After the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Shen Xiu returned to the city, he told shopkeeper Liu and Huiniang about Ruyi Embroidery Workshop.
Shopkeeper Liu said: "This Ruyi Embroidery Shop is really nothing. Seeing that you have won the favor of the county magistrate's wife, I thought of poaching you. Boss, we can't just sit back and wait for death this time."
Huiniang nodded: "Uncle Liu, you are right. If we don't do something, I'm afraid Ruyi Embroidery Shop will really think that we are easy to bully."
Shen Xiu said: "It seems that the boss and shopkeeper Liu have an idea."
Shopkeeper Liu said: "It's not an option to be beaten passively all the time, so we have discussed a countermeasure in the past few days. But this still requires your help, Mrs. Shen."
Shen Xiu asked: "What do you want me to do?"
Shopkeeper Liu said: "The three embroiderers have now completely mastered the technique of poking yarn embroidery. My boss and I are going to let them embroider a gauze tent carefully, and then you, Mrs. Shen, will present it to the county magistrate's wife."
"I understand what you two mean," Shen Xiudao said, "If this gauze tent can be favored by the county magistrate's wife, then our embroidery shop's embroidery can completely become famous."
When Li Miao'er got married, this yarn embroidery was also very popular, but before it became famous in the county, Ruyi Embroidery Workshop got involved.
Shopkeeper Liu and Huiniang couldn't swallow this sigh of relief. Now that Shen Xiu has become the county magistrate's wife, they came up with this idea.
"This is a good idea." Shen Xiu thought for a while and said, "But if you want this gauze tent to win the favor of the county magistrate's wife, you have to work hard on the pattern."
Huiniang said: "I have already chosen several patterns, including the Cordyceps Drawing, the Jade Hall of Fortune, and the Sea House to Add Funds."
Shen Xiu shook her head: "My boss, if you want to impress the county magistrate's wife, these tricks will never work."
"Then according to you, what pattern should I choose?"
Shen Xiudao: "If you follow my advice, it would be best to embroider the picture of a hundred sons and thousands of grandchildren on the gauze tent. But it is not easy to embroider the picture of a hundred sons and thousands of grandsons on the gauze tent. It will take a month."
One month was too long, and both Huiniang and Shopkeeper Liu felt that during this month, Ruyi Embroidery Workshop might be trying to hold back some big tricks.
Shen Xiu muttered: "I also know that the picture of Hundred Sons and Thousands of Grandsons takes too long. If you are in a hurry, you can change it to the picture of Wealth and Many Sons."
The picture of wealth and many children is the picture of peony and pomegranate. Peony means wealth and pomegranate means many children.
Huiniang asked: "You must embroider many pictures. Is there something special about it?"
Shen Xiu smiled and didn't answer: "My boss just does what I say. I can't say much about the reasons."
Huiniang wisely did not ask any more questions, knowing that since she said that, it made sense.
"Then it's up to you to embroider this peony and pomegranate picture."
After the boss spoke, the three embroiderers began to embroider the gauze curtain with peony and pomegranate patterns.
Shen Xiu did not help embroider the gauze curtain with peonies and pomegranates, but began to embroider a four-striped screen of flowers and birds.
Ruyi embroidery shop has a strong opponent like Zhu Xiu Niang, and Shen Xiu dare not underestimate her opponent.
The last time they fought, Shen Xiu barely managed a tie with Zhu Xiu Niang with her cushion embroidery and imitation embroidery. However, the embroidered screen of Zhixian Gongshou was not embroidered by her herself. Although she could get away with it in front of laymen, it was difficult for an expert to embroider it. You can tell the level by looking at it.
Shen Xiu didn't want to be outdone by Zhu Xiu Niang the next time they fought, so she planned to embroider an embroidery carefully. She didn't expect to be able to outshine her, as long as she didn't fall behind.
She had just started embroidering here, and Lu Yuhan sent a maid over to invite her.
Shen Xiu had no choice but to put down the work at hand, spoke to Shopkeeper Liu again, and then followed the maid to Lu's house.
Li Miaoer was also in Lu Yuhan's room. When she saw Shen Xiu, she joked: "You are really busy now. I heard that even the county magistrate's wife admires your embroidery skills."
"I don't dare to take Aunt Li's compliment seriously," Shen Xiu said with a smile.
Since Li Miaoer was married, she could no longer call her girl, so Shen Xiu changed her title.
"When did my aunt come back and how many days will she stay here?"
Li Miao'er smiled and said: "I was leaving in two days, but she lost her temper, so I had to stay with her for a few more days."
Shen Xiu glanced at Lu Yuhan and asked, "Why is the seventh girl so angry?"
Li Miaoer winked at her and said, "You don't know yet, right? My cousin is already engaged?"
"Getting engaged, so soon?" Shen Xiu said a little surprised.
Lu Yuhan lowered her head and said nothing, only playing with the handkerchief in her hand.
For a moment, Shen Xiu felt that it was not so easy for a lady to be a lady, at least the marriage was not decided by herself.
She asked Li Miao'er in a low voice, "Who is this person from?"
Li Miao'er said: "I heard that he comes from a well-to-do family, and the man is a student at the academy. He is very motivated."
The students in the academy are also progressive, which is in line with Lu Yuhan's requirements.
However, Shen Xiu knew what was on Lu Yuhan's mind, and she was afraid that if the man continued to make advances, she would still not be able to forget her sweetheart.
Sure enough, Lu Yuhan quickly found an excuse, pushed Li Miao'er away, took Shen Xiu's hand and asked, "Axiu, what do you think I should do?"
Shen Xiudao: "Now that you are engaged, it is even more important to forget about that person."
Lu Yuhan said complicatedly: "Actually, there is something that you don't know yet. The person who is betrothed to me this time, we have met once before."
"Have you met?" Shen Xiu saw the confused look on Lu Yuhan's face and couldn't help asking: "Is it possible that he fell in love with you at first sight and then went back to find someone to propose marriage to?"
Lu Yuhan nodded shyly.
Seeing her expression, Shen Xiu showed that she was not unintentional towards that person, so she clapped her hands and said, "This is a good thing!"
Lu Yuhan just smiled, and then sighed: "But I haven't really forgotten that person in my heart!"
What she was embarrassed to tell Shen Xiu was that she actually seemed to have fallen in love with both of them at the same time. She could not forget Wei Yan, but she also had a crush on Yuan Ziwen.
Of course, Shen Xiu didn't know about her girlish worries, so she only tried to persuade her: "It will be better after you get married. By then, you will spend time with your husband day and night, and you will gradually forget about the person in your heart."
"Really?" Lu Yuhan asked worriedly.
Shen Xiudao: "Really, you have to believe me. Once a woman gets married, she will only have her husband in her heart. When she has a child, she will only have her child in her heart."
"How old are you, how do you know so much?" Lu Yuhan felt better after hearing what Shen Xiu said, so she asked one more question.
Shen Xiu's old face turned red, "I'm not that old, but I've heard people say it a lot, so I know it."
The two were chatting lively when Li Miaoer came back.
"What are you talking about? It's so lively?"
Lu Yuhan hurriedly changed the topic and said: "Nothing, I'll go out for a while, you guys can talk first."
She was afraid that Li Miao'er would ask questions, so she quickly found an excuse and slipped out.
After Li Miaoer waited for Lu Yuhan to leave, she smiled: "I didn't expect you two to hit it off."
Shen Xiu smiled and then talked about something else, "There is something I have always wanted to ask my aunt for help. It is rare to meet my aunt today, so I boldly asked her."
"Whatever help you want from me, just ask." Li Miaoer said straightforwardly.
Shen Xiudao: "I remember that my aunt came back from Jiangnan last time and brought a box of silk flowers to the seventh girl."
"Oh, tell me this." Li Miao'er said, "Maybe you also want me to help bring some silk flowers back?"
Shen Xiu shook her head and said: "I don't want silk flowers. I want my aunt to bring me some embroidery, preferably the fashionable patterns in the south of the Yangtze River. Su embroidery and Hunan embroidery are both acceptable. Of course, Hunan embroidery is the best."
Li Miaoer smiled and said: "I understand what you mean. But your embroidery skills are so good, do you still need to learn from other people's embroidery?"
Shen Xiudao: "There is no end to learning, and my embroidery skills are not that good. I have not yet reached the level of proficiency."
The handkerchief she got from Sister-in-law Xu last time gave her an inspiration. When Hunan embroidery was passed down to modern times, many old techniques were lost, but there are also many new techniques created by later generations, such as simulated embroidery and fake embroidery.
Embroidery.
She could have recovered these lost techniques and then combined them with the techniques of later generations to create a new school of Hunan embroidery.
That's why she begged Li Miao'er to help her bring back more embroidery from Jiangnan. Only by learning from others' strengths could she create a new school of Hunan embroidery.