?Chapter 22: Twenty-two, these shoes are so beautiful_1 Chapter 22: Twenty-two, these shoes are so beautiful_1 He was going to buy vegetables now, and the pair of shoes on his feet were obviously too thin.
They felt like they could break at any moment.
After all, he had to run around outside all day.
The weather was cold now.
Ji Pianran couldn’t bear to see him suffer from the cold.
She squeezed the shoes in her hand, then turned and walked out.
“Put on these shoes, they’re warm.”
Ji Pianran’s craftsmanship was excellent, and although the shoes were homemade, they were no worse than the cotton shoes sold in the city.
Gu Chen’s pupils shrank as he looked at the shoes in Ji Pianran’s hands.
A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
“Are these… made for me?”
Ji Pianran nodded.
“Yes, change into them. You don’t have to work today, and I’ll mend these for you,” she pointed to the shoes on his feet.
The little girl had seen the shoes her mother made, but she had never seen this pair!
Her eyes widened as if she had discovered a new continent.
“Daddy, they’re so beautiful!”
Gu Chen looked at the shoes and then back at Ji Pianran’s face, “Yes, very beautiful!”
Ji Pianran pursed her lips.
What was he looking at her for?
Shouldn’t he be looking at the shoes?
She always felt he was talking about her, not the shoes.
She was somewhat unaccustomed to Gu Chen looking at her like that, and awkwardly stuffed the shoes into Gu Chen’s arms, “Try them on.”
After speaking, she returned to the small table and started to eat her own bowl of rice porridge.
Gu Chen was extremely happy.
He looked at the shoes in his arms and gave Tangtang a big smile.
“Let’s go, let’s get ready to head out!”
First, he washed Tangtang’s little face clean, then he sat on the bed to try on the shoes Ji Pianran had made for him.
The shoes were truly beautiful, with thick and soft soles, sturdy fabric, and filled with plenty of cotton inside.
But they weren’t bulky at all, especially the cloud pattern on them, the stitching was pretty and smooth.
They even looked better than if they had been drawn on.
Wearing them on his feet felt incredibly comfortable.
Tangtang looked at the shoes on her father’s feet and suddenly fell into thought.
Why had her mother made such beautiful shoes for her father and not for her?
Was it because her father was her most beloved?
Wasn’t her mother’s first love supposed to be Tangtang?
Thinking this, the little girl’s mouth puckered up, and she ran toward the living room.
Looking at Ji Pianran, who was collecting the bowls, she pouted.
“Mommy, Tangtang wants pretty shoes too!”
Ji Pianran was both amused and exasperated.
This child, just a moment ago she was crying over her father’s rejection, and now she’s competing with him for affection?
She laughed.
“Alright, Tangtang will have them too. You can wear them for the New Year, okay?”
How could a mother not make shoes for her own child?
She had already made them, and was just waiting for the day of the New Year!
Receiving her mother’s affirmative answer, Tangtang then became happy.
Seeing that the little girl had run off, Gu Chen also hurriedly followed.
He picked up Tangtang and looked at Ji Pianran with his peach blossom eyes, “We’re leaving now. You rest well at home.”
Ji Pianran nodded, and with concern, she reminded, “Be careful on the road.”
Gu Chen said his goodbyes simply and then carried Tangtang out the door.
The father and daughter set off towards the station.
…
By the time they reached the market, it was already eight in the morning.
The comings and goings of people made it as bustling as it had been the day before.
Ji Chen couldn’t help but exclaim, “There really are a lot of people in the city, with plenty of free time.”
It was early in the morning, yet instead of hurrying to work, they were strolling around the market.
He bought two more nylon bags and headed to the public restroom. There, he packed all the Broccoli he couldn’t fit yesterday.
Dragging three nylon bags, he emerged from the restroom.
With Tangtang in tow, he went to the vacant spot they found yesterday and began to set up their stall.
Before the stall was fully set up, he saw the auntie who hadn’t managed to buy any vegetables yesterday walking over.
The auntie had scoured the market for half the day without finding Ji Chen.
She almost thought he wasn’t coming today.
Seeing Ji Chen, she hurried over.
“Young man, get me a whole one. I’ll take it back and share some with my two daughters-in-law,” she said.
Ji Chen chuckled, “No problem.”
Tangtang was a clever little thing; hearing someone was about to buy vegetables, she quickly helped by grabbing a plastic bag and came up to Ji Chen.
“Daddy, daddy!”
Ji Chen picked out a broccoli and placed it in the bag, then put it on the scale.
“Seven jin and seven liang. Let’s call it seven jin,” he said.
The auntie looked at Ji Chen, pleased with his generosity and business acumen; her wait had not been in vain.
She took out a wad of change from her pouch and counted out forty-two yuan for Ji Chen.
It wasn’t until Ji Chen took the money that he took a closer look at the auntie.
She appeared to be in her fifties, with permed hair.
Wearing a woolen coat, a red genuine leather pouch slung over her arm, and black leather shoes polished to a shine – she was quite meticulous.
She certainly didn’t look like an average person.
Especially considering she was willing to spend over forty yuan on vegetables; in 1999, that was a rarity indeed.
Accepting the money the auntie handed him,
he then passed the broccoli to her. Sear?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
The auntie smiled, clearly satisfied as she held her broccoli.
As the auntie was about to leave, Tangtang waved at her with a beaming smile.
“Goodbye, pretty auntie!”
That comment amused the auntie, whose grandson was even older than Tangtang, yet she was still called a ‘pretty auntie’.
She turned her head to look at Tangtang.
“What a sweet talker you are, for such a little girl,” she remarked.
Ji Chen hadn’t expected Tangtang to be so sweet with her words.
He joked, “Maybe it’s because of her name, Tangtang, that makes her so sweet.”
At this, the auntie laughed even harder.
“I didn’t think you, young man, were not only good at doing business but also quite humorous.”
Ji Chen scratched his head, “Doing business? I’m just trying to make a living. If I were any good at business, I wouldn’t be out here selling vegetables with my daughter in this cold weather.”
The two chatted back and forth.
The auntie glanced down and noticed the new shoes on Ji Chen’s feet.
Her eyes lit up, “Where did you buy those shoes? The style and stitching are really nice.”
Her family was in the business of making cheongsams, specializing exclusively in them.
These days, not everyone loved to wear cheongsams, but then again, cheongsams were still a favorite among many wealthy ladies.
Especially before the New Year, they sold over a hundred of them.
Though a hundred might not seem like a lot, they were pricey.
The average ones were about five to six hundred yuan, and the better ones could sell for a couple of thousand.
After all, a cheongsam is a traditional heritage item, with its fabric, stitching, and embroidery all demanding high standards.
The most critical part of the process was the embroidery!
Whether it was due to a loss of the craft or the times changing with the opening up and reforms, it was now hard to find someone with good skills.
They had searched for many embroidery masters, but their skills were mediocre.
This was a source of frustration for her.
But the shoes on Ji Chen’s feet, whether in style or craftsmanship, were very rare to find, particularly the cloud patterns on the shoe surface. The embroidery work was beautiful; the stitches were neat yet not stiff, flowing like the moving clouds.
This truly excited her.