Chapter 49: To Tailor One’s Approach to The Person

Jiang Nian lifted the towel covering the bamboo basket, revealing the wild boar meat inside. It was all cut into small strips, mostly fat, as fat meat was more popular.

She didn’t particularly like the taste of wild boar meat. It had a strong, pungent odor that couldn’t be removed. The reason she had processed wild boar meat was because her family was out of oil, and she had hunted a wild boar to render lard.

Jiang Nian was picky about her food, but that didn’t mean everyone else was the same.

She was led to a spot and exchanged the wild boar meat in her basket for enough cloth coupons to make two cotton-padded jackets for Ye Zhiqiu and half a bag of cotton. She also spent twenty yuan to buy a bicycle ticket, and then she was allowed to browse around.

It was also because she was unfamiliar, and it was obvious that she was there for the first time.

The biggest gain from her browsing was ten kilograms of rice. She paid five yuan and two cents for it, a high price without needing ration coupons, but the quality was excellent. It was clear and fragrant, unlike those inferior rice varieties.

She was about to pay when she heard the sound of a gong.

The young man selling rice in front of her was instantly flustered. He grabbed the money from her hand and ran.

Jiang Nian was about to chase after him when she saw the crowd around her start to panic.

Everyone quickly picked up their things and scattered in all directions.

She instantly understood and ran in one direction.

But her luck was bad. Out of all the people running in different directions, the person wearing the red armband happened to be chasing in her direction.

She didn’t know whose backyard it was, but she put the rice into her space, lightly stepped on her feet, and jumped over the wall, quickly landing on the other side of the house.

Without stopping, she headed towards the direction she had agreed on with Ye Zhiqiu.

Thanks to her extraordinary skills, she went all the way without any obstacles.

Ye Zhiqiu had been looking around anxiously at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative for a long time. When she saw her figure, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Master, you’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

The saleswoman in the supply and marketing cooperative was standing a little inside, smiling kindly at her. “So you’re a teacher? My goodness, the heavens are so unfair. You have all the good qualities.”

Although Jiang Nian had only been there once a long time ago, the saleswoman still remembered her. After all, she was such a beautiful girl, rarely seen. Even she, a woman, felt her eyes light up when she saw her.

“Sister, don’t flatter me. If you keep flattering me, I’ll float to the sky.” Jiang Nian walked in.

Most of the people in town made a living by farming and fishing. After all, they relied on the mountains to eat the mountains and the water to eat the water, but they were generally not wealthy, so the supply and marketing cooperative was also dilapidated. Although there seemed to be a lot of things, they were arranged in a messy way.

Jiang Nian said, “Sister, do you have any nice cotton cloth? I want to buy some to make two clothes for this girl next to me.”

“We do, we just got some new cloth the other day. The white and red checkered one is nice, perfect for a young girl. But you want to make two? That’s a lot of cloth. Do you have enough cloth coupons?”

In the countryside, each person only gets two feet of cloth coupons per year. A whole family only gets enough to make one piece of clothing, so cloth coupons are very precious.

“Enough.” She finished speaking and forgot to ask Ye Zhiqiu, “Do you know how to sew?”

She definitely didn’t, so don’t expect her to.

Ye Zhiqiu nodded. “I do. My mother taught me a few years ago.”

She said that women who don’t know how to sew are useless. In the future, all the mending and patching in the family will fall on the women.

She used to find those words annoying, but she didn’t dare to argue.

Now she still didn’t think that way, but she didn’t think it was bad to know how to sew either. After all, she needed to wear clothes too, and it was convenient to do it herself, so she wouldn’t have to bother others.

Jiang Nian was relieved. “Then please measure her and cut enough for two cotton-padded jackets. And pants too.”

“Okay.” The saleswoman said, then picked up a ruler and started measuring. She cut a slit with scissors and tore it off with a rip.

She picked up another color of fabric. “Comrade, look at this color. The other one is bright and beautiful, but this one is more durable. Two cotton-padded jackets would use up a lot of cotton. I think you could make a padded jacket, this color is perfect.”

“No need, girls should have two new clothes when they grow up. Just measure enough for me.”

“Okay, I see this child is still growing. I’ll measure a little extra for you, so you can make it wider when you sew it. Fold the cuffs up, so when she grows up, you can just let the cuffs down.”

The saleswoman was a kind person, she was thinking of them in every way. Jiang Nian didn’t argue this time.

As they walked out of the supply and marketing cooperative, Ye Zhiqiu spoke hesitantly. “Master, we need cotton to make cotton-padded jackets, and we don’t have any.”

The sky was dark and gloomy, it seemed even darker than when they came. The dark clouds pressed down on their heads, like a giant beast swallowing the sky.

She had learned a little about Jiang Nian during this time. Although her master seemed very strong, everyone has weaknesses. Her weakness was in daily life.

She didn’t know how to sew, her cooking was limited to not starving, she could clean the room, but it was obvious that she was very annoyed every time she cleaned.

At first, she set rules for Ye Zhiqiu, not allowing her to touch anything in her room. Later, seeing that she was doing a good job, she specifically designated some places that she wasn’t allowed to touch, such as her medicine-making area, and the rest was left to her to clean.

“Something happened at the black market just now, I hid the cotton somewhere else. We’ll pick it up on the way back.” Actually, it was hidden in her space.

Ye Zhiqiu then told Jiang Nian how much Li Rui’s duck eggs sold for. Although she knew that she probably didn’t want to hear it, she had to tell her.

Several people wearing red armbands were escorting two people towards them.

Just as they were about to pass each other, a man took a closer look at them and suddenly pointed at Jiang Nian. “This person also ran from the black market just now. I saw her.”

Jiang Nian had to stop and turn around, pretending not to understand. “What black market? Comrade, you must be mistaken. We just came from the supply and marketing cooperative. The saleswoman can vouch for us. If you don’t believe me, go ask her.”

“Impossible. You’re wearing the same clothes, and your face is the same. I couldn’t be wrong.” The man said very confidently.

Another person said, “Take her back and question her slowly. If she came from the black market, she won’t be able to deny it.”

From the tone of these two people, they wouldn’t allow her to argue. It was like they were the law.

Jiang Nian’s fingertips had already grasped a silver needle, she was about to make a move when a voice suddenly came from behind.

“Comrades, hello. I’m Yan Jin, the director of the Yanjiazhuang Commune. What’s wrong with my sister?”

“So it’s Director Yan’s sister. Since she’s your sister, she couldn’t have been at the black market. Maybe I was mistaken.”

People are all good at judging people by their appearance. They hadn’t caught her on the spot, and Yan Jin had stepped in at this moment. It wouldn’t be right to continue arguing. It was better to give them face and sell them a favor.