After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

That afternoon, the number of customers in the grocery store gradually decreased.

Su Xiaoqing stood behind the counter, gathering the remaining braised goods into a plate, and then counted the hair ties and silk flowers on the shelf. She turned around and said to Su Xiaoyin, who was tidying up embroidery thread, "Sister, we're running out of fabric. We haven't even started making the sachets yet. If we don't go buy some soon, we might not make it in time for the Dragon Boat Festival."

Su Xiaoyin put down her embroidery frame and looked up at the sky outside. The sun was already setting, and the streets were sparsely populated. Occasionally someone would pass by, but they were in a hurry and didn't seem to be there to buy anything.

"No rush. If no one comes after a while, we'll close the shop early, buy the fabric scraps, and go home," Su Xiaoyin said, picking up her embroidery hoop and stitching a few more stitches.

The embroidery hoop held a pattern of lotus flowers, a new design she had recently come up with. The lotus flower combines the characteristics of peonies, lotuses, and chrysanthemums, and is a folk auspicious pattern symbolizing "wealth and fulfillment." The entire embroidery was composed of centrally symmetrical, radiating petals, layered upon layered, requiring the use of gradient silk threads to create a sense of depth, making it more complex than any pattern they had ever embroidered before.

Su Xiaoqing walked over, looked down at the lotus flower embroidery, and frowned slightly: "Sister, this is our first time embroidering this, so we need to be careful. I feel like I'm not embroidering as smoothly as before, and I can't seem to get the curve of the petals right."

Su Xiaoyin sighed, held up the embroidery frame to examine it in the light. Most of the lotus petals were already embroidered, but some areas weren't quite smooth enough, and the color transitions weren't natural. She nodded, "I also feel a bit clumsy. The Five Relationships and the Qilin Bringing a Child I embroidered before, although complex, I had a good grasp of them. This lotus flower is my first time embroidering, and I have to figure out many things. I estimate it will take at least another two months to finish."

Su Xiaoqing sat down beside her, picked up another embroidery hoop, looked at the unfinished petals on it, and said, "Two months is fine. Anyway, we'll mainly be making sachets before the Dragon Boat Festival, so there's no rush for this embroidery. Once we've practiced it enough, the next one will be done."

Su Xiaoyin nodded, then bent down and embroidered a few more stitches, but was still not satisfied. She simply put down the embroidery frame: "Forget it, I'm not embroidering today. The more you rush, the worse you'll embroider. Let's go to the fabric shop to buy some scraps of fabric, and the sooner we buy them, the sooner we can go home."

The two sisters tidied up the things in the shop, locked the door, and headed to the cloth shop with their baskets.

The cloth shop was on another street, not far from the general store. The two sisters arrived after walking for a while. The shopkeeper was behind the counter using an abacus. When he saw them come in, he greeted them with a smile.

"Ladies, you've arrived! It's been quite a while. What have you been up to?" The shopkeeper was a woman in her forties surnamed Zhou. She was very amiable and already quite familiar with the Su Xiaoyin sisters.

Su Xiaoyin smiled and said, "I've been busy at the shop lately and haven't had time to come. Manager Zhou, I'd like to buy some scraps of cloth today, and two bolts of fine cotton cloth as well."

Shopkeeper Zhou nodded and told her assistant to fetch some fabric scraps. She came out from behind the counter and led the two sisters to look at the fabric.

"This is newly arrived fine cotton fabric, with a simple and elegant color, perfect for making summer clothes." Manager Zhou picked up a piece of moon-white fabric; the material was very soft and smooth to the touch.

Su Xiaoyin looked at them and nodded in satisfaction: "These are good, take two."

Shopkeeper Zhou took out several more bundles of fabric scraps and piled them on the counter. The fabric scraps were all leftovers from making clothes; they varied in size and color, but were all of good quality.

Su Xiaoqing rummaged through them, picked out a few brightly colored pieces, and set them aside: "These are perfect for making sachets."

Su Xiaoyin also helped with the selection, and the two spent almost half an hour choosing three bundles of cloth scraps. Shopkeeper Zhou smiled and said, "You're regular customers, so consider these scraps half-sold, half-given away. Ten coins will do."

Su Xiaoyin paid the money and put the cloth scraps into the basket.

Just as they were about to leave, Manager Zhou suddenly remembered something and called out to them, "Oh, by the way, ladies, we have a batch of red cloth for weddings here, but it got a little damp due to improper storage. Would you like to take a look? It's cheap, and you can take it if you find it usable."

Su Xiaoyin's eyes lit up: "Shopkeeper, where is he? I want to see him."

Manager Zhou had his assistant bring out a bolt of red cloth from the back and spread it out on the counter. The red cloth was a true, bright red, the auspicious color used for weddings. There were some damp patches at the edges, making the color slightly darker, but it wasn't moldy or damaged.

Su Xiaoyin squatted down, examined it carefully, and touched it with her hands. The fabric was of good quality, made of fine cotton. After washing and drying it, it should not affect its use.

"Manager Zhou, how much is this bolt of cloth?" Su Xiaoyin asked.

Shopkeeper Zhou said, "The original price was more than that. If you want it, just give me eighty coins."

Su Xiaoyin was secretly delighted; this price was more than half off the normal price. She looked at Su Xiaoqing, who nodded in agreement. She said, "Shopkeeper, could the price be reduced even further? The edges are a bit damp, and some particular families wouldn't want to use this kind of red cloth for their wedding dress. Shopkeeper, how about fifty coins? Okay, shopkeeper, we'll take it."

Manager Zhou nodded in agreement, folded the red cloth, wrapped it in oil paper, and handed it to them.

As they left the fabric shop, Su Xiaoqing, carrying a basket, asked with some confusion, "Sister, why did you buy so much red fabric? We don't need that much for making things. We don't need many sachets, and we don't need red for embroidery."

Su Xiaoyin smiled and said as they walked, "This color is so perfect, it's rare. Take it back, wash it, and dry it; it won't be affected at all. We can sell it as a flawed piece of cloth. Look, this red cloth with such a perfect color is hard to find on the market, and it's cheap too. If we put some in our shop, we're sure someone will buy it."

Su Xiaoqing suddenly realized: "Sister is so thoughtful. Let's go back and wash and dry them first."

Su Xiaoyin added, "By the way, I saw this piece of fine cotton cloth. It's perfect for making summer clothes for the children. The colors are simple and clean, and it'll be cool to wear."

Su Xiaoqing nodded: "Okay. Sister, shouldn't we prepare two sets for Li An too? His father isn't home, so we need to think about things for him."

Su Xiaoyin said, "That's what I was thinking too. Let's make two sets. The child is small, so it won't use much fabric. Besides, An'an is a well-behaved and sensible child; we can't treat her unfairly."

Su Xiaoqing smiled: "Sister, you're just so kind-hearted."

Su Xiaoyin waved her hand: "It's not that I'm kind-hearted, it's just putting myself in his shoes. Uncle Li Hu entrusted An'an to us, so we have to live up to his trust."