Chapter 52: Sweater

Jiang Liyun bought a tricycle on the 10th of last month.

In the blink of an eye, almost a month has passed.

During this month, she bought another bicycle, but with few other expenses and the drop in chicken prices, plus selling ten chickens every day…

Now, Jiang Liyun has over $1,700 in cash.

Adding the just-received $1,000, her savings have reached $3,100.

However, buying clothes for her family is still a significant expense.

In the 20–30 years ahead, wearing a piece of clothing a few times and then discarding it was normal. Some people wouldn’t even wear the clothes they bought.

For people of that time, clothing was about pleasing oneself.

But the perspective on clothes at this time is completely different.

Nowadays, people buy clothes with the intention of wearing them for many years, even a decade!

The clothes of Jiang Lamei and her husband have been worn for who knows how many years.

In their family, Jiang Lamei and her husband are probably the ones who compromise the most in terms of clothing and living conditions.

They give all the things they consider good to their children and refrain from eating and wearing the better items themselves.

They sleep on a simple bed made of wooden boards, and the bedding is patched and dirty. They even sewed back together a bedsheet that was once used as a diaper.

Jiang Liyun really wants to throw away all the junk in their room, but considering her own room is also full of junk, she stays quiet.

People now think clothes should last for several years because, compared to wages, clothes are relatively expensive.

Good-quality shirts in the store cost around $20 to $30 each, while many people earn only a few bucks a month.

Even coarse cloth is not cheap. In their village, many people still weave their own fabric using weaving machines, a complicated process.

When Jiang Liping got married, her four quilts were made of coarse cloth. Their family didn’t have a weaving machine, and Wu Xiaochun didn’t have the energy to sit in front of a weaving machine all day. Jiang Xiagu sold the fabric she wove to Wu Xiaochun at a low price.

So buying clothes is a big deal, especially with a large family. Buying clothes for everyone is definitely not cheap.

Fortunately, for Jiang Lamei’s parents, they don’t need to buy high-quality clothes. They can just buy some fabric from the store and have a tailor make a couple of outfits for them.

This isn’t about Jiang Liyun wanting to save money; it’s mainly because the elderly in the village dress this way, and Jiang Lamei’s parents don’t need to stand out.

If they were to buy them new trendy clothes, they might not even dare to wear them outside.

As for herself, Feng Yi, and Jiang Liyu, Jiang Liyun plans to buy fabric to make two outfits for each person and then buy a decent winter coat for each of them.

She and Feng Yi might have to go out for some business soon, so they need to dress better.

As for what Jiang Lihai wants to buy, that’s his own business. Jiang Liyun invited him because Jiang Lihai doesn’t really have any good clothes.

Jiang Lihai was fine when he was younger. Being the eldest, Jiang Lamei and her husband used some fabric to make clothes for him. But when Jiang Liping grew to seven or eight years old, what he could get was less.

Jiang Liping said she’s a girl and needs to wear girls’ clothes. Moreover, the clothes made for her can be worn by Jiang Liyun in the future, making one piece of clothing cost-effective for two people. She could always get more fabric this way.

Jiang Lihai had a thin face and felt embarrassed to ask, so he suffered.

There’s no way. Jiang Lamei’s parents are indecisive. They give to whoever demands it, hoping to keep peace and joy in the family.

After calculating it, Jiang Liyun realises she’s the one who suffered the most. From childhood to adulthood, she has always worn Jiang Lihai and Jiang Liping’s old clothes. In the end, these old clothes even went to Jiang Liyu.

Fortunately, neither she nor Jiang Liyu care whether the clothes were meant for boys or girls. They were pretty much the same.

However, in their childhood, almost every household in rural areas was like this. There was nothing to complain about.

In the 60s and 70s, it was basically the oldest wearing new clothes, the second oldest wearing old clothes, and the third oldest wearing torn clothes.

In recent years, Jiang Lihai has grown up, living in a brick and tile factory. Jiang Lamei’s parents can’t remember to make clothes for him, and Jiang Lihai has saved money to make clothes himself. However, just like the clothes he bought when he first entered the sofa factory, they’re already old.

Now that Jiang Lihai is about to get engaged, he needs to buy some new clothes.

“Li Yun, if we’re buying clothes, can I bring Chunlin along?” Jiang Lihai asked, then explained, “I asked around, and when a relationship is confirmed, it’s customary for the guy to buy clothes for the girl.”

Indeed, in their area, there’s a tradition for the man to buy clothes for the woman when discussing marriage.

In her past life, when Xie Zugeng’s mother gave him money to buy clothes, he took her to a state-owned breakfast shop and spent the money generously. She was genuinely happy because nobody had ever spent money on her like that before.

Initially, she had some liking for Xie Zugeng because he could spend money on her.

Jiang Liping was willing to marry Li Xuyang because his parents were willing to spend money on her too, right?

However, the fact that even Xie Zugeng’s mother, who never liked her, knew to give him money and reminded him to take her to buy clothes while Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei had no reaction was quite speechless.

Of course, Wu Xiaochun and Jiang Lamei might not even know about it, or they might think their children could handle it themselves.

Indeed, whether it was Jiang Lihai, Jiang Liping, or herself, they didn’t really bother Jiang Lamei’s parents much.

“Brother, bring her along,” Jiang Liyun said.

Jiang Lihai was very happy. “I’ll go to their house later and ask her to go to town tomorrow too!”

Jiang Liyun: “…”

In this era of inconvenient transportation, letting a girl go to town by herself to buy clothes is not reasonable.

Jiang Liyun said, “Tomorrow, find someone to borrow a bicycle and go pick her up.”

“That works too,” Jiang Lihai said.

Jiang Lihai had been bothered by the incident with the foreigner before, but after talking to Jiang Liyun, he felt much better.

Now, he was getting excited: “700 yuan! 700! This money is enough for the engagement!”

He had been on the transport team for almost two months. He hadn’t received the salary for the second month yet, but he already had the first month’s salary in hand.

He earned some money by buying flour and rice in Shanghai. Now, he had 900 yuan.

For the engagement here, they needed to give a dowry, and the He family asked for 600 yuan. The remaining $300 could be used to buy clothes, a thermos, and kitchenware.

As for the banquet…

They didn’t need a grand one for the engagement, and his second month’s salary was enough.

Jiang Lihai is really happy now.

Jiang Liyun didn’t pay attention to Jiang Lihai’s excitement. She still had to knead the dough.

Tomorrow, besides buying clothes, she also wanted to check out some storefronts and rent one as soon as possible.

With a storefront, she wouldn’t need to travel back and forth every day. It would make things much easier for her, and she could even take some time off to do other things.

Not to mention, the business of selling fried dumplings and fried chicken was something Jiang Liyun planned to continue. With a stable source of income, even if she incurred losses in other ventures, she would have some assurance.

But she couldn’t just open this one store. She had a lot of things to do in the future.

The next day, early in the morning, Jiang Liyun and the others went to the town to sell pan-fried dumplings as usual.

Jiang Lihai didn’t join them; he borrowed a bike to pick up He Chunlin.

While Jiang Liyun was selling dumplings, she saw Jiang Lihai bringing a stranger, He Chunlin, over.

Glancing at the clock on the side, it was 7:30 in the morning.

Going to the He family would take some time, and coming here from there would also take some time. This only means that people nowadays wake up really early.

After checking the time, Jiang Liyun looked at He Chunlin.

Maybe she had seen He Chunlin in her past life. She had been running a breakfast shop in town, and He Chunlin might have come to eat there.

However, she didn’t know He Chunlin personally, only occasionally hearing some things about her from Jiang Liping.

Now, seeing He Chunlin, Jiang Liyun realised that she was quite pretty. Of course, that was based on her own aesthetic preferences.

He Chunlin is probably a little less than 1.6 metres tall, with a round face and fair skin. When she smiles, there’s a small dimple on her left cheek, a fortunate feature that older generations especially like.

She is indeed an older person.

Chunlin had obviously dressed up. She wore a bright red turtleneck sweater on top, likely with a cotton jacket inside. Her pants were made of corduroy fabric, and she probably wore another pair inside for warmth.

In short, she looked a bit plump.

But He Chunlin’s attire was already much better than that of Jiang Liyun’s family.

Upon seeing them, He Chunlin blushed, while Jiang Lihai looked quite confident. He introduced both sides, and after He Chunlin greeted Jiang Liyun and the others, he took out fifty cents and gave them to Jiang Liyun. “Li Yun, I’ll buy eighteen pan-fried dumplings.”

Jiang Liyun took the money, cooked twenty pan-fried dumplings, placed them on two separate plates, and handed them to him. Then, Jiang Lihai sat down with He Chunlin at the outdoor folding table and said, “The pan-fried dumplings I brought you earlier have cooled down. They don’t taste as good as the freshly cooked ones. Try these; they’re especially delicious.”

With a flushed face, He Chunlin began eating the pan-fried dumplings and finished the ten that Jiang Liyun gave her.

Rural girls these days sure can eat!

After eating, the two of them went to stroll around the morning market.

Watching He Chunlin and Jiang Lihai leave, Feng Yi said to Jiang Liyun, “Sister Li Yun, that sweater looks really nice!”

Indeed, the bright red sweater that He Chunlin wore today was quite eye-catching. She probably knitted it herself, and there were delicate patterns on it.

“It does look good,” Jiang Liyun agreed. She actually liked brightly coloured clothes as well, but for her, a simple turtleneck sweater without any patterns was enough.

Feng Yi said, “Sister Li Yun, when you go later, buy a sweater like that!”

Feng Yi was also aware of the plan to buy clothes today. He had never worn new clothes before and was especially looking forward to it. What he anticipated even more was how Jiang Liyun would look in new clothes.

While selling pan-fried dumplings just now, he had been observing the clothes worn by the young girls in town. He found one nice one, then saw another nice one. He had mentioned several times to Jiang Liyun that others’ clothes looked good and suggested she buy them.

Jiang Liyun said, “That sweater is probably self-knitted, and you can’t buy it.”

Nowadays, most people’s sweaters are basically self-knitted. You can buy them, but it’s not cost-effective.

Jiang Liyun remembered her colleagues at the sofa factory who would knit sweaters whenever they had free time.

But she wasn’t patient enough for that.

In her past life, Xie Zugeng asked her to help knit a sweater, but she felt that it wasn’t profitable and was boring, so she was reluctant to knit. Later, she taught Wu Xiaochun, and Wu Xiaochun helped her knit it.

In the end, Xie Zugeng even despised that sweater.

With that in mind, Jiang Liyun said, “I don’t like knitting sweaters.”

Feng Yi suggested, “Then I’ll knit for you! Later, we can also buy some red yarn! Sister Li Yun, when I went to the library with you before, I saw a book on knitting sweaters. I’ll learn from it, and I guarantee I’ll knit one that looks better than hers!”

Indeed, there was a book in the library teaching people how to knit sweaters, and some older ladies would gather there to knit and chat.

But is Feng Yi knitting sweaters? That could be interesting.

Jiang Liyun said, “Then later, let’s go buy some yarn and needles.” Knitting sweaters can be quite troublesome, but letting Feng Yi knit her a bright red scarf could work.

However, if not Feng Yi, she could ask Wu Xiaochun to knit it.

Wu Xiaochun actually enjoyed knitting sweaters. After she asked Wu Xiaochun to help knit a sweater in her past life, it opened up a new world for Wu Xiaochun.

After that, Wu Xiaochun knitted many sweaters over the years.

In the following years, even Jiang Liyu wore sweaters like He Chunlin did in winter, wearing a homemade cotton jacket outside and a knitted sweater inside.

It was not only warm but also convenient for movement.