Chapter 80: Promotion and Wealth
Lin Xiushui took out the key and asked as she opened the shop door, "Ayun, have you eaten?"
“You’ve eaten here, so you can do heavy work too,” A-Yun quickly said, following behind her, and took a few steps up the stairs.
"Do you have a good memory?" Lin Xiushui said, pushing open the door and taking out the signboard from behind the door. Besides hiring people to do odd jobs, such as hanging the signboard, tidying up the table, and organizing clothes, her good memory and ability to recognize people were key.
Many people come and go in the shop, and quite a few of them look alike. Jin the tailor can't remember them all. She can remember to call them by their names, but if she can't, she calls them "little sister" or "older sister." More often, she's referred to as the cook who wanted to wear all red clothes but came to make narrow-sleeved shirts and long skirts, preparing to make winter clothes in advance.
Ah Yun helped set up the signboard and immediately replied, "I used to do cleaning at the secondhand clothing store, helping to organize some clothes. There were a lot of people coming and going, so my memory isn't too bad."
“My father collected and sold all kinds of beans, and my mother sold salted beans and bean brown sugar along the street. I often helped sell them. There were one or two hundred acquaintances who came to buy them, and I remembered each and every one of them.”
"Master Jin, your helper A-Yun is here," Lin Xiushui waved to the tailor Jin who was walking down the road. After the tailor Jin got closer, she patted A-Yun on the shoulder and said, "You recognize people well."
“Very good, very good. Ah Qiao, take out that portrait and let someone identify it,” the tailor said, waving a bag of pastries in his hand. “It’s perfect for having osmanthus cake early in the morning. Someone was selling it when I came over.”
The three went inside. Ayun, who had been trying her best to remain calm and composed, couldn't help but let out a small gasp of surprise when she saw the stack of portraits.
She hovered her hand over the portrait, tentatively pointed, and asked, "Is this how you recognize it?"
“Hey,” the tailor Jin untied the oil paper bag, “that’s how you recognize it. Have Xiao Lin, the shopkeeper, explain it to you properly. They’re all repeat customers. If you can remember it, I’ll treat you to honey crab for lunch.”
Ayun lowered her head and secretly swallowed. Her family didn't eat crabs; they mostly ate bean soup and bean porridge.
“This is the shopkeeper of the general store next door, named Liu Sanjie. She likes people to call her Sanjie,” Lin Xiushui sat down and showed Ayun the first portrait of Liu Sanjie wearing a shawl.
Ayun put her hands on her lap, leaned closer to look, nodded and said, "I'll remember."
"The one with her hair tied in a high bun, her name is Hong Niangzi, but she doesn't like red. She loves green the most. If you bring an umbrella, you should put it on that umbrella stand. She'll be coming over here often these days."
"Grandma Li across the bridge is an old matchmaker. If she says she'll arrange a marriage for you, just listen to her and don't pay her any attention," Lin Xiushui always ignored her. Even though the matchmaker was old and couldn't walk much, her mouth was still sharp, and she wanted to match everyone up.
During this time, the tailor Jin gave Ayun a piece of osmanthus cake, and Lin Xiushui introduced her to ten people.
"Who are these?" Lin Xiushui pointed to a mother and daughter cuddling together in the portrait.
Without hesitation, Ayun said, "It's the tofu lady who makes tofu on the front street. Her daughter is three years old. You have to keep an eye on her when she comes into the shop. She will pull at your clothes and cry. You have to give her some toys to play with when she comes."
Lin Xiushui randomly picked out another one. Ayun looked at it before hesitatingly speaking, "This is called Zhang the cook. She likes white clothes with blue and white patterns and must have an apron. She comes to see the newly arrived white clothes with blue and white patterns every three and seven days."
Lin Xiushui praised her without reservation, "Your memory is really good. You repeated everything I said without missing a single word."
"Master Jin, when we have honey crab for lunch, please give Ah Yun an extra portion."
“Working in our shop means you get three meals a day. You can tell Master Jin what you want to eat, and you don’t need to go out to buy it. Someone from the tea shop will come to your door to ask when it’s time.”
She made arrangements with the staff of the two tea shops to deliver meals to her door at noon and in the evening every day. They would deliver meals to her door as long as she was not far away. The meals were local snacks and snacks available at all times of the day, and she could ask for them without delay.
Wang Yuelan was busy with brocade weaving, while Xiao He went to the private school early in the morning. She was picked up by Madam Zhou at noon, and the two of them ate at the shop.
The monthly food expenses are around two strings of cash, and the food includes fish cocoons, three-delicacy noodles, fried fish, bone rice cakes, seven-treasure chess pieces, vegetarian bamboo shoot noodles, and crispy shredded chicken.
Ayun was stunned. She just wanted to get a decent meal, but it all sounded like a feast. She found it hard to believe and felt quite uneasy.
Lin Xiushui added, "There are four days off a month, and the monthly salary is 1.8 yuan. If you do well, you can get more."
“I’m willing to risk my life,” A-Yun blurted out.
"We only accept cloth here, not lives," the tailor said through the curtain.
Ayun's face flushed red. "I can work my ass off."
"Don't work yourself to the bone, it's scary," Lin Xiushui told her to stop. "It's really not that bad, just do your job well."
Ayun worked very hard, trying to clean every nook and cranny. She would smile and greet anyone who came in, secretly comparing their face to the one in the portrait. If they didn't match, or if she hadn't seen them before, she would call them all "wife".
Lin Xiushui was quite satisfied with her quick wit and decided to let her stay there for the time being.
Zhang Shunniang and Chen Guihua came in. Chen Guihua insisted on thanking them, saying, "If it weren't for your skill, everyone would come to have their portraits drawn, and I wouldn't be able to get any business."
The next sentence is, "Look how well you draw a hair bun, why don't you draw a few for me? I won't let you draw for free, just don't ask for too much."
At times like this, she would complain that Guanghui was useless, unable to take advantage of any opportunities, otherwise she could use soap to offset the cost of a few paintings.
Zhang Shunniang then asked, "Will you provide writing materials and paper?"
Damn it, Chen Guihua forgot about this. She stammered a couple of times, then vaguely brushed it off, saying, "Never mind, I won't draw anymore."
She went to the counter and said to Lin Xiushui, "Sister Xiu, thanks to you, my business has been booming lately."
"How is it good?" Lin Xiushui asked.
"I'll make a living combing people's hair. When I comb their hair, I find that their hair is oily, and some even have lice. I'll take them to my place to get their hair washed. How could business not be good? I don't mind at all. I'd love for everyone's hair to be as messy as possible."
After Chen Guihua finished speaking, no one else could agree with her.
"Don't overthink it," Lin Xiushui was utterly impressed by her.
Chen Guihua waved her hand casually. Anyway, she had made a lot of money. "That's not important. What's important is that I want to get my mother's clothes made here."
"Tell me, what cheap and good material is available that can't be more than two strings of cash? My sisters are all back, and I can't lose to them this year."
Chen Guihua spoke her mind: "It's the kind of clothing that lets me pretend to be rich even if I don't have to work hard."
My mother's birthday is coming up. In previous years, she was so stingy and didn't have any money. She would just send a little pork, a few duck eggs, and a bag of candy and that would be it. Her older sister would scold her a lot.
This year, now that she has money, Chen Guihua is willing to spend two strings of cash to make a set of autumn clothes for her mother. She thought to herself, what a touching mother-daughter relationship.
Lin Xiushui knew she had made a lot of money. August and November were the months when private schools and academies recruited students, and she was already choosing an academy for her son, preparing to spend some money to get him into a good one.
However, it wasn't out of wishing her son to become a dragon, but rather because she wanted Wu Dabing to not hold her back as his mother in the future.
Other things are still being stingy.
Jin the tailor knew her character very well. To say she was unfilial was a bit hypocritical, as she was actually quite filial.
Lin Xiushui said, "I'm opening for business today, so I need to go get some fabric. I'll bring you some cheaper stuff later."
“That’s great,” Chen Guihua asked shyly, “How much cheaper?”
“One penny,” Lin Xiushui replied.
Chen Guihua looked surprised, "Then let's not lower the price."
Lin Xiushui teased her a little, then went out to the tailor's shop; she'd been particularly fond of walking lately.
She walked slowly from Sangqiao Ferry through several alleys to the tailor's workshop, observing the women's clothing as they passed by.
Ever since the pink short lotus petal skirt became popular, Lin Xiushui's eyes would always unconsciously glance at the waist of passersby. When she saw someone wearing this apron walk past her, she would turn around and take another look, feeling a surge of joy in her heart.
The tailor's workshop had made ample preparations to sell the skirts in the inner city of Lin'an.
But you can't just sell them anywhere; you have to change the name before you can sell lotus skirts.
When Lin Xiushui arrived at the tailor shop, Madam Gu had already arrived. She gestured to the chair next to her and asked her to sit down. Lin Xiushui greeted the dozen or so ladies sitting behind her before straightening her green silk skirt and sitting down.
After standing, Madam Yao waited for her to sit down before speaking: "This lotus skirt made by Steward Lin is selling very well in town. It has been selling for more than half a month, and it is still selling about a hundred skirts today."
Lin Xiushui remained expressionless, while the people behind her whispered among themselves.
“During this period, the price of sappanwood dye rose, and plain silk became three to five hundred coins more expensive than before. In addition, several tailor shops and ready-made clothing shops produced the same apron, making it difficult to sell it cheaply and requiring it to be much more expensive,” Yao Niangzi said bluntly.
Sangqing Town isn't a huge town, but its prosperity stems from its location near the inner city, where ships frequently dock. Lotus skirts sell quite well, but with the prices of raw dyes and plain silk rising sharply, maintaining a price of 300 coins per skirt in town is difficult; currently, 700 or 800 coins per skirt is the only way to make a profit.
However, customs vary from place to place. In particular, when they wanted to sell it in Lin'an City, the inner city was full of flowers, but the lotus skirts were not popular. The design was very novel, but the skirts were not fancy enough.
Lin Xiushui looked up and asked, "What's your name?"
“Full Pond Beauty,” Madam Yao replied, “Isn’t there a type of vest called ‘Full Pond Beauty with Lotus Flowers’? And the pattern of ‘Full Pond Beauty’ is mostly lotus flowers, so this name is very fitting.”
"Full Pond Beauty" is actually a small pond scene, with patterns mainly featuring lotus flowers, lotus leaves, aquatic plants, and birds. People in Lin'an quite like this kind of name that doesn't immediately reveal its meaning and requires some effort to figure out.
Lin Xiushui was deeply impressed by the local slang, or jargon, that existed in the inner city. One was called "Yi Duojiao," two was called "Erbianfeng," three was called "Sanqiuxiang," four was called "Sixiangma," and five was called "Wujiaqi." Smaller ones were called "Xiaolihua," and larger ones were called "Duoduoyun." There was simply nothing to say about it.
Not to mention clothing, there are now semi-transparent gauze vests from Lin'an, named according to the season: Spring Banner, Lantern Ball, and Dragon Boat Race. Even the armor has names like Black Lacquer Water-Surrounding Mountain Spring Armor and Bright Light Fine Net Armor.
Lin Xiushui had no objection to the name. She rested her hand on her chin, looking a little helpless. "The name is fine except that it doesn't tell what the business is selling."
The name "Lotus Skirt" is quite self-explanatory.
Madam Yao hurriedly said, "That's not quite the same. Selling lotus skirts is just selling lotus skirts, but if we sell 'Full Pond Beauty,' we also have to sell the collar with gold-printed lotus and duckweed trim, the embroidered lotus patterned cloth purse, and the skirt with painted lotus, duckweed, fish, stone, and egret trim, etc., together. It can sell for a lot of money."
Turning a skirt around to a large exit is really a lot of work.
She also wanted to make more lotus-patterned collars and embroidery. Lin Xiushui pressed her throbbing forehead and said, "Okay, but I want to say a few words."
Everyone remained silent, waiting for her to say what she wanted to say. Lin Xiushui said calmly, "I have no say in how to modify it or where to sell it. I know very well that I will make more money the more I sell it. But one thing is certain: in town, a lotus skirt is a lotus skirt. The price should not be raised too much. It is not easy to make an inexpensive and versatile skirt. The reason it has become popular is because the price is something that everyone can buy without much effort."
"I owe my current success to their support. I can't just ride that wave and then tell everyone to starve over a dress. If that happens, I'll have a hard time coming up with anything new."
In the long run, she will be burdened by her fame, and her path forward will not be smooth sailing. She will forget her original aspirations.
For her, the higher the price, the more she earns, but that's not making money, that's embezzling.
The room fell silent. Manager Yao opened his mouth but didn't speak. After all, according to the previous discussion, the price in town would definitely increase. If the skirts were decorated with embroidery, gold thread, and colorful paintings, and made more elaborate, the price would inevitably rise from a small to a large increase. It was only six hundred coins, which was just a two or three-fold increase.
The plain lotus skirt that cost 300 coins a piece, so readily available, will no longer exist.
Lin Xiushui was truly exhausted. If she kept repeating the same pattern—cheap prices initially, then raising them once they became popular, always claiming a difficult journey, when in reality it was just an ugly business practice. She had clearly said before that if sappanwood dyes became more expensive, she would use madder, loquat leaves, and lychee shells instead; if plain silk was too expensive, she would replace it with plain gauze, silk, or damask. But everyone felt that the more expensive it was, the more justified the price.
She dared to say it out loud, declaring, "My current fame is only worth a few hundred coins per post; I can't afford anything more."
"Let's discuss it again," Madam Gu finally spoke up.
Unable to reach an agreement, Lin Xiushui got up and left, saying, "I need to rest for a few days."
Madam Gu also stood up, "Alright, let's discuss it."
Lin Xiushui is a tailor, not a businesswoman. What nonsense about "business is business"? Doesn't she know in her heart whether she can make a profit or not?
Knowing that once there would be a second time, and a third time, Lin Xiushui made clothes with fervent emotion each time, rejoicing in their popularity, moved by everyone's love, and then stopped by the ever-increasing money. She walked heavily, but spat softly.
She was a tailor and didn't want to argue about it or discuss it back and forth. Once, Lin Xiushui couldn't help but get angry and really wanted to roll up her sleeves, climb onto the table, and argue with everyone.
Lin Xiushui wasn't too angry. At worst, they would each take a step back, with Lin Xiushui only accepting that Lin Xiushui would take half a step back and the tailor would take one and a half steps back.
Stepping out of the tailor's shop, she wandered aimlessly through the crowd, her gaze following the slow movement of the people until she sat down in a pavilion by the street. Many people were coming and going, wearing pink dresses of varying shades and lengths. She had never seen so many pink dresses before, and a bittersweet feeling welled up inside her.
Autumn is a very special season; you can see all four seasons on the streets.
She was observing everyone's attire. The woman passing by was wearing a purple vest over a light purple blouse, with a white tube top underneath the open blouse. She wore a yellow-green skirt, an apron around her waist, and a waistband.
Lin Xiushui then turned to the other side, where a man wearing a loose-fitting sleeveless vest walked past her with his arms bare.
There are people who wear short tunics, which use very little fabric and have short sleeves. Many people wear this kind of short-sleeved tunic.
The flower vendors were dressed in many different ways, wearing hats adorned with flowers, and their clothes were covered with pieces of cloth. They shouted that they were selling jasmine, orchids, camellias, and osmanthus flowers.
Lin Xiushui bought a bunch of autumn camellias and sat in the teahouse in a daze, temporarily putting aside her tailoring work and thinking about the clothes that hadn't been made yet.
Aside from men dressed in black, she didn't find many women dressed in black on the street. At the very least, they were dressed in brown. She moved over to the painting stalls and saw that most of the paintings were of green and blue landscapes. It would be difficult to turn the ink painting on that eighty-four-rib umbrella into clothing.
Lin Xiushui went to the umbrella shop again. The umbrella sellers liked to set up their shops together in a dead-end alley, with several shops facing each other and oil-paper umbrellas hanging under the eaves on both sides.
Most of the vendors were selling green oil-paper umbrellas. She picked up a green oil-paper umbrella, and the woman selling it said, "Try opening and closing it. If it doesn't work, you can exchange it."
Lin Xiushui slowly opened and closed the umbrella, noticing that the closed umbrella surface resembled the pleats of her skirt. The umbrella, with its few ribs, was not heavy, much like a pleated skirt made of fine cloth.
The umbrella has sixty-four ribs and is quite heavy. She opens it up and closes it again. When the umbrella surface is closed, it looks like a thousand pleats made of twelve pieces of fabric, making it appear particularly thick and heavy.
However, the ink wash on the umbrella wasn't a rigid pleat; it gave her a feeling of water flowing, splashing, and waving, so making a pleated skirt based on the umbrella surface wouldn't be quite right.
The other green silk umbrella with poems on it was also strange to Lin Xiushui if it were used to make a pleated skirt.
She left the umbrella shop, intending to make clothes, but the problem wasn't with the umbrellas; there were some blurry shadows, but she couldn't grasp them.
How can I make a stunning garment in ten to twenty days? I have absolutely no clue.
She wandered the streets for a long time, her thoughts in turmoil. She went to the tailor shop, where business was decent, and then returned home.
Wang Yuelan returned early and was making cotton thread. She bought some cheap silk floss from the silk shop, intending to make it into cotton thread, and then spend some money to have it woven into cotton silk. She would also buy some cotton pouches to make several thick coats for the autumn and winter seasons.
"You're back?" Wang Yuelan sat in the courtyard, a cloth between her legs, a stick in her hand, twisting silk floss into fine threads and winding them around it. She pointed to the incense burner on the stove in the courtyard, "Have some."
"Why do you want to drink fragrant drinks again?" Lin Xiushui's forced composure crumbled instantly.
She felt like vomiting as soon as she drank anything that was bitter and unpleasant to drink.
She took a sip, frowned, and spat it out.
Wang Yuelan sat there and asked, "Is it bitter? Is it difficult?"
Lin Xiushui took several sips of water and said, "It's half and half, bitter and uncomfortable."
"Do you know what this is called?" Wang Yuelan stared at her. "It's called venting your grievances. If you don't vent, you'll just keep holding it in until you die."
Lin Xiushui glanced at the several bolts of new cloth in the room and guessed that the tailors had come by. She sighed inwardly and snorted, "It's just that we can't reach an agreement. Everyone has their own ideas. It's like dyeing cloth. I said I wanted pink, and if that didn't work, I would even use lotus red or peach pink as edging. But they insisted on dyeing it other colors. I'm not blind."
She spoke at length, rolling up her sleeves and stomping her feet in frustration. Finally, she felt relieved and poured out all her grievances. Wang Yuelan listened quietly and said, "You should learn more from Xiaohe."
Xiaohe doesn't hold back at all. When she's upset, she cries loudly, sits on the ground and kicks her legs. When she's happy, she shouts and dances with joy. When she's angry, she raises her fists and punches randomly, stomps her feet, and jumps around.
Lin Xiushui knew she couldn't do it. Could she really do what Xiaohe did, kowtowing and rolling on the ground?
Wang Yuelan stood up and gently patted her back. Lin Xiushui rested her head on her shoulder. Wang Yuelan said, "Feeling better? Let's go eat Laba porridge."
"Eating Laba porridge when it's not a festival?" Lin Xiushui was baffled; she couldn't understand her aunt's thoughts.
"Look, whether it's red beans, white beans, broad beans, soybeans, peanuts, rice, or walnuts, you can cook them all in one pot. If you don't want rice, you can use glutinous rice instead. If you don't want soybeans, you can use mung beans instead. If someone wants something sweet, you can scoop some out and add some sugar. If they want something savory, you can add some salt and some pickled vegetables. Think positively, and you can cook anything in one pot."
Wang Yuelan ladled a bowl for her, placed it on the table, and said, "I wanted to tell you that people are just like white beans and red beans. Who cares about the details? Just cook them together. They're all in the same pot anyway. Let's eat first and talk about it later."
But don't be fooled by how well Wang Yuelan put it; she had been holding it in for a long time before she came up with it. What she really wanted to say was, "Anyway, I've already consulted an old fortune teller, and he said it's nothing to worry about. What's that saying again? Only mediocre people would bother with this. But you're different. You're a smart one. The more you roll, the further away you'll go."
"That's so well said. I'll remember it right away and repeat it to you without missing a single detail."
Hmm? We can't just say something like that, like the whole town is filled with the fragrance of osmanthus blossoms.
"Alright, Aunt, if you keep talking, I'm really going to get lost," Lin Xiushui quickly stopped her. She thought her aunt had changed her ways and wouldn't tease her anymore, but it turned out she was waiting for her here.
She felt choked up, but what was wrong?
As a result, Zhang Musheng limped over in the evening, his face covered in black soot, and said happily, "Oh, sister, come and see! I've been practicing my skills for many days, and the sewing looks quite decent."
Lin Xiushui was already upset, and when she saw how he had sewed the two pieces of fabric, she was even more upset. The stitches were crooked and looked like a centipede crawling.
“I sew so well, I’m just as good as you,” Zhang Musheng said without any modesty.
Lin Xiushui wanted to roll her eyes, "Instead of practicing your skills, you should look at your eyes more."
How could you elevate yourself and belittle her with just one sentence?
"My eyesight is excellent," Zhang Musheng said, completely oblivious to his own limitations. However, he was also eager to learn, after all, he was destined to be the best at throwing water bags among the firefighters, and the best at mending them.
That doesn't seem right. It should be the most skilled firefighter among the menders, the one who gets the best and most useful repairs when thrown into a water bag.
Lin Xiushui simply told him to sit down, then took a stool and sat down at the table herself. Pointing to the seam between the two pieces of cloth, she said, "Mending it, I'll watch you sew it."
"Then you'll just have to watch," Zhang Musheng said, huffing and puffing as he prepared to make a big splash.
Chen Jiuchuan finally caught his breath and stepped across the threshold. He looked at the two men sitting together mending clothes, and his smile froze.
Where did this charcoal come from? No, where did it come from?
He rummaged through his memories, and the face of Lin Xiushui's father popped up—a huge, dark face.
Just as dark as Zhang Musheng, a single glance can instantly turn day into night.
"Ah Qiao, who is this?" he asked, forcing a half-dead smile on his face.
Lin Xiushui casually said, "This is Zhang the carpenter's eldest son. He came to me to learn sewing."
“Yes, look how well I patched it,” Zhang Musheng said with a silly grin, showing the two pieces of cloth to Chen Jiuchuan.
Chen Jiuchuan looked at him and uttered two words, "Hehe, except for his white teeth, everything else is black, hence the name."
He stood in front of the table and looked around. His tall figure blocked the light, and Zhang Musheng felt uneasy under his gaze. He stood up, touched his cane, and said, "How about I come again next time, next time?"
Lin Xiushui blinked and asked, "What, do you two have a grudge?"
"Really?" Chen Jiuchuan watched him leave, smiling.
He said seriously, "I guess it's because I'm afraid of the dark."
Lin Xiushui first asked in surprise, then burst into laughter, "You're afraid of the dark? You even dare to walk alone in a graveyard at night."
Chen Jiuchuan couldn't laugh; his heart was churning with bitterness.
That night, some people couldn't sleep, but Lin Xiushui slept soundly and felt refreshed. She didn't need to rest for a few days. At dawn, she returned to the tailor shop to argue her case. Standing there alone, she faced twenty or thirty people and launched into a tirade.
"Alright," Madam Gu, who hadn't slept all night and had witnessed the group arguing back and forth, finally made a final decision: "From now on, the town will sell at the original price, and everything will be done according to Steward Lin's wishes."
“Okay,” Lin Xiushui smiled, “then we can discuss how to sell the skirts in Lin’an City.”
Madam Gu pressed her forehead, "Say it properly next time."
Lin Xiushui decided to practice her voice next time, slamming her fist on the table and arguing with them. Leaving was out of the question; she still needed to make money.
"First, the yarn in the town will be replaced with cheaper plain silk, and the colors will be made from loquat leaves and madder. If we buy more, the price will be much cheaper. Even if it costs 300 coins per piece, after deducting all the costs, the tailors can still make a profit."
Lin Xiushui said, "Right now, there's a lot of dyed fabric, and some colors are dyed unevenly. We can cut them all out and sell each color of skirt piece separately so that everyone can make their own. This way, the wasted fabric has a purpose, and even if we sell them cheaply, we won't lose money."
The group fell silent, and no one argued further.
"Secondly, if we really want to sell in Lin'an City, and at a higher price, then we should sell shawls, with longer petals that go down from the shoulders to the ankles."
Lin Xiushui took out a few more patterns. One of them was a sleeveless vest with pearl flower patterns on the shoulders, a very narrow peach pink stripe at the neckline, and various lotus flowers embroidered from the edge of the neckline down. The hem was also decorated with lotus petals.
The undershirt is white, but the cuffs are irregularly decorated with two or three blooming lotus flowers, the embroidery is exquisite, and the petals are cut out.
This style isn't limited to gauze; thicker fabrics like damask, satin, and silk can also create a different feel. When worn in autumn and winter, layering a vest over other heavy fabrics creates a unique and gentle look. The most striking feature of the inner layer is its sleeves. While the design is correct, these narrow lotus-shaped sleeves are refreshingly different from other necklines.
The tube top is made of several pink and white lotus petals sewn together, highlighting the shape of the lotus.
Facing so many people, she said firmly, "If we're going to be known as 'Man Chi Jiao,' then we'll make this brand truly exceptional."
Her words revealed an ambition that could not be ignored.
It truly shocked all the tailors present.
“Everyone, follow Manager Lin’s instructions. Stop all other work and just do this,” Madam Gu suddenly said, her words leaving no room for argument.
The twenty or so tailors were surprised; the implication was that they, the group of tailors, had to listen to Lin Xiushui.
It was one thing for Lin Xiushui to choose apprentices first, but now that she's in charge of drawnwork embroidery and tailoring, she's already gained a reputation and attention. So why is it her turn to manage them?
You see, although these tailors didn't have any outstanding skills or extraordinary talents, they were all in their twenties or thirties, or even forties, and had been working in the tailoring industry for more than ten or twenty years. They were all in charge, so how come they were overshadowed by Lin Xiushui?
There are different kinds of managers. When Lin Xiushui was the manager of the sewing department, she was a very, very small manager. Later, she also took on the task of drawnwork embroidery, which was only a slight promotion.
He's currently on a rapid promotion, rising from a junior manager to a full-fledged senior manager.
The following day, Madam Gu specially set up a tailor shop for Lin Xiushui. The tailors who came covered all kinds of tailoring skills, including making collars, skirts, long jackets, short jackets, blouses, trousers, and so on.
Lin Xiushui appeared calm, but her inner surprise was hard to show. Gu Niangzi said, "Do a good job. For every item sold, you can get 30%."
She sells hundreds of items a day, and Lin Xiushui gets 30% of each item. She can't calculate the exact amount, but she estimates that in a few months, she will be able to buy a house with a large courtyard and move her aunt and Xiaohe into a better house.
Amidst the congratulations, she encountered two joyous events in her life: a promotion and a windfall.
Author's Note: Sorry for the wait, here's a red envelope for this chapter! [heart][heart]
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