After a moment, Xiao Wan laughed appeasingly, "Xiao Wan, you know, when my aunt came, her money was stolen. Now, the family doesnât have much money. Can you lend my aunt some money first, and after a few months when my aunt earns some money, sheâll pay you back. What do you think?"
Lin Wan shook her head with a smile, "I remember once, back when I was sick at home and we really didnât have any money, my mom had no choice but to ask Aunt to lend us some. And what did Aunt say at that time...? She didnât just refuse to lend money but also criticized my mom for ages, Auntâs words made my mom cry all the way home. It mustâve been really harsh to make my usually strong mother cry like that. My brother and I swore then that weâd never lend you money even if we get rich in the future. Zhang Dandan has been here for half a year, and weâve been generous. We even helped settle the things she did yesterday, found jobs for those who needed them, and found a way for you all. You shouldnât even think about borrowing money. Frankly speaking... Aunt, you shouldnât even mention borrowing money; donât you feel shameless?"
"I... back then we really didnât have any, Xiao Wan, those are old stories, letâs not mention past grudges. Considering our hardship, please help Aunt out. Rest assured, Aunt promises to pay you back this time," Liang Weixiang regretted now. If she had known Liang Hongmei would have this situation, she would have lent the money back then, which was indeed not much, just twenty cents.
"Even if you speak eloquently today, I wonât lend you money."
This time, Lin Wanâs words left Liang Weixiang speechless, so she slipped away quietly.
But Lin Wanâs offer of work couldnât be missed out.
When Zhang Dandan saw Liang Weixiang come back without a word, she knew she must have met a setback over there. She lay in bed without the mood to talk.
After hesitating for a long time, Liang Weixiang finally spoke to her daughter.
"Dandan, when I went this time, your cousin said she has a batch of clothes needing sewing, we can take them back to sew, one piece for one dime."
"Only a dime, thatâs so little."
"Itâs not little. Mom calculated, each of us can sew twenty pieces a day, easily. Thatâs two yuan a day. Sixty yuan a month, better than your job."
"Alright, letâs do it then," Zhang Dandan got excited. The clothes cousin makes have nice styles, she could sneakily keep a couple for herself later.
"The issue is we donât have a sewing machine."
"Why not borrow some from Aunt; not just one, even two sewing machines would be no trouble for her."
Liang Weixiangâs face darkened, "Borrow, borrow, you only know how to borrow every day. The money you earned this month, except for our pocket money, give it all to me."
"Mom, I donât have much money, our expenses for a month are twenty. I have about ten yuan left."
"Last yearâs money, you lied saying fifteen yuan a month, where did the rest go? Give it to me, tomorrow we will buy a sewing machine."
"Mom, I donât have it. I spent it all."
"Donât try to trick me. Iâve eaten more salt than youâve eaten rice. If you donât give it, I will take you back to the hometown tomorrow, and you wonât come back."
"Iâll give it, alright?"
Zhang Dandan said reluctantly, taking a fabric bag from a corner of the room. After dawdling for a while, she handed over fifty yuan, "This is all there is."
Liang Weixiang glanced at her and frowned, "This isnât enough."
She said so, went to her own room, dawdled for a long time, and came out with eighty yuan.
Zhang Dandan looked at that fifty yuan, glaring wide-eyed at Liang Weixiang, "Mom, how much did you actually carry? Lost over two hundred at the train station, and now you have eighty, you didnât take all the family money out?"
"I... donât have any, this is the last bit," Liang Weixiang said guiltily, "Alright, letâs not dwell on this, itâs still early, letâs go now."
Liang Weixiang went out for a bit, now she was no longer afraid.
Zhang Dandan looked at her face in the mirror scarily, "How can I go out like this, itâs better for you to buy it yourself."
Liang Weixiang widened her eyes and glared, "I donât know anyone here and you want me to go alone? Arenât you afraid they might trick me into buying expensive?"
The mother and daughter spent the afternoon in the market, finally bringing back a sewing machine for one hundred fifty yuan, without industrial vouchers, but the shop gave two tickets costing ten yuan.
For this, Liang Weixiang muttered complaints, afraid of offending the wrong people by accident and ending up unlucky herself.
At night, guessing Liang Hongmei and others might be back, mother and daughter went over once.
Lin Wan saw them shortly after sending off Wu Liu and his spouse.
This time, Wu Liu took a lot of goods, even half a truck of stone sauce from Shilanâs house
Right then Lin Wan was busy calculating todayâs shipment volume.
Lin Wan hadnât expected Liang Weixiang would buy a sewing machine so soon; it seemed she kept quite a bit of secret savings.
Lin Wan didnât ask much, gave them twenty or thirty pieces of clothes and thread, and let them go.
Liang Weixiang dawdled in the room, surprised by Lin Wanâs marriage to someone well-off. Everything in this house looked better than at Liang Hongmeiâs.
Originally hoping Lin Wan would invite them for a meal on their first visit, to her surprise, Lin Wan let them leave like that. She married but still had no manners.
Actually, there were designs with slightly higher handwork pay, two dimes a piece. However, Lin Wan didnât want to mention those.
The higher pay designs demanded more precision; knowing the fuss made by the Liang Weixiang mother-daughter duo, she feared it might ruin her clothes.
"Ai Yi, are you resting today?"
"Yeah, resting today, the team has a task, I need to go back to the S City base soon."
"Really? Does that mean you can come home?" Lin Wan was pleasantly surprised.
At the other end, Han Yi chuckled deeply, "But I can only stay home with you for two days, the third day Iâll return to base."
"Another mission?" Lin Wanâs joy turned to heaviness.
It was always like this, so many times, yet she was never used to it.
"This task wonât last long, after returning, Iâll stay home longer to be with you and the child."
"Is it dangerous?" Lin Wan knew she asked knowingly, aware of his duty, unable to stop asking.
"Donât worry, weâll talk once Iâm back."
Lin Wan didnât ask further, telling Han Yi what happened these days before hanging up.
Their clothes had opened a market in S City, orders flowed steadily without requiring extra effort.
Ye Zi was quite adept at the shop, the nimble child spoke fluently. Lin Wan only guided for a week, leaving it all to her.
...
"Xiao Wan, guess who I ran into downtown today?" With Wu Liu taking away quite some goods, Shi Lan was busy making sauce at home these days.
She went to the market Brother Huang mentioned early this morning to fetch mushrooms, returning to find Lin Wan.
"Who? Youâre so excited," Lin Wan was feeding her baby fruit puree now. Little Star was almost one, with four top and bottom teeth grown out, presumably itching, always biting things and drooling frequently.
Shi Lan glanced at her, "Not excited, just surprised."
"Who exactly?" Lin Wan laughed, glancing at her while continuing to feed the child.
"Itâs Yang Lianzhang, Yang Wei."
"Why is that surprising? He might be downtown for a tour or looking for Sun Yu since their child was sent away."
"No, I ran into Yang Lianzhang at the market; he was there alone, in casual clothes, carrying large bags for people in a grain and oil shop."
That really surprised Lin Wan, she stopped feeding, looking at Shi Lan curiously, "Why is Yang Lianzhang carrying bags?"
"I was puzzled too, so I came back to talk to you, but I kept out of sight to avoid embarrassment."
"Thatâs right."
For a moment, both Lin Wan and Shi Lan thought Yang Lianzhang had retired. They hadnât visited the military area for a while, unsure of the situation, planning to ask Sister-in-law Zhang there in a few days.
At night, her brother returned from work, bringing back a big box with Li Congnan.
"Xiao Wan, Xiao Wan, come over. See whatâs this."
"Brother, Brother Congnan, whatâs that big box?" Lin Wan held Little Star, not finishing her sentence before seeing big letters on the box, "Washing machine?" In excitement, Lin Wan rushed forward, hitting the box, "Where did you buy it?"