"Your sister-in-law is so fortunate. Camp Commander Gu even came to pick you up. My husband is like a wooden post every day. Not only does he not help with any chores, but he wouldn't even pick up a fallen oil bottle at home."
Chen Lishu saw that while the sister-in-law complained, there was no real dissatisfaction in her expression. She smiled, pursing her lips, "Big Brother must be very obedient to you usually, right?"
The sister-in-law who was speaking pouted, "He only has that one good point."
After parting ways with her sister-in-law, the couple went home carrying their things. As soon as they opened the door, "Da Wang" rushed to greet them. Having not seen Chen Lishu all day, it circled her feet enthusiastically. Da Feng Novel.
Chen Lishu crouched down and extended her finger to affectionately scratch its chubby chin. Cat Da Wang immediately let out a comfortable purring sound from its throat.
Because it was late, Chen Lishu only made a simple knot soup for dinner, but she specifically added two poached eggs.
After the couple finished dinner, Chen Lishu began to sort through the items.
Besides the things she needed for school, she had also bought some flour, red beans, cabbage, and vermicelli to steam buns and stuffed buns, as well as dumplings. She also bought a pound of fruit candy. Li Xiulan had brought the melon seeds and peanuts, so she didn't buy any.
After a tiring day, the couple went to bed soon after dinner and washing up.
After a good night's sleep, Chen Lishu got up the next day and started to knead the dough, boil the beans, and chop the filling to make dumplings.
The Gu family was also preparing things needed for the New Year. As it was the fourth son's wife's first year married into the family, the household items were prepared more thoroughly than before.
Early in the morning, Gu Xingye and his two other brothers went to the river to chisel ice and net fish. The women stayed home, preparing dough to make stuffed buns and glutinous rice cakes.
In the countryside, grain was easier to obtain than in the city, so every household would steam glutinous rice cakes and stuffed buns for the New Year.
"Mom, aren't Big Sister-in-law and Fourth Sister-in-law here? Since we're not short of hands at home, I think I'll go back to my room and continue making clothes."
Because the fabric was thick and the workmanship was relatively complicated, it was considered good if each person could make two pieces of clothing in three days. Therefore, Chen Lishu specifically raised the tailoring fee to two yuan per piece, which naturally increased everyone's enthusiasm for making clothes.
Li Xiulan, who was stuffing bean filling, heard her words and her face immediately darkened, "If you want to go back, the legs are yours to use."
Liu Yuemin pretended not to understand the sarcasm in her words. Just as she was about to get up, Li Xiulan said again, "Since you don't want to work, just watch while everyone else eats."
Everyone knew that going back meant earning money, but they couldn't let that happen at the expense of celebrating the New Year.
"Mom, what are you saying? I never said I didn't want to work. I just thought Third Sister-in-law's batch of clothes was urgent, so I wanted to speed things up." Liu Yuemin quickly smiled and sat back down.
"Effort doesn't count in this moment," Li Xiulan gave her a glare and ordered, "Go get the flour and wrap dumplings with your sister-in-law."
...
With only three or four days left until the New Year, although the Lin family only had two people, Lin Qi had found a job this year, and the family's situation was relatively more relaxed. Therefore, compared to previous years, the father and son's New Year had a bit more of a festive atmosphere.
Early in the morning, they posted cornmeal pancakes at home. Lin Qi stir-fried cabbage and potato slices, and specifically added a few slices of meat. After the father and son finished eating, Lin Qi put on his hat and headed directly to town after informing Lin Yuliang.
This was his last distribution of fabric and collection of finished clothes before the New Year. Everything else would have to wait until the third day of the Lunar New Year, after everyone had celebrated.
The road was slippery and difficult to navigate in the snow. By the time he reached town, it was almost nine o'clock. He first went to the small courtyard to light the stove; otherwise, the room would be freezing if it was left empty for too long. After the stove fire was going, he took the fabric to the Wang family and brought back the clothes made by Sun Min and her husband. After making a record, Lin Qi locked the courtyard gate and headed towards Qingshan Village.
"Second Sister-in-law, are there only five pieces?" Lin Qi was recording for everyone. Each person was supposed to make six pieces of clothing, but Liu Yuemin only had five. Lin Qi frowned as he looked at the returned clothes and asked.
Hearing him ask, Liu Yuemin's eyes immediately straightened, "What, you suspect I stole fabric? Don't forget, you're just an errand boy, and you have no right to speak to me. Even if Chen Lishu were here, ask her if she'd dare to suspect me?!"
Lin Qi frowned, "Second Sister-in-law, I didn't mean anything else. I just saw that everyone else had six pieces, and only you had five, so I was asking."
According to Chen Lishu, he recorded how much fabric he distributed to each person. This way, he not only kept track but also prevented private hoarding of fabric.
He had clearly distributed enough fabric for each person to make six pieces of clothing, but now Liu Yuemin only produced five. This couldn't help but make him think in other directions.
"Asking is suspecting. Do you know who you're talking to? I'm family with Third Sister-in-law. It's normal for there to be wear and tear on the fabric. Who doesn't make a mistake? Besides, when Third Sister-in-law was here, she never asked these things. Do you think you're better than her?"
Facing Liu Yuemin's barrage of sharp retorts, out of respect for Chen Lishu, Lin Qi did not retort.
"Second daughter-in-law, are you trying to eat people? How old are you to be arguing with a child? What's wrong with asking? Everyone else has six pieces, and you have five. What's going on?" Li Xiulan couldn't stand it and spoke up.
"Mom, you don't even trust me? I just made a mistake with the scissors and wasted some fabric."
Making clothes was like this. A true master craftsman could save at least half a foot of fabric per garment compared to an ordinary tailor, let alone the fact that she wasn't even a tailor.
Seeing her speak so assertively, Li Xiulan couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant.
"I don't know much about making clothes either. Perhaps I was momentarily distracted. Second Sister-in-law, please don't take it to heart." Lin Qi quickly looked up and apologized with a smile.
Seeing that he was somewhat sensible, Liu Yuemin didn't intend to pursue it further. She looked at Lin Qi with her chin slightly raised, "Make fewer mistakes like this in the future. If it weren't for Third Sister-in-law's sake, I would have thoroughly straightened things out with you today."
"It's almost New Year's. Since your family only has two men, you definitely haven't prepared much. We just made glutinous rice cakes this morning, and they're already frozen. Take some back to try." Seeing Lin Qi packing the clothes to leave, Li Xiulan quickly called him back.
"Auntie..."
Just as Lin Qi was about to refuse, his hand suddenly felt heavy. Li Xiulan had already stuffed a bag into his hand without waiting for his consent.
"It's not worth much money, take it quickly."
After all, he was working for the third daughter-in-law. It was nothing for her to give him something. It was better to be helpful to the third daughter-in-law in his future work than anything else.
"Thank you, Auntie," Lin Qi said gratefully, smiling at her.
Seeing that he had left, Liu Yuemin slipped back into the room.
Gu Xingye saw her enter and asked, "Is he gone?"
"He's gone."
Liu Yuemin said as she sat down by the sewing machine. When Chen Lishu left, she had instructed Gu Xingye to bring back the sewing machine from town to make things easier for the family. Liu Yuemin had directly claimed it for herself.
"What does a child who hasn't even grown all his hair know? I say Third Sister-in-law was too extravagant to hire people. With that money, she could have let you earn it instead."
Gu Xingmin let out a cold laugh, "An outsider's monk chants scriptures better. Who knows what Third Sister-in-law is thinking."