Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Chen Xuan looked much better after hearing this...
Shen Xuan looked much better when he heard this, thinking that Lemon was not seen, and even if he saw Xiaomei Zhong, she might not recognize her. She didn't mention grapefruit either, so suddenly two kinds of fruits were missing.
As for things like tea, Zhong Xiaomei couldn't explain the effect clearly, but as for other things like sucrose and honey, you could either taste them when drinking tea or tell by their names, so they really had no effect.
He sighed, pointed to the stool next to him and said, "Please sit down."
Sister Zhong sat down, and then she quietly observed Shen Xuan's expression, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Shen, those people have taken the prescription and left. I have said so much, will it affect your business?"
“Of course there is an impact.” Shen Xuan said deliberately, and when he saw Xiaomei Zhong’s face change, he added: “But it’s better if you don’t say anything about Yuzi, the impact won’t be too great.”
Only then did Zhong Xiaomei breathe a sigh of relief.
At this point, Zhong Xiaomei suddenly gritted her teeth, stood up and knelt down with a thud, which scared Shen Xuan.
“Brother Chen, the apprentice in the embroidery workshop you mentioned last time…can you take me there?”
Shen Xuan didn't expect that Zhong Xiaomei was still thinking about the apprenticeship. After thinking for a while, he said, "Didn't your parents disapprove?"
"How could they want me to learn some skills?" Zhong Xiaomei said angrily, and it was obvious that she had completely lost hope towards the Zhong couple.
"If they don't let me go, will I be trapped here forever and marry that widower Chen?" Zhong Xiaomei said, "Please take me to the city quietly and I will go to learn secretly. I would rather work in that embroidery workshop for the rest of my life than be sold to widower Chen."
When Zhong Xiaomei said this, the candlelight from the oil lamp reflected two golden lights in her eyes, and it was obvious that she had made up her mind.
Shen Xuan was silent for a while, and suddenly felt that he couldn't bear to extinguish the hope in the girl's eyes. So she nodded and said, "Okay, I can take you with me when I go to the city tomorrow, but your parents don't agree. I can't say whether the embroidery shop will accept you or not. You have to convince them yourself."
Zhong Xiaomei then showed a hint of joy on her face, and then she kowtowed to Shen Xuan several times, saying that no matter whether this matter succeeded or not, she would be grateful to Shen Xuan for his help for the rest of her life.
The next morning, before dawn, Zhong Xiaomei went out under the pretext of going up the mountain to pick bamboo shoots, sneaked into Shen Xuan's house, and hid in the stall cart.
Shen Xuan harnessed the carriage and left. An hour later, he arrived at the gate of Lezhou.
Only then did Zhong Xiaomei get out of the stall and look at the bustling city in front of her with great curiosity.
Her father and brother had come to the dock market outside Lezhou City to sell grain, and when they returned they had described the prosperous scene of Lezhou at home.
However, when I really entered Lezhou City, I saw the pedestrians coming and going on the street and the dazzling shops on the roadside. Only then did Zhong Xiaomei realize that her vision in the village was too narrow.
The mule cart drove all the way to Koi Street. We saw that the shops on the street were becoming more and more luxurious, and even the pedestrians on the street were dressed very exquisitely. Zhong Xiaomei looked at her patched coarse cloth skirt and couldn't help feeling a little shy.
Shen Xuan parked the car in front of an embroidery workshop and walked down.
"Come down, it's right here." Shen Xuan said.
This embroidery workshop is run by a female owner named Yan, who employs many embroiderers. Shen Xuan asked a few companies last time, and this one was willing to recruit apprentices for free.
"Okay..." Zhong Xiaomei got out of the car, clenched the corners of her clothes with both hands, and followed Shen Xuan somewhat restrainedly.
It's still early and the embroidery workshop has just opened.
However, just looking at the pair of stone lions and the carved wooden door at the entrance is very impressive. After stepping through the threshold, the shop is filled with a dazzling array of embroidered items of various colors, each of which is very exquisite.
The treasure of the store is a three-meter-long screen in the center of the shop. It is framed in ebony and contains double-sided random-stitch embroidery of the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The threads were as fine as spider silk, and no traces could be seen when embroidered on the gauze. The changing of seasons emits different lusters depending on the sunlight and angle, making it lifelike and magnificent. Zhong Xiaomei was so surprised that her mouth opened wide. She didn't know how such a beautiful embroidery was made.
"Boss, this girl wants to be an apprentice. Can you take a look at her and see if she's suitable?" Shen Xuan walked straight up to the shop owner and said.
The shopkeeper looked at Xiaomei Zhong behind Shen Xuan, frowned and said, "She is a bit old, let's take her to the owner first."
Then he led Shen Xuan and the other person to the backyard.
After a while, Master Yan came out, took a look at Zhong Xiaomei, asked her age, and then asked her to stretch out her hand for him to see.
"Your hands are used to doing rough work, right? There are calluses on your hands and your fingers are rough. After careful training, you can do ordinary embroidery, but I'm afraid you can't learn the delicate skills as you are not very suitable for needlework." said Master Yan.
When Zhong Xiaomei heard this, she became anxious and immediately knelt on the ground with a thud. She kowtowed and said to Yan Fangzhu: "I beg you to accept me, lady boss! I can endure hardships and learn slowly. Even if it takes five or eight years to learn only the basics, I will accept it!"
Master Yan was a well-informed man. When he saw Zhong Xiaomei's appearance, he had some idea in his mind.
She then called Shen Xuan aside and asked, "Did this girl sneak out from home?"
Shen Xuan then said to her, "The owner of the temple is indeed very smart. Her parents are not kind and only care about her younger brother. They enslave her to work every day and want to marry her to an old widower who is as old as her son. She asked me to bring her here."
"If you don't want to take her in, it's understandable. Then I can only send her back. Her future fate will depend on her luck."
Upon hearing this, Master Yan snorted coldly and said, "What good fortune can she have if she goes back? She will just be sold to someone else by her parents and spend her whole life serving an old widower and his family like a slave."
Owner Yan herself had a tragic fate. She was divorced by her husband because she had no children for many years. Only after that did she earn money with her needlework skills and open such a large embroidery workshop on her own.
It is precisely because of her own miserable life that she has more sympathy for children from poor families. Therefore, embroidery workshops found a way to recruit apprentices for free, so that those poor women or boys could make a living by learning needlework.
Although Zhong Xiaomei is a little older and has rough hands, she looks like someone who can endure hardships. After proper training, even though I can't learn double-sided embroidery, I should have no problem making an ordinary handkerchief belt.
So Master Yan accepted Zhong Xiaomei as his wife and signed a long-term contract with her.
Because Zhong Xiaomei ran away secretly and had to stay in the embroidery workshop for food, clothing, housing and transportation, two more years were added to the contract, allowing her to work as an apprentice in the embroidery workshop for free within three years, and all the embroidery works she made had to be handed over. After three years, you can leave the embroidery workshop to earn money, but the embroidery products must be sent to the embroidery workshop first, and the workshop will buy them at 70% of the market price.
This condition is what Zhong Xiaomei wanted. After signing the contract, he immediately kowtowed many times to Master Yan.
Shen Xuan was quite comforted to see that Zhong Xiaomei's matter was progressing smoothly.
Whether you are a woman or a man, the most important thing is to have a skill.
Zhong Xiaomei was only seventeen years old when she worked as an apprentice in an embroidery workshop for three years. At that time, whether she wants to go home and get married or continue to work in the embroidery workshop is her own choice.
As long as she has a skill that can make money, Zhong Xiaomei will have a say, and her life will always be much better than being at the mercy of others in the village.
After finishing the matter with Zhong Xiaomei, Shen Xuan went to Guiyun Tower on the way. Today was the day he had agreed with Guiyun Tower to deliver the tea-bottom syrup.
There was very little left of the three jars of tea that we had sold to them before.
Shen Xuan delivered the tea to Chen Caimai and received another thirty taels of silver.
Before he left, Manager Mei came over and asked anxiously, "Brother Chen, can you sell your honey custard tea to Daiyue Tower across the street?"
It turned out that early this morning, not long after Daiyue Tower opened, it also hung up a sign for honey custard tea. The three flavors of tea sold are the same as those of Guiyunlou, but the prices are a few cents cheaper.
Many guests who were originally going to come to Guiyun Tower went to Daiyue Tower after seeing it. The number of guests at Guiyun Tower suddenly dropped by one third.
"Of course not." Shen Xuan said, "I came to Guiyunlou because I was annoyed by the boss of Daiyuelou's coercion and bribery. How could I sell the tea to them?"
However, the Zhong family sent someone over to spy yesterday, and I’m afraid it was someone sent by Dai Yuelou.
Shen Xuan thought about it for a moment, then told Manager Mei the truth. After hearing this, Manager Mei didn't say anything, but just asked someone to go to Daiyue Tower across the street to buy a few cups of the honey custard tea they were selling.
After several people tasted the tea, Shen Xuan felt relieved.
Although this tea has the flavor of fruit tea, it is still very different from the one I make myself.
Not only is the fruity aroma missing lemon and grapefruit, there is only the scent of orange. Moreover, the tea base is not the good tea that I usually use, but ordinary tea leaves, and the tea aroma is far inferior.
After tasting the tea, Manager Mei felt relieved. Customers were attracted by the honey custard tea sign, but after drinking it, they found that the product was not what they imagined and they will never go there again.
Sure enough, after a while, someone started making a noise in Daiyue Tower, saying that the honey custard tea in Daiyue Tower was fake and did not taste the same as the authentic honey custard tea.
Gradually, fewer and fewer guests were deceived into going to Daiyue Tower, and they all came to Guiyun Tower again.
Except for those customers who were greedy for a few cents, no one went to Daiyue Tower. Seeing this, Shen Xuan drove away.
Today has been more than ten days since he last went into the city. Shen Xuan suddenly remembered that he should go and get the clothes he had made for Lin Ye before.
The last time Shen Xuan came to the city, he came with Xue Fenglin, but in just ten days, everything seemed to have changed.
Shen Xuan drove east for more than a hundred meters and arrived at the door of the tailor shop. When he went in, he found that the shopkeeper recognized him.
As soon as he saw him coming, he took out the clothes and showed them to him, saying, "Sir, look at this clothes. Is it as you said?"
He spread out the robe in front of Shen Xuan, and saw that the black material was sparkling with golden ripple-like patterns. The waist, collar and cuffs of the clothes were embroidered with daylily patterns using black shiny silk thread as requested by Shen Xuan.
Although the embroidery is exquisite, the colors are not too eye-catching, but instead have an elegant beauty.
This dress is really beautiful, no wonder it is worth fifteen taels of silver...
"Very good." Shen Xuan nodded and checked the clothes carefully. Every detail was made very finely and there was not even a thread left.
Upon seeing this, the shopkeeper took out a piece of brown paper, wrapped the clothes inside, and then tied a bow on it with a straw rope.
This is a special packaging for clothes weighing more than 150 grams, and it emphasizes exquisiteness.
Seeing the shopkeeper placing the paper bag in front of him with both hands, Shen Xuan couldn't help but smile.
I can say that I have enjoyed the luxury shopping in Dajin.
He put his clothes in the cart and drove away in the mule cart.
She thought that the dress was well made, as it was custom-made according to Lin Ye's size. The size was too big and she couldn't wear it. She was afraid that it would have to be put in the bottom of the closet when she got back.
Counting the days, Lin Ye should have arrived in the capital. I wonder if he has returned home?
When thinking of Lin Ye, Shen Xuan couldn't help but let his mind wander a lot.
For a moment I thought about his bad relationship with his family, and wondered if they had an argument when he returned. Then he thought that he was already twenty years old, and had met with a great disaster this time when he went out. He might be forced to get married when he returned home.
But after thinking about it, these are Lin Ye’s private affairs and have nothing to do with me.
Shen Xuan laughed at himself and thought of the hundred taels of gold left by the other party.
Lin Ye had already repaid the favor, and the hundred taels of gold was more than enough to thank him for saving his life.
Since I have already decided not to return to Beijing with him, and we will have no connection in the future, why should I think about all these messes?
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