Chapter 20: Completion

Qin Zhiyu was still young, but she knew a lot.

They say that poor children grow up early.

Qin Zhiyu had learned to be thrifty early on.

She had accompanied her classmates to the supply and marketing cooperative more than once and saw many accessories there.

But now she felt that none of them were as beautiful as this hair tie.

She thought that as long as the price was right, Sister Sangluo’s things would definitely sell well in the county.

The people in the county were not short of money.

She had seen her deskmate buy hair accessories at the supply and marketing cooperative, she bought over ten pieces at once, filling a big bag.

One yuan, two yuan, she would spend it without hesitation, like the wind blowing it away.

Sister Sangluo’s hair ties, at least her deskmate would definitely like them and be willing to buy them.

So it was definitely profitable.

But the materials were bought by Sister Sangluo, and she was the only one who knew how to make hair ties.

Why should they do it with Sister Sangluo? It would be taking advantage of her.

Absolutely not.

She quickly shook her head again, “No, absolutely not. Sister Sangluo, you can definitely make money with this, we can’t take advantage of you. But we can help you make them.”

Xu Sangluo knew she would have this attitude, and she guessed that others would be the same.

She smiled, “Then if you help me, it won’t be taking advantage of me. Since it’s a collaboration, it has to be fair. First, the cost of buying materials has to be counted as yours. I’ll be responsible for the technology and sales, you’ll be responsible for the labor and cost, 50/50, no one takes advantage of anyone.”

Qin Zhiyu opened her mouth, blinked, and listened with difficulty.

She seemed to understand, but she also felt something was wrong.

She frowned, “I, I, well, I’ll wait for Big Brother to come back and ask him about this.”

Xu Sangluo nodded with a smile.

She didn’t really want a little girl like Qin Zhiyu to make the decision.

This family was still ruled by Qin Zhiyi, the head of the household.

“Okay, let’s not talk about this anymore, come and help me pick, or we won’t have time to make dinner.”

“Okay!” Qin Zhiyu immediately ran over and sat on the other side of the bed.

After knowing the purpose of these scraps, she didn’t think they were so bad anymore.

“Pick out the ones you think are pretty, according to your own preferences.”

“Okay.”

The two of them started chatting and picking.

After a while, all three bags were picked.

In the end, there were two whole bags that could be used to make hair ribbons.

Only one bag was useless, mostly scraps that were too small to be used, or the colors were not good.

But they weren’t completely useless, they could be used to make shoe pads or pillows.

Qin Zhiyu later went to tell Qin’s mother about this.

Qin’s mother was also a little tempted.

But she didn’t know much about girls’ things, so she also wanted to wait for her eldest son to come back before talking about it.

If they really wanted to do it together, they would have to discuss a plan.

They couldn’t let Xu Sangluo suffer too much.

Xu Sangluo’s words were just to coax Qin Zhiyu, Qin’s mother could tell that it wasn’t reasonable.

Xu Sangluo had the skills, she could find anyone to do it.

But they couldn’t, and she also said she would be responsible for selling, which was also very hard work.

But if this thing could really make money, it would be a good thing for the family, at least it would reduce some pressure on her son.

But 50/50 was definitely not acceptable.

Xu Sangluo didn’t cook dinner, Qin Zhiyu did.

Actually, she just had to boil a pot of cabbage porridge.

There was still some braised meat left, so they ate it with the porridge.

Xu Sangluo was concentrating on making patterns with needles and thread.

By evening, she had already made quite a few.

Qin Zhiyu looked at the various hair ties, headbands, hair hoops, and hair clips, each one more beautiful than the last, her eyes widened.

She was eating…

When it was time for dinner, Xu Sangluo brought up the matter.

As she expected, Qin Zhiyi directly refused.

He understood that Xu Sangluo wanted to help them, but they couldn’t be ungrateful.

Xu Sangluo had known Qin Zhiyi’s personality for two lifetimes, and she had prepared a set of arguments.

She explained that she couldn’t do it alone, and if she hired someone, they might not even start selling before others started selling their own.

At least the Qin family was trustworthy, and they all lived together, which was convenient.

As for why she didn’t hire the Qin family to help, it was because it was too troublesome.

If she hired them, would the Qin family only be responsible for making things?

What if she needed help with something else? How would she calculate their wages? Would she have to calculate different wages?

If they didn’t take wages, she would feel uncomfortable, so it was better to just collaborate.

In the end, Qin Zhiyi was persuaded, but he insisted on a 30/70 split, and she couldn’t sell the goods alone, the Qin family had to be involved.

Xu Sangluo didn’t mind.

It was just a quick way to make some money.

Since they had reached an agreement, they had to take action.

That night, the family gathered in Qin’s mother’s room, under the oil lamp, and started learning how to make the patterns from Xu Sangluo.

Even Qin Zhifeng and Qin Zhishu were not left out.

Fortunately, the two boys had helped sew quilts and clothes since they were young, so they were good at handicrafts.

Qin Zhiyi went out to cut bamboo, he needed to make more baskets and bamboo boxes.

He also dug some soil and used wooden boards to make some boxes for Xu Sangluo to plant vegetables.

Xu Sangluo first gave each of them two patterns to make.

Five people, ten styles.

Without a sewing machine, it was much slower to use needles and thread.

But because the styles were simple, their speed increased once they got the hang of it.

Qin Zhifeng looked at the hair tie in his hand.

He didn’t understand, would girls really like this thing?

Could it really be sold? He wasn’t sure.

But he thought back, it seemed like many girls in school had all sorts of strange things on their heads.

The next morning, Qin Zhiyu got up and excitedly went to find Xu Sangluo.

Yesterday, Xu Sangluo told her that she would give her a new hairstyle today, using the new hair ties, and she could show off their products at school.

Although she didn’t understand, she was now fascinated by Xu Sangluo’s hairdressing skills.

Plus, she was given the task of “promotion,” which made her even more excited.

This time, Xu Sangluo didn’t make it too exaggerated or avant-garde.

After all, there were many people and eyes at school, it would be too troublesome to attract attention.

She just tied Qin Zhiyu’s hair in a high ponytail, then braided it into three braids, rolled them up, and tied them with a large blue and white dotted bow hair tie.

There were also four thumb-sized crosses made of cloth next to the bow, connected by a small strand of cloth rolled into a rope, which hung down to the bend of the braid.

It swayed with the braid as she walked, very beautiful.

She also pinned a small blue floral cloth flower hair clip on the side.

The whole person looked energetic and fashionable, but not too exaggerated.

Many girls in the city in the 1980s liked to tie their hair this way.

But it was definitely not as exquisite as Xu Sangluo’s.

Anyway, Qin Zhiyu loved it.

She quickly ate two buns in the morning and skipped happily to school with her friends.

She didn’t even wait for her two brothers.

And as expected, Qin Zhiyu’s new hairstyle and hair accessories not only attracted the admiration of her friends, but even the female members of the commune on the road couldn’t help but look at her.

They didn’t even recognize her for a moment.

Qin Zhiyu was also a clever girl, she took advantage of her friends’ questions and answered loudly as she walked.