the title of this "Shanghai Get Rich" was considered extremely vulgar by Pi Xiukang and many others, it was loved by the general public. Getting rich and making money—such friendly terms, so different from the article title that they couldn't understand.
Especially after seeing the real impact of wildflower sales on flower girls, even illiterate people were willing to buy a copy, hoping to get a taste of the wealth in the book. They didn't expect to make a fortune like Miao Wuni, but only hoped that the book would describe the businesses they could do, so they could earn some more food for thought.
Looking at the satisfied smile on her face, Yao Xiaoyu wanted to say something but couldn't. She felt that the girl's life was very difficult, but in the winter in Shanghai, with her parents protecting her and a capable job, the girl was already living a good life that many people wouldn't even dare to dream of.
At least barring any unforeseen circumstances, she won't die from cold or hunger, and she'll be able to see the next spring with her eyes open.
But life shouldn't be lived like this, and the world shouldn't be like this!
But what can she do?
...
"Shopkeeper, how many steamed buns do you have left?"
Yao Xiaoyu asked about the quantity, pushed a shiny silver coin over, and didn't ask the shopkeeper for change. She only told him to use the remaining money to make steamed buns and distribute them among the flower-selling girls according to their number of people.
"If there are any left over, then divide them again starting with the poorest girl."
Yao Xiaoyu wasn't worried about the boss assigning the wrong people. She had been running the shop for over ten years, and while she couldn't say she knew every single one of them inside and out, she did have a general idea of their situations.
"Call your mother over so she can watch over the boss and stop him from making small steamed buns. As payment, your mother will get two steamed buns, and you'll get an extra one, okay?"
Yao Xiaoyu squatted down and looked at the little girl gently. The little girl, holding a steamed bun, nodded solemnly. A moment later, she pulled over a woman who looked somewhat like her. Her hands were still wet, and her fingers were swollen to a frightening purplish-black.
Having confirmed the reliability of the supervisors, Yao Xiaoyu took one last look at the flower girls before walking home with Zhou Chunhua. After they passed the street corner, Zhou Chunhua slowly spoke:
"Do you know..." These few steamed buns are completely useless?
There are too many pitiful people in this world, how could Yao Xiaoyu possibly save them all? This is simply throwing money into the water.
"I know."
Yao Xiaoyu interrupted Zhou Chunhua and answered calmly.
She knew these steamed buns were a drop in the ocean, but something was better than nothing. Perhaps the flower girls were just missing this one full meal, or perhaps someone was just missing this one bite of food from birth to death. With these steamed buns, there would be one more person who could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
From 1914 to 1949, there were 35 years left, but only 35 years.
If we persevere, be patient, and wait, perhaps we will see the red flag rise in the east and live a good life full of hope.
The wheat has ripened five thousand times, but this is the first time it has ripened. Long live the people!
"Grandma, I just received the money and I'm a little excited."
Yao Xiaoyu wiped away the mist from her eyes by rubbing them, trying her best not to let her voice betray her tears. But Zhou Chunhua, being an experienced woman, could not possibly have missed it; she simply pretended not to know.
The young girl is too inexperienced to be soft-hearted. When she reaches her age and has seen more of the world, her heart will naturally harden.
After they returned home, neither of them mentioned the silver coin they had spent. However, Zhou Chunhua held a rare meeting that evening and brought up the matter of repaying the money.
"The Little New Year is in seven days. If you don't want people coming to collect debts, you should go and make a trip in advance."
Many families may not care about this debt, but the Yao family still needs to make their stance clear, try to balance the accounts, and let everyone know that they are not shirking their responsibilities so that they can live a stable life in the future.
A soft persimmon is only tempting to squeeze, while a rotten persimmon can be trampled on at will.
"Grandma, I'll go with you."
Yao Tianrui was the first to speak up. He didn't know before that his grandmother had taken his younger sister to write IOUs from house to house. Now that he knew, he didn't want his sister to be ridiculed. His grandmother... his father couldn't leave the house, his mother couldn't walk, and there was no other elder in the family who held any weight.
"Grandma, I want to go too."
Yao Xiaoyu raised her hand. She had only seen the scene of the deep mansion in her memory, and she really wanted to unlock a new map in reality.
"Grandma, I'm going to be the man who takes care of the family from now on, and I can't always hide behind you."
His sister had no choice but to support the family. If he couldn't even handle this kind of situation, then there was no point in talking about reviving the Yao family.
Yao Xiaoyu's reasoning is even simpler:
"Grandma, I need to observe more different people so that I can have something to write about."
Zhou Chunhua looked at her two grandchildren and glared fiercely at her son and daughter-in-law—if they were in better health, their children wouldn't have had to step up. Wenrou understood Zhou Chunhua's meaning, silently lowered her head, and seeing her husband still staring blankly at his mother, she boldly pressed Yao Ping'an's head down as well, making a thud as it hit the table.
Yao Pingan: ...
gentle:……
“Both of you come with me. Tianrui, you’re an adult now. You write the IOU this time and put our fingerprints on it.”
The Yao family's debt had nothing to do with their married daughter. Yao Xiaoyu's help was a favor, and it was only fair that they handed over the silver dollars; they couldn't very well ask someone else to bear the risk of repayment. [1]
Zhou Chunhua is always decisive and efficient. Once the debt repayment was settled, she asked the shop where she worked for leave that very day. The next day, she took Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Tianrui out. Several IOUs were torn up, and the remaining ones were updated with new numbers. It was still a thick stack, but at least she saw the hope of being debt-free.
The creditors received partial repayments. Although some of them were not very nice, they all promised not to bother them next year. This was the promise Zhou Chunhua wanted. She spent the whole day running from house to house with her granddaughter and grandson. After visiting the last creditor's door, the three of them, with their legs weak, returned to the Yao family home under a sky full of stars.
"I don't want rice, do you have porridge?"
Zhou Chunhua waved her hand, refusing the tightly packed rice, and asked in a hoarse voice.
She hasn't stopped eating all day, and now even chewing is too tiring; Tianrui has been writing IOUs all day, and his hands are still shaking, so he probably can't even use a spoon; as for Xiaoyu... with her struggling to breathe, it's better not to bother her, or the spoon will start sparks and the rice probably won't even break the skin.
"I didn't make porridge today, how about I make some rice porridge? That's quick."
Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Tianrui had no objections, so Zhou Chunhua acquiesced. She gently carried the heavy rice into the kitchen and rummaged around in it for a while. Soon, Yao Xiaoli had the rice on the table.
Rice porridge is exactly what it sounds like: rice is put into hot water and mashed to soften it. It's not as smooth as porridge, but it's not hard to chew either. The three of them were too tired to be picky. They lazily ate a bowl of stir-fried pork belly and cabbage on the table, then washed up and went upstairs. They fell asleep in the quilt within a few breaths.
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Author's note: [1] Zhou Chunhua was not crossing the river and burning the bridge! She was giving Yao Xiaoyu a way out. In that era, although there was a saying that if one person owed money, the whole family would have to pay it back, as long as the debtor did not have the woman's signature, once she had an accident, Wenrou could not get away, but Yao Xiaoyu and Yao Xiaoli could avoid the debt by getting married.
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