Chapter 180: Chapter 176: It’s Ding Bang

When Wang Zhixue and his brother arrived to pick up the goods, Lin Guoliang and his brother saw that each man was carrying a large, square bamboo basket on a shoulder pole, with another pack on his back. The baskets were stuffed to the brim with pastries, and the packs were filled with fried fava beans. Only then did the two brothers finally believe that Lin Lan’s business was truly doing well.

Lin Lan went to set up her stall, while the Lin Guoliang brothers stayed home to help make red bean paste and bean puree. Wu Shufen trimmed broad beans and shelled peas.

Lin Guodong rubbed his sore wrists. “Little Lan’s food business makes money, sure, but working like this all year long without a single day off… it’s really not easy.”

Wu Shufen sighed. “When is it ever easy for ordinary people to make money? Just look at our family’s pig farm. The whole family poured so much effort into it, and now that we’re making a little money, people in the production team are green with envy. Some are even saying your dad, as a brigade cadre, should share his pig-farming experience and teach them.”

Lin Guodong huffed angrily, “They only see us selling fat pigs. They don’t see us staying up all night at the farm when a sow is giving birth, long after even the team’s dogs are asleep. We’re so tired we could fall asleep on our feet while working during the day.”

Lin Guoliang nodded. “Let them say what they want. Some people only see the thief feasting, not the thief getting beaten.”

****

Lin Lan finished setting up her stall and asked Yang Liying to watch it for her. She then took a stroll through the area where vegetables were sold. Seeing someone selling fish, she bought two carp and a duck, then rode her bike home to give them to Wu Shufen before rushing back to the Eucalyptus Forest.

When it was time to close up the stall, Zhou Xiaohong arrived. Lowering her voice, she said, “Little Lin, I’m going to take you to buy something good.”

“What kind of good thing?” Lin Lan also asked in a low voice.

“A friend of mine manages the warehouse at the clothing factory. A couple of days ago, a shipment got caught in the rain on its way back, and some of the fabric got soaked. They need to get rid of it. Get your Third Sister, and let’s go take a look together.”

“Okay, you get Third Sister. I’ll go tell Xiangyang.”

Zhou Xiaohong nodded. “Go on!”

Lin Lan ran over to Li Xiangyang and told him about going to buy fabric. She asked him to take the stall equipment back first, then she left with Zhou Xiaohong and Yang Liying, heading for the clothing factory.

Only then did Zhou Xiaohong explain to the two of them that her friend at the warehouse had a husband who used to be a driver for the factory. He had been in a car accident half a year ago and lost a leg.

Her husband couldn’t drive anymore, and they had two children to put through school. Although a portion of the medical bills was reimbursed, they still had to pay for some of it themselves.

Seeing that she had to care for her husband and provide for her two children’s education all on her own, the factory took pity on her and gave her the job of warehouse guard. Whenever there were defective goods to be disposed of, she would pick out the best ones to buy and then resell them for a little extra money to help make ends meet.

’There’s still a strong sense of community and kindness these days,’ Lin Lan thought. ’In the future, everything will be about money, and that human touch will just fade away!’

When they reached the alley where Zhou Xiaohong used to live, an eight or nine-year-old boy waved to her. “Auntie Zhou, my mom told me to wait for you here and bring you over.”

“Alrighty!” Zhou Xiaohong walked over and handed him a bag of sponge cakes. “Erwa, is your dad feeling any better?”

Erwa took the sponge cakes and gave a small, close-lipped smile. “Much better. He can get out of bed on crutches now.”

Zhou Xiaohong was happy to hear that. “That’s great. Come over to Auntie Zhou’s house to play when you have time, okay?”

The three women followed Erwa into the clothing factory. It was quite large. The workrooms were brightly lit, with workers still inside on overtime. The rhythmic WHIR-WHIR-WHIR of sewing machines drifted out.

Erwa led the group to a warehouse in the back. A woman in her thirties, with average looks and a build similar to Zhou Xiaohong’s, came out and looked at Zhou Xiaohong with a warm smile.

Zhou Xiaohong smiled and stepped forward. “Aihong, sorry to trouble you, making you wait for us after your shift.”

Li Aihong smiled and linked her arm through Zhou Xiaohong’s. “It’s no problem! Come with me and have a look. We just finished picking out the water-stained and discolored pieces today.”

The group followed her into a room next to the warehouse. A lot of fabric was laid out on a table. The light-colored bolts clearly showed splotchy marks where they had been soaked.

Li Aihong pulled a box out from a corner and pointed to the fabric inside. “These are the ones I picked out. There’s polyester and some blended fabrics.”

She then picked up a piece of navy-blue fabric. “This is a new material that just arrived, called serge. I hear it’s quite durable. And this one is a woolen fabric; it makes very warm Sun Yat-sen suits and jackets… This is work cloth; you could buy some for your relatives back in the countryside.”

The women looked through the fabrics and saw that you could barely see any traces of water damage on them.

’These can’t even be considered defective,’ Lin Lan thought. ’They’ll be perfectly usable after a wash.’ She decided to buy some extra to take back for Lin Guoliang and his brother.

She didn’t pick any polyester, as it tended to get staticy in the winter. The work cloth was great for making jeans and work clothes, so she chose some of that, along with the blended fabric, the serge, and the woolen material. A whole pile of fabric only cost her a little over twenty yuan. Yang Liying and Zhou Xiaohong picked out a pile for themselves as well.

Seeing them buy so much without batting an eye, Li Aihong gave each of them half a bag of fabric scraps. She then found a more heavily stained piece of cloth to wrap their purchases in. “If anything good comes up in the future, I’ll send word.”

Zhou Xiaohong smiled and nodded. “Sounds good. And if you need anything, let me know. I can get it for you.”

Lin Lan thought for a moment, then looked at Li Aihong and asked quietly, “Sister Li, does your factory ever sell secondhand sewing machines?”

Li Aihong thought for a moment, glanced around, and then said in a low voice, “They do. I heard they’re going to replace a batch at the end of the year. I’ll keep an eye out for you.”

Zhou Xiaohong and Yang Liying’s eyes lit up, and they whispered, “If there are, we want one too.”

Li Aihong readily agreed. “Okay, I’ll do my best to get them for you.”

After leaving the clothing factory, Zhou Xiaohong said to the other two, “I’ll head home from here. It’ll be faster for you two to go back by bike.”

Lin Lan nodded. “Okay, Sister Zhou. See you tomorrow morning.”

“See you tomorrow morning!” Zhou Xiaohong waved and went on her way. Lin Lan handed the bundle to Yang Liying to hold, then got on her bike and started pedaling them home.

Yang Liying told Lin Lan that she had been going to her eldest sister’s house for the past few days to learn how to make dried tofu and tofu skin. After a few more days of practice, she would be able to make them on her own.

She also mentioned that Yang Lirong’s business at Dongzikou wasn’t doing as well as it had when Yang Liqun was running it. Customers were complaining that she was too stingy; for the same ten cents, her portions of tofu and soft tofu pudding weren’t as generous as Yang Liqun’s.

’A leopard can’t change its spots,’ Lin Lan thought. ’Someone like Yang Lirong, who’s so obsessed with profit, really isn’t suited for the food business.’

The sky was gradually growing dark. Chatting as they rode, the two sisters-in-law at least had each other for company.

As they passed a dilapidated house, they heard two loud bangs—BANG! BANG!—from inside, which made them jump. To Lin Lan, it sounded exactly like gunshots from a movie, and she pedaled furiously, trying to get away as fast as possible.

Then they heard someone shout, “Stop! Stop, or I’ll shoot!”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Lin Lan, but operating on the principle that it was better to mind her own business, she kept pedaling hard.

Yang Liying, her face a mask of panic, twisted around to look back at the pitch-black, dilapidated house. She tugged on the back of Lin Lan’s shirt. “That’s Ding Bang shouting!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep