Chapter 20

“Bed sheet factory?” Zhou Pingguo pretended to know nothing. “Isn’t that a good company? Everyone is scrambling to get in.”

“The things they produce are very strong and durable. In the past, if you wanted a complete set, you had to find connections.” Sister Wang sighed. Although she looked down on some people in the factory, she had no opinion on the bed sheet factory. “The bed sheets my family is using now are from when I got married. My mother bought them from the county and sent them to the place where I was sent to work in the countryside.”

“That’s great.” Zhou Pingguo continued to look eager to learn.

“It’s good, but although we’re not close to Dongzhou City, we’re not far away either. The bed sheet factory there makes all kinds of beautiful and trendy bed sheets. The old-fashioned bed sheets in the county are not popular among young people. They have to ask people to buy them from Dongzhou. No one wants to buy from the bed sheet factory.”

“I heard that they are using bed sheets to pay their wages. To be honest, there are five or six people in the family, and each person can use one bed. How can they use so many?”

“Yes.” Zhou Pingguo sighed along with Sister Wang.

After leaving Sister Wang, Zhou Pingguo’s mind became active again. She could always bring some agricultural products to sell every time she came from the village and make some money. But when she went back, she usually went back empty-handed. If she could take some sheets back to sell, it would be a good way to make money.

Zhou Pingguo thought of the owner of the bun shop where she had eaten a good bun once before. She was a female worker in the bed sheet factory. In order to allow her son who was sent to the countryside as an educated youth to come back, she retired early due to illness. But she was still young and could work, so she opened a bun shop on her own, just north of the county town.

It was convenient to have a bicycle. Zhou Pingguo arrived at the destination in a short time. She bought a bun and started chatting with Zhang Jie.

“Oh, my son brought back a bunch of bed sheets. I gave them to all my aunts and uncles, but now no one wants them. There are still a lot of them piled up at my house.”

“Can you let me take a look? Sister, you can tell from my appearance that I am not from the city, but from the village. Maybe this bed sheet is not suitable for you, but from our place, we just want to see it cheap and festive, maybe we can sell it.”

The rural market is actually a sinking market, and its response to trendy things is several steps slower than that of the county town. Is it true that no one in the bed sheet factory understands this?

That’s hard to say.

However, they are used to the planned economy, where everything is arranged by someone else. Faced with this market that has already begun to become turbulent, their ability to react is indeed unable to keep up.

“Okay, there are only a few buns left anyway. I’ll pack up and go back to my house.” Sister Zhang was a quick person and started packing up her stall without saying a word.

When Zhou Pingguo arrived at her place, she saw that the sheets were well stored. “Sister, tell me the actual price. How much do I have to pay for all of these?”

“If these were originally sold in department stores, a set would cost 21 yuan. Unfortunately, the goods on display in department stores now are all imported from Dongzhou. There are also bed sheets from our factory, but they are all placed in places where no one can see them. What’s the use of them?”

“I’ll charge you ten dollars for one set.”

“Sister, you didn’t tell me the truth. This must have cost more than ten yuan a set before, but now, we rural people are willing to buy it because we don’t like to be picky. Seven yuan, if you are willing to pay, I will take three sets back to test the waters.”

Zhou Pingguo didn’t have much money on hand. She only had the money from selling loaches, which was only enough to buy three sets at this price.

Sister Zhang’s brows were furrowed so tightly that they looked like they could pinch an ant. After hesitating for a long time, she said, “Another fifty cents.”

“Okay.” Zhou Pingguo nodded, “Help me tie it to the car.”

Zhou Pingguo returned home and called out to Goudan, who was competing with his friends to see who could pee farther. Goudan quickly put on his pants and ran into Zhou Pingguo’s yard. “Sister Pingguo, what do you want from me?”

“Is your sister going to get married? Do you want bed sheets? Go ask your mother. If she is interested, let her come to my place to see it.” Ever since Goudan had been eating and drinking too much at Zhou Pingguo’s place, he no longer called Zhou Pingguo sister-in-law, but directly called her sister, which was warmer than calling her his own sister.

“Okay, I’ll go right away.” Goudan was very anxious and ran home in a hurry.

After a while, Goudan’s mother came. Zhou Pingguo opened a set of sheets and showed them to her, “How are they? Are they thick?”

“Good stuff, but the pattern is not very good. My second daughter picked it.”

“It’s not easy to get patterns. Buy some red thread. Auntie, you are also good at operating a sewing machine. Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to embroider the patterns yourself? If you don’t have a sewing machine at home, you can use mine. It’s in the living room. Come over anytime you want to use it.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“To tell you the truth, I must have made money by buying goods from the county and selling them to you. It’s not a big deal to give you a convenience.”

“Then how much do you want?” asked Goudan’s mother.

“Thirteen yuan,” Zhou Pingguo replied. “The supply and marketing cooperative in our town also sells this for 21 yuan. The quality is absolutely the same, and they don’t even provide sewing machines for you to modify.”

“Thirteen, thirteen, that sounds terrible. I’ll buy more, six beds, and each bed will be 120 cents, right?”

Zhou Pingguo looked confused, as if she had suffered a huge loss. “You are bargaining too hard. I, I——”

“I also have relatives who are also going to marry off their daughters soon, and they are all coming to buy from you.”

——

After some bargaining, Zhou Pingguo sold all three sets of bed sheets she had on hand, and she also received a deposit of 10 yuan and a pre-order that was still floating in the air.

When Zhou Sen came back from school, I told him about this.

Zhou Sen said, “There are indeed many people getting married recently. Sister-in-law, you can buy more goods. We can set up a stall in the town during the market day and should be able to sell them.”

Zhou Pingguo nodded. “I thought so too. How much do you think we should buy?”

“At least three hundred sets.” When they marry off their daughters, they need at least four quilts as a dowry. Rich families who love their daughters very much may even want six or even more quilts as a dowry.

“Then I have to take my passbook and withdraw some money, otherwise it won’t be enough.”

“How about this, sister-in-law, I’ll go with you on Sunday.”

“Go borrow another car from the neighbor?” Zhou Pingguo asked.

“It’s not good to borrow all the time.” Zhou Sen gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s buy another one. I’ve asked around. Buying a bicycle here is not as restricted as before. You don’t need a special ticket. Anyone with money can buy one.”

“Okay, I’ll take you to the county on Sunday to buy the bicycle first, and then we’ll talk about the bed sheets.”