September's wildfire,
Jiangnan's osmanthus flowers bloomed one after another,
The fragrance overflowed the market.
Luo Zhaoxue sat alone under the osmanthus tree, the wind blowing her skirt.
People passed by and whispered to her.
She was famous.
Everyone knew that there was a woman who was about to kill her brother and exile her father.
"Mr. Luo!" Only some women greeted her.
These women were dressed more fashionably than the girls of the ordinary citizens of Jiaxing. Their hair oil emitted a cheap fragrance,
Their floral dresses,
The cheap silk flowers in their hair buns,
They swaggered down the street every morning,
Ignoring the pedestrians' sizing up.
These were the female workers.
Following behind the rebels into Jiaxing, other than those strange scholars, were the factories that were emitting black smoke,
The big-bellied businessmen, and these "shameless" (in the words of the Jiaxing citizens) foreign female workers.
The factories also wanted to hire local girls in Jiaxing, but who dared to send their daughters in? As long as they were shameless,
They would rather have girls at home weaving and embroidering than go to the recruitment place.
The people of Jiaxing were quite doubtful about the origins of these female workers.
They did not care about dignity,
They were in the same room as the male workers,
They teased without fear.
They did not know that a woman's virtue was shyness, thriftiness,
And diligence.
In their rare leisure time, these pale-faced unmarried women and young women,
They did not weave a foot of cloth for their family (the people of Jiaxing muttered,
It was a question whether they had a family or not,
They only knew how to choose cheap jewelry and clothes to dress themselves up in groups on the streets.
When they scattered and left the factory at night, they did not even cook, but went to restaurants!
Such lazy, shameless, and extravagant girls, could they be from decent families?
Because in a short period of time, the cheap and beautiful cloth produced by the factory had already begun to be sold in Jiaxing and was quite popular.
Therefore, all the families in Jiaxing who had some reputation were afraid that these female workers had escaped from their families, masters, or somewhere else. They were afraid that the cloth that was woven would be "dirty" and they would use "prostitute's cloth."
Even though the businessmen who opened the factory swore that these female workers were all girls from innocent families, and even found the rebels to guarantee that they were all legal.
Even though the female workers themselves swore that their husbands and fathers had agreed to it.
However, in the eyes of the people of Jiaxing Prefectural City, after witnessing the scene of a factory's security team beating up a poor man who came looking for female workers, the credibility of this story was greatly reduced.
Of course, in view of the quality and price of the cloth, people were still willing to buy it.
Luo Zhaoxue had nowhere to go since the day of the lawsuit. Yuan Du saw that she knew a few words, and that the young ladies of noble families had always wanted to learn how to manage accounts, so he asked the owner of the textile factory he was familiar with to ask her to be an accountant and supervise the work of the female workers.
The factory owner was very welcoming. Most of the workers in his textile factories were women, because they were nimble, cheap, and had nowhere else to go. For the same amount of work, the joints of men's fingers were thick, and they often did not know how to weave, so they were less patient. For the same amount of work, they always asked for a higher wage, so they were not very welcomed by the textile factory.
Although there were benefits to having female workers, it also caused the factory owner to make a difficult decision. He had more than one textile factory under his command, so he could not monitor the movements of the female workers every day. He could only hire an accountant to keep accounts and monitor them, so that the female workers would not be lazy and take back bits and pieces of cloth.
However, in view of the fact that during the spinning process, the room was too stuffy and hot, so many of the female workers would take off their clothes.
The accountant who had to patrol the factory, keep accounts, and be able to talk to the female workers about their work and read the letters he sent over to arrange for them must be literate. As long as they were literate, they would think that they had a lot of face, so who would be willing to be "disgraced" like this?
So he could only hire a female accountant. However, in this day and age, not to mention literate women, there were not many men who could even read a few words and keep accounts.
When Luo Zhaoxue came, this honest looking accountant was overjoyed. He even took advantage of the fact that the young lady, who had just left her boudoir, did not know the ways of the world and did not know how to bargain. He even lowered her salary by half.
Luo Zhaoxue did not know and did not care. At least she did not care now. Her salary had once been doubled.
She felt that she had been insulted.
She was originally the young lady of the embroidery shop who did not have to worry about food and clothing. She had maids and servants. Although her movements were restricted everywhere, she never had to be responsible for her own food or work for her tomorrow. There was even a large dowry, although she had no right to use this dowry at will. But there was always something.
Even if she became a rich lady in the future, it would be a privilege to be in charge of her husband's harem and handle her husband's wealth and concubines.
She did not work in a fit of pique. She washed her face with tears every day in the room where she lived, regretting that she had done such a stupid thing to sue her father and brother. She also resented the rebels for accepting her momentary "impulse". Sometimes, she could not help but resent the thirteenth mother for dying so violently.
The factory owner did not urge her for the sake of the rebels, but he would not give her a penny.
After about three or four days, she finally could not bear the hunger every night. She got up and made the first payment.
The moment the day's salary arrived, she held it in her hand and felt that it was about to burn through her palm. It was a complete humiliation. How could a lady do such a thing for money?
However, her stomach growled. In public. That was even more shameful.
But she had never bought food, and she did not know how to cook. She could only cover her face with quick steps. For the first time, she did not have a maidservant as her companion. She entered the restaurant by herself and ate with the female workers who she thought were vulgar and lazy.
How could such a shameful day continue?
At this moment, she only turned her head away and nodded spiritlessly. She had the right to treat it as if she had greeted them.
As a young lady born in Jiaxing, even though she was down and out, she still had the same view of these female workers as the local gentry of Jiaxing. She absolutely looked down on them.
Moreover, as the newly appointed accountant and supervisor, she knew better than anyone that the nonsense of those peddlers could not be trusted. How could they pat their chests and swear that these girls were innocent?
She had heard several female workers whispering something about "husband" and "escape and never go back" several times. What was even more excessive was that they had let slip that "the former procuress said …" and such things!
No wonder those profiteers were still willing to listen to their nonsense and send their daughters to work, even though they encouraged the female workers to wear brighter clothes outside.
The freshly baked paperboy from Jiaxing ran all the way in front of the textile factory, shouting, "News, news, news, it turns out that Xiaoxiang gentleman is a female gentleman!"
She sat listlessly under the osmanthus tree at the entrance of the factory, called the paperboy, and took a few copper coins to exchange for a rough "tabloid". She was going to monitor it for a while and kill time.
She waited until the female workers walked in one by one. She was just about to follow him in when one of the female workers, the one whom she suspected to have come from a brothel, called out to her, "Miss, are you still sitting down? I saw the militia in Xi City gather. Your father and brother will be executed today! "
Luo Zhaoxue was shocked. Her whole body trembled, and the newspaper fell to the ground. She could no longer care about today's work.
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