Meng Yiqiu hurriedly smiled and said, "Ayue misunderstood. I have no such intention. I just want to discuss it with these embroiderers."
"Discuss?" Tang Shiyue sneered, "I didn't see any discussion, I only saw hurtful words."
She turned around and glanced at Hong Shizhu. "What a bunch of idiots who stick to the old ways. Instead of feeling ashamed, they are complacent and spitting at things they have never understood before. The embroiderers of your Meng family are really special!"
Meng Yiqiu poured her tea himself: "Ayue, calm down, aren't we brainstorming together?"
Hong Shizhu was so angry that her face turned green.
But seeing that Meng Yiqiu was so humble, she felt something was wrong and forced herself not to speak.
Tang Shiyue said coldly: "Second Young Master Meng, I really think that our two families can end here. Excuse me for being frank, the Meng family's reputation is not as good as it seems. On the one hand, they are conservative and closed-minded, and have no intention of studying the classics; on the other hand, they are ignorant of worldly affairs and are still self-righteous..."
Meng Yiqiu smiled bitterly again and again.
This young lady really won't suffer any loss. If someone scolds her, she will scold back twice as hard.
That’s exactly what Tang Shiyue thought.
...
...
She felt that her ability to talk nonsense had improved by leaps and bounds since she came here.
She continued coldly, "Second Young Master Meng, I am being arrogant today and I am going to teach you a sentence, 'If you want to do something, there are a hundred ways to do it, but if you don't want to do something, there are ten thousand excuses.' As a businessman, you should seek profit. You are here for cooperation, and you and your people should work towards this goal. If there are difficulties, you should solve them! And you? Bring your people to suppress my people? Criticize my things and say that they are useless? And you are making irresponsible remarks?"
She looked at him and said, "Don't you think that your approach is completely contrary to your goal? Are your people trained to be a hindrance?"
Meng Yiqiu held his forehead with his hand.
In fact, he was a very good-tempered, or democratic person. He allowed these people to discuss freely in order to get more useful things, similar to modern brainstorming. But he didn't expect Hong Shizhu to be so impolite, and he didn't expect that Tang Shiyue would hear it.
Meng Yiqiu directly said to Hong Shizhu: "Why don't you apologize to Mr. Xia and Madam Qiao?"
Hong Shizhu opened her eyes wide in disbelief.
But seeing his stern face, she bit her lip, knelt down to the two men with a look of grievance and said, "It was my fault for saying something inappropriate, please don't blame me." As she spoke, she covered her face with a handkerchief, as if she was so sad that she couldn't even stand.
Both of them looked at their noses with their eyes and their hearts with their noses, without saying a word or responding.
Tang Shiyue crossed her arms and sneered: "Why are you pretending to be a white lotus in front of me? Do you think this is a competition for favors in the harem? This is a business negotiation! You clearly did something wrong, but you apologized reluctantly. Do you think everyone has to indulge you?"
Hong Shizhu burst into tears: "My attitude was not good, I apologize to you two, but what I said was just a comment on the embroidery, and I didn't mean any disrespect to you two!"
Tang Shiyue chuckled: "Commenting on the embroidery?"
"It is indeed a comment on embroidery!" Hong Shizhu wiped her tears with a handkerchief and spoke clearly, "I once embroidered a peony picture. It took me nearly two years, using nearly a hundred needlework techniques and exhausting my energy. Only when I showed it to others did I get praise as 'the best needlework in Qinzhou'! Others simply can't embroider such work! And this wool embroidery has rough stitches, the flowers don't look like flowers, the birds don't look like birds, it's just a crude and rough thing, not worthy of being in a refined hall! Shouldn't such things be criticized?"
Tang Shiyue sneered: "It seems that you are very proud of the title of 'Qinzhou's best needle'. You think you are so good after spending two years embroidering a picture?" She glanced at Meng Yiqiu: "What about you? What do you think, Second Young Master Meng?"
Meng Yiqiu opened his mouth and wanted to speak.
But she inexplicably felt a bit of fear of a naughty student facing a strict teacher, as if she knew that his answer would not be what she wanted to hear.
Tang Shiyue didn't wait for his answer.
She turned to look at Hong Shizhu and said word by word: "I think you are really stupid! I am not afraid of stupidity, I am afraid of stupid people who think they are smart!"
Seeing that she was staring and wanted to speak, she slammed the cup on the table. There was a loud bang, which immediately shocked her.
Tang Shiyue said coldly: "You spent two full years to embroider a piece of embroidery that 'others can't embroider'. You are the one who enjoys everyone's praise. You are also the one who is praised for the 'first stitch'. Meng's family is willing to support you as a sucker. It didn't cost me money, so it has nothing to do with me.
But you'd better understand one thing, you are you, and Meng's is Meng's! In the final analysis, Meng's is to sell embroidery to make money, not to show off your skills! You can't create enough value for Meng's, and you also obstruct Meng's making money in every possible way. I don't understand what the point of Meng's raising you is?"
She sneered, "I am a businessman. What I want is to get the biggest profit with the lowest cost, and my conscience lies in that I make the people who buy it feel that they have not suffered any loss. The thread embroidery method I proposed just meets this requirement. In addition to sweaters, it only takes one or two hours, or at most one or two days of labor, but it can multiply the value several times. This kind of business with a huge profit, what reason does the Meng family have to refuse? Do you think the money is a pain in the neck?"
She glanced at Meng Yiqiu, "So, do you understand? What you call 'inferiority' is exactly my 'superiority'! It took you two years to embroider a 'million gold', and it took you more than ten years of hard study before that, all of which were 'costs'! But now I can get 'millions of gold' in two months, or even two days, and a novice can do it. Isn't this comparison obvious enough?"
Meng Yiqiu was slightly stunned.
It's not that he doesn't know how to do business, but no one has ever summarized the principles involved so concisely.
It was as if something had suddenly dawned on him.
Tang Shiyue continued, "As for whether what you said is embroidery art...what makes you say that? Are you a needle god? You have the final say on whether it is embroidery art or not? Delicate and graceful is beautiful, but majestic and magnificent is not beautiful? Hunan embroidery has both form and spirit, Suzhou embroidery is delicate and elegant, Guangdong embroidery is rich and bright, Sichuan embroidery is thick and round, there are thousands of embroidery techniques in the world, each with its own style and beauty, but according to you, none of them is as good as your crappy peony painting?"
"Besides, what if it's really not embroidery? The word 'embroidery' is just a name. Before cloth appeared, humans could only cover their bodies with leaves. Before sweaters appeared, everyone thought that clothes were only made of silk. What happened? The times are always moving forward. You don't even have a clear understanding of the new things that have appeared. You just keep slandering them. Do you think you are qualified to make clothes and be called a top embroiderer? It's really ridiculous!"
In fact, people in ancient times usually paid attention to character.
Craftsmen pay more attention to the inheritance of craftsmanship, the world is also used to pursuing superb skills, and nobles like "uniqueness". In a sense, the Meng family also needs this kind of embroidery to gain "fame".
This actually does not conflict with Tang Shiyue's wool embroidery.
Because "fame" and the like must be supported by "reality", so things that make money are indispensable.
But she just wanted to confront her, confront her harshly, because this person really had no character.
This girl is totally enjoying the process of being admired. She regards her own embroidery as the golden rule and madly belittles others to highlight herself. It's her bad luck to fall into her hands.
After Tang Shiyue finished scolding, she felt better. She drank a sip of tea and was about to say goodbye when she heard Meng Yiqiu shout, "Someone come here!"
His two servants outside came in in response.
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