HLnovel Chapter 33 Buying Cloth
Chapter 33 Buying Cloth
When Xiaoyu heard that she was going to have new clothes, she jumped up with joy.
"Oh...we've made new clothes! We can wear new clothes now!"
He's stopped stuttering?
Shen Xiaotang and her mother exchanged a glance and were immediately overjoyed. It seemed that Xiaoyu's stutter was caused by being frightened by her stepmother since she was a child. Now she was so happy that she didn't care about anything else and actually said a few words incoherently.
The mother and her two daughters strolled along the street and bought two pieces of cut cake for ten coins. One piece was to be given to Shui Sheng's family, and the other was to be kept for themselves. They finally found a silk shop that sold ready-made clothes and the best fabrics. Even the cheapest kind of fabric they bought was not enough to buy enough for four garments, even after spending all the money they had left.
The mother and her two daughters had no choice but to leave the silk shop.
Not to mention Liu, who was holding so much money for the first time, even Shen Xiaotang, who earned tens of thousands a month in her previous life, was reluctant to part with it.
It can only be said that times have changed!
Liu said with some distress, "Why is this cloth so expensive? Your third aunt weaves cloth every day, but she doesn't necessarily earn much money."
“Mother, they’re all cloth, but not all cloth is the same. Third Aunt’s cloth is very ordinary, and she gets the thread from the cloth shop in town and weaves it at home. She earns her money through hard work. The shop we just visited sells silk and brocade, which we can’t afford. Why don’t we go look at other shops?”
Once she makes money growing turmeric, she'll try to find a job in town, and ideally, move out of the village and into town. She'll make sure her parents and sister wear soft brocade and never have to wear patched clothes again.
Actually, Liu didn't care whether her clothes were patched or not, as long as they weren't tattered or exposed and could cover her body.
But when her daughter suggested buying fabric to make new clothes, she also wanted to make new clothes for her two daughters. After all, her two daughters had never worn a new piece of clothing since they were little. The clothes they wore, covered in patches, were ones that she had taken apart and remade, and they were so worn that the original color was no longer visible.
"Okay, let's look around and see if we can find anything cheaper."
Shen Xiaotang kept holding the bones, which felt fishy and greasy. Liu Shi carried the meat, and Xiao Yu also thoughtfully carried the cut cake. They bought a bamboo basket on the way and put their purchases inside, which made it much more convenient to carry.
After comparing prices at several stores, they finally found a cheap fabric shop. Although the shop was in a remote location, it was filled with fabrics, arranged neatly from dark to light, including some with flowers and embroidery, which was dazzling to the eye.
The shop assistant saw the mother and her two daughters, dressed in patched clothes, but he didn't look down on them; it was as if he was used to it.
"Gentlemen, what kind of fabric would you like to buy?"
Liu was somewhat unsure and asked timidly, "What kind of fabric is the cheapest here?"
The shop assistant's eyes lit up, and he immediately took out three bolts of cloth: a bolt of white coarse linen, a bolt of brown coarse cotton, and a bolt of blue ordinary cotton.
"Madam, please look. The cheapest item in our shop is this white coarse linen, which costs forty coins a bolt. It's too coarse to wear, so people usually buy it for other purposes and rarely buy it to make clothes. Next is coarse cotton, which costs ninety coins a bolt. This blue one is ordinary cotton, which costs one hundred and thirty coins a bolt. Which one would you like?"
Coarse cotton cloth is rough to wear against the skin, and it can rub against delicate skin until it turns red. Even farmers in the countryside need to wash it several times to get used to it. By the time they get used to it, the clothes are wrinkled and don't look good.
Ordinary cotton cloth is relatively finer and comes in more colors than coarse cotton cloth. A bolt of cloth only costs forty coins more. Now that their family is wealthy, their parents still have a few taels of silver, and she has sixty-three coins. The family can afford to buy a bolt of coarse cotton cloth.
Liu was somewhat unsure of what to do!
She had lived for over twenty years, and this was the first time she had ever taken money to town to shop. To be honest, she was reluctant to spend even a single penny, but she couldn't expect her whole family to follow her example and be frugal just because she was reluctant.
So she asked softly, "Tang'er, which one do you think is more suitable for us to buy?"
"Mom, let's buy regular cotton cloth. The thread used in this kind of cloth is finer and denser than that of coarse cotton cloth. The cloth is more durable and will last longer. It looks more expensive, but it's worth it. What do you think?"
Liu nodded, understanding dawning on her.
"If Tang'er says it's good, then it's good. Let's buy ordinary cotton cloth."
The mother and daughter immediately made a decision. The young Xiaoyu didn't understand any of this and just stared with her round eyes.
The shop assistant's smile widened as he saw the deal was done.
“Madam has chosen this plain blue cotton cloth, so I will wrap it up for you.”
Shen Xiaotang took the money bag from her mother, counted out 130 copper coins and handed them to the shopkeeper before taking the already wrapped cotton cloth.
Just as the mother and her two daughters were about to leave, the waiter called them back.
"Please wait a moment, everyone."
Shen Xiaotang was a little confused. The money and goods had been exchanged, so why was the shopkeeper still stopping them?
Liu was even more puzzled, and the smile on her face gradually disappeared. They were genuinely buying cloth, they hadn't said anything wrong, and they hadn't shortchanged each other, so why was the shopkeeper stopping them? Was there some problem?
She whispered, "Is there anything else?"
The shop assistant held a bolt of apricot-colored cotton cloth in his hand and said with a smile, "No problem, madam, please don't misunderstand. We have a bolt of cotton cloth that we're selling cheaply in the shop. I just wanted to ask if you wanted it."
Liu thought to herself that they had already bought one horse, and even if it was sold cheaply, she didn't want to spend any more money. She was sure that the shopkeeper wanted to sell one more horse and deliberately lowered the price for them, but how much could the price be lowered?
Wouldn't I still have to spend over a hundred coins to buy another horse?
Shen Xiaotang became interested after hearing this!
cotton?
Want to sell at a low price?
If the price is right, I could really buy another one, so I can have two sets to alternate wearing.
Before Liu could refuse, Shen Xiaotang immediately asked, "Brother, the cotton cloth you're selling cheaply, is it this bolt of cloth you have? Why are you selling it cheaply? How much is it per bolt? Why didn't you recommend it to us earlier?"
Then Liu remembered and asked, "Yes, why didn't you say so just now?"
If she tells me, she won't buy the blue one, and we can save some money.
The waiter coughed lightly, somewhat embarrassed.
That's ridiculous. When selling fabric, you have to sell the full-price items first. Once the full-price items are sold, then you can try to sell the discounted items. If you start by recommending discounted items, when will the full-price items ever be sold?
“I figured you’d buy this fabric to make new clothes, so you’d definitely want to choose something nice and suitable. The light blue one is unisex and the whole family can wear it. This apricot one is more selective; it wouldn’t be suitable for older people. Plus, this one has a few flaws. I didn’t dare recommend it to you when you first came in, lest I offend you.”
As he spoke, the waiter showed them the flaws.
"This was accidentally soiled during transport. Luckily, it was on the edge, not in the middle. Only the outer layers are soiled, the inside is clean. But it is damaged nonetheless, so our shopkeeper allows us to sell it at a discount. It was originally 130 coins a bolt, but we'll sell it for 100 coins. If you want it, you can take it with you."