After selling pastries the next day, Li Hehua moved directly to the rented courtyard.
Before she left, she had told Cao Simei of her taking a day off for tomorrow to settle herself in.
The courtyard is fully furnished and can be lived in after a simple cleaning but daily necessities needs to be bought by her own. Li Hehua made a list on mind of what she needed and after cleaning, she locked the door and went to buy everything she needs.
She also needs pots, pans and other supplies in the house and simply bought them together with those needed for business use, followed by kitchen utensils like chopsticks, spoon and other seasonings. It just happens that the shop also sold wooden barrels, basin and other wood items so she bought 3 wooden barrels, three small and two big basins together. After buying so many things, the delightful boss took the initiative and give her a discount. Li Hehua is also quite relieve that the boss is willing to take the things to her door, otherwise, it was also quite a problem how she's going to take it back.
After buying those things, Li Hehua went to the blacksmith shop and bought two small and large pots as well as frying spoon and spatulas, all of which she is going to use in business.
The last thing to buy was a stove. In this era, there is no such thing as an induction cooker or a gas stove. If one wants to do business outside, you can build a stove and burn it yourself. Many business people do this, but this is not suitable for her. The alleyway is not big and making a stove will block the way and residents will definitely have a opinions about it, so she plans to buy a stove that is specially made for cooking and quite easy to move.
T/N: I think the first stove that was mentioned is the big stove made with mud. It is fixed in place and cannot be moved.
When she had planned this business, she went to the place where stoves are being sold and saw a relatively large one. It could burn both charcoal and firewood and it was perfectly fine to cook rice and vegetables in it. The only downside is that it was quite expensive so only few businessmen are willing to use it.
Li Hehua went to the place and picked the largest stove, spending 300 wen. Although it was quite a pain (in the pocket), the convenience it will bring is worth it.
The first day were spent in buying necessary things. On the second day, Li Hehua got up early and place the things she had bought on their right place and was busy until noon. After all that, the small courtyard was now her official home.
Li Hehua was so tired and sat in a chair to take a breath. Her clothes become wet due to working hard and it felt uncomfortable as it stick to the body. She simoly went to the kitchen and boil a large pot of hot water, pouring it to the specially made tub, preparing to take a good bath.
When she used to live with the He family, she was embarrassed to take a bath each day. After all, villagers would not spend their time and firewood to boil water and bath each day unless it was summer. This is quite a torture for Li Hehua who is used of taking a bath everyday. It was quite fortunate that she already have her own home and she can bath whenever she wants. She can also still afford the wasted firewood for bathing.
After taking a bath, Li Hehua took out clean clothes and put them on, only to find that the clothes on her body became looser than before and doesn't fit right.
She seems to have lost weight again.
Li Hehua off the clothes she just put on, lowered her head and carefully observed her current body. It was incredible. She found that her waist was a lot thinner than when she first came here. The swimming ring in her tummy was also thinner than before and even her legs shrunk by at least 5 or 6 centimeters.
Although she was still quite fat, she had lost a lost of weight compared when she had just transmigrated. Before, she estimated that she weighed around 160 or 170 pounds but now, she must be around 140 to 150 pounds. She actually lost around 20 or 30 pounds.
Li Hehua grinned involuntarily and felt that everything is getting better. If this continue, it will not be far for her to reach her ideal weight and it was just around the corner to become a beautiful woman again!
T/n: No to body shaming okay?
Li Hehua can't wait to jump up and down to express her excitement. However, considering her current weight, this was still a lot of movement so she has to try her best and hold back.
But her clothes are not suitable for her to wear anymore. They are all loose and sloppy on her body and really unacceptable. It's fine if she is just staying at home, but shehas to go out everyday for this days forward. One's appearance is important. Although she's not so good looking right now, what she wears must still be decent and presentable. If she wears sloppy clothing and work as such, her guest might not even want to come and eat.
Li Hehua decided to go to the clothing shop and have them make her some fitted clothes. Although she knew that she might not be able to use this clothes upon losing weight in the future, this money still need to be spend. This is for the sake of her business. After thinking about it, Li Hehua took some money and went to the clothing shop.
Most of the current clothing shops only sell cloths as women usually buy cloth and make their own cloths at hime. For them, this cost effective. However, she doesn't know hoe to cut and make her own clothing and was planning to just hire someone in the cloth shop to make it for her.
Li Hehua went into a cloth shop that looked pretty good. After looking at the shop for a long time, she finally decided to buy coarse cloth. Although coarse cloth was not as comfortable to wear as fine cotton cloth, it was cheaper and she would not feel distressed even when she cant wear it in the future. She still needs to wait for her ideal appearance and just make do with this clothing for now.
"The shopkeeper, how much would you sell this cloth?" Li Hehua asked, pointing to a rough navy blue cloth at hand.
The shopkeeper looked at Li Hehua's clothes, pointed to several coarse cloths of different colors and said to her, "These kind of cloths are all five wen per foot."
"Then boss, can you make clothes directly at your shop?"
"Yes, but you need to pay an extra 3 wen for every foot of clothing."
Li Hehua nodded and decided to let the shop do it for her. She picked out another lotus-colored fabric, and said to the boss, "Boss, I want these two colors of fabric. Please help me make two sets of clothing. I don't know how much fabric is need for my figure?"
Hearing this, he carefully looked at Li Hehua's figure and after a while put his palms out, "Madam, your figure is quite expensive, usually three or four feet are enough, but you need five feet of cloth to make a one."
Li Hehua was a little embarrassed by what he said and secretly thought that the boss is really not tactful with his words. If he met a petty person, he would probably turn around and leave in anger. However, she was not angry and she is indeed quite fat now.
"Then boss, cut me five feet of each of these two kinds of cloth and then make me two sets of normal women's clothes. When will it be ready?"
The boss measured the length of the cloth with a ruler and replied: "It will take two days but you have to pay half the price as a deposit first."
Li Hehua was about to pay, but his eyes swept to an azure muslin cloth on the counter, and suddenly thought of the little guy . This cloth is sure to be good for the little guy, he must be good looking in it.
The clothes on the little guy are also loose and baggy, which should be made by Zhang Lin. The elderly usually make clothes with the intention of letting their children wear them for several years, so the clothes are made very large. Children don't look good when they wear them. Zhang Lin should be unwilling to buy a fine cotton cloth for the little guy to wear, so his clothes were made of coarse cloth. A child's skin was tender so wearing such clothes would definitely be uncomfortable.
Li Hehua stretched out her hand and took the cloth in front of her, "Boss, how do you sell this cloth?"
The boss smiled and said, "This is a fine cotton cloth, it is very comfortable to wear. The price is also relatively expensive, ten wen a foot."
Ten wen a foot, which is more than twice as expensive as coarse cloth. It's not cheap but she is willing to buy it for the little guy.
"Boss, I want to use this cloth for my child. He probably only reaches my thigh." She compared her thigh position. "The child is thin, only about 30 pounds, please calculate the fabric you need."
The boss sells fabric all the year round and most of his estimate was very accurate. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "This child in your family is too thin. You don't need much fabric. Two feet will do."
Li Hehua has no problem with the size, but she doesn't know what kind of children's clothes are popular now. She wanted to give the little guy the most beautiful one so she had to ask: "Boss, my child is a boy. What kind of design would look better?"
After the boss heard the words, he uttered "wait a moment" and went straight to the clothes-making compartment at the back. After a while, he came out with a child's ready-made clothes on hand. He handed it for Li Hehua to see, "This is the latest new item in my shop. I made a this child's clothing for a guest who will come to pick it up in two days. This design is good looking , should I do it like this?"
Li Hehua took the clothes and looked at it. She found that it was two-piece clothing. The top shirt has two pockets and a belt. The bottom is a small trouser. It was not as loose as the current trousers and doesn't look baggy. The style should look quite energetic when worn and would not lose the cuteness of children.
Li Hehua was quite satisfied with the style of this set. "Then let's make it according to this one But can you help me make this first? I want to get it tomorrow, okay?" She wanted to come and she the little guy before she became busy and give the clothing to him by the way. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't be able to see him after starting the stall even for a short period of time.
Tomorrow, she wanted to see the little guy while she wasn't too busy, and gave him the clothes by the way, otherwise if she opened a food stall, she probably wouldn't be able to see the little guy in just a short period of time.
The boss nodded and agreed: "Yes, I will let the sewing lady make this set of children clothing first and you can come and get it at noon tomorrow."
After it was settled, Li Hehua took out the money and paid half of the deposit, and the boss gave her a note to be used when picking up the clothes tomorrow.
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End of Chapter 29, part 1.