There are three sewing machines in the village now. One belongs to Yi Jiao, and basically no one dares to borrow hers. Xinyan's has been shipped to the county town a long time ago. She and her elder brother spend a maximum of one month in the village throughout the year.
So many people in the village wanted to borrow Xuemei's sewing machine to learn or use it. Liu's mother was afraid that the villagers would come to borrow the sewing machine every day, so she spread the word in the village that those who borrowed it would only get two eggs a day. She also said that this was an equal and voluntary exchange, not capitalism. Those who wanted to use it for free were exploiting others and were practicing capitalism.
This discouraged many people who wanted to take advantage of the family. Occasionally, there were a few people who really wanted to borrow the sewing machine to make clothes. They would take the initiative to bring eggs and cloth to Liu's house and ask Liu's mother how to use the sewing machine. If they just couldn't learn it, they would cut the cloth for her and use the eggs as processing fees so that she could use the sewing machine to make clothes for them.
"Hello, comrade, how much is this army green cloth?" Xuemei asked the salesperson beside her.
"This is the fabric used to make the Type 65 military uniform. It's plain cotton cloth, the strongest kind used to make cotton-padded jackets. It's more expensive than ordinary cotton cloth, at 40 cents a foot. Comrade, how much do you need?" the salesperson asked Xuemei.
"Comrade, can you cut it for me, twenty-two feet? I have twenty feet of cloth coupons. I heard that a marriage certificate can be used to exchange for two feet of cloth coupons, is that right?" Xuemei asked.
Half of Xuemei's twenty feet of cloth coupons were collected by herself in the past few months, and the other half were exchanged with the old man at the county purchasing station half a month ago after Han Chen assembled a bicycle at the purchasing station.
"Okay, you are the young couple who are here to get their marriage certificate today, right? Show me your marriage certificate!" The ticket seller said after looking at Xuemei and Han Chen.
"That's right, comrade, wait a moment!" Xuemei said, then turned around and watched Han Chen take out the marriage certificate. Han Chen put the backpack on the ground, took out the marriage certificate, handed it to Xuemei, and asked, "Xuemei, didn't Auntie say you wanted red fabric for your clothes? Why did you buy all army green?"
"I want my mother to make it into a winter military uniform. It's popular to wear military uniforms to get married now. Besides, red cloth is not that easy to buy." After Xuemei explained, she took the marriage certificate and handed it to the salesperson.
After the salesperson finished looking at it, he stamped the cloth coupons on the back of the marriage certificate with a redeemed stamp and said, "Comrade, you still need twenty feet of cloth coupons and eight yuan!"
The salesperson took the ticket and money handed over by Xuemei, counted them to make sure they were correct, then took the army green cloth from the cloth rack, measured the size on the counter, cut it with scissors, and handed it to Xuemei.
Xuemei folded the cloth on the counter and was about to hand it to Han Chen when the salesperson called out, "Comrade, ask your partner to wait here for a moment. I have something good to introduce to you!"
As soon as Xuemei and Han Chen walked in, they saw that the clothes the salesperson was wearing were not cheap. Xuemei was also very quick when paying. She wanted to give Xuemei the new goods that she had introduced to Hai City some time ago. The new goods were a bit challenging to everyone's bottom line and were not easy to sell. The few pieces that were sold were bought by their internal staff.
Xuemei followed the salesperson to the warehouse at the back. After closing the door, he took out two small items and handed them to Xuemei.
"What is this?" Xuemei took one and unfolded it to take a look. It looked a bit like a vest, but not quite. The fabric of this thing was half that of underwear. The front felt soft and had two hidden buttons.
"This is a new popular product in Hai City. You can't get it at the supply and marketing cooperative. It is worn on the chest and is much better than a vest! It can also provide protection." The salesperson explained.
Seeing that Xuemei didn't look very interested, the salesperson continued to sell her product, "Girl, your breasts look quite big. You should pay special attention to them. Wearing this will make your breasts look smaller. In the summer, you won't have to worry about running or doing big movements!"
Xuemei saw the salesperson staring at her chest, so she quickly crossed her hands in front of her chest. After she turned sixteen, her breasts had developed more fully. When she wore more clothes, Xuemei didn't need to pay much attention to it. But when the weather was hot, especially in the summer, Xuemei wore a bellyband made by Liu's mother inside, a vest, and a single piece of clothing on the outside. It was very hot, so she had to be careful when walking, for fear of gossip from some gossipy women.
Seeing Xuemei's interest, the saleswoman continued to persuade her, "Sister, I'm not lying to you. My sister had the same problem as you, so I bought her one too. She feels much more comfortable wearing it. Besides, there are only two of these large sizes. I see that you're well-dressed and have a good demeanor, and you're not short of money. They're only two dollars and fifty cents each! No ticket required, it's quite a bargain."
"Sister, this is not cost-effective at all. This piece probably only takes two feet of cloth at most. If you buy the cloth yourself, it would only cost 70 or 80 cents including the money to exchange for cloth coupons. You've tripled the price! I don't want it!" Xuemei adjusted her expression, handed the bra in her hand to the salesperson, and waved her hand.
"Girl, no! Although this is a little expensive, it is much more comfortable to wear than a vest. If you touch the material, you will know how good it is. There is cotton padding in the front, so it is very comfortable to wear. Otherwise, if you take these two pieces, I will give you a discount of fifty cents on each piece." The salesperson said a little anxiously.
Xuemei remained unmoved and made a move to open the door and go out.
The salesperson quickly grabbed Xuemei's arm and said with a bit of heartache, "Sister, how about this? If you buy these two pieces of clothing, I'll give you two kilograms of wool yarn. This is made of top-quality wool and was just delivered yesterday afternoon."
Xuemei certainly knew that wool was hard to buy. Originally, everyone in the family had a sweater. Later, when Xuemei and her four siblings grew up, Liu's mother asked Liu's father to go to the black market to trade for prey several times before they could get a few kilograms of ordinary wool.
Two years ago, the situation was severe. Father Liu had not been to the black market since the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Mother Liu could only take apart her own and Father Liu's sweaters and mix them with new wool to enlarge and lengthen the sweaters of Xuemei and her four siblings. Xuemei is now wearing a two-tone sweater underneath, and although Qingya and her three siblings' sweaters are still wearable, the sleeves and belly are too short.
Ever since Xuemei started working at the supply and marketing cooperative, she has been keeping an eye out for wool for sale. She wants to buy a sweater or wool vest for both Liu's father and mother. Otherwise, when the weather gets cold in winter, Liu's father and mother can only stuff thin clothes under their cotton-padded jackets.
The commune supply and marketing cooperative had very little wool supply. Xuemei had only had two or three such cases during her time working there, but usually the yarn was secretly divided up by the people in the fabric group before Xuemei even knew about it.
Every time she came to the county town to ask, she couldn't buy it. She was told it was sold out. So when she heard there was wool yarn, wool yarn at that, Xuemei was overjoyed. Today was a lucky day for her.
But Xuemei didn't show it on her face. She said calmly, "Sister, it's still too expensive. How about this? I'll take off my coat and try it on to see if it fits. If it fits, how about 1.5 yuan each? I'm planning on getting two smaller ones, and I'll also get the wool!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
