Chapter Eleven: Great Uproar

  Fu Pei Lan returned home to find that her mother was not at home, and only after asking the neighbors did she learn that she had gone to Lin Nai Nai's house again. Fu Pei Lin and Fu Pei Yao went to work, and Fu Pei Qi went to the library, all of whom would not return until evening.

  Rarely having no one at home to disturb her, Fu Pei Lan quickly ran back to her room, took out the drawings and fabrics she had prepared earlier, and started making clothes.

  She planned to make two long skirts out of the piece of brocade, and that day she heard the owner of the tailor's shop say that the two embroidered small dresses were new styles for her niece's wedding, which was next Sunday. If she could finish making the skirt before then and take it to the tailor's shop, there might be an unexpected surprise.

  Making clothes is simple, especially when Fu Pei Lan plans to use machines for sewing, which greatly reduces the production speed. The difficulty lies in embroidery, if you want to embroider a good picture, it's very time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, these two long skirts, Fu Pei Lan does not plan to adopt large-scale manual embroidery entirely, one of them simply embroidered some patterns on the collar, cuffs, and hem to enhance the grade, while the other was carefully made, after all, she doesn't have a reputation yet, relying solely on style to attract customers is too easy to be imitated. She currently does not have the capital to establish her own specialty store, nor does she have the money for large-scale production, so these one or two pieces of work cannot meet the needs of clothing stores, and in the end, it may even give counterfeit manufacturers an opportunity.

  So she can only use manual labor to win, using exquisite embroidery skills to attract the attention of shops and customers first. Some factories may want to imitate, but they may not have the energy to hire excellent embroiderers to do the embroidery. In this way, counterfeits will always be counterfeits, no matter what, they can't compare with the delicacy of genuine products. And when she has capital, she can focus on design in the future.

  This is also why she chose Zhou Yan's tailor shop for her first solo business instead of some clothing store.

  In this era, clothes of the same style and fabric are priced much higher in department stores than those made by tailor shops. Many people can't afford to buy clothes from department stores, so they turn their attention to tailor shops. Some tailors even imitate the styles of department store clothes for their customers. The term "high-end custom-made" is still just a myth, at least in Qing City, where there isn't a single such store.

  Fu Peilan almost walked through the entire city and only found Zhou Yan's clothing store, which was a bit higher-end. She observed carefully that this store didn't look like an ordinary tailor shop. Perhaps the owner had some connections with garment factories in Guangzhou, the store was divided into two parts: one half sold ready-made clothes with relatively new styles, while the other half did custom orders, mainly modifying and improving existing clothes to fit customers' body types or special needs. Some people who couldn't find their desired clothes on the market would describe their style and have the in-store tailor make it for them. The prices were also much higher than those of ordinary small tailor shops, and the workmanship was more exquisite.

  Therefore, customers who come here are not necessarily looking for cheap clothes, but to find a piece of clothing that suits them better. In Fu Pei-lan's view, the store's business model has already had some high-end customization or handmade customization in later generations.

  Fu Peilan was precisely looking at this point, and she tried her best to win Zhou Yan's recognition. She thought that a boss who could come up with such a business model would absolutely not be short-sighted enough to fake things for short-term profits while ignoring the long-term benefits brought by her design and craftsmanship to the clothing store.

  State-run large shopping malls generally have their own channels for purchasing goods, and Fu Pei Lan, a young designer who has just started her career, currently has no way to contact such state-owned large stores. Therefore, if she wants to sell her clothes, she can only choose some small shops. As a newcomer, Fu Pei Lan does not want to hand over her hard-earned works to those who are reckless in pursuit of profit, nor does she hope that the fruits of her labor will only bring once benefit. So, she set her sights on Zhou Yan's clothing store, which has a relatively large customer flow, and does not require mass production. The boss can also draw dividends, and it is possible to cooperate in the long term in the future. When she accumulates enough capital, she can naturally develop freely according to her wishes without being restricted.

  Fu Peilan rubbed her slightly stiff neck, put away the half-finished skirt, and estimated that her old mother would be back soon. It was already four thirty, so she'd better get ready to face the battle ahead.

  Fu's mother was stunned when she heard that her daughter had turned down the job. It seemed like all the joy of the day had become a joke. She had just been boasting at her parents' house about how their family would have an extra income, and how the foundry factory was doing well, with the workshop statistician's salary almost reaching 70 yuan per month, which could even increase as she gained seniority. By next year, when Fu Pei Qi went to university, Lin Yu Ping would finally be able to reap the rewards of her hard work... but now? Now? Everything was gone...

  "Mom, what's wrong?" Fu Pei didn't expect her twin sister to be so bold, and their mother didn't explode in anger like she usually did. Fu Pei couldn't help but push her mother, "Mom, you're not going to let Fu Peilan get the better of you, are you?"

  Fu Mama blinked and stared at Fu Peilan in a daze, asking cautiously, "Xiao Si, what did you just say to me?"

  She must have misheard! It's gotta be her who misheard! She definitely misheard!

  "Mom, you didn't hear wrong, I've agreed with Uncle Zhao that I won't go to work anymore." Fu Peilan repeated calmly.

  Fu's mother suddenly stood up, "You said it was okay? What makes you say it's okay? Little rabbit, what qualifications do you have to act on your own?"

  "Mom, don't worry first, hurry up and go talk to Director Zhao, Fu Peilan was just confused for a moment, we still need this job!" Fu Peiqi pulled his mother out of the room, "The factory has also finished work now, haven't you been to Director Zhao's house before? Hurry up and talk."

  "Got it, little rabbit, you can't escape me when I get back!" Fu Mama didn't have the heart to scold Fu Pei Lan anymore, her priority was to secure her job position.

  "Does our family want this job? Who's going to do it then? You?" Fu Peilan stared at Fu Teqi, her eyes filled with mockery.

  Fu Pei Qi pursed his lips and sneered, "Of course it's whoever goes is who should go."

  "It seems that you're the one who's going, after all, it was you who didn't get in, wasn't it? Whether or not you can get in next year is still uncertain, why not take a good position now and avoid a big mess!" Fu Pei Lan retorted.

  "Alright, alright, stop arguing." Fu Peilin saw that the atmosphere between her siblings was getting more and more tense, so she hastily mediated, "Peishan, since Peiyao will be late from work today, why don't you go cook first? We'll have dinner when mom gets back."

  Fu Pei Lan's gaze swept over Fu Pei Qi's pale face and she snorted, turning to head into the kitchen.

  An hour later, Fu Pei-yao also returned. Apparently having heard the whole story from Fu Pei-lin, she entered the kitchen with a worried face and said, "You're too impulsive."

  "So what do you want me to do? If I don't make it clear today, I'll have no choice but to fill out the form and the foundry factory will be qualified to retrieve my school records. It will be difficult for me to leave then." Fu Peilan said.

  "But what about Mom's side..."

  "Fu Pei Lan, get out here!" Fu's mom rushed into the kitchen like a gust of wind, dragging Fu Pei Lan towards the main house. Along the way, she bumped into Li Nainai who was choosing vegetables at the door, causing the vegetables in the old lady's basket to scatter all over the floor. The unhappy old lady grumbled, "Can't you just calm down for two days, Old Fu's family?"

  "You'd better mind your own business." Fu's mother said without turning her head.

  Mrs. Li was choked with rage, just about to speak when Fu Pei-yao pulled her back, "Don't be angry, Mrs. Li, my mom is in a bad mood today and has wronged you, let me rewash the vegetables for you." Fu Pei-yao apologized while squatting down to pick up the green vegetables on the ground and putting them back into the basin.

  "Never mind, I'll do it myself. You go and persuade your mother instead, don't hit the child again."

  Fu Pei-yao nodded gratefully and apologized again before hurrying off to the main house.

  "You're satisfied now, aren't you, you foolish girl? Mr. Zhao said that position has already been given to someone else, you don't have a share in it!" Fu Mama scolded while pulling and patting Fu Pei Lan's arm on the back, "What sin did I commit to give birth to such an disobedient girl... How will our family live from now on? Such a good job is gone... Gone..."

  "Mother, stop hitting me quickly, Xiaolan's illness has just recovered for a few days..."

  "Mom, what's the point of hitting her now that things have already happened? After all, little sister has been admitted to university, just let her go."

  Fu Peilan and Fu Molin pulled their mother Fu and persuaded her.

  "Phooey! What school? You think you can go to school if you don't go to the foundry? I'm telling you, that's just a dream. Your admission letter has been torn up and thrown away by me. You're doomed to be poor for this lifetime, even if you went to university it would be a waste!

  You didn't want to be a statistician, insisted on being self-willed, now look what happened? Good job gone, go back and you'll be just like your third sister, an ordinary worker, exhausted from seeing the sky. Are you satisfied with this kind of work? I think you won't know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is until you've been taught a lesson!"

  "Mom, don't worry, even if I don't go to the foundry, I'll still give you the household expenses every month, and you won't have to pay for my tuition either." Fu Peilan struggled free from her mother's grasp, took two steps back, and said softly.

  "Do you pay for household expenses? What do you use to pay for household expenses? How much money can you even contribute?" Fu's mother sneered, "Can't you just focus on studying and forget about part-time work? You're lucky if you can earn enough to cover your tuition fees. You're already seventeen, almost eighteen, how can you still be so naive? Money isn't that easy to come by. Without a stable job, everything is just empty talk."

  Fu Peilan knew that in this era, people's minds were all about having an iron rice bowl being the best, and going to a state-owned large factory was even more prestigious. If one went to work for a private entrepreneur, it would be considered having no future prospects. Fu Peilan couldn't correct her mother's way of thinking, she could only let time slowly change it. Fu Peilan believed that this era was absolutely her golden age.

  "Don't worry about this, the new employees at the foundry get a salary of 68 yuan per month. At most, I'll try to get you that amount in the future," said Fu Peilan.

  "Hahaha, did you guys hear what she said? She said if I don't go to work for a month, she'll give me 680, it's simply ridiculous, is she trying to fool a three-year-old?! Fu Mama laughed so hard that her eyes were shining with tears, staring at Fu Peishan with an eerie gaze. "You said you'd give me money, now hand over the salary for the next four years of university, just calculate it as 680 per month, I'll even waive the small change, let's say 3,000, and then you can do whatever you want, I won't care about you anymore. But if you can't come up with the money, even if you try to sweet-talk your way out of it, I won't believe you!"

  "Mom, why are you making things difficult for me?" Fu Peilan closed her eyes in frustration, "You calm down first, I'll talk to you again tomorrow."

  "Stop right there!" Fu's mother shouted, "You want me to calm down? How can I calm down? Let me tell you again, Fu Peishan, my family doesn't raise idle people. If you don't go to work, then get out of here as soon as possible."

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