Courtyard House: Is Xu Damao a childless man? Let me help.

(Chapter 30 has been added~~~~ You guys can go back and take a look).

Leave

My home internet connection is a bit unstable, so today's update time might be slightly different. Sorry!

Chapter Thirty-Six: Finding Liang Ladi to Make Clothes

They chatted for five or six minutes before the other guards finally returned from the cafeteria. They were taken aback when they saw Ye Jianchuan sitting in the guard room.

"Old Li, what's going on? What did you do wrong?"

The security guard who was chatting with Ye Jianchuan waved his hand and said, "No, no, no, he came to find someone. It was too cold outside, so I asked him to come out and wait."

"You're back now, aren't you? I was just heading to the cafeteria anyway, so I can just call him out while I'm at it."

Ye Jianchuan, who was quite knowledgeable about water, immediately took out another cigarette and offered it around. Then, "Old Li" went to the cafeteria to call for help for Ye Jianchuan, while Ye Jianchuan continued to sit in the security room and chat with the few security guards who had just returned.

Okay... These guards clearly didn't have much of a sense of security. After a few words, they were basically telling Ye Jianchuan things, while Ye Jianchuan, apart from offering cigarettes at the beginning, didn't seem to say much at all.

From these brothers, Ye Jianchuan gleaned another useful piece of information: the machine repair shop wanted to celebrate the Chinese New Year by giving out some employee benefits.

However, after Director Liu of their machine repair shop brought up this matter, they still haven't decided what to give out during the Chinese New Year.

Providing meat? The meat processing plant's supply is not something the machine repair shop can dictate, so it would be difficult to provide meat to every employee.

Giving out money? That's not the thing at this time. At most, people can receive their Lunar New Year month salary in advance. Want double pay for the New Year? That's not an option right now.

As for what else to send, what should be sent? Director Liu is struggling with this question and hasn't made a decision yet.

Upon hearing this, Ye Jianchuan thought, "Isn't this a perfect coincidence? If we can secure this order for the machine repair shop's New Year's goods, wouldn't that be another great achievement?"

Although he had never thought about seeking fame or fortune or pursuing a career in politics, if he could maintain a good relationship with Director Zhou, his life at the food factory would be easier in the future.

Of course, the most important thing is that if we can help Director Zhou solve the sales problem, then next year, there should be one bicycle ticket for me among the few available at the food factory, right?

Ye Jianchuan has already started thinking about buying a bicycle. Money isn't a problem; he estimates he'll be able to save enough for one in ten days to two weeks.

However, bicycle tickets are a scarce commodity, and waiting for the system to randomly reward him with one is too far off, so Ye Jianchuan felt it was better to find a way himself.

Just then, a woman walked in. Ye Jianchuan recognized her at a glance; it was Liang Ladi. After all, Ye Jianchuan was very familiar with Miao Pu's face.

So when Ye Jianchuan saw her, he immediately stood up and said, "Hello, you must be Comrade Liang Ladi? I am Ye Jianchuan, a worker at the food factory."

Liang Ladi paused for a moment, then said, "I heard from Lao Li that you wanted to see me about something?"

Ye Jianchuan didn't answer. Instead, he took out the pack of cigarettes he had on him and placed it on the table. Then he greeted the guards in the security room and turned to look at Liang Ladi.

"Master Liang, let's go outside and talk!"

Liang Ladi, however, had no suspicions and followed Ye Jianchuan out of the security room.

"Master Liang, it's like this, Director Zhou from our food factory told me that your tailoring skills are very good, and you also happen to take on some needlework and sewing jobs in your spare time."

So I'd like to ask you to order some clothes for me.

Liang Ladi nodded and then said, "Master Ye, since you were introduced by Director Zhou, I won't stand on ceremony with you."

As you probably know, my family is quite poor. I have to take care of four children by myself, and without extra income, it's really not enough to make ends meet.

So I can make clothes for you, but my labor fee isn't cheap.

Ye Jianchuan shrugged indifferently, "Master Liang, you don't need to call me Master Ye anymore. You're so much older than me. If you'd like, just call me Little Ye."

As for the labor cost, as long as the finished clothes look good and the quality is good, the labor cost is not an issue.

Upon hearing Ye Jianchuan's words, Liang Ladi immediately became happy. "Okay, okay, then Xiao Ye, come with me. I need to go back and deliver food to my child."

"When we get home, I can help you take your measurements and stuff."

As he spoke, he picked up his lunchbox and walked ahead, continuing to talk as he went.

"Xiao Ye, since you asked me to call you Xiao Ye, then I'll take the liberty of asking you not to call me Master Liang anymore, but Sister Liang instead."

Ye Jianchuan smiled and called out "Sister Liang," and the two chatted casually as they walked toward the staff dormitory of the machine repair factory.

Since it was a dormitory, it wasn't too far from the machine repair shop. The two arrived in less than ten minutes. After Liang Ladi opened the door, she called Da Mao to take his younger siblings to eat.

After settling her four children, Liang Ladi took out a measuring tape and began to measure Ye Jianchuan's dimensions.

After working for about five or six minutes, Liang Ladi finally spoke again, saying, "Okay, Xiao Ye, I've taken your measurements."

What kind of clothes are you planning to make? Just so you know, I don't have any extra fabric here; you'll have to prepare your own!

Ye Jianchuan took out a blueprint from his satchel and handed it to Liang Ladi; it was the blueprint for the T-shirt that the system had rewarded him with.

"I need to make quite a lot of clothes. Look, I need three of these clothes in this picture. These clothes use relatively little fabric. The instructions are all in the picture, just follow them."

Then I need some other clothes too. I think two Zhongshan suits and one cotton-padded coat will do! Sister Liang, how much fabric do you think we need for all these clothes?

Oh, by the way, for the down jacket, don't we need cotton stuffing, right? I don't have any new cotton on hand right now. How about we wait until I get some cotton in a couple of days and then you can make it for me!

Liang Ladi was a bit confused by Ye Jianchuan. She could understand the T-shirt pattern in his hand, but she had never seen this style of clothing before.

Moreover, at first, Liang Ladi thought Ye Jianchuan would only make one or two pieces of clothing, but now she sees that he actually needs six pieces of clothing and three pairs of pants in total.

This is a big order for Liang Ladi. If this order goes through, maybe the meat dishes she promised her son will finally be secured.

Thinking of this, Liang Ladi quickly started calculating and soon gave her answer: "For so many clothes, it would probably take about fifteen feet of cloth."

"Can you even get that much fabric? If not, why don't you make less?"

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The labor cost is quite expensive.

It is very difficult to produce fifteen feet of cloth in one go, since a worker can only get a few feet of cloth a year.

Based on the calculation that three feet equals one meter, two feet of cloth is only about sixty centimeters long.

In fact, modern fabrics are generally of a fixed width of four feet five inches to four feet eight inches, so one foot of fabric is about half a square meter.

However, this era was different. Because the technology was relatively backward, the width of the cloth at this time was only a little over two feet, about half less than in the future.

So, if you calculate it this way, two feet of cloth should be barely enough to make a set of clothes. Therefore, when you make so many clothes and pants, fifteen feet of cloth is actually not a lot.

However, this was not a problem for Ye Jianchuan at all. He pretended to rummage in his satchel and pulled out a few cloth coupons.

"I have 15 feet of cloth coupons here. We'll go to the fabric store to choose some fabric later. You can use the 15 feet of cloth first. If it's still not enough, just tell me and I'll think of something else."

Seeing the fifteen feet of cloth coupons in Ye Jianchuan's hand, Liang Ladi was stunned again. Being able to produce so many cloth coupons at once, it seemed that Ye Jianchuan was definitely not an ordinary person!

"Okay, okay, Xiao Ye, if it's convenient for you, let's go now. Our machine repair shop only has a little over an hour of rest at noon. If we don't hurry, we'll be late for work in the afternoon."

Ye Jianchuan nodded and prepared to go with Liang Ladi to buy cloth. At this moment, Liang Ladi's eldest son, Da Mao, suddenly ran out.

"Mother, are you leaving already?" she said, glancing at Ye Jianchuan with her eyes.

Liang Ladi reached out and patted Da Mao's head, then said, "You stay home and watch over your younger siblings. I'm going to go with this uncle to pick out some fabrics today, so I won't be able to keep you company at noon."

As she spoke, she turned to look at Ye Jianchuan and said, "This is our eldest son, Da Mao. Da Mao, call him Uncle Ye."

Da Mao hesitated for a moment, but finally called out "Uncle Ye". Ye Jianchuan was stunned when he heard this, then reached into his pocket, pretended to rummage around for a while, and then took out four chocolates.

"Here, Da Mao, this is candy that your uncle's friend gave to you. Now I'm giving it to you. Take it and let your younger brothers and sisters have a taste!"

Da Mao hesitated for a moment, then looked up at his mother. Seeing Liang Ladi nod, Da Mao finally reached out and took the chocolate.

But seeing the dark chocolate in his hand, Da Mao was puzzled again. "What kind of candy is this? It's so dark, is it brown sugar?"

"You'll know once you try it yourself."

Ye Jianchuan didn't answer Da Mao, but turned to Liang Ladi and said, "Sister Liang, let's hurry up, or we'll really be late for work this afternoon."

Then, led by Liang Ladi, Ye Jianchuan went to a nearby supply and marketing cooperative and selected several different kinds of cloth.

"Sister Liang, now that we've chosen the fabric, let's talk about your labor fee."

Liang Ladi rubbed her hands together and then said, "As for the labor fee... I used to charge two yuan and fifty cents for making a garment."

However, judging from the pattern you prepared, it seems quite simple to make, somewhat like making a vest, so I'll charge you two yuan per piece for those three.

Those five pieces of clothing cost eleven yuan, plus two pairs of ordinary pants, each pair costing one yuan and fifty cents.

As for the cotton-padded coat and trousers... since I don't know how much cotton you can prepare, let's discuss that later. Xiao Ye, what do you think?

The price Liang Ladi offered wasn't actually too expensive, although it totaled fourteen yuan, which seemed like more than half a month's wages for an ordinary worker.

But you have to understand that this is a total of five pieces of clothing plus two pairs of pants. Given Liang Ladi's efficiency, it would be quite impressive if she could make them in more than half a month!

Moreover, the other party's skills were evident, so Ye Jianchuan didn't hesitate and nodded in agreement, taking out a ten-yuan note and handing it to Liang Ladi.

"Sister Liang, this is the deposit. I'll give you the remaining four yuan after I get the clothes. That way, we can see how to handle the cotton-padded coat."

Liang Ladi didn't refuse. She took the money Ye Jianchuan handed her and put it in her pocket. Then she checked the time and said, "Hey, Xiao Ye, I'm running out of time. Are you in a hurry?"

If you're not in a rush, could you take this fabric back to my dorm? If not, I'll take it to the factory; I'm just worried it might get lost.

Ye Jianchuan shrugged and took the cloth directly from her. "Don't worry, Sister Liang, I'll deliver this cloth to your dorm."

After they finished speaking, the two greeted each other again and then went their separate ways.

Ye Jianchuan brought the cloth to the dormitory of the machine repair factory and knocked on Liang Ladi's dormitory door. Da Mao was also stunned when he saw that it was Ye Jianchuan again.

"Uncle Ye? What brings you here again? Where's my mother?"

Ye Jianchuan handed over the cloth in his hand. "Here, Da Mao, this is the cloth your mother asked me to bring. Please put it away for her."

Seeing that Da Mao had taken the cloth, Ye Jianchuan didn't waste any more time and turned to leave.

Unexpectedly, just as they reached the dormitory entrance, they bumped into someone rushing in from outside.

Because he had practiced body-building techniques, Ye Jianchuan was fine from the collision, but the person who rushed in took a tumble.

Ye Jianchuan quickly reached out to help the guy he had bumped into, but when he saw the guy's face, he was stunned for a moment.

"This... isn't this Nan Yi? It's good to know another skilled chef; it'll open up more opportunities," Ye Jianchuan immediately said.

"Excuse me, I bumped into you. Hey, are you Master Nan Yi from the mechanic shop?"