Shen Qing stared in astonishment at the white fluff flying everywhere.
Coming to my senses, I immediately went to check my down vest.
Tiny fluffy hairs kept peeking out from under the vest and on the back.
Shen Qing carefully observed the fluffiness; it was much flatter than when it was first made.
She rubbed it between her fingers and found that there were almost only two layers of fabric and some fluffy fibers with small sticks.
"Qingqing, look, rub it between your fingers. If it feels prickly like little sticks, it means it's cheap down and won't be warm..."
The stepmother's voice traveled through time and space to reach Shen Qing's ears.
That year, after she finished her college entrance exam, she deliberately chose a university in the north that was far from home in order to escape her father's small family.
Worried that she would catch a cold in the north, her stepmother took her to the mall to buy warm clothes. When she was picking out a down jacket, she said this to her.
She recalled the feeling of wearing the down jacket her stepmother had chosen for her—
There is a delicate, subtle warmth, like being enveloped in a mother's warm embrace.
The secret to all of this lies in—
Do not choose plush fabrics with stems!
The next day.
"Old Xu, go to the factory first, drop Chunju and Sulan off, then take me somewhere else!"
Shen Qing gave instructions to Lao Xu before getting into the carriage.
She pulled back the curtain and saw Cheng Zhiwen sitting inside. She paused for a moment, pretended not to see him, and sat down on her own.
He didn't speak to her directly, but his eyes were fixed on her face, observing her every expression.
The atmosphere remained tense, and no one uttered a sound.
Upon arriving at the factory, Chunju and Sulan both got out of the car. Seeing that Cheng Zhiwen was still sitting motionless in her seat, Shen Qing couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you getting off?"
"I'm going somewhere else."
Shen Qing was too lazy to talk to him anymore. She pulled back the curtain and said to Lao Xu, "Lao Xu, take me to the nearest duck farm."
Old Xu neither refused nor agreed, glancing cautiously at Cheng Zhiwen.
Cheng Zhiwen looked at Shen Qing: "What are you doing at the duck farm?"
Shen Qing ignored him and looked straight ahead: "I want to personally select the duck feathers!"
Cheng Zhiwen frowned: "Have you forgotten that you're allergic to downy hair?"
"So what if I have an allergy? I have medicine!"
"Is this how you're supposed to use the medicine?"
Sensing that he was about to lecture her again, Shen Qing got angry and forcefully pulled open the curtain to get off the carriage: "You don't know anything! All you do is lecture people!"
He had barely peeked out when Cheng Zhiwen grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back into the car.
He looked at the rash on her face that hadn't completely subsided, gritted his teeth, and said, "What kind of duck feathers do you want? I'll go get them for you!"
Shen Qing turned her face away, refusing to look at him: "Only I know what kind of duck feathers I need to collect. I have to go myself!"
Seeing her determination, Cheng Zhiwen was speechless. He let go of her and shouted loudly out of the car, "Old Xu! Go to the duck farm!"
The carriage turned around, and Shen Qing sat back in his seat.
She didn't look at Cheng Zhiwen the whole time, but instead pulled back the curtain of the car window to look outside.
The carriage first arrived at the farmers' market. Old Xu got off to ask for directions to the duck farm, then quickly got back on and headed towards the town center.
Shen Qing moved closer to the carriage door, lifted the curtain, and asked, "Are we leaving the city?"
"Hey!" Old Xu shouted, taking the opportunity of answering Shen Qing to also report to Cheng Zhiwen sitting in the car, "The merchant said that the duck farm is in Huai County, so we still have to rush to Huai County."
Shen Qing was a little annoyed.
It takes two or three hours to travel from Jiangzhou to Huai County, and I'll have to spend most of the day with Cheng Zhiwen.
She doesn't want to see him right now!
He turned to his side and closed his eyes, pretending to sleep.
As the carriage swayed rhythmically, Shen Qing actually fell asleep.
She's been so tired lately that she's been getting almost no sleep.
When I woke up again, I heard the quacking of ducks outside the car.
Shen Qing immediately got off the carriage.
All I could see were white ducks, their feathers so clean and white, they were of much better quality than those at the farmers' market!
Seeing Cheng Zhiwen talking to a man who looked like a boss not far away, Shen Qing quickly ran over.
As soon as I approached, I heard the shop owner wave his hand and say, "Either you take them all and I'll give you a discount, or I won't sell them to you at all, too much trouble!"
Shen Qing tugged at Cheng Zhiwen's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Take everything?"
Cheng Zhiwen put his arm around her shoulder and walked to the side: "The duck feathers from this farm were originally contracted to a medicinal herb merchant in Huai County for use in traditional Chinese medicine. He is willing to sell us this batch of spring feathers, but on the condition that we take them all, regardless of the part."
Shen Qing exclaimed excitedly, "You can't take it all! Some parts of the hair are unusable! Look at how I almost died picking through all that hair myself!"
Cheng Zhiwen's expression was solemn: "I know."
Both of them looked at the boss, thinking about how to persuade him, completely forgetting that they had just had a fight and had not officially made up.
Shen Qing: "Did he say how much he would charge per pound of duck feathers?"
Cheng Zhiwen: "Regardless of the cut, it's two hundred cash per pound."
Shen Qing mentally calculated the amount of down needed to make a down vest.
Take the men's version made for Cheng Zhiwen, for example; it requires 80 grams of down filling.
After deducting losses, one pound of down can make five down vests. At 200 coins per pound of down, the cost of down material for one down vest is 40 coins.
But the premise is that the hair is collected from different parts.
If the cost is not differentiated by part, a large amount of duck feathers will be wasted, and the cost of down for a men's down vest will be far more than forty coins, possibly several times that amount.
Shen Qing originally planned to sell a down vest for 700 coins. If the cost of the down exceeded 100 coins, there wouldn't be much profit.
Therefore, you can't take all the duck feathers; you have to get them from different parts!
Thinking of this, Shen Qingchao walked over to the boss.
"Hello," she said sincerely, bowing slightly to the other person, "Could I go into the duck pen to check the quality of the duck feathers?"
The other person didn't even look at her directly: "Whatever."
Shen Qing then lifted the hem of her gown and walked toward the duck pen.
Cheng Zhiwen, who was standing not far away, saw it and strode over, but she had already stepped into the duck pen.
After a spring rain, the soil in the duck pen was soft, and when you stepped in, the mud covered your ankles.
Shen Qing pulled her feet up with force and walked forward. By the time she caught a duck, her feet were covered in soft mud.
She held the duck in her arms like a precious treasure, her hand running down its back, past its wings, and finally to its belly.
It was warm, but it didn't have the soft, light, and airy feel she wanted.
She didn't believe it, so she turned the duck over and went to examine the feathers on its belly closely.
She felt that ducks, like people, must have their abdomens as their warmest spot.
Before his hand even touched the duck's belly, the duck was startled. It flapped its wings a few times and uncontrollably sprayed a string of duck droppings upwards from its anus, which bounced straight onto Shen Qing's forehead.
Shen Qing was stunned for a moment, then screamed, "Ahhhhhh!"
Upon hearing the sound, Cheng Zhiwen immediately jumped over the fence.
His feet immediately sank into the soft mud. He pulled his feet out with force and ran towards Shen Qing, stumbling along the muddy ground.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Shen Qing gripped the duck's armpits with both hands, her whole body seemingly frozen in place.
The bluish-white duck droppings flowed down the bridge of his nose, hung on the tip of his nose for a while, and then dripped onto his clothes.
Cheng Zhiwen instinctively covered his nose and took out a handkerchief with his other hand to wipe the duck droppings off her face.
“Cheng Zhiwen…” She looked up at him, stunned, “I understand…”
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