Chapter 22

Qin Xue placed the paper and pen on the table in her room and went to the living room to pour a glass of water before returning to her room to start drawing.

Since Qin Xue could draw, she couldn’t compare to professionals, but she was still pretty good at it, having learned embroidery from her grandmother before she started learning to draw patterns for embroidery.

Of course, a master like her grandmother could embroider without drawing patterns.

But who would have thought that Qin Xue wasn’t such a master, so her grandmother taught her how to draw patterns.

Later in school, she also took up drawing as a hobby, not as a profession, but even if she wasn’t a professional, drawing a clothing pattern wouldn’t be too challenging for her.

Qin Xue thought of all kinds of clothes from the future and drew seven or eight designs before stopping.

Qin Xue wasn’t afraid that Fang Hong wouldn’t make them; even if Fang Hong didn’t, she could still find someone else to do it, as long as they had the courage not to be afraid of not making money.

Now that it was March, summer would soon arrive, just in time to make summer clothes.

So Qin Xue drew summer clothes, including T-shirts, suits, skirts, and dresses.

Qin Xue first wanted to make skirts and suits, and after some thought, she drew even more designs until it was too dark to see.

Qin Xue heated up her porridge and stir-fried some greens before taking a shower and going to bed.

Qin Xue entered the space, plowed the land, sowed vegetable seeds, and watered it with spiritual spring water before resting in the bamboo house.

Before resting, Qin Xue drank a big glass of spiritual spring water and went to sleep. Xue Ling requested her to rest in the bamboo house, saying that sleeping in the space with spiritual energy inside would be good for her body.

So Qin Xue thought that it didn’t matter where she slept; since sleeping in the space was good for her body, she would sleep in the space.

So Qin Xue slept beautifully until dawn and found that it was still early when she left the space.

Qin Xue took out some flour to make buns and steamed bread, mixed the flour, and cooked the porridge. She didn’t have any filling, so she chopped some meat and cabbage for filling.

After breakfast, Qin Xue took out the knitting needles and yarn she had bought yesterday to prepare to knit a sweater with buttons on it, as pulling it over a small child’s head wasn’t convenient.

Qin Xue originally learned to knit to practice her finger dexterity.

She thought about how she used to knit most of the sweaters for her dormmates.

Qin Xue didn’t lack money, but one of her dormmates was from a remote mountain area, and getting into Medical University in B city wasn’t easy. They relied on their parents scrimping and saving to support their education.

Later, that student made a living selling knitted items like sweaters, scarves, gloves, and other knitwear to earn her tuition. Qin Xue helped by knitting many items to practice, and found various fancy patterns online. When they started their internships, Qin Xue stopped helping with the knitting.

As they graduated and went their separate ways, Qin Xue returned to work at the hospital in her hometown.

Her contact with her classmates was mostly online, and now that she was dead and had arrived here, she didn’t know how they were doing and if anyone still remembered her.

As Qin Xue knitted and reminisced about the past, her hands moved quickly, and she had knitted a long section by morning.

Qin Xue put down the yarn, washed her hands, and made steamed buns. She didn’t make too many buns, just about twenty, and ten steamed bread, each of them not too big, about the size of a fist and much smaller than what the cafeteria offered.

Qin Xue ate two to keep her full, uncovered the pot, and steamed the buns when the water was boiling. She had just put them in and covered the pot.

As she picked up the yarn and prepared to continue knitting, there was a knock on the door. Qin Xue put down the knitting needle, opened the door, and saw Fang Hong.

“Sister-in-law is here, come in, and have a seat.” She poured Fang Hong a glass of water before sitting next to her!

“Sister-in-law, are you here today because you’ve decided to make clothes?” Qin Xue asked straightforwardly.

“Yes, but can we not let anyone else know for now?” Fang Hong thought about what Mr. Xie had said the night before when going to bed:

“Did Qin Xue exactly tell you that? She’s really not simple; she has a keen sense and far-sighted vision.

If it weren’t for Chu Molin filing a marriage report and verifying her identity, I wouldn’t think of her as an inexperienced rural girl at all.

Policy is going to change, but the country hasn’t issued any orders yet. I’m only a section chief, and until the policy changes and the documents are issued, I must lead by example and not make mistakes.

If you want to do it, it’s fine, but don’t be too conspicuous.

Once you find a store, you can start slowly and not attract attention. As long as you wait until the country’s reform and the policies change, you can do anything you want. But before that, you can’t be too conspicuous, or I might be persuaded to go home.”

“So you mean we can do it?” Fang Hong looked up at Xie Jun and asked.

Xie Jun was holding Fang Hong as they slept, and when she looked up at him, he slightly retreated to make her more comfortable before saying:

“Yes, from what I’ve observed, Qin Xue is very promising. It’s never a mistake to befriend her more closely in the future.

If Qin Xue is providing the designs, the money, and the sales, then you just need to adjust your share.”

Fang Hong was also determined to find Qin Xue when she saw the high evaluation Xie Jun gave her.

“Sure, I didn’t intend to make a big deal out of it anyway.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to go high-profile before the policy changes. After all, my Molin is still just a small shrimp, isn’t he?

If you think about it, I’ll go to the county town tomorrow to buy fabric and see if I can rent a house.

If I can rent one, I won’t have to worry about people discovering it. What do you think?” Qin Xue now has about US$ 85, which should be enough to rent a house and buy fabric.

However, without cloth tickets to buy cloth, she can only go to the black market, where prices are bound to be much higher.

No matter what, she would decide tomorrow based on the situation.

“Sister-in-law, why don’t you go to the county town with me tomorrow? We can look for houses and cloth together.

After all, you often make clothes, and you know which kind of fabric is of good quality and cheaper.”

Qin Xue thought about it and felt it would be better to involve Fang Hong.

“Alright, let’s go together and see. Also, Qin Xue, let’s change the share we talked about yesterday.”

Fang Hong told Qin Xue what Xie Jun had said.

“No need, sister-in-law, just split it evenly. It doesn’t need to be changed.”

Qin Xue also had her own considerations. She could now find a market with her small belly, but when her belly became bigger, she would have to hand over the matter to Fang Hong and only draw the patterns herself. If the share was too low, it wouldn’t be fair to Fang Hong, would it?

“No, it’s not right. According to what you said yesterday, you would provide the designs, the money, and sell the clothes, and I would only make the clothes. Splitting it evenly is too much!”

“Sister-in-law, listen to me. I’m pregnant, right? My belly is small now, so I can run around, but when my belly gets bigger, it won’t be convenient for me to run anymore. By that time, I will need to find someone to help me sell the clothes, and if the sales are good, you alone won’t be able to handle it.

You’ll have to hire apprentices to work together, right? That also means paying wages.

By the time I only draw the patterns for you to make clothes, and you’ll have to take care of everything else, right? So this share isn’t too much.”

Qin Xue knew that she would invest a lot in the early stage but become a hands-off boss in the later stage.

So she didn’t want to give people enough incentive to work wholeheartedly without giving them enough attractive value.

“No, that’s not going to work. If we do it as you said, let’s do four to six. I’ll take four, and you’ll take six. Don’t say too much, just do as I say, or I won’t work with you.” Fang Hong was also unsure.

Everything was provided by Qin Xue alone. If the sales were good, that would be fine, but what if they weren’t? Fang Hong was only putting in the effort.

Qin Xue was putting in the money, and if they lost it, it would be gone. So no matter what, they couldn’t give Qin Xue a fifty-fifty share when she was trying to make money for herself.

Qin Xue saw that no matter what she said, Fang Hong wouldn’t agree, so she accepted her suggestion of a four-six split. Then she wrote two identical contracts, and after Fang Hong had read them and had no objections, they signed and pressed their handprints, one copy for each.