CTF 0034

The first ones to deliver their fabrics were Liu Caifeng and her daughter.

Liu Caifeng was the daughter-in-law of Xu Bainian, Xu Yin’s next-door cousin. In terms of family hierarchy, Xu Yin would address her as her fourth aunt.

Liu Caifeng brought two pieces of fabric with her. One was a defective cloth that she and Mother Xu had bought the year before during a bazaar. She had wanted to keep it to make clothes for her grandchildren. At noon, she looked at the three-quarter short-sleeved undershirt that Mother Xu showed off, as well as her capri pants, and immediately changed her mind.

“My husband and I each want a set of what Jinhua wore.”

The other piece was light green floral cotton, meant to make a new dress for her daughter.

“Yinyin, your cousin Meihua is going on a blind date soon. What kind of dress would be good for her?”

Xu Meihua had a very pleasant appearance. She was not fat but had a round face, made even rounder by her short, ear-length hair. 

Xu Yin asked if her blind date was scheduled for June. If it was, she could wear a dress. A V-neck would suit her round face, and Xu Yin had an idea in her mind. She would make a V-neck, waist-tied knee-length dress. She’d find some dark green fabric for a belt to make her look smart and energetic.

With just a few strokes of her pen, a beautiful dress appeared on the paper, and Liu Caifeng immediately agreed, “Let’s make it like this!”

Xu Meihua’s eyes sparkled as she nodded. “This looks great!”

Xu Yin measured Liu Caifeng and her daughter, and they agreed to pick up the clothes before Labour Day. The mother and daughter happily paid a deposit and left.

Not long after, Aunt Agen, who lived in the western area of the village and often interacted with Liu Caifeng, also came to the Xu family with a basket. 

In the bamboo basket, covered with coarse cloth, lay a piece of dark red polyester fabric.

“On my fortieth birthday, Agen had someone buy this from Haicheng. I’ve never had the heart to make it into clothes. Agen used to tease me, saying I’d take this fabric with me into the coffin.”

“Then, why did you decide to bring it out today?” Mother Xu teased.

“Well, back in January, I saw you wearing that nice coat. That’s why I want to ask Yinyin to make me one like that.”

“That’s called a jacket.”

Mother Xu, who had been taught about it by her daughter before this, now could explain it with eloquence. 

“It’s something that came from England and just started to become popular in Haicheng. Let me tell you, these clothes not only have a good style but are also practical. They don’t hinder your work. Look at the hem and cuffs; they are not at all cumbersome.”

As Mother Xu spoke, she took out her rust-red, padded winter jacket to use as a model and displayed it carefully. 

Aunt Agen immediately decided to have one made like that.

Xu Yin measured her size and also agreed on a time that she could complete the order.

In truth, Liu Caifeng and her daughter, as well as Aunt Agen weren’t the only ones who wanted to make new clothes. Everyone who’d heard that Xu Yin could also use a sewing machine to make clothes wanted her to make something for them.

They were just worried that Xu Yin wouldn’t do well. What if she was just starting and she wouldn’t make clothes that were as good as other experienced tailors?

Making clothes would cost money. They didn’t want to entrust their fabric to a newbie tailor only to see it ruined.

Therefore, just like they had with the raising fish in rice paddies practice, they adopted a wait-and-see attitude. 

That was, of course, until Xu Meihua came back from her blind date, where she’d worn the newly-made, belted V-neck dress that she ordered from Xu Yin. She shyly told them that the man had liked her very much, and was going to send someone to propose marriage soon.

The young wives and girls in the village stared at the skirt on her body, and their minds were filled with excitement.

The young wives naturally wanted to captivate the hearts of their husbands.

Meanwhile, young girls like Xu Meihua, who were having their families arrange a blind date for them, also wanted to own a beautiful dress to wear on their blind date.

As a result, the old Xu family suddenly became popular among the wives and girls who’d come to Xu Yin with baskets of fabrics to make clothes with. 

When Aunt Agen’s jacket was finished, the Xu family’s house only became more lively. It was bustling with people.

Mother Xu couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear as she counted money until her hands were cramped. Later, though, she felt distressed and worried that her daughter would be uncomfortable sitting in front of the sewing machine for a long time.

She might love her money, but she loved her daughter, too.

“If someone comes to order more clothes from you, why don’t you find a reason to refuse? Look at how tired you’ve gotten. You’ve even lost weight.”

Xu Yin looked at her reflection in the mirror. What weight exactly did she lose?

This spring, she’d unexpectedly grown two centimetres taller. She was now about 165 centimetres tall. Her body shape had also become more proportional than before.

She looked at her tiny waist. It was just perfect. A bit more fat and it would be considered too chubby, and a bit less, and it would be too thin. 

“Mom, I’m just fine like this. Don’t buy fatty meat, alright? I won’t eat it even if you do.”

“You stubborn brat! It’s for your health!”

Mother Xu pretended to scold her but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She just mumbled a few sentences and waved her hand without much irritation. 

“Forget it, I’m not going to bother. I’ll go check on my rice paddy fish.”

Surprisingly, the fish that they were raising in the paddy fields grew faster than those in the river. It hadn’t been long, and yet, the largest ones were nearly half a pound in weight. By July, during the rice harvest when the fields were drained, this group of fish had grown to around half a pound, and some were possibly over a pound.

When Mother Xu calculated the difference in profit, she regretted not following her daughter’s advice and raising more of them.

However, when she visited other rice fields where people were raising fish, she realised that their fish weren’t as big as theirs. Could it be related to the fish feed?

She wasn’t the only one comparing their fish with the others’. Xu Jianjun’s mother, Xu Dajiao, often wandered around Xu Yin’s family’s rice fields and noticed this as well.

When she returned home, she furrowed her brows and said to her husband, “Our family and Jinhua’s family practically released the fish fry into the fields at the same time. How come their fish are growing so much faster?”

“Maybe her family bought bigger fish fry than we did.”

“It’s not possible! I was there when her family released the fish fry, and they weren’t much bigger than ours.”

“Individual fish growing larger doesn’t mean much. Perhaps these few are just better eaters and growing faster. Some people are fat, some people are thin. Fish are the same way.”

“…”

Xu Dajiao still felt that something was off. 

Xu Dajiao still couldn’t shake her unease. “I’ve visited their place several times. The fish at their place are, on the whole, larger than ours. I’ve been feeding them wheat bran and bran leftovers from milling and even had the kids catch insects and earthworms to feed them. It’s really strange! Why don’t you find some time to ask Guoshun? After all, he’s your cousin, and even though you’re second cousins, you’re still closer than strangers.”

Xu Guobang glanced at her. “Why don’t you ask Guoshun’s wife yourself?”

“…”

Xu Dajiao glared at him. He knew very well the awkward relationship between her and Geng Jinhua. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms. 

However, before she could convince her husband, the old village commune secretary had gathered a few families who were raising fish in their paddy fields for a basic class on “How to Raise Rice Fish Well,” the main points of which had come from Xu Yin.

The class primarily covered two points. The first was about the water for raising the fish. It couldn’t be changed too frequently, but it also couldn’t be left unchanged for too long. It was best to change it every twenty days. Frequent checks were also needed. If they found insect eggs, they had to exterminate them. If there were too many insect eggs, that meant they should move the fish to a different spot.

The second point was about the fish feed. They could use rapeseed cake scraps, but the scraps needed to be thoroughly rotted before feeding the fish. Just taking the leftover scraps and using them directly as fish food would cause the fish to have trouble digesting them and could lead to their death.

“Rapeseed cake scraps? Do fish really like eating that?” Someone asked before the old village commune secretary could finish explaining.

Xu Guobang and Xu Dajiao also pricked up their ears, thinking, could this be the reason Xu Yin’s fish were growing faster?

The old village commune secretary nodded. “This method was learned from a book by Xu Yin. That’s how they feed their fish at her place, and I’ve seen it myself. It is indeed working well. I didn’t tell you all from the start because I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me. Seeing is believing. Do you believe it now?”

“We believe it, we believe it! Thank you, Commune Secretary!” Xu Dajiao beamed with joy.