Chapter 40 More Skilled in Suzhou Embroidery

Chapter 40 More Skilled in Suzhou Embroidery

Qin Niangzi praised her skill and speed, and said that she had other customers who also needed large embroidery pieces with exquisite craftsmanship.

Xie Wanniang thought that she would be unable to go up the mountain to collect herbs for several months after winter came, so she agreed to take on some other embroidery work.

Of course, to prevent anyone from recognizing the wedding dress, quilt, and other items used by the girl in the embroidery she made later, all the orders that Madam Qin helped Xie Wan Niang get came from wealthy households outside Tang County.

This includes the kang screen that Qin Niangzi had asked Xie Wanniang to embroider.

After hearing the employer's request, Xie Wanniang realized that the other party was not insistent on using the palace embroidery technique, so she took the initiative to ask Qin Niangzi, "Can I use the Suzhou embroidery technique? That way, the secrecy can be better maintained."

Qin Niangzi asked in surprise, "You've even studied Suzhou embroidery?"

Xie Wanniang nodded, "My master said that my Suzhou embroidery is more spiritual than that of palace embroidery."

The Xie family hired an embroidery master for the sisters. When they were young, they learned Suzhou embroidery, which their mother was good at, but after they got married, they began to learn palace embroidery from their mother-in-law.

After the Xie family invited her over, because palace embroidery has always been more popular than Suzhou embroidery in the northern prefectures and counties, Xie Wanniang's adoptive mother decided from the beginning to let her and her sisters learn palace embroidery from a master.

Xie Wanniang obediently learned, but at the same time she also secretly followed her master to learn Suzhou embroidery, which she was more interested in.

Perhaps it is true that "interest is the best teacher." Xie Wanniang, who seemed like a heartless embroidery machine when learning palace embroidery, surprisingly showed a bit of inspiration when doing embroidery with Suzhou embroidery.

Of course, compared to girls who are truly skilled in this art, Xie Wanniang's talent in Suzhou embroidery is nothing to mention; she is merely comparing her Suzhou embroidery skills with her palace embroidery skills.

Xie Wanniang spoke earnestly, but Qin Niangzi's first reaction was disbelief.

Although Xie Wanniang had always been reliable in their past interactions, given her age and youthful face, Qin Niangzi found it hard to believe that she had mastered two embroidery techniques.

Reason told Qin Niangzi that Xie Wanniang wouldn't lie about such things, but her mouth clearly had its own thoughts.

"How is that possible? You're so young!" The rebuttal blurted out, and after realizing what she had said, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Qin Niangzi's face.

She said, "I'm not doubting you..."

Xie Wanniang smiled and waved her hand, "It's normal for you to have doubts. Let's do what we did before and see who's the best."

Qin Niangzi raised her eyebrows slightly.

That's exactly the point. For those who make a living through embroidery, no amount of talk can compare to seeing the results firsthand.

She nodded. "My sister is right. Instead of making a scene here, I'd rather get an embroidery hoop and let you show me your skills."

Xie Wanniang shook her head, "No need for that. We just need to stipulate in the contract that if anything I make doesn't meet your standards, you have the right to refuse it."

This order was different from the previous one because there was no hush money. The payment offered was moderate, neither too much nor too little.

Under these circumstances, Xie Wanniang naturally had no need to sell her embroidery to the other party.

She could pay for the fabric and needles herself, and then have Qin Niangzi reimburse her for the expenses once the finished product was ready.

If Madam Qin doesn't like what she makes, then she'll take back the contract from Madam Qin and resell the goods elsewhere.

She won't lose money, she just needs to spend more time finding a new buyer.

Just before the New Year, she planned to make a trip to the county town to buy some fertile land near Mingfu Village from a broker. If Qin Niangzi didn't accept her embroidery, she could simply take the items to the county town.

Since Xie Wanniang was so confident, Qin Niangzi couldn't very well force her to demonstrate it to her on the spot.

However, she did not accept money from Xie Wanniang for the fabric and needlework. "Take the things back and use them first. We'll talk about money when you finish embroidering the kang screen."

The previous collaboration had given her great confidence in Xie Wanniang, and now that Xie Wanniang had said so, why would Qin Niangzi continue to act suspiciously?

With a cloth shop as big as hers, she wouldn't be in financial crisis just because Xie Wanniang took a piece of cloth or some needles and thread.

Instead of rushing to collect money now, she might as well do something nice to improve Xie Wanniang's favorability towards her.

After all, she had already verified that Xie Wanniang did indeed possess genuine palace embroidery skills, and her embroidery speed was astonishing.

After the two signed the contract, Xie Wanniang left with the new fabric, yarn, and cotton she had bought, as well as the fabric and silk thread that Qin Niangzi had provided for her to use for embroidery.

As for the embroidery frame and other items, Madam Qin generously gave Xie Wan Niang all the ones she had previously lent her.

Xie Wanniang accepted it after a moment's thought. She understood that this was Qin Niangzi's way of winning her over and investing in her, and she was confident that she could bring Qin Niangzi more benefits in the future. Therefore, she felt no guilt about taking these things.

After leaving the cloth shop, Xie Wanniang went to buy face cream, soap, toilet paper, salt, rice, peanuts, brown sugar, eggs, pork hind leg meat, pork fat, ribs, pork heart, pork liver, and a duck.

As the weather turns cooler and the air becomes drier, Xie Wanniang has noticed that her face and hands are becoming dry and cracked, as are the rest of her family, though they don't seem to care much about it.

Xie Wanniang couldn't help but care. Firstly, she didn't want to have a chapped, peeling red face and suffer from constant itching. Secondly, her hands were for embroidery work to earn money, and delicate, non-snagging hands were a basic requirement.

After browsing through the cosmetics shop, Xie Wanniang bought two boxes of almond cream, one box of peach blossom cream, and one box of Sanbai cream.

She bought the kind that came in a small wooden box, the kind that was the most affordable and came in large quantities. According to the shop assistant, this kind of face cream had the same effect as the mid-priced face cream that came in a porcelain jar, but the price was cheaper because the wooden box was less expensive than the porcelain jar.

Fearing Xie Wanniang wouldn't believe it, the shop assistant even brought over some peach blossom ointment that was specially made for people to try, so that Xie Wanniang could scoop out a little and see the effect herself.

Xie Wanniang first smelled the two different packaging of face creams, and then scooped out a little of each and applied it to the back of her hand.

Feeling that the effects seemed to be the same, Xie Wanniang picked out four boxes of face cream with different flavors and bought them home.

She had already planned that when she got back, she would give the Sanbai Cream to Xiaoyang, the Almond Cream to Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu, and keep the Peach Blossom Cream for herself.

Anyway, the face cream she bought only cost two qian of silver per box, which was cheap and plentiful. Even if she applied it to her hands and face at the same time, she didn't have to worry about using it up quickly.