Re-embroidering life

Ji Zimo felt a little embarrassed when he accidentally discovered his elder brother's long-forgotten secret. Since it was his elder brother's private matter and so many years had passed, it would not benefit anyone to reveal it. He decided to bury it deep in his heart and not even tell Qinghua a word.

Shui Qinghua knew nothing about Ji Zimo's psychological activities. Since the release of the four new regulations, the morale of Shuixiufang has been boosted, and she has become busy again.

First, she asked Dou Jianzhi to file a complaint at the county government office, accusing Meng Xiuniang of violating the confidentiality agreement, and brought solid evidence. She admitted that Meng Xiuniang was just a pawn being used, but if she did not take action, other embroiderers would think that violating the written contract would have no consequences, and the written contract would be equivalent to a piece of waste paper, and then she would not be able to open the embroidery workshop again.

Everyone in Shuixiufang soon knew that the boss had sued Meng Xiu Niang. Although the government had not yet responded, the embroiderers all understood that although the boss Shui was gentle and amiable, she would show her sharp claws if her bottom line was really crossed. The remaining embroiderers did not have many evil intentions. The newly recruited refugee embroiderers had received favors from Shui Qinghua, and they had received double wages for their recent rush work. With such a combination of kindness and power, the embroiderers' hearts were stabilized.

Shui Qinghua didn't care after the petition was submitted. She just wanted to make her position clear. She didn't want to kill Meng Xiuniang. After all, they had been together for such a long time and they had some affection for each other. The real culprit was Zhen Luofang. Unfortunately, she had no evidence to prove that the man surnamed Luo was the mastermind behind the scenes.

She spent all her time upgrading natural embroidery. Natural embroidery is derived from the high-end skills of Suzhou embroidery. Before opening the embroidery workshop, in order to integrate the two embroidery styles, she had already integrated some Chu embroidery needlework into natural embroidery. How should she innovate this time?

For several days, Shui Qinghuacha had no appetite or food. She either read ancient books or meditated in front of the embroidery frame, but she still couldn't get the point. She was so anxious that several big blisters appeared at the corners of her mouth.

Ji Zimo finally couldn't bear it anymore, so he pulled her out of the embroidery room, forced her to sit in front of the dining table, and ordered her: "Eat this bowl of meat porridge for me!"

Shui Qinghua was upset and said unhappily, "Don't mess with me, I don't have the heart to eat!"

After she finished speaking, she was about to stand up, but Ji Zimo pressed her shoulders with both hands to stop her from moving. Shui Qinghua was really anxious and was about to lose her temper, but Ji Zimo said, "After you finish this bowl of porridge, I will tell you how to innovate."

Shui Qinghua looked at him suspiciously: "You also know embroidery?"

Ji Zimo straightened his chest and let her watch calmly: "Embroidery and painting are integrated, of course I understand."

Ji Zimo has always been her think tank, and Shui Qinghua still has great faith in him. After finishing her porridge with no appetite, she couldn't wait to ask, "What on earth do you have in mind?"

Ji Zimo imitated his elder brother, twirled his chin, and said, "Your thinking is too narrow. Who says that innovative techniques can only be done with needlework? No matter how many tricks you can use with a small needle, there is always an end to it. Why don't you consider making changes in silk thread, color matching, light and dark, and embroidery cloth? Just like painting, the same technique, using different pens, different papers, and different shades can produce different effects."

Ji Zimo's words were like a magical hand, accurately finding the thread in a tangled mess, and pulling it up, the tangled mess instantly became smooth and silky. Shui Qinghua's eyes lit up. Yes, if she changed her mindset, she would have a lot of things to do.

"Don't you have a unique hair embroidery? Can you use hair to replace part of the silk thread? How about feathers? Or wool thread?" Ji Zimo was still coaxing.

Shui Qinghua raised her index finger and sealed Ji Zimo's mouth: "Don't talk, let me think about it."

She paced back and forth in the room, muttering to herself. Ji Zimo felt dizzy. Seeing that she had figured it out, he quietly left.

When Shui Qinghua finally sorted out her thoughts and was about to share them, she found that no one was in the room. She didn't care, but spread out the rice paper and wrote down her thoughts one by one.

So, after a few days, when Shui Qinghua walked out of the room, she felt refreshed, with light in her eyes, as if she had glimpsed a new realm.

She walked into the water embroidery workshop carrying a thick stack of manuscripts and signaled Yuhua to gather all the embroiderers together.

The new embroiderers feel a lot of pressure because they have to learn newer techniques before they have mastered the previous ones.

Shui Qinghua saw the uneasiness in their eyes and comforted them: "Don't worry, everyone. Our technical upgrade this time is not aimed at needlework, but at materials and color matching."

After this statement was made, everyone's faces became even more confused. Shui Qinghua spread out the manuscript and explained his thoughts in detail.

As the name implies, natural embroidery pursues a natural and realistic effect. The same object will produce light and dark changes due to different light exposure, and only one color thread cannot achieve the simulation effect. After several days of intensive research, Shui Qinghua decided to use several color threads combined into one needle to embroider and enrich the color expression. To achieve this, the silk thread must be thin, and one silk thread must be divided into 24 filaments.

After solving the problem of thickness, the next thing is color. She wants to make sure that all the colors that can be mixed in painting can be expressed in silk thread. There are dozens or even hundreds of shades of a color. The treatment of natural luster and light and dark relationship is naturally not comparable to the previous embroidery thread. Therefore, she will set a color scale table for silk thread, find a professional dyeing workshop to cooperate, dye the thread according to the requirements of the embroidery, and make the three words "natural embroidery" to the extreme.

Hearing this, the embroiderers were already whispering to each other, and there was a buzz of voices at the scene. Even Dou Jianzhi, who always trusted Shui Qinghua unconditionally, frowned and said nothing, looking like he was in deep thought.

Shui Qinghua also noticed it and called Dou Jianzhi's name: "Manager Dou, if you have any ideas, please share them with us."

Dou Jianzhi cupped his hands and said, "Boss, we just lost half of our embroiderers. The existing embroiderers are already struggling to learn techniques and meet orders. Now we have to assign people to split silk and dye threads. I think it will be difficult to achieve in the short term."

Dou Jianzhi thought, Second Sister is good at everything, she is talented and has many ideas, but there are too many ideas, it is hard to keep up. Not to mention that competitors are boycotting her, even a loyal follower like me finds it difficult to keep up. Didn't she say she would slow down the pace, but now she is doing the opposite. If she succeeds in upgrading her skills this time, all the embroidery workshops in Echeng will be overthrown by her!

After the embroiderers left, Dou Jianzhi walked up to Shui Qinghua and said in a low voice, "Boss, it's not just the problem of a shortage of manpower. We haven't received any orders recently. We don't have much money on our books. Where will the money for spinning and dyeing come from? Moreover, with such a high cost, our embroidery products will have to be priced higher. If we raise prices after only six months of opening, I'm afraid our accumulated customers will run away."

Dou Jianzhi's face wrinkled into a bitter gourd, which made Shui Qinghua laugh. "Okay Jianzhi, it's not that serious. If we don't have money, we can go and ask for it."

"Who should I ask for it?"

"Of course it's the two old foxes named Wang and Ye. With so many things happening, it's impossible for them to just sit back and do nothing." Shui Qinghua said word by word.