In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month.
The winter in the eastern province is cold, damp and chilly, though it lasts much shorter than in the north. However, even if it is only two months, it is indeed impossible to do work in the fields.
During this season, the country people have nothing to do. Many people choose to stay indoors. Some are not afraid of the cold and visit neighbors. Some go to towns and counties to find odd jobs to earn some pocket money to supplement their family income.
But in this era, even students from the city become unemployed after graduation and are forced to go to the countryside. Where are the odd jobs left for the country people? Everyone goes there with high hopes but returns disappointed.
In this depression, Shuangshui Village Garment Workshop became an exception. As the year was coming to an end, many people were busy buying new clothes for the New Year. Cheng Maixiang took advantage of the opportunity to launch several festive clothes, which were well received in the county. Coupled with a report by Ruan Peiling of the county daily newspaper, "Jiaxiang" clothing became a famous brand in the city.
There has been a constant stream of people buying clothes in recent days, so much so that the clothes in the garment factory are sold out before they are even hung on the counter. The people in the garment factory have no choice but to work overtime to rush to make clothes.
Seeing that everyone was working hard, Cheng Maixiang decided to give out bonuses at the end of the month. Now everyone was more motivated, and many of them stayed in the garment workshop until very late before going home to rest, and then came to the workshop early the next day to work.
Today, the garment workshop in Shuangshui Village has become a well-known place for making money. Many people are eager to send their wives and daughters here to earn money. However, the number of sewing machines is limited. Secondly, Cheng Maixiang and her mother adhere to the principle of "better to have less than enough", so they only added a few female embroidery workers, and the number of people making clothes did not increase.
"But this isn't a solution. Look, the people in the garment factory are practically swamped, yet there are still more people buying clothes than ever before, and Manager Wu is still pushing you."
Cheng Maixiang and Lin Jiayu were walking on the hill north of the village, chatting about the next development of the garment workshop. It was freezing cold this season and there was basically no one on the mountain. Only the two of them took Qiaomai and Yingying to hike the mountain early in the morning on the weekend.
"Didn't I contact the Guangshi Garment Factory on behalf of Manager Wu? Even the factory director sent a batch of goods over. Why is it still not working?"
Cheng Maixiang asked in confusion. Half a month ago, she went to the town and called the factory director. He agreed immediately. Logically, the clothes should have arrived, which would definitely ease the pressure on the supply and marketing cooperative. Why was he still urging her?
Lin Jiayu gently stroked her hair. "Guangshi did send clothes over, but with the shipping costs and the high commission, each piece of clothing is more than one yuan more expensive than the clothing factory. Although Guangshi's clothes do have people buying them, many people would rather wait for the clothing factory. What do you want Manager Wu to do?"
It’s just one more dollar, is it worth waiting for one dollar?
Cheng Maixiang almost said this unrealistic statement, but sighed. This era is still too poor, and people have to haggle over even a dollar.
Her garment factory business was booming before, but because of its small scale and low output, and the need to supply goods to Guangzhou City, the demand in Linwen County was small, which happened to match the operation of the garment factory.
But now it is the Chinese New Year, and the demand for clothing has increased sharply. The output of her garment factory is not enough. It seems that she really needs to find a way to solve this problem.
Lin Jiayu gently poked her forehead. "You went home for vacation, avoiding Manager Wu's bombardment, leaving me alone in the city. She couldn't find you, so she chased me everywhere. Do you know how hard I worked to avoid her?"
Cheng Maixiang burst out laughing. She knew that there was at least half truth in his words. As the Chinese New Year was approaching, all kinds of goods were in a temporary hot-selling stage. It was definitely not just the clothes from the garment factory that were out of stock. Manager Wu had a lot of things to worry about and had no time to argue with him. In addition, he had the goods from the Guangzhou Garment Factory as a backup. If he really couldn't wait for the clothes from the garment factory, he would naturally buy the more expensive ones.
He was just using this incident to complain that she went back to the countryside as soon as the winter vacation started and didn't stay in the city for long.
"What do you have to complain about? Ever since you were on holiday, you've been coming to our house every day to eat. Even my sister-in-law's dog is so familiar with you that when it sees you, it not only doesn't bite you, but it pounces on you desperately. What do you have to complain about?"
Ever since Yingying settled down in the Cheng family, the relationship between the two girls has become better and better. They are inseparable every day. Lin Qingwan also started to go to Shuangshui Village every day to help the garment workshop embroider and make clothes for free. Cheng's mother wanted to pay her wages several times, but she declined.
Cheng Maixiang understood that Lin Qingwan did not want to take advantage of the Cheng family for nothing. The children and she all ate at the Cheng family, but Cheng's mother and sister-in-law refused to accept either money or food coupons, so she came up with this way to repay the favor.
Lin Jiayu smiled as he glanced at the two little girls skipping along the mountain path ahead. Their laughter echoed like silver bells on the hillside. He couldn't help but sigh, "Yingying has really become much more cheerful these past few months. With Qiaomai by her side, she's become more cheerful and dares to talk to strangers. My eldest sister is very pleased and says she can finally let go of half her worries."
As they were talking, Qiaomai and Yingying came running back hand in hand. Seeing how slowly they were walking, Qiaomai couldn't help but complain, "Aunt, Uncle, you two are adults, how come you walk slower than us kids? It's so frustrating!"
Cheng Maixiang squatted down and wrapped the loose scarves around the two children's necks tighter.
Lin Qingwan specially bought wool for the scarf and knitted it according to the pattern designed by Cheng Maixiang. Not only did they have one, but the three boys in the Cheng family also had one each. The children were very happy and wore them when they went out and showed off in front of the children in the village.
"I heard the school had an exam yesterday, Buckwheat, how did you think it went?"
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