Chapter 59: Handbags

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Lu Cheng Yu and Li Fang Yue had been married for almost a month. This month, the Lu family had some general turmoil.

Lin Xiu'er glanced at Tang and asked, "Is the bride supposed to return her maiden family by tradition tomorrow?"

Tang nodded. "You are right." Although Tang was not very satisfied with Li Fang Yue, she still valued her trip back to her maiden family.

Lin Xiu'er asked curiously, "Will Secretary-General show up when shereturn to the Li family?"

Tang gritted her teeth and said, "I think so."

Tang was very dissatisfied with Li Fang Yue, but when she thought about how Li Fang Yue was going to meet Secretary-General when she went back to her maiden family this time, she prepared a generous return gift despite herself.

"You've prepared so much meat for her!" Lin Xiu'er fumed.

The family had suffered a lot for Lu Cheng Yu's marriage. They hadn't had any meat or fish or days, Lin Xiu'er had been sulking so much due to that. Grandma Lu became more and more stingy, she would even keep all the eggs to exchange money. Lin Xiu'er was so annoyed when she saw Tang had prepare so much stuff for Li Fang Yue.

Lin Xiu'er thought to herself, "Old Madam is too biased. Recently, the family had been so calculating on the spending, but now she allows you to prepare so much stuff for Lu Cheng Yu's bride."

"It's for the Secretary-General's sake. " Tang explained.

Lin Xiu'er said unhappily, "Isn't it possible that he won't show up? Just like when we expected him on the wedding ceremony!"

When Tang heard Lin Xiu'er's words, her face darkened. Tang lost face when the Secretary-General didn't attend the wedding banquet, she always hang her head in shame in front of Lin Xiu'er. Tang thought that the Secretary-General didn't come because he didn't want to come to the village. "This time is different, the bride is going to town."

Lin Xiu'er pouted and said, "What's wrong with Lu Tong's husband then? How come he hasn't accompanied her to visit us yet?!"

Tang sighed and shook her head.

Lu Cheng Yu rented an ox cart and took Li Fang Yue to the town.

After Li Fang Yue married Lu Cheng Yu, she realized that her mother-in-law was too fierce. Grandma Lu was domineering, she just found her life was not as comfortable as she imagined.

Because the dowry wasn't rich enough, Li Fang Yue felt a little guilty, so sometimes, she knew could only endure the unfairness.

Thinking about how her elder sister lived an opulent life, a life full of fragrant food and exquisite outfits, being surrounded by servant girls, but she married into the countryside. Li Fang Yue often sighed, how she wished she didn't have to live on a budget, she wished she were as lucky as her elder sister in the next life.

......

After Lu Lin's family moved to the town, they paid less attention to the village affairs, and the Lu family's dispute didn't affect them.

Chen Xiao Cai and Chen Xiao Mai gradually adapted to life in the town.

Lu Lin walked into the house and saw Chen Xiao Cai, Xiao Maiand Shen Chi making ornamental knots. It was mainly Shen Chi who was making it, Xiao Cai offering a hand while Xiao Mai observing and interrupting them.

Lu Lin recalled when he was in elementary school, making ornamental knots was popular among the girls and many girls would secretly make them during classes.

Many girls would put crystal beads on the knots. The price of crystal beads in this time and space was simply too expensive. Lu Lin had ordered quite a few wooden pendants and some wooden beads from the carpenter in town.

Shen Chi was not interested in sewing clothes, and he was quite interested in making these fancy knots. He even developed many new styles, what a creative and artistic kid!

Lu Lin was very supportive of Shen Chi's hobbies. He gave some colorful knitting wool to Shen Chi, and he put the knots made by Shen Chi in the shop for sale.

A fancy and exquisite knot could sell for three or four cents. The profit was small, but it had quick returns.

Every time they sold a knot, Lu Lin would give Shen Chi a cent as his cut. Granny Shen felt very sorry, but Granny Shen accepted it in the end due to Lu Lin's insistence.

Granny Shen was happy that her grandson turned out to be so artistic and creative, he could even make money.

Since Shen Chi made money, he was more interested in making knots.

......

One of the seamstresses Su He worked for Lu Lin grabbed some needles and some fabric before she returned home this day.

Su He's home was relatively close to the town. She could reach home in less than half an hour, so Su He often went to the town to find work.

"Mom, did you buy a bun for me?"

Su He poked her son's nose and said in a doting way, "Yes, you little piglet."

He Li saw the things in Su He's hand and scratched his head. "He, where did you get so much cloth?"

"I brought these from work. The steward's Yun Niang said that we can take the things back home and she would calculate our wage by the piece. This way, we don't have to waste time walking back and forth every day. However, I haven't taken my wage for the past few days, I gave it to Yun Niang as a deposit."

There were quite a few female workers who took work back home. Even though their families were close to the town, it was difficult to walk to the shop on a a stormy or a rainy day.

He Li was originally a laborer hired by the year in town, and he was paid 30 cents in a day. He Li was replaced by someone else this year, and his family suffered to make ends meet.

Su He has always made embroidery products and sold them in town to support the household. However, embroidery products were not easy to sell recently.

Some time ago, Lu Lin asked Yun Niang to recruit embroidery ladies and seamstresses. Su He joined them, she believed that it was a good opportunity. She was glad she could make 25 cents per day.

She had worked harder these past few days, she hoped she could make more money by the piece.

"The thing you are making now are called schoolbags, right? The finished products are sold in Sino Commercial House. It is expensive, but there are still many people who buy it!" He Li said.

Su He nodded and said, "Correct, it's so popular among the rich people! I heard that there were also many people in the neighboring town who came to buy them".

"That bag is very useful, but it is too expensive, I don't know how the shop owner comes up with this idea," He Li scratched his head.

Su He thought to herself: There are many procedures for a bag like this. Sometimes, a fancy bag is made with several different color patches, and none of the patches is not easy to make. The shop owner should have spent quite a bit of money on dyeing the fabric alone, but none of this concerns me. I just want to work hard and support my little family.

......

In the backyard of the Sino Commercial Shop.

Wan Xiao Fan walked into the room and said respectfully, "Lin Gege, Young Master Yang is here."

Lu Lin nodded, "Invite him in, Xiao Fan."

When Wan Xiao Fan first moved in with them, he was a little shy and overcautious. He had improved a lot during this period of time. He now dared to play with Xiao Mai.

"Young Master Yang!" Lu Lin was glad to hear Yang Heng Zhi was here.

Lu Lin went to the living room and welcomed Yang Heng Zhi.

Yang Heng Zhi glanced at Lu Lin and said, "Brother Lu's business is thriving! "

Lu Lin told others that both commercial house and residential areas were rented, and he just helping others manage it. However, Yang Heng Zhi and the exl owner of commercial house were old friends and he knew the truth.

Lu Lin smiled shyly and said, "It's just a small business. It's enough to make a living." He had already made quite a lot of money, but to these rich people, it was only a hair off a bull's back. The Yang family had a lot of shops and hundreds of acres of farmland. Many of the villagers were tenant farmers of the Yang family.

"Don't be so modest, your bag has become a hit recently! There are few students in the school who have bought the bags in your shop. We heard that your shop is planning to launch some new product called handbag recently, is that right?" Yang Heng Zhi asked.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "This is the plan. Young Master Yang, you are so well-informed."

Lu Lin took two handbags from the closet and showed them to Yang Heng Zhi. The handbags' target audience was the rich ladies in town, so they were very exquisitely made. Each handbag had different embroidery patterns.

Yang Heng Zhi smiled and said, "So beautiful. Can you sell the two bags to me?"

Lu Lin smiled awkwardly and said, "These are sample products, they are not for sale. However, you've already said you liked them, Young Master Yang, no way will I say no to you."

Yang Heng Zhi smiled and said, "Brother Lu is such a straightforward person!"

Yang Heng Zhi was also quite curious about Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi. Yang Heng Zhi and Chen Xiao Mi were old acquaintances. Not long ago, Chen Xiao Mi was very poor, but now they had bought a house and a store.

......

When Chen Xiao Mi came back from outside, he heard that Yang Heng Zhi had been there.

"Why is Young Master Yang here?!"

"He somehow has heard the news of our handbags, so he came to ask." The poor people of this time and space were very poor, but the rich were at the opposite extreme. Many of the rich people in town didn't have much to do except hunting for novelty.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "The news were probably leaked by those embroiderers."

"I agree," Lu Lin separated the embroiderers, he let each of them be responsible for different parts. But people in that time and space were actually very smart. Looking at the items sold in the store and the stuff they were making, they could guess what Lu Lin was about to launch.

Chen Xiao Mi blinked and said, "I didn't expect the schoolbags could be so easy to sell."

There were a few days when the bag didn't sell well. Chen Xiao Mi was worried that maybe they had made too much, but two days ago, a rich merchant from another town came over and bought dozens of bags, and just like that the bags were sold out.

Lu Lin nodded. "There are still many rich people."

Although Lu Lin came from modern times, he was just an average Joe in his previous life. He was still a little surprised when he saw how the rich people shopping in ancient times.

Chen Xiao Mi calculated the recent accounts and he felt glad.

The business of selling wine was always done in a sneaky way, which always made Chen Xiao Mi feel insecure. Even the Sweet Potato Wine, they had to use convenience store to ensure that sweet potatoes wouldn't go bad. However, the bag business was different. As long as they had customers, this business could bring them wealth continuously.

"Two days ago, I saw Lu Cheng Yu in our shop. He was here with his classmates, and he bought a bag. I'm pretty sure he didn't see me," Chen Xiao Mi said.

Lu Lin was a little surprised, "Has he already gone back to school, I thought he asked for days of leave for his wedding!"

Their shop was popular among the students, Lu Lin wasn't surprised that Lu Cheng Yu came to their shop, he was surprised that Lu Cheng Yu came back to school so early.

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "It looks like it."

"This guy just got married though!" However, the rumor seemed to be true, Lu Cheng Yu's bride didn't seem to have any charm, Lu Cheng Yu didn't want to spend more time with her!

Chen Xiao Mi pouted, "Maybe he just doesn't want to stay in the village."

Lu Lin thought about it and said, "That also makes sense!" The Lu family now relied on Lu Cheng Yu's father and Lu An for farm work, but Lu An had a job in town. Even though Lu Cheng Yu was a Tongsheng, the Lus would ask him to do farm work when there was no one was available.