"Don’t tell Mom about me giving you money, at least not yet."
Just after Lin Yun had been briefed, Mrs. Lin came in, her eyes lighting up at the heap of cash on the table, "Looks like we made quite a bit of money today, huh? Is there a dollar?"
"Almost." Lin Xiang calculated the costs for Mrs. Lin again, "Today’s net profit is one dollar and twenty cents, I’ll keep eighty cents and give you the remaining thirty cents."
Mrs. Lin smacked her lips, "Selling fifty bowls of noodles could make one dollar twenty? If business is this good every day, wouldn’t we earn thirty-six dollars a month? That’s comparable to the salary of a first-class female worker at the cotton spinning factory."
"We can’t set up the stall every day, and besides, it’s business, it has good days and bad days, can’t plan too optimistically."
Mrs. Lin didn’t pay any heed to Lin Xiang’s explanation, focused intently on counting the family’s earnings with her fingers.
Lin Xiang ignored her, went to the yard to pack things up, only to find Lin Yun had already taken down the buckets, scooped out the little remaining porridge, and cleaned the aluminum bucket.
Seeing Lin Xiang come out, he didn’t even raise his head, "You’re tired today, go inside and rest, I can handle these chores alone."
Seeing she couldn’t offer help, Lin Xiang planned to head to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
As soon as she entered the living room, Mrs. Lin pulled her aside, "Niu, I’ve been thinking, if we’re selling spicy noodles with millet porridge, the costs go up. Why not cut out the millet porridge, we could earn a few more cents, what do you think?"
"Mom, millet porridge is part of the combo, it’s also the gimmick for our spicy noodles, can’t be left out. Besides, if we don’t serve it with millet porridge, we’ll have to sell the spicy noodles at eight cents, there’s no difference."
"The cost of millet porridge should be more than two cents, right? If it’s really tough, just make the millet porridge a bit thinner, use less rice, that’ll reduce costs, won’t it?"
Lin Xiang took a deep breath, "Mom, keep those thirty cents safe, if you’re bored just wander around the village, come back for dinner in half an hour."
She couldn’t communicate with Mrs. Lin using a modern mindset, so she simply sent Mrs. Lin off first to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Mrs. Lin pouted, "I was just giving you advice, if you don’t want to listen, that’s fine. Why are you driving me away?"
She picked up all the money on the table, mixed it together, and stuffed it into Lin Xiang’s pocket, "I still have the twenty dollars you gave me last time, it’s enough for now, keep the money you earn yourself, if I need money, I’ll ask you. Huh? Why is your pocket sewn up?"
"Oh, Aunt Ge, who shares the stall with me, saw my pocket had a hole, and casually sewed it up. Now, I’ll go make dinner."
The pork bought yesterday still had quite a lot left, Lin Xiang planned to cook half of it for dinner.
Mrs. Lin has a craving for meat, and if she’s not asking for money, might as well satisfy her palate.
Mrs. Lin went straight to Fifth Aunt’s house.
"Hey, Fifth Aunt, did you finish making the clothes for Niu that I asked you for last time?"
Fifth Aunt hurriedly ran out of the house to welcome Mrs. Lin inside, showing her the almost finished clothes, "Sis, just need to sew the edges, it’ll be done by tonight, and tomorrow morning Niu can wear her new clothes."
Mrs. Lin squeezed it, finding the cotton inside full, and the clothes thick enough to keep warm even in the heart of winter.
"Fifth Aunt, can you still get some cotton?" Mrs. Lin asked, "Could you help me make a set of clothes for Lin Yun too? He’s a rough man, doesn’t need anything too fancy, just simple will do, but make sure there’s enough cotton, otherwise it’ll waste the nice fabric."
Fifth Aunt’s family from the neighboring town grows cotton on their land, and all the cotton grown is sold by the team; the villagers hardly use it themselves. The cotton in Lin Xiang’s coat was bought by Fifth Aunt from her family, which cost Mrs. Lin three dollars.
Thinking about spending a few more dollars on cotton for Lin Yun’s coat made Mrs. Lin’s teeth ache, but she still took out the money, "Just buy him two dollars’ worth of cotton, men are strong and don’t fear the cold, a bit of fresh cotton is enough, no need for too much!"
Fifth Aunt took the money, teasingly smiling, "Sis, have you come around and decided to treat Lin Yun well?"
Mrs. Lin pouted, "I’m not keen on treating him well, but since he’s registered on our family account, if he gets sick from the cold, won’t I have to spend on medical bills?"
Fifth Aunt chuckled, not responding to that.
Lin Yun’s been registered with the Lin family since being taken in, over ten years. Never seen Mrs. Lin treat Lin Yun well before; she must really have come around now.
She took the leftover fabric pieces from making Lin Xiang’s clothes, put them in a basket and handed it to Mrs. Lin, "Sis, you can take these home, sew them together to make rags, or save them up to make a mop once you have more."
"Using such good fabric to make a mop, what a waste of good stuff!"
Mrs. Lin picked through the basket, choosing some larger fabric pieces, "These colors are quite nice, later cut a bit more from the red fabric I gave you, sew them together, make two hair flowers for Niu and Chunya. Last time I went to the cotton spinning factory, saw many young girls wearing hair flowers, they looked pretty."
They don’t feel reluctant to use complete fabric for hair flowers, but fabric scraps are always acceptable.
Nearby, Chunya heard this and happily bounced on the spot, "Auntie, can I really have a new hair flower?"
"Sure, why not? These scraps can’t make clothes anyway, turning them into mops is less practical than making hair flowers for you." Follow current novels on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⟡𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
Chunya’s brother Dong Sheng poked his little head out from inside, shyly asking Mrs. Lin, "Auntie, can I use the leftover scraps from Sister Niu’s and my sister’s hair flowers to sew a beanbag? Lots of people in the village have one, but I don’t."
Mrs. Lin placed the basket on the table, "Since I only want clothes, your mom making the two sets for me is good enough, the leftover fabric’s up to you on how to use."
Fifth Aunt instinctively asked, "Sis, aren’t you going to make clothes for yourself? You have lots of fabric, just choose a pattern you like and I’ll make it for you."
Mrs. Lin looked at her own clothes, initially wanting to refuse; she’s at an age where good clothes don’t matter.
But she suddenly remembered the last time she went to the cotton spinning factory, covering the patches on her clothes, worried she might embarrass her daughter.
So, for once, she boldly decided, "Fine, I’ll make one! I’ll bring you the fabric tonight along with Lin Yun’s fabric. I won’t use new cotton, just use the cotton from our old coats, mine and Niu’s."
"Alright, I need to go back for dinner. Niu’s making me something nice today."