Wei Yan slowly changed his clothes, turned around and saw Shen Xiu still waiting eagerly, and said with a smile: "Sir, I have already agreed."
"Really?" Shen Xiu said with a smile on her face: "I knew my husband-in-law had a way."
"Don't be too happy first." Wei Yan said, "Sir, he agreed, but he also gave you a condition."
"What conditions?"
Wei Yan said: "He still remembers the snacks you made."
The only thing that can make Mr. Meng change his original intention is delicious food. When Wei Yan invited Mr. Meng to attend the embroidery event, he used delicious food to seduce him.
This trick really worked. But Mr. Meng said that the snacks Shen Xiu made before were delicious, but he was old and had bad teeth, so he wanted to eat more fragrant and soft snacks.
Something more fragrant and soft is of course no problem.
Shen Xiu quickly thought of a few Western snacks.
So while she was preparing her entries for the competition, she took time to try making these pastries.
At first, without the tools and oven, Shen Xiu was not very successful in what she made. Later, she followed the cook's suggestion and used a special oven, and finally baked a few Western-style pastries.
After the fragrant pastry was baked, it was quickly delivered to Mr. Meng.
Wei Yan opened the food box and saw that the snacks on the plate were still steaming.
Mr. Meng's eyes fell on one of the dim sum and asked curiously: "What kind of dim sum is this?"
"This snack is called egg tart."
In the past few days, Shen Xiu baked snacks at home every day, and half of those unsuccessful snacks ended up in Wei Yan's stomach.
He also knew very well about these snacks.
"Sir, you can have a taste. This snack is very soft, and the filling inside is made of egg yolk."
Mr. Meng had never seen such a snack before, so he picked it up and took a bite. With just one bite, Mr. Meng was conquered by the taste.
From a geographical perspective, Mr. Meng should be considered a northerner. But his taste is closer to the south, and he likes both fish and shrimp, as well as sweets.
Wei Yan has followed him for so long and has figured out his food preferences.
Under the guidance of Wei Yan, Shen Xiu made this egg tart, which completely met Mr. Meng's requirements for sweets, and the sweetness was just right.
Mr. Meng had a great time eating, and later tried several other dim sums. Each dim sum was particularly in line with his taste, which made Mr. Meng unable to stop. In the end, he only put down his chopsticks after eating until he was a little full.
.
Mr. Meng felt comfortable after eating, and showed up at the embroidery event as scheduled a few days later.
The venue for the embroidery event was the famous He Garden in Fucheng.
This He Garden was originally a villa of the He family. Because it was beautifully built and the scenery was one of the best in the city, over time it became the place where the He family held banquets.
Later, the He family fell into decline and their property was confiscated. The He Garden was bought by a businessman named Han from Fucheng.
This businessman surnamed Han was very good at doing business. He knew that He Garden was well-known, so he rented He Garden to some wealthy families when they held banquets.
Over time, Heyuan became a famous banquet place.
Shen Xiu held an embroidery event this time, so Miss Ninth gave her an idea to rent He Garden to hold the event.
Shen Xiu had also heard of the good name of He Garden. After going to see it in person, she followed the advice of Miss Ninth.
Heyuan is a large place with not only countless pavilions and pavilions, but also a very exquisite stage.
Opposite the stage there are two pavilions for guests to listen to the opera. The pavilions are not only spacious, but also very bright.
Mr. Meng arrived earlier and was quickly welcomed to the east pavilion by He Yuan's servants.
The pavilion to the west is where the embroiderers stay.
It was almost early winter and all the flowers had withered.
The garden looks desolate, but the east and west pavilions are decorated with colorful flowers.
In the pavilion, there are flowers and bonsais grown in the greenhouse, as well as an exquisitely embroidered peony screen. There are also two charcoal pots burning in the corner. As soon as people enter, they will feel a wave of heat coming from the pavilion, and there is also a warm atmosphere in the air. There is a faint floral fragrance.
Mr. Meng stopped in front of the peony screen for a while, nodded and said: "Not to mention the embroidery work, this painting alone is extraordinary. I have never seen such a painting method."
The servant next to me said: "Ms. Shen sent this specially. She said this peony embroidered screen is some kind of cross stitch."
Before he finished speaking, Old Mrs. Meng held the maid's hand and came to the second floor.
The Meng family where Mr. Meng and Mrs. Meng live are not actually from the same clan.
But everyone's surname is Meng, and Mr. Meng is a descendant of Mencius. The two families have equal status, and they often have some contact with each other.
When the two met, they greeted each other, but both looked a little embarrassed.
Something happened to the west pavilion, which attracted Shen Xiu's attention, so he didn't know what was going on here.
On the second floor in the west, there are quite a few embroiderers here today.
It is precisely because these embroiderers rarely get together, so now this gathering has caused trouble.
The cause was that two embroiderers from Nishang Embroidery Shop were talking about Bai Embroidery Lady in private, but an embroiderer from Manfang Embroidery Shop overheard it.
Nishang Embroidery Workshop's status in Fucheng is second only to Manfang Embroidery Workshop, and the two embroidery workshops usually have little to deal with.
This time, the embroiderers of Nishang Embroidery Shop were caught gossiping about people, so the embroiderers of Manfang Embroidery Shop naturally refused to let it go.
Today, a total of three embroidery ladies came to Manfang Embroidery Workshop. Bai embroidery lady herself has a quiet personality, but the other two embroiderers were sharp-tongued and started to quarrel with the people from Nishang Embroidery Workshop.
When Shen Xiu arrived, she happened to hear someone from Nishang Embroidery Workshop say: "You said that we talk about people in private, and we admit it. But we are telling the truth. If your Manfang Embroidery Workshop hadn't relied on outsiders, When I competed with Lin Ye that year, I lost a long time ago. I think the reputation of Manfang Embroidery Workshop is nothing more than that."
Bai Xiu Niang lost to Lin Ye who came to challenge her in silk splitting skills. This was the biggest shame in her life.
Now that someone said it so openly, her face froze.
Shen Xiu heard clearly from the outside. She was hesitating whether to go forward to smooth things over when she saw that the people from the Nishang Embroidery Workshop had already seen her.
"Ms. Shen, you came at the right time. You know the competition that year best. If you hadn't defeated Lin Ye in the first game, I'm afraid we still don't know who won and who lost in the three competitions!"
"This is all in the past. Why bring it up?" Shen Xiu didn't like this approach of Nishang Embroidery Workshop.
She didn't want to get involved and said calmly: "Today is an embroidery event. If you are really not convinced by Bai Xiu Niang, you can openly propose a competition."
"Ms. Shen, this is a good suggestion." Bai Xiu Niang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "Shi Xiu Niang, do you dare to compete with me?"
Shi Xiu Niang is the embroidery lady who heads the Nishang Embroidery Studio. She was the one who tried to drag Shen Xiu into trouble just now.
She didn't expect that Bai Xiu Niang would really propose a competition, and she wanted to refuse, but in front of so many people, she couldn't refuse the challenge. But if she wanted to challenge, Shi Xiu Niang was not sure of victory.
Her eyes swept over everyone present, and finally fell on one of the embroiderers, with a hint of asking for help in her eyes.
The embroiderer's surname was Wen, and she and Shi Xiuniang were cousins. Now seeing Shi Xiuniang in a dilemma, she stood up and said, "My little sister is not talented, but I also want to compete with Bai Xiuniang."
Bai Xiu Niang knew Wen Xiu Niang's intention, so the original competition turned into a competition.
However, she didn't have a tricky temper to begin with, and she didn't want to push Shi Xiu Niang too hard, so she nodded.
Who knew that Mrs. Shi Xiu would not change her ways, but when she saw that things had turned around, she was not afraid of dragging Shen Xiu into trouble, "I have heard that Mrs. Shen's embroidery skills are very superb, why don't you come and compete with us."
Shen Xiu didn't say anything, just glanced at her, "I don't like to compete with others, I just like to compete with others. Since Shi Xiu Niang is in such a good mood, why don't we two compete first!"
Before the embroidery event was held, Shen Xiu also thought of various ways to gain a reputation. The best way was to compete with prestigious embroidery workshops or embroidery ladies.
The best embroidery workshop in Fucheng is Manfang Embroidery Workshop, and the best embroidery lady is Bai Embroidery Lady.
However, Shen Xiu thought that if she succeeded in making good friends with Bai Xiu Niang, she would offend him in disguise, so she gave up the idea.
Now that Shi Xiu Niang dragged her into the water again and again, Shen Xiu became a little annoyed. She didn't want to offend Bai Xiu Niang, but Shi Xiu Niang was not afraid.
"How about it, Shi Xiu Niang, do you dare to accept the challenge?"