Re-embroidering life

Xiaohuan acted quickly, and brought a dozen women to the Shuixiu Workshop the next day. They were of different ages, the youngest was 13 or 14, and the oldest was over 40. Although their clothes were worn out, they were all clean and starched, and it was obvious that they valued this opportunity very much.

Shui Qinghua took Chen Jinlan and Shui Yuhua to inspect the embroidery skills of these women. There were many good ones among them. Some had been embroiderers, some worked as needlework in wealthy families, and some had been doing embroidery at home since childhood. Their skills were not much different from those of the embroiderers who had left. Shui Qinghua immediately divided these women into two groups. One group was directly added to the Shuixiu Workshop and taught by Shui Yuhua to learn natural embroidery; the other group was the reserve team and first learned basic embroidery skills from Huixin.

After Meng Xiu Niang left, the embroiderers were leaderless and needed a new foreman. In terms of both skill level and trust, Shui Qinghua preferred Chen Jinlan. After she expressed this, Jinlan bit her lip and lowered her head.

"Master, I have been back to Jiangxia to accompany my grandparents for several years. My parents have arranged a marriage for me in the capital and asked me to return to Beijing as soon as possible to get married." His voice became lower and lower, and after he finished speaking, his eyes could not help but turn red.

Shui Qinghua and Shui Yuhua were also silent, feeling indescribably disappointed. Ever since Dong Yajing returned to Beijing, the "Five Gentlemen" embroidered by them in Furong Garden felt like something was missing. Now, even Jinlan was leaving.

Shui Qinghua calmed down first: "Girls should get married when they grow up, this is a good thing, it is Master's fault for not considering your lifelong affairs. All good things must come to an end, no matter where you go, don't forget the days when we gathered together in Furong Garden to learn embroidery."

Chen Jinlan finally couldn't hold back her tears: "Master, I can't bear to leave you. It was you who taught me embroidery, and it was you who told me that women can do many things."

Shui Qinghua reached out and stroked Jinlan's shoulder: "Yes, even if you get married and have children, you are still you, and you can always live according to your own ideas. Master once lost himself and paid a heavy price. Fortunately, God had mercy on me and gave me a chance to start over, but not everyone is as lucky as me. Jinlan, remember, don't lose yourself at any time."

Jin Lan felt that the master's words today were so profound that she could not understand them very well, but she could see clearly the sincerity in the master's eyes and the regret when he recalled the past. She did not dare to ask more questions, but only told herself in her heart that she would live well and live up to the master's expectations.

After Jinlan left, Shui Yuhua looked at Shui Qinghua and said, "Second sister, let me be the foreman of the embroidery workshop. I will do my best."

Shui Qinghua discovered that this youngest sister had grown up without her noticing. Her former immaturity and childishness had faded a lot, and her eyes were more confident and steady.

She smiled and nodded, called Huixin over, and said to the two of them, "From now on, I will hand over all the embroidery work to you. If you want to secure the position of foreman, you must have outstanding skills and convince others with reason."

"Especially you," Shui Qinghua tapped Shui Yuhua's forehead, "Control your temper and stop using quarrels to solve problems, understand?"

Shui Yuhua nodded obediently.

Shui Qinghua looked at Hui Xin again: "Before you asked not to leave your slavery, I let you do it. But now you are leading a group of embroiderers, which is not appropriate in terms of your status. One day, you will break away from my wings and fly on your own. Now it is just a little earlier."

Huixin knelt down, kowtowed, and called out "Third Madam" with sobs.

Shui Qinghua and Shui Yuhua both laughed and said, "From now on, you can't call me Third Madam anymore. You have to call me Master!"

At this point, the problem of the embroiderers was finally solved, but the new embroiderers still needed time to get started. In order to meet the delivery date three months later, Shui Qinghua could only pay double the wages and asked the old embroiderers to work day and night, while suspending all orders.

Without even having time to catch his breath, Shui Qinghua had to face the next problem without stopping: the leakage of his techniques.

Natural embroidery was her unique skill and the starting point of her Shuixiufang. Now this advantage no longer exists. Shui Qinghua never dares to look down on anyone. There may be embroiderers in Zhenluofang who are not inferior to her or Meng Xiuniang. Once embroiderers of this level get the embroidery pattern of natural embroidery, they can quickly learn it almost perfectly, just like Meng Xiuniang did. The speed of a skill spreading from spreading to popularization will be very fast, so she can't take chances.

She had to find the next unique skill for Shuixiu Workshop, otherwise, with its scale and size, it would soon be crushed by other embroidery workshops. For Shopkeeper Wang, it was just a loss of money, for Boss Ye, it was just the return of the shop, but for her, a year's hard work was wasted, and the livelihoods of more than 30 people were left unsettled.

Now all she had in her hand was Jiang Xiu.

Shui Qinghua came to the gate of Granny Zheng's courtyard again. On the day she left, Granny Zheng told her not to come again. She didn't expect the reality to be so cruel. The high spirits and excitement on the opening day had not subsided. In less than half a year, the embroidery workshop had fallen into a desperate situation of life and death.

She wandered outside the gate for a long time, but didn't have the courage to knock on the door.

"Squeak--" the door opened, and Qiong Niang's round smiling face appeared behind the door.

"I felt there was someone outside the door, and sure enough. Madam Shui, come in quickly!" Qiong Niang spoke as quickly as ever.

Shui Qinghua hesitated for a moment and walked into the courtyard silently. There was no sign of Granny Zheng embroidering in the courtyard.

As if she could see what she was thinking, Qiong Niang said, "Mother-in-law is old and has been feeling unwell lately. She is resting in the house."

Shui Qinghua suddenly became nervous: "Is grandma okay? I'll go in and see her."

"No need," Qiong Niang stopped her, "Don't give it to you after you get sick. Besides, according to the rules of the mother-in-law and others, if you take the embroidery pattern, she will no longer see you."

Hearing this, Shui Qinghua stood there for a while, then mustered up the courage to say to Qiong Niang: "I have something very important to tell you, please let me see my mother-in-law!"

"Ahem..." A burst of rapid coughing sounded from the room. Then, Granny Zheng's voice rang out faintly: "I've made it clear to you. You just need to find a talented successor to pass on Jiang embroidery. As for the rest, you can decide for yourself."

"Mother-in-law, I heard that Jiang embroidery can only be passed on to one person in each generation. This is such a pity. Why can't Jiang embroidery be carried forward? People only know about Su embroidery, Hunan embroidery, and Guangdong embroidery, but not Chu embroidery, let alone Jiang embroidery. I want Jiang embroidery to go out of this yard, out of Echeng, and even out of Jiangxia. This is not only for my embroidery workshop, but also for Jiang embroidery. Is that okay?" Shui Qinghua said to her mother-in-law while standing outside the window with an excited tone.

There was a long silence in the room. When Shui Qinghua felt that he was destined to return home disappointed, Granny Zheng spoke up: "Only one person is passed down from generation to generation, which is not the rule of the sect. We don't have a sect, and each successor only learns the skills, not becomes a disciple. We only pass down to one person because it is difficult to wait for a truly talented person in a lifetime. If you can find such a person, it doesn't matter if you have a few more."

Granny Zheng stopped talking, and Shui Qinghua couldn't help but hold her breath.

"Whether it can be developed and promoted or not, no one cared before, and I don't care either. If you care, just do it." said Grandma Zheng.

Shui Qinghua let out a long sigh, tears welling up in her eyelashes. She knelt down and bowed three times towards the window: "Although I was not taught by my mother-in-law, she was my teacher. Qinghua will always remember this."

"Go away, and don't come here again." Grandma Zheng said to Shui Qinghua for the last time.