Wen Peng, being very well-behaved, grinned and asked, "Big sister, what are we having for dinner tonight?"
"What do you want to eat?" Wen Qing asked.
Wen Peng looked up at Wen Qing, his mouth watering, and whispered, "Big sister, I want to eat noodles, I want to eat..."
“Wen Peng”.
Before Wen Peng could finish speaking, Yao Shiling came out of the main room and said, "Come on, take the ox and go to the field with Mom to plant the beans."
Planting beans?
Wen Qing thought for a moment before remembering that in Shuiwan Village, beans are usually planted right after the wheat harvest. The reason the beans were planted only now was because the weather and ground were dry when the wheat was harvested, followed by a heavy rain that made the ground too damp, so it was only today that they could go to the fields to plant the beans.
Before Wen Qing could react, Wen Peng had already led the cow out of the cowshed. Yao Shiling also brought out a plow, iron chain, and wooden paddle, and began to fix them to the cow. She also carried half a bag of bean seeds and placed it on the cow.
Wen Qing looked like she was going to help.
Yao Shiling said, "No, Wenqing, don't go. You've been working on the sewing machine all day. Just stay home and rest. The cows, Wenpeng, and I are enough."
“That’s right, that’s right, the ox listens to me now.” With that, Wen Peng led the ox, which was taller than him, out of the yard.
Yao Shiling also left the yard carrying water.
Wen Qing chased after her out of the yard and asked, "Mom, when are you coming back?"
"Come back when it gets dark!" Wen Peng answered for her. "Big sister, you should get some rest."
Wen Qing wasn't going to rest. Feeling her mother's protection and her brother's care, she felt genuinely happy and warm. She wanted them to have a better life, and a much better life.
She closed the courtyard gate, went into her room, and took out all the items she had bought at the market, including white leather-soled shoes, dark blue cotton cloth, large white paper, needles, thread, boxes, and thimbles, and placed them on the simple table.
Then I started cutting white paper, four feet long and four feet wide, into a sixteen-page book that was neither too thick nor too thin. I sewed the left side together with needle and thread, and wrote three words on the first page with a pencil stub: "Drawing Book".
Then she began to rush to make sandals for young women. During this time, when some images of shoes popped into her mind, she would stop sewing, pick up a pencil stub, and draw them on her sketchbook.
Sandals are simple to make; she finalized the design yesterday, and today only the details remained. So she sat down at the table and carefully sewed, mended, and cut. When her neck started to ache slightly, the sandals were finished. She looked at them from left to right, tried them on, and only when they were perfectly comfortable did she feel satisfied. Then, stretching her neck, she couldn't help but think to herself, "Aunt Xiao will price these sandals at three yuan, so two yuan and seventy cents will be hers."
With an extra two yuan and seventy cents, Wen Qing was full of energy. From her worn-out leather suitcase, she found the shoe soles she had made while learning to sew, as well as the flowers she had embroidered on the sewing machine. There were many kinds of flowers, including lotus, orchid, and osmanthus.
She chose size 37 soles, pink uppers with osmanthus embroidery, and began making embroidered shoes with buckles and soles for short women.
After twisting the thread, threading the needle, and putting on the thimble, Wen Qing devoted herself entirely to making shoes. As darkness fell, she moved the table from inside the house to the yard, and even as the setting sun painted the sky red, she was still making shoes.
"It's already dark, why are you still making shoes?" Wen Liang's voice suddenly rang out.
Wen Qing was startled: "Liangliang, you're out of school? Why are you so late?"
"We were cleaning when two classmates got into a fight. We broke them up and took another classmate home, so we came back late," Wen Liang explained.
"Fighting? Did I run into you?" Wen Qing quickly put down her shoes and checked Wen Liang's body.
Wen Liang awkwardly brushed Wen Qing's hand away: "It wasn't me who hit her, where are Mom and Pengpeng?"
Wen Qing breathed a sigh of relief: "Going to plant beans."
Wen Liang hung his schoolbag on the wall and said, "I'm going to take a look." Then he ran off in a flash.
Wen Liang's hostility towards her seemed to be gradually decreasing. Wen Qing smiled, then looked up at the sky. In less than half an hour, the sun would completely sink below the horizon. Her mother and Pengpeng must be exhausted. She put away the winnowing basket and the table, turned around and went into the kitchen to wash her hands, knead the dough, and roll out noodles.
Speaking of which, she really has to thank Ji Yanjun for her cooking skills now, because of that saying, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." So she washed her hands and cooked for him, but what happened? She ended up having a huge falling out with Ji Yanjun and the Ji family.
Wen Qing kneaded the dough, let it rest, rolled it out with a rolling pin, and cut it into noodles with a cleaver. When Yao Shiling, Wen Liang, and Wen Peng returned, Wen Qing was just cooking the noodles.
Wen Peng ran in, covered in sweat, jumping and shouting with joy: "Big sister, it's white noodles, white noodles!"
"You little glutton," Wen Qing said with a smile.
Before Yao Shiling could speak, Wen Peng shut up, staring intently at the white noodles, swallowing hard.
This time, Yao Shiling not only didn't scold Wen Qing for using white flour to make noodles and wasting flour, but instead asked her if she was done. While eating the noodles, she kept urging her to eat more and more.
The family slurped their noodles until they were full, then strolled around the yard for a while to digest before going back to their rooms to sleep. Wen Qing, content, made shoes under the kerosene lamp.
She finished a pair of white leather-soled buckled cloth shoes around midnight and went to bed. The next day, she was in high spirits as usual, carrying a cloth bag to the county town. She sold the white leather-soled buckled cloth shoes she had made in a day for three yuan and thirty cents. She gave Aunt Xiao three cents, and she still had three yuan left.
Back in Shuiwan Village, she handed the task over to Yao Shiling. Yao Shiling not only refused, but also said, "Go buy some shoe soles or something. After I plant the beans and have some free time, I'll make shoes for you too. I may not be good at other things, but I know how to sew shoe soles."
Wen Qing had originally planned to have her mother help with shoe making to earn some capital, but she didn't expect her mother to bring it up herself.
"Okay, okay," Wen Qing said repeatedly, quickly stuffing the three yuan into her pocket. She was thinking that if she made money, her family's living conditions would improve, they wouldn't have to worry about food and clothing, her younger brothers' tuition fees would be covered, and maybe she could continue her studies. She was only seventeen years old, and she could definitely continue her education.
Wen Qing waited with great anticipation for the next day, preparing to deliver the floral dress and striped sandals. After work, she planned to buy a few more pairs of white leather-soled shoes, make a few more pairs, and sell them for a few more yuan.
The result, however, was not as she had hoped.
The next day, she arrived at Aunt Xiao's tailor shop on time and showed her the floral dress and sandals. Aunt Xiao was very satisfied. In order to raise the price a little, she asked Wen Qing to iron them again behind the counter to make the dress look even prettier. After all, she had said that the floral dress the young woman wore last time was the lowest price for a regular customer. This time, she could raise the price by a few cents, and every cent counted, since they were all quite wealthy anyway.
Wen Qing knew exactly what Aunt Xiao was thinking. She smiled, took the floral cotton dress and went behind the counter. She spread the dress out on the table, neatly covered it with a slightly damp towel, picked up the iron block with a handle on the side of the table, and heated it by the stove. It was a simple handmade iron.
Wen Qing ironed her skirt with a hot towel while talking to Aunt Xiao.
As Aunt Xiao was speaking, she suddenly raised her voice and called out enthusiastically, "What would you two young ladies like to buy? Come in and take a look."
Wen Qing knew without even looking that guests had arrived.
"Boss, we're here to pick up a floral cotton dress and sandals." Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind. Wen Qing was startled. Wasn't that Ji Ningzhi?
She came to pick up her floral cotton dress and sandals? Wen Qing glanced at the dress being ironed. Could it be that the young woman who mentioned her cousin's classmate three days ago was Ji Ningzhi?
Wen Qing listened intently.
I overheard Aunt Xiao talking to Ji Ningzhi. Aunt Xiao said that the dress was still being ironed behind the counter and would be done in a little while.
Ji Ningzhi said, "It's okay, we can wait a bit."
"Us?" Could it be with Zhang Fangfang?
"Yes, I'll wait for Ningzhi." It was indeed Zhang Fangfang's voice, gentler than ever.
As soon as Zhang Fangfang finished speaking, a voice that was all too familiar came over: "Ning Zhi, I have something to take care of first, I'll come pick you up in a bit."
Deep, melodious, and with a touch of languor.
Ji Yanjun!
Wen Qing was frozen in place.
With a hiss, the iron dried the water on the towel. Wen Qing immediately felt a heat in her hand and quickly waved it away. Then, with a crackling sound, the makeshift iron rolled to her feet. Fortunately, it wasn't the electric iron that would later maintain a constant temperature, so she wasn't injured, and her floral cotton dress wasn't damaged. However, the crackling sound attracted the attention of Aunt Xiao, Ji Ningzhi, and Zhang Fangfang.
"Wen Qing, what's wrong?" Aunt Xiao asked from behind the counter.
Wen Qing?
Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang were taken aback.
"Boss, who did you just call?" Ji Ningzhi asked hurriedly, somewhat doubting that she had misheard. How could Wen Qing, that country bumpkin, be in the county town?
“Wen Qing,” Aunt Xiao said, “the floral cotton dress and sandals you wanted were made by her.”
"What?" Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang were shocked. It was Wen Qing?
Zhang Fangfang first turned to look for Ji Yanjun, and when she found that Ji Yanjun was no longer around, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After a moment, Ji Ningzhi came to her senses and looked at Zhang Fangfang, saying, "Sister Fangfang, this Wen Qing is definitely not the Wen Qing we know. Besides chasing after my brother and chattering away, she has a terrible temper. She can't do anything else. She's from the countryside, and she probably doesn't even know the difference between the five grains. Let alone how to make clothes or shoes!"
Zhang Fangfang nodded secretly; she also felt it couldn't be Wen Qing, whom they knew.
"Wen Qing, what's wrong?" Aunt Xiao asked again, and walked behind the counter.
"Aunt Xiao, it's nothing, the iron was just a bit big and got knocked over." Wen Qing's voice came through the curtain.
Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang stood there in shock.
Is it really Wen Qing?
The clothes they wanted—no, I should say the dresses and shoes they had been eyeing—were actually made by Wen Qing.
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