“Coming.” Su Qiao quickly responded and ran to open the door.
“Brother Liang, what brings you here so early?” She was surprised to see who was standing outside.
Liangzi smiled at her and pulled a white coupon from his pocket. “The village handed out tofu coupons yesterday. I stopped by your place, but only Xiao Peng and Xiao Lan were home. Since neither you nor Xiao Wei were around, I didn’t feel comfortable leaving it with the two of them, so I brought it over this morning.”
“Oh, thank you, Brother Liang. Sorry to trouble you,” Su Qiao said as she quickly took it, then asked curiously, “Why is the village suddenly giving out tofu coupons?”
“A tofu processing plant was built in the town. They probably want some publicity, so they gave each village a few as benefits.”
“Oh, right,” Liangzi added, patting the bicycle he was riding. “I’m heading to town later. The villagers asked me to help bring the tofu back for them. Do you want me to get yours too?”
“Yes, yes, please,” Su Qiao replied immediately.
At this time, everything was in short supply.
Even with a coupon, if you went too late and the factory in town ran out of tofu, the coupon would be useless.
As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, “Brother Liang, are you going to town by yourself?”
“Yeah. Why? Do you need something else?”
Su Qiao rubbed her nose a little sheepishly. “Well, Brother Liang, I’d like Xiao Wei to go buy a few things for me. Could you give him a lift part of the way?”
“No problem. When he gets up, have him come find me at my place. I’m heading back now to grab something to eat.”
“Alright, thank you so much!”
After seeing Brother Liang off, Su Qiao immediately went back inside. She told her younger siblings to start eating, then hurried into her room and took out the stack of coupons the village secretary had helped her retrieve from her eldest uncle’s house earlier.
After rummaging through them for quite a while, she finally found an industrial coupon.
She returned to the table and placed the industrial coupon along with two yuan beside her eldest younger brother’s bowl.
“Xiao Wei, later go to town with Brother Liang and help me buy some hair ties, hair clips, and elastic bands for making clothes.”
When Su Wei heard he was going into town, he immediately began shoveling big mouthfuls of food into his mouth. Even so, he didn’t forget to say to his sister, “Why would buying hair ties and clips need that much money? Five cents is enough.”
“We’re buying a lot. Spend the money, buy as much as you can. Don’t try to save.”
Su Qiao couldn’t clearly remember the current prices of things. She didn’t even know whether those items required coupons.
But the only coupon she could find at home was a single industrial coupon. If anything else was needed, she wouldn’t be able to provide it.
“Go and see. If you can find some that don’t require coupons, it’s fine even if they’re a bit more expensive. Just buy as many as possible.”
Hearing this, Su Wei immediately thought of the scraps of fabric from yesterday.
He nodded, didn’t ask any more questions, and ate even faster.
After giving her instructions to her brother, Su Qiao returned to the kitchen.
She took a bowl and ladled all the remaining cat-ear pasta from the pot into it, planning to have her brother deliver it to Brother Liang’s house later.
Brother Liang had two children about the same age as Xiao Peng and Xiao Lan. She believed they would like such a rare treat as well.
Today’s cat-ear pasta had been made with mixed grains, sorghum flour, cornmeal, and just a little white flour. If she gave it to someone, at most they would praise her for being skillful; there would be nothing else to criticize.
Help should go both ways.
Su Qiao hadn’t forgotten how Brother Liang had made a special trip to town before so she could withdraw all the money at once.
And now he had come specifically to tell her about the tofu.
She knew it was because her family had been bullied by her eldest aunt’s household and Brother Liang couldn’t stand it, so he was helping them whenever he could.
But goodwill like this also needed to be maintained.
Otherwise, after one or two times, why would anyone keep helping you again and again?
One had to have a conscience. At the moment, they had nothing valuable to offer, so a bowl of noodles would serve as a small token of appreciation.
After breakfast, Su Wei went into town with Brother Liang.
Su Peng slung a basket over his back and took over his older brother’s job, heading out to gather firewood.
Actually, because they had repaired the fence earlier, there were still some leftover pieces of dried bamboo at home, more than enough to last for quite a while as firewood. But the little guy insisted on going out to gather some, and Su Qiao didn’t stop him.
After all, plenty of children his age in the village went out to collect firewood. With a whole group together, there was no need to worry about anything happening to her brother.
Su Qiao took her younger sister to the backyard first to water the vegetable patch, then came back to start the dough for the steamed buns they would have at noon.
She actually really wanted to eat rice, but the family only had that much grain left. Even the white flour was nearly gone. Thinking about rice was practically wishful thinking.
After setting the dough to rise, she brought her sister back to the main room.
She let her sister play on the side while she spread a mat on the floor again, sat down, and began sorting through the fabric scraps.
She rummaged through them, picking out pieces that felt promising and setting them aside. Taking a pencil, she casually sketched drafts on the back of the fabric, then cut out shapes according to the designs she had worked out, and began sewing.
The sewing she meant wasn’t stitching the pieces directly onto clothes, but turning them into appliqué patches that would become popular in later years.
Some were cartoon animals and plants, some were various shapes, and of course there were also some abstract ones that didn’t resemble anything in particular, just bright color combinations that were pleasing to the eye.
As for why she matched them that way, it was entirely based on the fabric’s own patterns.
Originally, Su Qiao had planned to go to the chemical factory area and start a small business by mending clothes for the workers there. But since she couldn’t find a suitable place to live, that idea had to be put on hold for now.
After seeing these scraps yesterday, she decided to switch from mending clothes for young factory workers to mending clothes for children instead. That was also why she had changed her planned business location to near County No. 1 Primary School.
However, this approach carried risks.
The young factory workers earned their own money and cared about their appearance, so if their clothes tore, they would be willing to spend money on repairs.
But children usually had elders at home, mothers or grandmothers, who could easily sew on a patch or mend a pair of pants themselves.
If she wanted to earn money from them, she had to offer something unique.
That was how she came up with the idea of making these appliqué patches.
Sewing on a patch was easy, but making it look good and appealing required skill.
As for how effective her appliqués were?
Just looking at her younger siblings’ reactions was enough to give Su Qiao confidence.
She spent the entire morning working and ended up making more than twenty larger appliqué patches, along with over a dozen smaller ones. She only stopped because they ran out of colored thread at home.
Still, that amount should be enough to sell for quite a while.
Su Wei came back in the afternoon.
He brought back ten bundles of elastic bands, a pack of black hair clips, and a full ten meters of elastic ribbon.
When Su Qiao saw those things, she was stunned. It completely exceeded her expectations.
“Where did you get all this?” Su Qiao asked excitedly, reaching out to vigorously ruffle her brother’s hair.
Su Wei shyly dodged her hand before replying, “At the free market. Sis, you don’t know, there’s a free market behind the town clinic now. They sell everything there. Brother Liang took me. He even bought some eggs and dried noodles himself.
I ran into Uncle Hu there, the one from the day we went to eat tofu noodles. He remembered me! He was the one who pointed me to the right place. The sellers know him. When they heard I wanted elastic and clips, they just pulled out a whole big bundle!”
There was a note of pride in Su Wei’s voice.
This was something Su Qiao truly didn’t expect.
She had assumed her brother would go to the supply and marketing cooperative, but he had gone to the free market instead.
In her previous life, Su Qiao had never visited the town’s free market and didn’t even know where it was. From the sound of it, it seemed to be developing quite well.
She made a mental note to go take a look when she had time. If it worked out, she might consider setting up a stall there first. Still, the town’s spending power would definitely be lower than that of the county.
After getting the clips and elastic bands, Su Qiao devoted her entire afternoon to making various hair accessories.
At this time, children’s hair accessories were pitifully scarce. Having an elastic wrapped in red yarn was already considered good enough. No one really had bows or anything like that.
Su Qiao first picked out some relatively bright-colored fabric pieces.
Most people’s clothes at the time were gray, blue, or black, so it wasn’t easy to find anything lively.
Fortunately, among this batch of scraps were some large polka-dot fabrics, red with white dots, blue with white dots, and dark green with large white dots.
Mixed in with the rest of the fabric pile, they didn’t stand out. But once Su Qiao’s skillful hands turned them into bow-shaped ties with elastic bands attached, they instantly became charming and eye-catching.
She called her little sister over, took out the small pigtails she had tied earlier, redid her hair into a high ponytail, and fastened a blue bow with white polka dots onto it.
Xiao Lan, like the other Su sisters, had fair, delicate skin; only, due to malnutrition, her hair was a little thin and slightly yellowish.
When it was braided into pigtails as usual, they could only be made into two thin little braids that made her look especially listless.
But after Su Qiao restyled her like this, with her pale skin, big eyes, and slightly yellowish curls, the little girl looked exactly like a doll straight out of a movie.
She was unbelievably pretty.
“Wow, Xiao Lan looks so beautiful like this!” Su Peng was the first to exclaim.
He and his sister were close in age. Although they hadn’t lived together before, he often went to their aunt’s house to see her and would take her out to play.
So the two of them were the closest.
Seeing how his sister looked now, Su Peng immediately shouted to her, “Xiao Lan, come on! I’ll take you out for a walk! Let’s go show Xiao Ya and Da Hong and let them see that no one is prettier than our Xiao Lan!”
“Really? I’m the prettiest?” Hearing her second brother’s words, Xiao Lan’s face flushed red with excitement.
She sprang up from beside her sister’s legs and ran thump-thump-thump back to the small room the two of them shared, climbed onto a chair, and leaned toward the mirror on the table to stare at herself intently.
The more she looked, the more she couldn’t help giggling.
Her laughter was loud enough to be heard in the main room.
The little girl hugged the mirror and ran back out, first rushing to her sister, wrapping her arms around her neck, and saying eagerly, “Sis, I want to wear my new clothes! I want to go play with Da Hong!”
The “new clothes” she was talking about were actually just the outfit that had been patched with appliqué yesterday. In her eyes, that was already very new and the very best clothing she owned.
Looking at her sister’s sparkling eyes, Su Qiao’s heart softened. She held her close and kissed her, saying, “Go ahead and wear it. But after a while you’ll have to change out of it. Tomorrow Sis is taking you all to the county to have some fun.”
“To the county? Sis, you’re taking us to the county?!”
Before Xiao Lan could respond, Su Peng leaned in excitedly.
“Mm. I’m taking you to the county and treating you to big meat buns!”
“To the county to eat big meat buns! Brother, did you hear that? Sis said she’s taking us to the county to eat big meat buns!” Su Peng shouted excitedly, turning around and grabbing his older brother’s clothes.
Excitement showed on Su Wei’s face as well, but in front of his younger brother, he had to maintain the composure of an older brother.
With a look of mild annoyance, she pushed her little brother off her and said in a rough voice, “I’m not deaf, of course I heard you. Fine, you take Xiao Lan out for a walk, but don’t get your clothes dirty! If you do, I won’t take you two out tomorrow!”
“Mission will be accomplished!” Su Peng was so excited he didn’t even know how to respond. Hearing his older brother, he stood at attention and, mimicking a soldier, saluted him.
Although the posture was completely off, it looked absolutely adorable.
Su Wei, imitating his older brother Xiao, snorted through his nose with a serious face and returned a salute to his younger brother.
Then he sent the two kids off.
After they left, he went over to his sister and quietly asked, “Sis, are you really taking us to the county tomorrow?”
“Yes. Get up early tomorrow; we’ll take the first bus,” Su Qiao replied simply.
Su Wei hesitated for a moment and looked up at his sister.
But Su Qiao was fully focused on her work and showed no sign of wanting to explain anything further.
Still, Su Wei couldn’t help but ask, “Sis, are you making all this stuff to sell at a stall in the county?”
Su Qiao paused her hands.
She looked at her brother and nodded. “Yes. In three months the repeat classes will start, and I’ll move you all to the city with me.
By September, I’ll figure out a way to get you and Su Peng enrolled in school, and Xiao Lan will go to kindergarten. Life in the county isn’t like the countryside; everything costs money. The pension Dad left us isn’t nearly enough, so we can’t just sit around, we have to find a way to support ourselves.”
At the mention of their father, Su Wei’s eyes turned red.
He lowered his head, picked up a finished fabric patch, and quietly ran his fingers over it, staying silent for a long while.
Seeing him like this, Su Qiao quietly sighed.
At this time, policies for individual businesses hadn’t really been implemented yet.
From the government down to ordinary people, most were still observing; very few actually practiced it.
Running a business or setting up a stall was still seen as “not a proper job” by many, something that had to be done quietly.
If discovered, the worst that could happen was gossip. But if a rigid official noticed, they could even be punished as a speculator or profiteer.
So it was understandable that Su Wei disagreed with her decision.
Thinking this, Su Qiao patted her brother on the shoulder and was about to explain further, but he suddenly spoke up.
“Sis, you do all this at home, and I’ll go sell it. I’m strong and fast. If someone really comes to catch me, I can hide really well, they won’t find me.”
Su Qiao’s hand froze on her brother’s shoulder. She didn’t expect him to say something like that.
Seeing that she didn’t respond, Su Wei grew anxious.
He hurried to explain again: “Sis, trust me. I’m old enough now; I’m not clueless. Today at the free market in town, I saw several people about my age, and even younger ones! Don’t worry, I really can do it. How about I try tomorrow? Just trust me this once.”
“I trust you,” Su Qiao replied softly.
Her nose tingled.
Although Su Wei talked about being fast, she knew he was only worried about her, afraid that a girl alone doing business outside might get into danger, so he gave such a clumsy reason.
Looking at her eldest young brother like this, she was reminded of her past life, and a sharp, tearing pain surged through her heart.
She clenched her fists tightly and told herself—
It’s all over. Never think about it again. That kind of thing will never happen again!
Ignoring her brother’s reluctance, Su Qiao reached out and touched his face, her eyes reflecting a tenderness even she wasn’t fully aware of.
“I trust you. I know you’ve grown up, and I know you’ll be better at this than me. But these hair ties and fabric patches, you’re a boy, you don’t know how to sell them! So tomorrow, I’ll take you with us. We’ll try it together for one day and see how it goes.”
Hearing this, Su Wei thought about it and realized she was right. With no other choice, he agreed.
Even so, he couldn’t resist confirming again: “But if we try it and it works, I’ll still be the one selling. Don’t run off, stay at home, okay?”
Su Qiao poked him on the forehead, lowered her head, and continued working, ignoring him.
Su Wei muttered a few more words, but seeing that his sister wasn’t paying attention, he had no choice.