Chapter 8: Advantages

After only a moment, a middle-aged man wearing a goatee and a round-collared long gown walked over. He cast a glance at Zhang and Wang Xuezhou without wasting any words and immediately began to inspect the goods.

Zhang hurriedly handed over the neatly folded quilt cover for the shopkeeper to examine. This shop catered to a middle-to-high-end clientele, and the more luxurious items were naturally stitched by professional embroiderers, leaving no need for someone like Zhang. She only took on lower-grade embroidery work, yet even so, the shop had to inspect her deliveries for stains, uneven stitching, or any damage to the fabric.

While the two were busy with the handover, Wang Xuezhou wandered around the shop. The storefront was grand and magnificent, while the interior was decorated in a fresh and elegant style. On the walls, finished garments, undergarments, and fur coats were hung in categorized displays, all looking bright and pristine. On the shelves, bed sheets, quilt covers, and pillows were folded neatly and arranged by grade, specifically positioned to showcase the embroidery to customers. Rows of shelves held various types of fabric for patrons to choose from, and floor-standing wooden racks displayed pouches and sachets, which could be seen throughout the shop.

Xiao Wu, the shop assistant, knew the boy had come with Zhang. Seeing that he was neither crying nor fussing, nor touching things indiscriminately, he thought to himself that the child was quite well-behaved—nothing like the mischievous little monkeys in his own home. "How old are you this year?"

Wang Xuezhou looked at the smiling Xiao Wu and answered honestly, "Big brother, I am five."

Xiao Wu was surprised; the boy was actually a year older than his own younger brother. The child must come from a poor family, as not only was he dressed in patches, but his frame was also thin and gaunt, which made his eyes look quite large. Looking into those eyes, Xiao Wu felt a twinge of compassion. He usually kept some snacks in the shop to stave off hunger, so he pulled one out and handed it over. "Here, have this."

Wang Xuezhou shook his head. "It’s not easy for you to earn money, big brother. You should keep it for yourself. I’ve already eaten my dry rations!"

Hearing such sensible and well-behaved words, Xiao Wu couldn't help but feel even more sympathetic. He shoved the pastry into the boy’s mouth. "I have more, go ahead and eat."

Seeing the man’s firm attitude, Wang Xuezhou did not refuse further. He nibbled on the pastry and looked at the clothes on the wall, saying with a touch of envy, "Those clothes are so beautiful! I wonder how much fabric it takes to make one. When I have money in the future, I want to buy one for my mother."

Xiao Wu chuckled at this. "You’re young, but you have a good eye. That shimmering cloud-brocade dress with dark floral patterns you’re looking at is the treasure of our shop. That single garment uses three types of top-tier fabric. It only takes two and a half feet of cloth to make, but the wastage alone is over three feet! The cost of the wasted material alone would be enough to feed an ordinary family for five years."

Wang Xuezhou looked stunned. "That expensive?"

"Indeed. It’s mostly because the fabric is so precious. If your hands are even slightly rough, the fabric will snag, and if anything goes slightly wrong during production, the whole piece is ruined and has to be redone. It’s a tedious and troublesome process."

"Then what happens to the ruined fabric?"

"We throw it away!"

Just as they were speaking, an old man entered the shop, bowing and scraping toward Xiao Wu. "Young master, I’ve come to collect the trash!"

"Wait there!"

Xiao Wu turned and went to the back, returning with two large buckets. Wang Xuezhou stood to the side and glanced inside, his eyes lighting up. Seeing that Xiao Wu was about to hand them over to the old man, he quickly spoke up, "Brother Xiao Wu, could you give those fabric scraps to me?"

Xiao Wu paused. "What do you want those for?"

Wang Xuezhou smiled sheepishly. "I think the colors are quite pretty. I want to take them home to make beanbags to play with my friends."

Xiao Wu found this amusing. "You won't need that many, but I can give you a few."

"Give them all to me! I want to make a lot~"

Wang Xuezhou looked at Xiao Wu with pleading eyes. Xiao Wu waved his hand at the old man, sending him away. "I didn't expect you to want these things. It actually saves that trash collector some work; our shop pays him sixty wen a month just to clear out the refuse and dump it in the waste pit."

Wang Xuezhou gathered that "trash" was what they called the refuse, and the "waste pit" was the local landfill. He hadn't expected that shops in this ancient era would be just like those in his previous life—having to pay even to throw away trash.

"How often does the shop throw things away?"

"Every five days. There aren't that many scraps in a single day, so we usually save up a larger batch before dumping them." Xiao Wu said as he found a useless rag and poured the scraps into it, bundling them up for the boy.

Wang Xuezhou was beaming. "Thank you, Brother Xiao Wu!"

Xiao Wu waved him off. "It’s a small matter."

When Zhang finished her delivery and accepted a new embroidery task, she turned to leave and saw her son waiting for her, holding a bundle. Zhang’s eyes widened, and she was about to scold him, but Xiao Wu quickly offered an explanation, which turned Zhang’s expression from cloudy to clear.

She apologized embarrassedly, "I'm sorry for the trouble; the child doesn't know any better."

Xiao Wu didn't mind. "These things were going to be thrown away anyway, so giving them to him actually saved me some trouble."

As soon as they stepped outside, Zhang couldn't help but lecture him. "Look at you! Aren't the rags we have at home more durable than these? You insist on picking up things others don't want. Just wait until you get home and your grandmother gives you a thrashing!"

"Mother! I just looked at these scraps—any single piece is better than the fabric we wear, or rather, the fabric everyone in the village wears! I think it's a waste to throw them all away."

Zhang replied impatiently, "What's there to waste? It's not our property."

"Can't you repurpose these scraps to make things and sell them?"

Zhang couldn't help but stop in her tracks. She hadn't expected this idea from her son, but she quickly resumed walking. "These are just offcuts left over from making clothes. They’re irregularly shaped and come in different sizes. If they could be used to make things, wouldn't the shopkeeper have thought of it? Why would he still be throwing them away?"

Wang Xuezhou had been in this world for five years and never underestimated the wisdom of the ancients. He had already checked; these scraps were indeed no larger than an adult's palm, and some were as thin as two-finger-wide strips. However, these scraps had one advantage: they were brightly colored and of excellent material.

"The long ones can be made into hair ties, and the larger ones can be made into silk flowers!"

Zhang’s eyes lit up at her son's words, but then she hesitated. "Can these scraps really be used for that? If it were possible, why wouldn't the people at the fabric shop do it?"

That was, of course, because they looked down on it. It was clear from the storefront of Jinxiu Fabric Shop that they only dealt with wealthy customers. They wouldn't even consider small items like silk flowers, and if their customers knew that silk flowers made from offcuts were being sold in the shop, they would certainly be displeased. The shop would never risk losing big clients for such small gains.

But he couldn't say that. Wang Xuezhou looked at Zhang with a smug expression. "Of course it’s because you’re all silly and not as smart as me!"