The front hall was already lit up, making it brightly lit.
Sun Miao'er looked closely and noticed that there were several more bonsai trees added since she last visited. To be precise, the decorations in the front hall were changed daily according to the owner's preferences.
Today's decorations clearly exude a sense of ostentation.
When the two of them entered the front hall, there were already quite a few people sitting at the round table.
Sun Miao'er looked up and saw that the group of people all looked about 70-80% like Wei Rongchang, so they were probably all Wei's sons.
The youngest one, who was Wei Jingnian's uncle who was two years older than him, scoffed at the two men, saying, "Brother, are these the two distinguished guests you mentioned? If I'm not mistaken, isn't this Fifth Aunt? You've always looked down on them, so why did you invite her here?"
Wei Rongzheng was the youngest son, born to Old Master Wei late in life. Naturally, he was not as afraid of Wei Rongchang as his older brothers, especially since Old Master Wei was present to support him.
Perhaps his words were a bit too much, because Old Master Wei coughed twice, "Rongzheng, how can you talk to your elder brother like that!"
Wei Rongchang ignored his younger brother's provocative words and said respectfully, "Please have a seat, both of you."
After clearing his throat, he said seriously, "The people I have invited are all people who can be of great use to our Wei family. Whoever can help our Wei family is our benefactor, regardless of their background. Rong Zheng, if you are capable, you can take this seat."
Upon hearing this, Wei Rongzheng lowered his head in shame. It wasn't that Old Master Wei was biased, but he had indeed put the most effort into raising his eldest son, Wei Rongchang, who was also the most successful of the four brothers.
The others mostly have some inherent flaws, such as being ignorant and incompetent.
"Thank you for your kind words, Master Wei, but I am unworthy of such praise." Sun Miao'er was extremely modest, suggesting that the meal was not particularly delicious.
She turned to look at Xiao Ning and Xiao Man, who were led by the maids of the mansion to a side table where women and children were seated. Wang Xueru was also among them, and when she saw her looking over, she kept giving her meaningful glances.
Looking at the table, there were only two women, herself and Yunniang, so it seemed that Wei Rongchang had indeed treated them as honored guests.
After all, even Wei Rongchang's wife wasn't sitting here.
"Uncle, don't look down on this Miss Sun." Wei Jingnian rarely interrupted when his father and uncles were eating, but today he couldn't help but speak up, after all, it wasn't him who invited Sun Miao'er.
Wei Rongzheng lowered his head and drank his wine in silence. When he heard Wei Jingnian's words, he snorted coldly, looked up and stared at Sun Miao'er, and said, "Then tell me, what ability does this girl have that makes her a guest of honor for my elder brother? I certainly can't see it!"
"You only care about drinking and having fun all day long, what can you possibly see?" Wei Rongchang said irritably, then looked at Sun Miao'er, "Last month, Chen Laowu was poached, and the workshop lost its backbone. Do you know how many big orders the Wei family lost all of a sudden?"
"You also know that although the Wei family's weaving is skilled, their dyeing is not as good as other families. Without Chen Laowu, it's like an eagle losing its wings. With no other strengths, how can they compare with other families?"
Wei Rongzheng was speechless after being scolded. Originally, Old Master Wei had not intended for him to take over the family business, but no one could let the fat meat in their hands slip away. He didn't want to put in any effort but still wanted a share of the Wei family's business. Wei Rongchang had seen through this long ago.
Wei Rongchang then said, "It was Miss Sun who recommended Yunniang to me, and it was also Miss Sun who taught us the skills of weaving and dyeing. Can you do these things?"
"Bring it here!"
Then a servant brought up a stack of dyed cloth and placed it in front of everyone. Wei Rongchang glared at Wei Rongzheng and said, "Rongzheng, let's start with you. Take a good look and try to correct your habit of looking down on others at the drop of a hat!"
Wei Rongzheng tore the piece of cloth off the wooden tray, shook it a couple of times in his hand, and handed it directly to the second brother next to him, muttering, "What's so interesting about it? It's just a piece of rag!"
During the meal, several people took turns examining the cloth until it was handed to Old Master Wei. Old Master Wei had been in this business for decades, and his skill level was no less than Wei Rongchang's. He looked surprised and asked, "This was woven by the fifth brother?"
Although he knew he had a good eye for people, he never expected Yunniang's skills to be so superb. If he had known this earlier, he should have sent Yunniang to the workshop all these years and kept her there. Instead, he had dragged the Wei family down.
Including the color, it actually broke through the Wei family's weakness over the years, which was that they could only dye overly bright colors. These colors would mostly look out of place at night, but this piece looked perfectly normal.
It is excellent in every respect.
"What, are you convinced now?" Wei Rongchang asked sternly.
Unfortunately, apart from him, the rest of the Wei family members were all incompetent fools, simply nodding in agreement, "We're convinced, Big Brother is right!"
I doubt they would understand it either.
Wei Rongchang was too lazy to argue with them and said, "You know, it was this piece of cloth that brought in dozens more orders for the Wei family, filling the hole left by Chen Laowu."
Wei Rongzheng was sweating profusely, feeling resentful, but he dared not disobey Wei Rongchang any longer and echoed, "Good stuff, Big Brother is still the best."
He thought that as long as he could find someone to poach Chen Laowu, Wei Rongchang would be unable to recover. Who knew that he would find a way to remedy the situation so quickly? It seems that bringing him down is not as easy as he thought.
"Then tell me, how much should I pay Miss Sun and Fifth Aunt for this level of skill?" Wei Rongchang asked unexpectedly.
Sun Miao'er was startled. Did he mean he wanted her to stay and work for the Wei family? Why didn't he give her a heads-up beforehand?
But this wasn't her wish either. Staying in Dahuai Village was so far from Fushui Village, and going home was a huge hassle.
"How much to open is entirely up to you, Big Brother," the brothers said one after another.
Sun Miao'er was indeed a little overwhelmed, but after thinking about it, she replied, "Master Wei, I only agreed to teach you the weaving and dyeing techniques because of your favor. As for working in the Wei family, I think I still need to improve a bit!"
"Eh?" Wei Rongchang was quite displeased to see that Sun Miao'er had rejected him outright. "Is Miss Sun worried that I, Wei, can't afford to pay wages? Your two younger brothers seem to be quite intelligent, and they haven't even started school yet. If you stay in my residence, you can let your two younger brothers stay here and study with Jingnian!"
It seems he's got his sights set on this. But if I agree to it, what's the difference between me working for someone else and me working for him?
Besides, I'm only a novice myself. I can give guidance for a short time, but it's definitely not a long-term solution.
Sun Miao'er thought to herself, "Being a boss instead of working for someone else—isn't that exactly what I wanted when I decided to start my own business? I can't ruin my bright future for a temporary high salary!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
