Remembering the mutual support between the two families, Bingniang thought that it was just a small item and there was no need to ask for wages, so she quickly replied, "You can take it back without worry."
Upon hearing this, Yunling realized that she had misunderstood, and explained, "Auntie, what I meant was how to get you to help embroider one like this, and how to calculate the payment?"
This put Bingniang in a difficult position. In the past, she would send the finished embroidery to the embroidery shop and pay whatever the owner asked for. She never had the right to set a price. Now that she was asked, she really couldn't think of a price.
Seeing her hesitation, Yunling didn't press her too hard. Since she couldn't give a price, she would go her own way. "Auntie, how about this? I'll go back and calculate the price of this garment, and then give you an estimate. What do you think?"
"Okay, that's settled."
Not to mention Bingniang, Old Lady Fan was also very happy. She knew that Old Lady Yun's family was making money, but that was their own ability, and she wouldn't use the favors between the two families to ask others for help.
Now that Sister Ling has come to our door, and my wife is capable, the two families are now connected. Who knows, we might become rich in the future. This is a great thing, a fantastic thing.
When Yunling returned home, she began to calculate. She estimated the price of the pair of briefs. First, the cotton cloth cost 500 coins per bolt. One bolt was forty feet long. Three feet of cloth could make seven to eight medium-sized briefs. Considering the wastage, one bolt should make ninety pairs. On average, each pair would cost six to seven coins in cloth.
But the beef tendon is the real highlight. This dynasty strictly prohibits eating cattle. Except for cattle that die of old age or disease, being caught will result in a heavy fine and imprisonment. Of course, this also includes those shady transactions on the black market.
A cow costs five to seven coins. Although the beef tendon is not very valuable, if you go out of your way to get it, you will have to spend two or three hundred coins. Including the journey, the pounding and tearing, it will cost about four hundred coins. The amount of beef tendon torn from a piece is probably only enough for a bolt of cloth. On average, it costs four to five coins for the tendon thread.
Excluding labor costs, the cost of a medium-sized pair of briefs is ten to twelve coins. To make a profit of 50/50, the profit is ten to twelve coins, which is twenty to twenty-four coins.
The embroidery is a demanding task, and Yunling is not good at cutting, so she plans to entrust the entire process to Bingniang, including cutting the fabric, hemming, sewing the crotch, and sewing the pleats.
The embroidered pieces by Palen and her ilk can sell for thirty to thirty-five coins each. Bingniang's embroidery will definitely fetch more than that price, perhaps even eighty to one hundred coins, or even higher. If she can't offer a good price, people might not do it.
Yunling felt an itch on her scalp, as if her brain was about to grow out. In the end, she decided to offer eight coins for each embroidery. At Bingniang's speed, embroidering ten or so of these would not be a problem. Moreover, she decided to use the reward system, rewarding her according to how many embroidered ...
"This is tentatively set at eight coins. When the quantity increases later, we will also implement a reward system. What do you think, Auntie?"
Bingniang didn't listen to anything else; she agreed to eight coins for each item. With just one item, she could make ten or so a day and earn a hundred coins, which was something she couldn't earn by embroidering handkerchiefs.
Yunling was pleased to see her so agreeable, and immediately suggested that she try ten of them so that both families could experience the comfort. Bingniang agreed.
Yunling resolved the matter of the embroiderer, and the heavy weight in her heart was naturally lifted. She stretched and saw that the leaves of the tree above her head had turned yellow. A gust of autumn wind blew by, making her shiver.
**
When Grandma Yun returned home, carrying a bag of yellowed sausage casings, she said smugly, "This morning I saw Sister Xia, who had just returned from Bianjing. She said a vegetarian sausage shop opened near the Rainbow Bridge, and she kept raving about how delicious it was."
"She said that people in the capital line up before dawn, afraid that if they are a step late they won't get any. I just think she doesn't know what's good for her. These sausages should be dried in the autumn wind and then put in a rice jar to be baked with rice for a few days. Only then will they be truly a delicacy."
"How can their sausages, which are only roasted in a kiln, compare? I can see that half-eaten sausage, the casing is tight, there's too much lean meat, it's probably a 1/9 sausage, how can it taste good? If you want to eat sausage, eat 2/8 or 3/7 sausage, if there's even a little more fat, it's too fatty, if there's even a little less, it's too tough, they really don't know what's good."
After patiently listening to Granny Yun's ramblings, Zhang said with a smile, "Mother, are you planning to dry sausages?"
"That's right. Sister Xia even laughed at me and said, 'If you're so capable, let me do it myself.' I am capable, so I immediately went to the next village to ask the Ling family, who are slaughtering pigs tonight, to leave me some lean and fatty meat. I'm going to show them what I can do."
Zhang echoed, "That's right, our mother is the most amazing."
Old Lady Yun proudly raised her chin and went to retrieve the meat early the next morning.
She and Zhang worked together. She was responsible for cutting the lean meat into chunks and mincing it, while Zhang was responsible for cutting the fatty meat into small pieces. There was a specific technique to this fatty meat; it had to be cut into small pieces with a knife. If it was pounded, it would definitely affect the texture.
Yunling was going to visit Granny Fan's house today to check on Bingniang's sewing progress, but seeing them so busy, she stopped to take a look.
Then, Granny Yun mixed the chopped lean and fatty meat together, added an appropriate amount of salt, sauce, sugar, and wine, and mixed it well again. Together with Zhang, they stuffed the meat into sausage casings.
The two worked in perfect harmony, tying a thin rope at intervals. Once finished, they broke off a small branch from a tree in the yard, sharpened one end, and then poked air holes into the sausage casing.
Yunling made her way to Granny Fan's house in quiet murmurs. Bingniang had already finished making a pair of briefs. Yunling picked them up and gently pulled them to both sides. They were very elastic, and the sides of her buttocks were well-groomed, even better than those made by machines during the apocalypse. She was extremely satisfied.
"Ling-jie, what are you going to do with this?"
“Auntie, this is our women’s underpants.” Yunling whispered in Bingniang’s ear, explaining how to use them, which made Bingniang blush.
How did you come up with that idea?
"I just... I just... I felt uncomfortable, so I came up with this idea."
Bingniang didn't suspect anything. Since the person could think of using cowhide thread to sew clothes, he must have some strange and wonderful ideas in his mind that she couldn't understand, so she didn't ask any more questions.
By sunset, all ten pairs of briefs had been sewn up. Yunling had to use all her persuasive skills to keep four of them for them to try on, and took the remaining six home.
However, Zhang and the others were a little confused when they saw the briefs.
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