Chapter 15: Making Own Clothes

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

They wandered around the county town a few times but still couldn’t find anything suitable.

“Lanlan, forget it, don’t buy anymore. Let’s go back,” Wen Jing said as she pulled Chen Lan’s hand. She knew that Chen Lan had never faced hardships before, and today they had walked so much. She was sure Chen Lan must be tired.

But a sense of inferiority emanated from her eyes, and Chen Lan easily noticed it.

This once pretty young lady had eaten herself into being over 200 pounds because the original character had said she looked better when she was plump. She had faced a lot of ridicule as a result, and it was clear how much she cared about her friendship with the original character.

Chen Lan patted her shoulder and said, “Xiaojing, in the future, you can’t eat too much. You have to work hard to lose weight. Although you look nice now, I read in the newspaper a few days ago that being overweight can be bad for your health and increases the risk of many diseases. Do you understand?”

Chen Lan tried to be tactful in her words, not wanting to hurt her self-esteem, but this was something that needed to be addressed.

“By the way, are you still working at the clothing factory?”

Wen Jing shook her head in response, “The boss thought I was too fat, and my younger sister wanted to work there, so my mom…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but Chen Lan knew that it was probably because of her mother that she gave up this job opportunity to secure a path for her younger daughter.

She often couldn’t understand Wen Jing’s mother. Why did her two children from the second marriage seem more important than Wen Jing? First, she made Wen Jing drop out of school for the younger brother, and now she had to give up a job for the younger sister.

Chen Lan held Wen Jing’s hand and said, “Xiaojing, do you want to have a better life?”

Wen Jing remained quiet for a moment, then nodded. Her thoughts were simple; if she had a better life, she could help Chen Lan more instead of relying on her support all the time.

“In that case, you must control yourself and work hard to lose weight. Meanwhile, we’ll go to night school together, and then I’ll help you start a business to earn more money, okay?”

Most people might think Chen Lan’s words were wishful thinking, but Wen Jing had full trust in Chen Lan.

She nodded firmly and then spoke, “Doing business is not a problem, but as for night school, my mom won’t agree.”

Attending night school also required paying tuition fees, and Wen Jing had already turned over all the money she earned to her family. There was no extra money to pay for tuition fees. If she asked her family for it, her mother would not agree.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll buy some fabric later, and since you’re not working at the clothing factory anymore, you can start by making a couple of outfits for yourself. Then I’ll draw some patterns for you, you make them and we’ll sell them. The money we earn will be used for your education.”

Chen Lan had thought through all these plans before mentioning night school to her.

However, Wen Jing hurriedly waved her hand, “That won’t do. I’ll help you make the clothes, and the money we earn from selling them should rightfully be yours. How can I use it for my education?”

“Why not? If it weren’t for you being able to make clothes, where would I go to make the money? So, if I earn money, you will have a share. This is called investing your skills!”

After Chen Lan finished speaking, she took Wen Jing to a few more stores, bought some fabric, and also purchased paper and pencils.

She had previously worked as an assistant designer in her previous life, so sketching some designs was a breeze for her. With a few strokes, she drew several rough drafts and handed them to Wen Jing. “What do you think? Can you make these?”

Wen Jing carefully examined them for a while and then nodded, “I can make them! Lanlan, you’re amazing. These clothes will look good.”

Hearing that Wen Jing could make them, she was relieved. She didn’t know if they would make money, but at least they had taken the first step.

After their discussion, Chen Lan accompanied Wen Jing back home.

Wen Jing had wanted to invite Chen Lan for dinner, but thinking about her mother’s expression, Chen Lan politely declined. She bought a few steamed buns on her way back to fill her stomach.

As she turned to leave, she suddenly heard an elderly, hearty voice calling her name.

Chen Lan quickly looked over and saw an elderly man carrying a birdcage and leaning on a walking cane standing in the distance. As he recognized her face, he hastened his pace and approached her.

“Grandpa?” Chen Lan was worried that the old man might fall, so she hurried over and helped him.

Chen Shi scrutinized Chen Lan from head to toe and asked, “Why didn’t you go in? Did that kid Tang Ye bully you?”

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like