When Shen's Embroidery Workshop reopened, the aunt next door couldn't help sighing to the neighbors, "They seem like an ordinary family. They lost so much in business this year, but they still open the shop... Tut-tut-tut. I don't know how much wealth they have to squander."
The gossips reached Shen Fugui's ears, making him even more anxious. Taking advantage of Shen Yuning's busy moment, he pulled her into the inner room. "How much silver do you have left? The silver the old matriarch of the Xue family gave you was for you to live a more comfortable life in the future, not for you to make such reckless attempts!"
Shen Yuning blinked her eyes and smiled. "Brother, don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
Shen Fugui murmured to himself, thinking that she couldn't possibly have a proper plan. Probably because she used to have plenty of money and was used to being extravagant, she didn't think losing a dozen taels of silver was a big deal.
Looking back, he saw Xuanzhi carrying mattresses and sheets to the back yard to lay them out. He couldn't help but continue muttering in his heart. Xuanzhi was just a child after all, so ignorant and didn't know how to persuade her more.
After Shen Yuning finished her work, she saw two familiar embroiderers come in, both looking delighted.
"Boss, I heard yesterday that your shop was going to reopen. I didn't believe it at first. I thought the shop had been transferred. But it turned out to be true! Boss, we haven't found a suitable job yet. How about coming back to work for you?"
Shen Yuning was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. "I was just about to send Xuanzhi to look for you. I just bought some good satin yesterday and want to embroider a screen."
The embroiderer hesitated. "A screen? Usually, we only embroider such things when there's a pre - order. Otherwise, isn't it a waste to embroider one and just leave it there?"
Shen Yuning explained, "Since our Shen's Embroidery Workshop wants to have its own characteristics, we need a treasure to showcase. I've thought it over. I'll embroider the screen with Miss Cen. As for the work in the shop, we still need to hire more embroiderers."
Hearing this, the embroiderer frowned and asked, "But if we make a large - sized screen, it will take at least two months for you and Miss Cen to finish. We can handle the ordinary work in the shop, but we don't have the skills to make medium - to - high - grade embroidery. Moreover, you have to take care of the accounts and everything. This..."
However, Shen Yuning didn't care at all. Instead, she called Xuanzhi over and asked him to write a wooden sign and hang it outside, stating that the embroidery workshop was going to embroider a screen and would only take simple jobs, not big orders.
Because of the busy work in the embroidery workshop, Shen Yuning simply stayed in the workshop with Xuanzhi. Miss Cen originally wanted to come too, but Shen Yuning was worried about the housework at home, so she asked Miss Cen to do the housework at home and come over when she was free during the day.
Business was slow, which made the two embroiderers worried every day. They felt they were just freeloaders.
Shen Yuning was embroidering the screen with her head down. Seeing the two embroiderers get up and walk around after embroidering for a while, with worried looks on their faces, she couldn't help smiling. "Stop walking around. You're disturbing my embroidery. If you're free, why not practice your skills with some cloth? I want to expand and strengthen my embroidery workshop. We need more medium - and high - grade products. Otherwise, it won't work just relying on me and Miss Cen."
The two embroiderers blushed. They looked at each other, thinking that it was the boss who would bear the losses anyway. They also thought the boss was right, so they calmed down and focused on improving their skills.
It was extremely hot these days, and there was not much work in the fields. Shen Fugui was a person who couldn't stay idle. In the evening, he took Yuanbao and carried three - month - old Huzi to the town.
Seeing Xuanzhi clattering the abacus, Yuanbao climbed onto the stool and stared at the account book, reading word by word, "Ren (person) twenty wen, Ren twenty - four wen, Ren..."
Xuanzhi stopped moving the abacus beads, pressed Yuanbao's head, and said, "This character is read as 'ru' (enter), not'ren'."
After saying that, he dipped his brush in ink and wrote the characters'ren' and 'ru' on a blank piece of paper. He also explained the differences and meanings to Yuanbao.
Yuanbao tilted her head, nodded seriously, silently repeated the characters twice, and then grinned at Xuanzhi. "Brother Xuanzhi is really amazing!"
Leaning against the counter, Shen Fugui listened to their conversation and couldn't help smiling. "Your generation relationship is a bit chaotic. Xuanzhi calls us brother and sister, so Yuanbao should call Xuanzhi uncle."
Xuanzhi laughed heartily, pushed the abacus away, recorded a number in the account book, and then said to Yuanbao, "Since we have paper and pen today, you write each of these two characters ten times."
Yuanbao muttered, still insisting on calling him brother. But her hands didn't stop. She happily took the brush and started writing.
Seeing Xuanzhi put away the account book, Shen Fugui quickly asked, "How's business today? How much did we earn?"
Xuanzhi replied, "We earned ninety - three wen, the most in these days. But I've calculated that after deducting the cost of the cloth, we can probably earn about fifty wen. After further deducting labor costs and so on..."
Shen Fugui sighed. "It means we're still losing money! I heard from your sister yesterday that the wages for the embroiderers were set too low, only three qian a month. With the current slow business, they can only earn about four qian in total. Your sister said that if the business doesn't improve, she'll pay at least six qian a month. That's nearly one tael for the two embroiderers. If we keep running the embroidery workshop like this, won't we be losing money every month?"
Xuanzhi wasn't worried at all. Instead, he picked up a book and read it to Huzi in his arms.
Seeing that Xuanzhi didn't respond, Shen Fugui felt like an elder brother who was worrying too much about his younger siblings. He rambled on for a long time but got no response. "He's only three months old. He won't understand what you're reading. And I'm not very smart. He takes after me. He definitely won't be good at studying in the future."
Xuanzhi looked up seriously and said, "That's not necessarily true. I think Huzi has a round head, so he must be smart, just like his aunt. Moreover, hard work in studying is far more important than talent. Look at Yuanbao. She can already recognize dozens of characters. It's all because of her hard work."
Shen Fugui didn't care. "Yuanbao is a girl. She doesn't need to take the imperial examinations. It's okay for her to learn for fun."
Yuanbao had been sitting up straight proudly, holding the brush seriously and trying to hold it in the way Xuanzhi had taught her. Although her characters were ugly, she felt that each one was improving. Hearing what her uncle said, she suddenly felt discouraged, and couldn't bring herself to write the next stroke.
Xuanzhi was in a daze for a while, then looked back at Shen Fugui seriously. "Regardless of gender, we don't study just for the imperial examinations. Sister said that studying is to understand the world and reason. Just like sister. She has read a lot of books. Her knowledge and courage are far greater than ours."
Shen Fugui didn't think it was useless for Yuanbao and Huzi to study. It was just that deep in his heart, he felt that a family like his wasn't worthy of studying. Shen Yuning used to be a young lady from a wealthy family, and Xuanzhi was now in decline, but he must have been a young master from a rich family before. How could they be compared with ordinary families?
Yuanbao pouted, stubbornly tightened her grip on the brush, and carefully wrote the next stroke. Her aunt had said that if they didn't work hard, they would end up being sold. She didn't want to be sold. She wanted to be like her aunt.
Half a month later, Shen Yuning had almost finished embroidering the screen. She placed the screen in the shop for the customers to admire. Such decorative items were only used by wealthy families, but it didn't stop people from liking to look at them.
There was a continuous stream of customers coming and going. The business of medium - and low - grade products also improved a lot.
In Xitian Town, there had been more wealthy people in the past two years. Naturally, there were several rich families who wanted high - quality embroidery. However, the young man sitting behind the counter was very wooden. He always shook his head and turned the customers away, saying that the embroidery workshop only took ordinary embroidery jobs for the time being. If they wanted high - quality products, they could go to Yong's Cloth Store around the corner.
Some customers were not willing to give up and asked the boss how much the screen would cost after it was finished.
Shen Yuning frowned slightly. "Thank you for your attention. However, because our shop has encountered a series of misfortunes before, I specially invited someone to check the feng shui. I found that our shop lacks a treasure to protect it. I've put all my efforts into this screen. Only after the screen is finished can our shop truly open for business. This screen won't be sold. If anyone likes it, they can come to place an order later."
Even the manager of Yong's Cloth Store came to have a look. He was peeping in at the door at first, but when Xuanzhi saw him, he quickly invited him in, which made the manager a bit embarrassed.
Xuanzhi said it was the boss's idea. He said that Shen's Embroidery Workshop relied on the skills of the embroiderers and there was no taboo against competitors coming in. He asked the manager to look around at will.
The manager deeply felt that the boss of Shen's Embroidery Workshop was a sensible person. He had seen the skills of the young lady from the Shen family a long time ago. Now seeing her work again, he only felt that her skills had become even more exquisite. No wonder she refused to be hired and was not afraid of setbacks. She insisted on opening her own embroidery workshop.
He immediately slapped his chest in front of Shen Yuning. "If you need any help in the future, just come to the cloth store to find me, Old Hu. I'm the manager of Yong's Cloth Store and also a clan brother of our boss. I can still have some influence among the cloth merchants and embroidery workshops in the whole Yun County."
Each trade had its own guild. For example, in Lingcheng, there was a guild for those related to the cloth business. The president of the guild was naturally the head of Yong's Cloth Store. Shen Yuning knew that Manager Yong wasn't just boasting. She was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly.
The publicity campaign of Shen's Embroidery Workshop was really a great success. For several consecutive days, there was an endless stream of people coming to admire the screen. The customers were very eager, but when they learned that the shop couldn't officially open yet, they felt very disappointed. However, they had to be patient and wait, hoping that the embroidery workshop would produce more high - quality products for them to choose from when it finally opened.
However, it seemed that Shen Yuning was destined to have a rough life full of twists and turns.
On the Mid - Autumn Festival in August, Shen Yuning sent the embroiderers in the workshop home early to reunite with their families. She herself stayed in the yard to finish the last part of the screen.
Shen Fugui came looking for her in the evening. He was a bit unhappy. "What time is it? What are you and Xuanzhi doing? Why don't you go home for dinner?"
Xuanzhi was busy putting away the embroidery products in the shop and pulling the tarpaulin in the back yard. Hearing this, he looked up and replied, "I heard it might rain tonight. I'm checking if there are any leaks in the house. Brother Fugui, if you're free, come and help me check quickly."
Shen Fugui's heart skipped a beat. He remembered that last time, many embroidery products in the workshop were damaged by water. He didn't waste any time. He quickly climbed onto the shelf and helped Xuanzhi cover the cloth tightly with the tarpaulin.
Shen Yuning drove the ox - cart back to Xiaoshu Village alone. She met the aunt next door, who looked at her in surprise. "Girl, I always see your brother come to pick you up. Why are you driving the ox - cart by yourself today?"
Shen Yuning covered her foot. "I sprained my foot while helping just now. I can't do any work now. But the cloth store has a batch of good cloth. I'm afraid it will be too late if I go there tomorrow, so I asked my brother to go and buy the cloth first."