"Hmm, it seems that when Sister Liu throws a tantrum, Wen Qing can't handle it."
"Then who's to blame? Blame Wen Qing for her own dishonest actions."
"After this incident, Aunt Xiao's tailor shop probably won't be able to stay open."
The words of the other customers in the store reached Sister Liu's ears. Her slight "retreat" faded away as the customers "chosen sides," and she became aggressive again.
"I'm slandering you? Go ahead and call the police! Go ahead and call them, and if you're so capable, tell them again about how you stole fabric to make shoes!" Sister Liu shouted, attracting even more onlookers.
"What's going on? What's going on?"
"This tailor shop ripped off its regular customers with cheap fabric!"
"Is that so?"
"Isn't that what's going on right now?"
"It can't be true, right? I'll never dare to have clothes made or buy fabric here again."
"How heartless! These days, everyone works hard to earn money, and this guy actually stole cloth. I never would have guessed that such a beautiful girl would do such a dirty thing!"
"This is disgusting! I'll never have my clothes made here again!"
"..."
In an instant, all the rumors and gossip pointed to Wen Qing.
The shoe repairman stood outside the shop, trying to squeeze into the store several times, but was pushed out of the door by passersby. He was anxious, wondering how a young girl like Wen Qing could handle such a big situation.
"She must be terrified, she must be so angry she's crying, right?" the shoe repairman thought to himself, as he continued to push forward, saying, "Make way, make way."
The shoe repairman still didn't squeeze into the shop, but he spotted Wen Qing. Wen Qing wasn't crying, angry, or afraid; she was calm and collected. This impressed the shoe repairman. He hadn't expected that Wen Qing, despite her young age, was so capable.
"Tell me, are you going to pay me back or not?" Sister Liu pressed aggressively.
Wen Qing looked up at the store and saw that it was full of people who had come to watch the commotion. She couldn't even go out to call the police. She turned to Sister Liu and said, "Let me calculate it."
Upon hearing this, Sister Liu immediately broke into a victorious smile.
A commotion broke out both inside and outside the store:
"Are we going to have to pay compensation?"
"It's probably true. With so many people around, she can't cheat even if she wanted to."
"Then I'll make her pay me back later."
"..."
Wen Qing looked at the crowd and asked, "Excuse me, is there an accountant or someone who can do the books here?"
When Wen Qing said this, everyone was puzzled. But in the 1980s, anyone who knew a few words and could do accounting was considered "knowledgeable." Generally, those who were "knowledgeable" were afraid that others would not know that they were "knowledgeable." Therefore, when Wen Qing said this, a man and a woman stood up.
"I am an accountant."
"I can do the math, but I'm not an accountant; I only keep track of my family's sunflower seed business."
Everyone started speculating.
Why would she need an accountant and bookkeeper?
"Of course we'll refund the money, otherwise what's the point of keeping accounts?"
"That's right, that's right."
Hearing everyone say this, Sister Liu and her companions became even more smug. "Hmph! Wen Qing's refund not only failed to buy her a good reputation, but it also deterred others from buying fabric and clothes from Aunt Xiao's tailor shop. Wen Qing's reputation is ruined; she has no good reputation left in Shuiwan Village."
"Grandma Wu, what grade is your granddaughter in?" Wen Qing asked, looking at the little girl in front of Grandma Wu.
The little girl immediately said, "Sister, I'm in fourth grade, and I know a lot of big characters."
“Little sister, can you help your older sister read the words?” Wen Qing said with a smile.
"good."
Just then, someone chuckled and muttered, "So he can't read, huh? And he's a tailor? Haha."
Wen Qing heard this but didn't take it seriously.
The shoe repairman outside the shop was puzzled. Wen Qing clearly knew how to read, so why was he having the little girl read?
After Wen Qing invited the accountant, the bookkeeper, and the little girl out, she treated the three of them with extreme politeness.
The little girl covered her mouth and laughed shyly, completely unaware of how tense the atmosphere was.
Wen Qing then looked at Sister Liu and asked, "Sister Liu, what kind of fabric did you buy?"
"Qinglun," Sister Liu replied, her chin held high.
How many feet?
"Eight feet."
What are you doing?
"A T-shirt and capri pants."
"Did you bring clothes?"
"No."
How much per foot do you want?
"One dollar and twenty cents a foot."
"Narrow width, three feet five inches."
"right."
Do you have any pockets?
"have?"
"several?"
"Of course, one."
Is the zipper angled or straight?
"Slanted."
"What kind of cloth shoes are you talking about, and what size are they?"
Sister Liu looked at Wen Qing, then glanced at everyone around her, wondering how Wen Qing was going to lose money. Thinking that he might lose a lot, she said, "It's a round-toed cloth shoe with lace trim, size 37."
"What kind of lace?"
"Red lace."
Wen Qing nodded, then said, "Size 37 round-toed cloth shoes with lace trim, the cloth upper is 4.5 inches wide and 1.3 feet long. Is my calculation correct, sir?"
The accountant immediately took a wooden ruler, measured the cloth used for the upper of a size 37 round-toed cloth shoe, and calculated it on the paper for a while before answering, "Wen Qing is right, the cloth is five inches wide and one foot and three inches long."
Everyone was stunned.
"Knowing only the shoe size and shoe type is enough to determine the amount of fabric needed."
"Wen Qing is so young, she's amazing."
"..."
Sister Liu was a little confused. What exactly was Wen Qing trying to do?
After asking her question, Wen Qing looked at the accountant and the bookkeeper and asked, "Did you two write it down?"
"I've written it down."
Wen Qing looked at Sister Liu again and asked gently, "Sister Liu, may I measure your figure?"
Sister Liu wanted to say no, but after looking left and right and seeing everyone staring at her, she felt a bit caught in a dilemma. So she said, "Measure it."
Wen Qing took a tape measure and began measuring Sister Liu's shoulder width, arm length, torso length, and leg length, asking, "Sister Liu, have you lost weight recently?"
Sister Liu had no idea what Wen Qing was doing, let alone how much money Wen Qing was going to compensate her. She answered stiffly, "I haven't lost weight. I'm the same as before."
Upon hearing this, Wen Qing smiled and then counted: "Sleeve length four inches, shirt length one foot and five inches, trouser length two feet." Then she asked Sister Liu, "Was this the original measurement?"
Sister Liu was stunned for a moment.
Wen Qing turned her head and took out a small notebook from the counter, on which the data was clearly written.
Suddenly realizing something was wrong, Sister Liu panicked and immediately shouted, "Wen Qing, you're the one who stole the fabric!"
At this point, the accountant and the bookkeeper were looking at the data, and the bookkeeper said, "The amount of material needed to make clothes is generally two garment lengths plus two trouser lengths. According to this figure, the fabric is eight feet long, and seven feet have already been used."
“Then she was greedy!” Sister Liu said confidently, pointing at Wen Qing.
Everyone looked at Wen Qing.
Wen Qing remained silent.
The accountant said, "Wen Qing wasn't greedy. She forgot to calculate the sleeve length. Both sleeves are eight inches long. Eight feet of cloth should be used for seven feet eight inches, and the other two inches should be in the pockets." After the accountant finished speaking, she handed the notebook to the little girl, who read the numbers aloud in a clear voice.
The customers in the shop are all people who frequently have clothes made. They might not be able to calculate the steps for more complex items, but it's not difficult to calculate the steps for simple items like T-shirts and capri pants.
"Eight feet of cloth, just enough to use up."
"We'll have some scraps of cloth left over from cutting open the round neck."
"That's not enough to make shoes, and shoes look better when they're made of whole pieces of cloth."
"So that means Wen Qing didn't steal the cloth at all?"
"Not only did she not steal any cloth, but probably no one in the entire county who uses cloth is as accurate as her; she's almost never missing an inch."
"That's amazing?"
"Even my grandma, who used to be a tailor, couldn't have predicted this accurately!"
"..."
No matter how much Liu Jie had prepared beforehand, or how confident she had been, the irrefutable evidence was now laid bare before her, leaving her no room for argument. Her face turned pale and then flushed, looking extremely unpleasant.
Seeing this, the shoe repairman chuckled silently, realizing Wen Qing was definitely not the one who stole the cloth! Looking at the accountant and the shoe repairman doing the bookkeeping, he understood: Wen Qing had them to verify the accuracy of the data, and she had the little girl read it aloud because children don't lie. The shoe repairman secretly gave Wen Qing a thumbs up; he was commendable for remaining calm even in this situation. As he smiled, he suddenly remembered something, quickly left the crowd, and hurried to his small shoe repair stall.
At this moment, Sister Liu stood in the center of the store, her imposing manner completely gone. She wanted to say something, but whatever she said seemed to lack any power.
Wen Qing then slowly spoke up, "Sister Liu, I want to tell you something. I never make cloth shoes from acrylic fabric. Firstly, acrylic fabric has poor breathability, and since we all work and eat, our feet tend to sweat easily, causing foot odor. If you don't believe me, look at the cloth shoes on the counter."
Following Wen Qing's pointing finger, everyone looked at the shoes on the counter.
"There really aren't any shoes with Qinglunbu."
"Yes, Qinglun does not breathe well."
"So, Wen Qing was framed?"
"Sister Liu also said that Wen Qing stole her ink-stained Qinglun cloth to make shoes? What do you mean by that?"
"Of course it's a lie!"
"I knew it! Aunt Xiao has been running this shop for years!"
"Why target Wen Qing?"
"They want to kick Wen Qing out of Aunt Xiao's tailor shop."
"..."
Whispers reached Sister Liu's ears, and the women behind her felt guilty, their faces flushed, and they prepared to slip away.
Undeterred, Sister Liu retorted, "It's impossible that all eight feet of cloth were used up! Where are the remaining scraps? You must have stolen them!"
No sooner had Sister Liu finished speaking than the shoe repairman, carrying a tattered little burlap sack, squeezed into the shop, panting, "Make way, make way!"
"Who is this person?" someone asked curiously.
"Yeah, why is there another person here?"
"Oh! That's the shoe repairman at the entrance, I know him!"
What's he doing here?
As soon as the shoemaker stood up, he untied his tattered little burlap sack, pulled up a corner, and a bag full of scraps of cloth and strips of fabric slid out. Red, white, blue, green—the largest was no bigger than the bottom of a bowl, the smallest the size of a fingernail. The shoemaker said, “Look around. All the leftover scraps of cloth from making clothes are here. I thought it was a waste for Aunt Xiao to throw them away, so I brought them all back to use as cushions. Sister Liu, find your Qinglun cloth strips and take them home.”
A burst of laughter erupted from someone in the crowd.
Sister Liu blushed with embarrassment.
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