Hearing this, Xiaoxiao no longer hesitated. She packed her toiletries, took some silver taels, said goodbye to her family, and had her younger brother escort her and Wang Xiangxiang to town.
They didn’t delay a moment and headed straight for Xiangxiang Cloth Shop in town.
"Xiaoxiao, come here quickly. Choose some fabric. What do you think of these red satin ones over here?"
Seeing the options, Xiaoxiao noticed they were the traditional fabrics used for weddings. Although not as flashy as modern ones, they were still quite beautiful. She chose a relatively grand design with a red cotton lining to match.
After making their choices, Wang Xiangxiang took Xiaoxiao to see the embroiderer, "Tell her what you want the quilt to look like, and then we’ll go pick out the fabric for the clothes."
"Okay," Xiaoxiao agreed and then conveyed her requirements to the embroiderer.
"The quilt should come as a set, all in the same fabric. Make sure the pillowcases aren’t too solemn. Once a set is completed, add lace around and embroider a heart shape on each, with two words on top; one should have ’husband,’ and the other ’wife.’
The embroiderer seemed confused, so Xiaoxiao took a charcoal pencil and sketched it out. The design was quite simple to draw—just a heart shape with two words and a butterfly to adorn the top, reminiscent of a simple contemporary cross-stitch pattern for couples’ pillows.
"It should look something ."
The embroiderer nodded in understanding.
"The quilt should be larger; I like it big, sized for two persons. The mattress pad should be about six feet long and five feet wide. The quilt covering it should be around eight feet long and six feet wide. This one should be made plain, without any embroidery."
"New pillows too, with cotton filling, and don’t put too much cotton in the quilt. Just the thickness for spring and autumn would be fine."
Then Xiaoxiao followed Wang Xiangxiang to pick out the rest of the cloth, directly choosing the quilt cover as well. The big red fabric would only be used for the day itself, and for everyday use, they chose to cover it with other colors of cotton covers for convenience in washing. They selected a set in blue and another in red.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want other colors; it was that there were too few options, and they were ugly.
Afterward, they went to choose fabric for their clothes. Xiaoxiao planned to replace everything from inside out, making matching big red bras and underwear herself without sleeping or resting for the next few days. She decided not to make cotton clothes, as spring was coming and it would soon be warm enough not to need them. She wanted to have two sets of pajamas for sleeping and then, of course, the wedding attire.
"This is for my husband and me. Just make the wedding clothes to these measurements."
"And this fabric will be for the pajamas we wear to bed..."
Xiaoxiao explained to the embroiderer once again what the pajamas should look like.
"I think these pajamas you mentioned sound quite nice. Why don’t we also make them and sell them?"
"..." Wang Xiangxiang really had a knack for business, always spotting opportunities. Of course, Xiaoxiao could suggest many styles of pajamas focused on comfort, which should find a market, so she nodded in agreement, "Sure, okay."
Wang Xiangxiang blinked with a pleading look, "Then... how about the pillows?"
Xiaoxiao crossed her arms, "Absolutely not."
Wang Xiangxiang kept staring at Xiaoxiao, making her feel uneasy.
In the end, Xiaoxiao compromised, remembering the help Wang Xiangxiang had given her in preparing the confession scene. "Then, remove the ’husband’ and ’wife’ words, and replace them with ’master’ and ’mistress.’
"Yes, yes, yes," Wang Xiangxiang immediately broke into smiles and nodded frantically.