“You—how dare you, you lowly wretch! What has our family ever done to wrong the Zuo family? We gave her a job, handed over our family savings, and now even this deadweight dares to trample all over us!”
“Family savings? Auntie, are you referring to the pile of debts my aunt took on when she married into your family?”
Wei Mu felt as if Zuo Cao were grinding her face into the dirt.
Furious and humiliated, she snapped, “That was all to pay the bride price for your family!”
“Your family borrowed over a thousand yuan in debt just for my aunt’s sixty-yuan bride price?”
In this era, money held real value.
Especially in Lingyun Village, where income was scarce, an ordinary wedding might cost just over ten yuan, supplemented with some pork, candy, and a simple banquet—that was considered a proper ceremony.
Zuo Caiyun’s bride price was indeed on the higher side.
But not a single cent of that money reached Zuo Caiyun; it was joyfully pocketed by the Zuo family.
Zuo Caiyun’s dowry consisted only of the new clothes she wore on her wedding day, putting her at a disadvantage from the moment she stepped through the door.
Sixty yuan was no small sum, but the thousand-yuan gambling debt was an astronomical figure.
“That workshop job requires backbreaking labor. How could a woman like Zuo Caiyun handle the work of a fitter?”
“Exactly, I heard from my husband that the workshop cuts steel plates every day.”
“And this old woman Wei keeps boasting about how her daughter-in-law lives a life of luxury. If it’s such a blessing, why doesn’t her son enjoy it instead of leaving it to his wife?”
The work of a fitter was tough and exhausting, but the wages were high.
“Tsk, the Wei family didn’t marry a daughter-in-law—they hired a laborer.”
The neighbors chimed in one after another, leaving Wei Mu flushed with anger.
Pointing at Zuo Cao, her chest heaving, she shouted, “Today, I’m going to beat the defiance out of you, you worthless brat!”
Zuo Cao had no intention of standing still and taking the beating.
Small and nimble, she slipped past Wei Mu along the wall. Wei Mu chased her around the room in circles but couldn’t even graze Zuo Cao’s sleeve.
She nearly tripped and fell in the process.
Panting heavily, she stood still, seething with rage.
After shooing away the nosy neighbors, she returned to the house and cooked herself a bowl of noodles, even adding an egg to it.
Once she finished her portion, she locked away everything in the kitchen cabinets.
As for the snacks in the house—like peach shortbread and powdered milk—they had been locked in Wei Mu’s room since the day Zuo Cao arrived.
“I’ll show you who’s in charge,” Wei Mu snorted, carrying her bowl of noodles out of the kitchen without so much as a glance at Zuo Cao.
She was waiting for Zuo Cao to beg for mercy.
If this Zuo girl didn’t kneel and kowtow in apology today, she wouldn’t get a single grain of rice from her.
The System said, “You shouldn’t have spoken like that. Wei Mu is old, and provoking her like this won’t do you any good.”
“What do you mean no good? At least I feel better now,” Zuo Cao retorted.
Wei Mu’s meal didn’t go smoothly either, because Zhuangzhuang woke up hungry and started crying.
Wei Mu set her bowl down halfway, then—perhaps worried Zuo Cao might steal a bite—picked it up again and carried it into the inner room to soothe the child.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry, Grandma’s here. Oh, my precious, don’t cry. Daddy will bring you a rattle drum when he comes back—”
By the time she finished preparing the formula and calming the child, her noodles had gone soggy.
And Zuo Cao was nowhere to be seen.
Had she gone out?
Wei Mu couldn’t believe it. How dare that girl leave?
Well, let her go. She wasn’t part of the family anyway. Why should Wei Mu care where Zuo Cao ended up?
Zuo Cao walked out of the small two-room house.
This was the time when children were heading to school.
Along the way, numerous street vendors lined the roads, the enticing aromas of various breakfast foods wafting through the air.
Zuo Cao had already checked yesterday, and it was no surprise—she didn’t have a single cent on her.
The System wasn’t wrong about one thing.
When you’re under someone else’s roof,
you have to rely on their kindness.
She had already torn up all pretense with Wei Mu, and even if she hadn’t, eating in front of Wei Mu would have been enough to ruin her appetite.
Zuo Cao had no intention of starving herself. Now, she needed to find someone who could give her breakfast.
“If you give me a steamed bun, I can help you with work. I know how to boil eggs, fry rice, and I can also help you serve customers.”
Zuo Cao stood on tiptoe, just a little taller than the snack cart.
The vendor she asked looked surprised and instinctively shook his head, his eyes filled with pity.
The vendor handed Zuo Cao a steamed bun. “Take it and eat. With your small frame, what kind of work could you do?”
Zuo Cao shook her head and didn’t take the steaming bun from the vendor’s hand.
She walked along the street to the next stall.
Thanks to her age and her thin, sallow appearance,
the breakfast vendors, who didn’t mind sparing a bite or two, were all happy to give her something.
But they all refused her offer to help.
Zuo Cao thought optimistically that even if she left the Wei family, begging for food might not be a dead end.
But it was just a thought. Zuo Cao politely declined the kind offers from these good-hearted people.
She wanted to try again.
Finally, a woman selling fried pancakes looked Zuo Cao up and down a few times and handed her a stack of oiled paper.
The woman took out a fresh sheet of oiled paper and a small knife from her bag. “Be careful when cutting. This knife is sharp. Do you know how to fold paper?”
Zuo Cao nodded. “I can learn.”
“Fold these oiled papers for me, and I’ll give you three pancakes,” the woman promised. “I’ll give you one to eat first as a deposit.”
The freshly fried pancake was hot and fragrant.
It was filled with shredded potatoes.
The pancake was quite filling. After eating one, Zuo Cao was already seventy percent full.
She smacked her lips and quickly learned the folding technique the woman had shown her.
It only required a few folds, then one specific angled fold to create a small packaging bag that resembled a paper basket.
It wasn’t complicated, and compared to the work at the Wei family’s place, this job was much easier.
The woman went to another stall and returned with a small stool.
Zuo Cao sat on the stool.
Folding paper was a purely manual task. In the repetition over and over again, Zuo Cao felt a sense of calm.
Every time the woman finished frying a pancake, Zuo Cao would seize the moment and deftly pack it into the folded paper, never letting her hands touch the food.
The woman’s gaze held approval.
Once Zuo Cao got the hang of it, she didn’t just fold paper—she also helped with packing. With Zuo Cao’s assistance, the woman’s serving speed increased noticeably.
In the morning, everyone was rushing to school or work. The lines at other stalls were long, and for those in a hurry, they tended to choose the stall with faster service.
Zuo Cao picked up the tasks surprisingly quickly—packing boxes, collecting money, and giving change—while the woman focused solely on frying pancakes.
The morning passed quickly.
Usually, there would be some leftovers, but today, when they took stock, all the fried pancakes had been sold out.
Zuo Cao had even helped fold all the remaining oiled paper.
The woman was delighted. She counted out small bills from her crossbody bag, looked at Zuo Cao’s small frame, gritted her teeth, and counted out two yuan. “You did well today. Take this.”
The woman glanced around to make sure no one was watching before stuffing the money into Zuo Cao’s pants pocket.
“Such a capable little girl. Buy yourself some candy to sweeten your day.”
The oil pancakes were already sold out, but two tea eggs remained at the bottom of the pot, which the woman also gave to Zuo Cao.
Zuo Cao even managed to get a bowl of tea broth. The broth for the tea eggs was seasoned with many spices, somewhat resembling a braised flavor, carrying a unique and intriguing aroma.
Zuo Cao carefully stored the tea eggs and the two yuan, then flashed a smile at the woman.
The woman wiped her hands on her apron and patted Zuo Cao’s head.
“There’s no man in my household. If you’re willing, you can come again tomorrow,” the woman emphasized. “Just to help out, not as an employee.”
This was a special era. After enduring a period of turbulent storms, the public still harbored unprecedented caution toward certain matters.
The market had yet to take shape, and both the authorities and ordinary people were still feeling their way forward.
Those who dared to lead the way faced immense risks but also encountered once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
The tea eggs the woman sold were forty cents each, while the oil pancakes, made with solid ingredients—genuine wheat flour fried in peanut oil—were sold for eighty cents each.
Zuo Cao estimated that, even after deducting costs, the daily profit would be around forty yuan.
What did forty yuan mean?
Zuo Caiyun, a proper factory worker, earned only about one hundred and fifty yuan a month.
And this was for a formal employee at the tractor factory, the largest factory in Yang City.