"Aunt Xiao, don't rush, we'll talk in detail later. Let's greet the guests first," Wen Qing said.

Aunt Xiao nodded, "Okay." Then she opened the cabinet, took out a small, uncovered notebook from the small drawer of the counter, and wrote down each customer's request.

For example, if someone uses Dacron to make a white shirt, they have to charge a labor fee.

For example, if you buy polyester fabric to make capri pants, you need to remember whether the thread has arrived, whether the buttons have arrived, and whether it's a front zipper or a diagonal zipper.

For example: I came to pick up yesterday's clothes today, but I owe 50 cents.

Aunt Xiao wrote them down one by one.

Wen Qing picked up a tape measure and measured the shoulder width, arm length, chest circumference, and waist circumference of the customer who wanted clothes made. She reported the numbers to Aunt Xiao and asked Aunt Xiao to write them down.

Then Wen Qing used red chalk and a wooden ruler to draw dots and lines on the white polyester fabric. Her skill level amazed the guests, who all talked about it to Aunt Xiao.

"Aunt Xiao, you've found a great helper."

"That's right, this little girl is quite capable."

"It looks quite good, and the girl is pretty too. It will be the face of Aunt Xiao's tailor shop in the future."

"..."

Wen Qing smiled but remained silent.

Aunt Xiao said without any attempt to hide it, "That's right, the floral cotton dress this young lady is wearing, and these striped sandals, were made by Wen Qing."

"Really?" the guests exclaimed in surprise.

The young woman was also surprised and looked at Wen Qing, asking, "Did you really make this dress and these shoes? How did you come up with the idea to do this?"

Wen Qing blushed slightly, then smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's just that when I have free time, I like to make some different clothes and shoes."

"Then, when you have free time in the future, could you make me some other styles of clothes? I'll pay you," the young woman said, looking like a wealthy person.

"Sure," Wen Qing agreed with a smile. In any case, she did enjoy making shoes and painting clothes when she had free time.

The young woman smiled and pointed to the floral cotton dress she was wearing, saying, "I really like this one. My cousin's classmate saw it and insisted on having an identical one made, so I came here to buy fabric to have it made. Could you make me another one? Just a different colored floral print would be fine."

"Okay," Wen Qing agreed.

"How many days will it take to get out?" the young woman asked.

Wen Qing looked at Aunt Xiao, then at the records in Aunt Xiao's notebook, and then replied, "Come and pick it up in three days."

"Okay, then I'll have my cousin or her classmate come and pick it up in three days."

"OK."

Thank you.

The young woman chose the fabric, paid the deposit, took the receipt, and left.

Wen Qing then began to follow Aunt Xiao's little notebook, making a simple short-sleeved shirt and capri pants from front to back. When she sat down in front of the sewing machine again and put her feet on the pedal, she felt that she had truly returned, returned to the 1980s before she went astray.

She first idled the sewing machine for a moment to preheat it, then threaded a thin thread through the needle eye, stuffed the fabric under the needle tip, and began to concentrate as the sewing machine made a continuous thumping sound.

Summer short-sleeved shirts and capri pants are the simplest. Draw lines, mark, cut, and sew. Then, according to the customer's waist size, wrap the pants with round or flat elastic bands. While the needle and thread go around, a few stitches are also made on the elastic band to hold it in place.

In just one morning, Wen Qing finished making the simple short-sleeved shirts and pants. It was lunchtime, and there weren't many customers. Only then did she talk to Aunt Xiao about helping out at Aunt Xiao's tailor shop and about selling shoes.

Aunt Xiao poured tea and sat down opposite Wen Qing.

Aunt Xiao is also an independent woman. She doesn't get along with her mother-in-law. She has some skills, so she came to the county town to open a shop on her own. Her husband and children live in the countryside and occasionally come to visit her. She also often goes back to the countryside.

When she first got married, her husband's family looked down on her. Now that she's successful and earns a good income each month, her husband's family dotes on her and treats her son well. So she's living a good life now.

"What are your plans?" Aunt Xiao asked. "How about I pay you fifteen yuan a month?"

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Aunt Xiao, fifteen yuan is too much."

"Too much?" Aunt Xiao was puzzled. Was Wen Qing really stupid or just pretending? Now that city people's wages have increased, the average is twenty or thirty yuan. With Wen Qing's skills, she could earn at least thirty yuan a month in the city. She thought fifteen yuan was too little, but she didn't expect her to think it was too much.

Wen Qing nodded: "Too much. Aunt Xiao, as I just said, I'll help you, but my condition is that I sell shoes here. The most basic thing about selling shoes is that I need to have shoes to sell. To have shoes to sell, I have to make shoes, so I can't spend all day making clothes for you here. I have to set aside half a day to make shoes."

"You mean you work half a day?" Aunt Xiao asked.

"It takes about half a day. I come early in the morning and go home around 2 p.m.

Aunt Xiao hesitated; her true intention was to have Wen Qing stay there all day.

Wen Qing continued, "For every pair of shoes I sell here, I'll give Aunt Xiao a 30-cent bonus, as she said. Also, the fabric I use will be from your shop, Aunt Xiao. What do you think, Aunt Xiao?"

Aunt Xiao looked up at Wen Qing. She used to think that Wen Qing was clever, pretty, and beautiful, but now she realized that clever, pretty, and beautiful were not enough to describe her. She was intelligent, calm, and had an irresistible and convincing charm.

Aunt Xiao thought about it and realized that Wen Qing was right. Making shoes takes time, and she could earn three cents for each pair of shoes while sitting still. Given Wen Qing's craftsmanship and style, the shoes would definitely sell well.

Furthermore, Wen Qing had to buy the fabric for making shoes from her tailor shop.

Aunt Xiao pondered in her heart, and no matter how she calculated it, she felt that she was guaranteed to make a profit in this transaction, especially since Wen Qing's skills were truly unique in the entire county.

After thinking for a moment, Aunt Xiao spoke again, "Then I'll give you ten yuan a month for your work, but you have to guarantee that you make me no less than twenty sets of clothes a month, otherwise I'll lose money." Although Aunt Xiao said she would lose money, she was actually quite pleased with herself.

Wen Qing smiled faintly: "Aunt Xiao, don't worry, there's no problem."

"Then it's settled. However, these two days won't be paid; that's what you promised last time." Aunt Xiao was a bit stingy.

"Alright!" Wen Qing didn't mind.

After the two finished talking, Aunt Xiao prepared to start making lunch. Just as she got up and was about to ask Wen Qing what she wanted to eat, she took out a white porcelain jar lunchbox from her cloth bag. A wooden lid was attached to the lunchbox, just enough to cover the white porcelain jar tightly.

"Aren't you going to eat here?" Aunt Xiao asked.

Wen Qing smiled and said, "No, my mom prepares meals for me every day. I'll just have some boiled water later."

"What have you prepared? Let me see," Aunt Xiao asked curiously.

Wen Qing didn't actually know that when she got up in the morning, Yao Shiling had prepared everything for her, specially saving it for her to take with her. She said that she had heard that when people worked for others, they didn't provide meals, and she was afraid that Wen Qing would go hungry. She gave Wen Qing the only white porcelain jar in the house so that she could borrow some water from Aunt Xiao.

As soon as she opened it, Wen Qing was stunned.

When Aunt Xiao saw this, she smiled and said, "Wen Qing, I didn't realize your family's meals were so good. Steamed buns with cabbage and braised pork. Well, let me heat it up for you, and you can drink some hot water. I won't keep you here for a meal."

Wen Qing was stunned.

She remembered that yesterday, when they were eating braised cabbage and pork, Wen Liang and Wen Peng ate with their little mouths all greasy, exclaiming how delicious it was. But halfway through, Yao Shiling stopped them, saying they couldn't eat so much at once, or they wouldn't be able to sleep at night. So she forcibly removed a portion of the braised cabbage and pork, and now it's all in her white porcelain jar.

Wen Qing felt a lump in her throat and her eyes stung, but at the same time, she felt a warm current flowing through her heart, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up slightly.

She was grateful, grateful to have been reborn, grateful that everything was still possible, and grateful that her mother loved her so much.

After heating up the steamed buns and braised pork with cabbage, she didn't finish them all, but left more than half to take home.

Without resting after the meal, Wen Qing started working.

When Aunt Xiao saw it, she was full of praise, saying that hiring Wen Qing was a wise decision.

At 2:30 p.m., Wen Qing began packing her things to go home.

Aunt Xiao, of course, wouldn't go back on her promise, and instructed, "Don't bring your own food tomorrow, just eat here."

"No, no, my mom will definitely prepare a meal for me, I can't refuse her kindness," Wen Qing said with a smile, then pointed around the sewing machine and asked, "Aunt Xiao, do you still want these scraps of fabric?"

Aunt Xiao looked down at the ground. There were already colorful fabrics on the market. However, tailors never lacked small scraps of fabric. Sometimes, when there were too many, it would be annoying. It would be a pity to throw them away, but keeping them would take up space and be useless. Aunt Xiao waved her hand and said, "No, no, if you think they are useful, you can take them back."

"Great!" Wen Qing exclaimed happily.

Aunt Xiao smiled when she saw this. What a straightforward and honest child.

Wen Qing picked up a bunch of scraps of cloth, stuffed them into a cloth bag, left Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, crossed a street, and finally reached the main dirt road, where many goods were sold.

Wen Qing saw a stationery store that sold pens, notebooks, ink, and so on. Wen Liang was already in the first year of junior high school, but he didn't even have a fountain pen in his worn-out schoolbag. Wen Qing remembered that Wen Liang was a very good student, and she wanted to buy him a fountain pen and Wen Peng a pencil.

I went into the stationery store and checked the prices.

Xinjiacun brand fountain pens cost 66 cents each, but the blue and black ink costs 1.2 yuan. The shopkeeper said it's a good pen with good ink and doesn't easily stagnate.

A black ballpoint pen costs two cents.

A pencil costs two cents, while a pencil with an eraser costs three cents.

Wen Qing still had two or three yuan in her hand, but she didn't dare to spend it, since she hadn't received the money yet. However, she really wanted to buy some school supplies for Wen Liang and Wen Peng, so she bought a black ballpoint pen and a pencil with an eraser, spending a total of 23 cents. Then she carried the cloth bag and walked towards the dirt road.

Half an hour later, we returned to Shuiwan Village. As we passed the village entrance, our neighbors greeted us politely.

"Wen Qing is back from the county town."

"Wen Qing is back so early."

Why are you up so early today?

"..."

Wen Qing responded with a smile.

As soon as Wen Qing walked by, these people started chattering again.

At this moment, a young man stared blankly at Wen Qing's back and said, "Actually, Wen Qing is really beautiful. No one in our village is as beautiful as her. I didn't notice before, but now that she smiles more, she seems even more beautiful."

Before the young man could finish speaking, his mother slapped him across the face: "You son of a bitch! You can't have a girl like that!"

"Exactly! Beauty can put food on the table."

"Have you ever seen Wen Qing work in the fields? Besides her pretty face, she's useless, lazy, and loves to eat. She's vain, but what's so pretty about her!"

"I'm telling you, never follow Wen Qingxue, or you'll never be able to get married!"

"..."

A group of people are educating the children around them, some older and some younger. Wen Qing is clearly the negative example in Shuiwan Village, and no one should learn from Wen Qing.

Wen Qing had already arrived at her own yard. Before even entering, she saw Yao Shiling using two stools to set up a sieve and sifting wheat. While other families usually had two people working together, Yao Shiling was doing it all by herself.

"Mom," Wen Qing called out.

Yao Shiling turned her head and looked at her: "Wen Qing, why are you back so early?"

Wen Qing entered the courtyard with a smile and talked to Yao Shiling about her negotiations with Aunt Xiao.

"Ten yuan a month, and you're still selling shoes?" Yao Shiling couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that Wen Qing would change his ways and become so ambitious.

"Hmm." Wen Qing nodded and said, "I just got a job, a pair of shoes. I'm going to sell them to her for two yuan and fifty cents, and give Aunt Xiao three cents. After deducting my costs, I can make one or two yuan." Wen Qing's face was full of smiles.

Yao Shiling was genuinely happy.

Wen Qing then turned her attention to the wheat beside her and asked, "Mom, what are you doing?"

Yao Shiling said, "Isn't it time to hand over the grain? I have to clean the wheat quickly, otherwise it won't pass the inspection at the grain station and I'll have to bring it back to be sifted clean again, which is a hassle. If we miss the deadline, we'll be fined two jin of grain a day."

Wen Qing then remembered that farmers had to pay grain to the grain station every year, so he asked, "When do we pay?"

"tomorrow."

“Wen Liang and Wen Peng have classes tomorrow,” Wen Qing said. Actually, she could have gone to the grain station with Yao Shiling to hand over the grain, but Ji Yanjun’s house was right next to the grain station. On the day of handing over the grain, the line would even stretch all the way to Ji Yanjun’s door. She didn’t want to see anyone from the Ji family, at least not for the time being.

“It’s okay, I can manage on my own,” Yao Shiling said.

“No way, it’s so far, and you’re not hauling an empty cart, you’re carrying so much wheat, and the weather is so hot.” ​​Wen Qing was silent for a moment, then mustered her courage and said, “I’ll go with you tomorrow.”