After Li Miaoer left, Shen Xiucai asked shopkeeper Liu, "Shopkeeper, do you know this woman?"
Shopkeeper Liu said: "I don't know her either. But she said her family lives on the street behind the county government office, and her surname is Li. She is probably a girl from the Li family."
"The Li family is a well-known wealthy family in the county. They are engaged in medicinal materials business. I heard that there is an aunt in the Li family who has traveled around with the men in the family since she was a child. She is probably this Miss Li."
When Shen Xiu heard that the Li family was in the medicine business, she knew that it was the right thing to mend Li Miao'er's veil.
"Shopkeeper, I just used two strands of your embroidery thread..."
But shopkeeper Liu didn't wait for Shen Xiu to finish speaking and said: "Two strands of embroidery thread are not worth anything. You can just embroider more handkerchiefs and send them to me in the future."
Shen Xiu then said with a smile: "Then I'll thank the shopkeeper. I just don't know if you still have the embroidery needles from Suzhou?"
With the one tael of silver given by Li Miao'er, Shen Xiu finally became richer and prepared to buy an embroidery needle made in Suzhou.
The small embroidery needle is wrapped in oil paper and looks thinner than a hair.
Shen Xiu took it in surprise. No wonder this embroidery needle was sold for half a tael. The craftsmanship was better than the embroidery needles she was used to in modern times. The needle tip was sharp and the needle nose was blunt, which did not hurt the hand and was not easy to leave stitches.
Shen Xiu remembered hearing from his master that in ancient times there was a kind of wool needle used to embroider portraits, so he asked about it.
Shopkeeper Liu said: "Wool needles are more expensive than Su needles, and not many people buy them. Not only are they not available in my shop, but they are also not available in other embroidery shops in the county. If you really want to buy them, you might as well have someone bring them back from Fucheng.
There are many embroidery shops in Fucheng, so you should be able to buy this kind of wool needle."
Fucheng was too far for Shen Xiu, so she temporarily gave up the idea of buying wool needles, said goodbye to shopkeeper Liu, and left the embroidery shop.
There were two hundred and sixty taels of silver given by the lady in charge, one tael of silver from selling handkerchiefs, half a tael of silver left over from buying needles, plus half a tael of silver given by Wei Yan.
Shen Xiu did some general calculations and found that he had almost two and a half taels of silver on hand.
With money on hand, Shen Xiu walked more easily. Not to mention that she also took over Qian Chen's business. As long as she could sew an identical purse, she could earn five taels of silver.
Five taels of silver was a lot, but Shen Xiu was more interested in the needlework on the purse.
As soon as she thought of the acupuncture technique, which was more complicated than virtual and solid acupuncture, she couldn't wait to rush home immediately.
Just as she was about to arrive home, Shen Xiu suddenly heard a noise. The sound came from their Wei family.
A lot of people gathered at the door to watch the fun, including Mr. Zou.
She was the first to see Shen Xiu coming back from outside, and she showed a gloating expression: "My brother and sister came back just in time, and the fox skin should have been sold for a lot of money. It just so happened that the aunt and the others came to collect a debt, and my brother and sister are so capable, then
Just pay back the money for your family!”
Shen Xiu had no time to pay attention to her, so she pushed aside the crowd of spectators and walked home, where she saw Mrs. Yang scolding an old woman.
"I told you that the second child is exempted from studying in the academy. Believe it or not, or you won't believe it."
"There is a rumor in the village that you obviously paid a sum of money to send the second son to the academy. You have money to go to the academy, but you have no money to repay the debt. I don't care what kind of truth this is. Just give me back the five taels of silver."
.”
After the old woman said this, several creditors in the yard agreed.
Father Wei was away, and Yang couldn't quarrel with them alone. Just as she was about to chase them away with a broom, Shen Xiu stood up and said, "Mom, what's going on?"
Seeing the help coming, Ms. Yang became more confident, "I don't know who they heard from, but they must have said that the second son went to the academy to pay Shu Xiu, and then came to ask for debt."
"Mom, how much money does the family owe?" Shen Xiu asked in a low voice.
Yang's voice couldn't help but become lower: "The family owes a total of more than twenty taels of silver. Last time my second son came back, he gave me all his wages from the restaurant. There were twenty taels of silver in total. I originally thought that after the wheat harvest, I would pay him back." I sold some of my family's food and I was able to collect some money to pay them back. I didn't expect them to come today to demand the debt."
"Mom, since everyone has come to the door, let's give them the money! It's already early." Shen Xiudao.
Yang said angrily: "But I only have two taels of silver at home, how can I pay it back?"
In front of everyone, Shen Xiu took out two taels of silver from his arms and said, "I got these two taels of silver from selling my handkerchief. Adding the two taels of silver from my husband, it is four taels. Let's pay them back one tael each first." Two silver coins!"
Yang didn't expect Shen Xiu to be able to come up with two taels of silver. In front of everyone, she couldn't ask where the silver came from, so she had to secretly wonder if it was the money left over from selling fox skins.
When several creditors saw the money, their eyes lit up. The old woman, Wei Yan's eldest sister-in-law, was the first to say: "Then, according to the second wife's wish, pay us back a tael of silver first!"
They also know the situation of the Wei family. Now they come to ask for debts. Firstly, they have listened to other people's gossip. Secondly, because the family has borrowed money, they are a little short of money, so they come to make a fuss and vent their anger. It does not necessarily mean that I want them to pay off the money today. After all, we all belong to the same clan and are related by blood, so we won't go too far.
Yang knew that borrowing money had to be repaid, so she went back to the house and took the two taels of silver given by Wei Yan, and distributed it to them together with the two taels of silver given by Shen Xiu.
Shen Xiu waited for them to get the money and then said: "This money is from my embroidery work, and secondly, my husband's salary from working as an accountant in the county. Don't listen to the wind, it will be rain. It is true that my husband does not need to be repaired when he goes to the academy to study." , If you don’t believe it, just go to the academy and ask around. As for the remaining money, we will definitely pay it back. After all, my husband is a scholar. In the future, he will be tested for talents and candidates, so he must take his reputation into consideration."
Several creditors couldn't help but look at each other. They all knew that Wei Yan was famous for his intelligence and he might not be able to be admitted as a scholar or a scholar in the future. In this case, they couldn't offend him too much.
Wei Yan's aunt was the first to speak: "We also know that your family is in a difficult situation, but after hearing a few words from others, we couldn't hold back our anger."
Shen Xiu then asked: "I wonder who the uncle heard this from?"
Wei Yan's aunt said: "I heard what Aunt Chen said."
Several other creditors also said they heard from Aunt Chen.
Aunt Chen was watching the excitement at the door. Unexpectedly, her name was called and she was about to run away. Unexpectedly, she was grabbed by Yang before she could squeeze out of the crowd.
"You Chen Cuihua, how dare you spread rumors about our family!" Mrs. Yang was used to doing rough work, and she had a lot of strength in her hands, so she pinched Aunt Chen painfully.
Aunt Chen couldn't bear the pain and said hurriedly: "I didn't say this, I heard it from your eldest daughter-in-law. It was your eldest daughter-in-law who said that Wei Yan went to the academy to study. You two favored your younger son and clearly paid for it. I paid a large sum of money for repairs, but said that the academy exempted me from repairs."
The eldest daughter-in-law, Yang Dingqing, looked over and saw that there was Zou among the crowd watching the excitement. She was about to step forward and grab her, but Zou saw something was wrong and ran away immediately.