If the fabric gets stained, it should be cleaned up; there's no reason to deduct money, after all, it's a state-owned enterprise.
But being scolded was inevitable. He Qiuying felt that she had raised the issue with her superiors long ago, but no one had solved it, and she was the one who was criticized, which made her unhappy.
When Ji Xia heard that there was some fabric to deal with, an idea popped into her head.
She asked in a low voice, "What should we do with this fabric? How much should we reduce the price? Will it have a serious impact?"
"Some are not serious, and some are serious. Do you want to pick out some treatment fabrics?"
When supply and marketing cooperatives have goods to sell, they will prioritize supplying internal staff and relatives.
He Qiuying casually asked, "Actually, some fabrics are of good quality and color. If the price is halved, it's almost the wholesale price, which is a great deal."
Ji Xia looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "Qiu Ying, take me to see, I'm looking for some recycled fabric!"
Seeing that there were few people in the supply and marketing cooperative, He Qiuying and Liu Hongju kept an eye out for each other before returning to the warehouse.
He led Ji Xia to the corner where the fabric was damp, took out a few pieces of cloth and showed them to her: "These few pieces are more seriously damaged; they've already turned moldy and black. They need to be cut off before they can be used."
"There are some water stains on the edge of this part..."
She showed her four or five bolts of fabric and introduced the colors: "Those bolts have beautiful colors and quality. They're being sold at cost price. They'd look great for making skirts and shirts, and it's a good deal."
Ji Xia touched the fabric; it wasn't too thick or too thin, and the colors were light shades suitable for women in summer, such as light blue, light green, and light yellow. Some of the fabrics even had small floral patterns. It was cotton, making it quite suitable for autumn clothing.
A thought struck her, and she lowered her voice to He Qiuying, "Don't let anyone know yet. Let me think about how we can use these fabrics to make some extra money."
"Make money? How do I make money?"
He Qiuying was immediately tempted by the idea of making money; everyone wants to earn some extra cash, it's just a matter of whether they have the ability.
However, she hesitated and said, "You want to resell it? No one will want it if the price is too high."
"No, I don't sell fabric. I'll bring you something to look at tomorrow, and we can discuss it further."
He Qiuying agreed, and although she had planned to have Liu Hongju spread the word about the cloth, she didn't mention it again.
Ji Xia returned to her cabinet, took out a blank notebook, and started writing and drawing.
In this day and age, there are very few young girls who don't know how to use a sewing machine and make clothes, and Ji Xia does too.
Not only that, in her previous life, after she married into the Lin family, in order to earn money to treat Lin's mother's illness, she gave up her job at the supply and marketing cooperative to her sister-in-law and went to the provincial capital to buy fashion goods.
Piracy was rampant in the 1980s and 90s, and the same was true for fashion. Once a new style sold well in the provincial capital, the same style would soon be everywhere.
Ji Xia also learned techniques such as stealing images, pattern making, and cutting from it, and even ran a small workshop!
Ji Xia is very poor now, so poor that she has to find ways to earn some extra money.
She originally had 387 yuan. Chen Jing used 35 yuan to help her exchange for a pair of jade bracelets and pendants, 300 yuan to exchange for a box, and another 30 yuan to buy food for Chen Jing.
After calculating all that, she only had twenty-two yuan left. Yesterday, before Chen Jing left, she spent two yuan to buy a pound of pastries and half a pound of milk candy for his journey, leaving her with only twenty yuan.
Feeling uneasy with no money in hand, she wanted to use the twenty yuan as capital to make money work for her.
I just checked out that discounted fabric; the quality and color are both good. The price is reasonable, and it doesn't require fabric coupons.
She wanted to try making a few sets of autumn dresses and shirts from this fabric and selling them in the supply and marketing cooperative's ready-made clothing section to make a little money.
When no one was around, Ji Xia painted two women's outfits at the counter: one was a suit, a shirt with a midi skirt, and the other was a dress.
In her past life, she had studied sketching and rendering for a period of time, and had also bought dozens of issues of Rayli fashion magazine. When she thought of fashion, she had many styles in her mind.
Of course, the styles of this era were still relatively conservative, and Ji Xia didn't make any major changes. She simply added a ruffled collar to the dress and a leather belt to cinch the waist.
The shirt in the set incorporates some Korean-style elements, with a bow on the three-quarter sleeves and polka-dot fabric, while the skirt is a solid color.
This set can be worn together or separately.
When the rendering was almost finished, Liu Hongju glanced at it curiously and her eyes lit up: "It's so beautiful! Where did this design come from? I've never seen it before!"
“My brother brought back this design a while ago. I heard that this style is popular in Shanghai now.”
"Really? Your brother bought it for you? Can I borrow it to take a look? I want to make one too?"
Liu Hongju smiled ingratiatingly and said, "I'll treat you to some meat buns."
"You like this outfit that much?"
"Of course! I really like it. You can tell at a glance that it's a new style from a big city."
Hearing this, Ji Xia was delighted and felt more confident. She smiled and reassured him, "Don't worry, I'll bring it to the supply and marketing cooperative for you to see in a few days."
"Okay, you've agreed, you can't go back on your word."
Liu Hongju was delighted and even went out of her way to get hot water for her.
As soon as Liu Hongju left, Ji Xia waved to He Qiuying, showed her the renderings, and then shared her thoughts.
He Qiuying was also amazed by the renderings and immediately agreed to her idea.
The two collaborated, with Ji Xia providing the funds to buy fabric, designing and making the clothes, and then having the finished products sold by He Qiuying through the supply and marketing cooperative, with profits split equally.
After discussing it in hushed tones, He Qiuying hesitated and said, "Should we involve Liu Hongju as well?"
"What if we don't let her participate, and she gets jealous and complains to the director?"
He Qiuying thought it made sense and nodded in agreement.
When Ji Xia got off work, she had twenty yuan of her own and borrowed another twenty yuan from He Qiuying. She bought four colors of cloth, eight feet of each color, and also bought matching thread.
Forty yuan is just the right amount of fabric for eight sets of clothes.
Carrying over thirty feet of cloth home, Sun Xiaoyu had just finished preparing dinner when she saw Ji Xia coming home from get off work and quickly came to help.
There happened to be an old sewing machine at home, and Ji Xia had already made clothes from the pieces of fabric she had given Sun Xiaoyu a few days ago, and she was wearing them.
Seeing Sun Xiaoyu's new clothes, a simple style, slightly cinched at the waist, they looked quite nice.
Ji Xia looked her up and down in surprise: "Did you make these clothes yourself? They look really good on you."
Upon hearing this, Sun Xiaoyu smiled shyly and said, "I'll just try it out."
"Why be modest? Good is good, be confident."
As Ji Xia spoke, she tugged at Xiaoyu's sleeve to examine the stitching and design, and her eyes lit up: "Xiaoyu, your sewing is quite good. Are you interested in making money together?"
"Make money? How do I make money?"
Sun Xiaoyu glanced at her suspiciously, then subconsciously looked at the fabric she was holding.
"You guessed right, it's about making money by making clothes. We'll discuss it properly after dinner."
Seeing Ji Xia and Sun Xiaoyu getting along well, Old Man Sun chuckled with his hands behind his back.
Because she had something on her mind, Ji Xia had no appetite for cooking and just made two dishes. After dinner, she pulled Sun Xiaoyu aside, took out the renderings she had drawn, and explained her purpose.
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