Li Zhen hesitated, her lips trembling, but she still didn't say who it was. She just lowered her head and said, "I'll take it apart and redo it right away. Don't worry, I'm quick. I can finish in an hour."

"Sister Zhen, this isn't right." Qin Xiaozhou still decided to teach Li Zhen a lesson, otherwise she would always remain a seamstress and never become a supervisor. "I asked you to check their work not to correct anything they did wrong, but to supervise them. Do you understand the difference?"

Qin Xiaozhou was talking about management that day, and Li Zhen naturally heard him clearly. However, everyone was from the same village and would see each other all the time. Moreover, Li Zhen was a widow and the poorest person in the village. She was insecure and weak, and she couldn't bring herself to point out other people's faults.

But she didn't want to say that she couldn't do the job of managing people's lives; she was already worried every day.

Qin Xiaozhou naturally wanted to know these things, but she still had to teach them. "From now on, if you don't meet the standards, just send them back. Whoever made the clothes should alter them. If you're not strict and make them take responsibility for themselves, they'll become arrogant and take advantage of you. They can get paid just by doing the bare minimum. Who would want to do this job properly? If bad embroidery enters the market and ruins my reputation, I'll have to fire all the embroiderers. Whether they can last depends on how strict you are in managing them."

After saying that, he commented on the clothes, "Except for the person who just made that dress, tell the rest of them to work harder. Don't make the flowers look stiff; let them look more at the flowers and plants swaying in the wind. As for the seams of this dress, take it back and have that person carefully alter them. If the alterations are all just stitches, then that person doesn't need to come back."

The two best embroidered garments were made by Li Zhen. Ever since she was chosen as an embroiderer, her mother-in-law had never let her do any housework. She wasn't allowed to chop firewood, pull weeds, or cook. Her mother-in-law held her hand, her eyes full of heartache, and said, "You've suffered since you married into my family. Today, you've finally been able to work as an embroiderer with the Lu family. From now on, you should focus on your needlework. I and Lai Di will take care of the housework. Work hard and stay with the Lu family. You'll be better off when you remarry in six months."

Li Zhen lost her husband last December. She is only twenty-seven years old this year. According to the law, a widow must remarry a year after her husband's death. If she does not remarry after a year, she will be arranged for marriage by the government. Her time is running out.

To become an embroiderer, Li Zhen and her mother-in-law worked hard, applying the only bamboo rat oil they had to carefully care for her hands. Only when her skin didn't scratch the fabric did she dare to start making clothes. Working tirelessly day and night, they finally finished two pieces.

Upon hearing Qin Xiaozhou say that if they didn't manage things properly, everyone would be fired, Li Zhen felt anxious and guilty. "I'll return the clothes when I get back, don't worry."

Qin Xiaozhou then called Lu Yunxing in and gave him a few more instructions before letting them leave.

All the way, Li Zhen carried the substandard garment, her mind filled with thoughts of what to say. She had memorized the stitching characteristics of each person over the past few days, but she wasn't one to give advice to others, and she didn't even dare to speak harshly. Now she was in a very difficult situation.

Unexpectedly, when she arrived at the Lu family's embroidery shed, before she could even speak, Lu Yunxing stood outside the shed and said, "Dear sisters and aunts, the first batch of clothes was sent to the county town today. My sister-in-law said she appreciates your hard work and will personally come back at the beginning of next month to distribute your wages."

Everyone was happy to hear they were getting paid, since no family was rich and everyone was counting on this money to supplement their household income. Zhao Chunhua slapped her thigh excitedly, "Getting paid is great! This month has 24 days, and it's 30 coins a day, so how much should that be?"

The villagers don't have the concept of rest. They work 365 days a year. During the busy farming season, they go to the fields. When they're not busy, they pull weeds, plant vegetables, water the vegetables, chop firewood, and take care of the yard. Even when it rains and they can't work, they gather together to chat and their hands never stop. They're either sewing or mending or braiding ropes. In short, they're never idle.

Moreover, needlework is an easy job for them, as it doesn't require them to go to the mountains to chop firewood or exert any physical effort, so they are happy to do it every day.

They were all uneducated village girls and women who couldn't do math, so Lu Yunxing waited until their excitement reached its peak before saying, "It's seven hundred and twenty coins."

Seven hundred and twenty coins?!

The girls and women were stunned, then overjoyed. Zhao Chunhua had felt inferior working for the Lu family and was very unhappy, but when she heard that she would receive so much money this month, her displeasure vanished instantly. She held her head high, knowing that this money was much more than the men in her family could earn in a month in the county town.

A wife who can earn money has great face and status in front of her children, husband, and in-laws. Moreover, embroiderers don't have to show their faces in public, and it's a respectable job. In the past few days, the family's attitude towards Zhao Chunhua has completely changed. She doesn't have to do anything when she comes home every day. Even if she wants to wash vegetables, her mother-in-law stops her from doing so, for fear that she will hurt her hands and lose her job as an embroiderer.

The village women had loud voices, and naturally they wanted to show off. Zhao Chunhua wasn't one to hold back either, and she was quite enthusiastic. "Seven hundred and twenty coins! Oh dear, won't we get even more if we work a full month next month? Eryun, did you bring the cloth back this time? Hurry up, bring it out and get to work, don't waste time."

The others were also filled with excitement. In their twenty or thirty years of life, which woman could earn seven hundred coins a month? At this moment, their desire to make money reached its peak.

“Yes, Eryun, quickly bring out all the fabric. Last night I dreamed of a kind of flower and grass that I saw in the mountains when I was a child. It was so beautiful. I’ll embroider it onto the clothes.”

"Hey, I see peaches hanging on the branches in the orchard, so red and tender, and I'm happy with them. They would look beautiful embroidered on clothes, and I'm thinking of doing that."

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