Xiaoyue looked at Li Qianqian, nodded, and then hesitated, saying, "There might not be enough cotton. It'll be enough for just one person, but for two, it'll have to be fluffed up very thickly."

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and said, "It's okay, just do what you need to do. I'm going to the market tomorrow. I'll sell that piece of cloth and buy some cotton. You can start cutting out all the clothes first."

Li Qianqian kept her head down, focused on sewing, but her eyes were actually wet. Not wanting Xiaoyue to see, she didn't look up, and then heard Xiaoyue nagging again:

"You'll have to make your brother's shoes yourself too. There are still a lot of paper scraps in the west room; Lu Xiaomei pasted them all here." Xiaoyue thought of Lu Xiaomei again, wondering how the little bean sprout was doing now.

I need to make a pair of gloves for Xiao Ding; his little hands are red from the cold. "Can you make gloves? Your hands are smaller than yours."

"Yes, gloves are easy to make," Li Qianqian replied, her voice slightly nasal.

"Then you can cut up a pair of gloves first,"

"Don't cut it anymore, I'll just use the scraps of fabric to piece it together," Li Qianqian said without even answering.

"You're really something, aren't you? Okay, then I won't worry about anything else," Xiaoyue said with a smile.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Until the clothes are finished, you can stay at my house. That way, your dad won't worry about finding you a husband. As for cooking, we can each take a day."

Li Qianqian finally looked up at Xiaoyue and said, "Your cooking isn't very good, so I'll cook. Just tell me what you want to eat." Li Qianqian knew that Xiaoyue disliked cooking the most.

Xiaoyue happily climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), patted Li Qianqian's back, and said with a smile, "Okay, okay, whatever you make, I'll eat. Anything is fine with me, I'm not picky. The job of fetching water is mine."

Actually, for Xiaoyue's family, the only jobs they had to do were fetching water and feeding the chickens. They had prepared firewood well before winter and stored it in the doorway. Xiaoyue's family started the fire outside, so adding fuel to the fire was very convenient.

As for the cellar, it was also inside the porch. There were still many Chinese cabbages stored in the cellar. Xiaoyue used the large vat in the shack to pickle sauerkraut. There were also dried green beans and dried cucumbers hanging there.

Xiaoyue put the chicken coop and other equipment in the shed. She opened a side door in the bedroom of the shed and used a stick to cut half of the bedroom out. Every evening, she had to add firewood, partly to warm the chicken coop and partly to prevent the sauerkraut jar from freezing and cracking.

With the tasks divided, Xiaoyue decided to help Li Qianqian sew shoe soles. Sewing shoe soles was not only tiring but also required strength, so Xiaoyue decided to help Li Qianqian. As she sewed, Xiaoyue had an idea.

Since we have some cloth at home, we'll buy the black cloth from the store tomorrow to make shoe uppers. We'll finish sewing one shoe sole today and then ask the clothing store if they'll buy it.

Thinking of this, Xiaoyue asked Li Qianqian happily while sewing the shoe soles, "Can you make shoes? What kinds can you make?"

Li Qianqian was drawing lines with a piece of carbonized twig she picked up from the kitchen, without looking up. "Yes, I can. Men's shoes, women's shoes, embroidered shoes, straw sandals, and ankle boots."

Xiaoyue looked at Li Qianqian with a puzzled expression. "I remember when I was eight years old, an old family named Hua came to our village. The Hua family seemed to be a wealthy family. The couple had no children. At that time, my brother and I fainted from hunger at the Hua family's courtyard gate, and Mrs. Hua saved our lives."

Lady Hua was very skillful; she was always making clothes, shoes, or embroidering. When I visited her, I was always provided with food, so I stayed by her side for three years. She taught me how to make clothes and shoes. Then, when I was twelve, a group of people came to Lady Hua's house and took the couple away; they never returned.

"That Flower Lady and her husband must have a story to tell."

The two chatted as they worked until evening. Li Qianqian made stir-fried dried green beans and steamed millet rice. After they finished eating, they went to sleep.

The next day, Xiaoyue woke up with the rooster's crow, put the finished piece of cloth in her basket, took a shoe sole she had sewn the day before, and went out the door.

When they arrived at the Liang family's gate, they discovered that it was Liang Qi who was driving the carriage.

It was cold, and since it wasn't a holiday, there were fewer people. Xiaoyue only saw Ge Sanlin leading Da Lingzi's woman towards the oxcart. Da Lingzi was slightly plump, and Xiaoyue took a special look at her buttocks, which were quite large as they swayed.

Xiaoyue pouted and turned her head away.

Liang Qi noticed that Xiaoyue was acting strangely, so he glanced back at the two of them a few times, smiled at Ge Sanlin, and then turned back without saying anything. When it was time, Liang Qi drove the cart to the town.

Xiaoyue carried her basket into the town by herself.

Arriving at Hu's Agricultural Supplies shop, Xiaoyue pushed open the door, put down her basket, took out the summer cloth she had woven, and handed it to the shopkeeper. Since it was her first time weaving cloth, the shopkeeper only gave her 120 copper coins.

After Xiaoyue received the money, she took out the shoe soles she had sewn from her basket and asked Manager Hu, "Do you accept these kinds of semi-finished or finished products here?"

Shopkeeper Hu looked at Xiaoyue and said, "There are no shoes or clothes like these in town. You have to go to the county and find a tailor shop there. They specialize in buying these kinds of things."

Xiaoyue thanked the shopkeeper and went to Xingfei Fabric Shop. She bought four ounces of cotton for four coins and four meters of black cloth for making shoe uppers for twenty coins.

Xiaoyue then bought ten meters each of red, blue, and white silk cloth and paid four hundred coins.

On the way back, I bought ten catties of millet, ten catties of cornmeal, and five catties of wheat flour at the grain store. I also went to the market and bought five catties of fatty meat. Feeling that was enough, I went straight back to the car.

Xiaoyue was the first to arrive at the oxcart. Liang Qi was warming himself by the fire. Xiaoyue put down her basket and came to the fire. When Liang Qi saw Xiaoyue coming, he quickly took her hand and held it in his big hand to warm it.

Xiaoyue looked up at Liang Qi and said, "After you left yesterday, Li Qianqian came to my house. I have a lot of things to do next spring, and Li Qianqian will probably be staying at my house."

Liang Qi's face was red from the cold. "Then let's stay here!"

"Then it doesn't seem convenient for us to get married."

"I'm marrying you, not you taking me in as a son-in-law, so how can I live in your house?" Liang Qi flicked Xiaoyue's forehead through her thick hat.

Xiaoyue said with a wronged expression, "But there are still so many things to take care of at home. I'm planning to plant crops, clear wasteland, raise chickens, ducks, and geese next spring, right?"

Xiaoyue excitedly grabbed Liang Qi's hand and shook it, "I heard from Manager Hu today that there are people in town who collect finished clothes. I'm going to ask about making a few cotton-padded clothes and robes. If this road is passable, then I won't just be weaving cloth in the winter."

Looking at Xiaoyue's excited face, Liang Qi's eyes were sparkling. "Sure, let's go together sometime."

Liang Qi released Xiaoyue's hand. Xiaoyue looked back and saw Ge Sanlin carrying large and small bags. Behind Ge Sanlin and Da Lingzi's woman were Niu Lishi and Hu Zhushi.

"Huh?" Xiaoyue looked at the two of them in confusion, wondering how they ended up together.