Chapter 63 To step out, one must abandon silk and embrace brocade…

The busiest time of year is when apprentices begin to arrive.

This year's event was even more spectacular than in previous years, and the selection of apprentices was underway.

Along the path where people come and go after work, there are five pillar lamps, also known as book lamps, placed on the high stone steps, with names embroidered on the gauze on three sides.

Gold embroidery—Li Fen, Colored collar—Wang Ruyun, Double-sided embroidery—Chen Erniang, Gold leaf application—Zhang Meng, Drawnwork embroidery—Lin Xiushui.

On the other wall, each person displayed their proudest work.

One of the patterns on the lamp wall is brocade, which is a type of fabric mostly woven with gold thread, creating a dazzling pattern. Li Fen's wife wove the cloth herself, and the lotus root-colored fabric on the lamp has a peony pattern and golden butterflies.

On a short piece of cloth, the peony patterns are different, and the butterflies have their wings spread out or their wings folded and they are perched on the peony flowers, making them look dazzling.

A seamstress suddenly sighed, "I heard that it takes Madam Li about twenty days just to weave the pattern for making a silk skirt, and with more than thirty people working under her, the work is already booked until next year."

Another chimed in, "Whenever I walk past their door, I don't dare breathe too loudly, for fear that if the gold thread breaks, they'll come after me. That's all real gold."

A group of tailors gathered at the front, all marveling at the brilliance of the brocade and impressed by Wang Ruyun's superb skills.

The colorful collar is a collar band decorated with various floral patterns, but it is not under the jurisdiction of the collar band department and was established as an independent category early on.

This kind of collar could only be worn by two types of people: imperial concubines and noblewomen. Lady Wang made it for noblewomen. The collar hanging on the lamp was a bright red one, with twenty kinds of flowers embroidered on a crimson cloth collar that was less than the width of a palm, including pomegranate flowers, daphne, golden lantern flowers, autumn camellias, osmanthus, etc., with many colors but not messy.

Her craftsmanship is truly astonishing, yet it follows a completely different path from that of Chen Erniangzi, who was skilled in double-sided embroidery. Double-sided embroidery, also known as double-sided polishing, features patterns on both the front and back, yet no trace of stitches can be seen.

The double-sided embroidered pattern on the lamp wall features a maidservant wearing a white gauze jacket and green silk skirt, gazing at the moon. She has her hair styled in a droopy bun, her face slightly raised as she looks up. Her eyebrows and eyes are delicate and focused, her face is flushed, her left hand lightly touches her chin, and her right hand rests on her left hand. The reverse side shows the lady's profile and back view, along with a bright moon.

It inevitably makes people gasp, then slowly turn into admiration, not daring to take another step closer, squinting or widening their eyes to try to see clearly.

The fourth technique, gilding, involves using various adhesives, such as paper mulberry pulp, bone glue, glutinous rice paste, peach sap, and garlic juice, to apply the prepared gold leaf to the clothing.

This craft of making gold leaf involves twelve steps, including mixing, refining, patting, making the wick, setting the foil, applying the wick, setting the foil, setting the foil again, setting the foil in the kiln, refining, taking out the foil, and cutting the foil.

Finally, it appears on the fabric, allowing for all sorts of patterns, like the pair of finely patterned golden partridges perched among blooming hibiscus flowers.

The first four were already dazzling and outstanding, and each of these women was famous in the tailoring industry, with everyone admiring their skills to the extreme.

As everyone's attention turned to the last pillar lamp, someone hissed, "Drawn thread embroidery!"

Someone exclaimed in surprise, "Lin Xiushui?"

"Oh, wait a minute," a woman said, confused. "I remember before I started working as a seamstress, wasn't she a necktie?"

"What year is that? They moved out a long time ago."

"She's only fifteen!"

"Yeah, how infuriating! She'll give me my age and her skills to me."

Because of her young age and unique drawn thread embroidery, everyone looked at her with a critical eye, since they had only heard of her before.

This drawnwork embroidery uses only white gauze and white thread; there are no other colors besides white.

Yet, it makes one want to get close to the fabric to see the exquisite craftsmanship and the heavy workmanship, which employs many techniques. The fabric is embroidered with camellias, with white thread embroidering the edges, the petals slowly opening and closing to reveal the hollowed-out stamens inside.

There was also a large patch of extremely intricate four-petaled flowers, each one nestled together with a few fine threads, the exposed areas perfectly placed. The openwork lace and the different embroidery patterns were exquisite and delicate. Even with only white thread and white gauze, it still stood out among the first four lamp stands.

Those who initially thought Lin Xiushui was too young to be on the big stage, and who also thought that Gu Niangzi might have made a mistake in her judgment, finally admitted that her skills were indeed outstanding.

The initial skepticism turned into appreciation, admiration, and envy.

At fifteen, it's hard to imagine what the future holds.

Even the well-known ladies sometimes wonder what they were doing when they were fifteen.

Li Fen, who works as a brocade weaver, was an apprentice at that time. She was an apprentice for four years, reeling silk, weaving cloth, and making knotted patterns. She was only able to make silk skirts at the age of twenty. It took her twenty years to get to where she is today.

Wang Ruyun became a dressmaker. She got married at the age of fifteen and entered the tailoring industry at the age of twenty-two. She worked as a dressmaker for eight years and made a name for herself at the age of thirty-seven.

Chen Erniang, who specializes in double-sided embroidery, started learning embroidery at the age of five, was still learning at fifteen, and was only able to embroider one double-sided embroidery at the age of thirty. Now at forty-two, she continues to learn.

Zhang Meng is younger, but she is already thirty. She became a tailor at thirteen and only learned the art of gilding at twenty-one.

Instead of responding harshly, they said she was a rising star.

After all, the new generation surpasses the old, and new people replace the old in this world.

Amidst the various discussions, the reputations and skills of the five individuals were undisputed.

When the weather turned sunny and calm the next day, everyone's attention turned to the new apprentices and the selection of candidates, with each person having five candidates to choose from.

The selection of people took place in a spacious room. Several women arrived early, as did the apprentices, and the room was full of people.

Before Lin Xiushui arrived, she was stopped by Madam Gu and had a long talk with her. She rushed over, and before she even entered the door, an apprentice whispered to her, "You're the only one who's been waiting. Why are you so slow? The ladies are all here. Please sit down."

"Me?" Lin Xiushui didn't recognize her. She straightened her clothes and said that she had specially bought a dress for today. She finally understood what the tailor Jin meant when he said that it was important to have a well-fitting dress even if you don't wear it. She just regretted it.

She replied, "We exchanged a few words on the way, and I am indeed late."

"Then hurry up and sneak in."

But then the woman sitting up waved and said, "Ah Qiao, come quickly, we're just waiting for you."

The eldest, Li Fen, said, "We're waiting for you to come."

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Lin Xiushui quickly walked to the top, explained a few words to the ladies, and sat down in the empty seat that had been reserved for her.

She said briefly, "The person in charge of drawnwork embroidery is Lin Xiushui."

The seventy-odd people were dumbfounded. What a young manager, what amazing skills!

I wonder if the treatment in the drawnwork embroidery department is good for someone so young.

To show their closeness, the ladies would all mention the benefits of working under their supervision.

Li Fen, the wife of Zhijin, said, "If you go to Zhijin, you will receive a monthly salary of 1.5 guan and a 200 wen subsidy at the end of the month. If you go to work as a tailor within two months, your salary will increase by 200 to 300 wen."

“In our Shengse collar business, we get two days off each month, and we can also exchange two days of work with someone else. The monthly salary is between one and five strings of cash and two strings of cash. After a month, we get a collar band as a gift,” said Wang Ruyun’s wife.

“Double-sided embroidery is quite difficult,” Chen Erniang said to her servants. “If you can stay here, our monthly salary is the highest, two strings of cash. We’ll talk about the rest after we get in.”

Zhang Mengze said, "If you want to apply gold leaf, you can give us some scraps of gold leaf. This has always been the best thing for our gold leaf application department. As for the monthly salary, it's 1.5 to 1.7 strings of cash. If you do a good job, you can get a raise."

Amidst gasps of surprise, all eyes turned to Lin Xiushui. What was so good about drawn thread embroidery?

Lin Xiushui spoke slowly and deliberately, "The minimum monthly wage for drawnwork is 1.6 yuan. The more work you do at the end of the month, the more you earn. There is no cap."

"There are three days off per month, and there is a bed to rest in at noon. You can bring your own pillow, bag, and bedding. There is a snack in the morning and a tea snack at noon in the summer. You can also help sew three items each month."

The previous points were all fine, but why? Mending objects can be considered a benefit?

At that time, no one understood. By the time they did, they were already in tears. Why didn't they say they could mend clothes? Why didn't they say they could mend anything?

Recruiting was exhausting, Lin Xiushui thought it was even more tiring than drawing thread work. She only wanted people with good eyesight and steady hands, and she had to look at fifteen people before she could choose one.

She was initially excited to choose five, but later she felt dizzy, tired, and exhausted.

Sewing a piece of cloth required various ingenuity; there were two rooms and over seventy tables, and everyone had to look at each one.

You also need to cut the fabric, following the pattern you've drawn, making sure it's neat and there are no omissions.

Moreover, each has its own preferences: those who do goldwork want someone who knows how to use a loom, those who do colored collars want someone who knows how to design patterns, those who do double-sided embroidery want someone who is good at embroidery, and those who do gold leaf application want someone with strong hands.

Everyone else could find a suitable candidate, except for drawnwork embroidery, which people said they couldn't bring themselves to do.

However, when she first entered and reminded Lin Xiushui, the plump woman said, "I can."

“My family used to dismantle old clothes. We would take apart the old clothes, remove the threads, boil them, re-dye them, and sell them. So I am very good at dismantling threads.”

Lin Xiushui immediately exclaimed with delight, "That's wonderful! Our drawnwork embroidery needs someone like you!"

A group of people nearby were stunned. What kind of talent is this?

Upon hearing this, someone else was intrigued and said, "Does my ability to dissect fish bones count? I can remove all the fish bones completely, quickly and steadily. If you don't believe me, boss, bring me a fish, and I'll dissect it for you right here."

"Does spitting out bones count as having your mouth disassembled?" someone asked timidly.

Lin Xiushui looked over and said, "Then we won't use our hands to draw the thread anymore; we'll use our mouths instead."

“We’ll change the name. Instead of ‘drawn thread embroidery,’ we’ll just call it ‘spider embroidery’ because it spins silk.”

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this, and their tense and trembling hearts gradually eased at this moment.

Lin Xiushui did indeed select five talented individuals: one who could disassemble clothes, and one who could disassemble bones. Lin Xiushui referred to the first two as those who could remove bones and tendons.

The last three are extraordinary individuals: one is very good at coming up with creative ideas, one has excellent eyesight and can spot even the smallest errors, and one has extremely steady hands, able to lift a table for fifteen minutes without shaking.

I've picked out all the other women, and they're all completely different. It feels like a joke.

Yet, these very people, forming an eight-person drawnwork embroidery team, represented a leap forward in Lin Xiushui's mind.

It was from the time she became the head of the workshop that drawnwork embroidery began to be made, that money was earned, that two assistants were hired, that business developed, that a larger house was built, that drawnwork embroidery gained its own name, and that more people joined the business.

Behind many possessions lies a constant forward movement, never stopping.

On the first day of the five apprentices' work in drawnwork embroidery, Li Jin said, "Great, they're here to get cramps."

"Great! My big pomegranate has finally ripened!" Little Seven Sister clapped her hands and said.

Lin Xiushui explained, "Because the pomegranates are ripe in August and split open so wide they can't close."

The five people were completely bewildered. Where was this place? It was nothing like what they had imagined, and they were just talking nonsense.

Once I started working here, I realized that, aside from whether my skills were good or not, speaking was a very important skill.

With Lin Xiushui, the manager, taking the lead, Bu Du had to say a few words.

Here, loose lips are called "cloth tight," and talking a lot is called "weaving silk," since saliva is also called silk.

No one would work with a stern face; that's how Lin Xiushui taught them.

He took three bolts of old cloth and said to the person who knew how to dismantle clothes, "Dismantle one bolt quickly and the other slowly."

“As for this piece,” Lin Xiushui pointed at Li Jin, “you can sit next to her later and pick out a thread while she’s working on it.”

Li Jin moves very slowly. Watching her embroider can drive you crazy. She's the kind of person who's extremely anxious, even when she's in a hurry. She has to think about whether to step with her left or right foot first when she runs. But she's steady.

Lin Xiushui had the young woman, who was skilled at disassembling fish bones, disassemble the stiff cloth that was starched, similar to fish bones and spines. The only requirement was that she had to use tweezers to disassemble it, taking each piece off one by one and arranging them neatly. Once she could disassemble a whole bolt of cloth and was proficient with the tweezers, she would then disassemble the softer cloth piece by piece, making people think of it as picking out soft fish bones.

As for the other three, the one with steady hands would pull out the yarn and flatter the other person; the one with good eyesight would pick out the bad yarn and make sure the other person pulled out the yarn that was uneven in color or had spots; the one who could come up with many patterns would be given a pen and paper and told to think about it.

Lin Xiushui's idea was to cater to others' preferences, to connect difficult tasks with things others were good at, turning them into easy paths, rather than to make things difficult for others or elevate herself.

When Madam Gu came to visit, the drawnwork embroidery was already on track. Everyone was chatting and laughing, yet everything was in good order. Everyone was doing their own work without complaining of being tired or taking a break. She left quite satisfied.

As soon as she left, Lin Xiushui packed her things and went home from work.

These past few days have exhausted her. In her dreams, she's chasing a long-legged cloth, saying, "Don't go, let me finish smoking first."

While others finished work on time, she stayed until night. Xiao Chun'e, with her face still covered in red rashes, would pretend to keep her company, but in reality, as she watched, she would nod off and eventually fall asleep.

He woke up and immediately asked, "Is it dawn already?"

She also had to decline various invitations. When Sang Ying invited her to dinner, she said she was embroidering a pattern and would go later. When Xiao He invited her to go out and play, she said later, later.

What time exactly? She leaves work on time.

Wang Yuelan was quite surprised, "You were released from prison so early?"

She said that Lin Xiushui was so busy every day that it was no different from being in prison.

“Even when you’re in jail, you get to go outside for fresh air,” Lin Xiushui said, sitting in a chair. She planned her day: to wash her hair, get dyed fabric, and make clothes.

Wang Yuelan then spoke of her plans, saying, "I've made up my mind."

“Okay,” Lin Xiushui replied immediately.

“I haven’t said anything yet,” Wang Yuelan glanced at her and said earnestly, “I’ve only recently started learning to read and realized that you can’t be too afraid. There’s nothing you can’t learn.”

"Hmm?" Lin Xiushui waited for her next sentence, afraid that she would say that she wanted to abandon silk and pursue literature.

Wang Yuelan said, "There's a job in the silk industry that teaches brocade weaving, and many people are vying for it. I want to give it a try."

Brocade weaving is a highly sought-after craft. It's a very difficult skill with over a hundred different patterns. If you can learn it, a brocade weaver can earn three strings of cash a month and even get a job in a government-run workshop.

People always crave stability and get used to the monotony of daily life. But now she no longer needs to struggle for basic necessities. Wang Yuelan wants to go out and try, just in case she can do it.