69novels Chapter 424 - 422: Buying (Part 1)
Chapter 424 - 422: Buying (Part 1)
Lin Lan thought about how they had just pooled their money to buy a plot of land, meaning the shop was surely short on cash. She said, "I’ll front the money for now. To buy the stove parts, go find Xiangyang on Limin Road. He knows a blacksmith."
Lin Changyou nodded. "Zhou Dashu said the same thing. The brigade leader asked us to cover the costs first. They’ll pay us back slowly after they harvest their Sichuan peppers and forage for mushrooms."
"Okay, I’ll get the money and go find Li Wu to buy grain."
"Alright! I’ll head out first." Lin Changyou rode away on his bicycle.
Lin Lan gave some instructions to Lin Yuezhen and Tong Xinglan, then rode her bicycle to where Li Wu had his stall. She saw he was busy, so she stood to the side and waited for a bit. Only after his rush was over did she tell him about buying the grain.
Li Wu looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing buying so much grain?"
Lin Lan sighed and told him about the disaster at Shishanling. "Brother Li," she said, "this grain is all for the disaster victims. Please give me a friendly price."
After hearing this, Li Wu sighed repeatedly and slapped his chest. "Don’t you worry. For this batch of grain, aside from the shipping costs, I won’t make a single cent off them."
Lin Lan gratefully cupped her fist. "Thank you, Brother Li. We’ll also need some salt. When you have it ready, please deliver it to the restaurant in the East Market."
Li Wu nodded. "Okay, I’ll haul it over for you this afternoon."
Lin Lan thought for a moment and said, "Don’t settle the bill with my dad. I’ll pay you." ’She quickly did the math in her head. The massive order of grain, sorghum rice, and mixed-grain flour would only come to a little over three hundred yuan, and the salt would only be about twenty.’
This sum wasn’t much for her family, but for those disaster victims, it was life-saving money.
Li Wu readily agreed. "Alright, when the time comes, I’ll just say you’ve already paid."
Lin Lan smiled. "Thanks so much. I also need to stop by the garment factory to see if I can buy some of their clearance fabric."
Li Wu thought for a second. "Little Lin, if you can’t buy any, go find Hou Bing. I heard he just got some homespun cloth. It’s the most comfortable for making bedcovers and quilts."
"Oh." Lin Lan slapped her forehead. ’I almost forgot I need to buy cotton, too. They only have the clothes on their backs, not even a change of clothes or a blanket to cover themselves.’
’Besides, you can’t use work cloth for undergarments. I’ll still have to find Hou Bing and his brothers.’
Li Wu pointed toward the end of the market. "Go over there. Hou Bing set up a stall down that way."
"Okay!" Lin Lan pushed her bicycle about a dozen meters down and found Hou Bing’s stall. Standing in front of it, she pointed at the homespun cloth and said with a smile, "Boss, I’m here to buy fabric."
Hou Bing looked up, saw Lin Lan, and broke into a grin. "Well, if it isn’t the proprietress herself! What brings you out to browse the market today?"
Lin Lan laughed. "To buy something from you, of course!"
Hou Bing patted the homespun cloth stacked on his stall, grinning. "I’m afraid clothes made from my material here wouldn’t sell in your shop."
"I’m really here to buy fabric from you. And cotton, and needles and thread." Lin Lan explained the Shishanling disaster to Hou Bing as well. "There are about twenty households, a hundred-odd people. Can you calculate how much cotton and fabric for quilt covers we’ll need? We’ll also need some fine cotton cloth for undergarments."
Hou Bing said readily, "I get it. We’re all common folk. We know how hard it is to get through a disaster. You wish you could break a single penny in half to make it go further."
He paused for a moment. "Look, you shouldn’t buy the best-quality homespun. Get the ones with some loose threads. They work just fine but are much cheaper. I’ll buy the fabric for you; whatever it costs me, that’s what you’ll pay. And I won’t make any profit on the cotton for you, either."
Lin Lan looked at him, her voice full of gratitude. "Thank you so much! It’s thanks to friends like you that the people of Shishanling can save so much money. On behalf of the villagers of Shishanling, thank you."
Hou Bing smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "It’s a small thing. What’s there to thank me for!"
Lin Lan smiled. "Should I give you the money now, or wait until you have everything ready?"
"As if I wouldn’t trust your family! Just pay me after I’ve bought everything," Hou Bing said with a laugh.
Lin Lan thought for a moment. ’There’s no way we can store all this stuff in the East City shop.’ She said, "Okay, once you have it all ready, deliver it to the department store on Limin Road. Give it to my dad or He Li."
Hou Bing nodded with a smile. "Will do."
Lin Lan pushed her bicycle a few steps, then turned back. "Brother Hou, I’m going to check the garment factory first. If they don’t have any clearance fabric, I’ll come to your place to buy the homespun cloth."
Hou Bing considered this. "How about this? I’ll pack up my stall and make a trip to your Limin Road place. You should be back from the garment factory by around the same time."
"Okay, I’m off then."
Lin Lan arrived at the garment factory and found Li Aihong cleaning in the warehouse. She smiled and said, "Sister Li, still busy!"
"Little Lin, it’s you!" Li Aihong turned to look at Lin Lan, smiling as she put down her rag and pulled her over to sit. "What brings you here? Is business good?"
Lin Lan smiled. "Business is alright. I came to ask if you have any clearance work cloth." ’The last time she came with Zhou Xiaohong, the clearance work cloth was only thirty cents a foot—a much better deal than buying homespun.’
Li Aihong smiled and shook her head. "We’re out. We do have some surplus work clothes that got soaked in the rain a few days ago. The factory is planning to get rid of them."
"Work clothes!" Lin Lan’s eyes lit up. "How many sets are there? Are they expensive?"
Li Aihong looked at her with a smile. "You know what the style of work clothes is like—ugly as sin. Besides, you don’t sell that kind of thing in your shop. What would you do with them?"
"I was asking about the work cloth for the villagers who were in the disaster, too." Lin Lan sighed. "My maternal aunt lives in the Shishanling Brigade, over by Zhenjiang. During the heavy rains a few days ago, there was a landslide that buried about twenty households. My aunt’s family was among them..."
Li Aihong gasped. "Heavens! Thank goodness fate was kind. Otherwise, with so many people, the consequences would be unimaginable..."
Lin Lan was also filled with relief. "I know. Life is already hard for people in the mountains. Things were just starting to look up for them, and then in an instant, they lost their homes..."
Li Aihong stood up. "Come with me. I’ll go ask the director and see if we can get a cheaper price for you."
Lin Lan looked at her gratefully. "Thank you, Sister Li! On behalf of my aunt and the others, thank you!"
Li Aihong gave her a light, chiding pat. "Honestly! All I’m doing is talking. What’s there to thank me for?" With that, she pulled Lin Lan out of the warehouse and toward the offices at the front.
The garment factory’s offices were in a row of blue-brick, tile-roofed buildings. In the flowerbeds by the entrance grew canna lilies, Chinese roses, and gardenias.
At this time of year, the gardenias were in full bloom. Pure white blossoms dotted the verdant branches, and their rich, refreshing fragrance could be smelled even from a distance.
Li Aihong led Lin Lan to the door of the director’s office. Just then, a woman of about fifty, with shoulder-length hair and an air of sharp competence, walked out of the office.
Lin Lan noticed that the light blue, cinched-waist shirt with a small square collar the woman was wearing was one of the new styles their shop had recently received from Yangcheng City.
Li Aihong went up to her, all smiles. "Director Su, are you leaving for the day?"
Director Su glanced at her, her eyes sweeping over Lin Lan, and smiled. "Yes. Is there something you need?"