“Okay, Mom supports you,” Yao Shiling said.
Wen Qing happily hugged Yao Shiling and said joyfully, "Mom, thank you, you're so kind!"
"Go away, I'm covered in sweat, why are you hugging me? It's so hot!"
"It's not hot!" Wen Qing said with a smile.
That evening, Wen Qing sat at the wooden table made by Wen Liang, facing the kerosene lamp, opened her sketchbook, and selected a sketch based on the current popular fabrics, styles, and public acceptance. Then she unfolded a large sheet of white paper, used a ruler to calculate the arithmetic equations one by one.
"Wen Qing, Wen Qing, why aren't you asleep yet?" Yao Shiling urged.
Wen Qingcai replied, "Okay, I'll go to sleep in a bit."
After blowing out the light and lying in bed, Wen Qing stared at the small hole in the ceiling and pondered for a while.
The next morning, after having breakfast, she went to the county town early.
"Wen Qing, why are you here so early?" Aunt Xiao asked, sipping her porridge and eating pickled vegetables. "Have you eaten yet?"
"have eaten."
Aunt Xiao quickly put the bowl down.
Wen Qing quickly said, "Aunt Xiao, no rush, no rush, take your time eating, there are no other guests anyway."
Aunt Xiao picked up her bowl again and ate much faster.
Wen Qing walked to the fabric rack and took stock of all the fabrics in Aunt Xiao's tailor shop, including wool, polyester, acrylic, foreign cloth, plain weave, etc., writing them down in her notebook and also noting down the remaining amount of each fabric.
When Aunt Xiao came out after finishing her meal, she saw Wen Qing making notes on the fabric and asked in surprise, "Wen Qing, what are you doing?"
"Let's calculate the fabric cost." Wen Qing jotted down a figure, then turned and asked, "Yes, Aunt Xiao, how much cash do we have left in the store?"
Aunt Xiao thought for a moment and said, "I gave all the money for the shoes to Sister-in-law Yao. We haven't sold much fabric or clothing in the last week or so. Business was particularly good the week before last. In total, we have 320 yuan including principal and interest."
Wen Qing nodded and said, "Give Bao Hong twenty yuan as her wages for this month. We'll save three hundred yuan. You take one hundred and twenty yuan, and I'll take one hundred and eighty yuan."
Aunt Xiao's face immediately turned pale. She looked at Wen Qing and asked anxiously, "Wen Qing, you're not thinking of closing the shop, are you? Our business is a bit bad, but..." Aunt Xiao was very agitated.
Wen Qing hurriedly said, "No, no, Aunt Xiao, don't worry. I heard you say yesterday that we need to transform our business."
"What kind of transformation?" Aunt Xiao asked.
"Using our strengths, we can make ready-made clothing," Wen Qing said.
Aunt Xiao was puzzled.
Wen Qing took out a piece of white paper, one foot long and one foot wide, from her cloth bag, spread it out on the table, and said to Aunt Xiao, "I plan to make this set of clothes myself."
Aunt Xiao took a look. Although she was a tailor, she could only be considered a skilled worker. In terms of innovation and aesthetics, she couldn't compare to Wen Qing. Therefore, she didn't know the value of the dress and asked, "Wen Qing, can this be sold?"
“Okay,” Wen Qing said.
Aunt Xiao, however, was not very confident.
Wen Qing had no choice but to prove it with actions: "Aunt Xiao, how about this? Your family doesn't have much, but you still harvest beans, right? You haven't seen your son in a long time. Go home and stay for a week, and then come back here after a week."
"And what about you?" Aunt Xiao asked.
Wen Qing: "I'll make two of these clothes first, and then we'll start making more after someone buys them."
"Then I have to stay with you."
Wen Qing laughed: "It's no use you being with me now, right? You should go home and spend time with your son. I can handle this by myself. Besides, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Alright then, be sure to call me if you need anything," Aunt Xiao said.
"knew."
After Wen Qing and Aunt Xiao discussed it, they divided the money. Aunt Xiao went to pack her luggage to go home, while Wen Qing sorted out a lot of fabric and white leather shoe soles, put them in a large backpack, and left them at Aunt Xiao's tailor shop. She would take them with her to her residence in Green Garden when she returned to school the next day.
After they finished getting ready, they locked the door of Aunt Xiao's tailor shop.
Seeing this, the shoe repairman quickly stepped forward and asked, "Wen Qing, Aunt Xiao, what are you doing? Is the tailor shop across the street going too far?" The shoe repairman was particularly worried that his granddaughter had lost her job.
Wen Qing looked across at the tailor shop, where a steady stream of people were already entering. In contrast, Aunt Xiao's tailor shop was deserted.
"It's busy farming season, time to go home and harvest beans," Aunt Xiao said.
The shoe repairman said, "I've never seen you come home to harvest beans during the busy farming season before."
Aunt Xiao fell silent.
Wen Qing smiled and said, "This year is different." Then he continued, "Grandpa, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! You're going back to your hometown today, right? Tell your Bao Hong to come back to work in a week. We'll be very busy when you come back."
Upon hearing this, the shoe repairman was immediately delighted and repeatedly said, "Good, good, good." He stopped bothering Wen Qing and Aunt Xiao to ask what was going on.
Wen Qing gave the shoe repairman another ten yuan, saying it was half of Bao Hong's wages, to take back for the holiday, and the other ten yuan would be paid a month later when she came.
The shoe repairman was overjoyed and thanked Wen Qing profusely.
Aunt Xiao was worried. She had founded the tailor shop herself, and she was reluctant to give it up. As for Wen Qing's "transformation," she was not optimistic, since there were far more people making clothes than buying them now.
However, she was still willing to trust Wen Qing this once.
After parting ways with Aunt Xiao, Wen Qing returned to Shuiwan Village.
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although many people's beans ripened early, they will still stop to eat a reunion lunch or dinner on this day.
The beans at Wenqing's house ripen late, so they need to wait another two or three days before they can be harvested.
After sharpening her sickle, Yao Shiling prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival. She kneaded the dough early, prepared some brown sugar and white sesame seeds, and started making sugar pancakes for Wen Qing, Wen Liang, and Wen Peng as a kind of mooncake.
From the moment Wen Qing returned home, she pulled out the large table in the main room and prepared tools such as a bamboo winnowing basket, scissors, thimble, needle, thread, wooden ruler, tape measure, green chalk, pencil, and eraser. She then spread a piece of white polyester cloth on the large table and began to draw, cut, and sit in front of the sewing machine to pedal.
She was busy until noon when Yao Shiling called her to lunch. She hurriedly ate a few bites of vegetables, bit into a sugar pancake, and continued to sit in front of the sewing machine, threading the white thread through the eye of the needle.
"Wen Qing, eat your meal first, then you can make the clothes," Yao Shiling said.
Wen Qing took a bite of the sugar cake, chewed it a couple of times, and said, "Mom, the sugar cake is so crispy and crunchy, it's delicious!"
"If it's delicious, come and eat. You've been making clothes for ages."
"It's okay, you guys eat, I'm full."
Wen Qing was busy until the afternoon, and a simple white polyester autumn women's shirt was finally produced.
Wen Qing asked Wen Liang to make a simple clothes hanger out of a wooden stick, prop it up, and hang it on a rope.
"Mom, is it pretty?" Wen Qing asked.
Yao Shiling nodded: "Beautiful!"
"Yes, it looks good!" Wen Peng said.
Wen Liang stared at the clothes and said, "I don't know if they look good or not. I think as long as the clothes are wearable, they're fine."
Wen Qing asked the wrong people, so she turned to her and said, "Mom, try it on and let me see how it looks."
Yao Shiling: "How could I wear this dress? I look too young."
"Let me see how it looks on you." Wen Qing urged Yao Shiling to put on the new clothes she had made. After looking Yao Shiling up and down, Wen Qing said, "Mom, take it off, and I'll alter it a bit more."
With this change, Wen Qing moved the process to the evening. Looking at the round moon and remembering that it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, she stopped making clothes and instead had her family sit in the courtyard to admire the moon, eat sweet cakes, and chat about everyday things, including Wen Qing's father and her second uncle.
Wen Qing noticed that when her mother talked about her father, her eyes shone with a light she had never seen before, and her face was filled with a happy smile. Only then did Wen Qing realize that her mother loved her father.
"Then how did my dad die?" Wen Peng asked.
Yao Shiling said, "I'm sick."
"What illness?" Wen Peng asked.
Yao Shiling shook her head: "I don't know. Your father ate raw fish and loach and took a lot of Chinese medicine to treat his illness, but it didn't work."
After listening for a couple of sentences, Wen Qing, unwilling to hear about the illness, changed the subject.
Yao Shiling started talking about the misdeeds of Wen Qing's second uncle, which made Wen Qing, Wen Liang, and Wen Peng laugh heartily.
“Your second uncle judges people by their appearance. He took Wen Qing out every day because she was pretty, and he always gave her the best of everything. If Wen Qing were ugly, your second uncle would definitely ignore her.”
Wen Qing laughed.
It was late at night, and the family members went to sleep.
Wen Qing stopped making clothes and discussed taking the sewing machine to the city early the next morning.
Wen Qing was worried that there would be too many students returning to school in the afternoon, so in the morning she, Yao Shiling, and Wen Liang pulled an oxcart loaded with sewing machines to the county town and waited for the bus at the four-way intersection. They agreed to pay an extra two cents for the fare before the driver would agree to take the sewing machines on the road.
The ticket seller said, "It's lucky you came in the morning to go to the city. If it were crowded in the afternoon, they definitely wouldn't let your sewing machine on the bus."
Wen Qing smiled and thanked him repeatedly, then waved for Wen Liang and Yao Shiling to return to Shuiwan Village. Yao Shiling originally wanted to accompany Wen Qing to the county town, but Wen Qing refused, saying that she would let Yao Shiling go after she had made all the arrangements.
So Wen Qing carried a backpack, which was still full of clothing-making tools and fabric.
After getting off the bus, Wen Qing hired two oxcarts for one cent. One person pulled the sewing machine, and the other pulled her to Greenland Garden. After waiting inside the community, Wen Qing paid another two cents to have the two people carry the sewing machine to the second floor. Only then was the sewing machine safely transported to the rental apartment in Greenland Garden.
The house has a bed, a table, chairs, electricity, a stove, and a bathroom, but that's about it. Wen Qing can't stay here overnight; she'll definitely have to go back to school tonight and then apply to her homeroom teacher for permission to stay off-campus when classes start.
Wen Qing stayed in her room until the afternoon, altering a white polyester shirt to her satisfaction before returning to school to prepare to start making pants the next day.
The school was bustling with students, most of whom were returning from home, carrying large and small bags of things.
Wen Qing walked into the school carrying a checkered backpack, attracting the attention of many people.
"Is that Wen Qing from your original Class 2 of Grade 11?"
How did you know?
"Wen Qing dresses differently from others; she looks good. Look at her schoolbag, it's so pretty."
"She is beautiful."
"..."
Wen Qing touched her schoolbag and quickly hugged it to her chest. She didn't plan to be as high-profile and flamboyant as she was in her previous life, so she hurriedly entered the dormitory building.
Before Wen Qing even entered dormitory 202, she heard Xu Shanshan's voice: "Ning Zhi, you're using Ya Shuang? It smells so good."
“My brother bought it for me. I’ll take you to apply it tomorrow morning,” Ji Ningzhi said.
"Ningzhi, you are so kind."
Wen Qing came in silently. Ji Ningzhi glanced at her and then said, "My brother also bought a bottle of Ya Shuang for Sister Fangfang. It's really expensive."
Wen Qing pretended not to hear, walked to her bed, made the bed, and ignored Ji Ningzhi.
Ji Ningzhi continued, saying that Zhang Fangfang ate several meals at her house, went to the movies with her brother, went shopping with her, and how Zhang Fangfang's family was so rich, etc., as if it were the truth.
Wen Qing ignored him, made the bed, climbed in, and slept until 7:30 pm. After getting up and having some food with Wan Min, she read a book by the light bulb for a while until the light was turned off before lying back in bed.
Wen Qing slept for a long time during the day and was not sleepy at night. She lay in bed planning what she needed to do next.
The white shirt is already made, and the trousers can be figured out in two days. Next up are the shoes, but those are not problems.
The questions are: how to sell them quickly? How to make money?
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