Chapter 49: Li Xiucai 1/3

Zhu Xunmiao had seen Jin Xiaoye before, so when he learned that Li Qingzhi had asked Jin Xiaoye to bring him something, he immediately went over.

Jin Xiaoye took out rolls of paper and handed them to Zhu Xunmiao. “Young Master Zhu, these are what my husband has written recently. He asked me to give them to you.”

Li Qingzhi wasn’t quite used to writing with his left hand, so he couldn’t write characters as small as a fingernail. These words were basically as big as a bottle cap.

As a result, the paper used for writing forty thousand words was quite a lot, and it was heavy.

Zhu Xunmiao took them and felt joy rising in his heart—he finally had something to read again.

At this time, Jin Xiaoye said again, “My husband said his handwriting is a bit sloppy, so he’ll need someone to copy it neatly before it can be shown to others.”

“I understand. I’ll find someone to copy it,” Zhu Xunmiao said.

“I’ve told you everything he instructed me to. There’s still something to attend to at home. Master Zhu, I’m heading home!” Jin Xiaoye said to Zhu Xunmiao, pushing the bamboo pole in her hand, and the small boat departed from the riverbank, heading in the direction of the Miaoqian Village.

“Brother Zhu, who was that?” one of Zhu Xunmiao’s classmates asked curiously.

“She’s the wife of a good friend of mine,” Zhu Xunmiao replied.

His classmate frowned, “Brother Zhu, about your friend…”

“What about him?” Zhu Xunmiao asked, puzzled by his friend’s expression.

The classmate continued, “Since you asked, I’ll be direct. Even if your friend’s family is poor and needs his wife to do some work to supplement the household income, shouldn’t he let his wife do needlework at home instead of letting her come out to row a boat and expose herself like this? Brother Zhu, you should advise him not to let his wife do such improper things.”

In Chengcheng County, commerce was flourishing, and women weren’t as restricted as in some other places.

Walking along the streets, it was common to see women managing shops and engaging in small businesses. There were also many boatwomen on the river.

Because women could earn money and had their own income, the status of women in Chongcheng County was relatively high.

However, even so, in the eyes of most educated people, women shouldn’t be exposing themselves in public.

Zhu Xunmiao had heard Li Qingzhi mention Jin Xiaoye before, and Li Qingzhi seemed grateful towards Jin Xiaoye, saying that without her, he might have starved to death… Therefore, although Zhu Xunmiao hadn’t talked much to Jin Xiaoye, he admired her.

Now Jin Xiaoye was just rowing a boat, how did that become improper?

Zhu Xunmiao sneered, “Brother Fang, you really are a gentleman. Why don’t you go from one end of the street to the other and advise those women who are out there trying to make a living to go back home!” He felt like those people deserved a beating!

“You…” The scholar named Fang flushed.

Zhu Xunmiao continued, “Your family members still come to the school every day to bring food, so you could also go and remind them.”

With that, Zhu Xunmiao left.

His classmate was named Fang Zijian. Fang Zijian’s family situation was ordinary, and his ability to study relied on his mother and sisters doing needlework to earn money, similar to Xu Qiwen’s situation.

Perhaps seeing how close Xu Qiwen was to him brought many conveniences, and Fang Zijian wanted to befriend him. However, Fang Zijian was too conservative, which made him repulsive.

Previously, this person even advised him to persuade his father to give up doing business and become a landlord, saying that this way, he wouldn’t be looked down upon by others…

If his father didn’t do business, could he still have his current life?!

He wasn’t stupid!

Upon returning home, Zhu Xunmiao couldn’t wait to take out the thick stack of paper and start reading.

It was so exciting!

This detective story wasn’t any worse than his father doing business or his Uncle Ding enjoying the pleasures of the world!

No, it should be said it was even more exciting!

While Zhu Xunmiao was reading, Jin Xiaoye had already returned to Miaoqian Village.

After her boat docked at the village’s pier, some villagers gathered around her. “Xiaoye, do you still have sleeves? I want an apron for my child. Have you made any coats for children?”

After receiving the fifty taels of silver from Li Qingzhi, Jin Xiaoye bought a lot of cloth. With the additional cloth given by Zhu Qian, she suddenly had plenty of fabric.

With the fabric in hand, Jin Xiaoye had Sister Wang and Mrs. Xu make some samples, then had them cut the fabric so others could make various items based on the samples.

Jin Xiaoye only gave the fabric provided by Zhu’s family to those skilled in craftsmanship and provided some patterns for them to ensure everything was made delicately.

The items made from this fabric were meant to be sold to the wealthy.

For the slightly defective fabric she bought, Jin Xiaoye took the economical route. Since the weather wasn’t particularly cold yet, she had them make some sleeves, coats, aprons, etc., and sold them in Chongcheng County and nearby villages.

In the summer, everyone could wash their clothes daily, but it was different in the winter. Many people only had one cotton-padded coat, which they had to wear for several months straight.

One could imagine how dirty that coat would get after a few months.

As for the children, it was even worse. As soon as winter came, their noses would run, and they liked to wipe them with their sleeves… After washing the cotton-padded coat and putting it back on, it wouldn’t take long for the cuffs to get dirty again.

Therefore, families with means would add another layer of clothing over the cotton-padded coat. But in the countryside, there were plenty of families without such means.

They would find a way to make sleeves for the children or just make a garment that covered the front and sleeves, which could be worn inside out.

The fabric needed for making sleeves and garments was much less than for making a complete outfit.

The sleeves and garments Jin Xiaoye sold were very cheap, even cheaper than if they bought the fabric themselves. So, everyone in the village came to buy them.

As for the slight defects in the dyeing of these fabrics… the villagers didn’t care at all.

After all, after a short period of use, they would all turn black anyway.

“I have them all! If you want to buy, come to my house!” Jin Xiaoye said, then picked up a load.

These items didn’t require embroidery on them. After they were cut, they could be made very quickly. A woman could make at least a dozen in a day, so she never ran out of stock.

People who wanted to buy followed Jin Xiaoye to the Li family’s house. When they arrived, they saw Li Damao, Li Ermao, and Zhao Xiaodou wearing sleeves and serving food on the table.

Their sleeves were made from the cloth that the Zhu family had given to Li Qingzhi when they sent clothes to him.

These sleeves were not much different from modern ones, except that modern sleeves have elastic bands at both ends, while theirs had a string at each end that needed to be tied after wearing them.

The village was full of mud, even the walls of the houses were made of mud. Most children were basically mud people, but Li Damao, Li Ermao, and Zhao Xiaodou looked much cleaner, so these people couldn’t help but praise them.

“Xiaoye, Xiaoshu, come and eat. I’ll serve everyone.” Li Qingzhi came out of the house and invited Jin Xiaoye in for dinner.

Recently, their dinners had been directed by Li Qingzhi and cooked by Li Laogen.

His skills weren’t great, but Li Laogen’s skills were even worse… Li Qingzhi felt more at ease watching him.

Actually, Li Laogen’s situation couldn’t be described as having poor skills. He simply didn’t have any skills and was particularly careless.

For example, when cooking eggplants… there would always be a green stem on top of the eggplant. Most people would remove it before cutting the eggplant, but Li Laogen would leave it on.

The same went for vegetables. He wouldn’t bother to separate and wash the leaves; he would just wash them quickly, cut them into large pieces, and put them in the pot!

Li Qingzhi wasn’t a picky person; he didn’t mind eating the stem, after all, it wasn’t poisonous.