“Wu Juemei, Yao Niandi, Yao Zhaodi, Yao Jingniang.” Aunt Hong introduced them to Lin Yuchan while wolfing down her food with a smile. “Like me, they couldn’t stand their family members constantly asking for money, so they simply left and now have no worries.”

Yao Hong (Aunt Hong) was the eldest sister among them, naturally forthright by nature, and seeing Lin Yuchan made her even more carefree and happy.

The other comb-over women were all a bit reserved. The one called Yao Niandi was arranging her hair bun while asking quietly: “We didn’t bring much money when we came, and it was all cheated away. Today’s meal, could we… put it on credit first?”

Lin Yuchan smiled: “The shop belongs to Young Master Minguan, so we must let him treat us!”

The group exclaimed “Ah!” in surprise, their first reaction being: “Minguan changed professions?”

Lin Yuchan spoke vaguely, deflecting with a few words.

Su Minguan hadn’t given her authorization. Even with old friends, she didn’t dare carelessly reveal his background.

She suddenly said, “Sister Niandi, your hairpin is so beautiful.”

The hairpin in Yao Niandi’s hand was indeed unusual—not the common flower, fruit, and bird designs seen in the market. The tail end was a carved wooden little mouse, exquisitely crafted and adorably charming.

Lin Yuchan: “Did you make it yourself? Such skillful hands.”

But Yao Niandi’s face suddenly turned red. The rough-handed laboring woman suddenly became as bashful as an unmarried young wife.

The others laughed loudly: “This was given by her sweetheart—she can’t bear to take it off!”

Lin Yuchan was startled. Combed-up women also had “sweethearts”?

Yao Niandi said, “He died twenty years ago. When the foreign devils entered the city, he was young and didn’t understand, so he went out to watch the excitement.”

Lin Yuchan was speechless for a moment, then said: “My condolences.”

Yao Niandi laughed, her heavy black hair swaying back and forth: “No grief, no grief. He died well. If I had really married him, I would have been tortured to death by his mother sooner or later.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

The topic was successfully derailed. The others also chattered away, introducing themselves. Yao Zhaodi and Yao Jingniang were cousins who had done farm work and fishing. Because they didn’t have bound feet, they couldn’t marry into good families, so they simply combed up their hair. Wu Juemei’s parents died early, and she had three younger sisters below her, all supported by her spinning and weaving—she had skillful hands renowned throughout the village. Now that her three sisters were all married, her life goal was complete, and her days felt somewhat aimless, so Aunt Hong pulled her out to see the world.

“Little sister—oh, now you’ve redeemed yourself, you’re not a servant girl anymore, Miss Lin—thanks to you today, otherwise we don’t know how much longer we would have worked for them for nothing! Sigh, Shanghai has treacherous people. Amazingly, you’ve stayed here for over a year…”

The comb-over women had escaped danger, and after chatting for a while, relaxed completely, laughing and chatting with animated expressions.

The oldest among them was already in her forties, but perhaps because she had never married, her face still retained girlish brightness.

Lin Yuchan glumly drank several cups of tea, her nose stinging and her heart feeling bitter and blocked.

“I was the one who wrote telling you to come, never expecting it would cause you to be cheated. I… I’m truly sorry… how long have you been here…”

She had come to Shanghai properly on an official ship, opening her eyes to see the Huangpu River, smooth as could be.

But what she had never experienced was that for ordinary civilians coming to Shanghai to seek their fortune, from the moment they boarded the ship, there were traps everywhere. Even someone as cautious as Aunt Hong couldn’t fight against the scheming local snakes. Once targeted, losing money to avoid disaster was the light punishment—how many people lost their freedom, even their lives?

Though this was the normal state of the Qing Dynasty, with social order chaotic everywhere, common people living and dying randomly, with risks everywhere they went.

But ultimately, it was her idea after all. A few pieces of lace, foreign cloth handkerchiefs had enticed Aunt Hong and the others to leave their homeland and suffer various grievances.

The combed-up women were quite philosophical, smiling as they comforted her: “Since we decided to go north, we didn’t expect smooth sailing. We also blame ourselves for being illiterate, dizzy from seasickness and confused, we can only blame our bad luck—actually we didn’t suffer any physical harm. There were also bullies oppressing us in Guangzhou, it’s the same!”

Lin Yuchan spread out those deceptive, fraudulent contracts and examined them carefully.

She saw that they were vague and incorrectly formatted. Even though they were filled with Aunt Hong and the others’ names and stamped with their fingerprints, if taken to the authorities, they would most likely be judged invalid.

But common people suffered from lack of education and illiteracy, being deceived by conspirators, thinking there was no hope of turning things around, and mostly gave up the idea of resistance.

As for reporting to officials, whether right or wrong, one would lose a layer of skin. The folk saying goes: “Don’t enter official gates while alive,” warning people never to lightly enter government offices.

Therefore, encountering such things, most could only accept their fate.

This was also the normal state of the Qing Dynasty.

Lin Yuchan put the contract in the stove to burn. The contract was stained with waste oil, and the fire pot suddenly flared up with bright flames. Lin Yuchan smilingly picked up the last shrimp dumpling, warmed it over the fire, and took a bite.

Aunt Hong looked around and smiled: “You said earlier that this is Young Master Minguan’s shop? He redeemed you and came to Shanghai together, right? Haha, I knew that young man was capable. We came to Shanghai and got cheated, but he came to Shanghai and made money—hiring so many clerks, he must earn… over ten or twenty taels of silver per month, right?”

She lowered her voice for the last sentence, afraid that discussing someone’s income would seem impolite.

Lin Yuchan smiled wryly: “Hmm… actually, he also borrowed money and owes quite a bit now.”

Aunt Hong scoffed and laughed: “How is that possible?”

You couldn’t blame Aunt Hong for immediately guessing “Su Minguan redeemed her.” After all, by most people’s common sense, a penniless bonded servant girl suddenly gaining freedom and flying far away, besides being redeemed, what other possibilities were there? Could it be that in broad daylight, she snatched her indenture contract and burned it?

A young master buying a capable little maid before leaving was too normal.

Lin Yuchan smiled with pursed lips. A child without a mother had a long story to tell. The sisters had been frightened enough today—she wasn’t in a hurry to tell stories. There would be plenty of time to reminisce later.

She asked: “Are you planning to return home?”

Everyone shook their heads, stating frankly: “Going home right after leaving would be laughable! Besides, if we stayed in the countryside, the money we saved would all be drained by our families. We came out to earn money for ourselves, we’re not going back!—By the way, little sister, do you know any reliable go-betweens in Shanghai who introduce work and hire women? Embroidery, tailoring, cooking, helping—anything works. We originally wanted to do some small business, but now that our capital is gone, we can only suffer a bit first. Doing short-term work is just right.”

Lin Yuchan was startled, then smiled slyly.

“You want job introductions? I don’t help for free. One silver jiao. You can put it on credit first.”

Originally, this was within Yixing’s business scope too. Aunt Hong and the others had traveled thousands of miles to seek out fellow countrymen—as long as they joined the association, they could enjoy various benefits of banding together. Providing a meal was nothing.

If Su Minguan were here, he would probably send someone to arrange things, introducing Aunt Hong and the others to money-making work, not letting fellow countrymen wander the streets.

But since he wasn’t here, Lin Yuchan took matters into her own hands, feeling she was getting increasingly skilled at being a small gang leader.

She asked: “Sisters, my tea shop happens to need people. Would you mind doing some physical work?”

Just stopping the use of local short-term workers and giving the positions to fellow countrywomen.

Lin Yuchan had long wanted to hire women helpers—not only was it convenient for daily life, but communication also had fewer obstacles.

Those big men helpers, regardless of their experience and temperament, always liked to point fingers at her. Occasionally, one would be insubordinate, giving her terrible headaches.

Besides, hiring women was lower cost—not because she exploited them, but because she could directly provide lodging, saving significant costs.

She regretted not going to Shiliupu Wharf earlier!

Her old friends could have done fewer days of unpaid work.

The combed-up women naturally agreed wholeheartedly, but were very surprised.

“Your tea shop? Not as a helper? The kind where you can make decisions?”

Lin Yuchan nodded, introducing as low-key as possible that it was a shop she had invested in with others.

Though she didn’t know how long she could sustain it. But paying a few comb-over women’s wages was still manageable.

Everyone sighed in amazement, then suddenly understood something. Aunt Hong asked quietly with a smile: “Young Master Minguan gave you the capital, right? He treats you well.”

She winked meaningfully.

Young master, little maid—everyone understood.

When women chat with women, there’s no need to be coy.

Lin Yuchan was simply speechless. Had she seemed so weak in Aunt Hong’s eyes before? Starting a business and still needing to rely on others’ charity?

…Actually, she had been quite weak. Not even fully developed, getting bullied every day.

If it were her from two years ago, her greatest wish would only have been to eat well, save money, and redeem herself. She couldn’t have imagined that someday she would handle business worth hundreds or thousands of taels of silver.

She smiled: “Don’t guess wildly. I’ll tell you slowly later.”

…

Seeing that they had eaten and drunk their fill, the combed-up women looked at each other and simultaneously stood up, efficiently clearing the tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks.

Lin Yuchan hurriedly said, “There are waiters here…”

The group acted as if they hadn’t heard. Wu Juemei found a cloth and wiped the greasy door handle.

Combed-up women lived together in groups, didn’t form families, and had no men as pillars, so they endured much prejudice from the world. They didn’t like owing others favors. Especially not owing men.

Lin Yuchan was half a beat slow before realizing this, and could only respect their wishes, signaling the waiter who came to clean up not to bother and go attend to his own business.

But the sisters’ cleaning became endless. Before long, they had scattered throughout the Yixing teahouse, hands and feet nimble as they began a thorough cleaning.

“The wall corners aren’t cleaned properly—tsk, in Guangdong this would attract cockroaches.”

“I’ll go check the kitchen—that Cantonese meal just now, the ingredients could be improved. Only when the soup is cooked well can you make good money!”

“Ai ya, why make so many private rooms? They don’t ventilate and will grow mold!—Aunt Hong, come help me open this window.”

…

Lin Yuchan stood dazed in the center, watching the sisters bustle about with dizzying activity, not knowing which one to persuade first.

In their eyes, this teahouse run by big men was full of problems everywhere, impossible to manage properly.

But the Yixing teahouse was originally a place for discussing association business and for members to meet secretly. Its main business wasn’t making money—there was no need for it to be so refined.

She couldn’t say this either, so she could only futilely persuade: “You’ve been tired recently, rest more today. The days ahead are long—you can take it slow, eat a free meal every day, and help clean up for a while. Young Master Minguan would welcome it…”

Suddenly, while Aunt Hong was wiping the wall, she casually pushed and opened a hidden cabinet door.

Click—several black firearms and frost-white bladed weapons were exposed in broad daylight.