After a moment’s thought, Chen Lan still worried about not having enough fabric, so she ordered five more bolts of plain, small-floral cotton cloth in different colors and new patterns from the system.
She decided to use these for the outer layer of the cotton-padded jackets and the flawed fabric brought from home for the inner lining.
Since she didn’t know exactly how many of Xu Mingxuan’s comrades and their families would eventually come to the valley, she bought twenty bolts of navy blue, twenty bolts of dark blue, and fifteen bolts of military green cotton cloth, adhering to the principle of better to have more.
She also purchased three hundred jin of Xinjiang long-staple cotton. Xinjiang long-staple cotton is of excellent quality, with soft and long fibers, significantly longer than ordinary long-staple cotton, and of superior quality.
Xinjiang cotton is white and lustrous, soft to the touch, comfortable, highly absorbent, breathable, and has good elasticity. Its quality is far superior to other cottons.
In her previous life, Chen Lan frequently patronized this shop, which specialized in Xinjiang cotton products. Her family’s quilts, bed sheets, and duvet covers were all bought from this store.
As this purchase was quite substantial, after much bargaining with the shopkeeper, although the price remained unchanged, Chen Lan managed to get twenty pairs of pillows and twenty pairs of pillowcases as gifts.
These items would not be taken out for now. They would be brought out along with the fabric, cotton, and sewing machines once the sewing cooperative was officially established, and stored directly in the cooperative’s warehouse, which would be more convenient.
There were already three ready-made sewing machines stored in the system’s warehouse, three portable sewing machines that had been purchased long ago when she was at her home in the capital.
Now, with more and more people in the valley, there was an increasing need for sewing.
Since Chen Lan had decided to establish a sewing cooperative in the valley, she ordered three more portable sewing machines from the system.
A total of six portable sewing machines should be sufficient. If not, she could buy more later.
She checked again to see if anything had been overlooked.
Yes! There were sewing machines, and thread for the sewing machines, which were gifts from the seller and came with a considerable amount of thread in various colors.
Oh, right, and the buttons for the clothes were missing. She decided to buy the most common pig’s nose shape buttons.
With a thought, she opened the system and ordered two hundred of each of the three sizes—large, medium, and small—in five colors: black, white, red, dark green, and navy blue.
Once everything was prepared, she would retrieve the clothing books she had just purchased from the system’s warehouse, pack them in a large piece of flawed fabric, and strap it to her back, tying the two ends of the fabric in front of her chest.
Holding the five bolts of plain, small-floral cotton cloth she had just bought from the system in her arms, she went downstairs.
Those chatting in the living room saw Chen Lan carrying so many things and quickly came forward to help.
Ming Wei, Cui Qiao, Hu Yuzhen, and Zhao Xiaoyue, the four of them, all thought the five bolts of plain, small-floral fabric were beautiful. They became even more indecisive about which pattern to choose for their new clothes.
Chen Lan untied the large bundle on her back, found several books on making padded jackets among the pile of books, and handed one to each of them, telling them to study them and choose their own styles.
Looking up, she saw her mother-in-law and mother looking over, so she quickly walked over and said, "Mother-in-law, Mother, Mama Liu, Mama Cui, let’s set up a sewing cooperative in the valley!"
Her mother-in-law asked, confused, "Xiao Lan, what do you mean by a cooperative? What does that mean?"
Chen Lan quickly explained, "It's a place specifically for making clothes, quilts, and shoes for the old and young in the valley."
Her mother-in-law said dismissively, "Xiao Lan, we haven’t set up any cooperative, aren't we already doing these things?"
Chen Lan was momentarily speechless! After thinking for a moment, she said, "Mother-in-law, it used to be that there were few people in the valley, and if we lacked something, we could just rush to make it in a couple of days.
But in the future, there will be more and more people in the valley. If we don't organize dedicated people to make these things in advance, then when Teacher Zhou and his four students bring their families, there won't be enough things to use."
Her mother-in-law lowered her head and pondered for a moment before saying, "We do need to prepare some things in advance, but we don't know who exactly will be coming, so how can we make clothes without knowing their sizes?"
Seeing that her mother-in-law was amenable, Chen Lan quickly said, "Mother-in-law, let's first prepare the quilts, bed sheets, and duvet covers. Anyway, these are all standard sizes and don't vary by person.
For the cotton filling, I plan to ask Father-in-law to buy it from them. We'll buy large cotton wadding two meters wide and two meters thirty long.
We'll then cut the bed sheets and duvet covers according to this size."
After taking a breath, Chen Lan continued, "As for clothes, we'll first make the clothes for everyone in the valley for the New Year, then make spring clothes for the coming spring. After finishing the spring clothes, we'll start making summer clothes. The sewing cooperative will have plenty of work, likely busy all year round."
Her mother-in-law and mother asked in unison, "Xiao Lan, Lan'er, is there really that much work? It's impossible, right?"
Chen Lan decided to stop beating around the bush. Answering questions one by one was too tiring. She might as well deliver a bombshell.
So she said, "Mother-in-law, Mother, before Brother Mingxuan left, he told me that he has many comrades who survived battles. Like Brother Xiang Dong and Brother Er Hu, who were injured in battle and returned home.
But many of them are much more seriously injured than Brother Xiang Dong and Brother Er Hu, and cannot do heavy labor. Their families are living very difficult lives.
Even though their lives are difficult, they are unwilling to seek help from the local government, fearing they would be a burden.
Mingxuan said he couldn't know that his comrades were living in hardship and not offer them help."
Her mother-in-law nodded repeatedly, "That's right, we should help. Um, Xiao Lan, did Mingxuan say how to help? Our people in the valley can also contribute."
Seeing an opening, Chen Lan knew the matter was finally on the right track.
So she quickly said, "Mingxuan said he would first contact his comrades in various places and ask if they are willing to come and live in our valley. If they are willing to come, he will arrange for Xiang Dong and Er Hu to help with the travel expenses and bring them and their families to live in our valley."
Her mother-in-law and mother nodded in agreement, "That's how it should be. It's not easy to survive a battlefield! They deserve to be treated well by everyone, including the people in our valley."
Her mother pondered for a moment before speaking, "Lan'er, your two brothers and Ming Zhe haven't been to school for a year. Although they read and study every day, Mother still feels it's better for them to attend school and learn systematically with their classmates."