Zhou now knows quite a few words. Influenced by the people in the academy, not only his speech but also his appearance has become more elegant and graceful than that of ordinary people.
One of them heard her and asked, "Young lady, can you read and read pictures?"
Zhou nodded. "The receipt in your hands was written by me. I can't say I know it, but I have a rough understanding of it."
The handwriting on the receipt was not good, but it was beautiful and clear. The person asking continued, "Wait a minute, I'll go get something."
The others simply put on their coats and did not leave, but waited for the man to get the things.
Soon, the man brought over a drawing. On the drawing was a young man wearing a spring shirt and looking very handsome. In the blank spaces were written various body measurements such as shoulder width, arm length, and height.
The spring shirt looks roughly the same as an ordinary spring shirt, but there are slight differences in the cut. The cuffs are not cloud sleeves but arrow sleeves, the waist is narrower, and it is paired with a belt. This combination makes it look both elegant and heroic.
The other people were on good terms with him, so they hooked their arms around his shoulders and asked, "Brother Song, why are you designing clothes again?"
"Yes, I think I saw Brother Song take out this blueprint. He took it to a tailor shop to make it, but the result was... Why haven't you given up yet?"
From their conversation, Chen Cui and Zhou knew that this was designed by Scholar Song himself and had been custom-made elsewhere. As for the result... Scholar Song wanted to make a set of clothes that were both elegant and heroic, but he didn't expect that the result was neither elegant nor heroic, and it was neither fish nor fowl.
Fortunately, his family background is not much worse than the Wei family, so he doesn't care about the money for a piece of clothing. If he were a student from an ordinary family, he couldn't afford such a loss.
His cheeks turned red from the teasing of his classmates, but he still said, "Young lady, see if you can do it. If you can, try to make it. I can give you a deposit first."
The people around him also laughed and said, "Young lady, just do it. Brother Song is not short of money. His family runs a silk and satin shop in the capital. If he wasn't afraid that his parents would say he was wasting his time on material things, he would have asked the family tailor to do it long ago!"
"Yes, our brother Song has a lot of wonderful ideas every day. If we can really make it, we will order it from you in the future."
The deposit is used as capital, so even if the results are not satisfactory and the final payment cannot be received, Zhou can still avoid losses. And if this order is successful, this small business can be developed into a sustainable source of income, and she will no longer have to do sewing and laundry for others and earn those few dozen cents of hard-earned money.
But this style was really novel, and she heard that even experienced tailors in other shops had failed. Zhou was unsure and could not help but look at Chen Cui.
Chen Cui was still the same, looking at her nose with her eyes and her heart with her nose, without even raising her eyebrows, as if it had nothing to do with her.
She wanted to cultivate Zhou's independent personal consciousness, not to train Zhou from Mu Yunchuan's tool to her own yes-man.
She had helped Zhou to complete a deal and gave some pointers. If Zhou is still like before, thinking about this and that and being hesitant, then it only means that she cannot stand up.
Fortunately, Zhou thought for a while and said, "I wonder when Mr. Song wants it?"
"I will be going home soon, and will not be back until after the Lantern Festival. It will be fine if I can finish it by then."
Today is only the tenth day, and there are still twenty-five days until the Lantern Festival, so there is plenty of time.
"Then I'll try my best."
After that, Zhou asked Scholar Song to get some writing brush and ink, and wrote the deposit receipt and the deed according to what Chen Cui had taught her the day before.
After receiving the two-cent silver deposit, Zhou felt her heart was about to jump out of her throat.
Although this second transaction was much smaller than the first one, Shen Cui helped to facilitate the previous one, but this time, she completed it independently!
Seeing that she had been holding the small silver ingot tightly, Shen Cui asked her with a smile, "How do you feel?"
Zhou came back to her senses and smiled, "I feel pretty good, but I'm also worried... that I won't be able to do it well."
"Why worry about something that hasn't happened yet? Besides, they all said that this was Mr. Song's own design, and the old tailors on Shuyuan Street couldn't make it. The worst result is that the dress will be ruined."
Zhou worked for twenty days and collected the balance in full. She earned five taels of silver and was able to fully afford the loss of a damaged piece of clothing.
She smiled and said, "If Mr. Song doesn't like it, I will return half of his deposit and then alter the gown for our second fat man to wear."
"That's great. Last year he gave the spring shirt to his eldest brother. Although he didn't say anything, I guess he still wanted it very much."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law left the gate of Qingzhu Academy while talking.
The Chinese New Year is only twenty days away. Today, Chen Cui and Zhou are out, not only to give her a cotton-padded jacket, but also to buy New Year's goods.
Before Wei Xi left the academy, he was still thinking about paying this month's living expenses.
Chen Cui could see that he was worried that his family would not have enough money to celebrate the New Year, but he was not here, so where would he get the money for living expenses? Just confiscate it.
She had spent three taels of silver on buying winter clothes for the entire academy, and she still had six or seven taels left.
Think about the beginning of last year, when she had just come here, she first gave money to Mu Yunchuan, and then had an argument with Zheng, and was asked to take back five taels of silver. The money she had on hand was not as much as she has now, but she still came here, didn’t she?
Shen Cui is in a good mood.
As a result, after they went back to select various New Year's goods, when it was time to pay, Zhou rushed to pay before her.
"You didn't want me to pay for the household expenses in the past, but this time I made a small profit from the coat pattern you came up with. Since you are unwilling to share the money with me, let me show my appreciation."
It was rare that she had such an idea. Shen Cui roughly calculated the price of these small items and found that they added up to less than one or two taels of silver, so she just let her do it.
After buying New Year's goods, both of them carried large and small bags, but they could still take some more things. Zhou also went to buy a few new pens and some paper. She was the one who rushed to pay for them. "In the past, I used paper available in the academy for calligraphy practice. Now that I have more money, of course I have to make up for it."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law returned to the village before dark. Although they had not rested all day, Zhou did not look tired at all. She was in very good spirits and distributed things to everyone with a smile.
Lao Buyu got a pack of new tea. Although it was not the best quality, it was not tea dust either. It was much better than the tea usually served in the academy.
Mu Erpang already had new clothes, so naturally he got some snacks. Earlier he gave peach cakes to Wei Shu as a thank-you gift, so Zhou bought him another bag.
Although the things are not valuable, it is New Year and receiving small gifts can add to the atmosphere.
Lao Buyu and Mu Erpang both looked at Chen Cui happily, and Chen Cui immediately said, "Don't thank me, I was only responsible for buying and selecting New Year's goods, and I wasn't the one rushing to pay the bill."
If it wasn't bought by him, then it must have been bought by Zhou. Lao Buyu thanked her and turned to Chen Cui and said, "The headmaster is so lucky. Hanshan is smart and his daughter-in-law is so capable. In a few years, they will have a good life."
Chen Cui smiled and said, "Master, what you said is true. If they have a good life, how can they not think of you? It is we who have a good life."
Mu Erpang was closer to Zhou. He not only thanked her, but also said, "Sister-in-law, your cooking skills are amazing. You have earned so much money in just a few days. You are the most capable person I have ever met!"
Everyone knew that Zhou was capable, but no one had ever praised her like this in front of her, as if what she did was her job and it was supposed to be that way. Only Mu Erpang always said whatever he thought. He would praise her from the very beginning when he ate her food, and he still praises her as always until now.
Zhou's cheeks turned red and she felt quite embarrassed, so she went back to her room to continue working.
She was rushing to finish her work earlier, and Chen Cui let her use the time gain at the academy.
Now she had plenty of time for her second order, so there was no need for her to stay in this drafty room in the academy.
Besides, Qingzhu Academy is on holiday. They have the strictest rules among all the academies in the city, and they even have one day off every ten days. There is no such thing as rest in our own academy. We study for double the time during the day. Only occasionally at night, Chen Cui cancels the time gain to give everyone a "rest". At this time, I thought of giving everyone a New Year's holiday.
But after she suggested taking a holiday, teacher and student Lao Buyu and Mu Erpang looked at each other, both quite confused.
Finally, Mu Erpang scratched his head and said, "What are you going to do during the holidays?"
"Of course you have fun on holidays. Whatever you want to play, mom will accompany you."
"I just like throwing pots and shooting arrows, but there are morning exercises every morning. I play it every day, and playing for fifteen minutes is enough." Mu Erpang said and looked at Lao Buyu.
Lao Buyu also said, "I am a lonely person, and I feel lonely every New Year. It's rare to have a good student like Hanshan to accompany me every day. I have nowhere to go during the holidays... There is no rule that says you can't study during the New Year. It's best to study like usual."
Well, this teacher and student couple doesn’t even want to take a holiday.
Shen Cui didn't force them.
Because she was out that day and didn't use the time bonus in the academy, Mu Erpang and Lao Buyu were still grumbling, saying that they didn't know what was going on today, time passed so quickly, they usually could memorize six or seven pages of the book in half a day, but today they only memorized half...
So not only did they not have a holiday, but the head of the mountain, Chen Cui, also returned to his position, and diligently acted as a human switch for time gain.
Although Wei Xi was missing from the academy, life still went on the same way.
When you can hear the sound of firecrackers from time to time outside, it has officially reached the end of the New Year.
Mu Yunchuan asked someone else to send the third letter home. He skipped the same greeting template as the previous one and said in the letter that the workload at the provincial school was heavy, and that the first major exam after entering the school would be in the spring of next year, so he dared not neglect it and would not go home for the New Year.
When Shen Cui heard that Mu Yunchuan was not coming home, she was of course happy. She hoped that he would be busy, the busier the better, so that he would completely forget about his family.
But although she was happy, she did not show it, but turned to look at Zhou.
All in all, they have been married for two years, but they haven't been together for two years. You can imagine how disappointed Zhou is.
Zhou was naturally disappointed, but the disappointment did not last long. One reason was that she had already prepared herself mentally. After all, Mu Yunchuan was only in the county town before and rarely came back. Now that he had gone to the provincial capital, the journey was long, so naturally he would not come back easily.
Second, she is busy with other things now. Just like modern adults, even if you cried because of a breakup the day before, you still have to pack up and go to work early the next morning.
In half a month it would be her delivery date, but she had not yet finished making the dress. Rather than her husband being absorbed in his studies and not coming home, Zhou was more worried about ruining the business and cutting off her income.
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