"Auntie, I've made my choice!"
Liu Wanyun's voice brought Mrs. Shen back to her senses.
"Okay! Then the three of you go down and measure the dimensions!"
Mrs. Shen collected her thoughts and looked at Liu Wanyun and the other two with a smile on her face. Suddenly, she remembered what they had said before about managing the silk shop.
He said to Shopkeeper Wu, who was busy packing up the fabric, "Shopkeeper Wu, you have to make the clothes carefully this time. We are going to attend the Hundred Flowers Banquet hosted by the County Magistrate's wife. If they look good, it will also be a publicity for our silk shop!"
According to the rules taught by Nanny Rong, the master does not have to explain the reason to the servants for whatever he does, but he must do it well!
Mrs. Shen suddenly gave a special instruction, and she must be using this topic to find out something.
Liu Wanyun, who was leaving, slowed down her pace and listened carefully.
As expected, after Shopkeeper Wu nodded his assurance, Madam Shen casually asked, "The county magistrate's wife is hosting a Hundred Flowers Banquet, and many ladies in the city have gone back home. Those silk shops should be very busy, right? Is that why they sent you here?"
What he meant was that Tianxiang Silk Shop's business was not as good as other shops, so they let him come!
Shopkeeper Wu naturally knew that the Shen family had five silk and satin shops.
However, the Tianxiang Silk Shop was only opened in the last year, and the communication between him and other shop owners was not deep enough, and Master Shen would not take the initiative to tell a servant about his family's background.
Therefore, he did not know that two families were actually Mrs. Shen’s dowry.
Hearing his wife's words, Shopkeeper Wu instinctively defended himself, "Madam, although Tianxiang Silk Shop is new, it's better than the old one. Our business is much better than the two oldest shops. The fabrics and styles of those two shops are not as new..."
At this point, he suddenly felt that this seemed too self-boasting, and then he looked up at Madam Shen, and seeing that her face did not seem very good, he quickly changed his words.
"Those two shops have many regular customers. They sell simple, popular styles and affordable fabrics, primarily serving ordinary families!"
After hearing this, Mrs. Shen roughly understood why the income of her dowry shop was so low. It turned out that Mr. Shen was concentrating on developing his own business.
It's inevitable that I feel a little dissatisfied in my heart!
But she remained calm and praised Manager Wu for his business skills, asking him to do a good job.
The subsequent conversation was meaningless. Liu Wanyun quickly caught up with Guan and Zhang and whispered to her sisters what she had heard and her own speculations.
The three of them whispered for a while, and Liu Wanyun measured the size and hurried back to her yard.
Guan Xiaoyu and Zhang Xinyue returned to Mrs. Shen and saw that Shopkeeper Wu had packed up the cloth and was ready to leave.
Zhang Xinyue said loudly, "Aunt, we need to make clothes for the two younger sisters in the mansion together, right? Don't we need to measure their sizes?"
Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Wu stopped and waited for instructions.
In the past, when Madam Shen attended these banquets, she would occasionally bring the two concubines with her, because she herself had no daughters.
Now that she has three daughters-in-law, she has no plans to take them with her anymore.
But if I say this directly in front of outsiders, it would make me, the mistress of the house, seem so stingy.
She forced a smile and said, "My sisters and I often make clothes, and we have all the sizes. Just tell Shopkeeper Wu."
"Auntie, there's no need to measure again. My sisters are still growing, and their sizes will change. They might get taller, fatter, or something like that! It's very likely!"
Zhang Xinyue's words made sense, but Madam Shen had something on her mind at the moment. When she heard what she said, she felt that she was not smart and was deliberately looking for trouble!
Just do it for the three of you. Why do you care whether she is a sister in the mansion or not? She is not your biological sister!
Do you want to do your aunt's as well, to make you look more virtuous as a daughter-in-law?
At this time, she felt that among the three daughters-in-law, the second daughter-in-law who was not talkative was much more charming!
The eldest daughter-in-law has a sweet mouth, but she is also sharp-tongued and has a lot of bad intentions.
The third daughter-in-law was stunned and said whatever she wanted to say, whether she should say it or not!
Madam Shen secretly took a deep breath, "Madam Wang, send someone to call the two young ladies over."
Only after Ruonan and Zhaodi came to measure the size did Manager Wu take his people away.
Mrs. Shen was about to go back to her courtyard to rest immediately, but Guan and Zhang pestered her and asked her some questions about things to pay attention to at the Hundred Flowers Banquet.
Only then did she realize that these two people didn't seem to want to leave. Were they trying to hold her back?
"Why don't you two leave yet? Where's Wanyun? Don't you three often go out together?"
Zhang Xinyue was confused for a moment and stammered, not knowing how to answer.
Guan Xiaoyu replied disdainfully, "My sister-in-law went to Jingxinzhai to learn etiquette."
After a two-second pause, he lowered his voice and muttered, "What a foolish man!"
It feels like you don’t work hard but blame others for being diligent!
Madam Shen was skeptical and glared at them. "Then why are you two still standing here? It's still early, you can still study for half an hour!"
Seeing that they were taking their time, his voice rose a few degrees.
"Hurry up!"
She thought these two lazy guys didn't want to learn etiquette, but she didn't know that they were just stalling for time to prevent Manager Wu from leaving.
Liu Wanyun had just hurried back to the house, picked out the smallest fifty-liang silver note from her money box, folded it with her drawing, and hurried to the flower bed beside the path leading to the gate, pretending to admire the flowers.
When she saw Manager Wu passing by, she coughed.
Shopkeeper Wu was such a shrewd man that he knew at a glance that the young lady wanted to see him about something. Considering that he had offended her unintentionally before, he was very sensible and stepped forward to apologize.
"Good luck to the eldest young lady. I was short-sighted and offended you the other day. Fortunately, the young lady was magnanimous and did not make a fuss about it!"
Because there were other guys following him, he couldn't speak too openly.
Liu Wanyun waved her hand and said politely, "Manager Wu, you're too kind. You didn't mean it, so I don't blame you!"
Then she took out the drawing from her sleeve and handed it to Shopkeeper Wu.
"There's no point in keeping this drawing. I thought Shopkeeper Wu could use it as a reference. He could use some light and flowing fabrics to create some new and fresh summer designs. Perhaps they could become a trend."
"When the time comes, the other two young ladies and I will help you promote it when we attend the banquet!"
Liu Wanyun imitated the way people spoke in TV dramas about palace fighting and house fighting, speaking vaguely and with ulterior motives. She didn't know whether Manager Wu could understand what she meant.
Seeing his hesitant eyes and hesitant hand reaching out, he didn't wait for his reply and directly stuffed the drawing into his hand.
Then he left.
Shopkeeper Wu looked at the neatly folded drawing in his hand and opened it carefully. When he saw the corner of the silver note, he folded it back again.
When he looked up, he saw the eldest young lady's wife's back just disappearing in the corner of the yard.
He said to the guy behind him, "Let's go, we'll be busy when we get back!"
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