Chapter 25

In the morning, Song Shu was unable to get up because she had gone to bed late the night before. But when she was struggling to get up in her dream to send Jiahui to kindergarten, she heard a knock on the door.

Song Shu responded in her sleep, and then she heard Chen Zonghao's voice through the door, "You don't have to get up. I'll take Jiahui to kindergarten."

In her sleep, Song Shu only remembered that she felt relieved when she heard the man's words, and she replied "OK" before falling asleep again in a daze.

When she was completely sober, she washed up and walked to the living room. On the dining table was her favorite breakfast, steamed buns and soy milk dough sticks, and a piece of paper with the words flowing through the paper: I'm taking Jiahui to kindergarten, eat breakfast while it's hot.

Song Shu picked up the note, sat on the chair, opened the bag and started to eat breakfast. While eating, she looked at the line of words and couldn't help but admire. She didn't expect that Chen Zonghao's handwriting was so elegant and he could definitely open a calligraphy class.

After breakfast, Song Shu was about to put the note in her bag and throw it away, but somehow she stopped herself and put the paper in her pocket, mumbling, "The handwriting is so beautiful, it would be a shame to throw it away."

＊

After breakfast, Song Shu opened the shop and waited for Miss Du's people to come and finalize the contract.

It wasn't long before a woman and a man, both dressed in work suits and looking very professional, walked in.

The lady looked at her politely and said, "Hello, Miss Song. I am Miss Du's assistant, Sun Ni. The contract that you and Miss Du agreed on last night has been sorted out. You can take a look at it. If there is no problem, you can sign it directly. The gentleman next to you is the third-party lawyer, Li Jie."

Lawyer Li, who was introduced, nodded and said, "Hello, Miss Song. I am the third-party lawyer Li Jie."

Song Shu politely replied, "Ms. Sun, Hello, Lawyer Li."

After saying hello, Song Shu took the contract and opened it to read. In her previous life, Song Shu had signed countless contracts, so she was very familiar with some of the clauses and read through them quickly. The content of the contract was the same as what she and Miss Du had discussed last night. Song Shu nodded, "There is no problem with the contract."

After reading the contract, Song Shu thought for a moment and said, "I have several female workers here who used to make clothes for me and have worked in a clothing factory before. I wonder if they can be arranged to work in the clothing factory as well?"

The main reason was that she learned from her conversation with Ms. Du last night that some of Ms. Du's factories generally recruit a large number of female workers, the factories have good benefits, and there is maternity leave, so workers can go back to work after giving birth.

Most of the female workers she recruited before were laid off by the factory due to childbirth. If she opens a clothing factory this time, it would be better if the female workers here could return to the factory.

Assistant Sun nodded, "Ms. Song, this is absolutely no problem. The clothing factory will also recruit workers in the future. If they pass the inspection, they can enter the clothing factory."

Song Shu heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. "That's good. There's no problem with the contract. I'll sign it directly."

After the contract was signed, Assistant Sun said, "The factory will start production this afternoon, and the clothes will be available in large quantities tomorrow. Miss Song, it's a pleasure to work with you."

“It’s been a pleasure working with you.”

Song Shu stood up and saw the two people off. After they left, she went back to the store and looked through the contract again. A smile appeared on her face. This was all hard cash. She read the contract several times before putting it away.

At this time, Mrs. Liang opened the door and walked in. Song Shu hurriedly greeted her, "Mrs. Liang."

Liangsao looked at her and smiled: "Are you up?"

Today, Haozi went to her house to pick up Jiahui for school. Song Shu didn't show up. Liang's wife asked, and Haozi replied, "Shu hasn't gotten up yet. I'll take Jiahui there."

Listen to how caring he is. He is nothing like the one in her family, who would feel sorry for his daughter-in-law and let her sleep a little longer, and send the children to school by himself.

Song Shu felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, "I slept too late last night."

Liang's wife just teased her and said nothing, "I just came to see you. If you have nothing else, I will go back first."

Song Shu called her, "Sister Liang, I have something else to trouble you with. Miss Du and I have jointly opened a clothing factory..."

Song Shu briefly talked about the clothing factory, and Liang's wife praised her, "I knew you were going to do big things, Shu. Look, it hasn't taken long for the clothing factory to open. It's really amazing."

Song Shu felt a little embarrassed by the compliment and continued, "Sister Liang, please tell the female workers we found before that if they are willing, they can work in the garment factory. The benefits are good, and the monthly salary is higher than other garment factories on the market. If they don't want to, I will continue to let them make clothes here. As for Uncle Zhi, he probably won't go to the factory. He will continue to do his usual work."

Song Shu plans to use Azhibo's craftsmanship to make custom-made clothes for her in the future.

Liangsao nodded and said, "No problem, I will give you a complete explanation."

Song Shu smiled and said, "Thank you, Sister Liang."

“You’re welcome.”

＊

Ah Xiang's wife saw off Liang's wife who had come to visit her. She had a happy and relaxed smile on her face. She could not help but go back to the room and wake up her husband who had just come back from bed in the middle of the night. "Lao Li, don't go to bed yet. I have good news for you."

Brother Li was woken up by his wife. He rubbed his eyes, sat up from the bed, yawned, and looked at her. "What's wrong? What's the good news?"

With a smile on her face, Ah Xiang's wife said excitedly, "I can go to work in the clothing factory. This clothing factory is owned by the female boss I told you about before. The salary is high and the benefits are good. I can go to work even if I bring my little daughter with me..."

When Ah Xiang's wife heard what Liang's wife had said, she was extremely surprised. After thinking for a while, she decided to go to work in the garment factory. After all, working in the garment factory was a stable job.

Brother Li was also surprised when he heard it, "Really."

Ah Xiang nodded and said, "Why would I lie to you? It's true."

Brother Li nodded repeatedly, "That's great."

Mrs. Xiang was thinking of something and looked at him without saying a word.

Brother Li looked at her expression, tilted his head, and asked in confusion: "Wife, why are you looking at me like that?"

Ah Xiang's wife sighed, "I have something to discuss with you. Let's move out. We can live alone as a family."

After hearing this, Brother Li opened his mouth but did not answer for a moment.

Seeing his expression, Ah Xiang's wife's face turned ugly, "What? Don't you want to move out? Do you know what kind of life my daughter and I have been living in this house? No one in this family treats me as a human being except you..."

Ah Xiang's wife became more and more excited as she spoke. She thought about how she had lived a life full of grievances for so many years. She had endured it for so many years, but this time she didn't want to endure it anymore because of her daughters. She didn't want her daughters to live like this. If her husband didn't agree, then she would take her two daughters away.

Brother Li held her hand and comforted her, "Ah Xiang, I know you've been wronged, I..."

Ah Xiang turned her face away, tears streaming down her face. "You know what's the use? I just don't want my daughter to live a hopeless life like this."

Brother Li opened his mouth and was speechless. Thinking about his parents' favoritism, his brother's contempt and oppression, and the life his daughter and wife had lived for so many years, he suddenly felt that he was a bastard who could not see who was truly good to him.

Brother Li's eyes gradually became firm, and he held Sister Xiang's hand, "Okay, we'll move out and never come back."

Ah Xiang's wife turned around, her eyes sparkling, "Really? You can't regret it. If we work together, we can pay the rent. When I work for a while and save enough money, I can open a clothing store and sell the boss's clothes. You don't know how well the boss's clothes sell. Then I can earn money to send my two daughters to college..."

As Ah Xiang's wife spoke, her face was full of optimistic thoughts about a better life in the future, and her usually depressed face suddenly became youthful and radiant.

Brother Li looked at her and nodded, "Okay."

＊

After finishing these things, Song Shu sat in the store waiting for customers to come. Song Shu thought that there would not be any customers early in the morning, but customers came one after another, and Song Shu immediately became busy.

Fortunately, the customers were very patient. Seeing that Song Shu was busy, they did not rush her. Some even took the size that suited them and paid without trying it on. This greatly reduced Song Shu's work.

After Song Shu was busy for a while, she saw that some sizes of clothes were out of stock, so she turned around and went to the living room in the back room to get some clothes out.

There were several large bags of clothes piled in the corner of the living room. Song Shu reached out to take down the top bag, but she overestimated her strength.

These clothes were put there together by the female workers when they delivered the goods. She tried to take them down by herself, but failed despite great effort.

Song Shu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking about the store which had been getting busier and busier recently. She decided to put the plan of finding someone to help look after the store on the agenda as soon as possible.

Moreover, she cannot look after the store all the time, as this is not her main job. In the early stage, she needs to open the store to save money and accumulate some initial accumulation. When she has enough money, she will mainly focus on her designs.

As Song Shu thought about it, she reached out and pulled the bag of clothes again. This time the bag of clothes moved, but the whole bag fell down.

Song Shu was startled and had no time to react at that moment. She watched the bag of clothes about to fall down when a pair of big hands blocked the clothes. A man's anxious voice sounded above her head, "Are you okay?"

Song Shu looked up and saw Chen Zonghao had come back at some point and was holding up the bag of clothes. Song Shu came to her senses and quickly stepped aside to let the man take the clothes. She shook her head and replied, "It's okay."

The man quickly picked up the big bag of clothes and put it on the ground.

Chen Zonghao raised his eyes and frowned at her, "Why are you so careless? If you can't get it, you can ask someone for help."

Song Shu said embarrassedly: "I didn't expect it to be so heavy."

Chen Zonghao glanced at her and said nothing more, "Shall we move this bag of clothes out?"

Song Shu nodded, "Yes, move to the store outside."

After hearing this, the man moved the bag of clothes out. Song Shu followed him, instructing the man to put it away, then squatted down and opened the bag of clothes.

The man didn't leave either. He stood aside and watched her take out the clothes and prepare to hang them up. Then he took them and helped her hang them up.

So the two of them took turns hanging the clothes, dividing the work and working together, and soon the clothes were hung up.

Chen Zonghao looked up at the flow of customers in the store, looked at the busy woman, and said, "Don't you plan to hire someone?"

Song Shu was thinking the same thing. "I am planning to invite someone. Do you have anyone to recommend?"

After all, he is more familiar with this aspect than she is, so she can feel more at ease finding someone like him.

The man really lived up to her expectations. "Uncle Rong has a daughter who is working recently. She has the same honest personality as Uncle Rong. You can go ask her."

Song Shu nodded, "Uncle Rong is the one who helped me with that yesterday?"

Chen Zonghao paused after hearing her words and did not answer her question. Instead, he said, "Don't worry, there will be no more troublemakers in the store in the future."

Song Shu opened her mouth. She hadn't told him yet that a gangster had come to collect protection money yesterday, but judging from his expression, he must have known about it and solved it for her. Suddenly, Song Shu felt an inexplicable emotion in her heart. "Okay."

It seemed like he had helped her a lot all along, which made her feel warm and inexplicably uneasy. She felt guilty for always accepting her help.

The two of them were busy until noon before they took a break. Chen Zonghao went to buy some meat and vegetables, and also bought her a few newspapers. When Song Shu looked at the newspapers, she realized that she had missed so many things by not reading the newspapers all morning.

＊

In the morning, Hong Kong people have the habit of buying a newspaper to read.

Not only because Hong Kong people love to read gossip and reading newspapers every day has become as common as eating breakfast, but also because there were no smart phones in this era and the media was not so developed, people generally wanted to get information through newspapers.

Therefore, it is common to see that almost everyone who is eating breakfast in a store, walking to work, or taking the bus has a newspaper in their hands.

In a room in a certain building, a middle-aged woman was making breakfast in the kitchen. She glanced at her little daughter sitting at the dining table and said, "Go wake up your sister for breakfast."

The little girl was lying on the table with her head resting on her hands. She shook her head when she heard her mother's words, "No, if I disturb my sister's sleep, she will scold me."

The woman picked up a newspaper and handed it to her. "Not today. Tell her there's a report about her idol, Ms. Du, and she'll definitely wake up."

The little girl tilted her head and thought for a while, then nodded, "Okay."

Taking the newspaper from her mother, the woman watched the little girl take the newspaper, lower her head and look at another one, looking at the report thoughtfully.

The little girl took the newspaper and slid off the chair, then ran to a room, stopped in front of the door, knocked on it on tiptoe, and shouted, "Sister, get up. There's a Ms. Du in today's newspaper. Do you want to read it?"

After the little girl finished shouting, she withdrew her hand and put her ear against the door to listen to the reaction in the room. If her sister cursed, she would run away.

After waiting for a while, there was no cursing from inside. Just as the little girl was wondering, the door opened with a "click".

A tall and slender young girl opened the door. She was wearing shorts, and her muscular calves could be seen. The girl yawned and took the newspaper from her sister. The muscles on her arm were faintly visible as she flipped the newspaper open. She walked to the restaurant and sat at the table, muttering, "What's going on? Let me see."

The little girl followed her sister and climbed onto another chair, lying on the table, blinking as she watched her sister read the newspaper.

After a while, the girl's voice was heard excitedly, "Mom, Ms. Du said she wants to open a club to train female jockeys, and they can also participate in horse racing competitions."

At this time, the woman in the kitchen came out with breakfast and put it on the table. She looked at her and nodded, "I have already read the newspaper."

The girl was extremely excited at this time, waving the newspaper in her hand and dancing with joy, "Female jockeys, there has never been one in Hong Kong before. If there is one, then I can sign up. This is an opportunity."

The girl spoke in a high voice, her face full of excitement. The woman looked at her tenderly, "This is a good opportunity, Zhenzhen, you can go and sign up."

Feng Zhenzhen nodded vigorously and looked at the newspaper with sparkling eyes. When she was in middle school, her school had an equestrian class. She signed up and was praised by the coach for her talent. She was also very interested in equestrianism, so she continued to practice.

Over the past few years, her horsemanship has become extremely outstanding. She has no talent in learning, and her other skills are also mediocre, but this skill is so dazzling that I once wanted to develop it into my future career.

But now horse racing in Hong Kong is just a man's thing. Women who learn horse racing don't even have a chance to compete. There are equestrian schools and competitions abroad where women can participate, but it costs a huge amount of money.

Her family is a single-parent family, and her mother raises her and her sister alone. If she wants to go abroad, the family cannot afford it at all.

During this time, she was extremely confused and desperate. She gritted her teeth and decided to give up this career dream and find a job that she was qualified for after graduating from high school this year.

And now, suddenly there is an opportunity in front of her, like a ray of light breaking through the darkness, making her want to grab it tightly.

But thinking about the fact that horse racing has been a man's business for more than a hundred years, and women have always been excluded, is it so easy to break this pattern? Feng Zhenzhen's happy expression faded, and she looked up with a little confusion, "Mom, can women really walk onto the racetrack?"

The woman who had gone through more than a decade of hard times but still had strong eyes, raised her hand and touched her daughter's head. She looked at her with eyes that seemed to contain infinite power, "You will get what you want if you work hard. You are not alone, and she is not alone either. More and more people will come together."

＊

On the bus, a group of female students gathered together to read newspapers on their way to school. The Tian Tian incident in the newspapers had been escalating in recent days. With the involvement of the famous successful person Ms. Du, the incident was immediately fueled and ignited the whole of Hong Kong.

Many women, like men, believed that what Tian Tian did was damaging to her image as a lady and that she should apologize publicly, but more women were shocked psychologically.

Several little girls looked at the newspaper with excited expressions on their faces. "Do you feel very excited? I can't describe the feeling, but my heart is about to jump out of my chest."

There was a trace of confusion on the girl's face. She might have been treated unequally in one way or another in her life without realizing it, and she thought it was normal.

But when she heard what Tian Tian, ​​Song Shu and Ms. Du said these days, she felt excited and felt that she was filled with power, although she couldn't describe why.

The other girls nodded, "Me too, I think Tian Tian is right, why can't there be women at the racecourse? Usually when my family and I go to watch horse racing, the jockeys are all men."

A girl echoed, "Yes, why?"

Behind them sat a group of little boys, who, judging by their uniforms, were probably from the same school as them. The other boys pushed another boy and whispered, "Look, the person you like, Liu Jiajia."

Someone who was looking for trouble cheered and encouraged, "Come on, let's sit over there and get closer so you can tease her."

The boy was shy but eager to try, "Ahem, let's go over there and you guys can help me create opportunities later."

But before they could make any move, there was a sudden commotion in the car, and everyone shouted, "Look outside."

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of girls walking on the street. They were wearing the same denim skirts that Tian Tian wore at the racecourse and holding signs with words like, "Support women's horse racing!" "Men can race horses, women can race horses!" "Support female jockeys!"

The girls held up signs and shouted. Their loud and orderly voices attracted people on the street to look at them, but they were relaxed and didn't care about other people's eyes.

On the road, the ladies who were working stopped to look at them, the aunties in aprons in the store stopped working to look at them, the female students standing on the street stopped playing to look at them... Every lady who passed by couldn't help but stop to admire them.

At this time, a female office worker in a white shirt and short skirt took a step towards them, stopped, hesitated for a while, and took another step forward. Her steps became faster and faster, and she trotted to join them, holding a briefcase and shouting along.

The female students on the street made eye contact with their companions, then all showed bright smiles on their faces, ran over hand in hand to join the team, and shouted slogans loudly.

The aunt on the street couldn't help but tap the pot with a spatula to accompany them, "Support the female rider."

Liu Jiajia and her companions in the car looked at each other and said, "Let's join them."

"Okay, Master, please stop the car."

When they were about to run off the bus, a boy called out to her, "Liu Jiajia, where are you going?"

Liu Jiajia turned around and saw a group of boys from the same class. She pointed at the team outside the window and answered the boys with a happy expression on her face, "We want to join them."

But the boy looked disapproving after hearing this, "Jia Jia, don't join these tigresses. Aren't you usually very well behaved?"

The other boys agreed with him, looking disdainful and saying, "You support female jockeys? That's a man's sport. You good girls should stay out of it."

"That's right, don't learn from those girls, it's embarrassing."

…

Liu Jiajia looked at them, carefully observing their expressions, put away the smile on her face, and said seriously: "It's true that girls are well-behaved, but you don't need to define what a girl should be like, and you are not qualified to comment on it."

The girls following Liu Jiajia also said: "We can be well-behaved or we don't have to be well-behaved. How we act is entirely up to us. You don't need to define us."

After saying that, the girl didn't even look at them, turned around and ran out of the car. Before the car door closed, Liu Jiajia turned around and gave them the middle finger, then ran over with her companions, holding hands and smiling.

More and more girls gathered on the street and walked through the streets towards the Jockey Club. Every time they passed a street, more and more people joined them.

＊

"Ding-ling-ling!" The newspaper office's phone kept ringing.

"What? You said some women gathered at the Jockey Club? Big news. OK, got it. I'll send a few people over to help you. You have to get the headlines. Quick."

The man hung up the phone and quickly walked out of his office, shouting to the people in the big office, "Elena, Oishi, Susan, take your equipment and go to the racecourse. This is big news."

The person who was called picked up his things and left quickly. "Got it, boss."

This scene happened in every newspaper, big and small.

At a certain TV station, a hostess got into a car and quickly took the notebook handed to her by a colleague. On it was a brief report about the Jockey Club. She needed to understand what happened and then pick out the highlights. When she got off the car, she would go directly on camera to report live on the scene. This would completely test her reaction and adaptability.

Not only this TV station, several other TV stations also received the news and rushed to the scene.

One of the most important things about news is time. Whoever reports it first will gain the upper hand.

At the police station, a policeman knocked on an office door and walked in, saluting, "Madam, according to the patrol uniformed police, a group of citizens have gathered at the Jockey Club in Central. There are about 1,000 to 2,000 people, mainly women. It is beyond their control. Please help."

The female officer who was sitting on the office chair stood up and walked out, asking what was going on. "What's going on?"

The reporter next to her said: "These women are protesting against the Jockey Club, demanding that the Jockey Club appoint female jockeys."

Madam nodded. She had learned about the situation from watching the news over the past two days. She walked out of the office, clapped her hands, attracted the attention of other police officers, and gave a brief and clear explanation in front of everyone: "Go to the scene, the location is the Central Jockey Club. We are only maintaining order and evacuating traffic. Wait for the next notice from the higher-ups. Remember, do not use violence against the citizens. Do not use violence!"

"Roger that, Madam."

"Let's go."

＊

On the top floor of the Du family's office, Ms. Du reached out to pour tea for the lady in a suit in front of her and said, "Councilman Zhang, please reconsider my suggestion to you to allow women to participate in horse racing."

Councillor Zhang Qiuhua took a cup of tea and drank it slowly. She looked up at Ms. Du and said, "Youyi, I know your suggestion is good, but doing things is like drinking tea. You need to savor it slowly. You can't rush it."

Ms. Du returned her gaze. "That's true, but there's also an old saying, 'Time is what comes and cannot be missed; opportunity is what is stepped on and cannot be missed.'"

Councillor Zhang rubbed his teacup, and neither of them spoke for a while. Some things should be said just enough, and both sides had their own considerations.

At this time, there was a knock on the door. Ms. Du frowned. She had told her subordinates not to disturb her unless it was important. Now someone knocked on the door. Ms. Du thought something must have happened, so she said, "Come in."

A female assistant came in, walked quickly towards Ms. Du, leaned over and gave her a quick and brief report in her ear.

Ms. Du's eyes suddenly focused after hearing this, and then she said to Councillor Zhang, "Member, I think you will change your mind after reading this report. Xiao Li, turn on the TV."

"Yes, President Du." Assistant Xiao Li turned on the TV in the office and saw that a live report was being broadcast. The skilled reporter quickly reported the situation to the citizens in front of the TV. "Dear viewers, the reporter is now standing at the Central Jockey Club. You can see that there are about 2,000 women gathered at the scene, and more and more women are coming to the scene. They protested to the Jockey Club and asked the Jockey Club to appoint female jockeys. So far, no relevant person from the Jockey Club has responded to this protest... The fuse of this incident was caused by a speech made by female star Tian Tian yesterday... It is reported that Ms. Du of the Du Group also came out to support the request for the Jockey Club to appoint female jockeys... Many police officers came to maintain order at the scene... TVB will continue to follow up on related reports for you later..."

After reading the report, Ms. Du turned to look at Councillor Zhang and said, "Councillor, you see, sometimes women are very powerful. It's a good opportunity for you to seize it."

Councillor Chang Chiu-hua put down her teacup and watched the live broadcast on TV of the situation, the screaming women, her eyes rolling, thinking for a while, then turned to Ms. Du and said, "Maybe you are right. I support you."

“It’s been a pleasure working with you.”

＊

It was only a few days later that Song Shu learned the full outcome of the incident.

That day she went to submit her design for the Hong Kong Youth Fashion Design Competition, and she accepted Tian Tian's invitation to go shopping.

She has been in Hong Kong for a while, but she has never had a good time shopping.

The two of them walked several streets that afternoon. Song Shu's wallet was much richer, but she didn't worry about her wallet at all. She bought a lot of things, including cosmetics, skin care products, shoes, bags, Jiahui's toys, and some brand-name clothes. After all, the brand-name clothes of this era can still be worn in the future. After all, fashion is a cycle.

After shopping, the two found a coffee shop to rest. They lay down on the sofa without caring about their image. It took them a while to recover their strength.

Tian Tian took a bite of the cake. Her problem was solved, and because of this incident, her resources were further improved. Naturally, she was in a much better mood. "Did the women's horse racing club opened by Ms. Du invite you to design the costumes for the first female jockeys?"

Song Shu took a sip of coffee and nodded, "Yes."

That was when the women gathered at the Jockey Club. In the afternoon, Ms. Du and the Jockey Club jointly announced the establishment of female jockeys so that female jockeys could participate in horse racing.

The person in charge who had made the inappropriate remarks not only publicly apologized for his inappropriate remarks, but was also fired by the Jockey Club.

Later, several female seats were added to the Jockey Club's board of directors, who had the decision-making power over the Jockey Club's events and activities.

Once the results were reported, the outside of the Jockey Club was filled with cheers from women that day.

The day after the club was established, Ms. Du sent her assistant to invite Song Shu to design the first female jockey racing costumes, and Song Shu gladly agreed.

This is a meaningful thing, and it will be something to be proud of when you look back on it.

The success of this horse racing event is a milestone in the opening of a new era for Hong Kong women.

"Congratulations." Tian Tian said sincerely.

Song Shu smiled and said, "Congratulations to you too. I heard that you have become the spokesperson for the Hong Kong Jockey Club."

Tian Tian showed a little pride on her face, "Yeah, we are happy together."

This is also the first female spokesperson for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which is of great significance.

They smiled at each other and looked out the window. The bright sunshine made people feel happy.