vstars Chapter 231 Being Cheated
Chapter 231 Being Cheated
The man was somewhat surprised. He looked the woman up and down in disbelief. "You haven't been tricked, have you?"
"Absolutely not! That woman seemed so honest and straightforward; she would never lie to me!"
The woman reacted strongly, insisting on going no matter what. Fearing she would be deceived, the man packed up his stall early and took the woman to the entrance of the bookstore she had mentioned earlier.
The man was illiterate, so he could only inquire around the neighborhood and found that it was indeed as the woman had said: this family was indeed recruiting women, and if they were able to successfully start working, they would earn two taels of silver a month!
The man's eyes lit up, and he quickly took the woman back to his home.
The next morning, not long after Gao Lianzhu's bookstore opened, many people came to buy books. She was standing in front of the counter when the woman from the previous day also arrived early in the morning, carrying a bundle on her back.
Seeing that the bookstore was doing well, she didn't rush to talk to Gao Lianzhu, but instead stood silently outside the bookstore and waited.
After a while, Gao Lianzhu came out of the bookstore.
Unexpectedly, upon stepping outside, I not only encountered this woman, but also two timid little girls standing beside her.
The woman became nervous when she saw Gao Lianzhu looking the little girl next to her up and down, and quickly spoke up.
"Manager Gao, these two young girls are my relatives, from the same village. I was thinking that your bookstore is recruiting a lot of people, so I thought I'd let the girls come with me to give them a try. If you're not satisfied, then I'll let them go back." The woman looked at Gao Lianzhu nervously, afraid that she would be angry.
"Hmm... have these two young ladies been able to read before?"
"My family sent them to a private school with their cousins to learn a little. Girls, as long as they can read a little and aren't blind, that's enough." The woman said this without feeling there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, she felt that her family's decision was already exceptionally good for the two girls.
Of all the families in the village, none were as willing to let their daughters learn to read as they were. But these people believed that if their daughters could read, they would be able to marry well and receive a higher dowry, which is why they sent them to learn.
These two girls are her distant relatives. Yesterday, she and her husband went home and told his wife about it.
The old woman had no intention of stopping her; this was a great opportunity to make money. She patted her chest and told her daughter-in-law to go do it, while she stayed home to take care of the children.
Later, the woman remembered that Gao Lianzhu had told her that the shop was short of staff and asked her to introduce a few people if she had the chance.
So she started to plan to bring her relatives along.
He shared this idea with his husband, and to his surprise, his husband also supported it. So the two of them went to find his older brother and sister-in-law in the same village.
Based on my trust in them.
Two girls were chosen from the husband's family and the wife's family respectively to try their luck at the bookstore.
That's why we have this situation today.
Gao Lianzhu didn't say much, just nodded to them, and then asked, "You left in a hurry yesterday, I didn't even ask your name?"
The women breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Gao Lianzhu didn't seem to want to send them away.
"Manager Gao, you can just call me Huilan." After saying this, she pulled the two little girls standing behind her forward.
The two, one in front and one behind, introduced in unison, "These are Mumu Xiang and Lianxin."
The two girls nervously called out, "Manager Gao!"
Gao Lianzhu didn't say anything, but just smiled and let them into the bookstore.
These three people stayed.
Gao Lianzhu prepared a courtyard for them to live in and even found a female teacher to teach them.
Of course, besides the three girls, there were several other women who studied with them.
Since moving into the courtyard, the women have hardly ever gone out. They spend all their time learning to read, from morning till night, until they are dizzy and exhausted. They have no time to go out at all.
The food they ate was also arranged by Gao Lianzhuo to be delivered to the courtyard on time by the maids of her own household.
The food is decent; we can eat meat once every day or two.
This thrilled the women, who had hardly ever tasted meat in their lives.
They only get to eat meat during the Lunar New Year when they're at home.
However, this meat was only for the men in the family to eat; the women were lucky if they could even taste the oil and meat in the bowl with their chopsticks.
They never expected that after arriving here, although there was no pay at the beginning, they could eat decent meals every day and even occasionally have meat. For them, it was like a windfall.
When Huilan first saw meat, she thought about secretly hiding some to take back to her husband and son so they could try it, but in the end she gave up the idea.
A sentence spoken by the female teacher who ate with them was deeply imprinted in her mind.
This was the first time Huilan had ever heard someone say that a woman should treat herself well.
It was precisely because they ate well that these girls became even more determined to study hard! So they worked even harder.
Among these people, some had a talent for learning, and before long they could recognize and write simple characters.
Huilan, however, couldn't understand it no matter what she tried. She was anxious and, several times, she secretly ran out to cry in the middle of the night after studying.
Although she cried very quietly, since everyone slept in the same room, someone naturally noticed that something was wrong with her.
So everyone came out of the house to comfort her.
"I'm just not cut out for studying! No matter how hard I try, I can't learn anything. It's so painful! I might as well go home and grow vegetables! Growing vegetables is much easier than this." Huilan said these disheartening words while crying.
Knowing she was upset, everyone tried to comfort her, saying, "Think about your infant son. Didn't you say before that you would study hard, buy him lots of things, and save money for his future wedding? Why are you giving up so quickly?"
Although Huilan was no different from those ignorant and narrow-minded peasant women, to be honest, Gao Lianzhu initially looked down on her. However, she patted her chest and said that she would study hard, so Gao Lianzhu gave her this opportunity.
Not only did Gao Lianzhu look down on her at first, but even these young girls looked down on her. Among the girls, Huilan was the oldest, while the other girls were only fifteen or sixteen years old. The oldest girl was already looking for a husband, but an elder in her family saw the recruitment notice and thought of sending her daughter to try her luck.
In rural areas, a pig can be exchanged for a woman, so two ounces of rice is a worthwhile deal for these people, which is why they are willing to send their daughters to study.
The girl knew her family's intentions. She had initially given up, thinking that even if she didn't study well, she could still go home, find someone to marry, and live a good life. However, after studying for several days, she realized how ridiculous her previous thoughts were.
They had been laughing at that female teacher behind her back, saying how old she was and how she hadn't married or had children yet. They even secretly cursed her, saying that it was because her buttocks couldn't produce children that she said she would never marry.