"Landlord, did you need something from me?" Wen Qing asked.

"Yes," the landlord replied.

"Then come in and let's talk." Wen Qing smiled, held the umbrella up by the door, took out the key from her backpack, opened the door, and politely invited the landlord in.

The landlord was slightly taken aback when he entered the door. A month ago, the place was empty, but a month later it was spacious and bright. Not only were the corners clean, but there was also a row of lush green plants on the balcony facing the living room. The whole house was bright and pleasant.

However, the landlord couldn't focus on this; he had more important things to say to Wen Qing.

"Landlord, would you like some water? I'll go boil some now." Wen Qing put down her backpack and headed to the kitchen.

"No, no, no..." The landlord immediately called out to Wen Qing, "Wen Qing, stop busy, stop busy, I'll just say a few words and then leave."

Wen Qing turned to look at the landlord, smiling, and stood up straight, clearly very polite: "Landlord, go ahead and say it, I'm listening."

Seeing this, the landlord looked troubled, tightened his grip on the banknotes, and after a moment of hesitation, said, "Wen Qing, I'm really sorry, I can't rent this house to you anymore."

Wen Qing had already guessed this meaning, so she wasn't surprised at this moment. She asked calmly, "Why?"

A month ago, she and Pengpeng searched for a long time before finding this apartment that satisfied her. If she were to terminate the lease now, she wouldn't even have a place to live for a while.

"Well, my wife and I aren't originally from Nanzhou. We've only lived here for nearly twenty years. But, you know how it is in China—we want to return to our roots. Last month, my wife's brother passed away, which made us even more determined to go back to our hometown. So, we decided to sell this house and go back home," the landlord said honestly.

Wen Qing remained silent upon hearing this.

The landlord apologized, saying, "Wen Qing, I'm so sorry, this all happened so suddenly. Here's what we'll do: I'll give you four days to find a place. I won't charge you rent for those four days. Once you find a place, I'll help you move in. Is that alright?" With that, the landlord returned the twenty yuan rent to Wen Qing.

Wen Qing didn't answer. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Have you found a buyer yet?"

The landlord shook his head: "No, although employers now provide housing, workers without connections still can't get one. Besides, my house isn't expensive. Once it's vacant, I'll put up a sign at the entrance of the complex, and it'll sell in two or three days. It'll be perfect for my wife and me to go back to our hometown on Sunday."

Wen Qing nodded, then asked, "How much?"

"What?" The landlord didn't follow Wen Qing's train of thought. He thought Wen Qing was talking about the rent he was paying, but Wen Qing continued, "How much is this house for?"

The landlord was taken aback, thinking that there were no set prices for a house on the market, and most people just estimated a rough price. So he said, "Five hundred yuan, I'll sell it for five yuan."

Wen Qing was silent for a moment before saying, "Can I buy it?"

The landlord was taken aback and asked, "You're buying it?"

Wen Qing: "Mm."

Landlord: "Five hundred yuan is not a small amount. It's not like your family doesn't have a house to live in. Would your parents give you money to buy a house?" The landlord clearly regarded Wen Qing as a student who was asking his parents for money.

Wen Qing smiled and said, "I don't ask my parents for money; I earn my own."

"You earn it yourself?"

Wen Qing nodded, then took out four fifty-yuan bills from his pocket and said, "I just bought some fabric with the six hundred yuan I have today, otherwise it would be enough for you." He then pulled out a fifty-yuan bill and handed it to the landlord, saying, "The monthly rent is eight yuan, which is two yuan a week. That means eighteen yuan of the twenty yuan you have is mine, plus this fifty, making it sixty-eight yuan. Landlord, is this sixty-eight yuan acceptable as the price of this apartment? If I can't pay you four hundred and thirty-two yuan by Friday, I won't keep this sixty-eight yuan; consider it payment for your train tickets and late payment."

The landlord stared at Wen Qing in disbelief. He had always thought Wen Qing was a polite and likable student, but he never expected that Wen Qing would talk about houses and money so knowledgeably, with the air of a businessman. This made him suspect that Wen Qing was really making money on his own. Looking at the sewing machine on the wall, it was a Butterfly brand sewing machine. It must cost a hundred or two. Which student at Nanzhou No. 1 High School brings a sewing machine to school?

The landlord thought that Wen Qing usually dressed better than the average girl, or that she was really earning her own money. Besides, Wen Qing herself said that if she couldn't pay the 432 yuan by Friday, the 68 yuan would be given to him as a train ticket and overtime fee.

If Wen Qing had paid 432 yuan, he wouldn't have asked someone to buy the house.

In either case, the landlord would profit, so he said, "Okay, it's settled then."

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Okay."

The two then wrote a note as evidence.

The landlord then said goodbye to Wen Qing and left the house.

Wen Qing closed the door, stood by it, looking at the 150 yuan in her hand, and perhaps there were a few more yuan in change in her backpack.

She pondered where her money had gone. Overall, she had earned a lot, but the reason she had no money on hand was that all her cash had been exchanged for fabric, sewing machines, and the Fengqing Garment Shop, leaving her with no money.

Another, more important reason is that she doesn't earn enough.

Thinking about this, Wen Qing remembered the white polyester shirt, plain pants, and white leather soles that she needed to deliver to the two stores on the pedestrian street on Friday. Zhang Xiuying had already paid in full, and the other store had also paid eight hundred.

In other words, if the supply is delivered as originally planned, she may not earn 432 yuan this Friday after deducting the wages of 32 people.

“Everything happened at once. If I hadn’t gone on this spree, hadn’t treated everyone to meals, and had bought ten more sewing machines, I wouldn’t be so short of money,” Wen Qing muttered to herself. “This isn’t an excuse. The biggest reason is that I’m not earning enough.”

After Wen Qing finished speaking, she thought about it again. In order to ensure that she could earn more, she had to sell as much stock as she could within a week. Only in this way could she make a steady profit of 432 yuan, or even more.

Then… Wen Qing had a flash of inspiration and thought of a solution. She immediately rummaged through her backpack to find some change, then grabbed her umbrella and the change and hurriedly ran downstairs to the convenience store. She picked up the public phone and called the county town to find Aunt Xiao.

Aunt Xiao was so busy that she was dizzy, but when she heard Wen Qing calling, she rushed to answer the phone.

"Aunt Xiao," Wen Qing called out.

"What's up, Wen Qing? You just left and you're calling again. We can wait another day; someone will call our shop tomorrow," Aunt Xiao said with a smile.

Wen Qing wasn't interested in discussing these things, and instead asked directly, "Aunt Xiao, did you call the fabric seller?"

Aunt Xiao exclaimed, "Oh, I've been so busy, I forgot. I'll call in a bit."

"You didn't play well," Wen Qing said.

Aunt Xiao asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Don't fight yet."

"Why?" Aunt Xiao asked.

Wen Qing said, "I want to spend 600 yuan to buy 1200 yuan worth of fabric."

Aunt Xiao exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible?"

“Aunt Xiao, come to the city tomorrow and bring a change of clothes. You may need to stay with me for three or four days. If you need anything, just let Bao Hong know. If all else fails, have someone tell my mother to stay at Fengqing Garment Shop for a couple of days.” Wen Qing said, “Also, bring a six-foot narrow dark khaki cloth with you.”

"Why?"

"I'll explain everything to you in detail when you come tomorrow."

"Okay." Although Aunt Xiao was puzzled, she believed that Wen Qing was doing the right thing, so she readily agreed.

After hanging up the phone and paying the bill, Wen Qing returned to her residence with an umbrella, turned on the lights in the living room, and took out a wooden ruler, chalk, scissors, white thread, black thread, white polyester fabric, and plain weave fabric. Then she began to measure, draw, and disassemble, and then put the sewing machine on.

However, she didn't finish the stitching; instead, she perfected the most time-consuming parts of the garment, leaving one to three areas unstitched. In other words, it was a half-finished product.

After finishing two semi-finished products, Wen Qing was very satisfied, but then her stomach growled. She looked up and saw that it was already completely dark.

She was starving. Fortunately, she had bought all the kitchen utensils last week, and there was also a bag of noodles, two eggs, and a bunch of green vegetables in the kitchen. Although the leaves had drooped after two days, they were not spoiled.

After washing and chopping, Wen Qing quickly cooked a large bowl of vegetable and egg noodles. She took out the pickled vegetables that Yao Shiling had given her in a jar from her backpack and placed them on the table. Holding a bowl of noodles, she sat down at the table and ate the noodles with the pickled vegetables, slurping them down until she was sweating profusely. With a full stomach, she felt good. After washing the dishes and pots, she didn't touch her clothes again. Instead, she sat down at the table to review last week's lessons and preview tomorrow's lessons until late at night. After taking a hot shower, Wen Qing lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, after finishing her early self-study session, Wen Qing spent one cent to buy two steamed buns and a bowl of light soy milk at the school gate. After eating quickly, she began her morning classes.

As soon as I entered the classroom, I saw Ji Ningzhi.

Ji Ningzhi came to class and seemed a little more well-behaved than before. However, after only two classes, she and Xu Shanshan became friends again.

Wen Qing listened attentively to the lesson and paid no attention to her at all.

As soon as the four classes were over, Wen Qing immediately ran towards the school gate. In fact, many boys had chased after her and tried to give her love letters, which she had always kindly refused before. But today, she was in a hurry and got annoyed by the persistent attention, so she accepted one and ran away.

The boy was so happy that he jumped up and down, shouting, "Wen Qing accepted me! Wen Qing accepted me!"

Wen Qing rushed over and finally arrived at the gate of Nanzhou No. 1 Middle School.

"Wen Qing!" Aunt Xiao walked over carrying a cloth bag with the words "Feng Qing" printed on it.

"Aunt Xiao, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Wen Qing patted her chest, panting.

"It's alright, it's alright," Aunt Xiao said with a smile. "Stand for a while and catch your breath."

"It's alright, I'll catch my breath after walking around a bit." Wen Qing pulled Aunt Xiao along, and they walked to the bicycle rental place. They rented a bicycle and rode Aunt Xiao towards the suburbs.

"Wenqing, where are we going?" Aunt Xiao asked from the back of the bicycle.

"Go to the garment factory."

"Tangquan Garment Factory?"

"no."

"Where is that?" Aunt Xiao asked.

“We’ll go to whichever factory is less busy,” Wen Qing said.

How do you know which factory is free?

Wen Qing smiled and said, "I've observed that."

"Oh." Aunt Xiao seemed to understand, then asked, "Why do we need to find a garment factory?"

"Let them make clothes for us."

"Don't we have our own tailors?"

"We've got a job coming up, and we have to get it done as quickly as possible." Wen Qing pedaled hard and said, "Autumn is almost over, and we need to make the most of it and earn a good amount of money so we can afford to make winter clothes. You know, winter clothes are expensive."

Aunt Xiao only knew that Wen Qing was looking for factories to help produce clothes, just like when she asked Tang Quan Garment Factory to help make clothes last time. The main reason was that the supply could not meet the demand, so she used external forces.

However, Aunt Xiao did not know that Wen Qing had asked the factory to make semi-finished clothes.

Even the garment factory manager asked in surprise, "You want to make this garment? It's not finished yet, is it?"

“Yes, that’s how it should be done,” Wen Qing said.

How many pieces do you need?

"Wen Qing said that by Thursday afternoon, you can tell me how many pieces you want for how much you want. I will provide the fabric, needles, and thread. The labor fee is three cents per piece. I will give you a deposit of one hundred yuan first, and you can pay the rest in one lump sum after all the goods are delivered."

"Three cents is too low," said the garment factory manager.

Wen Qing laughed: "Not to mention small profits but quick turnover, you can take a piece of cloth and ask a tailor to make a set of clothes. You don't even need to provide needles and thread, and the labor fee is only a little over one yuan. A set of clothes consists of two pieces, while this is just a semi-finished product for me. What do you think?" Anyway, your factory is not doing well and is almost out of work.

Sure enough, the garment factory manager agreed, "Okay, let's sign the contract."

"Sign now."

When will the fabric be delivered?

"Two hours later," Wen Qing said.

After leaving the garment factory, Wen Qing drove Aunt Xiao to the fabric store in the city.

During this time, Aunt Xiao asked, "Wen Qing, why don't you let them make finished products?"

Wen Qing laughed: "We're all tailors. If we can make a garment that's about 80-90% accurate just by looking at the pattern, what if he steals my business if he sees the whole thing? Besides, we'll have to add our own 'Feng Qing' mark when we get back."

Before Aunt Xiao could even admire them, the two of them had already arrived at the cloth shop.

Wen Qing led Aunt Xiao straight to the fabric store, where they found white polyester fabric and black plain weave fabric. After picking and choosing, Wen Qing not only bargained down the price, but also used her aura and language skills to successfully buy more than 600 yuan worth of fabric for 300 yuan and write an IOU for 300 yuan. She signed a written agreement to pay another 300 yuan on Saturday.

Not only was the fabric shop owner not angry, but he also promoted his products, saying, "Don't worry, our fabrics are definitely better than others. You'll want to keep using them. I guarantee you'll come back on Saturday with three hundred dollars to thank me, and you'll buy more fabrics from my shop."

Wen Qing smiled and said, "If that's really so kind, I'll buy eight ounces of brown sugar on Saturday to thank you."

"Okay, little girl, I'll be waiting for you."

So the fabric shop owner called over a tricycle, ready to deliver the goods to the door.

Aunt Xiao quietly gave Wen Qing a thumbs up.

Wen Qing pulled Aunt Xiao aside and said, "Aunt Xiao, it's almost time for my class. Can you take the fabric to the clothing store by yourself with the fabric shop owner later?"

“Sure,” Aunt Xiao said. “Just based on age, I have more presence than you.”

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Okay, then this afternoon, follow my method and find another fabric shop to send the same white Dacron fabric and black plain weave fabric to the garment factory. That garment factory is state-owned, so there's absolutely no problem with its reputation. The most important thing is that you make sure you get the fabric right."

"Okay, I understand. Go back to class now," Aunt Xiao said.

"Buy some food later," Wen Qing said. "Wait for me at the school gate this afternoon, I get out of school early."

"Okay, I know. You should eat something too," Aunt Xiao said.

"Yes, I know."

Then Wen Qing rode her bicycle back to its original location, bought a pancake from a roadside vendor, ate it in a few bites, went to the school's water tap, took a couple of sips of water and gulped it down, swallowing the pancake from her throat. A feeling of fullness made her feel much better.

However, the bell had already rung, and despite rushing, I still arrived at the classroom behind our homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhao.

"You're late!" Wen Qing called out from the classroom door.

The homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhao, disliked students being late. She was about to say, "Go stand outside for a while." After all, corporal punishment of students was nothing unusual in this day and age. Some parents would even specifically instruct, "If your child is disobedient, just hit him. It's okay. Just beat him until he knows how to study." So at this moment, Ms. Zhao turned her head and stopped before she could finish her sentence. She asked with a smile, "You're sweating so much."

Wen Qing was also afraid of being punished by standing, so she lowered her head and said, "I ran here because I was afraid of being late."

"Hmm, your attitude towards learning is very positive. Come in and sit down," Teacher Zhao said kindly.

"Thank you, Teacher Zhao." Wen Qing lowered her head and returned to her seat.

Actually, my classmates were whispering to each other:

"It's amazing that the boss didn't make Wen Qing stand outside for a while."

"If you don't attend evening self-study sessions and still get the highest score in the class, your teacher won't stop you even if you go to heaven."

"That makes sense. After all, Wen Qing is the one who's studying."

"It should be said that Wen Qing is so beautiful that her face turned rosy and looked as pretty as an apple when she ran."

"Disgusting!"

"..."

As Ji Ningzhi listened to the discussion, she gritted her teeth and gripped her pen even tighter.

Wen Qing sat back in her seat and began wiping her sweat, then listened attentively to the lesson. As usual, as soon as school was over, she grabbed her bag and headed straight for the school gate.

"Wen Qing!" Aunt Xiao smiled and waved to Wen Qing from the school gate.

Wen Qing ran over and asked, "Aunt Xiao, is everything done?"

"It's all done!" Aunt Xiao exclaimed happily. "What do we do next?"

"We're getting ready to start collecting money tomorrow!" Wen Qing said with a smile.