Chapter 35 Freshmen
"As long as I am here, I will make you rich and prosperous for the rest of your life."
"I just saw the list in front of the counter. The cheapest piece of cake costs one tael of silver."
"How can ordinary people afford such a price? I am not trying to discourage you, but one tael of silver is enough for a family to live for a long time. You have never suffered, so you don't understand the difficulties of ordinary people."
"This world is not suitable for women to do business. Apart from embroidery, they have no talent for business. They can't even do the accounting. How can they support such a big shop?"
Xie Yuchuan said good things for Shen Wei and promised to make Shen Wei rich and prosperous for the rest of his life.
unfortunately,
Shen Wei knows better than anyone that promises are the most sincere lies in the world. He is sincere when he makes the promise now, and he will also be sincere when he hates you and makes you live a life worse than death in the future.
She pushed Xie Yuchuan's hand away and said calmly, "Didn't we agree on this?"
"If I can't do it, then I'll go home in peace."
"But if you get up, you can no longer restrict me from doing any business, and you can't promise me one more thing."
"The shop hasn't even opened yet, how do you know I'm not good enough? You don't look down on me, do you? Outsiders mock me and call me a high-class climber, but do you think so too?"
When Xie Yuchuan heard this, he immediately calmed down.
He suppressed the uncomfortable feeling in his heart and advised tolerantly: "Weiwei, I just feel sorry for you."
"But you've already married me, so you still have to..."
"Knock knock knock!"
The knock on the door interrupted Xie Yuchuan's next words.
Shen Wei turned his head and looked in the direction where the sound came from.
She is a woman in her thirties.
She was wearing a cotton and linen dress covered with pudding and water stains all over her body, as if she had just been fished out of the river.
She looked timid, her hair was sticky, her body was thin and sallow, with bruises of varying degrees on her body, and her rough hands were twisted together, which were small movements caused by excessive tension and fear.
"Do you want to be a female worker?" Seeing this, Shen Wei walked over and asked.
The woman looked up and glanced quickly at Shen Wei.
The other person was wearing the most expensive brocade material in the capital. She had a calm and generous temperament, and her skin was as white as cream. Just the pair of fine white jade earrings she wore was a piece of jewelry that she was not even worthy of touching in her life.
The woman nodded in a panic, then shook her head, her voice trembling: "I, I heard that they are hiring female workers, only female workers, I don't know how to read outside..."
"I don't know how to do anything. I don't know if I can do it, but......"
Shen Wei moved a stool and asked the woman to sit down.
He said in a gentle voice: "Don't be anxious, just speak slowly."
"If it's appropriate, you can stay."
The woman did not dare to sit down, she still stood there timidly, perhaps it was because Shen Wei's clothes, which only rich people could wear, were too oppressive, or perhaps it was because she had been too timid in her life.
The woman stood three steps away from Shen Wei and told him all the information that Shen Wei wanted to hear.
Her name is Pan Nan.
She got married ten years ago and has been abused by her husband and mother-in-law over the years. She works like a slave at home, taking care of her husband and children, doing embroidery and needlework, and all the money she earns is squandered by her husband outside.
There are three girls and two boys.
Two of the girls were sold as child brides as soon as they were born, and the other was strangled to death by her mother-in-law right after she was born.
I don’t know if it was retribution, but she later gave birth to two boys, but unfortunately they died of an epidemic.
And what about her?
She was despised and abused by her husband, who either beat or scolded her, and was humiliated and bullied by her mother-in-law all day long. In desperation, she wanted to jump into the river to end her life, but she accidentally heard a passerby say that a shop was hiring female workers.
She thought that instead of committing suicide, it would be better to find a job as a woman worker.
Being alive is more important than fame.
"That's all, girl."
"I can't do anything except handicrafts and housework. I don't know if I can do it... My mother-in-law kicked me out of the house. She said I was a jinx and would kill my own child."
"If it doesn't work, it's okay. I know I'm not good enough. I won't bother you."
Shen Wei looked at the woman with a complicated expression: "You want to die because you can't live anymore, right?"
When the woman heard this, she bit her lips tightly.
His eyes suddenly turned red.
She couldn't stop her tears from flowing.
"Xie Yuchuan, can ordinary people get divorced?" Shen Wei pursed her lips and looked at Xie Yuchuan who was standing beside her without saying a word.
This was probably the first time that Xie Yuchuan heard of such a tragic life. As a beneficiary, he had never doubted whether the rules were right or wrong. Men and women were inherently unequal and were born this way.
Even now...
He still felt that it must be the woman's fault that she was kicked out of the house.
How could the husband and the mother-in-law be wrong?
Xie Yuchuan looked at Shen Wei deeply and touched her black hair: "Weiwei, don't think about this."
"How can a woman get divorced in this world?"
"Divorce does exist, but the abandoned women are all disgraced and tainted. Not only will they bring trouble to their family if they stay alive, they will also be despised and cursed by the people around them, and there will be no possibility of them remarrying."
It's not possible to remarry.
It's totally unsurvivable.
Hated and abandoned by their natal families, looked down upon by their neighbours, with no income, no food, no one to help them or care about them, they have no way out and can only live on the streets, a life worse than death.
From the moment a woman was driven out of her home by her mother-in-law, she no longer had a home.
The only way out for her was to commit suicide.
"This woman was so despised by her husband's family. She must have done something wrong. She couldn't even keep a child. Even if she didn't kill him, it's still very unfilial."
"You are simple-minded, so don't be soft-hearted and be fooled by a few tears."
Xie Yuchuan raised his chin towards the servant and said, "Let her go. This is not a place for an abandoned woman like her to come!"
The woman looked at the servant in panic. The only glimmer of light in her eyes went out. She lowered her head, bowed to Shen Wei helplessly and hopelessly, and then was about to get up and leave.
In her life,
This should have ended there.
It’s Shen Wei.
It was Shen Wei's words that hit the woman's heart hard: "You can stay."
"But I have three requests."
"First, I'll write a letter for you and send it to your ex-husband to completely cut off all contact with him."
"Second, from now on you are not called Pan Nan, it sounds unlucky. Can you call yourself Pan Xi? Life will never end, and hope will come."
"Third, I can teach you anything you don't know, but since you have decided to stay, you can't regret it and leave at will. If you think you can do it, you can be a shop girl."
Swish!
The woman raised her head suddenly.
Her eyes were filled with tears and she looked at Shen Wei, who was sitting in front of her, in disbelief.
Shen Wei sat there casually, gazing at her with a calm gaze. There was tolerance, compassion, kindness and radiance in his eyes. This was the girl who had given him a new life.