Chapter 47, Washing the Sheets
When Li Xingfang got up in the morning, she went out and saw Xie Wei squatting in the yard washing bed sheets. She couldn't help but smile and went over to ask, "Why are you up so early today?"
Xie Wei looked at Li Xingfang with a puzzled expression. Didn't he get up this early every day?
Li Xingfang was taken aback by his gaze, thinking to herself how she had given birth to such a blockhead. She changed her question and asked, "Where's your wife? Is she still sleeping?"
Before the wedding, Li Xingfang always called Lin Qingqing by her name. When Xie Wei suddenly heard her say "your wife," a smile flashed across his eyes, and he said, "I saw that she hadn't slept well, so I let her continue to sleep for a while."
Li Xingfang nodded. She was just asking. She walked up to Xie Wei and said, "Go inside and keep her company. I'll wash the blankets."
Xie Wei thought that Lin Qingqing was already thinking about the blankets before she was even fully awake in the morning. If she knew that it was his mother who washed the blankets, she would definitely want to crawl into a hole. So he said, "They're almost washed. You go about your business, I'll wash them."
Xie Wei quickly rubbed the quilt one last time, poured out the foamy water from the basin, picked up the wooden bucket and threw it into the well to draw water, which he then poured into the basin.
Seeing him deliberately busy himself, Li Xingfang stopped offering to help with the washing and went into the kitchen to wash up and prepare breakfast.
Xie Wei washed the bed sheets, took them to the backyard to dry, washed his hands, and then went back inside.
Lin Qingqing was half asleep when she suddenly felt someone sit down beside her bed, startling her awake. Xie Wei noticed her pale face and reached out to touch her forehead, asking, "What's wrong?"
Upon seeing Xie Wei, Lin Qingqing realized, yes, she was already married.
"It's nothing." Lin Qingqing relaxed and lay down on the bed, half-closing her eyes, still wanting to sleep. But she quickly thought that it wasn't good to sleep in on the second day of her wedding, so she sat up. She didn't feel it while lying down, but as soon as she sat up, she felt a sore back and couldn't help but groan.
"Still feeling unwell?" Xie Wei asked, supporting her shoulders. "Why don't you lie down for a while longer?"
Lin Qingqing's face flushed again as she thought about what happened last night, but she didn't intend to lie down any longer. She shook her head and said no, slowly got off the bed, went around to the back of the bed, opened the wooden box on the stool, and took out the clothes she was going to wear today.
According to custom, the bride is supposed to bring furniture to the wedding. Li Xingfang had previously told Lin Qingqing not to worry about these things, as she would prepare them. However, Lin Qingqing felt that although she didn't have parents to take care of things, she couldn't leave everything to the Xie family. Besides, if she didn't prepare anything, people would wonder what they would say.
Although Lin Qingqing doesn't care much about what others say, she's not clueless about social etiquette, so she had the furniture made herself.
By then, the garment factory had already been established, and her job at the Women's Federation was stable. She was no longer the young girl who had just settled in Xingfeng Brigade, so finding someone to make furniture wasn't difficult for her; it just cost some money. Money wasn't a problem for Lin Qingqing either, after all, the Lin family had given her two hundred yuan as a bride price, so it was only right that she use that money to make furniture.
However, the other furniture in the house, such as the bed, wardrobe, and desk, were packed and brought directly to the Xie family's house, while the dressing table, the two trunks she used to pack her clothes, and some miscellaneous items were brought over yesterday.
Since it was the second day of their marriage, Lin Qingqing decided not to wear anything too plain and took out a light purple dress from her suitcase.
In the 1970s, the most popular fabric for summer was Dacron, but Dacron required ration coupons and was expensive, so it was considered quite remarkable for a girl to be able to make two Dacron shirts. Although Xie Wei often sent ration coupons to Lin Qingqing, he had a limited number of coupons and couldn't just take care of his wife while neglecting his mother, so the coupons he sent her were only enough to make one shirt.
Dacron is hard to come by, but ordinary fine fabric is much easier to obtain.
Because of its booming business, Xingfeng Brigade Garment Factory not only received processing orders from garment factories in the county, but also reached a cooperation agreement with the county cloth factory, planning to create its own brand.
However, since this is still in the trial stage, the order amount is relatively small, and popular fabrics like Dacron are simply unavailable. All that can be purchased are floral fabrics and fine cloths.
Lacking popular fabrics and being a new brand, even with good quality and trendy designs, the supply and marketing cooperative was still worried about not being able to sell the clothes when Xingfeng Brigade sought cooperation. Therefore, apart from the commune's supply and marketing cooperative purchasing a batch of ready-made garments under Secretary Zhou's instructions, no new sales channels were developed.
In order to build a good reputation, Lin Qingqing decided to distribute a batch of ready-made clothes to the female employees of the garment factory as welfare, but at the same time she required them to wear the same clothes when visiting relatives recently, and if others asked, to emphasize that the clothes were made by Xingfeng Brigade Garment Factory.
The light purple dress Lin Qingqing was wearing was the very one they had just issued. She had worn it to the commune to get her marriage certificate a couple of days ago. The dress was a V-neck, fitted style, and reached her knees. It made her look very elegant, so as Lin Qingqing had expected, several people asked her where she bought it that day.
After changing her clothes, Lin Qingqing and Xie Wei went out together.
The Xie family members had gradually gotten up. Song Yan and Xie Yuanjiang, siblings, went to school early, while Xie Baoshan was eating noodles in the main room.
I'm going to the brigade headquarters later. Xie Qingshan got drunk last night and is still sleeping. Xu Lina, on the other hand, got up early, ate breakfast, and is feeding Xie Yuanhong noodles.
Lin Qingqing greeted everyone one by one, and then went to the kitchen with Xie Wei.
Li Xingfang had already eaten and was sitting in the kitchen cleaning up the mess from last night. When she saw the two of them come in, she smiled and said, "You're up? Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"
"I've had enough sleep," Lin Qingqing said.
"There's noodles in the pot, help yourselves," Li Xingfang said, then asked Xie Wei, "Is your sister still not up?"
Xie Wei served Lin Qingqing a bowl of noodles, then went to serve himself. He heard Li Xingfang say, "I didn't see her; she's probably still sleeping."
Li Xingfang, who dotes on her daughter, said, "She went to bed late last night, let her sleep a little longer."
...
At lunchtime, Xie Qingshan and Xie Shan, the brother and sister, got up, and Xie Yumei and her husband also came back from their walk, talking about going home.
Xie Yumei and her husband both work, and this time they took leave to come back. Because the leave was short and the provincial capital was quite far away, they had to leave right after dinner. Xie Shan was also going back with them; she was currently rehearsing a play and needed to get back early.
Hearing that they were going back, Xu Lina said, "Qingshan and I have to go to work tomorrow, so we'll go back after we finish eating."
Yesterday the house was bustling with activity, and now everyone is leaving. Li Xingfang couldn't help but feel a little sad, but she also knew that work was more important, so she smiled and said, "Perfect timing, after you finish eating, we can go to the commune to catch the bus together."
Xie Wei said after seeing this, "Let's go to the commune together after dinner to see you off. Mother, you can also go to the supply and marketing cooperative with Qingqing."
Xie Yumei initially wanted to say no, but after hearing what he said next, she changed her mind and said, "Yes, sister-in-law, please see us off."
Li Xingfang also wanted to go and deliver the gifts, not for any other reason than to spend more time with the children. After Xie Yumei persuaded her, she agreed: "Okay!"
After the meal, the entire Xie family headed to the commune in a grand procession.
The commune had two buses a day to the county seat and the city, one departing at 7:00 AM and the other at 2:00 PM. They arrived at 1:30 PM, with half an hour before departure, so at Lin Qingqing's suggestion, the group first went to the supply and marketing cooperative for a while.
Since it was a weekday, there weren't many people in the supply and marketing cooperative, so they strolled around slowly.
When she reached the second floor, Lin Qingqing first looked at the wardrobe counter.
She went up to the second floor to look at the clothes from the Xingfeng Brigade Garment Factory on the day they got their marriage certificate. At that time, the clothes were hanging in the corner of the wardrobe, half-hidden by other clothes, so she couldn't see the styles at all. A few days later...
In the past, the clothes that used to hang in the corner were moved to the most conspicuous place on the wardrobe counter.
Not only Lin Qingqing noticed the clothes hanging on the wardrobe, but Li Xingfang, Xie Yumei, and others also saw them. Li Xingfang pointed to the clothes and asked, "Are those clothes made by your clothing factory?"
"The middle dress is exactly the same as the one Third Sister-in-law is wearing." Although Xie Shan knew that Xingfeng Brigade had a clothing factory, she didn't know that the factory had its own brand. Seeing that the style was the same, she asked, "Third Sister-in-law, is this dress made by our brigade's clothing factory?"
Lin Qingqing nodded and said, "That should be true."
The first batch of garments from Xingfeng Brigade's clothing factory consisted entirely of skirts, in five styles. Three of them were hanging on the wardrobe on the second floor, the middle one being the same style as the one Lin Qingqing was wearing, only in light blue. Although she thought it was clothing from her own brigade, Lin Qingqing was cautious by nature and didn't speak too confidently.
After hearing this, Xu Lina said, "We'll know if we go and ask."
She thought Lin Qingqing looked good in that dress that morning, but was too shy to ask. Now that she saw the same one, she immediately wanted to find out if it was from the brigade's clothing factory, and wanted Lin Qingqing to help her buy one, promising to send the fabric ration coupons back later. This was because she hadn't brought her fabric ration coupons with her when she came back; otherwise, she would have bought it now.
Although she didn't work in the garment factory herself, her family had built up a garment factory over the years. In addition, her nephew Xie Baoshan was the factory manager and his wife Lin Qingqing was the deputy factory manager. Xie Yumei cared a lot about the garment factory and nodded in agreement when she heard Xu Lina say this.
They all wanted to take a look, so the group headed towards the wardrobe counter.
Behind the counter sat a middle-aged woman, looking rather bored. Seeing them approach, she asked in a nonchalant tone, "What do you want to buy?"
"Let me see that dress," Xu Lina said, pointing to the light blue dress in the middle.
The middle-aged woman glanced in the direction she was pointing, took down the dress with a bamboo pole, laid it out on the counter, and casually introduced it, "This is a dress that's been selling well at our supply and marketing cooperative recently." Then, seeing Lin Qingqing, she exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, the one you're wearing is the same style as this one."
Before Lin Qingqing could answer, Xu Lina said, "That's right, we thought it looked nice on her, so we came to the supply and marketing cooperative to see if they had any. She said this dress was made by Xingfeng Garment Factory. Did you get your stock from there?"
Since the day before yesterday, people have been coming to ask about skirts from Xingfeng Garment Factory. At first, the middle-aged woman didn't know what Xingfeng Garment Factory was, so she just said no.
She hadn't really thought much of it, since the matter was over and done with, until that evening when Ms. Sun, the commune's women's federation official, came to ask about it. Because she knew Ms. Sun well, she asked directly, "Why are you also asking about Xingfeng Garment Factory?"
Upon hearing this, Officer Sun asked, "Are there many people asking about Xingfeng Garment Factory?"
“There were three or four today, not many,” she said after thinking for a moment, and then asked her question, “What’s wrong with the clothes from this garment factory? You all come to ask, as if you’re sure our commune sells them. But I’ve worked at the supply and marketing cooperative for several years and I’ve never heard of this Xingfeng Garment Factory. I don’t sell their clothes here either.”
As she said this, she was thinking that if the clothes from this garment factory were really that good, she would report the situation to her superiors and try to get a batch to sell. Otherwise, with several people asking about them every day, it wouldn't do for the supply and marketing cooperative to have nothing to sell.
To everyone's surprise, Officer Sun was astonished by her words: "How could your supply and marketing cooperative not have clothes from Xingfeng Garment Factory to sell? Secretary Zhou specifically ordered you to purchase a batch of goods."
Hearing what Officer Sun said, she remembered and took out the clothes that had been hidden in the corner and asked, "Are these clothes from Xingfeng Garment Factory? Didn't they say they were made by the clothing factory in the brigade below? I think the fabric is ordinary, so I put them at the bottom to save space."
Officer Sun recognized the dress Lin Qingqing was wearing and nodded, saying, "That's right, it's one of these. Don't be fooled by the ordinary fabric; the style is great, and it looks good on." He then took out his ticket, paid, and bought the dress.
The next day, when someone came to inquire about Xingfeng Garment Factory again, she simply took out clothes for them to choose from. As a result, she sold six of the same dress Lin Qingqing was wearing in just one day. Six may not seem like many, but that's just for one day! If she could sell that many every day, that would be 180 dresses a month! It's definitely a hot seller!
After settling the accounts, she immediately moved the dresses from Xingfeng Garment Factory to the most prominent position on the wardrobe counter.
The middle-aged woman noticed that Lin Qingqing was indeed wearing the same light blue dress, and upon hearing Xu Lina's words, she knew that a major client had arrived. Her smile became much warmer: "That's right, it's from Xingfeng Garment Factory."
Her answer was as Lin Qingqing expected. After all, Xingfeng Garment Factory was not well-known at the moment, and few people wore its clothes. Even if there were imitations, they wouldn't be available for sale so quickly. Lin Qingqing asked with a smile, "How are the clothes selling?"
When asked how the clothes were selling, the middle-aged woman perked up: "I'm not exaggerating, these clothes are selling really well! This morning alone, this dress came in two colors!"
"We sold three light blue ones, the light purple ones are sold out, and two of these are this one. This one is a bit more selective in terms of body shape, so it didn't sell as well, but we still managed to sell one. If you want to buy, hurry up, we didn't get a lot this time, there aren't many left in the warehouse. If you don't buy now, you'll have to wait a few more days for new stock."
After listening to what she said, Lin Qingqing understood that the best-selling item was the V-neck high-waisted dress, which was the same style she was wearing. The slightly less popular option was the Peter Pan collar A-line dress, and the least popular option was the more fitted style.
While Lin Qingqing was thinking about these things, Xie Shan and Xu Lina had already asked about the price.
Although the fabric of these dresses is not as breathable as Dacron, they are certainly novel in appearance. Even Xie Shan, who works in the provincial capital and is well-traveled, thinks the styles are beautiful. If she had enough money and tickets, she would have bought one of each.
Actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy them all, since her older brother and sister-in-law both work in a clothing factory, but Xie Shan didn't want to cause them any trouble, so she restrained herself and only bought her favorite one.
While they were asking about prices, Lin Qingqing also came to her senses and asked the sales clerk, "Didn't you say that Xingfeng Garment Factory had five styles of clothing in this batch? Why do you only have three styles here?"
The middle-aged woman was taken aback. She had no idea how many styles Xingfeng Garment Factory had, but as a saleswoman, it was crucial not to show any weakness, so she calmly said, "This is the first batch. We only received three styles. We just contacted them today to order another batch of goods, and all styles are available." In her heart, however, she was thinking that she should mention to the manager later that she should also order a few pieces of the other two styles to see how well they sold.
"Okay, I thought there would be two other models," Lin Qingqing said with a disappointed look.
The middle-aged woman, a thought suddenly occurring to her, asked, "Have you seen those two dresses?"
“I have two cousins who work at Xingfeng Garment Factory. A few days ago, they came to my house wearing two new dresses, saying they were a benefit from their factory. I thought both were quite nice, but I only managed to buy one through a friend. The other one, with a ruffled hem, was missing. I thought the commune supply and marketing cooperative would sell them, but they didn’t either.”
Lin Qingqing spoke with a straight face, leaving the others dumbfounded, but no one called her out. Xie Wei even flattered her, saying, "So that's why you came to the supply and marketing cooperative."
“Yes.” Lin Qingqing nodded, then said to the sales clerk, “You must bring back the new styles this time.”
The middle-aged woman quickly said, "I will definitely report the situation to our manager."
Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Lin Qingqing said, "Then I'll come and buy when you get your stock." With that, she made an excuse to call Xie Shan away, who was about to pay.
...
Once outside the supply and marketing cooperative, Xie Shan realized she hadn't bought her clothes yet. But since she was already out and the bus was about to leave, she abandoned the idea of going back to buy them and followed the others.
Xie Shan gave up on buying clothes, but Xu Lina was thinking about how to bring it up with Lin Qingqing. With the bus about to leave, she knew she'd run out of time if she didn't speak up now. Besides, she wasn't greedy; she just hadn't brought her fabric ration coupons. So she asked, "Sister-in-law, can you sell clothes separately at your garment factory?"
"Second sister-in-law, you want it?" Lin Qingqing asked with a puzzled look.
Xu Lina explained, "Well, I saw a light blue dress that's the same style as the one you're wearing, but I didn't bring any fabric coupons back with me this time, so I didn't buy it earlier. I was thinking if I could buy it directly from the clothing factory, I'd like to ask you to buy one for me. I'll give you the money now, and I'll send you the coupons when I get back."
Lin Qingqing immediately agreed: "Sure."
Xu Lina was overjoyed and quickly took out money from her bag to give to Lin Qingqing. But Lin Qingqing refused to accept the money, saying only, "This is too much."
"It's not much." Xu Lina had just asked the price, and giving Lin Qingqing more would only be a few cents more, so she said, "I don't have any change, so just a few cents is fine."
“You gave me the price from the supply and marketing cooperative. Our garment factory will sell to you at a lower price,” Lin Qingqing said, returning half the money to Xu Lina. “I’ll charge you the factory price.”
Xu Lina was naturally happy that the clothes were cheaper, but she was worried about causing trouble for Lin Qingqing: "Is this okay?"
Not only her, but others were also a little worried, but Lin Qingqing said, "There's nothing wrong with it. The factory price and the supply and marketing cooperative's price are different. Besides, if you can help us get orders, I won't charge you. I'll give you the clothes for free."
Xu Lina didn't understand Lin Qingqing's words and asked, "What kind of orders?"
“Our garment factory has just started making its own brand of clothing, so we don’t have many partners. Even the supply and marketing cooperative in our town was designated by Secretary Zhou to buy a batch of goods from our garment factory,” Lin Qingqing said without hiding these things because they were family. “But our commune is only so big. How many clothes can we sell if we only sell through the commune’s supply and marketing cooperative? If this continues, when will our brigade’s garment factory ever develop?”
Xu Lina is different now. After talking things out with Xie Qingshan, not only has her relationship with Li Xingfang improved considerably, but she also feels a sense of belonging to Xingfeng Brigade. Hearing Lin Qingqing say this, she asked, "Yes, if things continue like this, when will our brigade's garment factory ever develop?"
?
Xie Qingshan, being more rational, said, "But we don't know how to get orders, so how can we help you?"
These words struck a chord with Lin Qingqing, who immediately shared the solution she had come up with. However, since Xu Lina was the only person in the county, the plan was slightly modified. Lin Qingqing said, "You should invite a few girlfriends to go to the supply and marketing cooperative every few days to ask if they have the same style of clothes as the ones you're wearing, and emphasize that they were made by Xingfeng Garment Factory."
Xu Lina looked doubtful: "Will this really work?"
"Of course that won't work. I'll arrange for a sales representative to go and discuss cooperation later." That's how business is; it's better to be familiar with what you know than strangers. The suppliers that the supply and marketing cooperative finds are basically brands that have been cooperating with them for many years. If Xingfeng Garment Factory comes knocking on their door without warning, of course, they won't be willing to cooperate with them.
But what if someone keeps asking about Xingfeng Garment Factory every now and then?
By then, when they come to our door again, it won't be an unfamiliar brand. As long as the sales techniques are right, it will be easy to close small orders, let alone large ones.
Lin Qingqing said, "If you manage to get this done, regardless of whether the order is finalized or not, I'll apply to the factory to give you the clothes for free. And Shanshan, didn't you like that fitted dress?"
Xie Shan asked with a look of surprise, "Me too?"
"Really no money? Will the brigade agree to that?" Xu Lina asked. The garment factory was under the brigade's jurisdiction. Although Xie Baoshan, who was the factory director, was also the brigade leader, there was still the party secretary above him.
"The team will agree," Lin Qingqing said. Previously, when the clothes were distributed to the employees, Secretary Zhao initially disagreed, but he was eventually persuaded. Now, it's just a few pieces of clothing; she can make that decision herself.
Moreover, if it works out, the profit won't just be the price of one or two pieces of clothing; it'll be the advertising fee for several pieces of clothing. That's incredibly lucrative!
Lin Qingqing looked confident, and Xu Lina, no longer worried, readily agreed. Xie Shan did the same, promising, "I'll get my fellow performers in the arts troupe to help you spread the word!"
Xie Yumei also said, "I will go back to my unit to help you with publicity."
After the group agreed on the matter, the bus was about to depart. Xie Qingshan and Xu Lina took Xie Yuanhong to the bus to the county town, while Xie Yumei and her husband, along with Xie Shan, took the bus to the city.
Li Xingfang remained calm throughout the journey, but when she watched them get into the car, she couldn't help but cover her eyes with her hands.
...
Li Xingfang was depressed for an entire afternoon because of the departure of her son and daughter.
That night, Lin Qingqing lay in bed and talked to Xie Wei about it, saying, "People in the village always envy Mom, saying that you brothers and sisters are so lucky."
But then again, maybe Mom envies other families where everyone is together.
Xie Wei was taking off his clothes when he heard her words and stopped. He said, "There are rarely things that can be perfect."
"I just thought that if we left, Mother might be just as heartbroken, and it made me feel..." Lin Qingqing turned to look at Xie Wei and said, "It's really hard to bear."
Xie Wei took off his pants, lay down on the bed, and pulled Lin Qingqing into his arms, saying, "Mother will definitely be happy to hear what you said."
“But it must be uncomfortable too,” Lin Qingqing said.
“If you can’t bear to leave your mother, once you’ve settled down in the army with me, we’ll bring her over,” Xie Wei suggested.
Lin Qingqing thought the idea was feasible, but then she thought again and said, "Wouldn't that be too far for my eldest brother? Your unit is far from home, and it wouldn't be convenient for my second brother and sister-in-law to go there."
Xie Wei pondered for a moment and then said, "Then let's live in both places. You can stay with us for a few months and come back to stay for a few months."
"That's not bad, but it's too much of a hassle. I don't know if Mother would be willing," Lin Qingqing said softly, leaning against Xie Wei.
"We'll have to ask her to know whether she's willing or not," Xie Wei said after thinking for a moment. "Let's settle down first, and then we can write to Mother to discuss this matter."
Lin Qingqing nodded: "Mm."
Author's Note: First update
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