Chapter 045 Unique

All the handmade sweaters in Xue Shiqi's store are designed by herself, so the design drawings are not a whole book, but pages of hand-drawn paper. However, it is convenient to make copies in Hong Kong, so after telling Tang Yuan, she immediately went out to find a copy shop.

Tang Yuan was left alone in the store.

Seeing Xue Shiqi leaving after saying one word, Tang Yuan sat down helplessly, and couldn't help but sigh at her trust in people.

During the time she closed her eyes to rest, she was distracted and went back to the stove room, looked at the fire, adjusted her sitting posture, and turned the page of the book in her hand. This is her daily routine now. Although she is away from home, she always has to find time to "go back" and cannot stay still.

Xue Shiqi came back soon, holding several copies of the patterns in her hands. She picked out some of them and said, "This, this, this, and this. Knit these four first. These are the ones I am most satisfied with and want to knit. If you can help me knit them, I can take time to draw more patterns, so that everyone who buys sweaters in the store can buy a unique style."

When she talked about sweater styles, her eyes lit up. It was obvious that she really liked knitting sweaters and designing special sweater styles.

However, it is precisely because of her passion that she is able to maintain this low-profit handicraft shop.

"Are all sweaters unique?" Tang Yuan asked.

"Basically, but sometimes I get lazy and knit some sweaters that look different but are actually woven in the same way and in the same style," Xue Shiqi whispered to Tang Yuan, "Most of the time, customers can't tell the difference."

Tang Yuan replied: "This is also unique."

"Really?" Xue Shiqi looked at her happily.

"Of course, and I think your design is so good, it would be a pity if you only knit one sweater," Tang Yuan looked at the design in his hand, "Such a good design should be worn by many people."

"I think so too, but if it's not unique, I feel sorry for the customers who buy the sweater," Xue Shiqi said seriously, "So even if I'm lazy sometimes, the style of the sweater is different."

When Tang Yuan heard this, he knew that this was her insistence and she couldn't change it with just a few words.

If she were given a choice, she would naturally choose "bulk production" because it has high profits and high efficiency. It would also be easier for her to weave it for Shen Wenyu or others.

But Xue Shiqi is the owner of this handmade sweater shop, and her ideas are the most important.

Besides, she couldn't find more people to help her knit sweaters on the assembly line.

She took Xue Shiqi's design books and flipped through them one by one. After reading one, she had an idea in her mind and said, "These designs are beautiful, but I always feel that something is missing."

"What? Is there something I didn't do well?" Xue Shiqi asked anxiously.

"No, I just thought there might be some other ideas," Tang Yuan handed her the design drawing, "I passed by a couple wearing similar clothes two days ago, maybe we can design one..."

"Couple style?" Xue Shiqi understood immediately and thought of this immediately.

"There are also parent-child styles," Tang Yuan suggested. "In this case, you can slightly modify some of the designs you used before and use them again. You are so talented, you can definitely design different styles of sweaters according to different situations."

"Sure, I suddenly have a lot of inspiration in my mind!" Xue Shiqi clenched the design album in her hand.

Seeing her like this, Tang Yuan knew that she already had an idea in her mind, so he stopped there and asked her to arrange enough wool to knit four sweaters and settle the money. Including the two sweaters she brought, she could still get fifteen yuan.

When she left, she was carrying a large bag of wool and four design drawings that Xue Shiqi had given her.

She still had some time today, so after returning home, she went straight to the scrapyard.

Shen Wenyu had been waiting for her, and stood up quickly when he saw her appear.

"How is it?"

"No problem, I've taken it away," Tang Yuan said, walking into the scrap yard and handing it to Shen Wenyu along with the bag she was carrying. "Inside is enough yarn to make four sweaters, and there are also sweater pattern drawings. Sister Shen, please see if you can crochet it."

"Yes, definitely," Shen Wenyu took out the pattern drawing and exclaimed, "Oh, this is really good. We never did any design when knitting sweaters before. We just knitted whatever we could. Don't worry, it's clearly drawn here. How to hook and connect, it's almost the same as the previous one."

Shen Wenyu did not ask about the style of the sweater. Although she had knitted the same style before, this was what the other party wanted, so it was natural that the style was complicated. Clothes makers have to tailor the sweater according to the body's body shape, and her job is similar.

But she had never taken on a sweater-making job before.

This thing is not difficult to weave. You can learn it by just asking someone. It doesn’t matter what the pattern is, as long as it can keep you warm.

"By the way, when are you coming to pick these up?"

"I'll come in two days and I'll take whatever Sister Shen can knit," Tang Yuan said. "I'll take it and ask them to give it to me. Then I'll bring new yarn and patterns back. This way we can keep going."

"That's good," Shen Wenyu narrowed her eyes, "I'm not very familiar with the previous one. Once I'm familiar with it, maybe I can weave one in half a day. This way I can make more than thirty in a month."

"As long as the quality is up to standard, of course we can have it." Tang Yuan nodded.

The waste station is usually not busy. After all, every household is not rich these days. Some families who have newspaper subscriptions will not use their waste to sell. They just mix up the newspapers here and there and they can use most of them.

You can even use newspapers as a favor, which is better than going to the scrapyard to exchange them for a few cents.

Shen Wenyu works in this scrap yard and can knit all day long, comparable to Xue Shiqi who runs a shop full-time. In fact, because Shen Wenyu has many years of experience in knitting sweaters, her speed is even faster than Xue Shiqi.

Xue Shiqi, whose speed was compared by Tang Yuan, was knitting a sweater.

The most complicated and varied parts of the sweater have been woven, and the remaining parts such as the splicing, neckline and sleeves are relatively simple. In just half a day, she had finished the sweater in her hands.

Coincidentally, not long after the knitted sweater was hung up, a customer passed by, fell in love with the sweater at first sight, and took it away.

In the evening, Mother Xue drove over, parked the car in front of the store, opened the door and went in.

"Mommy——"

"Are you designing a new style again?" Mother Xue walked over and looked at the design drawings on the table. "Is this... a couple's style?"

"Yes, Mommy, I made a new friend. She brought some wool to help me knit a sweater and also talked about the design. But it's not easy to design a couple's sweater," Xue Shiqi picked up two design drawings, "Mom, look at these two. They are the lock and key I designed, but they are not easy to knit. And these two..."

Mother Xue listened carefully to her description of the design drawings and drew two of them: "Shiqi, can I buy these two from you?"

"Hmm?" Xue Shiqi raised her head.

"Mommy recently bought a clothing factory and is in need of a hit item. I'm selling these two to Mommy," she said as she opened her bag and took out a stack of money. "This is a reward."

Xue Shiqi was stunned for a moment, then happily accepted the money: "Thank you, Mommy, you are so kind."

Mother Xue smiled as she put away the drawings and touched her daughter's head. "Let's go. Since you've found someone to help you knit a sweater, can you take a rest tonight? Mommy will take you out for a nice meal tonight."

"Yeah, I want steak."

"Can."

…

"Xiaoyuan, hurry up, there will be braised pork tonight. If you go too late, you won't be able to buy it."

"Right here," Tang Yuan stood up, "We haven't had braised pork for a few days."

There is not always meat in the machinery factory cafeteria. No, it’s not that there is no meat at all, it’s just that there are not big portions of meat every meal. Most of the time, the pickled vegetables in the cafeteria are just those with a bit of fishy smell.

Maybe two pounds of pork can be used to stir-fry a large pot, or maybe one pound of bacon can be used to stir-fry a pot.

As they were talking, the two of them had already reached the end of the line.

The meat and vegetable factory in the machinery factory was subsidized, and the coupons for a meal of meat were less than those in the state-owned restaurants outside. Tang Yuan took some effort to find the meat coupons from his clothes and calculated the amount of meat coupons: "If I eat one meal today and buy some more meat outside, I will have to wait for the invoice next month."

"This is the amount we have for today," someone in the front said, "Xiaoyuan, you can eat a few more meals of meat if you eat by yourself. That's great."

"I don't have many tickets," Tang Yuan smiled, "our tickets are linked to our wages."

"That's right," the man in front nodded, "By the way, you know your mother, no, your stepmother is coming back?"

Tang Yuan was surprised: "Ah?"

Before she could ask more, someone was more curious than her and asked hurriedly, "What's going on?"

"It is said that they had a fight at the Tang family," the man said. "We live next door to the Liu family, and Liu Hongmei's parents quarreled fiercely. Liu Hongmei went to the countryside, but her household registration was not there, so she had no supplies from the countryside, and the factory did not provide her with rations. Liu Hongmei's father had some face, so he allowed her to take basic rations, but that little ration was not enough. Look, they really quarreled after living together for a few days."

"Didn't you just say that there was a fight? Who fought with whom? It couldn't be Tang Jianguo beating Liu Hongmei, right?"

"Well, it's said that there was a fight between the sisters-in-law. One said that you occupied the house, and the other said that you ate our food. Oh, and it's said that Liu Hongmei and Tang Jianguo secretly went to the black market to buy food."

"Oh, you said that?"

"I said it, but then I regretted it, saying that I heard it wrongly. Anyway, that's how the old Liu couple quarreled. Now Liu Hongmei wants to come back, but the factory hasn't decided yet. Our machinery factory is not a small place. She can come and go as she pleases. Don't the factory leaders have any face?"

"That's right. When he left, he was yelling and arguing about being filial. Why didn't he mention that now? Now that he's back, isn't that being unfilial?"

"Yes, we all know who they are."

"Isn't it?"

Everyone looked at each other, revealing a look that showed they knew what was going on.

Tang Yuan was also happy to hear this. At least her scumbag father and stepmother were not living a good life, so she was in a good mood.

However, she had thought that her stepmother could hold on for a few more months, but she regretted it in such a short time. She hoped that the factory leaders would not agree so quickly. She really wanted to see if the two of them could still live well after torturing each other for a while.

It turns out that Tang Jianguo has been working in a machinery factory. It is estimated that her stepmother has a deep filter for the Tang family. In addition, the Tang family has suppressed her in her hometown, so she is probably mostly grateful to the Tang family.

Now that she has gone deeper into it, what she feels is less than one percent of her original body. In this situation, it would be a pity if she didn't stay in the Tang family for a longer time.