She now had a sewing machine and could earn five to six yuan per piece of clothing at minimum. The only difficulty was the fabric coupons, which she couldn't resolve.
It was still a planned economy. Although it was better than the one or two feet of fabric coupons per person per year in earlier years, it wouldn't exceed five feet at most now.
Currently, apart from the newly earned fifteen feet of fabric coupons, all her previous ones had been used to buy fabric. Although there was fabric sold without coupons at the township market fairs, it was all inferior quality that wouldn't last.
Department stores did have fabric available without coupons, and the quality was good, but the price was too high to be cost-effective.
Chen Lishu pondered and decided to wait.
“Mom, Yuemin’s family sent a message saying her mother isn’t feeling well, and we want to go see her tomorrow.”
After dinner this day, Gu Xingmin approached Li Xiulan and said this.
Li Xiulan, who was sewing hair clips, stopped her movements upon hearing him. “How is it? Is it serious?”
“We don’t know yet. The messenger didn’t explain clearly, so we thought we’d go and see.”
“Alright, you two go. I’ll inform the team tomorrow.”
Seeing Li Xiulan lower her head and resume her work, Gu Xingmin hesitated before speaking. “Mom, with the elders ill, can’t Yuemin and I go empty-handed?”
Li Xiulan looked up at him, took out her keys, and turned to open the cabinet. Not long after, she took out two bottles of canned fruit.
“Mom, two bottles of canned fruit isn’t presentable. How about giving me ten more yuan?”
When Li Xiulan heard him asking for money, her face immediately darkened. “Haven’t we established the situation yet? Let’s talk about it when there’s a situation.”
Li Xiulan couldn't stand her in-laws from the Liu family even a little. They had agreed on terms when the two children got married, but then they made outrageous demands. Moreover, they frequently sent messages about trivial matters, like headaches and backaches. Giving two bottles of canned fruit was already generous.
“If not ten, then five yuan. Two bottles of canned fruit are fine for children, but that’s an elder.” Gu Xingmin continued to plead.
Li Xiulan shot him a glare and reluctantly threw out five yuan. “If they send messages in the future, don’t tell me. Spending money and people’s time just listening to it makes me sick.”
“Okay, okay, this is the last time. If they send letters again, I’ll have Yuemin go back by herself. Honestly, I don’t like the hassle either.” Gu Xingmin pocketed the money, grinned, and took the canned fruit back to the room.
Liu Yuemin was waiting in the room. Seeing him return with two bottles of canned fruit, her face broke into a smile. “Did Mom agree?”
“With me taking the lead, how could Mom disagree?”
“Just two bottles of canned fruit?”
“Your mother has so many problems, it’s good enough that my mother gave us something.”
Liu Yuemin thought about it and didn’t say anything more, focusing solely on their plan for tomorrow.
The next day, the couple woke up early and walked directly towards the town, soon arriving at Qingshan Garment Factory.
“It’s not convenient for me to be seen. You go in by yourself later.” Liu Yuemin stopped when they were still some distance from the garment factory.
“Are you sure this will really work?” Gu Xingmin felt a bit apprehensive as the moment approached.
“It’ll definitely work. Even when my eldest sister-in-law and them wanted to buy scrap cloth, that Liu person didn’t sell it. I don’t know what kind of bewitchment your third sister-in-law put into her. If we don’t do this, how can we buy scrap cloth to make hair clips and earn money? Over a thousand yuan, don’t you want to earn it?”
Gu Xingmin thought about it and made up his mind, then walked towards the garment factory’s guardhouse.
…
In the evening, when the family returned from work, they found Gu Xingmin and his wife had already returned. One was sitting by the sewing machine making hair clips, the other was lying in the room sleeping, and the children were playing in the yard like mud monkeys.
“Second daughter-in-law, you came back early. Why didn’t you make dinner?” Li Xiulan, looking at the pigs squealing in the pigsty and the chickens desperately searching for food, felt a surge of anger.
“Mom, Xingmin and I only got back not too long ago. Besides, I thought my cooking isn’t as good as third sister-in-law’s, and everyone wouldn’t be used to it, wasting food for nothing.”
“Dad, Mom, you go back to your room and rest. I’ll go make dinner.” Zhang Qin, seeing her mother-in-law’s displeased expression, quickly spoke up.
Chen Lishu, seeing Zhang Qin go to the kitchen, also went to get pig feed and started chopping food for the pigs and chickens.
After a flurry of activity, it was already dark outside when everyone sat down to eat.
“Mom, eldest sister-in-law, third sister-in-law, little sister, I’m also planning to start a hair clip business. If you have time, you can make them for me. I’ll give the same price as third sister-in-law, three cents each.”
“Second sister-in-law, where did you buy the scrap cloth? Third sister-in-law is doing well with this business, why are you snatching your own family’s business?” Gu Xingping asked with a frown.
“Little aunt, what kind of question is that? The garment factory isn’t owned by Chen. Besides, if your third sister-in-law is allowed to do this business, aren’t you, the second sister-in-law, also allowed to? We’re all family, isn’t it all the same if anyone earns money?”
Gu Xingping couldn’t stand her smug look and stood up directly. “I’m going back to my room to do homework.” She left after saying this.
“Second daughter-in-law, didn’t you two go to your maiden home today? Why did you go to town?”
Upon hearing Li Xiulan’s question, a fleeting stiffness appeared on Liu Yuemin’s smug face. “We did go to my maiden home. I saw my mother was fine, so I went to town with Xingmin and bought some scrap cloth.”
Liu Yuemin’s maiden home was in the completely opposite direction from the town. Even by bicycle, they couldn’t have returned this early, unless they lied just to go to town.
They were all family, and the second couple had conspired to deceive her. Li Xiulan’s face immediately turned green with anger.
If she could figure it out, Chen Lishu naturally had too. Her gaze towards Liu Yuemin became a little different.
“Second, don’t pretend to be dead in the room. Get out here immediately!” Li Xiulan roared. Gu Xingmin didn’t dare to delay and came out, dragging his slippers.
“You little brat, daring to play tricks on your mother? Wasn’t it to your mother-in-law’s house? Are you two the Flash? Hurry up and return the goods and money! How could I have given birth to such a wasteful good-for-nothing like you.”
“Mom, you’ve misunderstood. We were at my maiden home and happened to see a car going to town, so we hitched a ride.” Seeing her mother-in-law truly angered, Liu Yuemin quickly tried to cover for them.
Gu Xingmin understood and immediately nodded. “Mom, it’s true, we took a car to go and a car to come back.”
If the two didn’t admit it, Li Xiulan couldn’t do anything but suppress her anger.
After a while, seeing everyone had calmed down, Liu Yuemin took her things and went to the sewing machine again.
“Second sister-in-law, I’ll need the sewing machine later too.” Chen Lishu said coldly.
“You’ll use it later. I’m using it now, so there’s no conflict. Just tell me when you need it.” Liu Yuemin pretended not to understand and sat by the sewing machine, starting to work.
Although Liu Yuemin said that, she ended up monopolizing the sewing machine all night until she got tired. Only then did she get up, pack her things, and go back to sleep.
“The sewing machine was clearly bought by you, third sister-in-law. She’s too thick-skinned.” Gu Xingping, who had been in Chen Lishu’s room, couldn’t help but complain after Liu Yuemin left.