After Hu Lijuan left the notification with Lin Wan, she hurriedly went back home with her things.
Once she returned, Hu Lijuan didn’t tell Mom directly but instead spoke to her brother about it.
Hu Dong excitedly grabbed Hu Lijuan’s arm and laughed, "Sis, you don’t know. Once, I saw our cousin sneaking into your and Grandma’s room. When he came out, he was acting all shady. I got curious and followed him outside, only to find him counting money in a secluded alley. I noticed this for a while, and a few days later, Grandma secretly called him into her room, and he came out looking really down. Thinking about it now, he must have stolen Grandma’s money and had the key. You weren’t wrong to frame him; maybe Grandma would really believe he was the one who stole it. Ha, too bad about the money, you’re silly for not taking some more back."
"I..." Hu Lijuan scratched her head, looked around, and whispered to her little brother, "I did take some, but I didn’t dare to take much, only ten yuan."
Hu Dong immediately looked exasperated, giving her a side-eye as if she wasn’t living up to expectations, "You might as well not have taken any. Don’t forget, Mom and Dad’s salaries over the years have just been spent by them."
"It must have been coaxed away by our uncle and aunt. No doubt about it."
The siblings were silent for a while, feeling much more at ease, as Hu Dong kept his head down, contemplating something. Finally, he whispered something into Hu Lijuan’s ear.
The next morning, after quickly having breakfast and saying a word to Grandma, the two of them rushed out.
It wasn’t until late at night that they returned.
When they came back, the siblings were clearly in a good mood.
The next morning, they went to their father’s workplace again.
Lin Wan had been cooped up at home these past few days and was getting restless. She planned to visit the junkyard to see if there were any "discarded" fabrics. There were still half a month before school started, so she could still make a batch of clothes. Otherwise, having nothing to do every day, she always thought of Han Yi. It had been so long without any news of him; on the surface, it seemed fine, but nobody knew how worried she was inside. How much she missed him!
Lin Wan went to the same recycling station as last time, hoping to try her luck and see if there were any defective fabrics left.
Unfortunately, a batch was just taken away yesterday. They come at irregular times here. Who knows when the next batch would be.
The old Uncle Wang at the junkyard said that when more goods come in the future, he’d save Lin Wan’s share for her. He advised her to come check more often during her free time.
With no stock at the junkyard, Lin Wan could only check out the department store. At this time, there weren’t many people in the department store, starting from the first floor to the second floor.
Sure enough, at a small counter, she found a water-red polyester fabric. It’s perfect for making shirts. There was also a yellow one with many white specks sprinkled on it. Lin Wan thought about making a wide-collar puff-sleeve blouse with that one. Paired with black polyester capri pants, it’d look even better.
However, the fabrics here were too expensive; a hundred meters would cost more than fifty yuan and would require over forty sheets of cloth coupons. Lin Wan calculated that with a hundred meters of cloth, she could make at most thirty pieces. It’s not unprofitable, but not as profitable as last time.
Luckily, she had saved a few ten-yard cloth coupons at home. She had sixty yards.
She wanted to buy three types of fabric, but there weren’t enough tickets. There’s no way around it; these coupon-required deals were tricky. Otherwise, people would all prefer the private sellers.
That evening, Lin Wan designed patterns for the clothes for the three types of fabrics in her room.