Shen Xiu was stunned for a moment when she heard Mrs. Ma mention double-sided embroidery.
Madam Ma said: "I don't care whether you have double-sided embroidery or not, but you have to try to get one for me."
These words were extremely unreasonable and overbearing, but because she was the county magistrate's wife, Shen Xiu could only endure this tone.
"Why would Madam think of double-sided embroidery?" Shen Xiu took a deep breath and asked as calmly as possible.
Mrs. Ma said: "It's nothing, but I heard people say that the best embroidery in the world is double-sided embroidery. So I want to come and have a look."
After Mrs. Ma finished speaking, she looked at Shen Xiu specifically, "When Mrs. Wen was here, I remember that Shen Xiu Niang often gave some good things to Mrs. Wen. Unfortunately, I was just the wife of the county magistrate, so I could only endure my greed. Now, it's my turn to be the county magistrate's wife. Naturally, I want whatever I want."
After hearing this, Shen Xiu said after a while: "I really don't have double-sided embroidery in my hand. But since Madam said so, I will definitely send someone to look for this double-sided embroidery. It can take as little as one month, or as many as three." Months later, I will definitely offer you double-sided embroidery with both hands."
Mrs. Ma wanted this attitude from her. She was very satisfied when she heard this and said: "That's good. Then remember it. Don't forget it."
Shen Xiu and Liandong walked Mrs. Ma to the door and watched her leave before returning to the shop.
Rendong had saved up a lot of words, and now when he saw Shen Xiu, he said: "Dong, last month someone came to ask me to pay the protection fee. Since my Dong's family is not in the county, I asked them to give them a few days of grace. They agreed, but they said that this month You must pay it, otherwise we won’t be allowed to open the shop.”
When Shen Xiu heard the words "protection fee", she felt a chill in her heart. She thought back then that she had gone to great lengths to file a complaint with Zuo County Magistrate, and was finally exempted from the protection fee.
I just didn't expect that once Magistrate Zuo left, things would return to the original state. It seemed that Magistrate Shi who had just taken office was probably not a good official.
Ling Dong said: "I heard people say that this protection fee was originally obtained by Shi County Magistrate when he was the county magistrate. It turns out that those local ruffians were Shi County Magistrate's people. After Shi County Magistrate took office, the Miao Family Noodle House opposite was afraid that County Magistrate Shi will settle accounts with them and move away overnight."
"Mrs. Ma is not a good person either. As soon as she moved into the county government office, she asked Xiuzhuang to make her a complete set of bed tents and bedding, which were no worse than Mrs. Wen's." Liao Dong continued: "By the way, She also posed a problem to the embroidery house, asking the embroidery house to make twelve sets of clothes for all seasons for her. But when she wears these clothes, she must look young."
"Last time, Shopkeeper Liu came over to ask when the boss would be coming back. It can be seen that this problem has stumped Shopkeeper Liu and the others."
Shen Xiu did not expect that when she came back, there would be no good news, but bad news one after another.
She calmed down in the shop for a while and decided to go to the embroidery shop first.
It has been a long time since she left Xiuzhuang, and she has not seen Huiniang and Shopkeeper Liu.
Now meeting again after a long absence, shopkeeper Liu and Madam Hui were very happy to see her.
Shopkeeper Liu personally went to make a pot of tea for her, "It will be great if Mrs. Shen comes back. Our boss was still talking about you yesterday, saying that only you can help solve this problem that Mrs. Ma has raised."
Shen Xiu took a sip of tea and said, "I have already heard about Mrs. Ma. I don't know what her request is."
Huiniang sighed: "Forget it. This is the first time I have seen such a county magistrate's wife. She is self-aware and knows that she is stupid and ugly, so she wants us to put more thought into making clothes for her so that she can She looks better."
"But when people look like that, no matter how beautiful their clothes are, it's useless!" Madam Hui sighed worriedly.
Shen Xiu thought deeply: "Everyone loves beauty. Madam Ma's request is more difficult. But if we seize this opportunity, it is also a business opportunity!"
"How do you say this?" Madam Hui knew that Shen Xiu had an idea. After hearing what she said, she knew that she had an idea, so she hurriedly asked.
Shen Xiu said slowly: "If a person wants to be beautiful, in addition to working hard on makeup, he also needs to have clothes that flatter him. If we can make clothes that satisfy Mrs. Ma, maybe we will have more clothes in the future.
Got a business."
Huiniang said: "If we can really make clothes like this, the embroidery shop will indeed be able to get another business. But the key point is that it is not easy to make clothes like this!"
Shen Xiudao: "I have a way. I just met Mrs. Ma. She has gained some weight recently and her waist has become thicker. Regardless of her figure, her appearance is really not flattering. So we have to use our strengths and avoid weaknesses to cover up her gain.
Her figure helps her bring out her advantages."
Huiniang and shopkeeper Liu looked at each other, they really didn't think Mrs. Ma had any good qualities.
Shen Xiuyi said: "Mrs. Ma is tall and her skin is fair enough. This is her advantage."
Shen Xiu already had an early draft in her mind. She could use Mrs. Ma's height to adjust the length and width of the clothes, so that she could hide her fat figure.
"Shopkeeper Liu, do you have a pen and paper? I want to draw what the clothes look like."
When shopkeeper Liu heard this, he quickly brought a pen and paper.
Shen Xiu used ready-made pen and ink to draw a rough sketch of the clothes.
When she opened a shop in later generations, she also received many orders for clothes.
Many wives from wealthy families have put on weight. In order to cover up their fat bellies, Shen Xiu has done a lot of hard work. This time when designing clothes for Mrs. Ma, Shen Xiu used all of them.
Shen Xiu handed the painted sample to Huiniang, "This is a summer gown. The boss might as well let the embroiderers make it first. Remember, the embroidery on it must be according to this sample. If Mrs. Ma is satisfied after wearing it,
If so, I will draw another sample."
Huiniang looked at the sample carefully. She couldn't understand Shen Xiu's design, but the other party was very confident when he spoke. It was obvious that he was very confident in the sample.
If it were anyone else, Huiniang might not believe it. But this person was Shen Xiu, and Huiniang quickly believed her just like before.
"Okay, I'll let the embroiderers rush to make this dress."
As it concerned Mrs. Ma, Madam Hui personally handed the sample to the three embroiderers and told them to make it according to the sample.
When Huiniang came back, Shopkeeper Liu was telling Shen Xiu about Magistrate Shi.
"A few ruffians came to our Xiuzhuang, and they asked us to pay one hundred taels of silver every year. Fortunately, our boss told the Lu family, and the eldest master of the Lu family invited County Magistrate Shi to have a meal, and gave him a meal.
The county magistrate gave me a generous gift and the matter was finally settled."
Shopkeeper Liu said: "Those local ruffians should have been to your shop, or else let the Lu family show up again?"
Shen Xiu shook his head and said, "I still don't want it. The Lu family is not relatives of County Magistrate Shi after all, and Magistrate Shi can't always buy into his favor. And we can't always trouble the Lu family. Anyway, the protection fee for our shop doesn't matter.
If you have more, you will lose money and avoid disaster."
When Hui Niang heard this, she said: "You are right. If the protection money they ask for is not much, then just think of it as a loss of money to avoid disaster. Now is not the time for Zuo County Magistrate to be in office."
Shen Xiu was thinking about another thing. Qu Huan once told her that Luo Gong had found a position for him as county magistrate.
The county magistrate is also an official after all.
I have business dealings with him. So regarding the protection fee, it is better to ask Luo Gong for help.