Chapter 2: Delivering Meals "Why, are you worried about your sister?" Ruan Tao tapped Ruan Xing's head with a bit of amusement, "Don't worry, if you can run away, how can your sister not run away? Besides, a couple of hits won't matter. After all, he is our father, he can't beat me to death." You treat him as your real father, but he doesn't treat you as his real daughter! Although he won't beat you to death, he will sell you! Ruan Xing was shouting in her heart while thinking of a reason, showing a well-behaved smile, "Sister, I want to ask mom for two pieces of cloth to make a hairband. Look, my hair has grown longer." Ruan Tao touched her sister's furry head and thought for a while. She still had to wash clothes at the well at the entrance of the alley in the afternoon. The water tank at home was almost empty. She was small and not very strong, so she had to carry the water several times. If she asked her sister to deliver the meal, she could save time and go to fetch water earlier. "Okay then, come back early and don't forget to collect the dishes." "Okay sister!" Ruan Xing picked up the bowl and drank a few mouthfuls of vegetable soup and rice to fill his stomach, then he lifted the basket with some difficulty and went out. The weaving workshop where Ruan's mother worked and the gambling house where Ruan's father often went were both in the inner city, which was convenient for them. Itâs a pity that one makes money and the other spends money, which doesnât sound nice.
If I give her this money, it will be enough for her to simulate as many times as she wants! She first went to the weaving workshop, where the female workers had a quarter-hour break at noon. At this time, female workers like Ruan's mother, who were waiting for food to be delivered from home, gathered in groups of three or four at the back door and gossiped. Someone with sharp eyes saw Ruan Xing and reminded Ruan's mother, "Your Xing'er is here." Mother Ruan responded softly and turned her head. She was less than 30 years old. In modern times, she might have just graduated from college and entered the society, but here she was already the mother of two children. Her personality was as gentle as her appearance. Although she could not resist any decision made by Ruan's father because she accepted the concept of the time that a woman should regard her husband as her God, she still tried her best to love her two daughters. "Xing'er, have you been good today? Did you not make your sister angry?" "No, I helped my sister today." Ruan Xing handed over the basket, and the two of them squatted by the wall in the backyard and finished their meal. After they finished, Ruan Xing brought up the excuse he had used to fool his sister before leaving the house, "Mom, do you have any scraps of cloth? I want a flowery hairband." "Xing'er has grown up and knows how to love beauty." Ruan's mother said half-relieved and half-teasingly, "After work, I'll ask the manager for some scraps to make you a hairband." Although Ruan's mother was just a low-level textile worker in the weaving workshop, this was considered a relatively high-paying job for women of that era. After all, the loom was very expensive, and the wood plus the labor cost at least one or two taels of silver. Ordinary farm girls didn't even have the opportunity to get involved. And there are also invisible benefits. If you tell the manager about the waste materials and scraps of cloth from the weaving workshop, he will usually give some to the female workers to take home. Ruan Tao's hairbands and shoe uppers, and Ruan Xing's childhood diapers, all come from this, and it doesn't cost a penny. Ruan Xing obediently responded with a "OK", and then she thought again that her mother's weaving skills were a skill that was obvious to her. If she learned how to weave, she would be able to make money from weaving in the future. She and Ruan Tao might not be sold out by their scumbag father, and she could avoid the opportunity to come into contact with the male and female protagonists from the source. "Oh, by the way, mother, can you teach me and my sister how to weave? It's too hard for mother to earn money to support the family alone. Once my sister and I learn how to weave, we can earn money, and mother can take a break." Ruan Xing blinked her big round eyes to act cute, not considering at all that she was actually not much younger than 'Aniang'. There was no way, who made her Ruan Xing now? Everything in her past life was just like the past. If she kept thinking about it, it would affect her mentality. She should make the best of it. The most important thing for her now was to live a good life, and she also had a very ambitious goal. That is cultivating immortality! Looking at her filial little daughter, Ruan's mother's heart melted at once. She was about to speak but hesitated. Learning weaving is not something that can be learned just by talking. In the early stage, just splitting the threads can waste a lot of money. She had thought about teaching Ruan Tao to weave, but Ruan's father was unwilling to spend money on a girl. He just wanted to wait for the girl to grow up and get married in exchange for a dowry. Moreover, at that time, Ruan's mother had just given birth to Ruan Xing, and Ruan's father had quit his job. Ruan Tao had to take care of her younger sister like a little adult since she was a few years old, and also had to learn to do housework and take care of her mother who had just given birth. So Ruan's mother changed her mind and gave up the idea. "Right now at home... I'm afraid we don't have any extra money for you to practice." Mother Ruan looked apologetic.
Ruan Xing didn't expect that it would work just once. For this kind of thing, you need to plant a seed first before you can slowly work on it. She was not discouraged and said, "Mom, how about you bring back some scraps of cloth today and let my sister and I make the hairbands ourselves. See if we have talent and then decide whether to teach us, okay?" Seeing her daughter, who had always been disobedient, suddenly behaved so sensible, Ruan's mother felt even more guilty. It was all her fault. She failed to urge her husband to make progress, failed to take care of the family harmony, and failed to give birth to a son for the Ruan family to continue the family line. This caused her two daughters to suffer in life at such a young age. So she nodded slightly. Seeing that Ruan's mother agreed, Ruan Xing smiled and rushed to put the dishes and chopsticks that Ruan's mother had used back into the basket. "Mom, let me do it. You have to rest for a while before you go back to work. I'll go take food to Dad." After saying this, fearing that Ruan's mother would go back on her word, she picked up the basket and trotted out of the courtyard. The weaving shop and the gambling house were still several blocks away, and her small body didn't have the strength to walk fast. She had also wasted some time talking to Ruan's mother at the weaving shop, so by the time she arrived at the gambling house, it was almost the end of the hour of Wei. These small gambling houses where all kinds of people gather usually have secret doors. Any yard with a curtain and a few tables can become a place for gamblers and drunkards to hang out. The door is half-open, and there are a few shirtless men sitting outside. They are gang members who collect money from the gambling house and are considered thugs to catch cheats and debt collectors. While Mr. Ruan said he was following these people, he was actually just a fat sheep in their eyes. Ruan Xing walked past them, lifted the curtain and entered the inner room. The atmosphere in the small room with dozens of people was very lively. Many gamblers who were drunk were shouting at the top of their lungs, and Ruan's father was one of them. "Damn it! I don't believe that there is anyone with a better card than me in this hand! Follow me!" "Are you afraid of me? I don't believe your bad luck can turn around today, so I'll follow you!" "Hahaha, that's so refreshing. I'm following suit!" People watching around started to make a noise. "Keep raising the stakes, Ruan Shudai! Don't be a wimp!" "Haha, that's right. You won a lot of money from me a few days ago. You didn't lose all of it, did you?" The table was littered with small change and copper coins. Father Ruan's face turned alternately blue and red, and he clenched his cards tightly in his hands. What was now on the table was all his worth, and he couldn't follow up anymore. But if he played against his opponent now, he would have to pay three cards if his cards were not as big as his opponent's. This was already his best hand of the day. A pair of red cards of the same color were considered ground cards in Pai Gow. In the small secret game he played, natural cards basically never appeared. The only ground cards bigger than his were a pair of black cards of the same color. But the opponent's cards were just slightly bigger than his. Is this possible? Many men around him laughed and teased him, which made him feel even more embarrassed. He gritted his teeth and said, "If you don't follow me, I'll open a rival!" The man opposite was a short, fat man whom Ruan Xing had met once before. He had drunk with Ruan's father before. He rubbed his hands and smiled obscenely, saying, "Brother Ruan, you are too disloyal. There is nothing I can do about it. After all, I am your brother. Brother Ruan, you go first, or I go first?" At this point, the game has nothing to do with the other two families. Either the opponent's fortune is bigger than Ruan's father, and Ruan's father pays twice the silver on the table of the three families, or Ruan's father is bigger than the opponent's fortune, and all the gambling money on the table belongs to him. Ruan Xing took advantage of her short stature and agility to hide in the crowd of onlookers. Everyone's attention was drawn to the card game and no one was looking at her. Although she had never played cards before, this scene looked very much like the pig-killing game in the movies. She had a bad feeling in her heart and didn't want to deliver the meal anymore. She just wanted to run away. But she felt jealous when she saw the pile of broken silver and copper coins on the table. Last time when she came to deliver food, she quietly took one away and no one had noticed. Could she take it again this time when there were many people around? Anyway, it was all money from gamblers and gangsters, so she didn't think it would damage her morality if she took it. I don't ask for more, just for her to simulate it once more. "I'll open first!" Father Ruan placed three leaf cards, half of which were soaked by sweat, in a row in the middle of the table. He was nervous but also a little proud. "How is it? Have you ever had such a big deck of cards?" "Wow! What a pair!" "You are so lucky today!" Father Ruan gradually felt more confident as he listened to the exclamations of others, and looked forward to watching the fat man on the other side open his cards. The fat man chuckled twice, "Brother Ruan, I'm so sorry!" Three leaf cards were slowly spread out, and every time a card was revealed, Ruan's father's heart ached. Black plum blossom, red plum blossom, blue plum blossom.
Three cards of the same suit but different colors, a natural card. "How could this happen!?" Father Ruan screamed and collapsed on the chair in dismay. How could it be three of the same suit and different colors? Even if it was a pair of black of the same suit, he would not lose! There was a burst of booing all around. The fat man kept saying sorry while putting the gambling money on the table into his sleeves with great pride. Ruan Xing was concentrating on the money on the table when suddenly his father jumped up and scared everyone. He jumped up and climbed onto the table, grabbed the fat man's collar with bloodshot eyes, and shouted, "Impossible! This is impossible! You must be cheating!" "You're crazy! Cough cough... This is Seventh Master's territory! How dare you act wild here!" The fat man was strangled by Ruan's father and couldn't breathe. He rolled his eyes, coughed and shouted loudly. (End of this chapter)