Chapter 18 Earning Money
The sky was foggy and overcast. Apart from the monks who went out to announce the dawn, everyone else hurried about.
Lin Xiushui regretted it a little. Why did she have to get up so early? It was cold enough, but she also had to listen to Chen Guihua's oaths and vows.
“Sister Xiu, I really didn’t spread those rumors,” Chen Guihua said, pointing to the sky and swearing. “The idea that you earn hundreds of coins a day is just nonsense. I only said that you’re so poor that you’re willing to do any kind of work.”
Lin Xiushui was still busy sewing shoe soles when she heard this. She almost pricked her finger with the thick needle. It was one thing to make fun of her, but to do it in person was another.
But what the other person said was true, so Lin Xiushui wasn't angry. She originally wanted to earn any kind of money.
She was too lazy to argue with Chen Guihua. As long as it wasn't someone asking her to teach them a craft, everything else was fine. Lin Xiushui put away the needle, stuck it in the cloth, and wrapped a blue thread around her finger. After Chen Guihua finished speaking, she said, "Alright, don't even mention the oath you made to God. I didn't hear it even though I was sitting right in front of you. Just say what you want to say."
Chen Guihua hesitated for a moment, then moved several steps around to the mulberry tree, saying in a low voice, "I have a relative at home."
“She works in that perfume shop. That’s why I asked her to come and ask. They have a job there, mending cloth bags and handkerchiefs. They pay one coin for each one.”
Lin Xiushui held the bamboo and wooden thread board in her left hand and wound the thread in her right hand. She didn't say a word until Chen Guihua finished speaking, her voice hoarse. Usually, when she argued with the people on the other side of the river, she was so loud that she wanted to scare all the fish in the river to come ashore. But now she seemed to have caught a cold and was hoarse.
She subtly observed Chen Guihua; her perpetually swollen face resembled freshly made white flour, likely from the steam of hot soup. Furthermore, while the woman beside her wore her hair in a bun with a common silk or linen covering, Chen Guihua used an oilcloth.
Speaking of which, Chen Guihua had a smell that wasn't foul, nor was it particularly fragrant. It was like a mixture of medicine and soap, but upon closer inspection, Lin Xiushui realized it was actually the smell of a fragrant soup.
The perfume shop was separated from Sangling Lane by a wide river. Every time she finished work, she could see the mist and smoke rising from that side of the road, but she never went there.
There were not only perfume shops, but also laundry shops. Xiao Nan Washa was located in Nanhuofang, but Da Bei Washa was located there. There were also Zhengdian, Didian, and the most famous Shanshui oral and throat medicine in Sangqing Town, Zhenshijia Nian'er Uncle's mirror shop from Huzhou, etc. Therefore, this market was also known as Jinyinfang.
Lin Xiushui knew she couldn't afford to spend money there, so she never looked there much. But she never expected that Chen Guihua was working in the perfume shop.
She just guessed it and didn't want to get to the bottom of it. There's nothing strange about any profession in this world, and having a skill is one's own ability.
Lin Xiushui pondered for a moment, then said, "Let's take a look first, what kind of handkerchief and wrapping cloth they are."
Chen Guihua, who was picking at the mulberry bark, immediately smiled when she heard Lin Xiushui's words. She ran home and brought out a small bamboo basket containing a damp cloth and a handkerchief.
This was a job she had insisted on taking. The perfume shop gave the workers a cloth to wrap around their heads. When the cloth was taken off and torn, they couldn't bear to throw it away. The shopkeeper said he would find someone to mend it. It would cost five or six coins to replace it, but if they wanted it sewn, he would only give them two coins.
There are also hand towels, which are for female customers, male customers, young customers, and old customers to wipe their bodies and faces. They come in different sizes and patterns, and it's really expensive to replace them after a few uses. The old man said he would give them two coins each for sewing.
Chen Guihua was desperate for money and eager to make money, so she squeezed past many people to take on this job, and then resold it to Lin Xiushui, making two coins each and earning half.
She considered herself to be very conscientious. Others even wanted to give her two extra coins, but she remembered that Lin Xiushui had helped her. At most, she would let Lin Xiushui take advantage of the perfume shop and give her some bath beans or soap balls.
Lin Xiushui had no idea about Chen Guihua's ulterior motives. She picked up the basket, shook it, and took out a piece of oilcloth wrapped around her head. It was a square piece of oilcloth with a long strip of hemp rope sewn to one end. She covered her hair bun from behind and fastened it, then wrapped the remaining cloth around the back of the bun and tied the rope tightly. If it was too loose, it would look like a shower cap.
She picked up several more and found that most of the cloth in the bundle was frayed and the rope was broken.
As for handkerchiefs, perfume shops use coarse silk, the kind spun from waste silkworm silk. It's a bit heavy, so it's not easy for the edges to fray or the threads to show, but it can snag, pull up threads, and have small holes.
She can only use similar thread to cover the hole; she can't do mending.
Lin Xiushui examined all the cloths and handkerchiefs. Each one was in good condition and easy to mend. At one penny per piece, she wouldn't lose out at all.
There are over seventy in this basket. Lin Xiushui said, "I can replace them, but you have to pay first, thirty-four coins."
Chen Guihua was not one to suffer losses. She had long since managed to get the money from the old man, and he paid her off very readily. She even wanted to "make money together" with Lin Xiushui in the future. For this reason, she even made a painful decision to give Wang Yuelan a good face.
This gave Wang Yuelan, who had just stepped out, goosebumps. She looked at Lin Xiushui with suspicion and said, "A Qiao, do you think Chen Guihua has been replaced? Could she be possessed by something?"
Just as Lin Xiushui was about to reply, Wang Yuelan said to herself, "This thing is much better than Chen Guihua's stubbornness."
Fine, Lin Xiushui simply shut up and decided to sew the cloth instead.
This morning there were few people, and Lin Xiushui had no business. After sewing about ten strips of cloth, she heard someone shouting from the riverbank below: "Whose sign is this? Could you please come down to the river and see if you can mend it?"
Lin Xiushui put her things down and went downstairs. Halfway down, she looked up and saw that the fog was thick. Her signboard was the most eye-catching thing there, proving that all that fabric was well spent.
The person who shouted was an old man, dressed in a black shirt, sitting at the bow of the boat, holding a basket in his arms.
“I was crossing the bridge over the river when I looked up and saw it. I thought the sign was quite unusual. My oil basket is broken and I’m in a hurry to get some oil. Young lady, do you think you can mend it?”
The old man got up, cupped the bottom of the oil basket with one hand, and twirled the basket with the other, showing her the cracked edge.
Lin Xiushui bent down and peered inside. The crack wasn't long, but it was difficult to repair. This kind of oil basket had a small mouth and a large belly, and was woven from bamboo strips. It was first brushed with tung oil, then covered with a layer of cotton paper, and then a layer of oiled paper. It was so leak-proof that it could carry oil or wine without any leakage.
But with this design, Lin Xiushui had to test whether her hand could fit through the oil basket. She asked her father-in-law for permission and slowly put her hand into the small opening, which just barely fit.
"It can be mended, but when sewing, the paper and bamboo strips need to be tied together. Just give me three coins," Lin Xiushui slowly withdrew her hand, her left wrist stained with tea-colored oil. She would wash it off when she got home later. She asked her father-in-law, "Father-in-law, what kind of oil is this?"
The old man took out a coin from his purse and, upon hearing this, laughed and said, "Young lady, you've never seen this before. It's called 'green oil,' made from the seeds of the tallow tree, and sent to the tallow candle shop to be made into candles."
A candle costs a hundred coins, which Lin Xiushui couldn't afford. She took out a coarse needle, which she could lubricate with oil to prevent it from being rough, and used fine hemp thread.
She reached her left hand into the basket and pressed it against the crack. With her right hand, she held a needle and pierced it through the small opening where the bamboo strips intersected. She sewed very carefully, threading the needle up and down, with the thread going up to the left and up to the right, like a tree branch. Then she threaded it back from the beginning and tied it together with the bamboo strips.
"Old man, take a look," Lin Xiushui handed over the basket, her left hand covered in oil.
The old man took it, used a long ladle to pour oil from another oil basket, then poured it into the repaired bamboo basket, shook it left and right to let the oil flow to the previous crack, and looked at it at an angle to see if it would leak.
Seeing that not a drop was spilled, he smiled and nodded in praise, "Young lady, your skills are quite good."
Lin Xiushui laughed and asked him, "Old man, do you oil truck drivers also sell vegetables?"
"Oh, my wife has a stall at the bridge market up ahead, and she asked me to deliver some to her on my way. This basket has ginger and dried shrimp, and over there is bamboo shoots and pickled fish. Young lady, would you like some? The dried shrimp are home-caught, and the bamboo shoots are dug from the mountains. I'll give you a discount, just one thing: you have to bring your own bowls and basins to fill them."
Lin Xiushui wanted to eat dried shrimp, but this ginger shrimp dish didn't contain any ginger, only dried shrimp. The ginger was meant to be eaten with ginger vinegar.
Lin Xiushui didn't want the bamboo shoot stew, as her aunt knew how to make it. She would cut tender bamboo shoots into chunks, steam them until they were cooked through, wrap them in a cloth until all the water was gone, and then mix them with oil. Once mixed, it was ready to eat.
Lin Xiushui went back to wash her hands, grabbed a large, thick bowl, and hurriedly ran back to get fifteen coins' worth of ginger and dried shrimp. She poured it into a dry jar and sealed it tightly to prevent it from getting damp.
Upon hearing the sound of bells and drums, Lin Xiushui told Wang Yuelan and then packed her things to go to work. As she passed by the Silkworm Flower Bodhisattva Temple, she quietly crouched down and peeked inside.
Seeing Zhang Musheng jumping up and down like a monkey, panting heavily, reaching out to grab the red rope at the top.
Seeing how hard he was trying, she felt relieved. It wasn't that she was worried that Zhang Musheng wouldn't grow taller if he followed her method; she was worried that she would lose the bet and have to pay him a hundred coins, which she didn't want to pay at all.
Lin Xiushui peeked out, then quietly left, casually patting the tabby cat perched on the low wall.
Two days before the Flower Festival on the fifteenth of the second lunar month, more and more people are carrying flower baskets on the streets, selling apricot blossoms, forsythia, and daphne. There are also people selling five-colored paper and red silk, which are tied to the trees and called "appreciating the red".
They also sell tree and flower seeds for people to buy and plant, and they also sell round fans for young ladies to buy to catch butterflies.
Lin Xiushui had never seen such a lively scene in Shanglintang. During the Flower Festival, she would just tear off some red cloth scraps, hang them on the trees, and at most take a walk in the mountains and fields.
As she walked and looked around, she entered a clothing shop and couldn't help but ask Madam Gu, "Madam, I see that the silk shops outside are all cutting red silk. Should we get some cut?"
“No cut,” Madam Gu scratched the lid of the incense burner and looked up at Lin Xiushui. “What, you don’t celebrate the Flower Festival? I’m not forcing anyone to work. You can go shopping on your own that day, no need to come to the shop.”
She didn't want to open the door. The Flower Festival was next to the West Lake Temple, and she wanted to take her children to Zhaoqing Temple to offer incense.
Lin Xiushui originally thought she would be ironing red cloth that day, but she didn't expect not to have to work, and she was immediately overjoyed.
"Look how happy you are," Madam Gu said as she walked out and headed towards the backyard. "Is your pleated skirt ironed properly? Madam Li wants to wear it for the Flower Festival, and I already boasted to her about it."
"Almost there, just two more ironings to smooth out all the creases," Lin Xiushui jogged a few steps to catch up, "It'll definitely be fine to wear for the Flower Festival."
Madam Gu stopped in her tracks and said, "Then I'll make you a new collar later. You can iron it first. There will be another batch of new cloth after the fifteenth."
"Ah Qiao, don't go yet," Madam Gu called out to Lin Xiushui as she reached the corner. "Come upstairs with me. I have a box of silk quilts. Could you help me bring it down?"
Lin Xiushui helped carry it down, a little curious, "In the second month of spring, are you still going to turn silk floss into padded jackets?"
"What kind of padded jacket?" Madam Gu squatted down and opened the box to look at the silk floss. This batch of silk floss was good, but there were still some scraps on it that hadn't been picked out.
She told Lin Xiushui, "The white clothing shop next door has taken on Hengxi's work, and they don't have enough silk floss."
"Unexpected joy is a common saying. If you hear it again, don't ask about it. It means someone is going through a funeral."
Lin Xiushui nodded knowingly. Every trade has its own slang, also known as trade language. Hengxi is a business that deals in funerals.
Using silk floss to cover the deceased is a custom in Sangqing Town. In this silkworm town, both funerals and weddings are inseparable from silkworms and silk floss. For example, before the coffin is closed for a funeral, two children will pull a silk floss bag together and cover the deceased with it. The more silk floss covering the deceased, the more respectable the person is. This is called "pulling silkworm flowers to cover the body".
In Sangqing Town, two silkworm cocoons are placed in the hands of the deceased so that, if their spirits are still alive, they can bless the silkworms to thrive. This custom is also called "asking for silkworm flowers."
Lin Xiushui knew very well that when her mother passed away, she and her aunt disregarded customs and used a very thick silk quilt.
She lowered her eyes and said, "If you want someone to pick out the silk floss, why don't you let me do it? My aunt is also very good at picking out silk floss bags, and I guarantee that they won't have any holes when they tear the silkworm flowers."
Madam Gu said, "I was just wondering who to ask. You can take these. Pick them out and come back to me to collect your wages. Here are fifty silk pouches, two coins each. You'll have one day to prepare them. You'll have to put in a little effort."
"Of course," Lin Xiushui nodded quickly, "I'll finish choosing as soon as possible and won't delay them."
Lin Xiushui was happier to have taken on this job than if she had made a lot of money herself. She had finally found a good job for her aunt, and she could earn some money so that her aunt could pay off her debts sooner.
She moved lightly, jumped over the threshold, saw Xiao Chun'e, took out a cloth from the small bag at her waist, and handed it to her.
She said, "I can't help you with burning charcoal. I don't even know how to burn a fire properly. I made you a face cloth to hang behind your ears, so that the ash won't all get on your face."
“Ah Qiao, you’re my real sister, aren’t you?” Xiao Chun’e said with tears in her eyes. Her sister only knew how to hit her and verbally abuse her.
Lin Xiushui didn't mind taking advantage of this, "Then call me 'sister,' and I'll treat you like my own sister."
"Dream on," Xiao Chun'e snorted, putting on the face cloth she had given her and admiring herself.
Lin Xiushui didn't care at all. She went inside, carefully took out the dress, laid it out on the wooden table, and did a final ironing, trying to make the folds of the dress as sharp as a knife tip.
The skirt was ironed in the morning and hung on the rod to dry. In the afternoon, Madam Gu brought Madam Li over.
Before Lin Xiushui even saw the woman, she sneezed from the fragrance emanating from Li Niangzi. When she finally saw her, she was dazzled by the gold leaf on her clothes and the large gold crown.
She couldn't help but think, if silver is vulgar, isn't gold also vulgar?
Then Lady Li asked Lady Gu, "You said it's really ironed? Hey, that's my skirt in the front, and the folds look so neat from a distance."
She rushed over and couldn't help but marvel. The once wrinkled and deeply creased silk dress had been transformed in a single day into a silk dress with sharp, uniform pleats and an extremely smooth surface without any wrinkles.
She couldn't help but admire it and immediately wanted to put it on. The skirt swayed beautifully after she put it on, and it didn't look like an old skirt from three years ago, but rather like a newly made skirt.
She was overjoyed and held Lin Xiushui's hand, praising her profusely.
Then she took out the carefully prepared thank-you gift, and Lady Li boasted to herself, "You will definitely be satisfied with what I have prepared."
Then, under the watchful eyes of several people, Li Niangzi opened the wooden box she had brought with her fingers. Lin Xiushui nervously and expectantly peeked over to take a look, and she was stunned.
Inside were incense burners, spices, incense bottles, and Li Niangzi's most prized incense products. "These are blended incense products that I made myself. No one who has smelled them has ever said they don't like them. I originally wanted to give you an iron, but then I thought that wouldn't be appropriate, so I carefully selected these to give you."
Lin Xiushui's forehead throbbed from the strong fragrance; she didn't like it, and she'd rather have received an iron instead.
She forced herself to accept it happily, and as she walked out, Madam Li turned back and said, "Although money is vulgar, given your line of work, I'll give you both a small red envelope."
Lin Xiushui was genuinely delighted. Li Niangzi smiled and said to Gu Niangzi, "Where did you find this little girl? She's so lovable." As their voices faded into the distance, Lin Xiushui began to open the bag and handed one to Xiao Chun'e. Xiao Chun'e was also delighted, saying, "I've never received a red envelope before."
There were sixty-six coins inside each of them. Lin Xiushui and Xiao Chun'e exchanged a glance and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Lin Xiushui couldn't save money. She said, "I'm going to buy fabric."
"Why don't I take it to buy something new and interesting?" Xiao Chun'e pondered. "I'll buy some and share some with you, A Qiao."
Both of them were beaming with joy. After finishing work, Lin Xiushui took a bag of silk floss home and walked with a brisk pace, wanting to tell her aunt about it.
Lin Xiushui planned to sell the spices, then find the boatman to buy some scraps of cloth, and also buy a good pair of scissors, as she was running out of yarn and had too few thread boards…
The more she calculated the amount, the colder she felt. How could someone be so poor? She realized that the woman still owed her 387 coins.
A note from the author:
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