Chapter 10 Petty Trading

To increase credibility and avoid being turned away in the middle of winter, she could only tell as much of the truth as possible. They were indeed relatives who couldn't meet each other; Nanny Jin's relatives in Miyi County had well-known names, surnames, and original addresses, leaving no fear of people checking on them. If Lijia were to inquire, she would just tell Lijia about Nanny Jin's place of origin.

The distance between Miyi County and Nanny Jin's original hometown was a thousand miles, and transportation was inconvenient at present. Would the small community committee really use the funds from the government office to investigate information about two poor little individuals for months? Even if the community committee director, that is, Lijia, wanted to do so, the funds from the court would not be approved for his use.

Having made up her mind, Ye Xinyan stopped worrying about this matter.

If she could muddle through until next spring, she thought, it would be easier to handle; she could start a small business similar to serving large bowls of tea in areas with high population turnover. Gradually accumulating wealth, she could then venture into other trades. As long as she could earn money and meet more people, matters like identity and household registration would naturally become easier to handle.

Speaking of which, the money earned before the New Year was the easiest to come by; rich or poor, everyone celebrated the New Year. Even if people usually hesitated to spend, they would indulge a little during the New Year, buying a small amount of something. For the sake of festivity and good omens in the coming year, spending a bit of money was deemed worthwhile.

Ye Xinyan had been pondering for days what everyone would prepare for the New Year and what were the essentials for an average household's New Year celebration?

After much thought, she came up with a business that required little capital and could make money quickly.

For the New Year, everyone bought festive items, so if she could create several new and festive auspicious knots, and try making some brightly colored head ornaments for sale, there should be a decent market for them.

Ye Xinyan made up her mind and specifically procured hemp rope; she tried to make several Chinese knots of different styles based on her memory. The Chinese knots turned out as expected, but the remaining problem was capital; materials had to be purchased with money, and they were running out of savings. If she invested the remaining capital and the products didn't sell, what would they do then?

Ye Xinyan twisted the neatly washed clothes in her hands and cast her gaze towards Nanny Jin.

…

To save money, Ye Xinyan had collected scraps of fabric from a tailor shop — they were so small they couldn't even make a pouch. On top of that, she had used the last bit of silver in the house and grudgingly cut a few lengths of red silk satin. Items like auspicious knots obviously had to be eye-catching and festive to have a market, so she couldn't skimp on raw materials.

When Nanny Jin handed over the money to Ye Xinyan, she felt a pang in her heart. But the young mistress had set her mind on trying to earn money, stating that they couldn't just wait for things to run out, especially since they really didn't have anything left to run out.

With the conversation reaching this point, and with the lingering influence of the young mistress from Duke's Mansion still present, Nanny Jin had no choice but to heartbreakingly hand over the pitiful small amount of silver to Ye Xinyan for her to fuss with.

As Ye Xinyan busied herself with purchasing, Nanny Jin wanted several times to speak up and persuade her, but ultimately, she never said the words to stop her. By the time Ye Xinyan brought back a large bundle of scraps and a piece of red silk satin, Nanny Jin was so worried she didn't know what to say — what could possibly be done with these fabric scraps?

If the products the young mistress made didn't sell, they'd have no savings left. According to her experience, the young mistress had spent the past decade or so doing things other people wouldn't do, like indulging in food and luxury, acting arrogantly, and so on, but that definitely didn't include making small crafts to earn money, which was a far more challenging endeavor.

Ye Xinyan felt a bit uneasy herself. Although she had roamed the streets a few times in previous days and done some market research, thinking that what she made should have a market, there was always the possibility of failure. If things took a turn for the worse, they would have to make do by washing clothes for others to get by for a short time.

Ye Xinyan accompanied her smile with a demonstration of a color-coordinated, double-layer butterfly-shaped headpiece for Nanny Jin. Seeing that Nanny Jin's facial expression seemed alright, she made a few small camellia-shaped flowers, which lit up Nanny Jin's eyes. It seemed so simple, just twisting a few times and a flower was made.

Ye Xinyan then said, "Nanny, your sewing skills are excellent. If you cut these pieces of satin into narrow strips, then sew them into seamless cords, I can teach you how to tie a few kinds of knots." Noticing Nanny Jin's puzzled look, she explained, "They are the same kinds of knots I made with hemp rope a few days ago. If we use red silk satin to tie them, they will look very festive and beautiful. I've looked carefully, and there are no such decorative knots on the market here; they're sure to sell well."

On that day, Ye Xinyan was mainly responsible for washing all the clothes they had taken on before. Meanwhile, Nanny Jin, following Ye Xinyan's demonstration, made several head flowers and turned those pieces of satin into a whole cord, just as Ye Xinyan had asked.

Nanny Jin's craftsmanship was indeed excellent. After Ye Xinyan finished the laundry, she couldn't help but admire the seamless cord that Nanny Jin had sewn. The many sections of narrow strips were connected, and the many joints were hardly noticeable.

Nanny Jin, however, was very worried. "Ye Zi, you should think about how to sell these. They are made from satin, which is quite precious."

Ye Zi was Ye Xinyan's new name. Although incognito, she did not want to abandon her family name lightly, hence she chose this name.

A few months ago, if Nanny Jin had said such a thing, not only would it have made people laugh, but if the master had heard it, he might have deemed it detrimental to the family's prestige and scolded her roundly. However, the hardships they'd endured over the past few months made these words sound so reasonable.

With dry hands, Ye Xinyan cleared a space on the kang bed and neatly arranged the red silk satin cords according to her memory. She had practiced many times with hemp before, and now skilled with the task, she quickly tied an iconic auspicious knot.

After making some adjustments, Ye Xinyan held up the knot and asked the gleaming-eyed Nanny Jin, "How does it look? Pretty, right?"

Nanny Jin nodded repeatedly. Even though she had seen Ye Xinyan tie such knots before using hemp rope, the effect with satin was starkly different. The knots made from red satin looked especially festive.

Eagerly, Nanny Jin said, "Ye Zi, I remember you played with several kinds of knots a few days ago. Could you tie the others and let's see how they look?"

Now that Nanny Jin had found her drive, she and Ye Xinyan spent the better part of the afternoon and even stayed up late into the night. They turned all the red silk satin cords into decorative knots and made various head flowers.

The next day, the two locked up and set out to put up a stall in the Western Market.

Nanny Jin thought their handmade knots and head flowers were pretty and novel, but she was still not at ease. She wondered if others would appreciate what they considered good, whether people would be willing to spend money to buy them.

As Nanny Jin arranged various items on the stall, her heart was filled with uneasy worry. What if they couldn't sell them? They had invested all their savings and extra effort into these items, even forgoing the money-making work of laundering clothes.

Once they displayed the brightly colored items, Ye Xinyan, a lady born from the Duke's Mansion, calling out to passersby with an unexpected few yells while Nanny Jin watched wide-eyed in surprise. People on the street turned their attention to them.

Then came the onlookers, the price inquiries, and the selective customers. Gradually, a crowd formed around their small stall, and business started picking up.