Chapter 27: Two Pieces of Good News
The court gazette is another name for the official gazette, which is issued by the imperial court. However, in reality, the stalls that sell court gazettes are always mixed with small newspapers printed by the people themselves.
As far as Lin Xiushui knew, these tabloids were also divided into levels. The most powerful were the inside spies, who specialized in investigating secrets and hidden matters within the imperial palace. Next were the provincial spies, who gathered information in various government departments. Finally, there were the yamen spies, who inquired about news from various government offices.
Finally, it was compiled into a newspaper, which was then published and printed.
As for the child in front of her, Lin Xiushui knew his father, who was Gong Chaowen by the bridge across the mulberry tree mouth.
His father wasn't very serious either. He came to mend a Taoist robe, and just a moment ago he said that the place he most wanted to go in his life was the Jinzouyuan in Chaotianmen, Lin'an Prefecture, where the court reports were first sent out, and he wouldn't have to wait ten days to see the last one.
The next moment, he said he would hire two bodyguards to escort him to various government offices to work as a detective. With just his mouth and pen, he would surely be able to write brilliant articles for the tabloids.
In reality, it also depends on whether his wife is willing to give him two more copper coins so that he can buy another piece of bean cake.
If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too; if the father is like this, the son will be like this as well.
Lin Xiushui found a piece of black cloth, the same one that Chuanbulang had given her last time. Black cloth wasn't worth much. She stared at the child and thought about his name. She remembered that when his mother chased after him, she called him Xiao Wen.
"Xiao Wen?"
The boy immediately jumped up, his face flushed, and shouted, "My name is Qibao!"
No wonder he was so upset; his mother would call him a "little plague god" whenever she didn't like him, and he hated that nickname.
“Qibao, here’s a piece of black cloth for you. Fold it in half, tie two hemp ropes around your face, and you can become a detective,” Lin Xiushui folded it for him and told him, “But before you can become a detective, you have to learn to read properly, otherwise you won’t be able to write, and you can’t become a detective.”
Qibao said, "Of course I know it. I've already gone to Shangguan School. I'm thirteen years old."
"Anyone who didn't know better would think you're three years old," Lin Xiushui thought to herself.
Not long after, Qibao's mother arrived, rolling over like the wind. She grabbed Qibao by the collar, her angry face turning towards Lin Xiushui in an instant, "Young lady, I'm sorry to have troubled you. My boy, if I don't discipline him for a day, he'll be climbing on the roof and tearing off the tiles. He doesn't even go to school early in the morning, and I've been looking for him everywhere."
"Mother, Mother," Qibao covered his face with a black cloth and replied in a muffled voice, "You should at least give me some face."
“Save face? Have you saved face for your parents?” Qibao’s mother dragged him. “Don’t be afraid to tell others, my Qingtuan’s handwriting is better than his. Qingtuan is my cat who was born three days ago.”
Lin Xiushui couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Qibao snorted and was dragged by his mother, who pulled on his belt and pushed him into the school. He vowed that he never wanted to be a detective again; he wanted to be a constable and arrest his mother first!
Lin Xiushui originally thought that the farce about oil had come to an end, but she didn't expect that it would actually turn to the street office. They were scolded by the people for only wandering around the streets all day collecting money from the street vendors. They were called a bunch of good-for-nothings who couldn't even see such a big puddle of oil on the ground.
The people of Sangqing Town are quick-witted. They say that today they pour oil, tomorrow they throw excrement, and if things continue like this, no one will care if dead animals rot in the streets, and the government will just keep dreaming about the future.
The street official was thoroughly scolded, so after Lin Xiushui watched Qibao and the other two leave, a dozen or so street officials, all dressed in blue robes and carrying sweeping tools, walked up from the riverbank.
She glanced at it and saw brooms, buckets, ash, scraps of cloth, water bags, and so on.
One of them sighed and said, "What a terrible place to spill oil! It just had to be spilled on the road where swill is collected every day. Luckily, I didn't fall into the swill bucket, or I would have driven a pig here today."
The older clerk with a cloth draped over his shoulder said, "You'd better shut up. There are people watching ahead. If you don't work hard, you'll be in trouble." As soon as the street clerk came to do the work, Lin Xiushui's stall was deserted. She also went to watch the excitement, but before she went, she had to put the tools on the table inside the house.
Tell Wang Yuelan that she's cleaning fish at the back door and won't be going there.
Lin Xiushui walked briskly by herself, taking advantage of her thinness to squeeze into the crowd and squat in the front row.
The large puddle of oil had been covered with mulberry wood ash, but it still contained oil. On the small stone bridge were human footprints, cow footprints, cat footprints, and long ruts. The street officials were at a loss, and the people on the other side were pointing and whispering. They had no choice but to first shovel the oil putty into a bucket, and then cover it with another layer of mulberry wood ash.
Lin Xiushui couldn't stand it any longer. Seeing people sprinkling water and sweeping dust into the air, she covered her nose, coughed a few times, and quietly squeezed out of the crowd.
She wants to make a mop.
She went back and found some old scraps of cloth, some of which Chen Dajin had begged for, but she didn't want them. They were just enough to make mops for Lin Xiushui.
She couldn't find a suitable bamboo stick, so she wandered around the house and spotted her aunt's fire poker. But no, touching an old item from the past would get her a beating from her aunt.
She went to ask Zhang the carpenter next door for a piece of wood. He didn't want any money, so Lin Xiushui threw down two coins and ran away.
With bamboo of suitable length, she sewed short strips of cloth onto long strips, laid the strips flat, rolled up the bamboo tubes, and then went to find a carpenter to put a nail in them, which was nailed very firmly.
Turn the cloth over and tie a rope to the end of the cloth; a mop is now ready.
She picked up her mop and joined the "gray field".
"What is this thing?"
"Young lady, don't come any closer, you're very dusty."
"Huh, what's that in his hand? A scrap of cloth?"
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Lin Xiushui pulled the cloth off her face and pointed to the mop in her hand, saying, "Mop, for mopping the floor."
"Don't scan yet, watch how I use it."
Lin Xiushui specifically looked for areas that had been swept clean but still had a lot of dust left, and the bluestone paving was full of pits and holes. She held up the mop and put it into the bucket of water to wet it.
The mop head was tied with many pieces of cloth, and after being soaked in water, it was so heavy that Lin Xiushui almost couldn't lift it. There were people in front of and behind the bridge, and she couldn't lose face, so she gritted her teeth and tried to lift it. After a lot of water had dripped out, she used both hands to mop the floor back and forth.
In everyone's eyes, the rags were getting dirtier and dirtier, while the mortar on the previously dirty ground was getting less and less.
Lin Xiushui shook her hand and said, "This mop is very durable. It doesn't matter if it gets dirty. Just rinse it in the river, bring it back and mop it a few more times. If it gets oily, just pour soapberry water on the cloth and mop it seven or eight times and it will be clean."
She was determined not to delay any longer; her hands were aching from exhaustion.
The street officials, however, found the mops novel and took them one by one to use. They ran up and down the river without getting tired. As they ran, the onlookers would look into the river and see a large clump of dirty water coming out of a single cloth, and they couldn't help but click their tongues in disapproval.
When the street officials came back to mop the floor, they started checking if the bridge was clean and if the grease had been removed. Gradually, the cursing stopped, and some people even brought their own soapberry water to splash on the mop. Some people played with the mop, or helped carry buckets of water up from the river.
After the last two buckets of water were poured onto the bridge, the oil stains were completely removed, and the bridge was spotless. Even the mop could be considered clean after a quick wash.
Hearing the people praising it, the street official breathed a sigh of relief. The person in charge turned to thank Lin Xiushui, then picked up the mop and asked excitedly, "This mop is really useful. Where did you buy it, young lady?"
“I made it myself. You can take it if you need it,” Lin Xiushui said honestly.
The supervisor praised it repeatedly, saying, "This mop is perfect for our street management department. We sweep the streets, collect garbage, and clean the waterways every day. Some areas have a lot of cows, chickens, and ducks crossing the road, which are really difficult to clean. This thing is great; it can even pick up oil stains."
"Since you made them yourself, young lady, how about I buy twenty from you first, thirty-five coins each, how about that?"
Lin Xiushui said with some difficulty, "I don't have that many scraps of old cloth, so I can't make that many."
The manager immediately laughed and said, "What we have most of in the street office are scraps of cloth. All the colorful awnings and pavilions that have been taken down on the street are burned by us. If they can be used to make mops, I will have someone cut them into pieces and send them to you, young lady, is that alright?"
"These bamboos cost money. You have work to do, so how about fifteen coins a bunch?"
Lin Xiushui quickly did the math: a slender bamboo shoot costs ten coins, and she can cut three to five shoots. Adding the bamboo nails and Zhang the carpenter's hammering work, which costs six coins each, she can still earn nine coins.
She didn't agree immediately, but hesitated before bringing up the money. She was most afraid that the officials would withhold payment and she would have to make up the difference herself after the job was done.
The person in charge was easy to talk to; otherwise, if this kind of job fell to someone slick and unscrupulous, they wouldn't have come personally. He immediately made the decision: "Send the money along with the cloth."
Lin Xiushui believed him for the time being and ran home to tell her aunt about it.
"This is great news, you've managed to snag it," Wang Yuelan said, standing up with a happy expression as she held the small fish in her hand.
Lin Xiushui wiped her face with a wet towel before saying, "I did take on the task, but I'm so busy I can't do it at all. I have so much work to do."
“Aunt, can you help me with this work? It’s just a matter of cutting some scraps of cloth and tying a rope. You can earn fifteen coins for that. After deducting the cost of the bamboo and wood, you can still make eight or nine coins.”
From the moment Lin Xiushui agreed, she never intended to do it herself. She already had too much work to do and wouldn't be able to handle too much at once. Besides, making mops didn't require much skill; she wanted to leave the simple, easy-to-make tasks to her aunt to earn.
Before Wang Yuelan could refuse, she ran out and stood by the door, saying, "I've already agreed to this job. I've already spoken with the person in charge. If you don't want to do it, Aunt, I'll have to turn them down."
"Hey, you!" Wang Yuelan threw down the gutted fish. "I never said I wouldn't do it. I was just worried that if I didn't do it well, I'd end up losing money to others."
"Don't worry, I'm here to supervise."
Lin Xiushui arranged for the items to be delivered at 5 PM. When she returned from work, the street officials had already packed the cut cloth into baskets, and the two of them carried them over.
He gave Lin Xiushui two hundred coins, and kept the remaining one hundred coins as a deposit, to be given when the dish was finished.
The cloth given by the street office was very dirty; it was burlap that had been used to cover an open-air awning, covered in dust, and its color had been dulled by the sun.
Lin Xiushui first had to pick out the cloths; they had to be ones that could get wet. Linen or ramie cloth wouldn't work, as they would harden when wet, making them unsuitable for mopping the floor or even wiping the table.
After she finished picking, her fingers were covered in black dirt. Xiao He tapped her face and said, "Sister, your face is as dirty as a black cat's."
Lin Xiushui stretched out her dark palm, "If you say that again, I'll make you a little black-faced person too."
After washing her face and hands, Wang Yuelan returned from work. Lin Xiushui told her to put on gloves, wrap her head with a cloth and a face towel, and then cut the cloth.
Because the method was so simple, Wang Yuelan was able to get the hang of it quickly after being taught once, and Lin Xiushui went to buy bamboo materials from Zhang the carpenter.
Upon hearing this, Zhang the carpenter didn't hesitate and called Zhang Musheng to go out together. They rowed a boat to transport a batch of bamboo from the bamboo shop. The father and son sawed the bamboo to the same length, and polished the bamboo nodes and top edges to ensure they wouldn't scratch their hands.
When Madam Chen and Granny Zhang returned and heard about this, they also came to help. It was the first time for them to work for the street office.
So much so that Lin Xiushui sewed clothes from various families and mended other garments, acting only as the final supervisor.
The mops were made quickly, and the next morning, the street officials came to collect them. There were only twenty mops, but twelve or thirteen people came.
“We heard there were new sweeping tools, so naturally we had to rush to get them,” said the burly man with a dark face. “I’m in charge of the big and small buckets, so I’ll get a share of the new sweeping tools this time. Young lady, let me pick one first.”
“Move aside,” said the tall leader. “I haven’t chosen yet. Make way. I can do eighteen tricks with a shovel, and I can come up with thirty-six tricks with this mop. I have to choose first.”
Lin Xiushui originally thought that the street office would pay her, she would give them the mop, and after a few polite words, the job would be done. She thought that if she found it useful, she would order it again next time.
Unexpectedly, a fight broke out on the spot, not like fighting over a tattered mop, but like fighting over some valuable item.
After grabbing them, someone took out a green rope from the bag and tied it to the bamboo. Seeing the curious expressions of Lin Xiushui and the others, he explained with a smile: "When you get a new broom, it's inevitable that it's not easy to use. You feel that it's too new and you're not used to it. So every time we replace a batch of old ones, we take off the green rope tied to it and tie it to the new ones. That's what our street office's stuff is, whether it's new or old."
After they left, the residents of the alley came out from behind their doors and crowded around to inquire about the news.
Wang Yuelan straightened her neck and said, "No, what tax? But A-Qiao made them a new broom, and they can come to our door to pick it up."
"If you see them dragging a piece of cloth on the ground next time you see them on the street, that's what we did."
Grandma Zhang interjected, "The bamboo comes from our area."
Chen Guihua pretended to go out to sweep the cobwebs under the eaves, turned her head to the side and pricked up her ears. When she heard this, she gritted her teeth. Why did oil get spilled on the ground and Wang Yuelan got the limelight? She was so angry that she pinched her clothes.
This matter quickly became a topic of gossip in Sangqiao Ferry Alley. People would always mention it, and many would bring their old clothes and ask Lin Xiushui to cut them into mop handles to see if they were any good. Lin Xiushui, however, pushed all the requests onto her aunt.
Once Wang Yuelan made money from this, she began to worry that her own courtyard was too small. If A Qiao came up with something else in the future, it would be too crowded. She was not comfortable asking people to go out and make it.
When Wang Yuelan bought this house, she was looking for a cheap one and didn't mind that the yard was small and the eaves were low. But now, looking at the yard, it's cramped everywhere. If you make twenty mops, there's not enough room in the yard, so you have to go inside the house.
The room was cluttered and dark, with lots of stuff inside. Wang Yuelan stood there looking around and made a tough decision to clean out the things she didn't need. She even went to the dye shop to tell them that she wouldn't be coming to work today.
Of course, Lin Xiushui was unaware of her aunt's actions. She started work early these past two days, since Madam Gu arrived even earlier, and it wouldn't be quite right for her to arrive just in time.
When Madam Gu saw her arrive, she rubbed her forehead and pointed inside, "The new cloth has just arrived, go and take a look."
The new cloth that was supposed to arrive two days ago was not delivered when it stopped at the tax gate. Lin Xiushui did not know the reason, only that she was fined a considerable amount.
She nodded and walked into the courtyard, feeling that Gu Niangzi's dream was really accurate; what she said about losing valuables had indeed come true.
Xiao Chun'e picked up the fire tongs and came closer, asking Lin Xiushui, "A Qiao, how does your wife look?"
"You were talking about Aya earlier, but now that you've heard about it yourself, you also want to become a dawn monk?" Lin Xiushui teased her, then pinched her chin and replied seriously, "That's not a good idea. It's like a foggy day; you can't figure it out."
Xiao Chun'e turned her back and slowly shook her head. "This fog means the weather is unpredictable."
"Stop talking nonsense," Lin Xiushui went to wash her hands, and Da Chunling brought out a bolt of cloth from the back warehouse and spread it on the table. This batch of new cloth was all gauze, including plain gauze, clear gauze and three-color patterned gauze.
In preparation for the Shangsi Festival next month, compared to the Flower Festival, all the clothing shops, silk shops, and cloth shops prefer the Shangsi Festival. Almost all the shops in Sangling Lane have stocked up on new cloth.
Lin Xiushui finished her work, looked down at the piece of Tianjing gauze, which shimmered with a faint light blue luster under the light, light and transparent.
She took another closer look, her brows furrowing slightly. The more she looked, the tighter her brows became. There were four or five noticeably darker silk threads on the gauze. She reached under the gauze, and the problem of the different colors of the silk threads became even more obvious.
And this is only two feet long.
Lin Xiushui let out a long breath, slowly rolled up the front of the gauze, and unfolded the back of the gauze. She rubbed her eyes and realized she hadn't misread it. Those few conspicuous blue silk threads suddenly jumped out again, right in the middle.
She didn't believe it and turned the whole piece of silk inside out to look at it. After looking at it, she stood in front of the silk, sighed, and touched her brow.
Just then, Madam Gu walked over from the front, stopped in front of her, and asked, "How is this batch of yarn? Can it be ironed?"
Lin Xiushui pointed to the thread on the top of her head. "This piece has too many flaws. I laid the whole piece out and looked at it. There are a total of thirty-six different threads. It can be ironed, but with this length of thread, it would take at least two feet to cut it."
A bolt of silk costs ten strings of cash, and it's not very long. If you cut off two feet, you'll lose one or two strings of cash, even if you make something else out of it.
Madam Gu was well aware of the situation. She said, "We can't get the good stuff from Lin'an. This kind of material is passable. The purchasing agent has already told me. There's nothing we can do but iron it first, and then have a tailor make it according to the pattern. We'll lose some money and material."
Lin Xiushui turned her gaze to the cloth again, staring at it for a while. When she first saw the gauze, she had an idea in her mind. Now, after hearing what Madam Gu said, she thought about it and said, "Actually, there is a way."
"Hmm, tell me," Madam Gu tilted her head to look at her, wanting to hear her insightful opinion, though she didn't have much hope in mind.
Lin Xiushui pointed to the obviously different colored gauze and said, "We can change the gauze. We can pull this gauze out, remove the threads from the bottom, and then put the gauze back on."
When she spoke, Da Chunling frowned, Xiao Chun'e stood on the stool and shook her head frantically, only Gu Niangzi remained silent, she was pondering this method, because Lin Xiushui was not one to make empty boasts.
After thinking it over, Madam Gu asked, "Can you mend it?"
"I can," Lin Xiushui said confidently.
She has taken on a total of thirty-nine mending jobs in recent days. Even though the yarn was just ordinary plain yarn, she has figured out the general direction of the yarn. Even though changing yarn is more demanding and difficult than adding yarn, she has never tried it before, but she is not afraid.
Madam Gu said she would give it a try. Lin Xiushui needed an embroidery frame, copper tweezers, scissors, and an embroidery hoop. She turned the satin over so that she could change the satin from the reverse side.
The reversed satin was laid under the embroidery frame, the bottom of which was empty. She reached out and took the embroidery hoop, placing it over the area where she needed to change the satin. She used a needle to pick out the satin, leaving the long end of the satin on the left side that was connected to it, and then neatly cut it off.
Xiao Chun'e hissed softly and covered her mouth. The courtyard was so quiet that only the sounds coming from outside could be heard from afar. No one else was even breathing.
Lin Xiushui focused solely on her work. With her right hand, she held tweezers and pinched the fine yarn thread. The thread was so thin that she couldn't hold it tightly with her hands; it would slip and run away if she squeezed it. With her left hand supporting the cloth, she pulled the thread out very slowly with her right hand, occasionally nudging it with her hand.
Pulling out the yarn is not difficult; the difficult part is adding more yarn, especially this kind of yarn with color and texture. After pulling out the yarn, Lin Xiushui wiped her palms with a cloth, then followed the texture to find the thread. After searching for a while, she added more yarn back in.
Adding yarn requires the finest needle. She threaded the thread through the eyelets, five holes apart, and slowly added yarn up and down. The eyelets were very fine, so Lin Xiushui had to lie on top of them. After finishing half of it, she stood up, shook her hands, and her hands were a little sore. Then she slowly pushed the thread forward like a small fish swimming, and the yarn gradually reached the end.
After cutting off the last loose thread and straightening it, Lin Xiushui, with a slight sweat on her forehead despite the breezy weather, patted her chest, looked at the successfully removed gauze, smiled, and turned to Gu Niangzi, saying, "Niangzi, take a look."
Xiao Chun'e peeked over early, nodding in astonishment and clapping her hands in praise, "I never expected you, A Qiao, to have such skills. You're even better than those reclusive divine doctors who treat people while you mend clothes."
Lin Xiushui had heard these words countless times before, but she did not become complacent. Instead, she accepted the praise with composure.
As for Madam Gu, she took a closer look and found that the places where there were obvious threads in the gauze had been replaced without any trace. She had noticed Lin Xiushui's movements earlier; her hands were steady, slow, and deliberate, and she was clearly not flustered.
Surprise flickered in her eyes as she looked Lin Xiushui up and down, her gaze filled with a hint of inquiry. After sitting for a while, her gaze turned to admiration as she looked at Lin Xiushui again. Finally, she patted Lin Xiushui's shoulder and said, "A Qiao, come out with me for a bit."
Lin Xiushui followed him out, somewhat puzzled. She thought the repair was quite good, unless it was done by a highly skilled master craftsman.
“Your craftsmanship is quite good,” said Madam Gu, a genuine smile appearing on her tired face. “Before, we used to do nothing but cutting and sewing. With your skills, we have much less to worry about.”
Madam Gu would naturally not let a craftswoman like Lin Xiushui go. She said in an instant, "Although you have not been in the clothing shop for a month, you are indeed very capable."
"I'm planning to give you a raise."
Making this decision seemed effortless; Gu Niangzi made it almost instantly. She had initially agreed to try it out for a month, and she had told Aunt Liu the same thing. Now that she had changed her mind, she had to send someone to tell Aunt Liu not to interfere in arranging other jobs for Lin Xiushui anymore.
“I’ll add six hundred cash first. This money will come from me, not through the accounting office. I’ll also give you a bolt of fine cloth at the end of the month,” Madam Gu leaned slightly to the side and asked her, “What do you think? If it doesn’t work out, we can discuss it further.”
Lin Xiushui's eyes widened, and she stammered, "Wife, really? You're really going to give me a raise so soon?"
"Of course, I'm also counting on you to mend my yarn," Madam Gu smiled. "Don't think it's too little; I'll add it to your account later."
"However, this isn't for mending the yarn. The cost of mending the yarn will be calculated separately, how about thirty coins per piece?"
Lin Xiushui clenched her hands, her heart pounding. She thought it through in her mind, and then said, "My lady, I don't want money for mending. I want scraps of cloth, whether long or short."
In fact, she could exchange 12 or 13 pieces of yarn a day for 30 coins each, which would net her 400 or 500 coins, enough to buy several bags of fabric scraps from the boatman.
But with four or five hundred coins, she couldn't buy good fabrics from the clothing shops. There were many fabrics that she could recognize just by looking at the finished clothes, even if they hadn't passed through her hands. They were in colors like peach red, silver red, and willow green, and had novel patterns, such as plum blossom characters and plum blossom necklaces, not to mention satin and damask.
If she could use these fabrics to make collars, sachets, pouches, and silk flowers, she could earn more than four or five hundred coins, and there would be far more people imitating her.
Madam Gu was genuinely surprised this time, "You want a scrap of cloth?"
"Yes, really, I don't want money, I just want scraps of cloth."
If it were Lin Xiushui who said this to her yesterday, Gu Niangzi might have refuted it. But today, Lin Xiushui had shown her her skills, and she hadn't figured out Lin Xiushui's abilities, so she found it difficult to refute her now.
Instead, he laughed and said, "That's fine. I'll pack it for you in a small burlap sack. Those scraps of cloth used to be sold, so you can pick them yourself."
"I trust my wife, you can give me anything you want."
The more Lin Xiushui said this, the less likely Gu Niangzi would have anything to say about her.
"Count out these six hundred coins first, and I'll add them to the scraps of cloth for you after work. Don't tell anyone else, not even Xiao Chun'e."
Madam Gu took out six strings of cash from the money box. Lin Xiushui exclaimed in surprise. She had thought she would have to wait until the end of the month to receive the money. But now, looking at the money, her hands trembled a little. You know, her hands had never trembled when she was adding gauze.
The extra six hundred coins, plus the money she had saved, were enough for her and Xu San Niangzi to buy a whole bolt of oilcloth.
As she counted, she thought, "This is an extra six hundred coins every month. I can buy a few more liters of rice, a few more jars of sugar and salt, buy meat and vegetables, and I can also buy a roll of oil paper to replace the linen on the windows and make the room brighter. I can also spend money to buy a candle, preferably one made of tallow oil, which will definitely be brighter than a sesame oil lamp."
She wanted to tell her aunt the good news as soon as possible.
The more she counted, the bigger Lin Xiushui's smile became, her eyes crinkling. She said loudly, "Thank you, madam. I will definitely iron the cloth and add the yarn well. I also have some other skills. If you ever need my help, just call me. I don't need much money."
"Okay, go get to work."
Lin Xiushui spent the whole day looking forward to the future. This sudden increase in money and the surprise made her happier than counting down the days to receive her pay.
She also said she would give Da Chunling and Xiao Chun'e some nice things. After she got the scraps of cloth, she would make some novel things for them.
After finishing work, she received a large bag of fabric scraps and six hundred coins. The joy of receiving six hundred coins was not something that happened every day, but it was real today.
Lin Xiushui hummed a tune as she walked along the main street of Sangqing Town, carrying a cloth. She hurried through the crowd, her steps light and cheerful, heading home.
When she got home, she almost dropped the cloth. There were piles of rubbish in the yard, and Wang Yuelan's head popped out from among them.
Lin Xiushui hissed, "Who delivered this replacement?"
"That's a good idea. I tidied up the house."
Lin Xiushui thought to herself, "I knew it, no one would send such a broken thing."
Then the two of them said in unison, "I have some good news to tell you."
Lin Xiushui blinked. "What I meant was, my monthly pay increased!"
Wang Yuelan said, "I'm going to clear out a room for you to use as your tailor's shop, and have Zhang the carpenter make you two cabinets."
Then the two of them spoke in unison.
Wang Yuelan exclaimed, "What?! You got a raise?!"
Lin Xiushui was shocked: "Give me a room to do tailoring work?!"
Author's note: Wishing everyone good things every day [hugs]
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