The cannon fodder female supporting role stirs up trouble in period literature

Zhou Laiying found a job as a salesperson at the Jingshi Department Store, selling ready-made clothes at the clothing, hat, shoe and sock counter on the second floor. She chatted with the salesperson who sold fabrics at the counter next to her for a whole day and drank several jars of tea. When she got off work, she still felt unsatisfied. "Sister Cheng, are the wontons you mentioned really that delicious?"

Sister Cheng, who sells fabrics, said as she packed up her things: "How could I cheat you? The taste is absolutely amazing, much better than the ones in state-owned restaurants. I'll bring you some to try tomorrow morning."

"That's great! Thank you, Sister Cheng," Zhou Laiying thanked her and then said, "Nowadays, are there people who dare to open a shop and do business? Aren't they afraid of being investigated by the higher-ups?"

Sister Cheng said, "It's true that the bold will die of overeating, and the timid will die of starvation. Anyway, I see that his shop has been open for nearly a month. I go there every morning to eat, and no one has come to check. I guess it's okay, right?"

After that, he motioned Zhou Laiying to come closer. When Zhou Laiying came closer, he lowered his voice and said, "You know, my boy just came back from the countryside. He didn't get into college and doesn't have a job. He's not young anymore, and it's hard for him to even find a wife. I thought, since I'm going to retire in two years anyway, I might as well give him the job and then I can set up a stall. I'm pretty good at making noodles with soybean paste."

Zhou Laiying was also tempted after hearing this. Although the monthly salary of a salesperson was not low and she could always take home some goods that others could not get, this job was too strict and she really didn't like it.

If she could start her own business, she couldn't sell food because she couldn't cook, but she could make clothes. If she studied it more carefully, it would be a good idea for her to open a tailor shop.

Zhou Laiying pointed to a roll of Dacron fabric with a red background and white flowers and said, "Sister Cheng, can you give me five feet of this fabric?"

Sister Cheng, who had already put down her small bag and was about to leave, said, "Okay, I'll buy it for you first, and I'll issue the ticket when I come tomorrow morning."

Zhou Laiying naturally agreed and put the five feet of floral cloth into her small bag.

The shoulder bag was given to her by Erhua before. The style was better than others. When she first came to work with this bag, people envied her so much that many people came to her and asked her where she bought the bag.

When Zhou Laiying saw Hua Rendong after returning home, she cried out "Oh my god!", threw her bag on the sofa next to her, and rushed to Hua Rendong, "Erhua, when did you come back? You missed your aunt so much."

After saying that, he hugged Hua Honeysuckle and started to cry.

Before Hua Rendong was in Beijing, Zhou Laiying didn't know what she was doing every day. She just thought that people with supernatural powers were amazing. But after arriving in Beijing, she found that Hua Rendong had no news for several months after she went on a mission. How could she not be anxious? It is inevitable to always think of the worst.

Now seeing Honeysuckle standing in front of him, Zhou Laiying finally felt relieved, but she still couldn't help feeling scared.

Zhou Laiying's emotions didn't calm down until he heard Hua Rendong's repeated assurances that the mission was not dangerous and it was just inconvenient to contact him.

Just when Zhou Laiying was coaxed, Hua Jianshe came back.

After coming to Beijing, Hua Jianshe was assigned to work in the office of Beijing Automobile Factory. His daily job was to drink tea and read newspapers. He was almost bored every day. He used to be looking forward to such a job, but now that he was actually sitting in such a position, he found it boring.

Today I heard people in the office chatting, and they said that some educated youth who went to the countryside and returned to the city couldn't find jobs, so they secretly started food business at home, or traded some things to sell, and now no one cares.

Hua Jianshe was a little tempted. Although office work was easy, it was not what he liked. Instead of drinking tea and reading newspapers all day, he would rather deal with machine parts.

It just so happened that he heard that a parts factory that Beijing Automobile Factory often cooperated with was about to go bankrupt because its director was imprisoned for corruption and the factory suffered huge losses, so Hua Jianshe became interested.

But how can a private factory be opened these days? Even with his niece's connections, it probably wouldn't be that easy, not to mention that his niece had been away on a mission for several months, which made him very worried.

Not wanting to return home with a heavy heart, the first thing he saw was Erhua being pulled by his wife and sitting on the sofa talking. Hua Jianshe was overjoyed and was about to rush over, but Zhou Laiying raised her foot to stop him, saying contemptuously, "How old are you? Why are you acting like a child?"

Hua Jianshe touched his nose and finally controlled his emotions, but still asked excitedly: "When did Erhua come back?"

Honeysuckle said, "I've been back for a few days, and the mission was just handed over today."

Hua Jianshe didn't ask about the mission anymore. He wanted to tell Hua Rendong to take fewer missions that would take some time to complete. Then he heard the mother and daughter start talking again.

"Erhua, do you really think it's feasible for me to make clothes and sell them?"

Hua Rendong nodded seriously, "Of course it's possible. For example, this piece of Dacron costs more than seven yuan, but it costs more than ten yuan to make a skirt. With a sewing machine, auntie can make more than ten pieces a day, right?"

Seeing Zhou Laiying nodding vigorously, Hua Rendong continued, "You don't have to open a store in the early stage. You can sell them in front of the factories after get off work at night. Even if you only sell one piece in one night, you can earn enough money to buy a skirt."

Zhou Laiying was very excited and decided to give it a try.

As for the fabric, I plan to buy it in department stores first, and then look for manufacturers to cooperate with after I make some money.

Be alert when the time comes and put the clothes in a big cloth bag. If someone with a red armband comes to catch her, she can just pick them up and run away.

The more she thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed. When she found a few rolls of fabrics of different colors on the coffee table in front of her, Zhou Laiying was pleasantly surprised. "Erhua, why are you so nice?"

The fabrics were all traded to her by Xu Xixi earlier, and have been kept in the space for more than two years. She had used some of them to make clothes for Zhou Laiying and others, which also aroused Zhou Laiying's interest in learning how to make clothes. Now that she plans to make clothes to sell, these fabrics come in handy.

Hua Rendong even took out two books on fashion design so that she could refer to some of the designs and add some details to the clothes.

Zhou Laiying was overjoyed and couldn't stop looking at the book. His eyes widened from time to time, and then he nodded in realization, apparently really absorbed in it.

Hua Xiaohua also came over to watch. She also liked making clothes, and her works were quite good. It happened to be summer vacation, so she had plenty of time.

Hua Jianshe was speechless. This mother and daughter were so busy reading that they ignored everything else. It was already so late and they still didn’t think about cooking?

But after looking at this and that, she finally put on her apron and went to the kitchen silently.

The weather was hot and I didn't want to eat anything hot, so Hua Jianshe started kneading the dough, planning to roll out noodles and make some sauce.

When Zhou Laiying came to his senses, Hua Jianshe had already kneaded the dough, and he hurriedly chased after him, "Old Hua, just let me do it."

Hua Jianshe glanced at her and finally said, "The dough is hard. I'll roll it out later. You can just think of some marinade to make."