He Yuyang: The tough eldest brother of the courtyard house

The autumn sun slanted across the threshing ground of the military family compound, casting long shadows of the sewing machines in Aunt Zhang's sewing group. Six old-fashioned "Butterfly" brand sewing machines stood side by side under a canvas shed, their rhythmic clatter mingling with the women's laughter, creating a lively melody. Xu Xiuli, who had just finished get off work at the tractor factory, her blue work clothes still stained with machine oil, was grabbed by the arm by Aunt Zhang.

"Beautiful girl, you've finally arrived!" Aunt Zhang's hands were as rough as old tree bark, with blue threads embedded in her fingernails. "Look at this fabric, no matter how you sew it, it's always frayed. The factory is pressing us hard, and if we can't deliver soon, this job might fall through!" She lifted the burlap sack at her feet, revealing a pile of dusty coarse cloth with bits of grass stuck to it, clearly old stock that had been sitting in the warehouse for years.

Xu Xiuli picked up a corner of the cloth, twirled it between her fingertips, and felt the fibers loose like crumpled cotton. "This cloth is indeed a bit of a rip-off," she said, frowning. "It's meant to be durable for sewing, otherwise it would wear out in less than half a month." She remembered the military cloth she had seen in the factory's logistics department, thick and sturdy, which wouldn't deform even after three years—that was actually taken out of the space warehouse by He Yuyang, who said it was "old cloth discarded by the military" and secretly gave it to the factory as a sample.

Sister Li from the sewing group stopped stepping on the pedal, and the "clattering" of the sewing machine came to an abrupt halt. "That's right," she said, rubbing her lower back, where a pain-relieving plaster, given to her by Xu Xiuli, was stuck. "I was sewing until late last night, and three needles broke. The fabric was too stiff, and it pricked my hands." She opened her palm, revealing a red mark on the back of her hand, with a bit of scab on it.

The woman next to her, Sister Wang, sighed, "We're running out of thread. The supply and marketing cooperative only has two spools of the best cotton thread left. They break after just two stitches." In her sewing basket, the spools lay crookedly, mostly empty, with only one blue spool still half full.

Aunt Zhang's eyes reddened. This sewing job was something she had worked hard to get; it almost closed down last winter, but Xu Xiuli helped wash the work clothes, which finally got the factory to give her the order. Most of the women in the residential compound were from poor families; some had husbands serving in the military in other cities, and some had many children. They relied on this sewing job to earn a little pocket money, and they had to carefully budget even for a pound of brown sugar.

"Girl, you have a wide network of contacts in the factory's logistics team, could you... could you help me think of a solution?" Aunt Zhang's voice was trembling with tears. "Even if it's expensive, we sisters can chip in. We can't let this job fall through."

Looking at the expectant eyes of the dozen or so women under the shed, Xu Xiuli felt a pang in her heart. She remembered when she first arrived at the factory, she knew nothing, and it was these women who taught her how to operate the sewing machine, step by step. Sister Wang even gave her the cloth ration coupons she had saved for half a year so she could make a new coat for Xiaoxuan. "Aunt Zhang, don't worry," she patted Aunt Zhang's hand, "I'll go back and think of a way, and I'll let you know tomorrow."

On her way home, Xu Xiuli passed by her own vegetable garden. The cabbages, watered with spiritual spring water, grew like saplings, their leaves a bright green. She suddenly remembered the warehouse in her space—He Yuyang had taken her there once before, saying it was to familiarize her with the environment. In the corner of the warehouse, there were several bundles of dark blue cloth, which He Yuyang said were "leftovers from the early days of the army, just sitting there anyway." There were also boxes of pagoda thread, in both blue and black, with stitches as smooth as silk.

"Yu Yang, can you take out those old fabrics from your space?" At dinner, Xu Xiuli served He Yu Yang a bowl of corn porridge. The porridge was mixed with some spiritual spring water, and the grains of rice were so plump that they could be seen through. "Aunt Zhang and her sewing team are running out of supplies. Without good fabric and thread, they can't deliver the goods."

He Yuyang was looking at a coded telegram that reported another batch of spy communication equipment had been intercepted at the border. It turned out that the new jamming device he had taken out of his spatial storage had worked. "Take it if you want," he said without looking up, circling things on the telegram with his pen. "Those things take up space in my spatial storage anyway. Just say they're obsolete military equipment, and no one will suspect anything." He paused, then added, "Don't take too much at once. Divide it up and distribute it to others to avoid attracting attention."

The next morning, Xu Xiuli pushed an old bicycle to the sewing group, with a bulging burlap sack tied to the back seat. "Aunt Zhang, do you think this cloth is okay?" She untied the rope, revealing a dark blue coarse cloth inside. The cloth was so smooth that it looked like it had been ironed. She stretched it with her hand, and it was so crisp that it could stand up.

"My goodness! Isn't this military cloth?" Sister Li's eyes widened. Her husband used to be a cook in the army and had worn uniforms made of this kind of cloth. "This cloth is thick and perfect for work clothes!" She picked up a piece of cloth and held it up to herself. "Ten times better than what you buy at the supply and marketing cooperative!"

Aunt Zhang touched the fabric, her hands trembling violently: "Sister, this...this is too expensive, how can we pay you?"

"Don't mention money," Xu Xiuli said with a smile, waving her hand. "This is old fabric that the army discarded. I asked Staff Officer Wang from the logistics team to get it for me. It's free." She then took a wooden box out of the bicycle basket. When she opened it, she saw a dozen or so spools of pagoda thread neatly stacked inside, some blue and some black. The spools were also printed with the words "Made in Shanghai." "This thread is also extra. You can use it for now."

The women gathered around, taking turns separating the thread, their worries dissipating, and laughter returning. Sister Li tested the sewing machine; the stitches flowed smoothly like water, the fabric crisp and without a single frayed edge. "Tsk tsk, this fabric is so easy to sew!" she exclaimed, pedaling rapidly. "At this speed, it can be finished in three days!"

Xu Xiuli helped cut the fabric. Her cutting skills were honed in the factory, and she was even more efficient than Aunt Zhang. With a stroke of the ruler across the fabric, the scissors snipped, leaving the edges of the fabric neat as if measured with a ruler. "We need to sew the neckline more securely," she said as she cut. "The workers tend to wipe their sweat while working, and the neckline is the easiest place for it to tear."

Watching her busy figure, Aunt Zhang felt a warmth in her heart, like a hot water bottle. She knew that these "old fabrics discarded by the army" weren't easy to get; Xu Xiuli must have either paid out of her own pocket or owed someone a favor. "Little sister, once this batch of work is finished, Auntie will make you a pair of cloth shoes, with a thousand layers of soles, guaranteed to be comfortable!"

Xu Xiuli smiled and agreed. What she didn't say was that several boxes of these fabrics and threads were piled up in the space's warehouse. He Yuyang said they were what he'd "signed in" for, and since they were just sitting there, he figured he might as well give them to someone who could use them. Time flowed quickly in the space, and these "old fabrics" were actually freshly woven on the looms in the space's small villa, making them even stronger than new fabrics from outside.

Three days later, the first batch of work clothes arrived at the factory. Section Chief Wang, who was inspecting the clothes, examined them thoroughly, tapping the fabric with his fingers: "This fabric is of good quality, even better than the last sample!" He picked up a shirt and put it on; it fit perfectly, and the topstitching on the cuffs was straight. "Aunt Zhang, your craftsmanship has improved!"

Aunt Zhang beamed from ear to ear: "It's all thanks to Team Leader Xu; she found us such great fabric."

Section Chief Wang's eyes lit up: "Team Leader Xu? You mean Xu Xiuli from the tractor factory's logistics team?" He had long heard that Deputy Commander He's wife was a team leader at the factory, efficient and technically skilled. "I'll give you a 20% raise on this batch of workwear, and add another two hundred pieces, how about that?"

Aunt Zhang almost thought she had misheard. She stood there stunned for a long time before nodding repeatedly, "Yes! Yes! We guarantee on-time delivery!"

When the news reached the family compound, the women in the sewing group were overjoyed. Sister Li stuffed her newly received wages into her pocket, planning to buy a pound of fruit candy for her child; Sister Wang was thinking about getting a piece of floral fabric to make a new jacket for her husband; and Aunt Zhang stayed up all night sewing shoe soles, her stitches as dense as fish scales, saying she wanted to make Xu Xiuli the thickest pair of cotton shoes.

That evening, Xu Xiuli had just finished get off work when she saw Aunt Zhang waiting for her at the gate of the courtyard with a wooden box in her hand. "Little sister, try some of the sugar cakes I made, they're fresh out of the oven." Aunt Zhang opened the box, revealing several golden sugar cakes inside, steaming hot and with a sweet aroma. "And this, some cloth shoes I made for you, try them on to see if they fit."

The cloth shoes were made of black corduroy, with thick soles and fine stitches that left no gaps. A small plum blossom was embroidered on the toe. "Auntie, your craftsmanship is amazing!" Xu Xiuli tried them on; they fit perfectly, not too big or too small, and felt as soft as walking on cotton.

"What a coincidence," Aunt Zhang patted her hand. "If it weren't for you, where would our sewing group be today? Now everyone in the yard envies us, saying that we women can hold up half the sky and contribute to the country." She suddenly remembered something and took out a cloth bag from her pocket. "This is for Xiaoxuan. I saved up two feet of floral fabric coupons. Make a little jacket for the child."

Xu Xiuli couldn't refuse, so she had to accept it. Watching Aunt Zhang's unsteady figure walk away, she suddenly felt that the fabric and thread in this space were more precious than gold and silver jewelry—they could give people hope for the future, make women stand tall, and make the atmosphere of this residential compound more vibrant.

When He Yuyang returned at night, he saw Xu Xiuli looking at the cloth shoes under the lamplight. "Did Aunt Zhang give them to you?" He took off his military boots, which were covered in mud from when he went to the training ground that afternoon to inspect the newly dug trenches.

"Hmm," Xu Xiuli put the shoes in the shoebox and carefully put them into the cabinet. "She said that thanks to us, the sewing group has become a 'model of getting rich,' and the factory is even going to give them a banner."

He Yuyang smiled and took out a small notebook from his pocket, which contained a list of supplies in the space warehouse. "There's still a lot of cloth in the space," he said, flipping through the notebook. "Next time, I'll have Aunt Zhang and the others make more. Winter is coming soon, so we can send some thick cotton-padded clothes to the border guards. Jianguo said last time that there aren't enough cotton-padded clothes at the outposts."

Xu Xiuli's eyes lit up: "That's a great idea! Let's get all the women in the sewing team involved, using the best fabric and the thickest cotton wadding to make sure the soldiers are warm!" She suddenly remembered the cotton in her spatial storage, snow-white and fluffy, irrigated with spiritual spring water, three times warmer than ordinary cotton. "I'll talk to Aunt Zhang about it tomorrow!"

Moonlight streamed through the window onto the peach trees, their leaves already turning yellow, yet falling later than usual. Xu Xiuli watched her husband's profile as he wrote a report under the lamp; his military green uniform accentuated his broad shoulders. Suddenly, she felt that life was like the soles of shoes Aunt Zhang sewed—every stitch, seemingly ordinary, yet concealing the most genuine warmth. Those treasures within were never meant for their own exclusive enjoyment, but rather, like this moonlight, to shine upon more places in need, allowing everyone striving to live a fulfilling life to move forward with steady steps.