In a small alley in Pingchuan County, Xu Genbao and Wang Xiaoju carried a large cotton gin and entered the courtyard through the back door.

This is a somewhat old courtyard. The eaves are covered with pine needles, and the brick pillars at the corners of the door are covered with moss. The ground paved with blue bricks has just been swept, so it is clear that this is not a place where people live permanently.

Xu Genbao and Xiao Ju were already used to this.

Cotton carding is dirty, so the homeowners usually find an unused place to use it.

The door to the side room in the courtyard was opened, revealing a jumble of miscellaneous items, haphazardly piled tables, chairs, benches, and some trunks and bedding scattered about in disarray.

At this moment, an elderly woman led Xu Genbao and Wang Xiaoju in. She pointed to a pile of old cotton quilts in the side room and said, "These all need to be refurbished. You can take your time and do it. There's no need to rush."

Xu Genbao looked in the direction the old woman was pointing and saw that the cotton quilts were piled together and looked quite old.

The quilt fabric was worn and yellowed, with some patches on it.

Wang Xiaoju slowly walked over and carefully lifted the old quilt.

The result was that the outer cover of the quilt was old, and the inside of the quilt still had some new color, but after being piled up for a long time, the fabric was gnawed by rats and had holes, and there was also a smell of urine.

Wang Xiaoju turned to look at the old woman and gave her a bright smile: "Auntie, the cotton quilt inside is still good. We just need to change the quilt cover, which will save the family money."

She's learned from her work outside that she can't just take on any job right away; she has to check everything first.

I try to save money for the master's family, but I only do things when the master tells me to. I work hard to finish the work, but the master insists that what I did was good, and I get scolded for paying less for the work.

The old woman shook her head with a stern face: "Don't try to save money, tear it all down."

Wang Xiaoju looked at the old woman with some surprise: "Why? The quilts inside are still very new, do we need to take them all apart?"

The old woman glanced at the quilts with disdain: "This is the madam's order."

Wang Xiaoju nodded to Xu Genbao. Since the host family wanted to renovate these beddings, she would have something to do.

After some haggling, they agreed on a price for each quilt and started taking off the covers.

Xu Genbao first moved the quilts and other miscellaneous items down from the pile and placed them on the ground outside. With just a slight movement, a cloud of dust was stirred up.

Wang Xiaoju used scissors to remove the quilt cover from the quilt.

These covers are made of the finest cotton, and even though they are covered with marks from rats, they cannot hide their once vibrant colors. This must have been a wedding quilt.

After removing the quilt cover, Wang Xiaoju noticed some stains on the quilt and asked the elderly woman who had been standing nearby supervising, "Auntie, where should we put this quilt cover?"

The old woman had already covered her nose and retreated a good distance, saying in a muffled voice, "Throw it outside. The scavengers will take it away in a while. You can just re-fluff the cotton inside!"

Wang Xiaoju looked at the dusty quilt and felt a little reluctant to part with it.

Such fine fabric! Once it's washed clean, we can take it back and let my mother-in-law and sister-in-law make shoes with it!

"Auntie, since your family doesn't want them, then give them to me! I'll take them back and make a pair of shoes for my child!"

The old woman clearly loathed these things. When Wang Xiaoju asked for them, she casually said, "Fine, take them back if you want, just don't let my wife see them."

Wang Xiaoju nodded happily, "Okay, I'll get ready right away."

The old woman gave a few more instructions, then closed the door and left.

Xu Genbao was still tearing the cotton into pieces, while Wang Xiaoju had already found the covered well in the corner, which was actually quite clean.

He found a cracked wooden basin in the pile of junk, used his own bucket to fetch water, soaked all the bedding and cloth covers in it, and prepared to wash them clean and take them away.

The thought of bringing home one more item filled Wang Xiaoju with enthusiasm.

The couple were busy with their own things and didn't notice that the old woman who had left was still standing behind the door, peeking.

Seeing that the two men did not suspect anything, he secretly left, circled around several alleys, knocked on a back door, and slipped inside.

This is a back alley of a row of houses, with shops in front, and few people come and go.

Behind the door stood Du's second wife. As soon as the old woman stopped, she asked anxiously, "Godmother, have those two from the Xu family been settled? Did they ask any questions?"

The old woman raised one eyebrow and squeezed out a hint of disdain, saying, "What can you doubt? That young woman's eyes lit up when she saw the rubbish, like she's gone mad with poverty."

“Madam, don’t scare yourself. There are only five months left until the eldest young lady gets married. We’ve moved to Jincheng, so nobody here knows what’s going on.”

Xu Yuxian touched her chest: "I always feel uneasy seeing my sister-in-law in the city. I still want to ask her clearly."

The old woman comforted her, "Didn't you already inquire? Two years ago, the entire Xu family village fled, and the village was burned down. Now, only a few households have returned, and no one remembers the past."

The sister-in-law you saw that day went to town; she only knew a few yamen runners and was just looking for work for the cotton carder.

If I'm really worried, I'll go find that cotton carder again in a couple of days and try to get some information out of him. These poor country folk, all it takes is a little money, and I can ask them whatever I want…”

The two talked as they walked toward the backyard of the shop.

Meanwhile, in the dilapidated courtyard, Wang Xiaoju was washing the quilt cover again and again, sweating profusely from exhaustion.

Finally, a quilt embroidered with a hundred children pattern was revealed.

“Genbao, look, this quilt cover is really beautiful, but it’s been chewed up by mice, so only the middle part is still usable.”

Wang Xiaoju stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the fruits of her hard work, feeling both happy and regretful.

Xu Genbao also lamented, "Look at this, these rich families are so willing to spend money. The finest white flowers have been wasted like this."

His hands skillfully tore open the discolored gray outer layer of the quilt, revealing a piece of pure white cotton inside.

Despite the passage of time, the cotton remains soft and elastic, clearly indicating that it was carefully selected and processed, and is of superior quality. For some unknown reason, it was simply discarded in a corner of the room to rot.

Wang Xiaoju was still chattering: "Genbao, what kind of family is this? It's such a pity, it would be so nice if they could send their unwanted things to the countryside!"

The couple had already moved to the city, and it was inconvenient for them to go further into the mountains with Wang Xiaoju.

They asked Village Chief Jiang for help again after the Lunar New Year, wanting to come to the city to work.

Jiang Zhi then sought help from Xiang Dejin and the others to inquire about cotton-fluffing jobs that involved going from house to house in the city.

This wasn't difficult; Xiang Dejin simply asked around at a few places for him.

The couple are quite hardworking and reliable, and their reputation spreads among the neighbors. They have plenty of work to do, which is better than going into the mountains. They have been doing this job ever since, and have only been home once.

I had just finished one job and hadn't even gone to the next one I had arranged before, when this old woman suddenly appeared and stopped me on the way. She insisted that I come here to work, saying that she had a few half-used quilts to refurbish.

Since Xu Genbao couldn't leave, he had to ask the next client to wait a couple of days and come to this house first.

Surprisingly, the old woman wasn't lying. Although these beddings were old, they had never been used and were almost 90% new, making them much easier to assemble.

It wasn't cleaned properly; not only did the rats chew up the quilt cover, but even the cotton wadding was soiled with urine.