Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Acting Anywhere

Miao Ying asked the shopkeeper to arrange for Li Hongying, and the shopkeeper agreed. He took Li Hongying to the teahouse next door and ordered a cup of tea.

After settling Li Hongying, Miao Ying began to perform anywhere and any size. To be honest, he felt that he did not perform well because his acting skills were quite poor.

Years of work experience have enabled Miao Ying to develop the ability to identify people. On the street with so many people, he can tell at first glance which ones are the young ladies and young men from wealthy families. In this world, young men are quite easy to identify, as they are generally not too tall and their skin color is whiter than that of men.

He didn't want to get close to those ladies, and he wouldn't take advantage of those girls.

Miao Ying still remembered his reflection in the water that day. He wasn't bragging, he really looked pretty good, especially since he was still sick, which made him look even better.

After locating his target, Miao Ying was ready to start his performance. In the busiest market, he saw a young man with a servant. Hey, it's you.

They stopped at a cosmetics shop, and the two were discussing which color of cosmetics to buy. One advocated bright red, and the other advocated light pink.

Miao Ying was confused, so he leaned over and pretended to look at the makeup. Honestly, he couldn't see any difference, but he still offered a suggestion: "I think the lighter pink is better. It suits your skin tone better."

"Yeah, you think so too." The guy laughed, then told the vendor that he wanted to buy it. Seeing how generous he was, Miao Ying nodded in his heart and started performing immediately.

He staggered a few times and fell to the side weakly. The servant next to the boy immediately caught him. Miao Ying took out a handkerchief, coughed twice, and expressed his gratitude to the two people who supported him. He turned the handkerchief over and over in his hand, and soon attracted the boy's attention.

"Are you really okay?"

Miao Ying nodded and quickly stood up straight: "I just walked too fast."

Seeing that he was alright, the boy asked, "Your handkerchief is very novel. It's not the style you would find in the county town, is it?"

Miao Ying spread out the handkerchief again. "It's from Songheju over there. I heard it's a new style that arrived today. There are only a few left. I don't know if they're all sold out yet. Because the pattern is new, the price is a bit higher."

The boy didn't seem to care about the price at all. He then said to the boy next to him, "Xing'er, go buy me one quickly. Hurry up."

He was very enthusiastic and took Miao Ying to a tea stall and ordered a cup of tea. Seeing that Miao Ying was fine, he felt relieved and waited for his servant to buy him a handkerchief.

Soon, Brother Xing came back with a handkerchief in his hand: "Master, I bought one. I think you like cats. I'm sure you like this cat playing with flowers."

When Fu Lingzhi got the handkerchief, he really liked it. Although it was just ordinary cloth, the painting on it was really beautiful. He said, "Such a novel thing, why don't you buy two more? One for mother and aunt." He has an older brother and a younger brother, and they are not married yet.

Xing Ge'er hurried back: "Master, please wait a moment, I'll go buy it right away."

This was a maidservant who worked for a young man in a shop next door. When she saw Xing Ge'er running wildly, she said something to the person beside her.

"Go and see what he bought. If it suits you, buy it for me too."

The maid followed him and returned soon with two handkerchiefs. "They are new and unusual designs. Xing'er bought several."

When the man saw it, he thought it was indeed novel, and the price didn't seem to matter to him.

There were only about ten handkerchiefs, and they were quickly sold out. By the time someone received the news and went to buy one, they were already sold out.

Miao Ying had completed his task. After saying goodbye to the shopkeeper, he was about to pick up Li Hongying and prepare to go home, but the shopkeeper stopped him and said that he still wanted to do business with him.

Miao Ying had actually expected this. He looked at the shopkeeper with a smile, as if he was confident.

The shopkeeper wanted him to draw more patterns for them here. After all, there were embroiderers in the store, and it would be better than waiting for them to finish the embroidery before selling it to him.

Miao Ying smiled and said that as long as the price was agreed, everything would be fine. It was just a Q-type painting, and he could draw a lot of them in an afternoon.

Thinking that he could earn his first pot of gold, Miao Ying felt that his headache was gone.

"I was thinking about how hard my mother and grandmother work at sewing. If the shopkeeper is sincere in buying patterns from me, firstly, I can make my grandmother and mother feel more at ease, and secondly, I can also earn some money for myself."

He said it so clearly that the shopkeeper didn't hesitate: "The handkerchiefs are indeed selling well today. Sell me some samples and I'll pay you in one lump sum."

Miao Ying thought this was a business that was practically worthless and extremely profitable, and the shopkeeper was quite sincere: "I'll pay you off in full, and I promise you that in the future, whenever you come to sell embroidery, I'll charge you a high price. If you want to buy any cloth, ready-made clothes, or anything like that, I'll give you a discount."

Miao Ying nodded: "The shopkeeper is sincere, and I am telling you the truth. It is popular now, and it is only a matter of time before it is copied. If you want to make a fortune, you must hurry. I have many models here. As long as you give a good price, I can draw for you immediately."

"Well, since this man is truly an honest man, I'll give him four ounces of silver."

Miao Ying smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, five taels, five sounds good. I'll stay up all night tonight and draw dozens of designs for you."

The shopkeeper thought about it and agreed, then went to the accounting office to withdraw the silver. Miao Ying only took the money they deserved and did not care how much the shopkeeper sold the handkerchiefs for.

Li Hongying waited at the tea stall for a long time but Miao Ying didn't come back. She was a little worried that Miao Ying had run away, but then she thought that Miao Ying had no money and was injured, so he couldn't walk too far. She went back to the cloth shop and happened to meet Miao Ying coming out.

"I was just looking for you." Miao Ying pulled her aside and handed the five taels of silver he had just received to Li Hongying. "Mom, we're not going home tonight. I want to paint a model for the shopkeeper in the county town."

"Ah?" Li Hongying felt her heart beating very fast. How could she earn five taels of silver just by selling handkerchiefs? "You, this..."

He spoke hurriedly: "I have to go and draw the shopkeeper's pictures quickly. Please find a place to stay. Let's buy some things for home tomorrow before going home."

After saying that, she hurried to the embroidery workshop behind the cloth shop, leaving Li Hongying standing there in a daze. After a while, she put the five taels of silver close to her body and did not plan to find a place to live. She was worried about Miao Ying being here, so if Miao Ying drew the pattern, she could also embroider it there.

So that night, the oil lamp in the embroidery workshop of the cloth shop was kept on all night. Miao Ying kept drawing the pattern, and Li Hongying watched by her and also embroidered a handkerchief.

Over the course of one night, Miao Ying drew nearly a hundred pictures. Each one was different, but each one was very interesting. There were not only animals, but also plants, but they were not simple plants. The shopkeeper also saw the finished embroidery and nodded heavily: "Good, good, good."

Thinking of the shopkeeper's generosity, Miao Ying also wanted to remind him and told him about modern hunger marketing. The shopkeeper suddenly understood, thinking that he had worked all night to draw these, and gave him another hundred yuan: "This is the price for this suggestion."

Miao accepted the money and said goodbye to the shopkeeper with Li Hongying.

As he walked out of the store, he heard a voice at the door: "Do you still have the handkerchief like yesterday?"

"Our young lady likes it so much that she insists I buy it."

The streets were gradually becoming bustling with activity. Miao Ying felt dizzy after seeing the glaring sunlight. Li Hongying quickly supported him and asked, "Are you okay?"

Miao Ying stood there for a long time, and finally calmed down. He smiled at Li Hongying and said, "Mom, let's go have breakfast, shall we?"

He had dinner at the cloth shop last night. He was tired after a night of work and felt hungry and sleepy. He needed to eat something to relax.

Li Hongying nodded, found a breakfast shop, ordered a bowl of noodles for Miao Ying, but didn't eat anything herself.

Miao Ying sighed and ordered a bowl for her as well: "Mom, we've made money, so a bowl of noodles is still edible."

Li Hongying had no choice but to eat reluctantly. After the meal, they were about to go home. Miao Ying looked at Li Hongying and said, "Mom, let's go buy some things. Let's buy some cakes for Xiaobao, some meat and oil. Xiaobao is in the growing stage, so let's buy some bones and make some bone soup for him."

Li Hongying subconsciously didn't want to buy it, after all, her family was too poor, but what Miao Ying said were all necessities for the family, so she could only nod.

Li Hongying took charge and went to the bakery, where she bought some cheap, long-lasting cakes suitable for all ages. She then went to the butcher's and bought some lard. She also decided to buy a piece of fatty pork. Miao Ying was stunned. How could he eat such fatty meat? The pork belly next to it was so good, yet no one wanted it?

Then Li Hongying asked for some more bones. The meat on these bones had been basically scraped off, leaving only bare bones. It was cheap to buy them, so she bought a few more pieces.

Miao Ying looked at the piece of pork belly. When Li Hongying was about to leave, she tugged at her sleeve and said, "Mom, can you buy another piece of meat?"

Li Hongying looked at him and said, "Hasn't the fat already been sold?"

Miao Ying pointed at the piece of pork belly and said, "Would you like to buy some of this?"

Li Hongying thought that Miao Ying had earned all the money, and he just wanted to eat some meat, so she met his request: "Okay, buy one."

Finally, they carried the things they bought and walked to the city gate. Miao Ying already felt something was wrong. He just felt a little hot at this moment, and thought he must have a fever again.

He pulled Li Hongying's hand and said, "Mom, can we take a car back home? I think I have a fever again."

Li Hongying also knew that he was not fully recovered, so she took an ox cart on the way back. The cart was shaking, and Miao Ying was also dizzy. "Mom, save the money well, don't let Lao Deng take it away."

Li Hongying reached out and touched his forehead. She didn't know what Lao Deng he was talking about, but she knew she had to keep the money. Seeing that Miao Ying fainted, Li Hongying let him lean on her shoulder.

When they got home, their grandmother was waiting for them at the village entrance. Seeing Li Hongying supporting Miao Ying back, she hurried over to greet them: "What happened?"

"Mom, let's make some medicine for him." The two of them took some effort to get Miao Ying onto the bed and fed him some medicine. Only after seeing that he was gradually calming down did Li Hongying leave the room.

I told my grandmother what happened yesterday. She was also very surprised. She couldn't believe that they could go out and bring back five taels of silver.

Li Hongying looked at her grandmother and said, "Mom, do you think he can really live a good life with Ah Xing?"