I wrote novels in the Republic of China

The current business of Hung Hing Paper Shop is not as good as before, but their shop is their own and they do not need to pay rent, so they will not lose money.

Their family lived in the countryside and owned more than a hundred acres of land, as well as a lot of silver accumulated in previous times.

The Hong family is not short of money, so the food is not bad. Today's lunch for Shopkeeper Hong is braised pork with thousand-pieces, steamed salted fish, stir-fried leek hearts with dried tofu, and winter melon, kelp and shredded pork soup.

The two meat dishes were large in size, and there was also a bucket of rice. It was indeed the meal prepared for Sang Jingyun and his sister.

Shopkeeper Hong not only invited Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying to eat with him, but also invited the apprentice who was helping in the store to eat with them.

This apprentice is somewhat related to the Hong family.

Sitting at the counter, seeing that Shopkeeper Hong had already started eating, Sang Jingyun also started eating.

The original owner of this body didn't like to eat meat, but she is a meat lover. Now that she has been eating bland soup for several days, she is even more craving for meat.

Picking up the pork belly and taking a bite, Sang Jingyun praised: "Manager Hong, your chef's cooking skills are really good."

Shopkeeper Hong laughed and said, "You and your brother are both thin. Eat more."

"Then I won't be polite." Sang Jingyun said with a smile.

Although Sang Jingyun had white rice in the morning, a bowl of rice, two spoons of egg custard and pickled vegetables without oil did not make her feel hungry. She had been starving for a long time, so she ate with relish.

Not to mention Sang Jingying.
He had a good stomach and had only eaten a small bowl of rice and some pumpkin in the morning. By the time he reached the county town, he already felt hungry.

Sang Jingying was embarrassed to eat meat, so she finished a bowl of rice with the salted fish in a few bites. Seeing that there was still a lot of rice left in the bucket, she filled another bowl.

"You are growing up, so eat more meat. I can't finish it." Shopkeeper Hong said to Sang Jingying.
Some of his grandchildren are about the same age as Sang Jingying, but none of them is as thin as Sang Jingying.

"Thank you." Sang Jingying said in a low voice.

Under the persuasion of Shopkeeper Hong, Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying each ate two or three pieces of meat, and by the end their bellies were full.

After eating, Sang Jingyun said to Shopkeeper Hong: "Shopkeeper Hong, thank you for the hospitality, but from now on, you don't have to prepare our meals. We can't keep eating and drinking for free."

She ate this meal, but she couldn't be so shameless as to eat for free every day.

In this era, people's income is generally not high, but the price of food is not cheap.

The meal she and Sang Jingying had cost them all the money they earned in the morning.

Shopkeeper Hong said, "Why is it free food and drinks? You guys are here helping people write letters, and my shop's business has improved a lot. Treating you to a meal is nothing."

Yesterday, Manager Hong told his family to prepare more meals in the future as he wanted to keep Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying for lunch.

His family doesn't need this little money, so just think of it as him sympathizing with these two children.

And today, Sang Jingyun's actions made him feel even more that he was doing the right thing.

He invited Sang Jingyun to dinner, and he ate generously, unlike some people who, because of their strong self-esteem, took his kindness as an insult.

Then, Sang Jingyun refused his help again, unwilling to take advantage of him.

Sang Jingyun did not look down on those hard laborers at all, and he helped them write letters without being arrogant or impatient.

Times have changed now. People like this, even women, can have a bright future.

In addition, Sang Jingying's performance was not bad either. He was steady and sensible, and at first glance he could support a family, just like Sang Yuanshan when he was young.

In this Sang family, only Sang Xuewen is good for nothing.

If you help these two children and do them a favor, you may benefit from them in the future.

Even now, if he takes in Sang Yuanshan's grandchildren, the businessmen in this county will definitely think he is kind and be willing to do business with him.

The key is that he didn't lose money.

Sang Jingyun would be paid a copper coin for every letter he wrote. At the end of the day, he could earn at least twenty copper coins.

The cost of paper and ink was a few copper coins at most, and he also sold a few extra envelopes, so all in all, he made a profit.

Sang Jingyun said: "Shopkeeper Hong, the store just sold a few more envelopes..."

"I am already sixty-two years old this year, and I can be your grandfather. You can call me Grandpa Hong." said Manager Hong.

Sang Jingyun called out, "Grandpa Hong."

"Little girl, you already call me grandpa, so what's the big deal if I treat you to a meal? The food in my house is not delicacies from land and sea." After saying this, Shopkeeper Hong mentioned his previous friendship with Sang Yuanshan and persuaded Sang Jingyun to have a meal at his place.

Shopkeeper Hong has been in the business world for decades and his words were very nice. After considering it, Sang Jingyun agreed.

She really needs to eat something good to nourish her body.

As for the help of Shopkeeper Hong, she would keep it in mind and think about how to repay him later. While they were eating and talking, someone else came and squatted at the door waiting for Sang Jingyun to write to them.

Sang Jingyun did not delay and went back to continue helping others write.

She just started writing letters this morning, she is not familiar with it, and writes slowly. She should be able to write faster in the afternoon.

At the end of the day, she could earn at least twenty copper coins.

That month, it was six hundred copper coins, about four or five silver dollars.

Now is the early years of the Republic of China, and the value of silver dollars is higher than in the middle and late periods of the Republic of China. Now in a county shop, the monthly salary for a shopkeeper is eight yuan, and for an ordinary job like a copyist, the monthly salary is only four or five yuan.

But ten years later, by 1926, prices had doubled and wages had also increased.

Of course, these are the prices in Shanghai. In remote areas, the purchasing power of silver dollars is amazing.

At that time, communication and transportation were inconvenient, and everyone went out to do things early. Therefore, by two or three o'clock in the afternoon, no one came from far away to write letters to Sang Jingyun.

There were some people living in the county town who came to Sang Jingyun for help in writing letters.

Sang Jingyun had a good attitude and would read the letter to others after writing it. He was not like some scholars who would be disliked if they said a few more words when they paid them to write letters. After the letter was finished, they didn’t even know whether what was written in the letter was right or wrong.

"I need to write some more. Just help me write. I'll pay you when you're done." A middle-aged woman said this and then started babble about things at home and asked Sang Jingyun to write them all down.

The woman ran a tea shop near the county dock. She didn't make much, but she lived a comfortable life. Spending a few more coppers to write a letter to her son who was studying in another city was nothing to her.

Sang Jingyun was more than happy to receive this. This auntie was indeed a businesswoman and was very good at speaking. Sang Jingyun didn't even need to help her organize her words. He could just write down what she said. It was easy to make money this way.

The aunt said a lot and asked Sang Jingyun to write four pages of letter paper in one breath, with more than a thousand words. She also bought an envelope and asked Sang Jingyun to write the address.

After receiving the letter, she happily gave Sang Jingyun a silver coin: "Here's the money, no need to change."

"This is too much." Sang Jingyun said. This silver coin is probably worth twelve or thirteen copper coins.

The aunt said, "Not much. I used to ask someone to write letters for me, but they received more and were not willing to write according to my instructions. Besides, we are old acquaintances. When you were a child, your grandfather often held you in his arms and came to my shop to drink tea."

The aunt left after saying this.

Sang Jingyun watched her leave, knowing that she was doing this probably to help him.

In the afternoon, in addition to the letter from the aunt, Sang Jingyun also wrote ten letters. Sang Jingying wrote fewer letters, but only seven. The total amount was seventeen copper coins. Together with what he earned in the morning, the total amount was twenty-nine copper coins.

The letter from the auntie was enclosed in an envelope with four sheets of paper, and she had to give Manager Hong five copper coins. That day, they only earned a dime and twenty-four copper coins.

This was not a small amount of money. Sang Jingying's eyes lit up: "Sister, I won't take the enamel class exam. I'll help you write letters in the future."

Sang Jingyun didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You should take the enamel class. Maybe you can open an enamel factory in the future."

Learning the technique of making enamel is always useful. Of course, if Sang Jingying tries it and finds that he doesn't want to do it, she will find a way to help Sang Jingying find another job or send him to school.

As for ghostwriting letters, it has no future and is not a long-term solution. Even for her, she will have to find another way out after some time.

It was getting late, so Sang Jingyun said goodbye to Manager Hong and prepared to go home.

"Wait a moment." Shopkeeper Hong took out a stack of cut kraft paper and said, "We don't have enough envelopes in our shop. I'm planning to ask someone to help me paste the envelopes. Do you want to do this job?"

It's not a lot of money to paste 100 envelopes, but the price is reasonable because the envelopes are pre-cut and not difficult to paste.

Sang Jingyun gladly accepted the job and took enough paper to fill three hundred envelopes.

Although you can only earn three copper coins, a mosquito leg is still meat.

What's more, the purchasing power of copper coins at that time was still good. Three copper coins were enough for their family to eat pretty good dishes.

Sang Jingyun took Sang Jingying straight to the seafood store, spent a copper coin to buy a piece of salted fish, and spent another copper coin to buy a piece of dried kelp.

In the county town, an egg costs one copper coin, and a heavy piece of salted fish the size of a palm also costs one copper coin. In Sang Jingyun's opinion, buying salted fish is extremely cost-effective.

Kelp is also cheap. You can soak a piece of dried kelp to get a lot of it, enough to eat for many meals.

Sang Jingyun also wanted to buy some tofu. One copper coin could buy one and a half pounds of tofu, and soy products are nutritious.

But now the weather is hot and tofu is difficult to preserve, so tofu shops only sell tofu in the morning and you can't buy tofu in the afternoon.

On the way home, Sang Jingyun walked very fast, fearing that he would not be able to get home before dark. At the same time, he also discussed with Sang Jingying, asking him to only say that he had earned twenty copper coins today when reporting to his family: "Jingying, I'm afraid that Dad will know that we have earned a lot and will start thinking about buying opium again... Let's give the silver coins to grandma secretly and don't tell anyone else."

Sang Jingying thought it made sense and agreed.

(End of this chapter)