I wrote novels in the Republic of China

Sang Jingyun traveled here at the beginning of August in the lunar calendar. Today is August 14th, and it is also the fourth day that she has been helping people write letters in the county.

Because tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival, there are obviously more people coming and going on the street today, and even more people come to Sang Jingyun to write letters.

Sang Jingyun, Sang Jingying and Hong Xu were extremely busy.

Sang Jingying originally wanted to inquire about the enamel class, but he had no connections. Fortunately, after Manager Hong learned about it, he agreed to help him ask.

In this way, Sang Jingying could write letters in the paper shop with peace of mind.

Sang Jingyun wrote ten letters in a row and felt his hands aching badly. The blisters at the corners of his mouth seemed to have grown bigger.

She stood up, took a bowl and asked Manager Hong for some water.

She has been writing letters every day these days and is really tired.

If she was so tired in her previous life, she would have put down the keyboard and stopped writing long ago. After all, she was not short of money at that time.

But now she has nothing and can only hold on.

Shopkeeper Hong drank black tea and brewed a large pot of it. Tea was not cheap these days, so what he drank was not some fine tea, but just ordinary black tea with leaves and tea stems mixed together, so strong that it tasted bitter.

Sang Jingyun poured half a bowl of tea and some cold water from the kettle next to him. He drank it slowly and felt better after finishing it.

After drinking the water, she was about to write some more when she saw an old man wearing a half-new long gown and a melon-shaped hat coming in from outside and looking at her critically.

Shopkeeper Hong greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Li, you are here? What do you want to buy?"

Li Xiucai snorted coldly, raised his chin and pointed his sparse long beard at Shopkeeper Hong who was sitting behind the counter: "Shopkeeper Hong, I thought you were a polite person, but I didn't expect you to be so absurd as to let a woman show up in public to solicit business for you! Your shop should be a noble place, but now it is a mess!"

After he finished scolding Shopkeeper Hong, he looked at Sang Jingyun again: "The upbringing of the Sang family is truly amazing! Who taught you to wear a long gown and mingle in the market? Who would dare to marry a woman like you? The world is really going downhill, and people's hearts are no longer the same as before!"

Sang Jingyun knew that people at that time were still very conservative and those beautiful cheongsams would not appear until more than ten years later.

However, the county town of Shanghai was adjacent to the concession, and the nearby Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou area had a very good silk business in the late Qing Dynasty, and needed women to raise silkworms and reel silk.

Therefore, it is not that women cannot go out to work here. Many small shops on this street are opened by couples, and sometimes the wife of the proprietress is the main person in charge.

There were even schools for girls in the city.

Although it was difficult for her as a woman to find a decent job in the county town, she would not be criticized for helping people write letters in the shop.

Sang Jingyun said: "The Qing Dynasty has fallen, are you still thinking about the old ways?"

After that, she asked Shopkeeper Hong: "Shopkeeper Hong, what does this old man do?"

Shopkeeper Hong said, "Li Xiucai lives nearby. He teaches the Wang family's children and helps people write letters and couplets."

Sang Jingyun knew from the beginning that her behavior must have harmed Li Xiucai's interests, so Li Xiucai came to her door. She was not polite and said directly: "Old sir, you have been robbed of your business, and you use big principles to pressure me and bully a little girl like me. Isn't it too much? I don't steal or rob, I make a living by my own ability, what's wrong with that? Since you know my identity, you should know that my Sang family is not in a good situation. I shouldn't show my face in public. Should I starve to death at home?"

Sang Jingyun had a lot of things to say to offend him, but when he thought about the fact that Li Xiucai knew Manager Hong and lived nearby, he was afraid that the situation would be too awkward, so he restrained himself.

Thinking of this, Sang Jingyun looked aggrieved again - people will always sympathize with the weak, and being sympathized by others is better than being guarded against and hated by others.

She was thin and pale, and looked so pitiful that people around her couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.

Just as Sang Jingyun said, if she didn't go out to make money, would she starve to death at home?

If this is the case, then the female workers and maids in Shanghai will have no need to live?

Some people who knew the old scholar even told the people who were waiting in line for Sang Jingyun to write letters about Li Xiucai: "Li Xiucai charges at least five copper coins for writing letters for people, and sometimes he even extorts money."

Seeing that Sang Jingyun was being bullied, Sang Jingying also stood in front of Sang Jingyun and glared at Li Xiucai.

Shopkeeper Hong tried to smooth things over at the right time: "Mr. Li, you have to give these kids a chance to survive."

When Li Xiucai saw this, his expression changed again and again.

He came to see Sang Jingyun because he was really angry that Sang Jingyun had taken away his business.

In the late Qing Dynasty, he made money by running a private school.

But since primary schools were opened one after another, he could no longer run his private school. Fortunately, some wealthy families would still hire teachers to teach their children. So he got a job in the Wang family and taught Chinese to seven or eight children of the family.

The Wang family gave him eight silver dollars every month, which was enough for him to support his family, but Li Xiucai, like Sang Xuewen, loved to smoke opium.

His children had grown up and no longer needed his support, and they also gave him some money for his retirement. But even so, eight silver dollars were not enough for him to spend, so he had to write letters for others to supplement the income.

Normally, when he helped people write letters, he would charge at least five or six copper coins. If the person asking him to write a letter wanted to write a lot, or if he was short of money, he would charge a dime.

The salary from the Wang family plus the extra money he earned from writing letters could bring him more than ten yuan a month.

This money allows him to get up early, lie on the couch, smoke some cigarettes, ask his wife to fry some eggs and shredded pork, drink a few cups of wine, and live a happy life.

But in the past few days, no one has written to him!

When he learned that it was Sang Jingyun who stole his business, he came here.

He thought that Sang Jingyun, an unmarried girl, must be very thin-skinned, and she would run away crying if he scolded her in public. However, he never expected that the girl was so sharp-tongued and did not take him seriously.

Even the peasants outside were pointing fingers at him.

Li Xiucai knew that he could not take advantage of the situation, so he became angry and said: "I gave you some advice, but you insisted on making up your mind and making trouble. It's hard to raise a villain and a woman!"

After saying that, he walked away.

Seeing the people leave, Sang Jingying turned around and looked at Sang Jingyun: "Sister, are you okay? That old man is too much!"

"I'm fine," Sang Jingyun smiled at Sang Jingying, "Don't be angry."

The old scholar's incident would only damage his own reputation and would not affect Sang Jingyun, so Sang Jingyuan did not take it seriously.

She sat back in her seat and continued to help people write letters.

Then I heard the young man who came to write the letter say, "Young lady, you are a good person."

"Thank you." Sang Jingyun smiled at the other party.

Not far away, three children were standing in a corner and happened to see this scene.

One of the children said to the shortest child, "Sang Jingxiong, that's your sister? Is your family so poor? Do you want your sister to come out and write letters to earn money?"

Another child asked, "Sang Jingxiong, your family is on the verge of starvation, why are you still spending money? Why are you still coming to school?"

"Sang Jingxiong, what the old gentleman said is very right. Your sister smiles at those rough people. Who would be willing to marry her in the future?"

"Alas, your sister's reputation is ruined!"

……

At that time, primary schools studied from Monday to Saturday and had holidays on Sundays. Of course, some schools had their own system and students could decide when to have holidays.

Yesterday was Sunday, and Sang Jingxiong's school should have been on holiday. However, because Tuesday was Mid-Autumn Festival, the school moved the Sunday holiday to Monday. This way, students could have two days off on Monday and Tuesday and have a good holiday.

Before the holiday, Sang Jingxiong made an appointment with his classmates to go to the county town to play together. Today, not long after his elder sister and second brother went out, he came to the county town with his classmates.

Before going out, Sang Jingxiong asked for a silver coin from Sang Qianshi on the pretext of buying paper and pen. The first thing he did when he arrived in the county town was to buy a meat bun.

Afterwards, they wandered around and came to the vicinity of Hongxing Paper Shop, where they saw Li Xiucai blaming Sang Jingyun.

The Sang family was wealthy, so Sang Jingxiong saw a lot of rare things when he was a child, and he went to the concession to play with them many times.

After his family fell into poverty, he went to the worst primary school in the county. He felt upset and was afraid that others would look down on him, so he kept talking about his past "glory".

Today he talks about how delicious the Western food in the concession is, and tomorrow he talks about how sweet foreign snacks are, and his words are full of boasting.

Although his classmates played with him, they were somewhat dissatisfied with him in their hearts.

Now that they have the chance, they start to ridicule him.

Of course, they said this not just to ridicule Sang Jingxiong.

The tuition fee of their primary school is low, and the teachers they hire are not very good. The one who teaches them Chinese is an old-fashioned scholar. On weekdays, the teacher is always nostalgic for the past, saying that the present is not good in this or that way. He even sneers at the current women's liberation movement.

They heard the teacher talk about this every day, so naturally they looked down on Sang Jingyun's behavior.

Sang Jingxiong was so angry that his eyes turned red. He rushed towards one of them and was about to hit him.

Sang Yuanshan has always been very concerned about the education of his grandchildren. Even for his granddaughter Sang Jingyun, he invited a teacher to teach her how to read and write, and he also personally taught her how to use an abacus to do accounting.

Not to mention the two grandsons, both Sang Jingying and Sang Jingxiong, both started school early.

Sang Jingying graduated from elementary school at the age of thirteen, which seemed a little late compared to Hong Xu, but early compared to others.

Many of his classmates who graduated with him are already seventeen or eighteen years old.

Sang Jingxiong is ten years old this year. After transferring to his current school, he skipped a grade and went to the sixth grade. Most of his classmates are older than him. The people who came to the county town to play with him today are all a head taller than him.

How could Sang Jingxiong, who was only slightly taller than Hong Xu, beat two people older than him? He was beaten up by the two men.

Fortunately, both of them were scholars and had never fought before. They only knew some fancy moves, so they didn't hit hard.

After beating Sang Jingxiong, the two men were a little scared and ran away together, leaving Sang Jingxiong, who was beaten, standing there, feeling extremely aggrieved.

He stood there for a while, then looked over to the paper shop, and then saw Sang Jingyun and others having lunch.

His older sister and younger brother were sitting together with a child about his age, eating meat!

Sang Jingxiong was so angry that he was speechless. There was nothing in his family. He could only eat salted fish with his meal. What about his sister and brother? They actually had meat for lunch!

They received help from the Hong family, but they only cared about their own enjoyment and completely ignored their family members!
Sang Jingxiong was furious. He glared fiercely at the Hongxing Paper Bank not far away, then turned around and walked home.

On the way, he felt more and more aggrieved and kept wiping away tears.

Sang Jingxiong was very sad, but Hong Xu's second sister from the Hong family was very happy.

She is very interested in drawing picture books. She drew two pages last night and nine pages this morning.

She didn't think about making a good book, she just wanted to finish it quickly, so she drew very quickly. She thought that she would be able to finish the book tomorrow. Then, she would ask her grandfather to bind the book and show it to her uncle.

Manager Hong has two sons and three daughters. All three daughters are married, and the eldest son is Hong Xu's father.

His youngest son is called Hong Yongxiang. He is 25 years old and unmarried. He works as a reporter for a newspaper in the concession.

Mr. and Mrs. Hong are very dissatisfied with their youngest son who has never married. However, Hong Xu and his siblings like this little uncle very much because every time he comes back, he will bring them all kinds of new things.

Hong Erjie was absorbed in painting, completely forgetting herself.

After finishing work that day, Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying went to the pastry shop where Sang Jingying had helped to paste the mooncake boxes before.

Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival, and Sang Jingyun plans to buy a few mooncakes to take back.

Dim sum shops don’t sell mooncakes on weekdays, but they start selling mooncakes in August.

Today, there are especially many people coming to buy mooncakes, and by tomorrow morning, there will probably be a long queue.

There were no preservatives, no vacuum packaging, and no refrigerators back then. The weather in Shanghai was still hot, so the mooncakes you bought home could only be kept for two days at most. Any longer and they would easily go bad.

Therefore, many people only buy mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This dim sum shop sells two kinds of mooncakes, one with red bean paste filling and the other with fresh meat filling.

There are seven people in the family. Sang Jingyun thought about it and bought four fresh meat mooncakes and four red bean paste mooncakes.

After you get home and cut it open, everyone can eat half of the one with red bean paste filling and half of the one with meat filling, and the rest can be cut open and shared.

Red bean paste mooncakes are made with lard, and fresh meat mooncakes are made with pork, so the price of mooncakes is not cheap, one mooncake costs three copper coins.

Eight mooncakes cost twenty-four copper coins, so Sang Jingying had worked for nothing that day.

But since it's a rare holiday, it's okay to be a little extravagant.

They put the mooncakes in a backpack and walked home.

They had a good lunch, but after the afternoon, Sang Jingying was already hungry.

He kept sniffing the mooncakes and muttered, "This mooncake is best eaten while it's hot. The meat mooncakes are fresh out of the pan and they sizzle with oil when you take a bite."

Sang Jingyun was already greedy for the mooncakes he had said: "When we get home, we'll share the meat mooncakes, and we'll eat the red bean paste mooncakes tomorrow."

"Okay." Sang Jingying's pace quickened unconsciously.

Sang Jingyun quickly called out to him and asked him to slow down.

She was very tired today, the ulcer at the corner of her mouth was a little bigger, and she couldn't walk.

The two were in a good mood when they got home, and Sang Jingyun said as soon as he entered the door: "Grandma, we bought mooncakes! Let's all come and eat mooncakes."

However, just as she finished her words, Sang Jingxiong rushed out from the side and bumped into her head: "I don't want to eat the mooncakes you bought! You are shameless and you eat them alone."

Sang Jingyun was knocked back and almost fell. The joy in his heart was shattered and he looked at Sang Jingxiong with a frown.

"Jingxiong, what are you doing? How dare you scold your sister!" Sang Qian rushed over and patted Sang Jingxiong on the shoulder: "You almost hit your sister!"

Sang Jingxiong looked at Sang Qian fiercely: "So what if I scolded her? She is embarrassing our family out there! She and my second brother are eating alone, and they are eating lavish meals at the Hong family every day without caring about us!"

Sang Qian said angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about? The Hong family invited me to dinner, how can I eat alone?"

After saying that, Sang Qian looked at her granddaughter apologetically: "Jingyun, don't pay attention to him!"

Sang Jingxiong started making noise again, and Sang Jingyun probably understood the reason.

Sang Jingxiong went to the county town to play today. He saw them having dinner with Shopkeeper Hong and felt that they were eating alone.

As for saying that she is shameful, although Sang Jingxiong is young, his head is full of feudal ideas. He lacks education!
These days, Sang Jingxiong complained about this and that and made several noises.

He was young and Sang Jingyun was too busy to take care of him, so he just ignored him.

But today, she was really angry.

She and Sang Jingying worked hard outside to earn money. They had to write about six or seven thousand traditional Chinese characters by hand every day. Their hands were almost broken from writing, and they would still be complained about when they came back!
Sang Jingxiong is young, but Sang Jingying is not much older!
"Okay, you said we should eat alone, so we will eat it! Don't eat the mooncakes we bought! Don't eat the salted fish we bought!" Sang Jingyun said with a cold face.

They had lunch with Shopkeeper Hong at noon, and the food was indeed good, but not particularly great.

There was no large-scale farming in those days, so the price of meat was very expensive. Although the Hong family was rich, they could not eat as much as they wanted.

The dishes brought by the servants of the Hong family basically had pork cooked with bean curd sheets, dried tofu, fried tofu and the like. It looked like a full bowl, but there was only half a bowl of meat at most.

Shopkeeper Hong Xu and his friends also wanted to eat this meat. She and Sang Jingying were guests, so how could they afford to eat more? They basically only ate one piece of meat at a meal, and at most they would eat another piece under Shopkeeper Hong's persuasion.

They eat a lot of salted fish, after all, salted fish is cheap.

As for taking him home, that's definitely not possible. They can't let Manager Hong support their entire family.

"If you don't want to eat it, then don't eat it. I don't want the mooncakes you bought with your smile!" Seeing that no one in the family stood on his side, Sang Jingxiong ran upstairs crying.

Sang Jingyun sneered and looked at Sang Jingying: "Aying, go talk to him and find out what's going on."

Sang Jingying agreed and chased after him.

When the two of them were out of sight, Sang Jingyun looked at Sang Qianshi: "Grandma, I work so hard to earn money, but he still despises me! This child has to be taught! I don't want to give him the mooncakes today."

"No, we won't give it to you. Ayun, don't be angry. You might get sick from being angry... You have blisters on the corners of your mouth." Sang Qian looked at Sang Jingyun with concern.

She has been very busy these days. In addition to watching Sang Xuewen do his work, she also has to help Lu Ying with needlework.

She was also angry because Sang Jingxiong was disobedient.

Lu Ying also said: "Ayun, you are not in good health. If you are tired, then take a rest for two days."

Upon hearing this, Sang Xuewen nodded repeatedly.

Sang Jingyun is not the kind of person who would keep silent when suffering. These days, she would talk about the hardships she and Sang Jingying have experienced every day.
Although Sang Jingxiong didn't take it seriously, other people in the family still felt sorry for them.

Seeing this, Sang Jingyun said, "He keeps saying that he wants to eat alone... Manager Hong invited us to dinner, we can't eat and take at the same time, and we don't dare to eat too much. Ah Ying only eats a piece of salted fish and then eats a big bowl of rice..."

"Jingxiong, this child needs to be taught a lesson. He can't go on like this!" said Sang Qian.

Sang Jingyun nodded in agreement.

This kid Sang Jingxiong deserves a beating!
He must have eaten too much and done too little. Tomorrow, she would take him to the county town and ask him to write a letter!

(End of this chapter)