Yaowen looked in the direction Sai Mui pointed and saw a thick stack of newspapers under an old-fashioned fan. He didn't rush to look through them, but instead walked to his parents' room and took out a change of clothes from a large, square wardrobe. It was really too hot that day, and he had been running around outside all morning, not only sweating a lot but also feeling sticky. He decided to take a set of clothes and a stainless steel basin to the Public Housing Estate's public restroom to take a shower.
When he first transmigrated, Yaowen was very uncomfortable with having to go to the Public Housing Estate's public restroom to shower. After all, the pungent smell in the public restroom was one thing, but the most annoying part was that people would constantly come in to use the toilet.
Although there was a tattered cloth specifically used to separate the showering area from the toilets, the distance between them was too close, making it inevitably awkward and disgusting. Once, when Yaowen was showering at night, someone came in to use the toilet, and hearing that person 'uhm-hmm-ah-ha'-ing while relieving themselves almost made Yaowen sick to his stomach.
So Yaowen made up his mind: as soon as he earned money, he would move to a new house!
Living in a Public Housing Estate was full of inconveniences. Not only did you have to queue for the toilet, and queue for showers, but sometimes you even had to queue to cook. After all, there were only a few public sinks for washing vegetables, and if everyone arrived at the same time, it would definitely waste a lot of time.
Just as he was thinking about showering, he walked into the public restroom and found that three people were already washing up inside.
The men showering inside heard the movement and all turned to look. Uncle Quan, who lived next door to Yaowen, opened his mouth and laughed, 'Yaowen, are you here to shower too!'
'Yes.' Yaowen's scalp tingled. At this time, when people were usually eating, there were already people rushing to shower.
Uncle Quan enthusiastically said, 'Then Yaowen, come squeeze in and shower with us.'
'No thanks, Uncle Quan, you all go first.' Yaowen immediately lost interest. The public restroom wasn't actually very big. Besides three squat toilets, there was only about fifty square feet (ten feet equals one square meter) of space for showering, with only two faucets. Three people showering was already very crowded, and one person was even standing directly on a squat toilet.
How was Yaowen supposed to shower like that?
Helpless, Yaowen could only take his clothes and basin back, thinking he would shower after dinner. It was hot that day, so it was easy to sweat while eating. He could take a shower, have a nap, and then in the afternoon, he would go through the newspaper agencies one by one.
Arriving at his doorstep, Li Yiping, who was cooking, was surprised to see her son return so quickly and asked, 'Why didn't you shower?'
'There were too many people, Uncle Quan and them are showering.' Yaowen said helplessly. Transmigrating brought so many inconveniences. He had thought not having a computer was already a hassle, but now it seemed even taking a shower was very troublesome.
It was fortunate that he transmigrated in the summer. If it were winter, he would freeze to death trying to shower. But Hong Kong's winters don't seem to be very cold.
'Living in a Public Housing Estate is like this, just bear with it a bit longer.' Although she had lived in the Public Housing Estate for almost ten years, Li Yiping was already familiar with the environment here, but she still hoped her son would be more comfortable. She couldn't help but advise him, 'Your Dad has already applied for the housing rights for the next batch of new Public Housing Estates. Your Dad and I went to see them. Not only does each unit have at least five hundred square feet, but it also has an independent bathroom, kitchen, and living room. The bedrooms are a bit small, but it's much better than now.'
'New Public Housing Estate?' Yaowen was first stunned, then found relevant information in his memory. It turned out that after he graduated this year, he no longer needed to pay tuition fees, and the family's finances had a surplus each month. Father Huo, Mother Huo, and Grandma had discussed it and decided to apply for housing rights in the newly built Tsz Wan Estate, paying an extra two hundred dollars a month for a brand-new Public Housing Estate unit.
In fact, Yaowen's family's financial situation was not as bad as imagined. After all, Father Huo ran a Chengcai Bookstore and cooperated with several middle schools, so there was definitely profit and he earned quite a bit of money. However, with two children studying, especially with Yaowen's university expenses being much higher, they had not moved to a new house.
Recalling these things, Yaowen felt a pang of sadness. Indeed, it was always the parents who suffered. He couldn't help but pat his chest and say, 'Mother, we don't really need a Public Housing Estate. This year, I'll buy a thousand-square-foot luxury home, and then our whole family will move in together!'
Mother Huo, Li Yiping, heard this, covered her mouth, and laughed happily, saying, 'Alright, then Mother will count on my son to buy a thousand-square-foot luxury home.'
Seeing Mother Huo's expression, he knew she didn't quite believe him and thought he was boasting. Yaowen could only sigh helplessly in his heart. If it weren't for the past month since he transmigrated, initially organizing the original owner's memories, and then busy with applying for a Hong Kong University teacher position for the original owner and his parents' dreams, he would have found a way to make money long ago, and wouldn't have had to wait a whole month.
...Several minutes later, Father Huo, Chengcai, rushed back from outside. Upon hearing that his son had successfully applied for a Hong Kong University teacher position, he was overjoyed and repeatedly said, 'My son is like me, promising, Chengcai!'
These words only earned him a fierce glare from Grandma, who said with dissatisfaction, 'If Ah Wen were like you, he'd be useless. You didn't study hard when you were in school, always running around the streets with people, saying it was for the country, but what good came of it now!'
Chengcai, hearing his Mother's words, also gave an embarrassed smile.
Back then, Father Huo followed his classmates out to protest. On one hand, everyone was doing it, and on the other hand, he could openly skip classes. Later, when the Anti-Japanese War was about to end, the Civil War began.
To avoid some trouble, Father Huo could only take his family, old and young, to Hong Kong. He originally wanted to make a name for himself, but he had very little education and lost a lot of money in business. In the end, he could only use the last bit of his ancestral property to open a bookstore, barely supporting his family.
He had been in Hong Kong for almost ten years, and Chengcai hadn't made a name for himself. The only thing worth boasting about was having a smart and handsome son.
'Alright, Mom.' Li Yiping couldn't bear to hear her husband being spoken to like that by her Mother-in-law, and she couldn't help but interject a word of comfort.
Yaowen, beside them, also picked up a piece of meat and placed it in Grandma's bowl, smiling, 'Grandma, eat your vegetables.'
'Yes, Grandma, this braised pork is really delicious.' Huo Tingting also chimed in.
'Good, good, my good boy and girl, eat, eat.' Grandma, hearing her grandchildren's words, also laughed and began to eat.
'Eat, eat.'
Father Huo, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, also smiled foolishly, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and began to eat.
Halfway through the meal, Huo Tingting stared at Yaowen's glasses and said, 'Brother, are your glasses new? They look so good, I've never seen this style before.'
Yaowen subconsciously adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, nodded, and smiled, 'Yes, they're new. My old pair had a slightly lower prescription.'
In fact, after Yaowen transmigrated, he discovered that the original owner, who was originally highly nearsighted with over five hundred degrees, had inexplicably recovered. The glasses he was wearing now had no prescription. The style was also designed by him personally, and he had the optician help him hammer them out of copper bit by bit, then coated them with a layer of gold dye.
As for why he still wore glasses even though he wasn't nearsighted anymore, one reason was that Yaowen was also nearsighted in his previous life and was used to wearing glasses. At the same time, he was about to go teach at Hong Kong University. His former teachers and director knew he was highly nearsighted, and his family also knew. If he suddenly stopped wearing them, it might be fine once or twice, but over time, people would inevitably become curious and ask questions.
After all, in this era, there was no technology for laser-cutting corneas to restore vision. So, to avoid being questioned, wearing non-prescription glasses was a good idea. Moreover, if Yaowen didn't wear glasses, he looked a bit young. Since he was about to become a teacher, he naturally needed to dress a bit more maturely, so as not to give the students the impression of being too young and incapable.
Of course, these were only some of the reasons. The most important reason was that Yaowen looked very good in glasses. Wearing glasses, especially this new pair he had custom-made by an optician based on a style he wore in his later life, made people's first impression of Yaowen one of being a scholar—refined and gentle.
Because the bookstore didn't hire staff, after lunch, Father Huo hurriedly returned to the bookstore to reopen.
Mother Huo would also go to the bookstore to help later. Recently, many students had come to buy textbooks. Sometimes, there were too many people and it was too chaotic, so Father Huo couldn't manage alone and needed her help to keep an eye out, so that some students wouldn't secretly take one or two books.
After Mother Huo also went to help at the bookstore, Grandma tidied up the small house and sat there with needle and thread, sewing a new embroidered handkerchief. This was a job given by the tailor shop on the street ahead.
Because Grandma had studied when she was young and had also been specially taught embroidery by her family, she often embroidered some knitted items to sell to the tailor shop, earning a little money to supplement the household income.
Sai Mui, Xi Mei Huo Tingting, ran out to play with her classmates after eating. Since it was a rare holiday, she naturally wanted to go out and have a good time.
As for Yaowen, he was holding the newspapers and newspaper agency information Ming Zai had helped him collect, researching which newspaper agency had higher sales and manuscript fees.
That's right, the first bucket of gold Yaowen thought of, and a way to quickly earn money, was to write novels or contribute articles to some newspaper agencies. After all, in his previous life, he was a professional screenwriter and had written a few completed, flop novels. He considered his writing skills to be decent, but as for creativity, he wouldn't mention it.
However, having been reborn in Hong Kong in 1968, there were so many novels and articles he could write. He, Yaowen, was definitely going to be a plagiarist!