After they arrived in the county town, Qin Xue and Fang Hong thanked Xiao Zhao and got off the car at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative.
They didn't go into the supply and marketing cooperative after the car left, as the items inside mostly required ration coupons with specified quantities.
This didn't suit Qin Xue and Fang Hong's needs, so they went to find a store specialized in providing custom-made clothing.
Qin Xue was lucky to find such a place, although the location was a bit remote.
Qin Xue and Fang Hong looked inside the small storefront, which was about twenty square meters. It displayed various fabrics, and next to the fabrics there was an old sewing machine. In the corner of the room, there was a small bed and a curtain hung on the wall.
It was probably for children to rest and for clients to try on clothes. There were no customers in the store.
A woman holding a child was breastfeeding. Before Qin Xue and Fang Hong could say anything, she noticed them.
"Hello, are you here to get clothes made?" Fang Xiu was breastfeeding her child.
She felt a scrutinizing gaze and looked up to see two elegant women standing at the door, examining the fabrics in the store.
One of them, who had a somewhat ethereal aura, was looking at her breastfeeding.
Fang Xiu felt a bit embarrassed. Usually, she would close the curtains to breastfeed, but the child had just started to feel sleepy.
The child had cried so loudly that Fang Xiu picked her up and started breastfeeding without covering herself with the curtain. She didn't expect to be seen by people this time.
Fortunately, they were women. If men saw her like this, she wouldn't know what to do.
It was only after being kicked out of her husband's family home that she discovered she was pregnant.
Fang Hong was heartbroken and didn't go back to her in-laws. Luckily, her brother helped her open this tailoring shop. The location was remote, and the styles were not very fashionable.
She also had a child to take care of, so they could barely make ends meet. She was genuinely surprised to see these two elegant women come in.
Fang Xiu blushed as she adjusted her clothes, cradling the baby and soothing it while talking to Qin Xue and Fang Hong.
"Madam, you can attend to your child first. We'll take a look around and talk later."
Qin Xue saw that the child was sleepy, with barely open eyes, yawning frequently.
The little mouth was smacking because the mother stopped breastfeeding. The child seemed to be only three or four months old.
Qin Xue didn't feel good about it and couldn't help but ask the owner to soothe the child to sleep first, so they could talk more easily later.
"All right, you can take a look at which fabric you like, and then I'll measure your size for you."
Fang Hong held the child and gently patted its back to put it to sleep.
She waited until the child was asleep and put it on the small bed before talking to Qin Xue: "Miss, have you decided on a fabric?"
"Excuse me, Madam, can you make custom clothes here?
That is, I don't want your styles, but I will provide the design, and you can make the clothes for me according to the design." Qin Xue looked at Fang Xiu.
"I can do that, but I need to see the design first to see if I can make it." What Fang Xiu learned from her mother was very popular and generic sewing skills.
Now Qin Xue wanted her to make clothes based on her design, and Fang Xiu was really worried that she might not be able to do it.
"I'll show you the design, this is what I want the clothes to look like. Can you make it?" Qin Xue handed over two design sketches to Fang Xiu.
One was a small suit set, and the other a dress.
"Wow, such beautiful clothes. They must look great when made. Miss, I've never made this kind of clothing.
So, I don't know if I can make it?" Fang Xiu thought it was better to be honest.
"Do you have confidence that you can make it? How much would it cost for one set?
How long would it take to make it?" Qin Xue thought that if Fang Xiu could make the clothes.
She could discuss a partnership with her without having to rent another place to make clothes. They could rent a storefront to sell the clothes later.
"I don't mean to hide it, Miss, I am making clothes on my own while taking care of my child. It might take a week or so."
"The suit costs US$ 30 and the skirt US$ 20! If you want them, pay a deposit of US$ 10." Fang Hong had no choice, as there was no one to help take care of the child, so she had to do it herself.
If Qin Xue could wait, then they could take this job; if not, they would have to give it up.
"Okay, I'll come back for it in a week." Qin Xue took out a US$ 10 note and handed it to Fang Xiu, then left with Fang Hong.
Fang Hong didn't say a word during the entire conversation between Qin Xue and Fang Xiu. It was not until they had walked some distance away from the shop that she asked Qin Xue,
"Why are you spending US$ 50 on two sets of clothes? Aren't we here to find a store to make clothes to sell?"
"Sister-in-law, did you see the lady boss? She's running a shop alone with her child. She must have encountered some difficulties.
But when she faces us, she doesn't show any fear or inferiority, only smiling. It shows that she loves life and she's strong.
Though she hasn't made any clothes she hasn't seen before, she looked very confident when she saw my blueprints, proving she believes she can make them.
With such a confident and humble woman, don't you think she is the one we need?
If I'm satisfied with the clothes she makes, then we can discuss cooperation with her.
You can join her directly, and then you'll have company. Don't you think that's great?"
"Now that you mention it, it does make sense. Alright, you make the arrangements, I'll follow your lead. Where are we going now?" Fang Hong felt that what Qin Xue said made sense, so she stopped worrying and decided to follow Qin Xue's decisions.
"We're going to look for a storefront that specializes in selling clothes, so when our clothes are done, we can sell them directly."
Qin Xue still had more than US$ 70 in her hand. After spending US$ 40 for the clothes, she only had more than US$ 30 left. Money, where has the money gone? She felt like crying.
Qin Xue had to find a way to make money within a week, or they wouldn't be able to achieve anything.
Maybe their luck had run out, as the two of them couldn't find anything suitable after walking for so long, feeling both thirsty and hungry.
They had no choice but to find a place to eat, as they couldn't afford to eat in a big restaurant.
So they found a small restaurant and ordered a portion of hot and sour potato shreds, a portion of braised pork, a seaweed egg soup, and two bowls of rice.
Although the taste was average, the portion was generous, and both of them ate until they were full.
In the end, half of the soup was left. They spent US$ 1.6, which pained Fang Hong so much that she said they should have just bought two buns to eat if she had known earlier.
Qin Xue laughed as she pulled Fang Hong out of the restaurant: "Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll make sure to help you earn a lot of money in the future.
You'll count money until your hands cramp, and I'll take you to eat the best food. That way, you won't feel so heartbroken."
"You, little girl, just be more careful." Fang Hong was speechless.
After eating and drinking, the two of them continued searching for a storefront. They eventually gave up and had to return to their dormitory.
When they got home, Qin Xue felt as if her feet didn't belong to her anymore, so sore and painful that she didn't want to move. She went straight into her space, drank some spiritual spring water, and then felt alive again.
Fortunately, the spiritual spring water had rejuvenating effects, otherwise Qin Xue wouldn't know how many days of rest it would take to recover.
Only after coming back to life did Qin Xue realize that the vegetables she had planted were ready for harvest. This was too fast.
In just two days, the vegetables in the space were ready for harvest – was it because time flowed faster or the spiritual spring water had a growth acceleration effect?
No matter what, Qin Xue was delighted because it meant there would be money coming in.
Qin Xue left the space, took a knife, and entered the space again. She cut all the mature green vegetables and cabbage and placed them on one side.
Then she turned the soil, sowed the seeds, sprinkled the spiritual spring water, and moved to the other side to pick the ripe tomatoes and peppers. She placed them together with the greens and cabbage.
She fetched a bucket of spiritual spring water and took a bath directly in the space before returning to the bamboo house to rest. In this way, Qin Xue only left the space to eat and take care of her personal needs.
The rest of the time, she was busy planting vegetables in her space, even sleeping in the bamboo house in the space.
After spending six consecutive days in the space and harvesting hundreds of kilograms of vegetables, Qin Xue finally left the space and prepared to sell the vegetables at the black market the next day.