Bai Wenyi said to Lin Xiao:
"Lin Xiao, I'm so sorry. It's all because of my brother that you got injured. Just stay here and recover. Go back home when you're fully healed."
Lin Xiao said with a smile, "Okay, I'm free anyway, so I'll just stay here and eat and drink for free."
"Brother Wen, call tomorrow and have someone come and take the car away."
Bai Wenyi nodded in agreement.
After Yan Ci left, Bai Xiaoyue started to get busy.
She first wanted to go to the brigade headquarters to have her clothes made, but it was too cold.
In the end, she decided to have the tailor cut at the Bai family's old house, sew it at home, and have Wen'an handle the post-production work.
The three courtyards are next to each other, which makes things convenient.
She was so busy that day that she didn't have a moment to rest. First, she arranged for people at the brigade headquarters to take measurements for the commune members.
Wen Xiya, Ruyi, Bai's mother, and Aunt Yan led some experienced aunties to cut the clothes.
Li Mingyue, Ye Fengqin, Bai Xiaomei, and Chen Xinghua sewed the garment using a sewing machine.
Uncle Bai used village funds and vouchers given by Secretary Du to buy a sewing machine, which became a village asset.
They also arranged for people to cut buttonholes, lock buttonholes, sew buttons, trim loose threads, and iron them—the tasks were quite tedious.
By the end of the day, her throat was practically parched.
During dinner, Bai Xiaoyue noticed that Yan Ci hadn't returned home yet, and she began to worry.
After finishing dinner, she still hadn't seen Yan Ci, and her mind started racing with unfounded thoughts.
I wondered if that second brother's friend was unreliable and might not be able to get the fabric at all.
One moment they wondered if that person was just trying to scam them, and then steal the meat once they got to a sparsely populated area.
One moment I was thinking, "The roads are so bad these days, what if my car breaks down on the road?"
She was as restless as an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth in the room.
He would also prick up his ears from time to time to listen to the sounds outside the courtyard.
Little Bai asked, "Mommy, what's wrong?"
Bai Xiaoyue waved her hand, telling her son to go to sleep.
After Ruyi finished cleaning the kitchen, she saw Bai Xiaoyue looking out the door. She wanted to speak several times but held back.
Seeing that Ruyi seemed hesitant to speak, Bai Xiaoyue, not having the heart to care about her, sent her to sleep.
I was walking around the room all by myself.
Yan Ci hurriedly returned home with the fabric in his arms.
Bai Xiaoyue heard the noise and quickly opened the door.
Why are you so late?
"Why aren't you asleep yet?"
The two asked in unison, then looked at each other and smiled.
Bai Xiaoyue pulled Yan Ci into the house: "Aci, sit down first. I've saved some food for you. I'll go get it."
She ran to the kitchen; the food was still steaming in the pot.
Rice with shredded potatoes and spicy and sour cabbage.
She called out to Yan Ci, "A Ci, eat quickly. I had a lot of things to do today, so I didn't cook any dishes. I only made vegetarian dishes."
Yan Ci devoured the food in a whirlwind and then drank a cup of hot water.
After Bai Xiaoyue finished tidying up the dishes, she finally had time to ask, "Aci, did today go smoothly?"
Yan Ci pulled his wife into his arms:
"It went smoothly. The fabric was replaced. Because of some minor flaws, the price was much cheaper, and we even replaced a few more pieces."
Bai Xiaoyue sighed:
"That's good. I was worried that your friend might be unreliable and rob you since you hadn't come back. It seems I was overthinking it."
Yan Ci patted his wife's head and said, "We did encounter robbers, and Lin Xiao was injured."
Bai Xiaoyue suddenly looked up: "How are you?"
Before Yan Ci could answer, she started pulling at his clothes. Yan Ci knew his wife wouldn't give up until she saw the truth, so he simply lay down and let her examine him.
When Bai Xiaoyue saw that Yan Ci had several red marks on his body and his calves were swollen and red, tears streamed down her face.
Yan Ci wiped away his wife's tears: "Don't cry, it's alright. They're just some farmers, not real robbers."
Bai Xiaoyue burst into tears: "I regret it. I shouldn't have given my uncle that suggestion, which caused my Aci to get hurt."
Yan Ci felt that there might be something wrong with him. Seeing his wife crying so sadly for him, he actually felt very happy and even a little excited.
He gently kissed away the tears on his wife's face, his large hands moving downwards continuously, saying as he did so:
"Wife, check me to see if I'm alright."
The passionate kisses and burning body left Bai Xiaoyue unable to think or feel sad; she could only move with the man on top of her.
...
The next day, Bai Xiaoyue asked Yan Ci:
"Aci, are you really alright? Should we ask Grandpa Cui to prescribe some medicine for you?"
Yan Ci raised an eyebrow: "Wife, why don't you check again?"
Bai Xiaoyue rolled her eyes at him: "I was just worried about you."
Yan Ci didn't want to upset his wife: "How about I ask Grandpa Cui to take my pulse later?"
Bai Xiaoyue finally stopped nagging.
After breakfast, Yan Ci showed Bai Xiaoyue the floral fabric he had bought: "Wife, do you like it?"
Bai Xiaoyue's eyes widened in surprise, and she exclaimed, "You bought this for me?"
Yan Ci joked, "It's not for you, it's for my wife."
Bai Xiaoyue put down the cloth, hugged Yan Ci's waist, and said with great joy:
"Aci, you have great taste. I really like this pattern."
Yan Ci smiled and said, "I'm glad my wife likes it."
Bai Xiaoyue put the cloth away and followed Yan Ci to the brigade headquarters to check on the cloth.
Uncle Bai, Ye Jianguo, Accountant Wang, Bai Wenyi, and several others were present.
Uncle Bai's eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at the pile of cloth.
He praised Ye Jianguo, saying, "Jianguo, you did a great job."
Accountant Wang said excitedly, "The whole village will have new clothes to wear for the New Year. I never even dared to dream of it."
Uncle Bai said to his niece, "Xiaoyue, the cloth has been exchanged back. You two need to hurry up and process it; time waits for no one."
Bai Xiaoyue said to the group, "Please rest assured, I guarantee it will be ready before the New Year so that everyone can wear new clothes for the New Year."
Everyone worked in an orderly manner according to the procedures, and Bai Xiaoyue then allocated personnel.
Auntie also came over to offer to help, so Bai Xiaoyue asked her to cut the loose threads.
Luo Xiaowei, Fang Wanzhi, and Wang Wei are all part of the village and want to do their part.
Bai Xiaoyue told them to go and see for themselves what they were good at and then help that group.
Fang Wanzhi went to learn tailoring, Luo Xiaowei went to learn sewing, and Wang Wei helped carry things around.
Everyone worked together with great enthusiasm and efficiency.
Finally, on the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, all the clothes were finished.
According to the calculation, due to the low price of fabric, the cost of this outfit is only three yuan and six fen.
The village officials held a meeting and decided to give each member a set of clothes, two jin of meat, six jin of flour, and two yuan.
Hearing Ye Jianguo say this, the commune members below were overjoyed. They had food, clothes, and money. This Spring Festival was truly wonderful.
It's all calculated per person; some large families have a whole bag of flour and over ten kilograms of meat.
Everyone lined up to receive their belongings, beaming with joy.
When the people who were sent down to the countryside didn't come to collect their belongings, Uncle Bai arranged for someone to deliver them to them.
Grandma He brought her three-year-old daughter, He Panpan, to collect the items.
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