Huang Wanzhen raised her hand impatiently and called for a halt. "Stop, stop, mother, it would be better if all good things were taken away by your Dong family. If the Li family's shop was given to you for free, you would be happy. But you wouldn't accept the child having someone else's surname. How could such a good thing happen in the world?"
"If they're using the shop to recruit a son-in-law, all the children they recruit must have the surname Li. My cousin's wife wants the second child to have the surname Li, and the third child to have the surname Dong. Isn't that perfect? One grandson for each family, with the Dong family's property going to the eldest and the Li family's property going to the second. Could you please not get involved? My second uncle and my cousin both agree, so why are you worrying about it?"
Huang Wanzhen had always believed that feudal ethics deeply oppressed women, and men treated women as tools to pass on their family line. Women were really pitiful, so she would try her best to recruit female workers for any position that could be used by women.
But from Huang Dong and Dong Jiang, she found that these two people were more concerned about their family lineage than men. They were victims of patriarchy, but also guardians of patriarchy.
"Your two cousins from your eldest uncle's family have given birth to several girls in a row. I guess they were too ruthless in the past, and the Bodhisattva found out and doesn't want to give their family a grandson anymore. From now on, the Dong family depends entirely on your cousin Ruixin to carry on the family line. The Dong family is so short of boys, and your cousin's wife is so clueless that she promised one to him. My heart aches."
"Your second uncle and cousin are too honest to bear such a loss!"
Huang Wanzhen put her hands on her hips, acting like a shrew. "Tell me, what have they suffered? If it weren't for my cousin's family helping them, do you think they could have established themselves in Shanghai so quickly? They're taking advantage of others and aren't satisfied. They're even saying bad things about them! They're so grateful for a little bit of money, but they're so resentful! They can't get enough of taking advantage of others!"
When Mrs. Huang Dong heard her daughter talking about her family like that, she immediately stiffened her neck and said, "Huang Wanzhen! You unfilial daughter, who are you talking about?!"
Huang Wanzhen put one hand on her waist and pointed at Huang Dongshi with the other, "I'm talking to you! I'm talking to your Dong family! Why are you so dissatisfied? Then I won't call Chairman Song. You can find a way to help sell the furs in my second uncle's shop!"
Huang Dong's face was like an overturned palette, sometimes blue, sometimes white, sometimes black. Her lips twitched for a long time before she managed to utter, "You promised your second uncle and cousin, you can't just ignore it."
"Then you should stay out of your mother's family affairs in the future. Not only can you not help, but you also make things worse." Huang Wanzhen said this and turned around to make a phone call.
Mrs. Huang Dong, who was about to continue talking to Huang Wanzhen, immediately shut up when she saw her walking towards the phone. Afraid that she would not be able to help preaching, she raised her hand and covered her mouth tightly.
The next day, Huang Wanzhen secretly instructed Lin Zexin to add more work to Huang Dongshi's job. In addition to asking her to receive guests, she also had to help cut clothes when there were no guests.
After Wang Qisheng bought the cotton and linen thread for crocheting lace, Huang Wanzhen asked Huang Dongshi to learn lacemaking from the female craftsman. "Mom, this is a skill. If you learn it, when the company collects lace, we can also pay you by the piece."
When Ms. Huang was working at Beijing Jixiangtang, she wanted to make money by knitting sweaters, but Chairman Song often came over. She was afraid that Chairman Song would see her and criticize her for taking up work time to make extra money, so she endured it and didn't knit.
Now that Chairman Song is not in Shanghai, Manager Lin does not hold a higher position than her daughter, so naturally she dare not criticize her.
"Okay, I don't think it's difficult. I'll try to learn it first."
Not to mention, the female master Wang Qisheng invited back was really young, she was actually a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl. When asked, they found out that the girl was not married yet, which made Huang Dongshi and Hong Yingniang curious.
"Sui Sui, are your parents comfortable with you coming to Shanghai with my old man?"
Shen Suisui said openly, "Why should I be worried? Three dollars a month, that's thirty-six dollars a year."
"My sister and Daya's sister are old classmates. They've always corresponded. My sister told me that Daya's sister is living a comfortable life in Shanghai. Not only do they have enough steamed buns and rice every day, but they can also eat meat every meal. Her employer is very kind and gives her a salary of three dollars a month. In our country, working for the landlord only gives her some food to take home, but she doesn't get any money."
"It's such a good job, there's no such opportunity after this one. I told my parents that I don't want any of the wages I earn, I'll save them, and when Uncle Wang goes back to his hometown to collect the wires, I'll ask him to bring them back home. My parents are still saving money for my younger brother to get married, and when they heard me say this, they immediately agreed."
Hong Yingniang explained to everyone, "Sui Sui's family has no land, and life is not as good as my mother's family."
Shen Suisui smiled and flattered Hong Yingniang, "Seventh Uncle's family not only has land, but also an embroidery shop. They are a wealthy family in our area. My sister is marrying up because she can become a close friend of Dayajie."
Huang Wanzhen was the type who would ask questions if she didn't understand something. Seeing that Shen Suisui kept talking about Lao Tong, she asked, "What does Lao Tong mean?"
Shen Suisui didn't know how to answer this question, and glanced at Hongye for help.
Hongye glared at her and corrected her address first, "Don't call me Sister Daya from now on. I wrote to your sister when we were communicating. I have a name now, Hongye. I was the one who gave you this name!"
Then, she explained to Huang Wanzhen, "Well, the sworn brotherhood here is a bit like the sworn brotherhood in Beijing. But our sworn brotherhood is even more sacred. It's a contract written in women's script, witnessed by middlemen and elders, and then heard by the heavens. Sisterhood is closer than real sisters. We support and care for each other, and share life's joys and sorrows."
At this point, Hongye lowered her head and pursed her lips. "I've been living a life worse than pigs and dogs in the Liu family. If it weren't for my old friends encouraging and supporting me, I would have jumped into the river long ago. I've decided to be with my second sister Suisui in this life. We're going to be old friends for life."
Huang Wanzhen murmured, "It sounds like it's to make up for the lack of emotional communication in marriage and give women spiritual comfort."
Huang Wanzhen then asked, "Aren't you illiterate? How did you communicate with Sister Suisui?"
Hongye smiled and said, "We communicate with each other using letters written by women. We have our own characters."
After Hongye's explanation, Huang Wanzhen finally understood that the characters in Nüshu were much simpler than traditional Chinese characters, with fewer characters, and were easier to learn. They were similar to the characters that Huang Dongshi used to keep accounts when she was the housekeeper in the Huang family mansion.
"Though your characters are simple, they're only used by a small number of people. It's a shame to spend so much effort learning them, but they're not even widely used outside. If you want to learn how to read, just ask us. Everyone here can read."
Hongye glanced at Huang Wanzhen gratefully, then lowered her head sheepishly and asked in a low voice, "Boss Huang, how much salary does Suisui get every month?"
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