Chapter 103 has arrived before everyone.
The Miscellaneous Clothing Times' trial run was a success. The following evening, Lin Xiushui invited Sizhen, Sang Ying, and Xiao Chun'e to dinner at a food stall.
Lin Xiushui ordered braised chicken with rice noodles, eel shreds, lamb and goose soup, almond paste, and coconut wine.
The spring chill lingered, and a light rain had just fallen. The group sat comfortably indoors. Sang Ying took a sip of wine; her face was tanned somewhat from the recent wind and sun.
Sang Ying was a little depressed. She had been traveling around for the past two months to buy and resell glutinous rice for rice shops. She had just returned from buying rice in Banqiao Town and missed many exciting things.
"Oh my god, what bad timing! If I had known there would be so much to see, I definitely wouldn't have cared about round or long glutinous rice," she said, feeling truly regretful. "Back then, I was so focused on the glutinous rice that I didn't understand its appeal at all."
“I see you know a lot about rice,” Lin Xiushui exposed her. “I haven’t seen you eat less eight-treasure rice, glutinous rice lotus root, fermented rice, and red bean glutinous rice. You even fought with someone over a bag of golden hairpin glutinous rice.”
Sang Ying chuckled, "This rice wine is exceptional. I'm doing this for everyone, for your enjoyment of the food."
"Tell me quickly, I just got back not long ago, and starting from the boat pavilion at Qinghewu, everyone was hawking the Times. I was wondering about it at the time, but it turns out it was you guys who put it together. You're really amazing!"
“No, it was the two of them who did it,” Xiao Chun’e took a bite of roast goose and quickly shook her head, “but I, Yao, am convinced and admit that A Qiao and Si Zhen are indeed amazing.”
Sizhen laughed heartily, "It's not too late to praise me when I'm really as famous as Aqiao. I'm still a novice."
“I know,” Lin Xiushui nodded as she ate, showing no humility whatsoever. “I will not be arrogant or complacent.”
The three of them looked at her at the same time, and Lin Xiushui said, "I have no money."
Pshaw, she's the richest and wealthiest one here, with a net worth of over a thousand taels.
Lin Xiushui raised her glass, "I am honored, after all, I was the poorest person in the past."
She boasted, "I'm both good-looking and useful."
Xiao Chun'e chuckled, then quickly covered her mouth. Sang Ying murmured, "Are you talking about your purse?"
Sizhen added two words, "Practical".
“I used to have a simple wish, which was to be the cashier in a gold and silver exchange shop,” Xiao Chun’e said with a smile, placing her hand on Lin Xiushui’s arm. “But that’s too far away from me.”
"Right now, I think it's better to be Ah Qiao's money bag."
"I have money for every meal."
The room immediately erupted in laughter, the sound light and lively.
At the end of the meal, Lin Xiushui handed out an invitation to everyone, saying, "I'll send this to you first, so please make time to come."
After receiving the invitation and carefully examining it, Xiao Chun'e suddenly exclaimed, "Good heavens! Did you book the entire peony shed in the biggest viewing area in Beiwazi?"
The North and South Wazi are quite different. The South Wazi is located in a more remote area, and the price for watching the showroom will not exceed one or two taels of silver. Even though Lin Xiushui and Wang Erniang's Butterfly Love Flower show was very popular last year and attracted many onlookers, it still cannot compare with the North Wazi.
Many famous actors from Lin'an performed in Beiwasheli, which has five magnificent shrines and seven or eight large viewing pavilions. It is frequented by a large number of people, with the Peony Pavilion accommodating the most people. It can seat more than a thousand people in total. There are eight small pavilions connected together, forming a circular stage in the middle.
Xiao Chun'e knew very well that it wasn't that she had actually been to the Peony Pavilion, but rather that the famous actors who were very well-known to her, including those specializing in variety shows, folk songs, puppet shows, storytelling, and folk music, all resided in the Peony Pavilion and were quite famous for a time.
She almost kicked off her chair, stood up, and raised her hand to cheer for Lin Xiushui. She knew how difficult it had been for Lin Xiushui to get to where she was today as a tailor.
However, the fact that Lin Xiushui was able to arrange for the new spring collection to be displayed in Beiwazi was not because she booked the entire venue and paid for it. Even though she could earn a hundred taels a day, she would not be willing to book a viewing area that cost several thousand taels.
It was the people from Beiwazi who invited Lin Xiushui, offering over a thousand taels of silver to make two sets of costumes for Yang Congyi, the stage performer of the Zaju opera, and Li Enqi, preferably unique. Lin Xiushui has not yet agreed.
She needs to finish Sheng Qingsha's business first, as well as the Miscellaneous Clothing Times, and recruit more tailors. Many people who want her to make clothes have postponed their appointments. She needs plenty of time to finish Sheng Qingsha's final garment.
During the garment production process, Lin Xiushui delivered invitations to people she knew one by one.
The first thing given to Zhang Musheng, who had already been assigned to the watchtower, was that when he took it, he hadn't even wiped the black ash off his hands. He held onto one corner and rubbed it hard on his clothes with his other hand, but the more he rubbed, the dirtier it got.
He had no choice but to smear the powder on his face and then take it with both hands to show how much he valued it. "Sister, you know I've always loved looking at clothes and accessories since I was a kid."
"Don't be fooled by the fact that I've climbed the watchtower and stood higher this year; I haven't changed at all."
Lin Xiushui looked him up and down, her eyes fixed on the red tinge peeking out from his temples, something hard to describe, but he really hadn't changed.
Even if a good person from a certain family becomes a firefighter, they still like to wear bright red hairpins, or even peony flowers.
Lin Xiushui herself only put a few small peach blossoms in her hair. She said more than once that Zhang Musheng was a walking flower stand, and that she could always see fashionable flowers all year round on his head.
Unfortunately, it's not very easy to watch with glasses.
It takes a lot of courage to puff out your cheeks.
She looked Zhang Musheng up and down, trying to find a word to compliment his attire, but couldn't think of anything, so she simply said, "You've grown taller."
“I haven’t grown for three months,” Zhang Musheng said honestly.
Lin Xiushui said, "Remember to come and see, it might get crowded again."
"Huh?" Zhang Musheng didn't understand.
With his face covered in soot and wearing flat boots, he said casually, "I don't care anymore."
I really don't care anymore.
People don't cling to what they own.
“I will definitely go then,” Zhang Musheng said, waving to Lin Xiushui as he stood at the foot of the watchtower. He then ran into the building and climbed higher and higher up the winding staircase.
Lin Xiushui slowly walked out of the watchtower. Some people recognized her on the way and greeted her, "Ah Qiao, good morning! Have your new clothes been finished yet?"
"This issue of the Times is quite well written. What's the next issue?"
Is Shui Ji still hiring?
She replied to each message and even ran into Zhang Yalang, who walked like the wind. He had made a fortune with Lin Xiushui and saw her as if he were seeing a glittering God of Wealth.
“Mr. Lin, what a coincidence that we meet here. Take a look, do you have any houses for sale recently?” Zhang Yalang saw that she was all smiles and her hand was already reaching for the book at her waist. He showed Lin Xiushui the vacant houses in Quansangqiao Ferry.
It seems that Lin Xiushui has made a fortune.
Lin Xiushui said, "Make it cheaper."
"I'll buy it for ten taels of silver."
"If it doesn't work, then forget it."
Whether she has money or not, she has indeed not changed.
Rushing to deliver the next invitation, she took the land manual from Zhang Yalang and pondered whether buying land would be more suitable for her to open a tailor shop. The land was quite expensive, at least five hundred taels of silver.
Lin Xiushui was also very imaginative. She walked all the way to the mulberry tree entrance, and after delivering invitations one by one in the sewing corridor, she walked into the old mulberry tree.
Chen Guihua's bath business was thriving, and she had even started thinking about buying a storefront in the South Goods Market to run a dry cleaning and hair washing business, called Chen Guihua Perfume Shop, and hiring a few people to help her comb and braid her hair.
When Lin Xiushui saw her, she was in the courtyard combing the young lady's hair into a bun. She wore two silver bracelets on her wrists, and her hair was styled in a high bun with a gold-plated comb back inserted in it.
After Chen Guihua finished combing her hair and put away the wooden comb, she turned her head and saw Lin Xiushui by the door. She exclaimed in surprise, "Sister Xiu!"
She hurriedly said, "I have important guests at my home, so I won't do any more combing after this. Please forgive me."
After everyone left, Chen Guihua closed the door. Lin Xiushui explained her purpose, and she clapped her hands, "Okay, I'll do whatever it takes to make money that day, I have to go and support them."
"I've been making quite a bit of money lately, have you noticed?"
Lin Xiushui looked at her right arm, which she had deliberately raised, and how she had intentionally tucked her neatly combed sideburns, without a single stray hair, behind her ear, revealing a gleaming silver bracelet.
She took a sip of the tea brewed by Chen Guihua and nodded. "I can tell."
“You could tell right away. Let me tell you, as the saying goes, wealth should not be flaunted. Some of them have gold wrapped around silver,” Chen Guihua proudly shook the bracelet on her wrist. “I, Chen Guihua, am different from others. Mine is silver wrapped around gold.”
"Who would have thought that there was solid gold inside?"
Lin Xiushui thought of her aunt, Wang Yuelan, who also had this kind of behavior of deceiving others but not deceiving herself.
Like Chen Guihua, she was afraid that others would covet her money. After all, Wang Yuelan now earns more than 5,000 guan a month, plus she has a very wealthy niece.
She was even more ruthless. When Lin Xiushui bought her a gold hairpin for the New Year, she asked someone to coat it with copper and make her clothes with brocade and silk underneath. As for others who knew she was rich and wanted to borrow money from her, she said yes to everyone but wouldn't lend to anyone. If they asked again, she would say she had lost money buying a house.
However, she really likes wearing sheepskin headbands with gold trim and shoes lined with sheepskin. She says that since people don't really know their value, she occasionally needs to satisfy her vanity.
Lin Xiushui felt a bit like criticizing both Wang Yuelan and Chen Guihua's behavior, because she felt that the words came from her heart, not just her mouth.
When Chen Guihua saw her off, she assured her, "I'll dress nicely and I definitely won't let people from Sangshukou down."
"Could you find a moment to make me a new outfit? I think your aunt's floral blue silk jacket is quite nice. I don't want to be like her, just make me a peony-patterned silk jacket."
Lin Xiushui gave her face and said, "Okay."
"Next time you buy a shop, I'll make you a body again."
“Xiu, tell me about yourself,” Chen Guihua said, moved. “I’m just waiting for you to show off.”
Lin Xiushui waved to her, "I think it will be quick."
With Chen Guihua's current abilities and hard work, she can shoulder the burden of the whole family on her own. She believes that although Chen Guihua's path to wealth is arduous, she can rely on her.
Being able to rely on yourself is the greatest blessing.
This statement also applies to Su Qiaoniang.
Su Qiaoniang's glove puppetry has been performed in several theaters, attracting many more spectators than before, and she has also taken on five apprentices.
Although its scale cannot compare with the puppet troupe she used to be in, she is improving year by year compared to herself.
When Lin Xiushui arrived at Su Qiaoniang's door, she was carving wooden puppets in the courtyard, her face covered in powder dust, and holding a carving knife in her hand.
“Great, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Su Qiaoniang put down her carving knife, took the invitation, and immediately opened it. She exclaimed, “Beiwazi, Mudanpeng, Aqiao, you’re really talented!” Lin Xiushui was quite modest at this moment, “We’re both quite talented.”
She said, "Like you, I also have a long way to go."
Unlike before, Su Qiaoniang did not speak of long periods of ten or twenty years. Instead, she said calmly, "But you have already traveled quite a distance."
It has already come to everyone's attention.
Author's Note: Thank you so much for your understanding. I expect to finish writing it tomorrow or the day after. [heart emoji]
Thank you everyone [heart emoji]
Thank you for the red envelope.
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