During the three days waiting for Old Huang to recover, Lin Yuchan wasn’t idle either. She sent Old Zhao, Aunt Hong, and Miss Nian to Shanghai’s outskirts to collect more cotton samples and sign orders with selected cotton field landlords.

Cotton was in hot demand, riding this trend wasn’t easy – she had to invest fully.

Fortunately, she acted quickly. Gradually, local cotton merchants also began going to the countryside to place orders. Sometimes, a good field caught multiple buyers’ attention, requiring auctions with the highest bidder winning. This showed just how hot the cotton market was.

Boya Trading Company now deals in both tea and cotton. Though well-capitalized, having just acquired Xuhui Tea Shop, they didn’t have much liquid silver available. Their cotton orders were also moderate; no need to compete red-eyed with others.

Lin Yuchan also found time to inspect Xuhui Tea Shop. She sent people to scout ahead, ensuring she wouldn’t run into anyone from Defeng Trading House.

Mau Shunniang had gotten a bit plumper. Having not seen her for some time, this girl was developing rapidly, almost catching up to Lin Yuchan’s height.

She was in a separate workshop, wearing an apron with rolled-up sleeves, skillfully sifting and tasting tea while humming a tune.

Seeing Lin Yuchan suddenly, Mau Shunniang’s face flushed red, very embarrassed, and she stopped her work.

“Sister Lin,” she proactively admitted fault, her tone bashful, “I… I didn’t mean to tell my father. My new sister-in-law took a fancy to that handkerchief rabbit you gave me and wanted to tear it apart to play with. I wouldn’t let her, got upset and cried, and accidentally blurted out that it was a voucher for collecting money. When father pressed me, I wouldn’t say more, but he hit me… Father has a bad temper. Did he make trouble for you? It’s all my fault…”

Lin Yuchan smiled and waved to indicate this matter was closed.

“It was just the two of us fooling around anyway. Without evidence or proof, it’s remarkable you trusted me. I’ve already communicated with Shopkeeper Mau, don’t worry.”

She asked again: “Is work still going well?”

Mau Shunniang smiled shyly, her eyes sparkling with vitality.

“If I were a man, I’d be in this business!”

Lin Yuchan bent down, scooped up a handful of tea leaves from the basket, smelled them under her nose, and smiled back: “You can do this business even if you’re not a man. Look at me.”

Mau Shunniang hurried to say: “You’re different. I can’t compare to you. I’m going to marry…”

She blushed with shame.

At the root of it, she was betrothed. Her in-laws weren’t pressing urgently, still letting her be carefree a while longer, but after marriage, she definitely couldn’t be this free.

Lin Yuchan smiled and glanced at her sideways.

“After marriage, it’s indeed not quite suitable for this kind of physical work.” Following the logic of the Qing Dynasty ancients, she subtly instigated without changing expression. “After all, you’ll need to serve parents-in-law, taste soup and medicine – can’t let tea-tasting affect your tongue; you’ll need to get pregnant and have children – can’t be bending over sifting tea all day. But…”

Seeing Mau Shunniang’s face turn red as a monkey’s bottom at the words “get pregnant and have children,” Lin Yuchan felt a surge of wicked pleasure from “teasing innocent young ladies.”

She continued matter-of-factly: “But if you became a manager, that would be different. You could take on several female apprentices, manage several people, only needing to inspect and supervise daily, spot-check samples, establish standards… not so tiring, you could do it even while holding a baby.”

Mau Shunniang desperately buried herself in an empty bamboo basket, pretending to bang against the wall, protesting in a small voice: “Sister, what are you saying! How could I possibly… possibly… even while holding…”

“You certainly can’t know-no, not because you don’t have a baby, but because your professional qualifications aren’t up to standard yet.” Lin Yuchan suppressed laughter, continuing to tease the young girl. “But you must have hope. Working like this for another year or two, you could completely match your father’s apprenticeship. I’m now a major shareholder of Xuhui, and I could completely promote you to manager! My current Manager, Chang Baoluo, gets a silver monthly salary, plus Boya shareholding benefits. Think about it – if you could bring home fifteen silver dollars a month, would your in-laws be willing to let you stay home embroidering and cooking?”

Mau Shunniang froze with the basket on her head.

“Fifteen… fifteen silver dollars?”

Her future father-in-law worked as a clerk in the government office, and between salary and side income, he couldn’t bring back ten taels of silver!

Her mother-in-law needn’t be mentioned – even working twelve hours straight weaving cloth daily, she couldn’t exchange for this much money.

Her fiancé? Stuck at home studying, eating for free, earning nothing, with annual expenses for writing materials and books costing quite a bit instead.

In Jiangnan during the late Qing, women actively participated in economic activities. Every household had women weaving, embroidering, and raising silkworms, sometimes earning more than men.

Though the money earned was generally controlled by the husband’s family, it did raise women’s family status. Except for those strictly ritual-observing wealthy families, girls over ten from common families rarely stayed idle at home without earning money.

Of course, the work scope was limited to the home. Wanting to work outside still faced heavy resistance.

But with the deepening of the Westernization Movement, this resistance was gradually crumbling – foreigners had already opened textile mills in the settlements, cheaply hiring female workers. Though they could only recruit some desperately poor women, or widows and self-combing women without family burdens, they were using money as bait to pry open the thousand-year foundation of Chinese society’s “men handle outside affairs, women handle inside affairs.”

Therefore, the big promise Lin Yuchan painted – “as long as you earn enough money, your in-laws will permit you to work outside” – might be fantasy in northern inland areas, but in open Shanghai, it wasn’t absurd and was completely achievable.

Moreover, Mau Shunniang’s in-laws wanted to curry favor with Rong Hong’s official connections, so they wouldn’t dare offend Boya’s people.

“Of course, Manager Chang has deep qualifications, studied for many years, speaks English – you certainly couldn’t match him. I’m just giving you a reference price.” Lin Yuchan gently withdrew the promise. “I only guarantee one thing. Boya Company pays men and women equally – as much ability as you have, that’s how much money you get. We won’t be like foreigners’ textile mills that cut your wages in half just because you’re a woman.”

Mau Shunniang gently removed the bamboo basket from her head, with tea leaves scattered in her hair, staring blankly into space, deep in thought.

Since she could remember, her parents had instilled in her the understanding that as a girl, she was just a guest in her natal family; most importantly, she must grow up properly and peacefully, then marry gloriously, be filial to parents-in-law, get along with sisters-in-law, support her husband and educate children, be gentle and virtuous, contribute to her husband’s family, and live a meaningful life…

Could a married woman become some kind of “manager”?

Lin Yuchan picked up a bamboo brush for roasting tea and gently tapped her bottom.

“Alright. Get to work! Otherwise, you won’t even earn an apprentice’s wages.” She smiled. “I’ve never hired a female manager either. If you want to be the first, let’s work hard together and try, bearing our risks. If you’re not interested, just pretend you never heard this. Don’t tell your father nonsense.”

Mau Shunniang slowly nodded, picked up tea-sifting tools, took a deep breath, trying to get back into work mode.

“Also,” Lin Yuchan lowered her voice, instructing, “during this period, if there are any cooperation orders from Guangzhou Defeng Trading House, please pay attention to details and report to me next time I come – and don’t tell anyone else!”

Mau Shunniang had finally learned her lesson, covering her mouth and nodding with a smile.

She wouldn’t gossip randomly again even if beaten to death!

Lin Yuchan’s encouragement for Mau Shunniang to persist in work wasn’t just because she thought this girl had good natural talent and wanted to help her avoid being delayed by marriage, but also had her own considerations.

Xuhui Tea Shop was acquired halfway through, with everyone, top to bottom, being Shopkeeper Mau’s people. Parachuting in Manager Zhao wasn’t a long-term solution. She needed to cultivate her confidant within Xuhui Tea Shop.

If she were a man, she’d have countless ways to build close relationships with Xuhui Tea Shop’s employees and masters. Not to mention anything else, treating people to brothels or an afternoon of opium smoking would have people switching sides and going through fire and water for her.

But she couldn’t do that. Even if she were a man, she would never degrade herself so.

Only Mau Shunniang got along well with her. Not just friendship built over xiaolongbao – the beating Mau Shunniang took over the “Jade Rabbit Fund” was enough to establish deep revolutionary friendship with Lin Yuchan.

As fellow women, Mau Shunniang also wouldn’t constantly question her authority and refuse management like some male workers, making her waste breath unnecessarily.

Lin Yuchan thought she’d plant a small seed with Mau Shunniang first. Whether it would work out as hoped still required feeling stones while crossing the river.

Three days later, Lin Yuchan came fully prepared with various documents and certificates to Shanghai County Office, ready to register the Huayi Guild Hall.

Su Minguan arrived almost simultaneously. They smiled at each other.

“A’Mei,” Su Minguan maintained proper distance from her, saying softly, “Honestly, I didn’t expect you could start setting up the stage this quickly. I thought the Huayi Guild Hall matter would take at least a month or two.”

Lin Yuchan said proudly, “Time is money, efficiency is life.”

Su Minguan: “Too fast – be careful, the foundation isn’t stable.”

“Thank you for Mr. Su’s guidance.” Lin Yuchan smiled. “I’ll try to keep it steady.”

Today was another day of playing widow. Respectable people, seeing her plain, somber outfit, generally wouldn’t dare look closely. But if someone did examine carefully, they’d discover this “little widow” was radiant with energy, her movements full of vitality, her eyes filled with hope – completely lacking the self-cultivation of a “surviving wife.”

Subsequently, the two invited friendly merchants arrived one after another, first greeting and chatting with Su Minguan, then turning to Lin Yuchan.

“Madam, we still need to go inspect goods in the suburbs later and can’t delay too long, please forgive us.”

The two friendly merchants were surnamed Du and Ding, respectively, both local small businessmen who’d only started participating in cotton speculation this year. Urgently needing connections and being relatively open-minded, they’d responded to Lin Yuchan’s Huayi Guild Hall initiative.

Lin Yuchan was naturally very grateful, politely thanking both men: “I’ve inquired – with complete procedures and sufficient benefits, just stamping a seal will do. Won’t take much time.”

Now they just waited for Manager Zhao to bring Old Huang, then sign together and press their fingerprints.

Her “Raw Cotton Appraisal Quantification Standards” draft was complete. Once the Huayi Guild Hall officially opened, it could immediately be sent to print, becoming the guild hall’s debut achievement.

Shanghai’s first professional platform providing professional quantified raw cotton quality inspection was about to be born.

Even if others had objections and didn’t buy it, she’d still have seized the initiative and controlled public opinion leadership.

Beautiful thinking.

But Zhao Huaisheng was delayed.

The friendly merchants gradually grew restless, whispering: “Who’s the fifth person? Haven’t they changed their mind?”

The government office entrance was bustling with sedan chairs and rickshaws coming and going. A bailiff approached, frowning: “Here on business? Move farther away – you’re blocking the officials’ passage!”

Several people had to move farther back.

Suddenly, someone came running hurriedly around the street corner. Lin Yuchan jumped up to meet them.

“Old Zhao!”

Zhao Huaisheng was usually steady and deliberate, doing everything slowly. Today, he’d run until his long gown was wrinkled, panting heavily, his face full of disappointment and indignation.

“Miss Lin.” He gasped, hurriedly saying, “I didn’t…”

“Where’s Old Mr. Huang?”

Zhao Huaisheng’s face was like a bitter melon, saying quietly, “You’d better go see for yourself.”

Lin Yuchan’s heart sank with a thud.

Her first reaction was – Old Huang’s eyes hadn’t developed problems again, had they? Dr. Owen had a very good reputation.

Su Minguan glimpsed a teahouse diagonally across, smiling slightly: “Rather than eating dirt here, why not have some hot tea. Please, gentlemen.”

This was to hold off the two friendly merchants for a while.

Lin Yuchan followed Zhao Huaisheng at a run.

In the slums, rats ran rampant, and sewage was exposed. Lin Yuchan pulled out a gauze scarf from her chest, covering the lower half of her face to barely block the stench.

Old Huang’s broken house had its door wide open, empty.

A broker wearing a skullcap was carrying a bucket, brushing paste at the doorway, posting “For Sale” notices.

Zhao Huaisheng pointed at the house, indicating this was everything he’d seen.

Lin Yuchan’s mind went blank momentarily, stepping forward to ask the broker: “Where are the previous residents of this house?”

The broker, seeing a young little widow, glared: “How would I know? Are you buying this house or not? If not, get lost!”

Several neighbors came out to watch the excitement, wearing patched clothes with wooden expressions.

Zhao Huaisheng tugged her sleeve.

“Miss,” he said quietly, “I asked the neighbors. The day we left, Old Huang started arranging to sell the house. He moved away yesterday, no one knows where.”

Lin Yuchan found it incredible, stammering: “Why… why? Didn’t he sign the contract? Doesn’t he want the subsidy anymore?…”

She turned around, bewildered, seeing a white-haired old woman in tattered clothes, trembling as she stood with something to say.

She pulled down the gauze from her face, politely asking: “Old lady, do you know about the people here…”

“Of course they moved away.” The old woman seemed indignant, her voice high and piercing, pointing at the empty house. “Old Huang struck it rich – first a Western doctor came and cured his eyes for free. Then, some bleeding heart gave him a small fortune. Now he looks down on us old neighbors, saying with this capital, it’s enough for him to start over and open a shop to make big money!…”

Lin Yuchan was shocked.

“It was only ten silver dollars I gave him…”

Having been a cotton merchant, didn’t he understand money?

The old woman sighed: “Actually, if Old Huang had stayed blind with his granddaughter caring for him, living peacefully in old age would have been fine. But he was someone who’d been wealthy-unwilling to accept this! Selling the house was one thing, but he shouldn’t have… Sigh, we watched that little girl grow up, poor child with no parents. Since she could reach the stove, she’s been serving her grandfather-washing, cooking, and carrying chamber pots-so well-behaved! No matter how money-obsessed Old Huang was, he shouldn’t have abandoned this child! Miss, tell me, is this still human?”

The old woman slapped her left palm with her right hand, shaking her head repeatedly.

Lin Yuchan suddenly felt cold all over, shivering slightly.

“Granny, explain clearly. What do you mean ‘abandoned’…”

The white-haired old woman shook her head, gesturing the number ten with both hands.

“Including the house and that windfall fortune… oh right, plus selling those excellent glasses, altogether fifty silver dollars. Sinful! Such a good little girl, unwilling to raise her – might as well have married her off to another family early!”

Seeing Lin Yuchan as just a curious passerby, the old woman poured out everything like beans from a bamboo tube, complaining at length.

Little did she know that the “sucker” who’d given the money was right before her eyes!

Lin Yuchan’s lips twitched, her tongue tasting bitter.

She suddenly remembered her first contact with Old Huang three days ago, hearing him recount past achievements:

“…Back then, I came to Shanghai with fifty silver dollars and built up a big shop…”

“…If I hadn’t gone blind, I’d probably still be running a shop now, thriving…”

Back then, she’d even admired how the old man’s ambition hadn’t died – excellent!

Zhao Huaisheng was hearing these details for the first time, his face full of shock: “How can there be such people! How can there be such people! His flesh and blood, discarded just like that?”

He came from a well-off family with four children – losing any of them would kill him.

He asked again: “Where was she sold to?”

The old woman sighed: “Human traffickers took her away, who knows where! Just hope the buyers can be kind – this child is so pitiful!”

A lame man also came out to join the excitement, spitting with a cold smile: “These merchants, once they touch money, they’re all heartless goods! You don’t know – this Old Huang resented his granddaughter from the start, resented that she wasn’t a boy who could inherit the business and carry on the family line. His son died, now with capital, he can get rich again in the future and marry three or four wives. Don’t look at his white hair – he’s barely past fifty, hmph, hehe, great prospects ahead…”

The white-haired old woman coughed and glared at him: “Hey, hey, hey, can’t you see there’s a young lady here! Don’t talk crudely!”

The lame man retorted: “So what if she’s a young lady? Wasn’t Old Huang’s granddaughter even younger? You didn’t speak up when the old man sold the girl, but now you have big opinions?”

The white-haired old woman spat: “That was their family business – what could I, an outsider, do to make people hate me? You didn’t interfere either! At least when that little girl came begging for food from me, I never drove her away!”

The two old neighbors probably had longstanding grudges. As they talked, they started arguing with red faces and thick necks.

Lin Yuchan clenched both fists, her feet seeming to weigh a thousand pounds as she slowly moved into that broken house.

The mouse hole entrance still had spider webs. All sellable household items were gone, leaving only a broken earthen stove. Beside the stove lay a small bamboo basket with several rotten vegetable leaves inside, gapped and broken like silent mockery.

In the wall corner was a pile of dried, curled pomegranate peels. The broken peels bore fingernail marks where little Huang girl had painstakingly picked them off bit by bit.

Lin Yuchan closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the earthen wall as tears burst forth, wetting the uneven ground beneath her feet.

She felt like she was a complete fucking idiot!

Before choosing to help Old Huang, she’d also been cautious, confirming that his poverty wasn’t due to opium or gambling.

Only then had she felt safe dealing with him. She’d thought even if his character was mediocre, how bad could he be?

Moreover, he’d once been a “comrade” of the Small Swords Society!

She’d never expected everything would pale before the crazy ambition brought by restored sight.

A weak voice in her heart told her: You’re not stupid. You just overestimated humanity’s bottom line.

But so what? Remembering Old Huang’s final unwilling expression, she wanted to travel back three days and punch herself.

She grabbed a broken bowl from the earthen stove and smashed it into pieces on the ground with a crash. Then, suddenly attacked the wall viciously, making the roof rustle and drop dust.

“Miss,” Zhao Huaisheng called anxiously from the doorway, “Are you alright?”

“I…” Lin Yuchan gritted her teeth, wiped away her tears with both hands, forcibly suppressed her emotions, and said truthfully, “I… somewhat regret… If I hadn’t knocked on his door, just let Old Huang stay blind until death, poor, he couldn’t leave his granddaughter and wouldn’t have sold her so easily…”

She thought her tone was steady. To others, it already sounded like sobbing.

“How could I be so careless… wuu…”

Old Zhao had plenty of experience coaxing children, but didn’t know how to comfort this precocious girl.

He sighed heavily: “Don’t blame yourself – I didn’t see through him either! When we at Boya held meetings to decide this matter, none of us imagined it would turn out like this! Who knew there could be such shameless people in the world? He’ll get his comeuppance later!”

He paused, then said: “But I don’t understand – that old man could peacefully stay at the Huayi Guild Hall, take our allowance, save up for months or years, and still be able to open a shop and sell goods. Why did he have to break the contract and take risks, leaving himself with no way out?”

Lin Yuchan sniffled, saying bitterly, “Because he thought the Huayi Guild Hall couldn’t succeed at all. Because he didn’t want to be constrained by me. Because he’d long stopped wanting his little granddaughter!”

And she’d even thought herself clever, “threatening” Old Huang that to get allowances, he couldn’t hit the child.

Little did she know that by then, the old bastard was probably already calculating how much the child could be sold for!

She couldn’t help tearing up again, waves of pain shooting through her heart.

Zhao Huaisheng asked quietly: “What do we do now?”

Lin Yuchan suddenly realized.

She was the boss now. Several people depended on her for their livelihood.

Time was precious – no time to waste crying here.

“Manager Zhao,” she sniffled, dabbing away tears, wrapping the gauze around her face, and quickly walking out of the stinking alley, “Please go to the county office, apologize to those friendly merchants, and send them away first. The Huayi Guild Hall can’t be established for now, but the raw cotton quality appraisal manual still needs printing – publish it under Boya’s name. Handle cotton orders as usual. Baoluo returns the day after tomorrow – he’ll be responsible for this from then on, you won’t need to manage both sides. Go back and write a handover memo…”

Zhao Huaisheng nodded, memorizing these instructions, smiling bitterly inside.

This was exactly her style. He’d experienced it during Boya’s joint management period. The more anxious and angry she felt inside, the better she disguised it on the surface. Fast speech, clear logic, inexplicably heightened spirits, walking as if wanting to run, as if desperately throwing herself into work, could temporarily forget those troublesome matters.

Having just cried, she immediately started damage control energetically. Zhao Huaisheng couldn’t help worrying: “What about you? Don’t you need a day’s rest?”

Finally turning onto the settlement’s wide road, Lin Yuchan bit her lip, dodging a roaring foreign carriage.

“Mm, request leave for me.” She said, “I’ll try to see if I can find that little girl.”