Literary Heroes of the Republic of China

It is very easy to hire people these days. To hire a helper, you only need to pay four or five yuan a month, and you can name it as an apprentice.

In Shanghai, there are many people who cannot find work.

But there is still a shortage of people, people who understand a craft, and people who can read and count.

In the past few years, the biggest problem Huo Ying encountered in trying to grow his business was the lack of manpower.

"It will take a long time for those orphans to grow up." Fu Yun'an said: "Ten years later... who knows what will happen?"

"That's true, the world is changing too fast." Huo Ying said, just ten years ago... At that time, who would have thought that the Qing Dynasty would disappear if it said nothing?

"What's more, these days it's not just those orphans who are suffering. There are many people who have both parents but can't afford enough to eat...Second brother, why don't you let shopkeeper Wu go to those county towns that have been hit by disasters or in bad times? When recruiting workers, it is specified that young people are required, and when they come to Shanghai, they will be trained separately depending on the situation." Fu Yun'an said.

They have bought back a lot of machines and will soon open a factory.

Shanghai is expensive and wages are high, and the cost of recruiting local workers is very high. If you go to other places to recruit workers...you can make two sets of clothes for a year with food and housing included, and you can get two oceans a month. There are countless people fighting for it. I'm rushing to come.

Even when some human traffickers go to poor places, they can buy a woman for ten oceans. Many of the women in Shanghai's dusty places come here.

Fu Yun'an felt that they could also recruit workers in the same way, but after recruiting people, they could arrange less work for them every day, and then find someone to teach them to read and write. If they meet talented people at that time, they can naturally choose Come out and focus on training.

These people are unfamiliar in Shanghai, and it is easier to raise them.

"Just do it like this." Huo Ying responded directly: "I will ask Lao Wu to recruit some people back."

After the two discussed it, Fu Yun'an returned to his residence through the secret passage.

He looked up, and the lights in Fu Huai'an's room were still on.

Before, he was worried that Fu Huai'an would be tricked into bad habits outside, so he made a rule for him to go home at night.

At that time Fu Huai'an was full of reluctance, but now he goes home early every day and doesn't stay outside anymore.

Fu Yun'an returned to the room, while Fu Huai'an, he was still staring at the "Andersen's Fairy Tales", studying how to translate the stories in it.

The Educational Monthly was sold out on the first day it came out, but fortunately, in these two days, reprints followed suit.

This publication sold very well, not only in Shanghai, but also in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and other places.

And this grand event undoubtedly inspired him.

As long as he thinks that tens of thousands of people have read the novel he translated, Fu Huai'an will feel excited.

His father respected learned people the most, and now...he is a learned man too!

Teacher Mu also said that when he translates the whole book, he can publish it!

Because of this, every day when he returns home, he studies English seriously with the teacher his second brother found for him. After learning, he will also do some translation.

He had nothing else to do anyway.

"Wandering" only published [-] words in two days, and there is nothing interesting about other books... By the way, Hope Monthly seems to be on the market soon!

Fu Huai'an thought about it for a while, then buried himself in his studies again.

the next day.

Mu Qiong went to the suburban house early in the morning.

When he arrived, those children were all waiting for him, and none of them was missing. As for Wu Ma, she had already made the porridge, and in the porridge, according to Mu Qiong's request, put small-cut rice cakes.

Mu Qiong distributed the porridge to these children, and gave each of them a piece of marinated salmon fish. As for the pickles, they could eat as much as they wanted.

"Sir, our pasted envelopes can't be sold for much, right? How can you feed us well?" Street Lamp came to Mu Qiong with rice cakes and porridge.

Mu Qiong went out early and didn't eat at home. Now he was also holding a bowl of rice cake porridge, and the dishes he ate were also pickled fish and pickled vegetables.

When he first crossed over, he ate a lot of salted fish, and he was tired of eating it. Later, if he didn't want to eat this food again, Zhu Wanwan would not buy it.

Now that he ate pickled fish again, Mu Qiong realized that he didn't hate the pickled fish so much, and even thought it was delicious.

This is salted fish made of salmon.

"Do you know why Miss Li took you in?" Mu Qiong asked.

Street Lamp grinned: "Miss Li is kind-hearted, she sympathizes with us."

"Me too." Mu Qiong said: "I sympathize with you and hope that you will be useful people in the future, so I will give you good food."

There are many people in this world who don't eat cheap food, but these children are definitely not included in these people, so Mu Qiong said it openly.

Street Lamp looked at Mu Qiong for a while, then asked again: "What is a useful person?"

"Those who don't do illegal and criminal things and work hard are all useful people." Mu Qiong said, "Hurry up and eat, I still have something to tell you after eating."

The rice cake porridge was already cold, and the street lamp picked up a large chopsticks of pickled vegetables and mixed it in. He ate all the porridge in three or two bites, and then stuffed the salted fish into his mouth to hold it.

These children had already eaten, and Mu Qiong asked them to sit down, then took ten chopsticks, and began to teach them how to count.

Yes, most of these children can't even count.

"In the future, when you paste envelopes, you must learn to count and count how much you paste." Mu Qiong said, and then taught them to count from 1 to 10.

After he taught it several times, Ludeng Hong Xiaohua and two other children could already count, but there were still many children who were so dazed that they couldn't learn at all.

These children have no problem with their IQ, but they have never been educated before, and they are very slow to learn.

Mu Qiong asked a few children who had already learned to paste the envelope first, and continued to teach the rest of the children.

After teaching for an hour, he asked all these children to paste the envelopes, and then walked out the door.

"Sir!" Street Lamp suddenly caught up, with the piece of salted fish still in his mouth, his words were a bit vague: "Sir, where are you going?"

"I'm going to buy meat." Mu Qiong didn't hide it from him.

"Sir, you went to buy meat for a long time yesterday, where did you buy it?" Lu Deng asked.

Moo-joon says the name of a butcher shop.

The street lamp said: "Sir, you can buy meat at the pig slaughtering market next door. It is much cheaper to buy meat there than to go to the butcher shop... Sir, I will take you there!"

"You don't paste the envelope anymore?" Mu Qiong asked.

Lu Deng's expression froze, and he said, "I'm going to mess with it now!"

After speaking, he ran away.

The reason why the rent of this house is cheap is because there is a cesspool and a pig slaughterhouse near the house.

Mu Qiong had never been there before, and now he heard the street lamp talking about it, so he went there.

Fortunately, the cesspool is farther away, and the pig slaughterhouse is closer... When Mu Qiong entered the pig slaughterhouse, he heard the ear-piercing cry of pigs.

Some strong men are pressing the pig horizontally on the bench, and there is a wooden bucket for pig blood beside the stool, and they are slaughtering the pig. Some people are shaving the dead pig soaked in hot water, and some people are shaving the pig. Disembowel, or wash pig intestines or something.

Most of the pork consumed in Shanghai every day comes from here.

The smell in the pig slaughterhouse is very bad, the ground is full of blood and wet - after the pigs are shaved, they will randomly pour the water mixed with pig hair and manure on the ground, and then put the next pig Throw the pig into the tank, pour hot water to soften the pig hair...

Mu Qiong had never seen a pig slaughtered before, so he saw it clearly.

And those slaughtered pigs are sold in a nearby shed.

This is a place where pigs are slaughtered, and the meat is indeed sold much cheaper than outside, but it is not retail.

After the pig is killed, they first cut it in half along the spine, and then divide each half into three parts: the front leg, the ribs, and the hind leg. When buying meat here, at least such a part is required.

Of course, if you buy a whole pig, the price can be even cheaper.

Mu Qiong bought a pig hind leg.

At this time, the pigs had no feed, and most of them ate pig grass and sweet potato leftovers. They did not grow meat, and their gross weight was only a hundred catties a year. It's just right to come out more than ten catties.

After finding out that pig blood was still sold here, Mu Qiong bought some blood tofu.

When slaughtering a pig, put the pig's blood into a wooden barrel, then pour salt and water on it, and cook it in a pot after it condenses, and then it becomes blood tofu. Mu Qiong has never eaten this kind of blood tofu. know the taste.But he thought it would be good to give those children something to eat, at least it would replenish blood.

When he went out, he only carried a basket, which couldn't hold so many things. Fortunately, there was a delivery person nearby. He spent three copper dollars, and the person helped him deliver the pig legs and blood to the house. .

"Aren't there unwanted children living in this house? Why do you still buy meat?" The man delivered the things, a little puzzled.

"Those children are working for me now." Mu Qiong said: "I don't pay wages, so I won't treat them badly when it comes to food."

"Sir, do you still need someone to work?" The man asked immediately, looking at Mu Qiong expectantly.

Mu Qiong was taken aback for a moment, and then said: "Those children are not doing easy work."

"It's not easy...then forget it." The man hesitated, and said again: "Oh! My two boys are idle at home all day now and have nothing to do. I just want to find some work for them."

"How old is your child?" Mu Qiong asked.

"One is twelve, and the other is ten years old." The man laughed.

Mu Qiong is used to the real age, and usually says the age is the real age, but he knows that this father is talking about the false age.

His child is probably only 11 years old or nine years old, or even younger.

In his opinion, he should live a carefree life at this age, but for people at this time... "This age is really not young, you can find an apprentice job for them to do."

"It's hard to find jobs, and I don't know where to find them..." The man said, "If it's not possible, let them follow me to deliver goods first."

Mu Qiong didn't answer, and called Wu Ma to come out with a washbasin, took the pig's blood, and let him go back.

After he went to the free clinic with Fu Yun'an, he already knew that many people in this world had a very difficult life.

He can't help everyone.

At noon, Mu Qiong asked Mama Wu to make white rice and tofu soup with minced pork blood.

He didn't like the smell of pig's blood, but these children ate it with relish.

People who are used to starvation are not picky eaters.

Excluding the street lamps, after Mu Qiong checked the envelopes that were pasted by the rest of the children, he gave each of those children who did more and did well a piece of candy.

The street lamp was very greedy: "Sir, is there any more sugar tomorrow?"

"Yes." Mu Qiong said, and then checked the envelope made of street lamps.

There are not so many envelopes pasted by street lamps, about the top seven or eight, but the quality is quite good, and Mu Qiong is quite satisfied: "Your envelopes are very well made."

Lu Deng suddenly became proud: "Mr. taught me well!"

Mu Qiong's impression of the street lamp has improved a lot, but he still followed what he said yesterday and did not reward the street lamp.

After eating, Mu Qiong left the house.When I left, I also took away the trotters and some pork.

When we arrived at Ping'an Middle School, we put the trotters and pork in the kitchen, and Mu Qiong went to teach the students non-stop.

After two classes, he called the English class representatives of each class to the office, and then arranged some tasks for them, asking them to watch the students in the class to learn English.

If the contents of the next two issues of the Educational Monthly hadn't been almost finalized, and there were still some drafts of "Wandering" and "I'm in a Hundred Years Later", Mu Qiong felt that he might be tired and collapsed.

Just as he was thinking about "I'm in a Hundred Years Later", Mu Qiong heard Sheng Chaohui say: "Mu Qiong, I hope the monthly newspaper has a new issue, I'll buy you a copy!"

With that said, Sheng Chaohui put a magazine in front of Mu Qiong.

"Thank you, I'll give you the money." Mu Qiong said.

"No, I'm not short of money now!" Sheng Chaohui said: "If it weren't for you, there would definitely not be the current educational monthly, and I wouldn't be able to make so much money. Why do you care about these few cents with me?"

When Mu Qiong heard this, he didn't insist on giving the money.

Sheng Chaohui said again: "By the way, are you short of money to open that orphanage? I can donate some."

"No need, there is no shortage of money, what is lacking is people." Mu Qiong said, and asked about the monthly education magazine.

Sheng Chaohui said: "Our editorial department, Dr. Fu, is already under construction, and it will be completed soon. It won't be long before we can move in and recruit people. My mother's natal family has a cousin, although he can't read well. , but he is very good at dealing with people. I plan to let him help with various chores. As for the scribe, I hired an old gentleman who used to copy books for people. The old gentleman used to copy ancient books for people. What? The characters can be written, and the words are written extremely neatly."

Many ancient books at this time will not be republished, and if someone wants them, they will have to be copied, so that with the business of copying books, many bookstores will also support some copyists.

This old gentleman was one of them.

He used to copy books for bookstores. Sometimes he had a lot of work, and he had to do it day and night, and sometimes he had no work, which was very unstable. His old man couldn't stand it when he was getting old, so he stopped doing that. Come on. Sheng Chaohui found a job here.

Sheng Chaohui was in charge of all these matters, so Mu Qiong didn't ask any further questions, seeing that the time was almost up, he rushed to the house in the suburbs.

Mu Qiong was very busy and didn't have time to read the Hope Monthly, so he didn't know that this publication was selling very well today as before.

At the same time, his monthly education magazine was taken to Beijing by Cai Songshan, a newspaper vendor who had a good relationship with Sheng Chaohui.

Prices in Beijing are far lower than in Shanghai.

This is the capital city. Since ancient times, many channels for sending food and vegetables from other places have been built. In recent years, many people have been lost. The prices of rice and vegetables are cheaper than in Shanghai.

Of course, in contrast, everyone's income is lower than that of Shanghai.

In Shanghai, the monthly salary of shopkeepers ranges from seven or eight yuan to as much as ten yuan and 11 yuan, but in Beijing, many shopkeepers only have five or six yuan a month.

Helper buddies and the like earn even less.

But there are also some things that are more expensive here than in Shanghai, such as various imported things.

Pens that sell for two or three yuan in Shanghai cost at least three times as much in Beijing.

A train from the south slowly entered Beijing Railway Station. As soon as the door opened, those tired people who had sat in the car for three days and three nights got off the train.

Some porters hurried over to ask if anyone was looking for a laborer.

Cai Songshan got off the car and immediately called a few laborers to help him carry the books on the train.

When he came to Beijing this time, he brought thousands of copies of Educational Monthly and Hope Monthly, and these books were directly taken to a bookstore by a cart.

He came to Beijing to discuss business, and he planned to sell these two publications to Beijing.

Of course, if this matter is to be done well, it is necessary to find a partner.

When we arrived at the bookstore, the bookstore clerk came out immediately. Seeing Cai Songshan's posture, he asked, "Sir, are you here to sell books?"

"Yes, call out your shopkeeper." Cai Songshan said.

Cai Songshan spoke with a foreign accent. The guy looked at him puzzled, then looked at the paper-wrapped books pulled by the cart behind him, and finally went to the shopkeeper.

The bookstore is very large, with a circle of bookshelves around it, and four Eight Immortals tables in the middle. At the moment, there are people reading on each table.

Cai Songshan was ushered to one of the tables by another guy, who served him tea.

He took a sip of his tea and yawned again.

He didn't sleep well on the train, he was really tired.

"Are you here to sell books? What books did you bring?" A young man wearing glasses who sat at the same table with Cai Songshan asked, and then reported many titles one after another: "Do you have any of these books?"

Cai Songshan had never heard of most of the books he reported, but he also knew that they should be ancient books that had not been republished for a long time.

Most of the literati in this world love books and collect books. Unfortunately, sometimes when they meet unworthy descendants, or their families are ruined, those books will be sold at low prices... There are many such things in Beijing.

"What I sell are not old books, but new books shipped from Shanghai."

"Do you have "Essays in English"?" the man asked again.

Cai Songshan was a little surprised. This person wanted to ask him to buy ancient books just now, but now he wants to buy "Essays in English"?

"I didn't bring this book... isn't it not selling as well as "Seeking a Doctor" and "Studying Abroad?" Cai Songshan asked.

"That was before, there's nowhere to buy this book these days!" said the man wearing glasses.

The person next to him also said: "Indeed! Since Mr. Liu wrote the article "Learning English after Pentecost", the book has been sold out!"

Cai Songshan quickly asked, and only then did he know that not long ago, the well-known Mr. Liu Yicheng, Mr. Liu, wrote an article.

This article talks about his process of learning English—Mr. Liu, he learned English in a month!

Of course, Mr. Liu wrote such an article mainly to expound a point of view, that is, Chinese people should learn more and look at the world.

This article is very well written and very moving, and Mr. Liu said that he was able to learn English in a short period of time thanks to the book "English Essays".

This is equivalent to advertising "English Essays"!After this article was published in the newspaper, this book, which didn't sell well at first, suddenly became popular!

And because it is not expensive, a book only costs [-] cents, which attracts people from Beijing and Tianjin to rush to buy it. Anyone who is learning English will buy a copy!

Not many of these books were sent to the north, but with all the fuss now...there was nowhere to buy them.

"It's not "English Essays" that I brought here, but there is a magazine in which Lou Yuyu, the author of "English Essays", is the editor-in-chief. This magazine sells very well in Shanghai..."

"The magazine that Lou Yuyu is the editor-in-chief of?" The man wearing glasses immediately said, "Hurry up and show me!"