Why is Chapter 20, "A Perfect Match," stuck here?!
The story begins with a pair of children playing: using lotus leaves as umbrellas in summer, climbing trees to pick pears and apricots in autumn, wrapping themselves in coats and having snowball fights in winter, and flying kites in the fields in spring. These are all ordinary scenes of children playing, yet they bring a smile to everyone's face.
The boy rode a bamboo horse and played with green plums around the bed. The betrothal was arranged when they were babies. The two families in the neighboring houses laughed and joked year after year. Anyone who saw them would think that the two children were a match made in heaven.
"That Wen family son is really something. Hearing Ding Xian's cries and saying that foot binding was very painful, he absolutely refused to let the Ding family bind Ding Xian's feet."
An editor pointed to the passage where Wen Jiazi was wailing and said with a smile, "This little kid isn't even as tall as a person's waist yet, but he already knows how to protect others. And he's smart enough not to believe the casual words his parents made about not binding his feet. He even risked getting beaten up to take off Ding Xian's shoes and socks from time to time, and only felt at ease after seeing with his own eyes that his sister's feet were alright."
Ding's parents originally planned to bind their daughter's feet while the child was away, but despite Wen's repeated attempts to correct her, Ding Xian insisted on keeping her feet unbound.
"I wish my sister had a husband like that."
One editor said sadly that his younger sister was just as lively and mischievous as Ding Xian when she was little, but after her feet were bound, she cried every day. Although he said a few words to her, he ultimately prioritized her studies, and besides, it would be easier for a girl to get married if she was quiet and well-behaved...
Then one day while he was in class, his family rushed over. He went back home in a daze and saw a blinding white.
His sister really quieted down, completely quieted down.
She was in excruciating pain.
"Yes, those Ding family parents are really old-fashioned. What's wrong with girls going to school? They actually had to make a scene and throw a tantrum before they would let Ding Xian go to school."
An older editor said angrily that he had no children and his only daughter was just seven years old. She was smart and lovely and had not yet had her feet bound. In a few days, she would be sent to school. Seeing Ding Xian inevitably reminded him of his daughter, which made him even more determined to send her to school.
The idea that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent is utter nonsense. How could a man not know the benefits of going to school?
"Exactly! Look how well this is written: 'Ah Xian will be my wife in the future. What if she doesn't study and can't talk to me? What if you secretly bind her feet again when I don't take care of her?'"
Forget about being clueless and careless; when someone truly cares about another, they'll consider every little detail. This Ding family girl is lucky to have met such a young man.
As Pi Xiukang listened to everyone's unanimous praise for Wen Jiazi, a faint sense of pity welled up in his heart: Keep praising him, the louder the praise is now, the more his face will be slapped in the face later.
This author is wicked!
Pi Xiukang didn't know what it meant to lure people in and then kill them, but that didn't stop him from tearing other people's umbrellas apart as well—how could he be the only one to suffer?
Unaware of the shock that awaited them, the group continued reading with smiles on their faces.
The little children gradually grew into teenagers. As usual, the two went out for a spring outing, but the kite string got tangled. They tried to untangle it but accidentally touched each other. Although it was only a fleeting moment, the two separated as if they had been electrocuted. They haphazardly cut the kite string, but lost their interest in the spring outing. They just kept their distance and would steal glances at each other from time to time.
The kites, now freed from their strings, rose together for a while before the smaller kite stopped at a certain height and separated from the larger kite, which continued to ascend.
"Look, isn't this how you spend time with your younger brother and sister-in-law?"
An editor patted the younger brother on the shoulder and teased him about the scene where Ding Xian and her husband finally understood. The younger brother blushed and just kept saying things like, "Give her face... She's quite pleasing to the eye... I'm afraid she'll cry..." which brought a burst of cheerful laughter.
Ding Xian and Wen Jiazi had a breakthrough in their relationship this spring. After returning home, their interactions became filled with sweet romance. There was the rough jade hairpin given by her wounded hand, the duck-shaped purse held in her palm with needle marks, the occasional time she was kept after school, the secret shadow-walking on her way home at sunset, and the few fingers that inadvertently hooked together during the Lantern Festival...
"This Ding family girl is clumsy; she embroidered mandarin ducks as ducks and wouldn't let anyone say anything."
Someone pointed to the passage about Ding Xian making her fiancé guess what she was embroidering, which made him furious, and said that his wife was just as clumsy, but the worst part was that he couldn't say anything, or she would get so angry that she would pull his ear.
Last winter solstice, while other families ate dumplings to prevent their ears from freezing, his ears were pulled until they were bright red, and the cold wind on his way to work couldn't dispel the heat from them.
That bitch! She's just taking advantage of his good temper!
The editor was fuming, trying to figure out how to get back at his wife. He hadn't decided whether to replace her mung bean cake with her least favorite hawthorn balls or her beef bun with her tired-of mutton bun when he saw the manuscript paper turn over. He immediately forgot all his chaotic thoughts and craned his neck to read on.
They were betrothed as children, and the young couple had a good relationship. Both sets of parents were happy to see it happen. After going through the traditional courtesan procession and the changing seasons, when the river ice melted, Ding Xian rode in a grand sedan chair carried by eight men, with a lavish dowry stretching for miles, and married into the Wen family as their bride.
This should have been a new beginning of happiness, but getting married became the beautiful end.
After a few days of blissful happiness, her husband was about to go abroad to study. Ding Xian originally wanted to go with him, but the doctor found out she was pregnant and could only stay at home to rest. She saw her husband off on the ship with tears in her eyes, but a few months later she found out that she was not pregnant.
The claim that her pulse was like rolling beads was just a way for her in-laws to bribe the doctor in order to get her to stay.
Ding Xian was unwilling to accept it, but what was done was done. She could only wait for her husband to return every day, from spring to winter, year after year. When her husband finally returned, he was a stranger.
She tried her best to ignore it, not want to hear it, not want to see it, and not ask it, pretending to be a virtuous, kind, blind, deaf, empty-headed, and mute person, but she still heard the words she least wanted to hear:
Our marriage is a product of feudalistic outdated ideas. I want to pursue my soulmate. Let's get a divorce.
The editors already had a bad feeling about the sudden turn of events after the wedding, but when they saw this sentence, they still cursed out loud. Everyone was eager to know what happened next, but the paper in their hands was already the last one.
"I asked, and the author hasn't written the rest of the story yet."
Seeing everyone's expressions as if they'd been struck by lightning, Pi Kangxiu felt a sense of relief. Heaven knows how desperate he felt when he discovered the story was stuck on that sentence from the man surnamed Wen. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one feeling that way now.
It feels so good to have someone to share your pain!
***
"Grandma, let's go buy meat."
Yao Xiaoyu, who had successfully submitted her article, came downstairs in a good mood and smiled broadly at Zhou Chunhua. Zhou Chunhua didn't see the familiar newspaper and when she looked at Yao Xiaoyu, she felt that the smile was forced.
Never mind, buying some meat is fine too, I just got the money today anyway...
"I'd like a piece of pork belly for one silver dollar!"
Has this girl gone mad?!
Zhou Chunhua's eyes widened, and she grabbed Yao Xiaoyu's collar. Forced to calm down, Yao Xiaoyu realized something was wrong and quickly changed her words.
"I want lean meat worth ten copper coins,"
She planned to buy meat in a big way after receiving her royalties, but she got too excited... Fortunately, she made amends in time, and her grandmother probably didn't notice anything amiss.
Okay, no.
Carrying a lotus leaf bag filled with shredded meat, Yao Xiaoyu happily followed her grandmother home. On the way, she was lucky enough to meet a newsboy with some old newspapers. She spent a few copper coins to pick through many newspapers she had never read before, including the ending of the story about the bride swap.
On her way home, she passed by He Family Bookstore again. Yao Xiaoyu made up an excuse to go in, and when she came out, there was a bottle of the cheapest ink in her hidden pocket.
Yao Xiaoyu had no money on her, so she borrowed the ink from Manager He on credit. Yao Xiaoyu didn't explain why she wanted the ink, and Manager He didn't ask either. He even promised not to tell Yao's family—a young girl always has her own secrets, and a bottle of ink isn't something she can't repay.
With the most crucial writing tool in hand, Yao Xiaoyu finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was cheerfully escorted to the Yao family's doorstep by Zhou Chunhua, and that evening, the Yao family enjoyed a bowl of vegetable and shredded pork porridge again.
The porridge was freshly cooked from rice and tasted delicious.
Feeling refreshed after eating meat, Yao Xiaoyu finished copying her thousand-word manuscript the next day and then took out her pencil to continue writing. When she went to see Manager He this time, she deliberately took fewer assignments, intending to focus more of her energy on the more lucrative writing, regardless of whether her manuscript was approved or not.
Fortunately, she was lucky and succeeded on her first try.
To save costs, Yao Xiaoyu still wrote the manuscript in pencil the first time, and then copied it again with a pen. Because the amount of copying in the morning decreased, Yao Xiaoyu completed the entire writing and copying work in just five days.
The last manuscript I sent was about Ding Xian being asked for a divorce by her husband. This time, the 10,000-word manuscript also hit the key point—Ding Xian exposed her in-laws' despicable plans, saw through the truth that her family wasn't particularly important to her, and after humiliating them, she accepted the divorce papers, took her dowry and loyal servant, and moved into a hotel, intending to find a job.
Yao Xiaoyu read the manuscript through in her mind, and after confirming that there were no awkward parts, she nodded in satisfaction.
In the 21st century, there is nothing to look forward to in finding a job. However, in this era, women's right to education was not established until a few years after the founding of the Republic of China. Apart from female factory workers and maids, there are almost no professions that women can pursue in society.
Even women are not aware that they should have a formal career, and being a wife and mother is still the mainstream in society.
Just like the story of the bride swap that Yao Xiaoyu finished reading yesterday, it was a story about a bride who got into the wrong sedan chair and married the right man during the Republic of China era. The bride in the story was a wealthy heiress who had returned from studying abroad, but even so, after she got married, she only had children.
But do women only study to get married easily?
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