☆ 16. Work

“Mom, Qiuqiu will grow up quickly and will work hard to find ways to earn money, so you won’t have to work so hard all the time.”

Worried that her mother might disagree, Qiuqiu hurriedly added this.

She felt troubled, she knew her mother was happiest when buying things, but she currently didn’t have a way to earn money.

When her father was in the army, she could follow Dajun and Xiaojun to the mountains to pick mushrooms or dig up ginger to sell and share the money.

But now that they were in the provincial city, she didn’t see any mountains, didn’t know if there was ginger to dig, and didn’t have a bunch of friends to encourage her. She had no way to make money.

She also didn’t know if there were many friends in the alleys here or if there were any as clever as Dajun who knew how to earn money.

Ji Meng’s eyes became moist, she didn’t expect to hear such words. She thought her child would at most say she didn’t want clothes or something like that, but she was surprised to hear this instead.

When she was little, she didn’t seem to understand so much.

At over four years old, what was she doing? She was fighting with the chubby kids in the orphanage over chicken legs.

She had been a pretty child, the favorite of the orphanage director, and many of her parents’ friends often came to see her. The other kids in the orphanage looked up to her, and she was a little tyrant.

That chubby kid, who loved to eat, liked to fight with her for food, and she would just hit him until he was adopted at six years old, at which point she finally started to behave.

Among the orphanage children, except for those with serious disabilities, she didn’t spend much time with them. She got used to separation and had gone through a lot, so Ji Meng felt her heart had become much harder.

But today, she was moved to tears by Qiuqiu.

Earlier, when she was about to buy clothes, Ji Meng had already thought about urgently finding a way to earn money, and at this moment, that feeling became even stronger.

She had never felt such urgency before.

Originally, in order to avoid putting too much pressure on the orphanage director, she had started earning her own living expenses independently at a young age, but when it came to her daughter, she didn’t want her to suffer the same hardships she had.

Ji Meng squatted down and hugged Qiuqiu tightly. She took a deep breath and forced a smile as she said:

“Qiuqiu, Mommy understands, but mom wants to tell you that although our family isn’t very wealthy, we’re not so poor that we’ll go hungry. And even though Dad is gone, Mom can earn money too.”

Qiuqiu didn’t believe that her mother could earn money, she had never seen her mother at work. In the past, she didn’t even cook, and only recently had she started going into the kitchen.

Although her mother had the talent her father spoke of and made delicious food right after learning to cook, that didn’t earn any money.

But not wanting to discourage her mother, she obediently nodded: “Qiuqiu understands. Mom, let’s go look at the silk scarves.”

Ji Meng didn’t know what her daughter was really thinking, she assumed the child understood and released her, taking her to look at the silk scarves.

At this time, there weren’t as many types of silk scarves as in later years, but the colors were rich—red, yellow, purple, ink-wash, vibrant colors… all sorts of hues.

It was evident that at this time, silk scarves were quite popular. Today wasn’t the weekend, and there weren’t many people at the department store, the entire building had only a crowd gathered around the silk scarves.

However, Ji Meng wasn’t very interested. She just took a look, understood the general types of silk scarves, and then led Qiuqiu away.

She needed to look around more and quickly find a way to make money.

Although Ji Meng wasn’t exactly poor in her previous life, she had never been this poor.

She started hustling to earn money at thirteen, setting up a stall selling stationery and picture books at the elementary school gate. When she was in boarding school, she found ways to bring food into the dormitory to sell. As she got older and with her height and looks, she worked as a receptionist at a big hotel and did part-time jobs for luxury brands.

By the time she got to university, she began tutoring and doing modeling.

With her good physique, temperament, and looks, she stood out among the many models and had a decent income.

By the time she graduated from university, she had already saved a small amount of money. Later, she joined a well-known pharmaceutical company as a quality inspector and quickly rose to management. If it hadn’t been for that company’s heir getting drunk and making advances toward her, which led her to hit him, she might have stayed there until retirement.

Afterward, she grew tired of the desk job, returned to the countryside, rented a hundred acres of land to grow medicinal herbs, and remodeled a house in the village. That was when she started to run short on money.

She needed money to hire someone to weed and tend to the medicinal fields.

But at that time, she had more ways to earn money. She hired two people to help her shoot short videos.

She filmed all sorts of content—cooking, beauty, exploring ancient recipes, occasionally helping others find herbal medicine shops… Whatever was trending, she did it, using various accounts and disguises.

Later, a talented aromatherapist and cosmetic formulator friend saw that she was quite popular on a certain platform and approached her for collaboration.

Together, they started making videos on essential oils, balms, and personal care products, and opened an online store selling essential oils, balms, and even made some facial cleansers, shampoos, shower gels, essential oil soaps, balms, and lipsticks.

The business was doing fairly well, although it wasn’t enough for her to achieve complete financial freedom yet—she still hadn’t bought a 300-square-meter flat but she no longer worried about paying her workers’ wages.

But now, she hesitated to even buy a set of clothes for Qiuqiu.

Just thinking about it made her feel frustrated.

Ji Meng still wanted to buy the clothes she had seen for Qiuqiu, but after Qiuqiu’s earlier words, she didn’t feel comfortable buying them in front of her.

She’s worried that when they got home, her little girl would be extremely upset.

Since she couldn’t buy the clothes, Ji Meng familiarized herself with the prices in the department store and then took Qiuqiu out to explore other streets.

The shops on the following few streets were more mixed, selling all sorts of things—general stores, pastry shops, tailor shops, hardware stores, and so on…

Ji Meng glanced around. When she passed by a tailor shop, she noticed a wooden sign hanging outside. It was a public-private partnership store that also sold fabrics inside.

Ji Meng thought for a moment and took Qiuqiu inside.

In the spring of the south, one moment you’re wearing a wool coat, and the next, a thin spring outfit, the weather is strange and won’t stabilize until May.

Qiuqiu only had two sets of clothes, and even if she bought that wool one, it wouldn’t be enough. Ji Meng planned to choose some fabric and design two outfits for Qiuqiu.

The tailor shop had limited fabric options, there was no wool or trendy denim.

As the weather was about to get warm, spring outfits didn’t necessarily need to be made from thick fabric. Even without denim, corduroy, velvet, or cotton could work.

Ji Meng chose a piece of khaki corduroy, a piece of black velvet, a piece of white cotton, and a piece of maroon cotton.

Following the trendy styles of modern little girls, Ji Meng designed outfits based on the fabrics she had chosen.

There was a pair of corduroy overalls, a black dress with lace trim at the waist, and two cotton blouses—one with a stand collar and lantern sleeves and the other with a ruffled collar.

The tailor was a middle-aged woman in her forties. She had been sewing in this area for many years and was also the shop owner. When she saw that Ji Meng was beautiful and had an outstanding figure, she couldn’t help but glance at Ji Meng several times.

Now that she received the drawings from Ji Meng and saw the details of the dress’s folds and curves, along with the effect renderings, her expression showed even more surprise.

“Your drawings are wonderful! This dress will definitely be beautiful, little…”

Ji Meng looked young and tender, appearing to be under twenty. The shop owner wanted to call her “little girl,” but noticing Qiuqiu beside her, she hesitated and finally referred to her as “sister.”

“Sister, do you also know how to make clothes?”

“No, I don’t.”

Ji Meng smiled and shook her head. She was just bored staying in the countryside and picked up drawing again to earn some traffic after having learned it for a while in her childhood.

Perhaps she had inherited some artistic talent from her mother, so it came to her quite easily.

Buying fabric to make clothes was relatively cheap. Although fabric coupons were still needed, they weren’t strictly necessary for individuals, they could be replaced with cash. Seeing Ji Meng’s designs, the shop owner charged her less for one of the shirts.

Saving some money, Ji Meng thought for a moment and also ordered a Zhongshan suit for Ji Qinghe.

She didn’t know Ji Qinghe’s measurements, but she could describe the body shape. The shop owner had been making clothes for many years, so she could probably estimate it. After noting down the sizes, she discussed the necessary fabric and money coupons with Ji Meng.

Qiuqiu was watching from the side. She initially didn’t want her mom to make her clothes, but since Ji Meng didn’t want to buy the scarf because of Qiuqiu’s earlier comments, she couldn’t keep stopping her mom, that wouldn’t make her mom happy.

Seeing Ji Meng draw such beautiful clothing designs with a pencil on white paper and the little figures wearing pretty clothes that looked like her made Qiuqiu’s eyes widen.

She had never known her mom was so talented. When she heard the shop owner say that one of the shirts would be a gift for them, her mouth dropped open in surprise.

“Mom, how are you so good at drawing?” Once they were outside the tailor shop, Qiuqiu couldn’t help but ask her mom quickly.

Thinking about how her own flower drawings were sometimes big and sometimes small, round and then flat. Her eyes looked at Ji Meng with admiration, almost shining with it.

The little girl’s expression was too cute, making Ji Meng laugh involuntarily as she reached out to wrap her thin little shoulder.

“Because I learned it before. Qiuqiu, do you want to learn? I can teach you.”

“Mm, I want to!” Qiuqiu widened her eyes and nodded without hesitation.

If she could draw as well as her mom, and use her drawings to exchange for clothes, then they wouldn’t have to worry about having outfits to wear anymore.

Not only that, but she could also trade items like Xiaojun in the army, swapping clothes for food, so they wouldn’t have to worry about money and end up hungry.

In an instant, Qiuqiu felt she had found the big plan for making money that had been troubling her. She looked up at Ji Meng, eagerly saying, “Mom, when will you teach me? Let’s go home now, I want to learn as soon as possible!”

The sooner she learned, the sooner she could trade her drawings for clothes and then exchange the clothes for food or money.

She was very eager.

“There’s no rush, mom still has things to do. Also, Qiuqiu, drawing isn’t something you can learn in a day, it takes time.”

Ji Meng didn’t know what was in Qiuqiu’s thoughts or her plans, she just thought the child was eager to learn and curious. She replied slowly with a smile.

“Ah? Then how long will it take?” Qiuqiu was stunned.

“Well, it depends on what level you want to reach. If you want to draw simple pictures, you might be able to learn some basics in a month or two. But if you want to draw really well, it’ll take much longer, like some great painters who have spent ten years or even decades perfecting their craft…”

Worried that it might be too complicated for Qiuqiu to understand, Ji Meng didn’t elaborate further and simply told her:

“Qiuqiu, learning to draw is a long-term thing. You need to practice every day and cannot slack off at all. Can you do that?”

In the book, Qiuqiu had become a big star with her own studio, showcasing her talents in singing and dancing.

Ji Meng had originally planned to take her to the youth center once things stabilized to see if there were any vocal classes available.

Now that Qiuqiu wanted to draw, Ji Meng didn’t oppose it as long as she enjoyed it.

However, she hoped Qiuqiu’s interest wasn’t just a fleeting whim.

Otherwise, if she learned this today and something else tomorrow without commitment, she might end up not learning anything at all.

Ji Meng didn’t expect her child to achieve great success in the future, she mainly wanted to avoid Qiuqiu growing up and lamenting, “Why didn’t I stick with drawing or something else when I was little?”

There’s no medicine for regret in this world, but she could try her best to prevent her daughter from regretting anything in the future.

At this moment, Qiuqiu felt a chill in her heart. She thought ten or twenty years would pass quickly. Disappointment washed over her, and when Ji Meng asked her something, she surprisingly didn’t respond immediately. After a while, she struggled to ask Ji Meng:

“Then how long would it take to draw like you, Mom?”

“Well, Mom can’t say for sure. Drawing depends on both talent and effort. Mom took about five years,” Ji Meng replied after calculating the time she spent learning to draw in her childhood and later on.

Five years.

Qiuqiu thought for a moment and finally looked up at Ji Meng with determination: “Mom, Qiuqiu will learn. Qiuqiu will work hard and stick with it.”

Qiuqiu had thought it through clearly, if she learned, she could have a skill to earn money in five years, but if she didn’t learn, she would still be without skills five years later.

“Alright then, later I’ll take you to buy some drawing supplies. If we don’t have anything to do in the afternoon, we can learn to draw at home,” Ji Meng replied.

The little girl’s fair face was resolute and serious. Seeing this, Ji Meng’s lips curved into a wider smile as she gently tucked a stray hair behind Qiuqiu’s ear.

Ji Meng wasn’t one to procrastinate. Once it was settled that Qiuqiu would learn to draw, she took her to the Xinhua Bookstore on the next street to buy art supplies. For beginners, starting with drawing only required a sketchbook and pencils.

The later expenses would be more significant, she didn’t know whether Qiuqiu wanted to learn Chinese painting, oil painting, or watercolor.

Maybe in the end, she might still need to enroll in classes and find a teacher, all of which cost money.

Ji Meng felt like she was grappling with finances today, but after observing for so long, she hadn’t really found a way to earn money.

However, she did come up with a few ideas based on what she knew and the current environment.

But none of them felt particularly mature.

Maybe she could just set up a stall under the overpass.

But what would she sell?

If she sold clothes, she’d have to go to Yangcheng to find suppliers, which wasn’t convenient with Qiuqiu in tow.

If she sold food, to be honest, her cooking skills were decent, but she wasn’t confident about selling what she made.

As for other options… in her previous life, she had partnered with friends for quite some time, and with her major in traditional Chinese medicine, she had a fair amount of insight.

She knew how to make essential oils and skincare products, and simple items like essential oil soap, ointments, and lipsticks were well within her capabilities.