Chapter 83: The Grand Opening of Manchi Jiao

Lately, there has been a lot of autumn rain, but Hong Niangzi was reluctant to use her two fine umbrellas. In the drizzling rain, she wrapped the umbrellas inside her long green jacket and braved the rain to come.

Ah Yun was very perceptive; first, she called her "Mrs. Matchmaker," and then quickly handed her a white cloth.

Hong Niangzi didn't wipe her face; she had applied rouge to her face and walked with her head down. She grabbed a handkerchief to wipe the back of her neck, looking smug. "Luckily, the rain wasn't too heavy, or my clothes would have gotten soaked."

Lin Xiushui and the tailor, who were arguing about the fabric, both looked at the umbrella in her arms. It was truly rare to see someone who had an umbrella but couldn't bear to let it get wet in the rain, insisting on getting wet themselves.

“My lady, you’ve come at the perfect time. The pattern for the dress is finished,” Lin Xiushui said, moving the paperweight aside and showing the paper to Hong Niangzi.

The shop was nearly empty on a rainy day, except for a mother and daughter looking at fabrics. When the matchmaker heard this, she first placed the umbrella horizontally on the table, took it with both hands, and said before even looking at it, "It shouldn't be too bad. I think your usual clothes are quite nice too."

After she finished speaking, her gaze was fixed on the painting. Holding the painting template, she quickly walked a few steps outside, finding the best-lit spot to examine it closely. It was completely different from what she had expected.

"This, this dress can really be made?" Hong Niangzi's hand caressed the ink-wash dress on the paper, and she turned her head, her tone full of surprise and doubt.

Lin Xiushui spoke frankly: "It depends on the material. For example, a plain silk skirt can be used for a poetry-themed skirt, but the plain silk from Lin'an this year doesn't feel very good. They've put all their effort into floral silk. We should try using Wu silk instead."

Even tailors rarely stock the plain silk fabrics of Lin'an anymore. Many of them are woven with broken silk threads, and you can feel tiny lumps when you touch or twist them. Or they are of inferior quality, a mixture of good and bad, making it impossible to guard against.

However, the craftsmanship of the gauze became increasingly exquisite, with a wide variety of names, such as cloud gauze, knot gauze, peacock gauze, spring gauze, and precious flower gauze, etc., and the prices were quite high.

The idea for the clothes was conceived, but the fabric and workmanship were lacking, so the idea was useless. Hong Niangzi was immediately struck by the sight of the two outfits; she imagined how beautiful they would look if they were made and worn, and she truly loved them. However, she also insisted on the price, saying, "Eighteen strings of cash is the most I can offer. I don't have enough money on hand. If you ask for more, I'd rather you just give me some white silk or light gauze."

She could have come up with the money before, but her family was short of money, and apart from the deposit she had already given to Lin Xiushui, she had spent all the money she had left.

A three-pleated skirt requires four pieces of fabric, roughly two bolts. A bolt of plain silk from Suzhou costs three strings of cash and two qian. With the addition of gold thread, embroidery, and calligraphy, the total cost is around eight strings of cash. This is just for one skirt, not including the upper garment and another set of gauze ink-wash skirt.

Lin Xiushui herself felt the price was too high. When she was making new clothes for herself, she wanted to use every nook and cranny of the fabric, leaving no piece of cloth behind.

But if she were asked to make two complete sets of clothes with 18 strings of cash, she could only use relatively poor materials, saving money again and again. It was like working hard for many days to prepare a grand banquet, only to find that the dish she finally got was tofu with scallions. All her efforts were in vain.

Lin Xiushui thought about how she made her fortune in the past. Besides mending, she made a living by altering clothes. She would buy some old clothes from Liu Ya Sao's second-hand clothing shop, cut and alter them, so that everyone could wear affordable clothes.

Even today, we must not forget our original profession.

“Eighteen strings of cash can’t make two sets,” Lin Xiushui said bluntly. “But there is another way. We can make one set and try to make the other one by altering old clothes.”

"Altering old clothes?" Hong Niangzi couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Although Jin the tailor didn't understand, she was definitely on Lin Xiushui's side.

Lin Xiushui is much more bold than before. She dares to say, "Eighteen Strings of Cash only makes complete sets of poetry-themed dresses. My wife has a slender waist and her lower body isn't fat. We'll use good material and make a lot of fabric for this dress. It will definitely look amazing on you."

"For that ink-wash dress, all you need to do is find a white gauze skirt and a black jacket at home, and I can make it for you at my usual price."

"If you're not satisfied, you don't have to pay."

Lin Xiushui made a boastful promise, his expression unchanged, his tone resolute, which made Hong Niangzi waver and find it difficult to make a decision.

“The rain isn’t heavy today, but it’s still quite drizzling, which is bound to be bothersome. Why don’t you wait until tomorrow when the rain stops, and then tell me after you’ve thought it through?” Lin Xiushui stuffed the drawing back into her hands.

Hong Niangzi hesitated, took Lin Xiushui's umbrella, and went home to think about it again to see if she could find a suitable white gauze dress.

"You, you could have earned more, but you were thinking of some other scheme," the tailor asked in a low voice after the matchmaker had walked away.

Lin Xiushui shrugged, "I'm going back to my old ways, trying to save money for others whenever possible."

"Using old clothes to make new dresses."

She will do what she can.

Jin the tailor couldn't stop her. Lin Xiushui always had a heart full of sincerity from who knows where. When faced with a woman who didn't have much money, she always helped her to satisfy her desire to wear new clothes in the most economical and material-efficient way.

Before noon, Hong Niangzi came again, holding an umbrella in one hand and carrying a large bundle in the other. She was panting as she placed it on the table, untied the knot, and several white dresses and black clothes fell out.

"I found this after searching through all my clothes. See if you can use it."

Lin Xiushui rummaged through the pile of white dresses and found a white gauze dress with loose pleats. Although the dress had loose pleats, it was very wide and made of white gauze. Many of the others were made of stiff silk or relatively wrinkled white ramie dresses.

Aside from the decent material and the fact that it fit Hong Niangzi well, the black mid-length jacket had no other highlights.

Lin Xiushui, however, said, "It can be changed."

If making new clothes is like tailoring them to your own specifications, basically following the patterns she drew, then altering old clothes is like adding a touch of brightness to ordinary garments.

Since returning from watching the tide, Lin Xiushui had countless ideas for making clothes. She first modified the black jacket she had on hand, which had no patterns at all. The jacket's sleeves had straight sleeves sewn together near the elbows.

She picked up a pair of scissors and unraveled the thread along the edge. Beside her were the black gauze, the gauze with black and gray hues, and the hazy gray gauze she had prepared.

Cut to the width of a large sleeve, she imagined the layers of surging tides, and on the shape of a single large sleeve, she made overlapping and curling waves at the cuffs, using black, blackish-gray and then transitioning to gray gauze.

The original narrow and tight sleeves have been transformed into wide and flowing sleeves. The black color at the placket has been replaced with white silk thread sewn to the collar, creating a subtle white line that evokes the feeling of the tide coming in.

The white gauze dress had been freshly ironed with pleats. Instead of adding new material to the white dress, Lin Xiushui cut many irregular skirt pieces based on the overlapping waves. Each piece had a different shape and the color ranged from dark to light.

During this time, Ayun came over to clear the table several times. She glanced at these crooked skirt pieces and felt a little strange and puzzled, since they really didn't look very nice.

When Hong Niangzi first saw it, she had the same feeling. She frowned slightly. The ink-wash dress in the painting was clearly layered, like the mist in the mountains. The ink that had been spread by a drop of water from the inkstone and the layered, curled skirt was completely different from this. It was very ordinary.

"Wear it like this?" Hong Niangzi asked, her hand twitching slightly, but her feet remaining rooted to the spot.

Lin Xiushui didn't explain much. She first had Hong Niangzi put on her clothes and white skirt, then wrapped the longest black ink-splashed curly skirt around her waist. The skirt meandered down, and at this point, the skirt already had a certain charm.

As each piece of the skirt was tied together, the originally plain white tulle skirt, with its varying shades of tulle and irregular shapes, did not appear bulky at all. On the contrary, it was very light and airy. The whole skirt resembled a wave rolling in the air, with the white wave on the right side that was not covered up.

Hong Niangzi covered her mouth in surprise. She tried to walk forward a little. The skirt pieces were like flowing ink, swaying slightly, as if they were really ink paintings. Every inch of them seemed to be alive, with a flowing beauty.

What surprised her most was that the skirt could be worn with any piece of fabric, without having to follow the order from longest to shortest. She could simply wear the longest piece, the black and white striped one, which would wrap around her waist layer by layer to the back of her legs, just like the ancient quju (a type of traditional Chinese kimono).

Wrap the largest and smallest pieces of gray-black gauze around the waist, their edges curving and twisting. Tie them around the left side of the waist, the bias-cut curve hanging down from the waist, shorter in the front and longer in the back, creating a sense of movement as if one wave has not yet subsided and another is about to arrive.

No matter how you style it, you can give this ordinary white tulle dress a different feel—whether it's simple, flowing, or serene—all with just these few pieces.

Hong Niangzi was practically ecstatic, nodding incessantly, wishing she could strut back and forth in the street, her skirt billowing. No one could understand the restless, almost bursting excitement in her heart.

Even the tailor couldn't help but sigh, "I think I understand now what you mean by the simplest truths."

The colors are ordinary, the skirt is plain and unremarkable, and apart from the strangely swirling shape, the colors of the skirt pieces are not particularly outstanding. However, such simple things can create an unexpected effect when paired with it.

Lin Xiushui was not entirely satisfied. She felt that with more high-quality materials, she could better express the imagery of waves and ink paintings, and she still needed to keep working hard.

She wasn't as happy as the matchmaker; she thought she should perform better, noted her shortcomings, and constantly urged herself on.

While the iron is hot, let's make that poetry skirt first. This one is very difficult. The shape is not the key point. The important thing is how to write the poems without them bleeding. The shadows of osmanthus and bamboo are to be represented by embroidery to show the illusion and reality. Where can the gold brocade be added to make it more outstanding? And how should the silver brocade be done on the pleats?

She hired ten women to help her with the project, including painting, embroidery, gold weaving, and silver thread embroidery. They worked on it for ten days, making constant changes, until they finally created this very elaborate three-pleated dress with poems.

It wasn't made of light gauze; the cut was neat, yet it had an excellent drape. In particular, the poems painted on the plain white skirt were elegant and flowing, with slender green bamboo and osmanthus shadows, and the gold embellishments were just right. This skirt made Hong Niangzi exclaim in surprise.

Wearing the deep green pleats on both sides, the skirt sways as you walk, and the poems and shadows inside seem to float along with it. Standing there, when the wind blows, the skirt sways like the moonlit shadows on the wall.

Moreover, Hong Niangzi later learned why the dress had to be made of white silk. Every time she wore it out, the light and moonlight would give the dress different luster, and even the poems and patterns on it could be appreciated in different ways. Whether she was standing or sitting, her every movement was full of charm.

Even if it's brought out more than ten years later, it will still be a dress that is in no way inferior.

The matchmaker trembled with excitement, her lips shaking as she asked, "Will this dress be made for someone else?"

Lin Xiushui shook her head: "No, my wife, you only have one umbrella, so there will only be one of its kind."

Some clothes don't need to be liked by many people. They are made with the intention of liking one person, so it is enough for them to like that person.

This is Lin Xiushui's principle in making clothes: she wants to be worthy of everyone who comes to her for clothing and not let down every garment that comes from her hands.

Hong Niangzi was stunned for a long time after hearing this before she said, "I like it very much. As long as I am here, it will be with me."

"What matters most is that you like it."

These two dresses had a profound impact on Lin Xiushui, leading her to create another dress that became a sensation for a long time.

One of the initiatives was to have Lin Xiushui launch a campaign at Shui Ji Clothing to renovate old clothes into new ones.

She said to the tailor very seriously, "Making new clothes is too expensive, and clothes for autumn and winter are even more expensive than usual. It is very difficult for everyone to spend money, and it is not easy to make them. I hope that while clothes can cover the body, they can also allow everyone to dress decently."

The difference in mindset when making these two dresses stemmed from the fact that having money allows for elaborate craftsmanship, while lacking funds means piecing things together. She can make glamorous garments as well as ordinary, fine clothes, even if made from old, worn-out garments.

The tailor couldn't refute her, and she said earnestly, "But we'll lose money."

"It's okay, I can make money. I'll make a lot of money this time."

Lin Xiushui worked in a tailor's shop, and her goal was to make money; that was the source of her confidence.

Over the course of more than ten days, she offered many good suggestions and made many changes. She sat at the head of Man Chi Jiao's room, and this time she didn't need Gu Niangzi to oversee things; everyone was willing to listen to her.

“Lotus petal strapless top,” she said, picking up the finished strapless top and touching the lining. “One side is made of silk lining and the other side is made of fine cloth lining. The edges are not finished well enough. When you bend your head or hunch your chest, it will be very prickly and uncomfortable. If you don’t believe me, try it on yourself and take it back to be altered.”

"Although the weaving skills of this batch of newly arrived Su Luo from Lin'an are poor, they can be used to make oil hats and veils, avoiding the obviously problematic parts."

No one objected. The person whose problem was pointed out blushed and quickly nodded, saying, "Manager Lin, I will correct it."

Lin Xiushui then took out a lotus-themed fabric patch that she had specially commissioned to be designed, depicting a small lotus pond scene with lotus pods on the left, lotus leaves on the right, and a lotus flower emerging from the center.

This is their "Man Chi Jiao" logo, which will be hung on every piece of clothing they sell so that everyone can recognize the logo.

Before the opening of Manchijiao Shop in Lin'an City, she went to see Zhang Lianhe, the young lady who once said she wanted to be the Flower Goddess.

Zhang Lianhe's home was very close to the tailor's workshop, just two alleys away, at the corner on the right.

When she knocked on the door, Zhang Lianhe was standing in the courtyard in a daze. When she came out and opened the door and saw Lin Xiushui, she widened her eyes in disbelief, "Madam Lin, no, A-Qiao, what brings you here?"

Lin Xiushui first put down her things and sincerely thanked them, "We've already made lotus skirts all the way to Lin'an Prefecture. We really should thank you. If you hadn't come looking for me, I wouldn't have been able to make the skirts we made later."

Zhang Lianhe quickly shook her head. The two sat in the courtyard and told each other about their recent situations. Lin Xiushui then revealed her purpose: "The shop in Lin'an is short of someone to sell lotus skirts. The monthly salary there is five strings of cash, and you can go back to town for two days out of the five days. I think you like lotus skirts so much, so if you want to go, this position will be reserved for you."

"Huh? Me?" Zhang Lianhe couldn't believe her ears at all, pointing to her face. "Me? You're inviting me?"

She couldn't believe it at all. After all, she was already sixteen years old. While everyone else was getting married and having children or working in various industries, she had accomplished nothing and could only be a parasite at home, accepting her family's arranged marriage to someone she didn't like at all.

She has had countless arguments with her family, and each time they pressure her with the excuse, "If you don't listen to me, get out of this house, and I won't give you a single penny."

For a woman like her, whose expenses all came from her family, who would only receive a dowry upon marriage, and who would then have to depend on another man, these words always terrified her like a quail, waiting to become a couple with someone else, knowing she was doomed no matter what.

"I don't know, I," Zhang Lianhe said with a bitter smile, unable to leave.

"Think it over carefully, we'll keep it for you indefinitely."

Since her departure, Zhang Lianhe has been quite restless. She is about to get engaged, but she has never even met the person she is going to marry. She tosses and turns, feeling a thousand times unwilling, yet she is also very afraid.

She thought about it for many days but didn't dare to take that step until she had another big argument with her parents. Her father was furious and said, "I've fed and clothed you and raised you all this time. Have you gone too far? If you have the guts, get out of here and don't spend another penny of your parents' money."

"Fine, I'll get out!"

The response he received was no longer the silent, tearful Zhang Lianhe, but the defiant Zhang Lianhe, who trembled and shouted even louder than him.

She walked away without looking back, crying as she went. This was supposed to be her home, a place that sheltered her from the wind and rain, but in reality, it was always windy and rainy.

Zhang Lianhe's eyes were red from crying. She really had nowhere to go, so she could only find Lin Xiushui and ask hesitantly, "Are you still taking people?"

“I, I,” she whispered, “it seems like I have no home to go back to.”

"Of course I'll accept it, but you don't look too well," Lin Xiushui said, looking at her with concern.

After Zhang Lianhe finished speaking, sobbing, Lin Xiushui said, "It's okay, we can help you."

Of course, she wouldn't do something like sending Zhang Lianhe to Lin'an immediately, causing her family to worry and make it difficult to find her. In the end, reporting to the authorities would be very troublesome. Money can solve many things, especially feigned affection.

Finally, the tailor's side stepped in to negotiate with the Zhang family, but the other side cursed loudly. The two sides couldn't reach an agreement for a while. In the end, they threatened to make Zhang Lianhe repay the 100 strings of cash she had raised. If she paid, she could leave, and they wanted to draw up a contract.

Zhang Lianhe also has two younger brothers.

She smiled silently and said, "I can pay it back."

The result of the discussion was that they could pay back three strings of cash each month.

In just a few days, Zhang Lianhe resolved this mess. She had cried until her tears ran dry. Sitting on the boat bound for Lin'an Prefecture, she felt anxious, but no tears streamed down her face.

She went down an unfamiliar road.

Little did she know that with the opening of Man Chi Jiao's business in Lin'an Prefecture, she would earn a new life for herself.

She suddenly understood the poem: "Lotus flowers can be picked in Jiangnan, their leaves so lush and green, fish play among them. Fish play among the lotus leaves to the east, fish play among the lotus leaves to the west, fish play among the lotus leaves to the south, fish play among the lotus leaves to the north."

Zhang Lianhe thought, she wasn't a lotus flower or a lotus leaf, she was a little fish.

A note from the author: