Tao unfolded it and saw two camellias embroidered on the moon-white plain satin. It was not only lifelike but also full of freshness.
She smiled and nodded: "No wonder my father-in-law specially asked you to embroider this camellia. This camellia is indeed embroidered extremely delicately."
Mr. Tao kept his word. After seeing the embroidered camellia, he ordered someone to pick up the double-sided embroidery.
The maid quickly brought a brocade box. Tao opened the brocade box himself and saw a small embroidery inside. The light-colored plain satin was embroidered with a picture of peach blossoms and wild ducks.
Tao picked up the embroidery and saw that the front and back of the embroidery were the same, with the same pattern, the same color, and the same hidden stitches.
This was the first time Shen Xiu saw double-sided embroidery at this time. She couldn't help but slightly widen her eyes and refused to let go of every part of the embroidery.
Seeing her like this, Mrs. Tao simply handed the embroidery over, "Please take a good look at it! This embroidery is for you anyway."
Shen Xiu smiled sheepishly: "Madam, don't be offended. As soon as I saw the double-sided embroidery, I forgot everything."
The double-sided embroidery is already yours, so there is no need to look at it here. Wouldn't it be better to look at it at home?
So Shen Xiu quickly said goodbye to Mrs. Tao and returned to the inn with the double-sided embroidery.
As soon as she returned to the inn, Shen Xiu unfolded the double-sided embroidery and looked at it carefully.
When she was learning embroidery from her master, she was lucky enough to see a piece of double-sided embroidery collected by the master. However, the master was very fond of the double-sided embroidery piece and only let her see it once before hiding it.
When Shen Xiu later learned the double-sided embroidery technique, she always couldn't figure out the trick. At that time, she thought that when she earned more money in the future, she would buy a real double-sided embroidery for reference.
It's a pity that she came here before she could save enough money.
Now, with her own skills, she finally has a double-sided embroidery piece here.
Looking at the double-sided embroidery in front of her, Shen Xiu had an idea that she had had for a long time. She wanted to take it apart and take a look at it to see how the threads of the double-sided embroidery were hidden.
While Shen Xiu was busy removing the double-sided embroidery, Wei Yan was drinking tea with Mr. Meng.
Mr. Meng has the habit of drinking tea and appreciating paintings.
That day he took out a picture of Tongyin's Qingmeng, which he said was made by a great master from the previous dynasty.
Mr. Meng talked about the benefits of this painting while drinking tea.
Wei Yan studied painting with a painter for two years. He was extremely talented in painting, and he could tell at a glance that this ancient painting was indeed a masterpiece.
He just looked at it and frowned slightly.
Mr. Meng could see it clearly and asked, "Is there something wrong with this painting?"
Wei Yan wasn't quite sure yet, so he just shook his head.
Mr. Meng was a little unhappy: "If you have anything to say, just say it. I am not that narrow-minded person."
When Wei Yan saw that the words had reached this point, he said: "I think this signature is wrong."
"What's wrong?"
Wei Yan pointed to the inscription and said: "There is a word 'chang' in the name of Emperor Gaozu of our dynasty. In order to avoid taboos, he would write the word 'chang' when he had to write it. If it was a calligraphy and painting of our dynasty, then it would naturally be taboo."
But since this painting was made by the previous dynasty, why should the word 'chang' be avoided and written as 'taste'?"
Mr. Meng lowered his head and took a look, and sure enough he saw that the signature of the painting was supposed to be written with the word 'Chan', but instead it was written with the word 'Taste'.
He couldn't help frowning and said: "It's true. In the previous dynasty, there was no need to avoid the word 'Chang'. It can be seen that this painting was clearly made by this dynasty. Because it was customary to write the word 'Chang' as 'taste', I forgot about it when I signed the signature."
thing."
After Mr. Meng finished speaking, he looked at Wei Yan, "I didn't expect you to be so attentive, and you can even see this little detail."
Wei Yan said: "I don't dare to take the compliments of the old gentleman. But although this painting was made by a person from this dynasty, it is indeed a good painting."
"Since you said this painting is good, I will give it to you." Mr. Meng waved his hand and said directly.
Wei Yan declined politely, but Mr. Meng said: "I always feel awkward looking at this painting now, and I feel extremely ashamed when I think that I couldn't recognize the origin of this painting. So you'd better take this painting away!"
Mr. Meng wanted to be out of sight, so he donated this painting to Wei Yan.
After Wei Yan took the painting to the inn, Shen Xiu looked at the painting and said, "Why doesn't Mr. Meng not want such a good painting?"
Wei Yan explained the reason clearly, and finally said: "Mr. Meng has said so, and I don't want it. But this painting is really good. Although it is not a painting from the previous dynasty, it is still one of the best."
"Since you agreed, then put the painting away!" Shen Xiudao, "Wait until Mr. Meng figures it out before returning it to others!"
Shen Xiu has always trusted Wei Yan's vision. He said that this painting is good, which proves that the painting is worth a lot of money. As the saying goes, there is no reward for no reward. It is best to return such a valuable thing to others after a period of time.
good.
Mr. Meng had no intention of taking back the painting. Since Wei Yan helped him find out the origin of the painting, Mr. Meng took out all the famous paintings in his collection and let him appreciate them.
Given Mr. Meng's current status, of course most of the famous paintings in his collection are genuine. What happened last time was just an exception.
Mr. Meng now believed in Wei Yan. Hearing him say that these paintings should be real, he smiled.
After reading the calligraphy and painting, Mr. Meng started chatting again, chatting about tea, wine and food, but did not mention the matter of accepting disciples.
Wei Yan also noticed that Mr. Meng was trying to test his patience.
Fortunately, he is a very patient person. Since Mr. Meng didn't mention the matter of accepting disciples, he wouldn't mention it more.
It's just that there are more people here, and sometimes Wei Yan will ask some difficult academic questions.
Mr. Meng behaved like a great scholar at this time, answering all questions. When he was in a good mood, he would find one or two books from the library and let him go home and read them carefully.
In this way, another ten days passed without realizing it.
On this day, Shen Xiu received a letter from the county town. It was sent by someone from Liandong. The letter said that since Shen Xiu left, the shop has taken a lot of orders. Now that Shen Xiu has not returned, those customers can't stand it.
They kept coming to my door to urge me.
Shen Xiu also felt that he had lived in Fucheng for a long time.
Mi Xinzhi has already gone to Zhuangzi in the countryside with Mrs. Tao, and there will be no need for herself in the future.
That night, Shen Xiu discussed with Wei Yan about returning to the county town.
"I plan to take Daya back to the county town in a few days." Shen Xiudao.
Wei Yan was originally worried about the two of them going on the road and wanted to go back with them, but Shen Xiu felt that it would be a pity for Wei Yan to go back like this.
Mr. Meng has not mentioned accepting a disciple so far, but he has not refused Wei Yan's visit, which shows that Wei Yan still has great hope.
"My lord, if this doesn't happen, I'll ask someone from the escort agency to escort us back to the county seat, so you don't have to worry."
This is also a way.
Wei Yan himself did not want to give up this opportunity. The reason why he wanted to become a disciple of the great Confucian scholar so much was not because of the reputation, but because if he could study with Mr. Meng, he would have great confidence in being admitted to the imperial examinations and Jinshi in the future.
The couple discussed until midnight, and finally followed Shen Xiu's suggestion, and she and Da Ya were escorted back by the escort.
There are several escort agencies in Fucheng.
Shen Xiu didn't know the quality of the escort agency, so she asked Li Miao'er to help her choose an escort agency with a good reputation. The escort agency would send them two escorts to take them back.
Because both of them are female, one of the two escorts is a female escort, which makes it much more convenient when they are on the road.
This was the first time Shen Xiu saw a female escort. When she was on her way, she asked the female escort to ride in the carriage with them.
The female escort's surname was Cen, known as Mrs. Cen. She started working as an escort when she was fifteen years old and traveled almost all over the country.
The journey was boring, so Madam Cen sometimes talked about things she had experienced personally, and sometimes when she talked about critical points, Shen Xiu and Da Ya couldn't help but slow down their breathing.
While driving like this, I listened to Mrs. Cen telling stories, and I felt that I had returned to the county town not long after.
When Madam Cen finally left, both Shen Xiu and Daya were a little reluctant to leave, not only because of the stories Madam Cen told, but also because Madam Cen was a very cheerful person and it was easy to get along with her.
However, Shen Xiu quickly put away her reluctance and planned to go back to the shop to sort out some trivial matters.
This time I have been away from home for a month or two. It was still spring when I left, but now it is almost early summer.
The county town is a bit warmer than the Fucheng side. Pedestrians on the road have already changed into spring clothes and put on light gauze clothes or Geyi.
When Shen Xiu arrived at the shop, she saw a sedan parked at the door of the shop, and knew that a guest of some rank had arrived.
She said nothing, raised the curtain and walked into the shop.
I saw Lonicera laughing with a lady, "I'm really sorry, our boss is not in the county. How about my wife come back in a few days."
The lady was wearing a 70% new rose-colored plum-patterned coat, with several gold hairpins in her hair and heavy gold bracelets on her wrists, looking like a nouveau riche.
When Shen Xiu saw this, she didn't smile. Instead, her heart sank. She had seen this lady at Wen Min's place and knew that she was Shi Xian Cheng's first wife, Mrs. Ma.
Now I heard from Qu Huan that Shi County Cheng was promoted to the county magistrate, so Mrs. Ma in front of me is the county magistrate's wife.
When Mrs. Ma heard that her employer was not here, she was about to lose her temper and curse, when she turned around and saw Shen Xiu.
She also recognized Shen Xiu, held the handkerchief and said, "Ms. Shen Xiu is so arrogant. She is obviously in the county seat, but the waiter said you are not here."
Lonicera also saw Shen Xiu at this time, and couldn't help feeling embarrassed. He was about to explain a few words for Shen Xiu, but was stopped by Shen Xiu.
"Forgive me, madam, I just came back from Fucheng today. If I knew that madam would come to the shop, I would definitely come back earlier."
Shen Xiu heard Wen Min say a lot about Mrs. Ma and knew that she was vulgar and ignorant and liked to be flattered, so she said this.
After hearing this, Mrs. Ma's face turned out to be more beautiful. She twisted her somewhat fat body and said, "You are still good at talking. I can't blame Mrs. Wen for thinking so highly of you."
Shen Xiu smiled slightly and said nothing. She didn't know what Mrs. Ma thought of Wen Min, so she couldn't say anything more.
Mrs. Ma did not mention Wen Min again, but asked Shen Xiudao: "Do you have double-sided embroidery here?"