The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Hearing her say it was one yuan a piece, Jiang Cheng's facial muscles began to twitch erratically. He knew many people who did handicrafts, but this was the first time he had ever seen someone dare to charge such a price, especially since it was his own sister-in-law. Truly, the younger generation is formidable.

"Isn't one yuan a bit too much? A coat made at a tailor shop only costs one yuan, and it's so small..."

"Don't underestimate its small size, it takes a lot of effort to make. It's much more comfortable to wear than a regular vest, otherwise why would people spend more than ten dollars to buy that?"

Besides, as long as you have the materials, I can make different patterns. It's one yuan per piece, and I won't charge you extra for changing the pattern later.

Bao Ya spoke as if it were perfectly reasonable, without a trace of guilt about raising the price.

Friendship Store sells them for over ten yuan each, and they make a high profit of seven or eight yuan each. Is it too much for them to keep one yuan?

Jiang Cheng nodded, planning to go back and think about it. Such a small piece wouldn't require much fabric, and the material cost would be very low.

I heard that Bao Ya only charges 40 cents for the crafting fee when making those for others. I thought that since I made a lot, I could negotiate a lower price, but I didn't expect the price to go up.

Jiangcheng plans to wait and see if Baoya can lower the price herself.

"Okay, I'll go back and ask them."

After finishing their meal and as it grew dark, Jiang Cheng prepared to go home.

"Second brother, find some good fabric too, and I'll make a few pieces for your sister-in-law to see. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

Hearing her say that, Jiang Cheng's face turned red to the roots of his ears, and he gave Bao Ya a look that was hard to describe.

How could she, as his sister-in-law, say such a thing to him?

Turning to look at Jiang Yuan again, neither of them seemed reliable.

Bao Ya didn't think that much about it. A bra only shows its effect when it's worn on a person. His wife is a ready-made model. He can't let him look at other people, can he?

Jiang Yuan remained silent. He knew that the drivers at his second brother's workplace would often carry things back and forth, and his second brother had done his share of such errands. What was wrong with his wife earning a little money through hard work?

Jiang Cheng, who had originally planned to wait a few days, had Jiang Yuan bring the fabric back the very next day. This fabric was much better than Zhou Xiuna's, and it even had several feet of lace sandwiched in between.

Bao Ya sighed inwardly, thinking that in this day and age, it was still the truck drivers who traveled all over the place who could find good things.

She had met her second sister-in-law, who was rather thin. Her original size should have been B, but she would have grown a bit during her pregnancy, so Bao Ya had it made into a C cup. There were two sizes, one with lace and one without.

Bao Ya deliberately waited three days before having Jiang Yuan deliver it to Jiang Cheng. He was in a hurry, but she wasn't.

The next day, Jiang Cheng came to her house with a sack, wanting to make fifty pieces as a trial, and also gave her a deposit of twenty yuan.

Before Jiang Cheng could tell her to hurry up, Bao Ya snapped at him, "Rush service, 1.5 yuan per piece."

Jiang Cheng swallowed back the words he was about to say. He could tell that his sister-in-law was a ruthless person, but it was for the best; the money and goods were settled, saving them from future disputes.

March arrived in the blink of an eye, and Bao Ya delivered her first batch of goods. Originally, there were fifty pieces, but she managed to piece together sixty pieces and even made two sets for herself.

Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate and paid her the remaining forty yuan.

Before the second batch of goods arrived, Bao Ya was quite free. When Jiang Cheng came to collect the goods, he also brought her half a sack of fabric scraps. She picked out the usable ones and made clothes for everyone in the family, even getting a pair of underwear for Lin Lao San.

With the weather warming up, Grandma Liu, who hadn't gone out much all winter, started coming out for a stroll. They also started seeing their neighbors to the west more often.

However, her neighbor to the west was quite strange; they had a very low profile on the street, and sometimes she couldn't even tell that anyone lived there.

Bao Ya and Granny Zhou have been getting along well these past few days. They chat quite a bit. When she noticed that Granny Zhou didn't have enough scraps of cloth to make paper clips, Bao Ya specially grabbed a handful for her.

As she turned to go home, she found someone standing behind her. When she turned left, the person turned left; when she turned right, the person turned right.

Bao Ya was about to say, "Move aside," when, for some unknown reason, that guy lifted Bao Ya's chin with his finger and said in a flirtatious tone:

"Whose young wife is this? I've never seen her before. She's really pretty."

Before her stood a young man in his early twenties, with a gourd-shaped face, small eyes, and a mouthful of yellow teeth when he smiled. He had a slouching, roguish look about him. Right now, he was grinning lewdly at Bao Ya.

Bao Ya's eyes instantly darkened with anger, and she raised her hand to slap him across the face.

"You little brat, you dare to flirt with your own great-aunt? You're asking for trouble, aren't you?"

"How dare you hit me, you son of a bitch..."

Caught off guard by the slap, Zhang Ye covered his face and looked at Bao Ya in disbelief, his lips trembling as he uttered these words. But before he could finish speaking, Bao Ya slapped him again.

"So what if I hit you, you filthy scoundrel? You just got beaten up, didn't you?"

Zhang Ye didn't expect this young wife to dare hit him, and his mind couldn't process it for a moment.

But Bao Ya wasn't going to let him off so easily. Her eyes darted around, looking for something handy. When she saw the fire tongs at Granny Zhou's door, she rushed over and grabbed them.

When Zhang Ye realized what was happening and clenched his fist to hit Bao Ya, he saw her rushing towards him with fire tongs, which startled him.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? You just wait."

He turned and ran away, but Bao Ya wouldn't let him go. She grabbed the fire tongs and chased after him, hitting him with the tongs as she got closer.

Everything happened so fast that before anyone could even figure out what was going on, Zhang Ye was running for his life ahead, shouting "Murder!" Bao Ya was chasing after him, holding a pair of fire tongs.

The two of them looked just like Tom and Jerry from the cartoon, running back and forth on the street. Bao Ya swung the fire tongs very fast, and Zhang Ye would occasionally let out a few wails.

She's made countless trips back and forth between the neighborhood committee and the supply and marketing cooperative. After today, everyone has gained a new understanding of Lin Baoya.

Those who wanted to mediate the fight couldn't get involved and could only stick close to the wall, trying their best to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Zhang Ye, who was running ahead, was almost out of breath. He hadn't checked the almanac before leaving home today. How did he end up running into this tigress? Had he taken the wrong medicine? Why did he have to provoke her?

"Hey, hey, stop fighting, it's all up to me now."

The monkey appeared out of nowhere, followed by several teenagers. His hoarse voice, typical of someone going through puberty, sounded particularly out of place at that moment.

The guy shouted and tried to stop her, but Bao Ya kicked him.

"Get out of here."

"Ouch, this tiger woman, why is she even kicking me?"

The monkey was kicked to the ground, clutching its thigh and yelling.

However, his blocking her way slowed Bao Ya down, and Aunt Zhang from the neighborhood committee suddenly rushed up and hugged her waist.

"Alright, stop hitting, that's enough."

She had risked her life to rush up here, and her heart was pounding.

Zhang Ye was so exhausted from running that he saw Bao Ya being stopped, and took advantage of the moment to disappear in a flash.

"Oh dear, he's so handsome, but he's a real ladies' man. I'm telling you, Xiao Jiang's wife, you'd better be more careful in the future."