I wrote novels in the Republic of China

Nowadays, there are many writers who write letters for others.

After the abolition of the imperial examination system, many old scholars would engage in jobs such as copying books and writing letters for others in order to make a living.

But these people either set up stalls to help people write on market days or temple fairs, or they help people write at home. There are no special shops.

Temple fairs are not held every day, and many workers do not dare to visit them at home.

She is bold and proactive. If she wants to find a job, she dares to ask everywhere. But it is different for those who live at the bottom of society.

They are timid and afraid to go into well-decorated shops, and dare not ask the prices of expensive items.

Even if they wanted to write a letter home, some of them did not dare to go to the homes of those scholars.

Sang Jingyun lived in the countryside in her previous life. Many of the elders around her looked like this, with only her parents being different.

Her parents were able to become friends with anyone they met, and eventually, following the tide of the times, they built a huge business.

Now that she is helping people write letters, it is very important to clearly mark the price so that the workers will not even dare to ask the price, and she also needs to advertise it.

Once someone writes to her, word will spread and more and more people will come.

Sang Jingyun and Manager Hong wrote a sign that said "Write a letter for me, two copper coins" and agreed to come early the next morning. Then they took Sang Jingying to the nearby dock.

There were many boats parked near the pier. A little further away, crew members pulled the boats ashore, scraped off the moss and snails and shellfish attached to the hulls with iron sheets, and then used "putty" made by mixing tung oil and lime and hemp silk to plug the holes.

After the hole was blocked, a few layers of tung oil were applied on the outside and the boat was repaired.

It was still a bit hot, so the crew members were not wearing shirts and had their trousers tied with belts rolled up high.

If the original owner were here and saw this scene, he would definitely try to avoid it and would never get close.

But Sang Jingyun lived in the countryside in his previous life and had seen many men wearing only shorts in the summer, so he was very calm.

She walked forward and saw that the crew members became cautious after seeing the long gowns they were wearing.

They were tanned by the sun, with rough hands covered with calluses, and bare feet that were stuck in the mud, looking very honest.

Sang Jingyun reached out and pushed Sang Jingying.

Sang Jingying smiled and said, "Brothers, I am from Hongxing Paper Company in the county. We at Hongxing Paper Company now provide letter writing services. If you want to write a letter, you can come to us."

After saying that, Sang Jingying specifically repeated the address of the Hong Xing Paper Store twice, mainly to make people remember the street where the Hong Xing Paper Store was located.

After saying that, the two left together.

Only then did Sang Jingying breathe a sigh of relief.

He had never dealt with low-level workers before, and this was his first time actively advertising. He was somewhat uncomfortable and his face turned red.

But after saying it once, he felt smoother when he talked about it again.

Afterwards, the two went to the dock and advertised that Hongxing Paper could write letters for others. They also bought two sesame cakes for lunch near the dock.

The flour used for this sesame cake was not of good quality, it was grey and coarse, very hard to chew and a bit salty, but the ingredients were solid. Sang Jingyun could not eat more than half of it and gave the remaining half to Sang Jingying.

The little brat ate his father into poverty, but Sang Jingying ate one and a half pancakes easily.

It was almost mid-afternoon when Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying left the dock and prepared to go home.

Generally, nothing will happen if you walk around crowded places in broad daylight, but if you walk late at night when it gets dark, you are bound to be robbed.

She and Sang Jingying are very poor now, but for those who are even poorer, taking their clothes can be exchanged for two full meals.

Especially since she is a woman.

Sang Jingyun has always been cautious and unwilling to put himself in danger, so he naturally has to go back early.

On the way back, Sang Jingying asked, "Sister, why did you keep asking me to talk at the dock today?"

Sang Jingyun said: "First, it is to train you, and second...if I am too kind to them, I might get into trouble."

Sang Jingyun is not an extrovert and seldom takes the initiative to interact with others.

But she was used to handling things alone, and could talk to others when she really needed it.

When she and Sang Jingying went to look for a job together before, it was mainly her who came forward.

But the dock was full of men, so she didn't say anything. The lower-level workers were quite pitiful. Most of them were honest and didn't dare to cause trouble, and they didn't even dare to look her and Sang Jingying in the eye.

But not all people in this world are good.

If she went up to talk to people with a smile on her face like she did in the county town, she might be noticed by someone, and someone might even think she was interested in them and come to harass her.

Therefore, before at the dock, Sang Jingyun had never even taken off the straw hat on his head.

When the two returned home, they happened to meet Sang Jingxiong returning from school.

Seeing them, Sang Jingxiong asked curiously: "Sister, brother, what did you do when you went to the county town today?"

"We went to the county town to find work and walked all day without a break," said Sang Jingyun.

"What did you eat at noon in the county town? What did you eat?" Sang Jingxiong asked again.

Sang Jingyun said: "I ate a sesame seed cake at the dock."

"Shaobing? I want to eat it too." Sang Jingxiong swallowed his saliva.

Sang Jingyun said: "We bought the sesame cakes at the dock. They were sold to the workers at the dock. They were large and filling, but not very tasty."

Sang Jingxiong said: "Big sister, you are coaxing me! How can the sesame cake not be delicious?"

The sesame seed cakes that their family used to eat were all bought in the county town. They were made of white dough wrapped with lard, Shaoxing pickled mustard greens and sugar, rolled into a thin layer, sprinkled with black sesame seeds, and then baked on the wall of the oven. They tasted so delicious, with a flavor of pickled mustard greens and braised pork.

If you don’t like to add pickled mustard greens, you can also add chopped green onions, lard, salt and sugar. The sesame seed cake will also taste good.

But the sesame seed bun we ate today was not made with good flour, and there was no lard in it. However, there were a lot of pickles in the bun, probably because the people working at the dock sweat a lot and need salt, so the taste was very strong.

"The sesame cakes we eat are different from the ones we had before," said Sang Jingyun.

Sang Jingxiong snorted, not believing what Sang Jingyun said.

Seeing this, Sang Jingyun was too lazy to pay attention to him.

When they entered the room, Mrs. Sang Qian had already prepared the pumpkin porridge.

She originally wanted Sang Xuewen to cook, but Sang Xuewen's opium addiction came back and she locked him up.

Seeing her grandchildren coming back, Sang Qian smiled.

After Sang Yuanshan passed away, she felt that she couldn't live like this anymore and didn't know what the future would be like.

But these days, Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying were looking for jobs everywhere, Lu Ying was doing needlework to earn money, and Sang Xuewen was locked up at home again... She felt that she had hope in life again, and if she didn't have to take care of Sang Xuewen, she would have wanted to rent two acres of land to farm.

Before she married Sang Yuanshan, she was a good farmer.

"Ayun, are you not tired today?" Sang Qian was concerned about Sang Jingyun.

After a trip to the county town, Sang Jingyun felt pain all over and had blisters on his feet. It took him two days of rest before he felt better. She was afraid that Sang Jingyun would be tired again.

Sang Jingyun was naturally tired, and her feet were also very painful. She did not hide her physical condition: "Tired, when I came back, I wanted Jingying to carry me... Grandma, I found a job writing letters for others today. Maybe I won't make much money, but at least I have some income."

When Sang Qian asked about it, Sang Jingyun explained in detail.

"Writing letters in a paper shop is not bad." Sang Qian thought this job was okay.

On their side, some wealthy families with a scholarly background were very strict with their daughters, but business families like them, or ordinary people in the countryside, did not think it was a sin for women to show their faces in public. When Sang Qian was young, she was in charge of both the home and outside.

Now that Sang Jingyun has found a job, she is only happy. On the contrary, Sang Jingxiong curls his lips and looks down on Sang Jingyun's job.

But he soon stopped caring about this and started complaining about dinner: "Why is it pumpkin porridge again?"

Sang Jingxiong couldn't stand eating this every day.

"If you don't like it, don't eat it." Sang Qian said, not intending to spoil her grandson.

She felt that Sang Xuewen had become what he is today because he was spoiled, so she had already made up her mind not to spoil the younger generation anymore.

Sang Jingxiong could only drink the porridge in a depressed mood.

(End of this chapter)