Zhou Dongmei was wearing a faded yellow shirt with worn cuffs and a large ink stain on the left side of the shirt.

Jiang Xuan took the clothes, found some fabric, measured the size, and in no time, made several beautiful patches.

She knew that people at that time mostly liked symmetry, so she made two more.

Seeing a peach blossom suddenly appear on her shirt cuff, Zhou Dongmei was extremely surprised. "Oh my, are you doing magic?"

Jiang Xuan, stepping on the sewing machine, smiled and said, "Sister Mei, this is called a patch. It can cover up patches and looks nice too. I'll sew some peach leaves onto the hem for you. See, isn't it pretty?"

"Your mind is too clever. I've never thought of making patches before. But even if I did, it wouldn't matter, I don't have the skill."

"It's okay, Sister Mei. If your clothes get torn in the future, just come to me and I'll patch them for you. I have lots of fabric here, so you can match them with other clothes."

Zhou Dongmei thanked her repeatedly: "Thank you so much, sister. I won't bother you anymore. Just you and the child will have lunch today. Don't cook, come to my house for lunch. I'm all alone anyway."

"No need to trouble you, Sister Mei. I bought some groceries last night. It's hot, and they'll spoil easily if left out. I'll come to your place next time."

"Okay, I'll go now. Let me know if you need anything."

"Oh, right, Sister Mei, take this bag of candy. It's wedding candy. I haven't had a chance to give it to you yet."

"I'll pick it up tonight; it'll be too conspicuous to take it out now."

As soon as Zhou Dongmei stepped out the door, she ran into her family members chatting in the courtyard.

Although the residents in this large courtyard were indeed mixed, there were still small cliques. Basically, people from the garment factories were on good terms with each other, as were people from the machinery factories, and of course, the same was true for the military region.

Suddenly, peach blossoms and leaves appeared on Zhou Dongmei's shirt, which Wang Xiuli noticed at a glance.

She stood up abruptly and strode over, "Oh, Sister Mei, what's wrong with your clothes?"

"It was made for me by Platoon Leader Lu's family. They said it's a patch that covers the patch and looks nice too."

Wang Xiuli knew Jiang Xuan; she was the one who relayed the message when Jiang Xuan was called to school a few days ago.

"So, Platoon Leader Lu's family has this skill too?"

"Isn't that right? Don't underestimate that girl just because she's young. She's very skilled. Look, this is the insole she sewed for me. Look at the stitching, it's like she followed a ruler."

Several other military wives also came over to take a look out of curiosity.

"The workmanship is indeed good. I have a sewing machine myself, but I don't have the skill to do it."

"I heard that she made those two dresses herself, and they look even better than those from Feitian Department Store."

Wang Xiuli wasn't interested in the clothes; she was still thinking about the patches.

She has three sons, all of whom go through a lot of clothes. If she had this, she wouldn't have to worry about buying clothes anymore.

But she wasn't familiar with the person and felt embarrassed to ask them for help.

"Sister Mei, are you very familiar with Platoon Leader Lu's family?"

“Of course! We came together by train,” Zhou Dongmei said proudly, completely forgetting that she had disliked this spoiled little girl who was changing berths on the train.

"Then, could you ask her for me if she could make a few patches for me? I can trade her steamed buns for them."

After hearing what Wang Xiuli said, the other military wives also asked if they could ask for help for them as well.

"Okay, I'll ask around for you later."

Zhou Dongmei is straightforward and can't keep secrets. She said she would ask back later, but in the blink of an eye, her words reached Jiang Xuan's ears.

Jiang Xuan sat at the table, deep in thought.

Would it be more marketable if we gave away patches with breakfast purchases?

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, so she immediately found some paper and started designing patterns.

There are many children in the yard, so cartoon animal patterns would be more popular. However, animals are more complicated, and it takes time to make things like eyes and noses. So she thought she might as well make some five-pointed stars, Q-version numbers, and English letters first.

Make some more flower-shaped ones, mainly for girls and mothers.

She plans to make twenty first and try them out tomorrow.

Jiang Xuan had just finished designing the English alphabet when Dian Dian came back.

He was covered in sweat and shouted as soon as he entered the door, "I'm hungry."

Jiang Xuan put down what she was doing, walked out, and sat on the sofa as if nothing had happened.

Dian Dian asked doubtfully, "I'm hungry, why don't you go cook?"

Are you talking to me?

"Yes, it's just the two of us in this house, of course I'm talking to you."

"Then why don't you call me Aunt Xuanxuan when you talk to me?"

Dian Dian blushed and said, "Auntie Xuanxuan, I'm hungry."

Jiang Xuan stood up with satisfaction, patted his little head, and wiped his sweat with a towel. "That's right. You have to call me that from now on, okay? What do you want to eat for lunch today?"

"I want to eat pork rib noodles."

"There's not enough time to stew pork ribs right now. We have meat at home, so how about I make you some noodles with minced meat sauce? Would you like it dry or in soup?"

"Dry-mixed, but I don't want cilantro or scallions."

"Okay, I understand."

*

Jiang Xuan was chopping meat sauce when Zhang Guiying came in.

Today, Ma Xiaolan suddenly lost her temper. After dropping Xiuxiu off, she went straight to sleep. It was almost noon, and she showed no sign of getting up. There was nothing she could do; several mouths were waiting to be fed.

Upon seeing Jiang Xuan, she gave him a cold look, didn't greet him, and simply opened the nylon bag and took out two potatoes.

"Auntie, are you cooking?"

"Um."

"Auntie, there's something I was just about to discuss with you, but I haven't had the time until now."

Zhang Guiying asked sternly, "What is it?"

Jiang Xuan pointed to the toilet in the corner of the opposite wall, "Look, you've locked the toilet in our yard too, so we can't use it."

"In the summer, it's hot, and the toilets smell too strong, so we all use public toilets."

"It's okay to use public toilets during the day, but at night, when it's dark, I wouldn't dare go, let alone with two kids."

Zhang Guiying remained silent.

Jiang Xuan continued, "Besides, it's not like we haven't used the toilet. I saw Uncle Sun and Brother Sun using it."

“They were men. My daughter, my daughter Xiuxiu, and I didn’t go with them.”

Jiang Xuan slammed the cleaver into the cutting board, startling Zhang Guiying. "What, what are you doing?"

"Auntie, that's not right of you. Why do you differentiate between men and women when using the toilet? Men's urine is urine, but women's urine isn't?"

"Doesn't a man's urine have no smell? Don't argue with me about this. You see, some folk remedies say to drink a boy's urine, but why doesn't anyone drink a girl's urine?"

"No one can say for sure what the difference is between a boy's urine and a girl's urine, but we definitely need to use this toilet. If you don't open the door, I'll have to ask you to come with me to the public toilet tonight."

Jiang Xuan continued, "I usually have to get up several times a night, so I hope I don't disturb your rest."