Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Qiao Nan and Zhu Baoguo were the most special students in his class. One was admitted to his class based on her excellent results, while the other went through the back door to be admitted to his class. Initially, Liu Neng had been worried when Zhu Baoguo insisted on going to the same class as Qiao Nan.
Liu Neng had seen a lot of problems between boys and girls. Besides, the students in their class would be changed over time. The school would organize monthly and mid-term exams, and reshuffled the students according to their credits.
Liu Neng had seen many cases where the young boys and girls did not put their efforts in their studies but were more interested in their relationships. They might have been admitted to class one in year one, but they could no longer stay in class one when they advanced to year two.
Initially, Liu Neng was worried that Qiao Nan and Zhu Baoguo would be in a similar situation. Now, he no longer had such concern.
No wonder the Zhu family put in a lot of efforts to ensure that Zhu Baoguo was in the same class as Qiao Nan and had insisted for Zhu Baoguo to be seated with Qiao Nan in the class. At first, he could not understand their intentions. After all, it was a crucial time for them to concentrate on their studies, and it would be too much for parents to go this far to support their children’s relationships. But now he knew that it was not the case.
Time passed by very quickly. In a blink, it had turned dark. When Qiao Nan went back to the dormitory, she took back four sets of uniforms with her, including Zhu Baoguo’s military training uniform.
“Qiao Nan, what are you doing?” Tang Mengran noticed that Qiao Nan was doing her needlework. She looked at her, perplexed. “Aren’t you going to read your books?”
“I am altering the military training uniforms. The pants of the military training suits are too long and wide that one will easily step on the pants. The waistband is too loose as well. If one does not use a belt, I am afraid that the pants will drop off.” Qiao Nan sewed the pants while talking to Tang Mengran.
“What? This is news to me.” He Yun jumped to her feet and quickly tried on her military training uniform.
As expected, the legs of the pants were too wide. If one jumped about, the pants might drop off. And the pants were particularly long and wide. It was so long that it reached and covered her shoes.
“Oh, my! My uniform has the same problem. What should I do? If my pants drop off tomorrow, it will be so shameful!” All of the girls in the dormitory were anxious and worried.
Qiao Nan had finished sewing her uniform and proceeded to alter Zhu Baoguo’s pants. “Don’t worry. I have needles and threads with me. All of you can do some minor alterations to ensure that it will not drop off.”
“How do we go about it?!” Tao Zhenqin was in frenzy. She did not know how to do needlework.
“Qiao Nan, you must have a way. Teach us!” Fang Fang sat down next to Qiao Nan, wanting Qiao Nan to help her. “Qiao Nan, we have to rely on you for tomorrow. Our success and failure are all in your hands.”
Qiao Nan curled the corner of her lips and said, “Is it that serious?”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
The five girls in the dormitory said in unison.
“Alright, I will teach all of you.” Qiao Nan had no other choices but to agree. “Since the waistband is elastic, the other ways of sewing are not suitable. It will be useless if the thread comes loose. The best way will be to shift the buttonhole inward according to one’s waistline, so one will need to do some scissoring. As for the legs of the pants, you can roll them up and sew some stitches to secure them. It is an easy feat and will be done in a jiffy.”
Qiao Nan finished altering Zhu Baoguo’s pants while explaining to the five girls. “Okay, I’m done. You can use the needles and threads.”
“Qiao Nan, don’t go. You have to guide us along. We cannot remember all the steps.” Zheng Lingling pulled at Qiao Nan, refusing to let her go.
“Don’t worry, it’s very simple. Anyway, I just want to pass the pants back to Zhu Baoguo. It’s late, there’s nowhere for me to go besides the dormitory. You could inform the other girls in our class about the problems with the pants. After all, all of us are class committee members.”
With that, Qiao Nan brought the pants to Zhu Baoguo. “You must try it on later when you get back to your room. If it is not fitting, I will alter it for you.”
“No, it is definitely fitting.” Zhu Baoguo took the pants and put them against himself to see if it was fitting. He was very satisfied with the pants. “Xiao Qiao, you have nimble hands and have no trouble with needlework at all. I suppose you are the only girl who can do needlework in your dormitory. No, I should say that you are the only one who can do this in the whole class. You are amazing!”
“Hehehe.” Qiao Nan smiled dryly. “I am going back, then.” She did not ask for it, but if she did not have these skills, how could she survive her years at home?
Qiao Zijin would always have new clothes every year, every quarter and every month. But she could only have her hand-me-downs.
Even if Qiao Zijin was plumper than her, or that the clothes were old and most of them were not suitable, Qiao Nan still had to wear them.
Even if she did not have any new clothes to wear, Qiao Nan would ensure that her clothes were neat and fitting. Over time, Qiao Nan became adept at needlework. Qiao Nan could tell at first glance that the military training uniforms were too big and not fitting.
“Qiao Nan, you are back. That’s great. Please teach me what to do and where I should cut it. If I make any mistake, this pair of pants will be ruined.” As soon as Qiao Nan returned to the dormitory, she was dragged away by the people in the dormitory.
“You must put it on so that I can alter it according to your waistline.”
“Okay.” Zheng Lingling put on her pants obediently. Anyway, there were all girls. Zheng Lingling had nothing to be shy about.
“Is this tight?” Qiao Nan made some folds at the waist and asked.
“No.”
“Okay.” Qiao Nan picked up the small scissors and cut a hole at that area. She then fixed the button at that location. “Zheng Lingling, try moving about.”
Zheng Lingling took a few steps carefully. She then jumped around, squatted, and twisted about. “Okay, it’s just nice! Qiao Nan, you are so brilliant, thank you!”
“Me too. Qiao Nan, you have to help me out as well.”
“Me too!”
“There is no hurry. We can do so one by one!”
Zheng Lingling spent ages on the pants but did not make any progress, whereas Qiao Nan altered it within a few minutes. The other four girls were thrilled at that and wanted Qiao Nan to help them with the altering as well.
Zheng Lingling, who had altered the waistline, proceeded to alter the legs of her pants. “Qiao Nan, have you heard about it? When we brought out the blankets to air today, many students from the other classes were confused about their blankets and could not find theirs. In the end, some students lost their blankets. Fortunately, you taught us to make a marking. Otherwise, I have no idea what would have happened.” Zheng Lingling was gloating and rejoicing over what happened today.
“Yeah, it’s too unfortunate for them.”
“Qiao Nan, aren’t you a top scholar in the middle school examination? Shouldn’t you be a nerd? Why are you more adept in other life skills than us? Compared to you, we are not equipped with the skills to take care of ourselves. You are too annoying. But since you are willing to help and share, there is no way that I can stay annoyed at you.” Tang Mengran blushed in embarrassment and said shyly.
