Chapter 35 A Reminder
Zhou Ying looked in the direction she was pointing at. Sure enough, the female shopkeeper was serving a woman in her forties who looked very strict.
Two employees were serving a well-dressed mother and daughter.
It just so happened that she didn’t want to have too much contact with the Huang mother and daughter, so she simply took the opportunity to say, “Aunt Huang, it seems that they won’t be able to finish in a short time. You wait here then. I’ll go to the other shop to take a look.”
“Don’t. There are only two cloth shops in town. The Qiao family owns the other one. If they recognize you, they’ll definitely humiliate you.” Mrs. Huang quickly stopped her and whispered.
“The Qiao family…?”
“Yes, the Qiao family. I heard that the shop they are using now used to belong to the Gu family’s shop.”
“Thank you for your reminder, Aunt Huang. Please wait here for a while. We’ll go and shop around.”
“That’s fine, but don’t take too long. They should be almost done.”
“Alright,” she said, and she turned around. She walked toward Gu Chengrui, who was guarding the ox cart, and said, “Husband, it’s busy inside. Do you have anything else to buy? We’ll come back later.”
Gu Chengrui lifted his head and tugged at her slightly slanted top. “We don’t have much money left, so let’s buy a quilt and cotton-padded clothes first.”
“You’re right.” Zhou Ying responded, sat on the ox cart, and talked to him about their following plans. After all, it was not a long-term plan to go into the mountains to dig herbs.
In the end, the two of them discussed and decided to go into the mountains two more times. After winter, Gu Chengrui would officially start practicing medicine, while Zhou Ying would sell bean sprouts at home.
In a short while, the shopkeeper sent the old woman off.
After sending the mother and daughter off, Zhou Ying got out of the cart and walked in.
The waiter immediately approached her and asked, “Missus, what do you want to buy?”
“Do you have ready-made quilts and cotton-padded clothes here?”
“Yes, but because of the size difference, it has to be custom-made. It’s scheduled for half a month now. What do you think…”
“Zhou Ying, in my opinion, you’d better buy cotton and cloth and go home to make it yourself. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait.” Mrs. Huang, who was handing over the work, said at this time.
However, after she finished speaking, she remembered that Zhou Ying had grown up in the kitchen. Although she was stellar in terms of cooking, she shouldn’t be proficient in needlework. So, Mrs. Huang immediately shut her mouth.
The employee didn’t try to persuade her again but waited for Zhou Ying’s decision.
Zhou Ying hesitated momentarily and asked, “Then how much is cotton?”
“Red cotton is 50 copper a pound, and high-quality white cotton is 80 copper a pound.”
Zhou Ying was shocked. She didn’t expect cotton to be so expensive. She would be rich if she planted cotton in her inters.p.a.ce for just a season. Then she asked, “The red cotton you’re talking about is the kind that’s dug out from a cotton peach?”
“It’s about the same, but it’s not as warm and fluffy.”
Zhou Ying hesitated for a moment before asking again, “How much for a whole piece of cotton cloth?”
“A 23-foot-long white cloth is 350 copper per batch, and the one with the plaid pattern is 400 copper.”
“What about sackcloth?”
“300 copper per batch.”
“Then give me 15 pounds of white cotton, a roll of coa.r.s.e white cloth, and a roll of coa.r.s.e cloth with checkered patterns.”
“Please wait a moment.” After the young man finished speaking, he turned around and walked to the back.
“Zhou Ying, if you want to make two quilts and two cotton-padded clothes, I’m afraid 15 pounds of cotton is not enough.” Mrs. Huang reminded her at this time.
“There is a heated brick bed at home; coupling this with our old clothes should be enough. If it’s not enough, we can add more later.”
When Mrs. Huang heard this, she only thought that Zhou Ying didn’t have enough money and didn’t say anything more.
The shop a.s.sistant quickly brought out the two rolls of cloth he had prepared.
Then, he took out a sack of cotton and weighted it in front of her. “White cotton is 80 copper per pound. 15 pounds is 1200 copper. In addition to the 400 copper and 350 copper worth of cloth, the total is 1950 copper.”