Chapter 4 Cleverly Repairing Oil-Stained Clothes
Sangqing Town, located on the outskirts of Lin'an City, was famous for its mulberry trees and silk. Since the only place to exchange official boats was Qinghewu, the number of trading groups increased dramatically from about twenty to over a hundred in just a few decades. These groups further subdivided into various markets: raw silk market, fortune-telling market, and secondhand clothing market. There were also workshops, such as tailoring, oilclothing, coppersmithing, and blacksmithing. Some specialized in a particular trade, such as repairing bird cages, making hairpins, soap balls, and dyeing combs.
The place called Sangqiao Ferry was originally full of boat houses. People lived on boats and made their fortunes by transporting bamboo and timber along the canal. Gradually, tiled houses appeared along the river, and bamboo and timber businesses emerged.
Then there was a general store specializing in pots, pans, stoves, tables, benches, and candles, which was located at the east end of the old mulberry tree. From 5 a.m., people would come to that area to perform acrobatics, play with insects and ants, shadow puppets, or sell various goods by carrying loads and trays.
The people living in Sangqiao Ferry had to row their boats to the riverbank to go to work in various trades, no matter where they were going.
Therefore, starting from the old mulberry tree and heading south, the area becomes more crowded and bustling. Setting up a sewing stall here is much more convenient than going to other alleys.
Lin Xiushui works around 7 AM. As long as she gets up before 5 AM, she can have an hour to work. If she finishes work early, she can set up her stall in the evening.
Although she was busy, at least she had some money coming in, and even a penny or two was good for her.
The only downside is that wherever merchants gather, there will be a tax office.
Lin Xiushui was setting up her stall. A small square table was covered with an old blue cloth, on which were placed a bamboo embroidery frame, scissors, needles and thread, and folded dark-colored small square cloths.
Just as she finished setting things up, Wang Yuelan went inside to get a chair, and the patrolman in a black shirt and waist tag strode over.
The patrolman was in charge of collecting commercial taxes at the tax station. He always carried a stack of white banknotes and red seals in his cloth bag. When he encountered a merchant, he would take out the white banknotes, stamp them, and the white banknotes would become red banknotes. Lin Xiushui's two coins were gone.
The patrolman shook his head and said, "You're unlucky. I just came from your alley. If it had been any later, I wouldn't have patrolled here today." He said that, but he still collected a lot of money. Lin Xiushui held the banknotes in her hand and forced a smile through her teeth: "Even if you hadn't come, we would have had to send them to the tax office anyway."
Xunlan glanced at her; only a fool would believe that.
Lin Xiushui had gotten up early in the cold wind, hoping not to run into the patrol and that she could evade the daily tax of two coins in an hour. But her luck was terrible.
So she's a mouse, and when she goes out to forage for food, she runs into a cat that catches mice. How unlucky!
Wang Yuelan wasn't too angry when she saw the money; she just cursed the tax office, saying, "They've got money tied to their heads! They collect house tax every month and commercial tax every day, it's like they're urging us to die!"
Before even opening for business, Lin Xiushui had already lost two coins. He really wanted to work at the tax office and rob people every day.
A mother and son walked from the south. The woman was tall and strong, but her face looked like a steamed bun soaked in water. She wore a long brown jacket with the trousers tied loosely, which billowed in the wind.
The seven- or eight-year-old boy was quite tall, with a round face, and walked unsteadily. The woman called out, "Tian Tian!"
Lin Xiushui was still wondering what the name was when the woman stopped in front of the stall and looked her up and down. "Wang Yuelan's niece, what kind of supplements are you getting?"
Lin Xiushui suddenly recognized her as Chen Guihua, who lived next door and didn't get along with her aunt.
“What else can you mend?” Wang Yuelan rushed over like a protective mother hen. “If you’re asking, I’ll mend your son Dabing’s pants. They’re always wearing ones with holes.”
Chen Guihua glared at her, "What big pancake? That's bullshit. My child's name is Xuetian."
Wang Yuelan spat, "How dare you take it? Don't you even know what your husband's surname is?"
"What's your surname?" Lin Xiushui asked curiously.
The little boy excitedly told her, "His surname is Wu."
This surname is really bad; it's like a flood, meaning both studies and land will go down the drain.
Wang Yuelan taunted Chen Guihua, "You can't be short of money to mend clothes. Your husband isn't a mulberry leaf vendor or someone who works in the mulberry business. He's so poor that he doesn't even have the money to mend clothes."
Chen Guihua's face scrunched up with anger, and she snorted loudly, "Who says there isn't? Nobody believes your niece's handiwork. She'll just end up ruining perfectly good pants!"
"Then I, Wang Yuelan, will buy you a new one."
"Okay, okay," Chen Guihua said, grabbing her son and running home. "You said it yourself, so just wait and see how you pay."
Wang Yuelan rolled her eyes. She and Chen Guihua had a grudge that could go on for three days and three nights, and she was determined to find the most tattered clothes later.
Chen Guihua rushed back and placed a blue silk jacket on the table. "You can mend it. As long as it's not noticeable, I'll give you five coins."
The clothes weren't torn, but when Lin Xiushui pulled them out to take a look, she saw a large, old oil stain on the left side of the front, which couldn't be washed off.
Wang Yuelan wanted to jump up and yell at her, but Lin Xiushui calmly said, "If you let me tear off a section at the bottom, I can fix it."
"Go ahead and take it apart, let's see how you fix it."
There are several ways to mend clothes, including patching, padding, embroidery, and weaving. None of these methods are suitable for this garment. Patching is essentially the same as making a patch, padding requires cutting a hole and padding from the reverse side, and embroidery and weaving are too troublesome. For this piece, I would have to give her fifty coins.
Fortunately, it was a silk garment with a white embroidered border at the bottom that matched the collar trim perfectly. The lace trim on the collar and cuffs of this jacket is called the collar trim, also known as the lace trim.
So she picked up the scissors, and with Chen Guihua watching intently, she cut the white embroidered cloth straight along the hem without trembling, took the thread, and carefully sewed it back on.
She then arranged the cut fabric horizontally and vertically, and sewed it onto the front of the collar. She sewed very quickly, using the original thread and following the invisible stitch technique she remembered. With just a thread and a pull, there were no stitches.
Without damaging the garment, the narrow collar was transformed into a wide white collar. Crucially, the fabric was perfectly aligned both horizontally and vertically, creating a harmonious look and completely covering the oil stains.
Moreover, a wider collar suits Chen Guihua better. She is tall and has broad shoulders, and a small collar makes her look stingy. If it is wider, her shoulders will appear narrower.
Chen Guihua frowned, annoyed that she couldn't find any fault with the clothes, and since they were a size too small, it would be a waste to throw them away. She really liked the altered version.
He had originally intended to rip off Wang Yuelan, but now he had no choice but to admit defeat. He angrily took five coins, threw them away, and left.
She admitted it.
Wang Yuelan was overjoyed, as if she had received five hundred coins. She counted them over and over again, saying, "You've finally saved face for me."
"Hurry up and keep it, so you can accumulate a lot of dowry to protect yourself."
Lin Xiushui didn't want that. If she had money, she would only want to eat well, drink well, and dress well. Well, that should be said after she became rich, she would want everything to be good, from needlework and cutting to thread and fabric.
That evening, there were two other business deals. Xiao He brought them in to patch the pants of two children, and she charged them two coins.
Lin Xiushui thought that seven coins would be the beginning of making money, but she didn't expect that it would rain for the next two days and she wouldn't be able to work at all.
But Lin Xiushui was optimistic and took the opportunity to finish ironing the linen in her hand.
The next morning it rained again. Lin Xiushui went to the clothing shop with a broken umbrella. The front of her cloth shoes was wet, and the back of her skirt was also covered in mud.
She rubbed the soles of her shoes on the ground in front of the door. Madam Gu, dressed in a light green oilcloth, came over, took off her oilcloth hat, and looked at her. "Why don't you go in?"
"It got a little muddy," Lin Xiushui replied with a smile, adding, "My lady, the flowers you're wearing today are quite lovely."
During the Song Dynasty, it was fashionable for people to wear flowers in their hair, especially in Lin'an Prefecture. People wore flowers in their hair all year round. Even though Lin Xiushui couldn't afford the fashionable flowers, she would pick some wildflowers to wear.
Madam Gu touched the pink and white daphne flowers by her temples, no longer as stern as before. "Someone was selling them on the road, and I bought a few because they looked fresh."
Lin Xiushui was quite good at reading people's expressions. As soon as she saw Gu Niangzi smile, she immediately said, "Madam, I finished ironing this linen yesterday. I wonder what kind of cloth we should iron today?"
"Besides ironing, I'm also very good at tailoring. I can cut fabric, draw lines, and sew with a steady hand. If there's anything I can do, just ask me."
Ever since she learned that this batch of linen was to be used to make oilcloth clothes and hats, Lin Xiushui had wanted to tell Gu Niangzi. Even though Xiao Chun'e said there were enough people, she still wanted to give herself a chance.
After hearing this, Madam Gu replied, "A batch of white ramie cloth will arrive later, so we need to iron it today."
"As for tailoring," Madam Gu took out a small calendar from the room, turned to tomorrow. Today was an inauspicious day for tailoring, so she selected a date. "The day after tomorrow, Dinghai, is an auspicious time for tailoring. I will call you again when we need manpower on that day."
Lin Xiushui was a little dumbfounded. She peeked at the small calendar. Usually, in Shanglintang, people would only look up auspicious times for breaking ground, building houses, working in fields, and getting married. She never expected that there would be an auspicious time for tailoring.
Perhaps sensing her shock, Madam Gu closed the almanac and said, "Every trade has its own rules. Whether it's sailing, taking office, traveling, or seeking wealth, you have to choose an auspicious day."
"If you want to make it in the tailoring business, having skills alone isn't enough. You need to learn more and avoid making any mistakes."
Lin Xiushui nodded thoughtfully. She would go back and look through her aunt's calendar to make sure she remembered the dates.
She turned and went inside. On rainy days, the ironing cloth was moved to the back room near the window.
The white ramie cloth delivered this time is second-grade cloth from Changzhou. Although it is woven from ramie, it feels very fine and smoother than fine linen, and has a strong soapberry smell.
“It must have been washed at a laundry shop,” Xiao Chun’e sniffed. “They soak the cloths there in rice water with soapberry, which makes the white cloths even whiter.”
She asked in surprise, "Ah Qiao, you're not using the brush anymore?"
Lin Xiushui cut a piece of old white ramie cloth, soaked it in a copper basin, wrung it out until it was half-dry, and placed it on the cloth to be ironed.
While wrapping his hands with strips of cloth, he casually remarked, "This cloth is too soft. If my hand shakes, it will burn several holes. I must put a damp cloth on top of it."
"After all, with my current net worth, I can't afford to lose even half of it."
Ironing cloth is actually a tedious job, and you have to iron it from morning till night.
Lin Xiushui would iron the clothes by herself, and she would mutter to herself for a while. There was a talkative girl named Xiao Chun'e next to her.
Lin Xiushui irons cloth, she burns charcoal, and she talks about everything under the sun.
"Ah Qiao, have you ever been to the inner city of Lin'an?"
“I’ve never been there,” Lin Xiushui said, turning her stiff arm and loosening the cloth strip on her wrist, which was a little sore from the tightness.
Xiao Chun'e poked at the charcoal, chuckled twice, and said, "I've never been there either."
"I've heard that everything in the inner city is wonderful, especially Fenglelou, which is just as good as Fanlou in Dongjing (Kaifeng)," Xiao Chun'e said, resting her hand on a fire poker and daydreaming. "If only I could go to Fenglelou..."
“I’ll go there and be a fire-starter. When I get old, I’ll stay in the restaurant and be a censer-carrying lady.”
She laughed out loud at the thought, she was utterly shameless.
Xiao Chun'e asked excitedly, "What about you, A Qiao? Are you going to be a tailor?"
Why be a tailor, the kind who earns seven coins in three days?
Lin Xiushui's expression remained unchanged, but her words were earth-shattering: "I've heard there's a South Imperial Street there, where gold, silver, salt, and paper money are traded, with amounts often reaching tens of thousands."
Under Xiao Chun'e's expectant gaze, she slowly uttered a sentence, "I just want to go there with a bowl and ask for money."
Xiao Chun'e laughed so hard she almost choked. Gu Niangzi, who was standing behind her, also chuckled and walked over to look at the cloth, saying, "I'm afraid that won't work."
"What can't be done?" they both asked in unison.
Madam Gu said in a serious tone, "You can't be a beggar in Lin'an. If you want to be one, you have to start as a beggar first."
"How about I ask you later how much the tour fee is?"
"No, no."
Lin Xiushui's simple (and delusional) dream has been shattered; she'd better just stick to earning her meager wages.
A note from the author:
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