Re-embroidering life

Shui Qinghua and Dou Jianzhi walked out of the door and were about to drive to Shuixiufang when a carriage stopped at the door of Ji's house. When the curtain was lifted, Chen Jinlan jumped down with an anxious look on her face: "Master, half of the embroiderers in the embroidery workshop are clamoring to quit their jobs, you should go and take a look!"

Shui Qinghua paused and took a breath. She had never expected that everything would happen so quickly. She did not bother to look for Manager Wang and Ye Jincheng again. She did not dare to delay at all and got into the carriage and rushed to the Shuixiu Workshop.

The embroidery workshop was in chaos.

As expected, it was the little troublemaker Zhao Xiuniang who was leading the trouble.

"What's going on?" Shui Qinghua walked in and looked at her sternly.

The embroidery workshop suddenly became quiet. Lady Zhao shuddered for a moment, then her voice became excited again: "We want to quit. It's been more than half a year since we came here to learn the craft. We've been working non-stop every day. It's too tiring."

"Yes, it's too tiring, we want to quit our job!"

Shui Qinghua looked at them calmly. After the opening, the embroidery products of Shuixiufang sold very well and the supply was in short supply. The original ten embroiderers were obviously not enough. Shui Qinghua expanded the staff twice and now there are almost thirty embroiderers. There are about a dozen people who are making trouble with Zhao Xiu Niang.

Dou Jianzhi took a step forward. The embroiderers usually dealt with the chief steward the most, so they were still quite intimidated by him and could not help but lower their eyes. He said to the dozen embroiderers in a leisurely manner: "Shuixiufang does change embroidery patterns frequently and the embroidery products are updated quickly, but we have never exploited you. There was a lot of rush work before the opening, so the owner of Shui immediately recruited 20 new embroiderers. After the opening, the working hours are not longer than those of other embroidery workshops, and the monthly salary is higher than that of other embroidery workshops. Moreover, you can withdraw half of the profit for every embroidery product ordered. What's more, you have learned the water embroidery techniques that are not available elsewhere, which can be the foundation of your life."

His voice suddenly rose: "Water Embroidery Workshop will not force anyone to stay, but don't forget that you have all signed a confidentiality agreement with the workshop. Once you leave Water Embroidery Workshop, you are not allowed to use the water embroidery technique again. If anyone is found to have taken the technique outside, Water Embroidery Workshop will report it to the government and investigate it to the end!"

Ordinary people were still afraid of seeing the government and getting sued. After hearing what Dou Jianzhi said, several embroiderers obviously backed off and took a step back imperceptibly.

Zhao Xiu Niang also looked a little scared, and her eyes unconsciously glanced to the side, but she happened to meet Shui Qinghua's calm eyes. She was frightened, retracted her gaze, and lowered her head.

"Okay," Shui Qinghua suddenly felt bored, "I can keep people but I can't keep their hearts. If you want to leave, go to the accounting office to settle this month's wages, but I want to remind you of two things: first, if you leave today, you will never be able to work in Shui Xiufang again in this life; second, the confidentiality agreement is always valid, and if there is any violation, Shui Xiufang will pursue it to the end."

After saying that, she looked at Meng Xiu Niang, who was standing not far from her and had remained silent and had a very low sense of presence. "Let's talk."

Meng Xiuniang obediently followed her into a small room.

Shui Qinghua was too lazy to pretend anymore and asked her directly: "What happened? Why did you do this?"

Meng Xiu Niang looked at Shui Qinghua in surprise: "Master Shui, I don't understand what you mean."

Shui Qinghua sighed helplessly: "Ameng, the embroiderers all follow you as their leader, and Zhao Xiu Niang is your loyal follower. If something like this happened under normal circumstances, would you stand aside and say nothing? Unless you instructed them to do so."

After saying this, without waiting for Meng Xiu Niang to explain, Shui Qinghua took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom and said, "This is a new spring product from Shui Xiu Fang, but it is not sold from Shui Xiu Fang, but sold privately from Zhen Luo Fang."

Meng Xiuniang's expression changed and she pursed her lips tightly, about to speak.

"Do you know how I targeted you? I taught you natural embroidery, and you taught it to other embroiderers. But at that time it was not taught hand-to-hand, but through letters. There was one stitch that you didn't learn very well. The two groups of embroiderers who were recruited later were taught by me personally, and they didn't have this problem with the stitches. The stitches on this silk handkerchief are exactly the same as the ones you embroidered." Shui Qinghua pointed at the silk handkerchief and said softly.

Meng Xiu Niang blushed: "Even so, there were ten embroiderers learning with me at that time. How can you be sure it was me?"

Shui Qinghua's eyes were filled with pity: "I originally thought that with your pride, you would admit it right away. In fact, it is very simple, and there are secret signs."

When Meng Xiuniang heard the word "secret code", her hands trembled violently as if they were burned by fire.

"You already understand. I require that each piece of embroidery have a water ripple mark on the back, but if every embroiderer can embroider it, then this mark will have no anti-counterfeiting function, so I give you a task, use your unique technique to add two stitches on top of each mark. What you don't know is that after you, there is actually another step, which is that I will personally use the Jiang embroidery method to do the final stitching."

As she spoke, Shui Qinghua took out another identical silk handkerchief, revealing the secret mark on the back, and motioned for Meng Xiu Niang to look at it. "Have you never noticed that the closing stitches of the secret mark are different from those of your embroidery?"

Meng Xiuniang looked ashen and said nothing.

"Actually, I don't need to explain so much to you. Who else but you could imitate the needle techniques and secret marks exactly and instigate the embroiderers to cause trouble? From the beginning, I knew it was you. I just don't understand why you did this. I really admire you. You have superb skills and great talent. You have a bright future." Shui Qinghua asked puzzledly.

"No matter how promising you are, you are still just an embroiderer, relying on your craft to make a living all your life! What will I do when I am old and can no longer do it?" Meng Xiu Niang looked at Shui Qinghua angrily, "Mr. Shui, in terms of talent, you are only one step ahead of me; in terms of needlework, I am one step better than you. No matter how you look at it, we are equally matched. A year ago, you were just a woman in the back house, penniless, but now you have been appreciated by two big bosses with your skills, and you have become a boss yourself. You can do it, why can't I?"

"Of course you can do it too. If you take the right path, no one can stop you. But what did you do?" Shui Qinghua's eyes were burning.

Meng Xiu Niang suddenly revealed weakness in her eyes. She laughed miserably, took a step back, and covered her face with her hands. "It's not that easy to be a boss. I don't have your luck! Zhenluofang found me and promised that if I taught the water embroidery techniques to the embroiderers of Zhenluofang and then found a way to mess up the water embroidery workshop, I could become the small boss of Zhenluofang and reap the dividends in the future. This temptation is too great!"

Shui Qinghua was filled with loss and disappointment. "If you had told me that you were worried about your future, I could have worked with you to find a solution. When Shui Xiu Fang became bigger and you had made great contributions, it would not be impossible to give you some business shares. Manager Dou did that. But you chose the worst path. Have you forgotten that you also signed a written contract with Shui Xiu Fang?"

Meng Xiuniang said gloomily, "The owner of Zhenluofang said that his sister is the concubine of Magistrate Huang, so he is not afraid of a lawsuit."

Shui Qinghua's heart skipped a beat. Nepotism was the most annoying thing.

"No matter what, Shui Xiu Fang can't keep you. Our fate has ended. You'll have to take care of yourself about what will happen in the future." Shui Qinghua said and left the room.