Chapter 94 Breaking My Leg to Quit Smoking: Could I Be Addicted?
"yes."
Yao Xiaoyu nodded in agreement, and then explained why she chose jelly noodles as the first item sold at the Zhang family's stall—
“I once saw a jelly vendor who carried a wooden bucket on a shoulder pole. When someone wanted to buy jelly, she would scoop it onto a lotus leaf with a spoon and hand it to them.”
It doesn't require any pots or pans, and it doesn't cost much money.
Yao Xiaoyu tried her best to make the story full of flaws, but she would still subconsciously make some details in the settings. The advantage is that she was used to writing realistic farming novels, so she didn't even notice anything wrong. Therefore, the return to the Ming Dynasty was always a mix of realism and fiction, which made people confused but unable to stop reading.
The subsequent plot lacks any fresh elements. It's nothing more than the initial lack of customers and ridicule, followed by Zhang Erya's bold hawking and selling, which resulted in a successful start and the products being sold out in no time. It's just a pity for Erya, whose voice was almost hoarse from shouting. All the money was kept by Zhang's mother, who couldn't even afford a large bowl of tea, saying she would just go home to drink water.
Pi Kangxiu frowned slightly as he watched this scene. The words of Zhang's parents were indeed nice, but he felt that something was off. Thinking back to the previous plot, this wasn't the first time these parents had acted strangely.
"I wish you were a boy."
"Our daughter is so capable, she's just as good as any boy."
"Our daughter is right. We'll work hard to save money to see a doctor. We refuse to believe we can't have a baby!"
"Your brothers are your support. With another brother, we can rest assured about your future, and we can die in peace..."
At first glance, none of these words seemed wrong, but Pi Xiukang always felt a tightness in his chest.
...
"Do Zhang's parents have some kind of secret?"
Pi Kangxiu couldn't figure it out, so he simply asked Yao Xiaoyu directly. Yao Xiaoyu didn't react at first, but after thinking about the parent personas she had created, she understood what Pi Kangxiu really wanted to ask, and then smiled and extended her hand.
"Pay the royalties first."
Answering this question isn't difficult, but Pi Kangxiu has a problem: she asks a series of questions at once. If she can't escape successfully at the very beginning, her mouth won't be idle for at least an hour.
Before she discovered this problem, she spent a lot of time drinking tea in the editorial department.
"……Give."
Pi Kangxiu was aware of this flaw of his, and after staring at Yao Xiaoyu for a while without seeing her soften, he could only hand over the money in frustration. Yao Xiaoyu skillfully put it in her inner pocket and, while walking out, readily gave him a hint:
"Think about the title of the book before I changed it and what I said at the time."
Yao Xiaoyu wouldn't speak without reason; Pi Kangxiu tried hard to recall—
"Back to the Ming Dynasty to Become an Empress... During the famine, she realized that nothing was as good as having it herself, which led her to embark on the path of vying for supremacy..."
Pi Kangxiu's eyes widened suddenly. He quickly took out the newspaper he had bought earlier, which contained the previous plot, and searched for the section where Zhang's parents appeared. The more he read, the more his brows furrowed.
He had always thought Zhang's parents were exceptionally open-minded people, but now, looking at it this way...
"During the famine, did these parents run away on their own?"
...
Carrying a heavy bag of silver dollars, Yao Xiaoyu went out for a big meal as usual. This time, she ate Tan Family Cuisine, which was not well-known at the time and was more expensive than ordinary restaurants. But you get what you pay for, and the taste was indeed not bad. Yao Xiaoyu especially liked the braised mustard greens with crab roe, which was called "emerald green coral" by the hot pot restaurant owner.
This dish is a Cantonese style. The crab roe isn't fresh; it's crab paste made from the best Yangcheng crabs picked last year. Somehow, it's been preserved until now without losing its flavor. It's served with only the tenderest tips of kale. To use a famous saying, it's a perfect blend of red and green, and the first bite is incredibly fresh and fragrant. Of course, to someone as uncultured as Yao Xiaoyu...
"Delicious! Three more servings, please!"
Yao Xiaoyu ignored the various gazes around her and waved to the waiter. Since she came here, she would never deprive herself of food unless she had no other choice. As for the heavy coldness of crab roe... she was in this era where survival depended entirely on luck and there was no guarantee of tomorrow, so what was there to be afraid of!
Don't talk about suffering in old age. The average lifespan is now thirty or forty years. She doesn't even expect her body to live to old age.
For now, she is still considered a member of the Yao family and shouldn't be too high-profile. Once Yao Xiaoli finishes middle school and completes her studies, Yao Xiaoyu plans to challenge extreme sports. Modern only daughters enjoy all the love and also bear the responsibility of taking care of their parents in old age. They have to think twice before doing anything. A peaceful and happy life is good, but occasionally she also wants to find some excitement.
In modern times, her way of seeking thrills is to write unconventional articles, ranging from madcap tales like "The prince hung on the city wall for three days, and the jade pendant that fell down was the one you'd been searching for for three years—I knew he'd stolen it," to indescribable stories like the Arms Queen and her dog...
Of course, these articles could not have been written by her for certain well-known reasons, so everyone in Yao Xiaoyu's family, from her seventy-year-old grandmother to her three-year-old niece, were literary creators, and the reasons were quite valid:
Now, anyone under sixty-five is considered young. My seventy-year-old grandmother is only five years older than a young person, which is the perfect age for her to venture out into the world. As for the children... these days, everyone is focused on cost reduction and efficiency. It's perfectly normal and logical that her niece, at such a young age, has seen through the ways of the world and decided to become a sought-after workhorse with twenty years of experience after graduating from university.
Previously, out of safety concerns, she sought thrills through mental stimulation, but now she can try physical stimulation—after all, if she doesn't challenge herself now while she has no worries, why should she let her family worry when she goes back?
Yao Xiaoyu picked up another piece of kale with her chopsticks and squinted her eyes in satisfaction.
***
Ta Kung Pao and City Gossip published their grandmother's articles very quickly. The manuscript was received on the first day, and it was urgently typed and printed on the second day. It was published on the third day in the newspaper, still smelling of ink, and spread to all directions by the masthead and newsboys.
teahouse.
Old Han ate two meat buns and asked the audience if they wanted to hear about the wedding dress or the scholar's story. Although Xiao Yu's articles were always the first choice, they hadn't been published yet.
"Wedding dress" is short for "paper wedding dress," and "scholar" is short for "observer of human society." The reason for this is simple: "scholar" sounds better than "scholar."
"Listen to the scholars first."
The minority yielded to the majority, and the group quickly came to a conclusion—the story of the paper wedding dress was appealing, but since the sun wasn't out today, they were afraid it would make them uneasy, so they wanted a simpler story instead.
Stories like "A Melon" are only suitable to be heard under the blazing sun.
Seeing that they had made their decision, Old Han didn't delay. He picked up the Ta Kung Pao newspaper and began to read. The people in the teahouse listened quietly at first, but soon they couldn't help but start whispering among themselves. They knew that opium dens were everywhere in Shanghai, and that opium smokers were everywhere. They also knew that getting involved with this stuff would lead to the ruin of a family, but there were still many things they didn't know in the scholar's article...
"Tell your dad not to drink tap water next time. The article said it contains opium."
A man in his forties whispered to the woman sitting next to him. The woman, pale-faced and trembling, nodded, her eyes filled with lingering fear.
"I'm not drinking anymore. My dad just bought it yesterday. I'll pour it out when I get home."
Her father worked hard and saved money to save up for her dowry. The large jug of tap water that cost a few copper coins was bought because his friend said that drinking it would help him work and keep him from getting hungry. He even gave her father a taste of it and confirmed that it was effective, so he thought it was a good thing. Little did he know that it contained opium.
Fortunately, her father had only drunk it twice, and it was diluted with water, so he probably hadn't become addicted yet, but they still had to be careful—she would discuss it with her mother when she got back, and have her father stay home for half a month to do housework. If everything went well, all would be fine; but if he really did get addicted…
There's only one way to quit opium: endure it...
As the woman listened to Old Han read the newspaper, her eyes gradually hardened.
If Dad is really that unlucky and gets addicted after just one or two times, then Mom and her will have to go out to supplement the family income, and Dad will have to stay at home to quit smoking. If he insists on going out... even breaking his leg won't affect his handicrafts.
It wasn't that the woman was heartless, but rather that she had witnessed firsthand the fate of the families of those who failed to quit smoking—she had a friend of similar age and family background whose father had somehow become addicted to opium a few years ago. Because he couldn't bear to give up his wages and couldn't bring himself to quit, his addiction grew stronger and stronger, and the family was ruined.
If it weren't for the cleverness of the sister's mother, who secretly ran away with her, both mother and daughter would have been sold to the White House. When the father's opium addiction kicked in, he hanged himself from the roof beam with his belt, which displeased the landlord: "Someone died in the house, so the price has to be lowered."
The young woman's father was originally a very arrogant man, but after he became addicted to opium, she witnessed him kneeling on the ground, crawling and barking like a dog for a piece of opium the size of a fingernail.
The woman's resolve to break the man's leg only grew stronger as she thought about the possible fate of her father. She believed that at worst, a broken leg would just leave him lame, and he could be a fine man again once he quit smoking. But true despair lay in a man who died with broken bones and all his money gone!
After hearing the article, the woman did not stay in the teahouse. Instead, she hurriedly went out to buy a rolling pin, a stick as thick as a wrist and several feet long. When it was swung down from the air, it made a whistling sound. People around her couldn't help but step back. The woman nodded in satisfaction: "This stick looks sturdy. It can definitely break a leg with just one blow."
The woman returned home satisfied with the stick, just as her father came in wiping his sweat. She was about to greet him when he asked for a drink of tap water. The woman couldn't stand those words, so she dragged him into the house, grabbed the stick, and rushed over.
The man was terrified and frantically moved around the room trying to hide, wondering why his usually quiet and well-behaved daughter had gone mad.
Could it be that he/she is possessed by an evil spirit?
...
"So you're afraid I won't be able to control my nicotine cravings, so you're planning to break my legs and lock me in a room to quit smoking?"
After the man understood the whole story, he asked with a strange expression. The woman nodded confidently, feeling that her strength had returned, and tried to quietly pick up the stick.
"Dad, don't worry, I definitely won't let you suffer too much. I promise to cut it off completely in one go!"
The man nimbly retreated, maintaining a safe distance from his dangerous daughter, his panic even causing him to slip into his local accent—
"But you still haven't figured out if I'm addicted!"
The woman froze.
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The author's note: Man: The idea of breaking my leg is good, but daughter, have you considered the possibility that I'm not addicted?
daughter:……
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In a sense, Xiaoyu is the fourth natural disaster of the Republic of China era, but many things cannot be written about her, and she is tied to a mission, which makes her seem quite normal. Otherwise, I really would have let her hold a bomb and blow up the toilet.
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