Shen Xiu looked at Shopkeeper Zhang, "What conditions do you want to put forward?"
Shopkeeper Zhang said: "I can sign the deed. But does Mrs. Shen dare to verify the quality of this embroidery with me in public?"
When Shen Xiu heard this, she raised her eyes and looked at Shopkeeper Zhang.
Shopkeeper Zhang smiled proudly and said: "Why, if you don't dare to verify this embroidery in front of everyone, then there is no need to sign this deed."
"Okay. Since shopkeeper Zhang must authenticate my embroidery in front of everyone, I can only accompany you to the end." Shen Xiu finally agreed, and there was a smell of gritted teeth.
Shopkeeper Zhang saw this and raised the corners of his lips slightly, as if he had anticipated Shen Xiuhui's ruined reputation.
When signing the deed, Shopkeeper Zhang hesitated before signing his name. But Shen Xiu didn't even hesitate and signed the word "Shen" directly.
Mrs. Gu looked at it and couldn't help but frown slightly. Although everything developed according to the established direction, with no deviation or mistakes, she had a vague feeling in her heart.
She and shopkeeper Zhang knew that there was something wrong with the silk embroidery thread, so they were so sure. So why did Shen Xiu dare to make a big bet with them, so why did she dare to be so sure that her embroidery was fine?
Unless she knew there was a problem with the silk embroidery thread and replaced it in advance.
But Mrs. Gu had already seen the screen just now. She was also a frequent visitor to the embroidery workshop and had been the prefect's wife for several years. She could still tell whether the screen was made of silk embroidery thread or cotton thread.
Since Shen Xiu used silk embroidery thread, there is only one possibility: she has good silk embroidery thread in her hand.
When Mrs. Gu thought of this, she suddenly felt that it was impossible. Shopkeeper Zhang found out that the original silk embroidery thread in Jinxin Embroidery Workshop had been used up. And Fan Guangzu had not recently asked someone to bring back some silk embroidery thread from Jiangnan.
Silk embroidery thread is only available in the south of the Yangtze River. No one here knows how to raise silkworms and reel silk.
Since no one here knows how to raise silkworms and reel silk, Shen Xiu has no way to obtain authentic silk embroidery thread.
Mrs. Gu felt that she was overthinking it. How could Shen Xiu have silk embroidery thread in her hands?
While Mrs. Gu was thinking wildly, Shen Xiu and shopkeeper Zhang had already walked out of the embroidery workshop.
Neither Mrs. Gu nor Mr. Shen liked being in the limelight on such occasions, so they stayed on the second floor of the embroidery workshop.
Naturally, the room on the second floor had a window, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stood in front of the window, so that they could see clearly what was going on below without being exposed.
As early as when Madam Ma was quarreling with her shop assistant, some people had gathered at the entrance of the embroidery workshop. Now shopkeeper Zhang wanted to verify the quality of Shen Xiu's embroidery in public, which immediately attracted a lot of people.
Shen Xiu stood opposite shopkeeper Zhang, with no expression on her face, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Fan Guangzu's mood was much more complicated. He didn't understand why Shen Xiu insisted on making this bet with Shopkeeper Zhang.
Since he knew that there was something wrong with the silk embroidery thread, Shen Xiu, the person who had hinted it to him, could not have known it. Fan Guangzu didn't know what Shen Xiu had in mind, but because the reputation of the embroidery workshop was at stake, Fan Guangzu was nervous and uneasy.
Shopkeeper Zhang didn't have so many worries. Under his urging, a large basin of water was quickly brought over.
In the open space at the entrance of the embroidery workshop, the clerk was about to dip the screen embroidered by Shen Xiu into the clear water. Shopkeeper Zhang suddenly said: "Wait a minute, let me do it myself."
Shen Xiu knew that he was afraid that the clerk would play tricks on him, so a sarcastic smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Shopkeeper Zhang took the screen from the waiter's hand and threw the entire satin embroidery into the water without any pity.
Fan Guangzu felt that Shopkeeper Zhang's actions were a bit too rude, so he couldn't help but said: "Please be gentle, this is a valuable double-sided embroidery."
Shopkeeper Zhang ignored him and only stared at the embroidery in the water.
Shen Xiu said: "Shopkeeper Fan, don't worry, even the two ladies don't care whether the embroidery will be damaged, so why should we care."
Fan Guangzu said nothing, but cast a questioning look at Shen Xiu.
Shen Xiu nodded towards him, with a look of determination in her eyes.
Fan Guangzu felt relieved, and then he dared to look at the embroidery in the water.
I saw that after the embroidery was soaked in water for a while, not only did the color not change, but there was no trace of the threads falling off.
"How could this happen?" Shopkeeper Zhang saw that there was nothing strange about the embroidery in the water, and his face gradually turned pale.
Mrs. Gu upstairs also noticed something was wrong and stared at shopkeeper Zhang's pale face.
She was on the second floor and couldn't see clearly whether there was anything wrong with the embroidery, but she could still clearly see Shopkeeper Zhang's expression.
"Is there really no problem with this embroidery?" Mrs. Gu's heart sank, thinking about the bet, she couldn't help but regret it.
"Shopkeeper Zhang, what do you think after watching it for a long time?" Shen Xiu asked slowly, "In a word, is there anything wrong with my embroidery?"
Shopkeeper Zhang raised his head with a pale face, with a trace of disbelief still in his eyes, and said unwillingly: "I don't believe there is nothing wrong with this embroidery."
She obviously used defective silk embroidery thread, but why did it not fade after being soaked in water?
Shopkeeper Zhang still refused to give up and pointed to the basin and said, "There is something wrong with the water. I want to change the water."
"Okay, I'll give you one last chance. Brother, change the water."
Shopkeeper Zhang said: "I don't want the water from your embroidery shop, I want the hot water from the teahouse opposite."
No matter whether shopkeeper Zhang wanted hot or cold water, Shen Xiu let him do whatever he wanted with a calm and calm expression.
But someone next to me couldn't stand it and said: "Obviously there is no problem with the embroidery of Jinxin Embroidery Workshop, but shopkeeper Zhang of Nishang Embroidery Workshop insists on trying it again with hot water. Could it be that if cold water can't test it, hot water can't?"
Can you try it out?"
Seeing that the situation was getting more and more unfavorable for her side, Lady Ma on the side hurriedly said: "There is obviously something wrong with the embroidery in their embroidery workshop. Otherwise, why would the embroidery thread on my custom-made clothes fade?"
"Who knows why your clothes fade?" A passerby asked: "You washed your clothes at home. Only you know what you did or did. Even if you did something, we can't see it.
.However, we saw the embroidery in front of us with our own eyes, and it has not faded even after being put into the water."
"Yes, maybe there is nothing wrong with the embroidery. It's because you want to bring injustice to Jinxin Embroidery Workshop, so you say that the embroidery from Jinxin Embroidery Workshop will fade."
"The Nishang Embroidery Shop has never dealt with the Jinxin Embroidery Shop, so it doesn't matter if you are the one they invited."
These pedestrians were so sharp-tongued that Madam Ma was speechless for a moment.
Everyone saw it and heard it, and felt that what these pedestrians said was reasonable, and Madam Ma did indeed look like someone sent from Nishang Embroidery Workshop.
The hot water from the teahouse will take a while to be delivered.
Shopkeeper Zhang's heart was already in agony. Hearing that Madam Ma was so useless that she couldn't even quarrel with a few pedestrians, he couldn't help but glare at her.
Madam Ma was a little aggrieved, but she couldn't say anything, so she stood aside in silence.
After half a stick of incense, the waiter at the teahouse finally brought over a basin of hot water.
This time, shopkeeper Zhang couldn't wait to pick up the embroidery from the water and throw it into the hot water basin.
Amid the mist, I could see that the lotus flowers and lotus leaves on the embroidery were still extremely bright, with no trace of fading at all.
Shen Xiu ignored shopkeeper Zhang's ashen expression and asked two clerks to take the embroidery out of the hot water and show it to everyone.
"Everyone, please see, this embroidery has neither faded nor fallen threads, which proves that there is no problem with the embroidery in our embroidery workshop." After Shen Xiu finished speaking, she looked at shopkeeper Zhang.
"Shopkeeper Zhang, what else do you have to say?"
Shopkeeper Zhang looked ashen. He never thought that things would develop to this point. He originally wanted to use the defective silk embroidery thread to defeat Jinxin Embroidery Workshop in one fell swoop, but he didn't expect that the defective embroidery thread was unknown.
What kind of manipulations have been done to prevent the color from fading?
In this way, he has confirmed his reputation as a troublemaker. Moreover, he signed such a contract before. It is like losing all his dignity and dignity.
The more shopkeeper Zhang thought about it, the more he regretted it. If he had known earlier, he should not have signed the deed. When he thought that Mrs. Gu had nodded her head to agree to the deed, shopkeeper Zhang couldn't help but look towards Mrs. Gu on the second floor.
Mrs. Gu had already made up her mind after confirming that there was nothing wrong with the embroidery.
Without waiting for Shopkeeper Zhang to ask her for help, Mrs. Gu stood directly at the window on the second floor and said in a loud voice: "Since there is no problem with the embroidery, then all this is caused by the Nishang Embroidery Workshop behind the scenes. Come here, give me this
Take shopkeeper Zhang and Madam Ma down here. You are not allowed to come to the embroidery workshop to cause trouble again, otherwise I will be rude."
Mrs. Gu's idea was very simple. Behind Shen Xiu was Wei Yan, and the Qin Prefect always valued Wei Yan. She could only stand behind and make suggestions, but on the surface she wanted to side with Shen Xiu.
In order not to make Shen Xiu suspicious, she could only have Shopkeeper Zhang and Madam Ma taken away before Shopkeeper Zhang asked for help.
But shopkeeper Zhang didn't think so. He put his last hope on Mrs. Gu. Of course he didn't want to let it go, so he couldn't help shouting: "Madam."
Unfortunately, with just this sound, the servant brought by Mrs. Gu covered his mouth and was dragged down.
Shen Xiu watched Shopkeeper Zhang and Madam Ma being dragged down, and then she went upstairs to thank Mrs. Gu.
"Thanks to Madam for upholding justice in this matter. Otherwise, our Jinxin Embroidery Shop would have been successfully framed by Nishang Embroidery Shop."
When Mrs. Gu heard these words, she could hardly keep the smile on her face, but she was deep in thought and still had a gentle attitude on her face: "The business of your embroidery shop is so good, it is inevitable that someone will be jealous and framed.
I just couldn't stand what some people did, so I just said a few fair words."
Shen Xiudao: "Madam, you are right. Nishang Embroidery Workshop just wanted to see our embroidery shop doing well, so it deliberately framed us. Fortunately, God favored us and stood on our side, so Nishang Embroidery Workshop's trick did not succeed.
.”
"However, in order to prove the innocence of our embroidery workshop, the embroidery has been soaked in water twice, so there will definitely be some wrinkles. To express my apology, I prepared some gifts for the two ladies and asked them to accept them."
What could Mrs. Gu say? She nodded with a smile: "You are serious."
Shen Xiu asked people to bring the gifts, which were both silk and satin and some small embroidery.
When Mrs. Gu saw the silks and satins, her eyes flashed slightly, but in the end she said nothing.
Shen Xiu sent them out and asked people to dry the embroidery so that it could be sent to the government office after it was completely dry.
At this time, Fan Guangzu walked over and said, "Ms. Shen, thanks to you today, otherwise the reputation of the embroidery workshop would be completely ruined."
Shen Xiudao: "Don't thank me in a hurry. I want to ask you, what do you plan to do with your Aunt Lian?"