Hearing what his mother said, Su Xuanhe, who had just looked like a handsome young man in his new round-necked robe, was instantly defeated. He looked at his sister in a bright yellow dress with grievance and tugged at his sleeves, "Mother, these sleeves are a bit tight..."
Yang smiled and said, "This is the right style. It saves you from crawling around like a monkey all day. The sleeves are also more comfortable to move around in."
Of course, such light-colored clothes cannot be used by naughty children to roll around in the mud on a daily basis, so Yang specifically stated: This kind of clothes can only be worn when visiting the night market on the Qiqiao Festival. On ordinary days, they should change into convenient and flexible clothing styles such as coarse linen short jackets and vests, and the colors should also be dark colors such as black, dark blue, and tan that can withstand dirt.
Su Qingluan was fine. She had recently realized the benefits of wearing men's clothes. She wore a short black shirt and a dark scarf on her head all day long, so she didn't worry about what to wear.
However, Su Qingluan was secretly surprised by Yang's craftsmanship. These three sets of clothes were made into different styles and patterns according to the ages and characteristics of the three children. They even added various details to the original fabrics. This made Su Qingluan ask:
"Mother, did you make these three sets of clothes yourself?"
Yang looked at him in surprise: "Of course I did it myself, otherwise who else could help me?"
"Oh... no." Su Qingluan touched her ear a little embarrassedly. "I saw that these three clothes are unique and exquisite. I thought they were ready-made in a clothing store..."
Yang laughed and said, "Where can we get that much money to buy ready-made clothes? A set of ready-made clothes made of ordinary fabrics would cost twenty or thirty taels."
"Twenty or thirty taels?!" Su Qingluan exploded, "You're robbing me!"
She had studied it before and found that the exchange rate in Sheng Dynasty was about one thousand coins to one string of silver. One string of silver could be exchanged for one tael of silver, and ten taels of silver could be exchanged for one tael of gold. The minimum denomination of the silver notes here was ten taels of silver or one tael of gold.
One penny is roughly equivalent to the purchasing power of one dollar in modern times in second- and third-tier cities.
So a bowl of vegetarian noodles cost about five cents, a sesame pancake cost one to two cents, and her "Roll of a Hundred Wealths" could be sold for seven or eight cents a portion because it had a lot of dishes, was large in portion, and tasted good.
A "Thousand Silk Roll" with meat added can be sold for twenty or thirty cents per portion - this is related to the different fillings.
Su Qingluan was shocked: "Are all clothing stores so expensive?"
Yang, on the other hand, asked curiously, "How much does Daya think a set of clothes costs?"
Su Qingluan thought about it, compared it to a modern set of clothes, took into account the amount of fabric, and calculated it based on the average of spring and autumn clothes. "If it's cheap, how many hundred coins would a set cost?"
"Hahaha..." Yang sighed and laughed, "Daya, just say this at home. If you go out, you have to make people laugh."
"Sister..." Su Xuanhe looked at his elder sister speechlessly, "Once, Dad bought Mom a handkerchief for over a hundred coins..."
Yang shook her head. "No wonder your sister doesn't have much of a clue about these things. I never said anything about them. Twenty or thirty taels is still relatively cheap. If you want clothes from a truly wealthy family, I heard Sister Yang say they cost hundreds of taels."
Sister Yang?
Su Qingluan thought about it and realized that her mother was talking about Aunt Yang who sold cloth.
Yang explained, "Any outfit that requires even the slightest bit of thought has to have the same color and style. Besides the size, the collar and cuffs, the hems, and the patterns, every detail needs to be carefully considered. Even if the three outfits you three have simple and refreshing patterns, it would still take me over a month to finish them, even if I worked really hard."
It's been more than a month. Su Qingluan thought about it carefully and realized that it has been a month and a half since the day she bought the material.
Thinking about it this way, Su Qingluan knew why this set of clothes was so "expensive" - in this era, there were no fully automatic assembly lines, and the labor and time costs of making clothes would definitely increase greatly, so the price would definitely be much higher than modern clothes.
"Then..." Su Qingluan pointed at the coarse linen dress Yang was still wearing and asked, "Does this also cost twenty or thirty taels?"
Yang smiled and said, "Three or five taels of silver would be enough for this kind of thing - but your clothes are already so shabby, how could you possibly have extra money to go to a shop to make clothes?" Generally, people of this level would make clothes at home, or ask acquaintances to do their sewing work in exchange for a meal.
Su Qingluan looked at her dress again, and she no longer felt the spirit or beauty of it. Now she was under immense pressure—she was wearing dozens of taels of silver! It was the equivalent of half a month's wages from her busy schedule!
As expected, people are never satisfied. I used to think that I could earn dozens of taels a month, but I still had to spend it as much as I wanted - after all, ordinary people only have three or five taels a month to support a family.
But as life gradually improved, after I had enough to eat, I wanted to eat well, eat fresh food, eat delicious food; after I had enough to wear warm clothes, I wanted to wear beautiful and fashionable clothes; and then there was that stall...
Originally, Su Qingluan thought that the family's burrito stall, plus the occasional recipes she sold at "Hongfulou", would always be enough to feed the family.
But seeing that her family had enough food and clothing, she also thought about making sure their family could live better and have a better life.
The first step was to rent a shop in the county town so that my parents wouldn't have to push a cart from Huaxi Village to the county town with lots of bags every day.
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan looked up at Yang: "Mother, I think father's shoulders seem to be uncomfortable."
When Su Xueyan heard her elder sister's words, she nodded immediately: "I saw it, Dad has been secretly rubbing his shoulders and wrists these days!"
"Maybe it's because pushing the wheelbarrow back and forth like this every day, more than ten miles back and forth, is not an easy job." Yang sighed.
Su Qingluan thought to herself: It is indeed so.
In fact, the goods on this burrito stall are as simple as she can think of.
There is no food that needs to be heated, so there is no need to prepare extra charcoal or firewood;
It's not just soup, so there's no need to carry extra water;
It's not even something that needs to be served in a container; you can just pick it up and eat it, without having to prepare special dishes...
Even so, the cart must be stocked with various vegetable cakes and oil paper every day, weighing at least a hundred pounds.
Seeing her eldest daughter thinking about something with her head down, Yang smiled and said, "What are you thinking about, Da Ya? We are a family, what can't we talk about?"
Su Qingluan thought to herself: It's something that will be discussed sooner or later anyway, and just like what A Niang said, what can't we discuss as a family?
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan looked up and said, "Mother, I want to rent a shop in the county town. What do you think?"
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