Now that they had this opportunity, of course they had to fulfill their mother’s wish.
She had already thought it through—they could even sell clothing later.
Didn’t Su Xiuxiu make her fortune by opening a clothing factory? They could do the same!
Wang Lihua already had a foundation in sewing. The moment Su Erbao handed her those patterns, her attention was completely captivated, unable to focus on anything else.
Su Erbao and Su Dabao exchanged a glance, then both stepped forward to wrap their arms around her waist.
“Mom can make a few more cotton jackets, and we’ll sell them in the city.”
Su Erbao looked up and said this. The fabric she bought was cheap, so even if they sold each piece for 20 yuan, they wouldn’t lose money. Moreover, since no ration tickets were needed, they could easily sell them for 21 or 22 yuan.
If they were going to sell, they’d go near the residential buildings in the county town. The people living there had money.
Wang Lihua’s initial joy faded considerably after Su Erbao’s words. She tightly clutched the patterns in her hand. “Maybe not… Your dad, Su Dagui, always thought the clothes I made were too rustic. He’s always wanted to save up to buy a woolen coat. Cotton jackets probably won’t sell well.”
Things were better when they were in the village, but ever since Su Dagui started working in the city, he never let her make clothes again, saying her creations were too rustic.
Su Erbao lowered her head to look at the patterns in Wang Lihua’s hand and happened to see the suit design on one of them. She raised her hand and smacked her forehead.
How could she have forgotten? Woolen coats were incredibly expensive now—115 yuan plus 20 industrial coupons for just one coat.
For a women’s woolen suit, it was 105 yuan plus 15 industrial coupons.
She remembered this so clearly because when Su Wen married Liu Juanzi, they wore woolen suits and woolen coats. At the time, many people talked about it.
When they found out about this, her older sister held her and cried for a long time. Those two coats were essentially their mother’s life-saving money.
A human life couldn’t even compare to two pieces of clothing—how laughable!
It was these two coats that finally made the two sisters certain that their mother had been deliberately dragged to her death by Old Mrs. Su and the eldest branch of the family.
So, rather than making cotton jackets, why not make these high-profit woolen coats instead!
“Mom, you make cotton jackets for us, and we’ll sell woolen coats!”
Wang Lihua couldn’t keep up with her daughter’s sudden shift in thinking. “Huh?” she said. “But I don’t know how to make woolen coats.”
Su Erbao pointed to the suit design in her hand. “It’s just this pattern, but with woolen fabric instead.”
“Mom can start with cotton jackets to get the feel for it, and once you’re comfortable, move on to woolen coats.”
Wang Lihua didn’t hesitate much. Since her daughter was so supportive, and it was just an experiment, of course she couldn’t be timid and dampen her daughter’s enthusiasm.
After all, her daughter came from the future and had more insight than someone like her who had always stayed in the village. Listening to her daughter was definitely the right move.
“Alright, I’ll give it a try!”
While Wang Lihua slowly figured out how to use the sewing machine to make clothes, Su Wen went to the Liu family to pick up Liu Juanzi and her two younger brothers and bring them to the village.
Liu Juanzi’s two younger brothers were named Liu Jinbao, age 14, and Liu Yinbao, age 10.
To ensure their plan could proceed, Su Wen specifically asked his good friend Wang Jianjun to take the two boys out to play.
Wang Jianjun was 21 years old and something of a layabout in the village. He usually engaged in petty theft and mischief. Everyone secretly cursed him behind his back, but no one dared to confront his family directly.
His family only had a blind grandmother, and they were already so poor they often didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. If anyone went to their house to make a scene, Old Mrs. Wang would kneel and kowtow. Given her advanced age, people couldn’t bear to push too hard, so they usually let it go, just cursing under their breath.
In the past, seeing one old and one young struggling to get by, people would just scold him a bit when he stole something and leave it at that. But in the last couple of years, even though he was already grown up and had been allocated land, he’d rather let others farm it than work the fields himself.
Everyone had come to realize that this guy was simply lazy and greedy, accustomed to getting something for nothing.
So whenever he was caught stealing again, some of the more sharp-tongued aunties would chase after him, hitting and cursing.
But every time after being chased and scolded, he would either secretly dump manure into their yards or beat up their children.
If anyone went to his house to confront him, he would run off, leaving Old Mrs. Wang behind to weep and beg on his behalf.
With such a shameless troublemaker, people really had no way to deal with him. Reporting him to the police over a single chicken would tarnish the whole village’s reputation, which obviously wasn’t worth it.
Yet this good-for-nothing, despised by the adults, was someone Liu Jinbao and Liu Yinbao idolized.
Su Wen gave Wang Jianjun two yuan, telling him to take the two boys to the supply and marketing cooperative in town. Wang Jianjun seemed to guess something, giving Su Wen a lewd grin before calling Liu Jinbao and Liu Yinbao to leave.
Seeing the two annoying boys finally gone, Su Wen hurried into the house and said to Liu Juanzi, who was keeping Old Mrs. Su and Liu Xianghua company by the fire, “Juanzi, come on, I’ll take you to see our new house.”
Liu Juanzi stood up, blushing, and looked at Old Mrs. Su and Liu Xianghua. “Grandma, Auntie, I’ll go with Brother Wen to see the house first.”
Liu Xianghua smiled and said, “Alright,” then grabbed a large handful of peanuts from the nearby tea tray and stuffed them into Liu Juanzi’s pocket. “Take these to snack on.”
Liu Juanzi thanked her softly and followed Su Wen out of the house.
After the two of them left, Liu Xianghua picked up a few peanuts, held them in her palm, and bowed in all directions, murmuring quietly as she did so, “May you have a son soon, may you have a son soon.”
If she got pregnant early, her family would have to spend less money. Today, when Su Wen went to the Liu family to pick up Liu Juanzi, he had spent over two yuan just on gifts.
What if this happened several more times?
Old Mrs. Su had been holding tight to that 300 yuan, refusing to hand it over, and she and her husband didn’t have much money themselves, so of course they had to be frugal.
Meanwhile, Wang Jianjun took Liu Jinbao and Liu Yinbao to the village entrance.
Seeing a dilapidated house not far away, Liu Jinbao asked curiously, “Brother Jianjun, what place is that?”
Wang Jianjun’s eyes darted around, and he felt a sudden itch in his heart.
There used to be a young widow in the village named Little Xie. Her husband died young, leaving her with a five-year-old son and an elderly mother-in-law.
Back then, Wang Jianjun had just learned how things worked between men and women and had once peeked at Little Xie while she was bathing. She caught him in the act.
To his surprise, Little Xie didn’t chase after him, hitting and cursing. Instead, she tearfully begged him not to tell anyone, or she would surely be doomed.
After all, Little Xie’s mother-in-law was notoriously fierce in the village. Even when her husband was alive, Little Xie was often beaten by the old woman. After he died, she suffered beatings three times a day.
Wang Jianjun also felt sorry for her. Occasionally, when he stole a chicken, he would secretly bring her a drumstick. Over time, they grew close.
But the good times didn’t last long. Little Xie got pregnant and asked Wang Jianjun to run away with her, but he refused.
What a joke—he and his grandmother were practically being supported by the villagers. If they ran away, how could he possibly afford to take care of Little Xie and the child? He wasn’t stupid.