Chapter 176 Moving and Settlement Services...
Yao Xiaoyu got up very early on the first day of the Lunar New Year—forced to.
It was unusual for Zhou Chunhua to knock on the door and disturb her sleep. Before she was fully awake, she quickly urged her to wash up and handed her a bowl so she could make her own porridge.
The porridge was made with green vegetables and rice cakes. Sliced rice cakes were served with a handful of rice, and green vegetables were added just before it was done cooking. If you felt it was too bland, you could eat it with the leftovers from yesterday's New Year's Eve dinner. Yao Xiaoli was holding her chopsticks, carefully picking up pieces of meat that weren't too oily and drinking the porridge with it.
I don't know what the custom is, but on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, although we can cook, we can only eat porridge and not hot dishes. At this time, the dishes are mostly made with lard, which turns white and sticky when it gets cold.
If it were just a few months ago, it wouldn't have been a problem, but after the Yao family paid off their debts, they were no longer frugal with their food, especially meat. Although Yao Xiaoli still preferred meat, she found the solidified lard a bit greasy. However, the meat was still tasty even when it was cold, so she could only eat it carefully.
Yao Xiaoyu had been eating non-stop all night, and wasn't very hungry yet. She only took two sips of porridge as a token meal, which she considered her breakfast. Zhou Chunhua didn't linger either. Seeing that everyone in the family had almost finished eating, she took them out to visit relatives and friends. After the debts were paid off, some families had sent New Year's gifts, and Zhou Chunhua planned to continue these friendships.
She didn't think there was anything wrong with her actions of only helping others when there was hope for a turnaround. Many people always feel that friends and relatives should go to great lengths to help each other, but in reality, not kicking someone when they're down is already a sign of good character.
Moreover, they weren't entirely unhelpful. If it weren't for their relationship, even if the creditors saw the Yao family's potential to repay their debts, they wouldn't have hesitated to come and coerce or entice them. How could they have allowed the Yao family to live a few years of peaceful life, only asking for the principal and not the interest? Now that usury is legal, it's the norm for loans to be repaid nine times out of ten.
Even assuming, hypothetically, that many families truly maintained the same level of interaction as before the Yao family incurred their debts, could the Yao family afford to reciprocate with gifts? Or were the gifts sent by the Zhang family repackaged and sent to the Li family as holiday presents, while the Zhou family's gifts were simply repackaged and sent to the Wu family? Leaving aside the consequences of being discovered and the cost of repackaging, what did the Yao family become after doing this? A mere transit point?
Even if someone says they won't reciprocate, it's fine once or twice, but can you really accept it if it happens repeatedly? It's not uncommon for people to treat great favors as great enemies.
If you go bankrupt to return a gift, how will you manage in the future? If the return gift is just a token of your goodwill, it's no different from not returning it at all if it happens too often—they are families that interact on an equal footing, not one side trying to take advantage of the other!
Even in modern times where everyone is equal, economic inequality is still a chasm. Rather than making things worse for the Yao family's already dire financial situation, it would be better to wait until things have recovered before trying to rebuild the relationship. This New Year's gift is an olive branch being extended.
Renewing friendships is mostly an activity for the younger generation, but their last New Year's visit was before they incurred debts. Moreover, the world is not very peaceful these days. After much thought, Zhou Chunhua decided to lead the way for them when she renewed the friendship for the first time, and also to see if there were any suitable engaged girls and boys.
Yao Tianrui will be graduating soon, and he should choose his marriage partner carefully; Yao Xiaoli has studied for several years, and it's time for her to bring someone out to meet people, since good men are rare, and if she finds someone she likes, she should act quickly.
As for Yao Xiaoyu... After confirming that the girl really had no intention of getting married, Zhou Chunhua was actually not very willing to bring her out. However, it wouldn't be good if only Yao Xiaoyu was left out of the younger generation. Many people's eyes are sharper than knives. Compared to the rumors of discord within the Yao family, Zhou Chunhua felt that bringing her out would cause less trouble.
Previously, the Yao family had to save money to pay off their debts, and their lives were incredibly difficult. For several years, no relatives came to visit or send them invitations. Although Yao Xiaoyu had run around a lot, this was the first time she had been formally treated as a guest. Out of curiosity, she obediently followed along.
I am bored.
Yao Xiaoyu sat on the chair with a blank face, giving the woman in front of her a smile that appeared to be shy.
She didn't know what the visiting process was like at other people's homes, but this kind of script of greetings upon entering, indirect probing, and a single sentence hiding eighty hooks was really not suitable for her. Yao Xiaoyu originally just wanted to broaden her horizons, but now she regretted going out.
After a difficult day, Yao Xiaoyu refused to go out again no matter what. Zhou Chunhua tried her best to persuade her to maintain the harmony of the Yao family in the eyes of outsiders, but Yao Xiaoyu directly used her money to achieve her goal.
"The young lady has excessive internal heat... It is best for her to rest in bed."
The doctor, who displayed gold bars and silver dollars and whose beard was longer than his hair, seemed quite reliable. After taking Yao Xiaoyu's pulse, he gave her a diagnosis that she was sick and unable to leave the house. As for how much of that was true, only Yao's family knew.
Zhou Chunhua knew that her granddaughter was stubborn, so she didn't press the matter further and continued to take the Yao siblings out. Yao Xiaoyu stayed at home eating and drinking until the shop opened. She had gained a lot of weight before going out with the good news of her recovery. She went to see a dentist and had a feast. She played happily for a few days before remembering to tell everyone that she was going to a new house.
Yao Xiaoyu didn't say that she bought the house herself. She only said that the editorial department valued her highly and, in order to ensure that she wouldn't be poached by other newspapers, provided her with a house in the concession as a benefit. As long as she was still a contributor to Novel Daily, Yao Xiaoyu could continue to live there. She had already seen the house and thought it was pretty good, so she planned to move in in the next couple of days.
The news caused an uproar in the Yao family. Everyone was quite excited, but Yao Xiaoyu, who had experienced this before, was no longer flustered. She could even recall whether the same lines had appeared in similar situations before—no matter how much trouble she caused, given her economic foundation and physical means, it would only be the Yao family that compromised.
This time was no exception.
After everyone toured the house, even if they went against their conscience, they couldn't say that the house was better. Plus, with people both inside and outside the house urging them to compromise, the Yao family had no choice but to give in, no matter how unwilling they were.
After the family was informed about the move, Yao Xiaoyu continued to return home as usual for the time being. However, Tao Xiaoxiao always carried a large suitcase when she went out, and Yao Xiaoyu's room became empty within a few days. However, she didn't leave many personal belongings outside, so the Yao family didn't notice anything amiss.
On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Tao Xiaoxiao packed her last toiletries into a box, and Yao Xiaoyu bid farewell to everyone with rare tenderness. The Yao family watched as the fluttering hem of her skirt disappeared outside the door. They waited and waited that night, but still did not see the two girls. Only then did they belatedly realize that they were really gone.
There's no need to elaborate on the various discomforts the Yao family experienced after the two moved out. However, Yao Xiaoyu and Tao Xiaoxiao were quite happy when they rode in a rickshaw to their new house. Tao Xiaoxiao was simply happy because Yao Xiaoyu hadn't left her behind, while Yao Xiaoyu was happy because she could finally move into her own house.
A house that offers convenient living, belongs solely to oneself, and has a property ownership certificate.
The two came out very early, but when they arrived at the door of the new house, they still saw a long line of hired workers waiting. A policeman wearing big leather shoes was watching them. As for the person they were wary of... Tao Xiaoxiao handed over the money, and Yao Xiaoyu said a few nice words. The policeman's eyes immediately became clear, and he quickly and tactfully said goodbye and walked away.
"Come in first."
Tao Xiaoxiao opened the door with a brass key. After everyone entered, they stood in a row somewhat awkwardly. Yao Xiaoyu looked them over one by one, first nodding at her own perfect setup, then frowning.
She could tell that the employees had tried their best to make themselves clean, but apart from the tailor, the others were still not up to Yao Xiaoyu's standards. Fortunately, Yao Xiaoyu was prepared and called a line of rickshaws for everyone to get on, and headed to the clean women's bathhouse in a grand procession.
"Scrub yourself clean from head to toe, then come back and pay the bill."
Yao Xiaoyu handed the pile of dirty buns of various sizes to the female attendant at the bathhouse. Although the clean women's bathhouse mainly served high-end services, those at the bottom could still grit their teeth and come over if they saved up enough money. The people Yao Xiaoyu brought were not within the acceptable range. After confirming the scope of services, the attendant smiled and prepared to take the people away.
It was the first time any of them had been to a women's bathhouse, and even when the staff spoke, they didn't dare to follow along, only looking pleadingly at the woman in charge. Yao Xiaoyu, however, ignored them and only explained her staff recruitment standards:
"You can't keep your nails long, and it doesn't matter whether you cut your hair or not, but if there are still insect eggs in your hair after you wash it, then you should find another job."
Some embroiderers might grow long fingernails for their needs, but the tailors at Yao Xiaoyu's place don't do any particularly delicate work. Compared to the slight convenience that long fingernails bring, Yao Xiaoyu can't stand the fact that they can harbor dirt and grime. The bathhouse offers a full range of services, so she might as well take care of it all at once.
As for the insect eggs... Yao Xiaoyu couldn't stand it, but she had to admit that having insects on one's head and lice on one's body was a common phenomenon among the lower classes in this era. Many people were so used to it that they even used catching lice as a form of entertainment. The man who put the lice he caught in his mouth and bit it, the one who made the louder sound, seemed to have achieved some great victory.
The era of coexistence between humans and insects is quite distant now, but in this era, besides combs, there is another very popular hair tool called a hair comb. It is not much different from a comb, except that the gaps are extremely small, which can remove dander, adult insects and their eggs from the hair. The hair combing in the Dream of the Red Chamber refers to this hair comb.
Yao Xiaoyu could see how much everyone valued this job and understood their objective conditions, but understanding did not mean acceptance. It was impossible to do so before, but now she had provided a solution. If they were still unwilling, Yao Xiaoyu could only admit that they were not meant to be.
"Let her wash first,"
Seeing everyone obediently follow the host, Yao Xiaoyu remembered something and pointed at the tailor.
"Come find me when you're done; I need you to do something."
These were Yao Xiaoyu's words to the tailor. Other people could put their unfinished tasks aside for the time being, but the tailor could not.
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