Chapter 51 Even dogs need raincoats on rainy days...

The construction of the covered walkway at Sangshukou was quite a novelty to the people of Sangqiaodu, causing quite a stir and spreading the word about the mending stall once again.

There are many of these covered walkways near the boat pavilion in Qinghewu. Goods are transported over the covered bridges and under the covered walkways. They are not commonly seen in Sangqiao Ferry, and people would brave the rain to go and see the spectacle.

The intersection of Sangshukou is a straight and wide road. There is a wall on the left and two bridges on the right. The covered walkway is built against the wall, which is like a floating platform on the bridge. It is widened and lengthened so that the donkey carts and carts that come to Sangshukou on weekdays are small and do not affect the passage.

The street office added four marker beams on both sides. These were four small wooden beams that grew to the height of a second floor, with two crossed wooden sticks nailed to the top. One marker beam stood next to the old mulberry tree, ending at the bridge. The other two stood at either end of the covered walkway, spanning the entire walkway. Stalls could be set up within the line connecting the two points on the marker beams. If they went beyond the area marked by the marker beams, it was considered encroaching on the street and occupying the road, which was called encroaching on the street and corridor, or fines and confiscation of goods.

Therefore, starting with the construction of the covered walkway and the erection of the marker, the mulberry tree stalls will no longer be allowed to be set up at will. They must be arranged neatly within the area where the marker is erected. As for the tax, it will remain unchanged, still two coins of commercial tax per day.

Even after the covered walkway was covered, it was still raining. It was a rare day of continuous rain, but it didn't dampen everyone's spirits. They brought oil-paper umbrellas, put on raincoats and straw hats, and came to take a look.

Chen Guihua touched her wet hair, patted the big piece of wood, and said to the others, "I paid money, I paid five hundred coins!"

"Unbelievable, even this covered walkway has taken advantage of you, Chen Guihua," Wang Yuelan retorted, even though there were several people around.

Chen Guihua snorted. If it weren't for Lin Xiushui's introduction, which allowed her to earn a considerable amount of money, she wouldn't have spent a single penny of this money in previous years.

“I also contributed more than a string of cash. Our regret is that last year, when they said we had to pay money to build a covered bridge and a rice market bridge near the bridge in front, which would cost twenty strings of cash. We thought it was too much of a loss, so not many people paid. In the end, about a hundred households along the riverbank could afford it, so we gave it to them,” the old woman said, putting away her umbrella and standing in the new covered shed, still remembering what happened last year.

Those who contributed money and those who didn't all gathered inside and outside the covered walkway. Lin Xiushui, meanwhile, found a bookstore that sold Buddhist scriptures. At the moment, woodblock printing was plentiful and inexpensive, so she gave the names she had written down to the other party and had them engraved on a piece of red paper.

The red paper, about the size of a palm, had the recipient's name printed on it first, followed by the date and year. It was for a donation to mend the covered walkway at Sangshukou. Even if a child donated only one coin, she would still record it.

This wasn't something she should have done, but carving the stone tablet would have cost ten or so strings of cash, while printing it on paper only cost her a hundred or so. She put a stack of the printed ones into red envelopes and distributed them to everyone. As for why she didn't write them herself, it's because her handwriting is ugly.

A woman wiped the rain off her hands, quickly took the gift, and smiled brightly. "Oh my, what are these words? Zhang Dahua. Yes, that's right, my name is Zhang Dahua."

"Me too, I only donated thirty coins, cough cough, how could I possibly accept that?"

"Stop smiling like that. You're grinning like an idiot. Ah Qiao, do I have one? I need to take it home and frame it."

A red envelope and red paper costing only a few coins were enough to make everyone happy. The joy of building the covered walkway did not diminish but increased, and people could sit in the empty walkway for a whole morning.

The next day was rainy and cloudy. People from all sorts of sewing stalls came out of their homes and went to the covered walkway to do their sewing. Everyone occupied a space in their old positions. The shoe repairman put his shoe pole aside, the calligraphy and painting repairman moved to a smaller table and moved his things around, and the bamboo basket repairman replaced his long bamboo with short bamboo and placed it against the wall. Lin Xiushui also replaced his large wide table with a smaller one so that everyone could walk around.

Each had its own signboard, set up against the wall. Starting from the right, Lin Xiushui led the way, with Zhou Aye, the bamboo craftsman, hanging a small bamboo basket next to her, Huang Apo, the mat mender, displaying a bundle of yellow grass, and Chen Apo, the shoe repairman, hanging a shoe last, and so on. Even if you weren't from Sangqiao Ferry, you could spot them at a glance.

Lin Xiushui leaned on the small table, listening to the rain tapping on the tiles of the covered walkway and then flowing down the tiles. In the misty rain, the number of people going out did not decrease. Some people ran up the steps at the mouth of the stream without umbrellas, covering their heads with their hands, looking around blankly. They wanted to run away, but when they saw the covered walkway, they were suddenly delighted and hurriedly ran over.

"This shed is really great! I was just worried on the boat, saying you wouldn't be able to set up your stall on rainy days. It's a lifesaver!" The man was soaked to the bone, rain streaming down his face. Seeing so many mending stalls, he looked like he was seeing a long-lost relative, his eyes welling up with tears. "Old man, my boat awning is leaking, and all the dried mulberry leaves I was carrying are soaked! This awful weather!"

Grandpa Zhou quickly got up, put on his raincoat and straw hat, picked up his sewing tools and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, I'll mend it for you. If it gets wet, I'll dry it. It's alright, it's alright."

Lin Xiushui called out to the man, "Don't worry, the boat awning is leaking, but I'll fix it for you. Do you have an umbrella? I can have someone deliver it to you. I also sell oil caps for 100 coins each."

The man wiped his face and said, "This price is cheap, come on, I'll have my father-in-law bring you the money later."

He wore an oil hat made of bamboo, which was long enough to cover his waist with oilcloth. It was also wide enough to shield him from a lot of wind and rain. His complexion brightened up for once, and he ran into the rain.

Not long after, Grandpa Zhou returned, stood outside, shook his straw hat, and smiled so much that his old face wrinkled up. "It's a good thing he set up his stall. Otherwise, with the holes in his boat, he wouldn't have made it to Qinghewu. The mulberry leaves on top are wet, but the bottom is still dry. He can at least get half of his business done."

“That’s right, I was saying rainy days are always a hassle,” Granny Huang said casually as she mended the mat.

Then a man suddenly appeared from the right, wearing a raincoat, and shouted, "Damn it, the roof of the goose shed on the west side collapsed. Can any of you come and help me fix it? I'll give you twenty coins for the ride. The geese are going to get soaked to death."

Grandma Huang slapped her own mouth, "My mouth is so bad, it always comes true, never the good."

People in the inner city of Lin'an love to eat goose more than chicken or duck. There are many large-scale goose farmers in Sangqing Town. It had been raining for several days, especially in the latter half of the night when the rain was pounding like firecrackers on the roof. The goose farmer's shed was covered with straw, and a large part of it collapsed.

Grandma Huang put on her oiled boots and raincoat, wrapped a straw mat with coarse oilcloth, and went out to show him.

It's truly a time when the Grain in Ear solar term coincides with the Ren day, marking the beginning of the plum rain season, bringing much rain and many troubles.

The new umbrella repairman had found a perfect spot. He had about ten broken umbrellas, and Granny Chen, who repaired shoes, also had a good business. Everyone was doing quite well, and there were a lot of people coming and going under the covered walkway.

Lin Xiushui is the only one who gets regular repair jobs, while others only get regular repair work. On rainy days, people specifically come to her for help.

He was a middle-aged man with a dark face, a thick black beard, and small black eyes, looking like the kind of medicated plaster sold on the roadside.

Hu San Niangzi couldn't mend a long cage cover made of white gauze, but Lin Xiushui could. She charged him ten coins and casually asked him what it was for.

He said, "It's not like ants moving house on a rainy day; I was thinking of putting something inside."

The old woman mending shoes nearby glanced at him and said, "Oh, so that big black ant is your relative? No wonder it looked familiar. Come on over to my house and take your relative with you. Your relative is quite edible."

The others laughed, but the dark-faced man wasn't annoyed. He tilted his body slightly and said, "What ants?"

"Your eldest aunt, second aunt, third aunt, I can count to fifty-six aunts for you."

“Hey, I have quite a few aunties. No, I’m catching ants and fighting insects. I’m an old hand at fighting insects,” the dark-faced man said, slapping his thigh as he sat there.

The old woman exclaimed, "If you hadn't told me, I would have thought you caught me to make some folk remedies, and I would have asked you where you set up your stall."

She promised not to go.

Lin Xiushui laughed so hard she almost dropped the needle and thread, pricking her own hand. The old woman moved her small stool aside, glanced at her, and said, "Look at you, are you sewing shoe soles or trying to open a rouge-dyeing shop on your hands? I'm afraid you'll end up with holes in your hands no matter what you do."

"Auntie, you wouldn't happen to be from Nanwazi too, would you?" The dark-faced man looked at her. He had been in Nanwazi for so many years and had never seen anyone so quick to speak.

The old woman said, "You're from Nanwazi, and I'm a tile maker; we're both in the tile business."

She's quick-witted and works in the hemp trade, twisting hemp threads. Twisting hemp is too boring, so she likes to use her quick wit. Even before leaving after mending her boots, she would say to everyone, "I'm off. Working in the hemp trade is like making trouble for yourself on rainy days. The more hemp, the more trouble."

Everyone said she was funny, but only the dark-faced man breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't handle her. He really was a shrewd ant-trainer in the South Wazi. People at that time called all kinds of birds, beasts, and insects "insects and ants." Being a shrewd ant-trainer meant training insects and ants. He was training ants to fight each other.

Recently, he also discovered that there were bees building a nest under the house where he lived, and he had the idea of ​​catching bees again. He took his ant trap and said to Lin Xiushui, "Make me a big black cloth to cover my whole head, except for my eyes."

"What, going to rob someone?" Lin Xiushui asked.

"That's right, others rob money, I rob bees."

Are you sure you're not going crazy? Lin Xiushui glanced at his face several times before finally asking, "Didn't you say your line of work attracts a lot of attention?"

The dark-faced young man said, "I can do that too. I can attract the wind and even my dad. Whenever I feed ants at home, my dad says, 'Take your things and get out.'"

Making a hood is not as good as making an oil hat. Her oil hat only has a slit, which can be tied around the neck to ensure that bees can't get in. She sold another one and also sold two pairs of gloves.

Anyway, gloves, oil hats, and sachets are selling well now. Just from these two items, after deducting the money for buying oilcloth, and the daily payments to Granny Zhang, Chen Shuanghua, Cai Niangzi, Zhou Niangzi, and a few cloth-cutting women, she can make a net profit of three or four hundred coins.

Moreover, the money for making table curtains for the accounting department was paid very promptly, in three installments, each payment being one string and six coins.

Lin Xiushui donated three strings of cash to rent a house and buy tables and chairs, and now she has more than eight strings of cash back. She started keeping a record of everything, making sure to set aside at least three strings of cash for rent each month.

Although she had more money and money was coming and going, she still enjoyed earning a few to a few dozen coins for mending and altering clothes. She found it quite interesting to sit there every day and listen to people gossip.

Even in the pouring rain, some people would come down to the covered walkway to ask her what she needed. She said, "The sweet bean soup sold in front of the medicine stall in Nanwazi is delicious. If I don't have some for a day, I feel restless and anxious. I have to go and have a bowl even in the rain."

“I drink it, and my daughter loves it too. She brought a basket with her, but it fell on the ground and broke. Luckily, you guys are being kind to everyone, so I’ll fix it. Otherwise, I would have had to buy another basket today.”

Some women came to Lin Xiushui and said, “I live by the Sangqiao Ferry. I met a quack doctor who insisted that my gauze clothes couldn’t be sewn. I heard that you are good at mending clothes, so I came to take a look.”

“Yes, I use strong medicine, it works quickly. Let me see what’s wrong. It’s cracked, and the stitches are coming undone, isn’t it? I’ll just stitch it up a few times,” Lin Xiushui said with a smile.

On rainy days, people of all ages and genders still love to come and watch her mend clothes. Even though they have seen her many times over the years, they still love to watch her mend the holes little by little with thread and yarn. They also love to watch her embroider, cutting out various patterns and slowly turning the holes into new designs.

Actually, I prefer her altering clothes, especially when she's lucky enough to come across a garment being altered on the spot; I really enjoy watching that.

For example, today a plump woman brought a blue cloth coat and pulled a little boy along, saying to Lin Xiushui, "This was worn by his brother and passed down to him. Please help me, young lady, to alter it to have a backless design."

The child was very unwilling and shouted, "I don't want to!"

"I just want to be naked!"

“Silly boy,” his mother said with a smile, “I’ll definitely make you go out naked.”

The others laughed, the children were puzzled, but Lin Xiushui wanted to say that going out from the crotch was almost the same as going naked, just with two extra layers of cloth.

Because the back vest is similar to a vest, but the back vest worn by children is truly sleeveless. Moreover, the side seams are slits that extend to the cuffs, leaving a little seam. When playing, the wind blows and the two sides swing up.

She made the changes quickly. She measured the child's size, drew lines to cut it out, sewed the cuffs, sewed six stitches under the armpits, and sewed the bottom edge. The back crotch was then finished.

His mother forced the clothes on the child, who hunched his neck, exposed his bare sleeves, and hugged his arms, crying, "I'm cold."

His mother still smiled and asked, "Do you still want to be naked?"

I want to wear more clothes.

Everyone found it amusing, and Lin Xiushui packed up her stall, while others continued to set up their stalls there, mending many things and solving many problems.

Sang Ying came to meet her with an umbrella, helped her pack her things, and lifted her smooth hair, which was now neatly combed and no longer messy. She handed her a warm piece of jujube cake.

She held an umbrella in one hand and carried a table in the other. "I'll take the table. You should eat quickly. My brother made this. You must be very tired every day, just like the peddler in Shanglintang, selling things, medicine, and even treating cattle and horses."

“You found out,” Lin Xiushui said, unwrapping the bamboo leaves from the sweet cake wrapper. “I’m definitely going to be a famous tailor-doctor in the future.”

Lin Xiushui felt that Chen Jiuchuan shouldn't be in the shipping business; he should be a cook. On rainy days when silkworms were free, he could work half the day and spend the other half in his own kitchen, stewing fragrant catfish for Mao Xiaoye and making salt-fried noodles and bamboo shoot noodles for Xiaohe.

For several days, after work, she would visit the neighbor across the street. Chen Jiuchuan was making river fish dumplings, the dough of which was made of rice flour. He was also making stuffed pork bone dumplings and thin-skinned spring cocoon dumplings.

Sang Yinghui said while eating, "Coming to town is like having a completely different soul."

“Even Zhang Shu, my cousin, has managed to make a living.”

If Zhang Shu knew, he would definitely spit a few times in anger. He's been fed half-cooked, rotten food every day, and he's just trying to make a living?

Lin Xiushui, without even looking up from her food, said, "That's great! Let him change it. I remember what he was like before anyway."

She didn't go out to freeload all the time, not because she wanted to save face, but because she was genuinely busy. After renting the courtyard, Lin Xiushui truly made the most of it, taking on the job of making curtains and draperies for the tent and drapery company.

In weddings, besides dowry, jewelry, land, pearls, gold and silver, curtains are also included; they are items that come with the wedding.

The fabric used was ramie, which has many holes and is easy to tear. The tent setter had previously entrusted the task to another tailor, who finished making the tent curtains, but did not mend the holes. As a result, when the curtains were hung on the rack, several large holes were clearly visible.

Entrusting it to Lin Xiushui was very reassuring. She could iron cloth, mend, and cut very neatly. Although the price was high, six hundred coins for a single curtain, and the work wasn't particularly fast, the Tent and Settlement Bureau was very willing to deal with her because it was worry-free and effortless, and they didn't have to worry about her all the time.

Lin Xiushui had two helpers, Sang Ying and Zhou Niangzi, to make the curtains. Zhou Niangzi paid her money, while Sang Ying helped her unconditionally. In this big house, the two helped her cut the cloth and she cut the thread. The cloth was not very wide, so it took about ten pieces of long cloth to be sewn together to create a layered effect.

The sizes vary, but all need to be exquisite. On the day before the auspicious date, someone from the Tent Setting Office will go to the new house to make the bed and hang red curtains.

Lin Xiushui was skilled at cutting and ironing, but the sewing was done by Zhou Niangzi, who was even better at mending. On rainy days, she didn't have to sweep up street trash and could concentrate on taking care of the children and mending.

She also received a tailoring job from the Little Girls' Voice Singing Society. They hadn't seen each other for a while, as everyone was busy making a living. Lin Xiushui bought many old clothes for them from Liu Ya Sao and altered many clothes according to the customs of Qiao's family, Qiao's marriage, etc.

Later, when the little girls were able to perform on the rooftops and have audiences, they gradually became well-known, and she gradually stopped caring about them.

Now, Aunt Chun came over with three little girls, holding an umbrella. Her face was glowing, and even on this gloomy, rainy day, she no longer had the same miserable look as before. Money really does nourish people.

“I brought the three of them to you, young lady, to have their clothes made. Now we can wear new clothes,” Aunt Chun wiped her hands and smiled at Lin Xiushui, her hair adorned with fresh flowers. “Our troupe has performed many shows recently, and we’ve received a lot of tips. We’ve earned quite a bit of money, and everyone can eat their fill now. They’ve even grown quite a bit taller.”

"My old clothes don't fit me anymore, so I'm thinking of making a few more new ones."

Aunt Chun straightened her back, smiled, lowered her head to tidy her hair, and then raised her head again to say to Lin Xiushui, "No need, no need for old clothes, we can make new clothes now."

"We must dress everyone in new clothes, everyone should make them."

Lin Xiushui said first, "Aunt Chun, you've finally made it through."

She laughed and said, "Perfect, now I have a place where everyone can have lots of new clothes made."

“I’ve rented a big courtyard. I’ll show you the way. If you need new clothes next time, just come over after I finish work this afternoon. I can afford new fabric now.”

"Really? I haven't congratulated you yet, young lady."

"Shouldn't we congratulate each other?"

They have both come a long way together.

She used to make clothes for those little girls in that cramped little room, touching their chests so thin that their bones bulged out. Now, on a rainy day, in a warm big house, she measures the girls' figures. They have grown taller, their hands are warm, and they have gained a lot of weight.

She put down the measuring tape, leaned against the table, and said gently, "It seems you really did eat well."

Xiao Sanhua, who spoke with a local accent, put down her hand, looked up at Lin Xiushui, and said, "We all ate well."

She gestured with her hand above her head, "Sister Qiao, you've grown taller too. You used to be a head taller than me, but now you're much taller and you've gained weight, but you look good."

They always remembered the tall, slender seamstress who took their measurements little by little and altered their oversized clothes to fit them perfectly, so that they could sing first in front of Nanwazi and then sing inside Nanwazi.

Aunt Chun gave them a full meal, and Sister Aqiao gave them new clothes to wear.

Lin Xiushui looked down at her and said, "You'll grow very tall too. Remember to ask me to make your clothes when you do."

"I'll probably be a tailor, for a very, very long time."

Inside the house, Lin Xiushui carefully measured the dimensions of all three children. The original paper patterns she had kept were no longer usable, so she had to draw some new ones. She also liked times like this, when everyone would come to her to have their clothes remade because they had grown taller or fatter.

The measurements she wrote down in her notebook recorded everyone's growth and changes, as they quietly grew taller as the days slowly flowed by.

Lin Xiushui picked up the measuring tape again and said to Aunt Chun beside her, "Auntie, why don't you make yourself a new dress too?"

“You wore these two green outfits when you came before, and you’re still wearing these two outfits now. Just think of it as me trying to make money off you by making clothes.”

"I'll pass," Aunt Chun waved her hands repeatedly. She was perfectly fine in her old clothes. It would be too expensive to dress her in new clothes; the money would be enough to buy a lot of rice.

Lin Xiushui took her hand and said, "It costs 300 coins to alter old clothes. I'm doing this because we're friends. Consider it a treat for yourself. You've had a tough time too."

“You too,” Aunt Chun’s lips moved, and she only said these four words softly in the end.

Finally, Lin Xiushui took Chun Da Niang's measurements, let her choose a dress, and altered it to fit her, making her look younger than her forties.

Altering and making clothes takes a lot of time. Lin Xiushui closed the door, opened an umbrella, and saw them out. In the vast rain, she watched them lean on each other and slowly walk through one puddle after another. It was like this before, and it will be like this in the future.

Lin Xiushui then smiled again. Wang Yuelan held up a large umbrella, and Xiao He, wearing an oilcloth coat and oil boots, ran over to meet her, stepping through puddles. "Sister, let's go, let's go home for dinner."

What do you want to eat?

Xiao He reached out and took her hand with her icy-cold hand, explaining earnestly but with a puzzled look: "It's time to eat. Rice, the rice that Sister Sang Ying brought."

Wang Yuelan laughed out loud and told Lin Xiushui to hide under her umbrella, which tilted to the side.

The three chatted and laughed as they crossed the bridge. People in the covered walkway were also packing up their stalls one after another. Their children came to pick them up and take them home. They said goodbye to each other in this rainy night.

When it was time to go to work the next day, Lin Xiushui also bought candied dates and sweet dew cakes to take to the head of the workshop. She had already thanked everyone when she first mentioned that she could build the covered walkway, and she even bought some fruit in private to give to the old tailor who came up with the idea.

This time, she had made about five or six tenths of the original, enough to go inside and set up her stall. She also told everyone that when she was raising money, these tailors had said they would give her some, especially Xiao Chun'e, who said she would give her the remaining money if she didn't go shopping. Of course, she didn't accept it.

She stepped at the door, took off her oilcloth, and said, "I bought some things. I'm so grateful, let's eat together."

"Xiao En, Xiao En, we don't need to say thank you."

"We still have to eat. If we don't eat, it's a waste. If we go out to eat, we'll attract ants and rats. If Manager Yao sees us, she'll scold us to death." Early in the morning, a row of people stood under the eaves, some squatting and some standing, munching on sweet dew cakes in their hands. When they saw someone coming, they would break off a piece and share it with her. It didn't matter if their hands were dirty or not, they just ate first.

Manager Yao came over from a distance, both angry and amused. After they finished eating, he said, "Ah Qiao, these two days you and Madam Du will go to the sewing workshop and help out. Madam Li fell off her donkey cart on the way here and scraped her hand. She needs to rest for a couple of days."

“Li Jin and Xiao Qi Mei have already mastered the drawnwork technique, so you should rest for a couple of days.”

Lin Xiushui agreed without hesitation. The two of them were only separated by a door, and within a month, they had both mastered the drawnwork technique and were even able to start embroidering patterns.

Du Niangzi muttered, "There are still two hundred coins left."

A woman snorted, "I knew it was this damn rain. Moss has grown on the stone steps of my house. I almost slipped and fell this morning, but luckily I managed to stay steady."

"That's right, it's infuriating. My mother-in-law also fell when she got up at night. Luckily, she didn't break any bones. The Chen Family Bone Medicine Shop on my side of the road is always packed with people."

After everyone complained a few times about the rain, Lin Xiushui took the needle and thread and went with Du Niangzi to the sewing area. Unlike the oilclothing workshop where the fabric was divided into pieces and each person was assigned a piece to sew, this time one person took all the fabric and sewed the whole garment.

It will be noted who sewed it and what kind of jacket it was, so that if there is a mistake, you can find the person directly. The lady opposite Lin Xiushui sewed a silk jacket. The one on the left is a red jacket with a front opening and narrow sleeves, and the one on the right is a peach-colored long jacket with woven flowers.

Each person had their own table and chair, a basket of needles, thread and scissors, and the front, back, and collar pieces of a jacket. Lin Xiushui was sewing a rather ordinary light green short jacket.

When she arrived at the place where the jackets were sewn, she found that the two groups of people were really different. The tailor who sewed the collars was very talkative and could talk about anything, because everyone needed to keep thinking of new designs for their collars.

It's painful not being able to eat cold rice because new rice requires new rice and new pots and pans to steam it. But there's only so much rice and pots and pans, and only a few that we know how to use. They say they just want to eat leftovers and don't want to cook new rice.

However, we should ask everyone to think, innovate, and learn new methods to make leaders.

However, for the dozens of women who were sewing the jackets, the pattern drawing and cutting had already been done by someone else, the quality of the fabric had been decided, and the style was fixed. What they could ultimately choose was the color scheme and pattern selected from the very beginning when they were measuring and drawing the lines.

The color schemes are used repeatedly, and the patterns depend on the weaver, so what they talk about most is the new materials, textures, origins, and which fabrics are the best.

As for her own family affairs, Lin Xiushui had already heard Chen Erniangzi next to her talk about just how much of a good-for-nothing her eldest son was.

She sewed and stitched until her ears were practically calloused. You see, Chen Erniangzi had also come to her to solve her mending problems. She still remembered how Chen Erniangzi had gritted her teeth and made her sew her son's torn books and broken book bags with a distorted expression.

And the hat that her son had bitten a hole in with his mouth. She said the thing she regretted most in her life was naming her son Fan. Calling him Fan so often is really annoying.

The woman to Lin Xiushui's right was worried about her daughter. She said, "I must hire a tutor for my daughter. I can't let her down."

Another woman cut the thread and said, "Then we should hire someone sooner rather than later. Your child is six years old, right? I know six-year-olds who want to learn needlework and become embroiderers, and some have even hired cooks who want to cook."

In Sangqing Town, families with some money would worry about their daughters' future, and most would teach them a trade, such as embroidery, tailoring, or cooking. Many would also start by teaching them to read and write, as people valued education these days.

As for the "guests," they were teachers who came to instruct young children. If they taught Go, playing the zither, pitch-pot, or polo, they were called "guests."

Lin Xiushui was quite interested in this, and after putting the needle aside, she asked, "How much silver does this guesthouse owner earn per month?"

"They're relatively cheap; each family only needs two hours of instruction, which costs about one string of silver. Do you have anyone in your family who wants to start their children's education?"

Lin Xiushui nodded. She wanted to find one for Xiaohe. She would be seven years old in the blink of an eye. Private schools and academies would start enrolling students in August and November, but girls rarely had the opportunity.

She thought that since Xiaohe could read, she would have a better future no matter what profession she pursued. However, she still needed to discuss it with her aunt. Moreover, it was difficult to find a good or bad patron. She would have to inquire slowly. The woman next to her had already been searching for two months.

She decided to wait until after the rainy season, but during the rainy season, she received a job.

A man wearing a tattered raincoat, carrying a large, soaking wet yellow dog, came to ask her to make clothes for the dog.

"I've heard that the young lady has made quite a few clothes. I wonder if it would be alright to make her an oilcloth?"

Lin Xiushui looked down at the big yellow dog, which shook its wet fur and barked softly at her.

Even dogs have their troubles on rainy days.

Why does it always get wet in the rain? Why is its fur always wet?

But why doesn't it stay at home on rainy days?