TPW – Chapter 37

Xu Haizhou had somehow brought back two blood oranges—each one almost as big as Qiao Lu’s fist. It was Qiao An’s first time eating such a thing. He immediately lost interest in the freshly cooked rice and meat and pestered his father to peel one for him right away.

Once peeled, he cradled the orange, which was half the size of his own face, and began to eat with gusto. His cheeks were already plump, and while gnawing on the orange, they puffed up like Crayon Shin-chan’s. He chewed and slurped, getting orange juice all over his mouth, the tip of his nose, and both cheeks.

Seeing Qiao Lu watching him the whole time, the little guy licked the juice off his lips and offered the orange to her. “Mommy, have a bite.”

Qiao Lu, amused but exasperated, pinched his cheek. “You’ve already chewed it into mush. How is Mommy supposed to eat that?”

The little guy wiped the corner of his mouth and generously offered her the last whole orange. “Mommy, you can have the new one.”

This kid really was quick-witted.

“No thanks. You eat them both. Mommy’s not a little foodie pig like you.”

Qiao An blinked and replied earnestly and cheerfully, “I’m a foodie! Not a pig!”

Qiao Lu couldn’t help laughing. Clearly, he didn’t even know what “foodie” meant.

For lunch, they had braised pork with glass noodles, a specialty from Xu Haizhou’s hometown, according to him. It was accompanied by a plate of scrambled eggs with tomato and three fried chicken drumsticks—a very hearty meal.

From the moment cooking started to when they sat down to eat, Qiao Lu didn’t really engage with Xu Haizhou much. She simply watched him with a teasing glint in her eyes that made him uncomfortable.

“That young woman from earlier—she looked pretty young. A high schooler?” Qiao Lu casually asked as she served a bowl of rice for their son.

Xu Haizhou nodded and praised her like a child. “You’ve got a good eye.”

“Hmph.” Qiao Lu popped a piece of rib into her mouth and said slowly, “She’s the one who’s always promoting your stall, right?”

“How do you even know that?” Xu Haizhou chuckled.

Qiao Lu’s lips curled into a cold smile—she was clearly waiting for the good part.

Xu Haizhou rubbed his nose awkwardly, growing more nervous under his wife’s gaze.

No—wait. Why should he feel guilty? He hadn’t done anything!

“Hongjun told you?”

“Mm.” She gave a noncommittal grunt, then added, “Back when you started making gloves before the New Year, Hongjun mentioned a schoolgirl who was helping you promote them. I was curious, but things got busy and I didn’t get a chance to ask.”

“What were you curious about?” Xu Haizhou asked.

Qiao Lu narrowed her eyes. “Just wondering, is she close to you? Why would she go out of her way to promote your stuff? And she seems to come up in your and Hongjun’s conversations quite a bit…”

Xu Haizhou gave her a teasing look. “Are you jealous?”

Qiao Lu shot him a sideways glance and swatted his hand away when he tried to put it on her shoulder. “Don’t joke around. Spill it. What’s going on?”

Qiao Lu wasn’t one to bottle things up. She didn’t like hiding things from her partner. Whatever needed to be said, she’d say it. Bottling things up only led to misunderstandings and arguments, which she found exhausting.

“That schoolgirl… seems to have a bit of a crush on me,” Xu Haizhou said, watching her closely.

“Seems to?” Qiao Lu crossed her arms and gave him a sideways look. “What kind of crush?”

Xu Haizhou smiled. “Probably the romantic kind.”

“What do you mean ‘probably’? Which kind exactly?” Qiao Lu raised an eyebrow.

Xu Haizhou hesitated. “The boy-girl kind, I guess?”

“And you didn’t tell her you were married?” Qiao Lu huffed, clearly annoyed.

“I did.”

“And then?”

“Haven’t seen her in almost two months now,” Xu Haizhou replied.

She had probably felt embarrassed when she found out he was married. Honestly, she never actually confessed—just quietly liked him from afar, supported his business, helped him promote it. From her clothes and demeanor, she clearly came from a well-off family, didn’t seem to lack anything. Her only flaw was her poor taste in men.

I mean, a bright, beautiful seventeen-year-old high school girl falling for a man nearly twelve years older than her—what was she thinking?

Sure, he was good-looking, but looks didn’t put food on the table. And he was just a street vendor. With her background, would her family ever approve?

By every standard, the two of them were clearly not a match.

“She suddenly showed up today… brought Hongjun some food,” Xu Haizhou added.

“Pfft—” Qiao Lu didn’t believe it. “She didn’t bring anything for you?”

“Ahem, I didn’t take anything,” Xu Haizhou replied calmly. He thought of the pear drop candies still in his bag but decided it would be best not to take them out. He’d just give them all to Li Hongjun in the afternoon.

“I’ve already told you everything I can,” Xu Haizhou said.

“Hmph, what, there’s stuff you can’t tell me now?” Qiao Lu started to be unreasonable again.

Xu Haizhou found it amusing and lightly tapped her calf with his foot. “Jealous?”

Qiao Lu pouted and pushed his foot away. “Jealous of what? As if I’d bother. I was just curious.”

Still putting up a tough front.

The little guy put down his chopsticks and looked at Qiao Lu with curiosity. “Mommy, what’s jealous? I want to eat jealous too! Is it tasty? What kind of food is it? Can I try some?”

Pfft—the sour mood was instantly broken by the child’s innocent question.

Qiao Lu poked his nose in exasperation. “You little rascal, you perk up the moment food is mentioned. Why are you always so greedy?”

The little guy blinked his beautiful grape-like eyes and stared at her intently. “So Mommy, what is jealous? Did you and Daddy sneak some without me? How come I didn’t know?”

“Yes, Mommy snuck some and didn’t let you have any,” she teased.

Little Qiao An crossed his arms in indignation. “Mommy, that’s not okay! Didn’t you say kids should learn to share? You’re a grown-up, you shouldn’t do that!”

Qiao Lu laughed so hard she went limp, then stuffed a chicken drumstick into his mouth. “You little foodie, I give up. Go ask your dad. I’m too lazy to explain.”

Xu Haizhou tried to hold in his laughter and patted his son’s head. “Mommy’s being selfish. She’s eating ‘jealous’ all by herself and won’t share.”

Qiao An took the drumstick out of his mouth and smacked his lips. “What is jealous? Is it tasty?”

“It’s something really sour and not tasty at all,” Xu Haizhou replied.

“Huh? Then why would Mommy eat something that doesn’t taste good?” Qiao An was confused and hugged her waist, shaking her back and forth. “Mommy, don’t eat yucky stuff. Let’s eat yummy things instead.”

Qiao Lu held her forehead helplessly—this silly son was way too easy to fool!

…

According to Xu Haizhou later, that female student named Shen Suqin never returned to his stall again, nor did she promote his business anymore. Xu Haizhou didn’t mind—he believed that good quality and trendy designs were the best kind of advertisement.

Meanwhile, after spending a whole day, Qiao Lu’s sample bags were finally ready.

The next day, she invited Wu Guifang from next door over and asked if she could help make the same kind of bags. She’d pay her a higher rate—fifty cents per bag.

As soon as Wu Guifang heard the offer, she eagerly accepted three bags. “Just these three? Give them all to me! I can do it, fast and well!”

Fifty cents! Real silver and coin! It might not sound like much, but with her speed, making three or four a day was no problem. That’s two yuan daily—sixty yuan a month—more than what her husband Lao Hu made!

“Alright then, just make two of each type for now. I want to test the waters. If they sell well, we’ll make more in bulk.” Qiao Lu also wanted to design two more styles, so she didn’t have time to make extra samples.

“Got it, I’ll bring them to you this afternoon. No more chatting—time is money! I’ll go make them now!” Talking about money energized Wu Guifang instantly—she looked like she’d happily sew herself into the machine if she could.

Wu Guifang’s speed exceeded Qiao Lu’s expectations. She finished everything on time with quality intact. Qiao Lu took the bags and inspected the details—the stitching was tight, the sizes were accurate, and it was almost a one-to-one replica of her original design. Some details were even better than what she’d done herself.

“Nice job, Sister Wu! Your craftsmanship is top-notch. You must’ve put in at least ten years of work to be this skilled—you’re a real talent.”

Wu Guifang smiled modestly. “To tell the truth, my family was doing pretty well when I was little. We got a sewing machine in the ’60s. I was still in school back then, started sewing my own clothes by the time I was in middle school.”

Qiao Lu did the math in her head—the number of years Wu Guifang had been sewing was about the same as her own. No wonder. Practice makes perfect. That was great.

…

The six sample bags were brought to the stall by Xu Haizhou and sold over the course of the morning. He came home for lunch and reported the results.

“The small and medium bags all sold. A lot of people thought the large one was too expensive and didn’t buy it.”

“Oh? That’s still pretty good! What prices did you set?”

Xu Haizhou replied, “Small ones for six yuan, medium for eight, large for eleven.”

“No wonder—the price gap is pretty big.”

The large bag wasn’t as cute or attractive as the small ones. Plus, people bought large bags mainly for practicality—for carrying more stuff—so function was more important than looks. With eleven yuan, they could buy something even bigger and sturdier elsewhere!

Qiao Lu nodded thoughtfully. “Alright, got it.”

She decided to ramp up production: ten more each of the small and medium bags, and only two more large ones—whoever wants them can take them.

Bags were way more complex to make than gloves. Wu Guifang alone couldn’t keep up the pace, so Qiao Lu headed to the neighbor next door to ask Aunt Chen for help.

Hand-sewing wouldn’t cut it—precision and detail required a sewing machine—so she didn’t go to Aunt Tian’s place.

And it wasn’t just her. Anyone who didn’t have a sewing machine—like the two daughters-in-law of the Chen family—were skipped altogether.

While Qiao Lu was busy running around, the ignored Aunt Tian started to feel a little salty. That evening, holding her bowl of rice, she leisurely strolled over to the Xu family’s doorstep.

At that moment, the family of three was also eating dinner.

“Oh, eating now, are you?”

Qiao Lu slurped some noodles and looked up with a smile. “So are you. Come in, it’s freezing outside.”

She hadn’t expected her to actually come in—those words were just polite small talk.

Twisting her waist and squeezing in through the door, she carried a bowl the size of a washbasin, filled with plain rice porridge, topped with a layer of pickled vegetables and potato slices, plus two small pieces of pickled vegetable pancakes. Not a trace of meat in sight.

The first thing she did once inside was glance at their dinner table and click her tongue. “Eating well, aren’t we?”

Qiao Lu tugged the corner of her mouth. “Just noodles, nothing special.”

They had stewed half a duck at lunch, so dinner was something light—but still, everyone had a poached egg, and the broth had some meat sauce in it. Fragrant and flavorful.

“Not bad at all, there’s even eggs,” she said, her tone implying something more than just observation.

Sure enough—

“I heard from Hongyan you’ve started a new project again—bags, is it? Making bags now?” She shoveled a mouthful of food and asked, “Making good money again, I bet?”

Qiao Lu took a small bite of egg and swallowed before answering, “Just enough to cover material costs.”

Auntie Tian curled her lips. Material costs? As if.

“Heh, must still be making plenty,” she said with a tight, forced smile.

Her tone made Xu Haizhou glance at her, confused. What was with the sarcasm? She wasn’t one to casually stop by and eat with them. What had gotten into her today?

Xu Haizhou couldn’t figure it out, but something flashed through Qiao Lu’s mind. She silently cursed her own carelessness. After living here for several months, how could she still not know Auntie Tian’s personality? How had she overlooked her?

Quickly setting down her chopsticks, Qiao Lu turned to her with a warm smile. “Actually, Auntie, it’s great that you came by. I was just telling Haizhou after dinner I wanted to come talk to you.”

Xu Haizhou gave her a side glance. Auntie Tian stopped eating, curiosity piqued. “Talk to me?”

Qiao Lu nodded with a smile. “Yes. I’d like to offer you a special job—cutting fabric scraps into this particular shape.”

She walked to the sewing machine and handed over some precut fabric pieces.

Auntie Tian held her chopsticks in one hand and took the samples with the other, studying them closely.

“I was thinking, for however much fabric I give you, you cut out as many of these shapes as you can. Two cents per piece. What do you think?”

“What? Two cents?” This sounded too good to be true!

“That’s right. Two cents per piece.”

Auntie Tian was skeptical. “You really want me to do this?”

Cutting these things was easy—just a few minutes’ work. With enough fabric, she could easily earn as much as Zhang Hongyan. Two cents for something so simple?

It felt almost unreal.

Qiao Lu smiled and said flatteringly, “Come on now, who in this courtyard is better suited for the job than you?”

That hit the sweet spot. Auntie Tian thought to herself, Well, at least she has good judgment. Her mood clearly brightened.

“Alright then! No problem. Good timing too—if you’d come ten days later, I might’ve been too busy.” As if! She didn’t have a job and nothing better to do. All she did was gossip around the neighborhood. Who was freer than her?

In the end, Auntie Tian left happily with her fabric scraps in tow, and Xu Haizhou had pretty much figured out what had happened. He couldn’t help but praise Qiao Lu’s cleverness.

“Auntie Tian doesn’t take well to being left out. If you’d only asked others and not her, she definitely would’ve come looking to pick a fight,” Xu Haizhou said with a chuckle.

“Exactly. Isn’t there a saying—‘Better to offend a gentleman than a petty person’? Not that Auntie Tian is necessarily a petty person, but, well, the saying still fits.” Basically, she couldn’t be treated like a normal person.

Neighbors were tricky. You couldn’t define them in a sentence or two—people behaved differently depending on the situation.

Learning from last time, Qiao Lu no longer did everything herself for this round of bag-making. She focused only on designing and making the prototypes, leaving the repetitive sewing work to Wu Guifang and the others. She just acted as a supervisor now.

Since the bags were priced higher, they couldn’t be sold in bulk like the gloves, so Qiao Lu set a target of ten bags a day, thinking that should be enough to sell.

With Auntie Tian now helping, Wu Guifang and Auntie Chen no longer had to cut fabric themselves and could focus solely on sewing. This saved nearly a quarter of the time, and each of them could produce five to six bags a day.

…

Ding-ling-ling—

At noon, the bell signaling the end of class rang at Lian City No. 1 High School. Groups of students streamed out of the school gate, and the once-quiet streets were suddenly buzzing with life.

Most of the students passed through Qingteng Alley as usual, glancing around to see if any new stalls or goods had appeared today.

Unsurprisingly, they were drawn to Xu Haizhou’s stall. Today, a tall tripod stood beside the booth, displaying three styles of cloth bags. The bags had no embroidered stitches—just bold geometric patchwork in vivid colors that instantly caught everyone’s eye.

The base of the bags was beige, and the patchwork was mostly in warm tones—reds and yellows, accented by a high-saturation complementary deep teal. The colors weren’t just pretty; the design was practical too. Each patch of fabric formed a small pocket that could hold coins, hairpins, or hair ties—super handy for girls. There was nothing else like them in all of Lian.

Looking at the bag straps—while regular cloth bags usually have only one or two—Xu Haizhou’s cloth bag had four!

Everyone curiously came over to check them out, and Xu Haizhou demonstrated how they worked. That’s when they realized that the four straps were actually quite practical.

The two long ones could be used to carry the bag by hand, as a shoulder bag, or crossbody. The two slightly shorter ones in the back could be used to wear it like a backpack. Although it didn’t look quite as stylish or functional as a school bag when worn like that, it was novel! Such a unique design—regardless of practicality—people had never seen anything like it before. Once that sense of novelty kicked in, it was hard to resist the urge to buy one.

“This bag is really something new,” said two young women walking over arm-in-arm. They weren’t students—judging by their appearance and outfits, they were likely already working professionals. Wearing chunky leather shoes, they looked well-off, probably in their early twenties.

One of them picked up a small bag and examined it repeatedly, a glimmer of genuine interest in her eyes.

“How much is it?” the one with braided hair asked.

Xu Haizhou smiled. “This is a medium-sized one—six yuan.”

The woman raised her eyebrows in surprise and exchanged a look with her companion. “Wow, not cheap.”

“Handmade, so the cost is high,” Xu Haizhou replied with a gentle smile.

Being able to sell it proved that the price was within a range people could accept. Sure, it was pricier than an average bag, but his wife’s designs were anything but ordinary. Just look at the style—could anyone in the whole of Lian City find another one like it?

“The small one is six yuan, medium eight, and large eleven. If you think the price is fair, go ahead and buy one. If not, I also have cheaper options here,” he added.

To highlight the beauty of his bags, Xu Haizhou had purposely bought three cheap, rough blue cloth bags from the factory that morning. They looked downright rustic.

As the saying goes, “comparison reveals the difference.” After tasting delicacies, how could you go back to plain cabbage?

The two women made no effort to hide their disdain. “These ones are ugly.”

Xu Haizhou smiled calmly and set the plain bags back down.

He then carefully explained every detail of the handmade bags—everything his wife Qiao Lu had told him, from the inside out. His soft-spoken manner created a sense of trust and reliability. The two women started to waver.

Sure, it was a bit pricey, but it was really beautiful. Just holding it gave off a feeling of elegance. Plus, they had never seen a design like this before.

What do girls want in a bag? In the past, when times were tough, practicality was all that mattered. If it could hold things, it was good enough. But now that life had improved, people began to seek spiritual satisfaction too.

These days, it was all about aesthetics!

The two women picked up the small bag again. The only difference between it and the medium one was the size and the number of patchwork pieces. The small one had two, the medium had four. The straps were also made from two different colors stitched together—bold complementary colors that stood out in any crowd. So eye-catching!

The more they looked, the more they liked them. How could something be this appealing?

“Wow, Meizi, look—the red part is stitched on! I thought it was painted. That’s so unique!”

“You’re right…”

Though Xu Haizhou wasn’t as loud and enthusiastic as Li Hongjun when hawking his wares, he had a way with words too. He gave off the vibe of a trustworthy and sincere small business owner.

It proved a point: consumers need trust. No matter what you’re doing, once you gain trust, your success rate skyrockets.

The two women were already wavering.

“Can you give us a discount? If you do, we’ll each buy one—two in total.”

Xu Haizhou smiled and shook his head. “Small business, no haggling. Every stitch was sewn by my wife—I can’t bear to sell them cheap.”

The women were surprised. “Your wife? These are hand-sewn?”

Xu Haizhou nodded. “That’s right.”

Then he picked up two golden glass hair clips from the stall. “Tell you what—if you really like the bags, I’ll give each of you one of these clips. Just a little token. If you ever need anything again, I hope you’ll come back to support my business.”

Whether they came back or not didn’t matter—what mattered was making them feel like they were getting a deal. That was Xu Haizhou’s trademark strategy.

“You’re really honest, boss.” Glass clips were trendy at the moment. One of them thought of her niece at home and figured she’d love it.

“Alright, six yuan it is.” No reason to say no to a freebie.

With that, all hesitation vanished. Both women paid—one bought a small bag, the other a medium—along with their bonus hair clips, and they left happily.

By midday, four out of six bags had been sold—two small ones at six yuan, and two medium ones at eight—making a total of twenty-eight yuan. After deducting costs, they barely lost anything. Net profit would be at least twenty yuan.

Xu Haizhou stuffed the money into his pocket and turned around—only to meet the sour gaze of Li Hongjun.

“These damn socks of mine haven’t sold a single pair since morning,” Li Hongjun grumbled, envious of how effortlessly Xu Haizhou was raking in the cash.

Socks weren’t exactly fast-moving items. Back then, people would wear the same pair for three or four years. Holes? Just patch them up—it was normal.

But bags were a different story. They were out in the open. Even if a woman already had one, she’d be tempted to buy another. Xu Haizhou had women’s psychology figured out perfectly.

“Tsk, your wife really is a walking business opportunity. First those flip-top gloves, now these bags—every time it’s a hit! Tell me, what’s she planning next? I’ll jump in before you guys do!”

Xu Haizhou chuckled, looking smug. “Even if I told you, it wouldn’t help. These are all my wife’s original designs.”

Li Hongjun: “…”

And there it was—another round of humble bragging.

Yet, looking at Xu Haizhou, a thought began to form in his mind…