Zheng Huozi drank a bowl of strong ginger tea, drove away the cold on his body, rubbed his hands and sat on the chair against the wall, and explained his intention to the Li family.

“…… Window flowers are only sold fast in the next few days of the year, and the embroidered handkerchief is different, not only for the New Year, but also for people to buy it on ordinary days. Jing good embroidered handkerchief, wipe the forehead, these days sold well, the day before yesterday suddenly came to the store, said that Jing good craftsmanship is good, embroidery is not common, a row bought four handkerchiefs, four wipe the forehead, yesterday came again to sell the rest of the whole, early this morning the grocery store just opened and came again, I said sold out, the person said not in a hurry, only said how much to embroider to the back. Specified to the double-sided embroidery and convex embroidery method, I didn't dare to rashly agree, Tete came to the house to say goodbye, give a word, tomorrow that person comes, I have to reply. Zheng Huozi took a sip of tea, and explained the whole story.

There is nothing to do in winter, quiet embroidery all day long, she is good at this, some big girls and little daughters-in-law in the village often come to her for help, embroider more and put it in Zheng Huozi's grocery store to consign. Ten days and a half months can always sell dozens of silver coins, and at the end of the year, it can sell the usual three days' volume in a day.

As soon as he heard Zheng Huozi say this, Jinghao's face flashed with a flush, excited and expectant. Unexpectedly, his little embroidery was appreciated by people who knew the goods.

Living in the Chen family, even though her uncle and aunt took her to treat her as her own, she always had a feeling of being under the fence in her heart, especially the old lady in the upper room, the second aunt, and the third aunt always pointed to Sang scolding Huai's sarcastic words. Since beating her embroidery and selling it on consignment in the shop, she often gets a few pennies of silver, and the sorrow in her heart has been alleviated, and her back has straightened when she walks in the Chen family compound. She would always want to give the money to her aunt to supplement the family, and she would be chilled when she knew that the Li family would not accept it. She changed her way, Tuo Xuejiao bought all kinds of fruit cakes and snacks, and carefully made zuò cotton clothes for her uncles and cousins.

Heard Zheng Huozi say this. Not only is it quiet, but Li Shi, Xuejiao, and Xueru are equally happy.

Li Shi calmed down after being happy, and after thinking about it, he asked, "Where is that person from?" He said that he would embroider as much as he wanted, and he didn't have a note or anything, so what should he do if he regretted it? ”

Lee's worries are justified, and it is just a matter of effort to calm down and get around. But if you want to embroider convex embroidery and double-sided embroidery. It has to be a good silk thread, which is a large expense, in case it cannot be sold. can only be sold to ordinary people at a discount, and it will lose a lot of money.

Zheng Huozi smiled, patted the burden he was carrying, and after opening it, a pile of red, green, and green silk threads and slippery silk were exposed, and after shaking it off, he put it on the blowing table to see that there was no dust on it, and carefully put it on, and then took out a few pieces of broken silver from his arms and put them on the table and said: "My sister-in-law's worry is reasonable, and I was also so worried at the time." The man said that they provided silk thread and cloth, and I thought that as soon as I said it, I didn't think that I would send these at noon, and gave me a deposit of five taels of silver. The man said that he had a shop in Xuzhou Mansion and was only engaged in the housekeeper embroidery business, but as for the name and surname, I forgot to ask. ”

Li stared at the silver. I couldn't speak. Chen Xuejiao reacted and blurted out: "Could it be that person wants Sister Jinghao to embroider." They provided silk and satin and paid them according to the number of pieces. ”

Zheng Huozi forgot to think about this layer.

He was busy in the grocery store that day, and a middle-aged man with a beard and a big black sweater came, although he was low-key, but the dark gold thread embroidered on the hem of the shirt was rich and rich. Zheng Huozi's grocery store sells daily necessities, and the customers are nothing more than peasant families in the town, or buy a piece of face wash and pancreas, or buy a steaming cloth, or buy a root rope, since the opening of the shop, there has never been a rich and noble family to set foot in it, and those people who come and go in Baitu Town, the life is like a carp crossing the river, and there are very few real rich and noble people.

After so many years of doing business, Zheng Huozi has cultivated a pair of fiery eyes, and there is no one in the entire Baitu Town that he doesn't know, which family is rich and which family is poor, he can guess eight or nine at a glance. He has a good heart, and often opens the door to let passers-by and porters avoid the cold and rain on cold days, and prepares large bowls of herbal tea to be placed outside for businessmen from the south to the north to relieve the heat, so Zheng Huozi's grocery store has a good reputation in Baitu Town.

But the person in front of him, Zheng Huozi didn't know, but he still greeted enthusiastically.

The middle-aged man walked in, his eyes swept over the shelves, and he stared at a few embroidered handkerchiefs and did not let go.

Those squares of handkerchiefs are all quietly embroidered to consignment, and the countrymen are particular about the New Year, and they will not use the silk handkerchiefs. Although the veil is embroidered with arrowroot cloth, but a pair of good craftsmanship embroidered delicately and abnormally, the square handkerchief is embroidered with pine, plum, bamboo chrysanthemum, make up four gentlemen, angry on the veil, fresh and elegant, if you don't look closely, I really think it is really long on the top.

Zheng Huozi's eyes lit up when he saw the man.

"How do you sell this veil?" The middle-aged man held a chrysanthemum on the handkerchief, the chrysanthemum embroidery was complicated, petal after petal, pink stamen, bright yellow petals, bright green leaves, and the color was full as if dripping down.

Zheng Huozi glanced at the man, smiled, and said auspicious words in his mouth: "Your eyes are really poisonous, and this square handkerchief is the most delicate in the shop, and I see that you are a person who cares about the family, and it is best to buy this handkerchief for your daughter or daughter-in-law." This square cloth has five texts, if you want to let you have one text, four words. ”

Under the New Year's Festival, there will be people who love their daughters-in-law, and the big lama will go to the store and buy a handkerchief for his own family.

The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows, and a trace of indescribable meaning flashed in his eyes, as if he was dissatisfied and disliked, and disappeared in an instant. Zheng Huozi quietly thought in his heart, is it too expensive. Usually, it is true that as long as Sanwen, the price has risen since the New Year's Festival, and even if the price has risen, it is not much for the villagers, not to mention that the person in front of him looks rich and noble, not like a few silver coins.

Without waiting for Zheng Huozi to speak, the middle-aged man spoke: "Such a beautiful emboss, how can it cost fifteen or sixteen yuan in Xuzhou Mansion, if it is sold with silk embroidery, it will be more expensive." ”

Zheng Huozi was overjoyed when he heard it, he didn't know what convex embroidery method and intaglio embroidery method was, he only knew that this person was a person who knew the goods, and he was a person from Xuzhou Mansion who wanted to buy it at a price three times higher.

People who do business pay the most attention to integrity, and Zheng Huozi has already set the price, which is not easy to change. insisted on selling it without a deputy for four yuan, and the other party was even more insistent and settled the account according to fifteen yuan. He took the handkerchief and left.

The next day came again, the veil was sold out, and he bought the remaining four pieces of plastered money.

This person came again early this morning, chatted with Zheng Huozi, and asked who the embroidery came from, Zheng Huozi thought that Jing Hao was a girl who had not left the cabinet. It's not an embroiderer. How to reveal your name to people. refused to disclose it, only said that it was the work of a distant relative. The middle-aged man saw Zheng Huozi's concerns, and inquired about the embroiderer's absence. Instead, the above argument was raised. It is also known that the embossing method is better used on good Suzhou silk. Zheng Huozi hesitated, Su silk was only worn by extremely rich and noble families, and there was no cloth shop in the entire Baitu Town that sold Su silk.

The man smiled and offered to provide silk and patterns for the embroiderer to embroider and collect them at the grocery store once every seven days. Deliver on time, wages are paid in cash.

"It's better to see if this thing works out." Zheng Huozi looked at Jing Hao and pushed the silk on the table.

Jing Hao pursed her lips, she didn't expect that her one-handed embroidery method could be exchanged for so much money, and the five taels of silver on the table were earned by virtue of her ability, just like Xue Jiao.

"I think it's okay. The left and right are just embroidery. "Quiet daily embroidery. I had to exchange it for dozens of dollars, and I bought two boxes of fat powder and it was gone. If this is the case, there is a stable supply of goods, and people are still doing official business, and with this craftsmanship, they don't have to worry about making money without silver.

Xue Jiao thought further: "Since they are doing official business, it must be the embroidery house of Xuzhou Mansion, and you can know which one it is by inquiring." There must be many embroidery girls with good craftsmanship in that embroidery room, and I am worried that Sister Jinghao's craftsmanship has been stolen. ”

Jing Hao smiled lightly and said: "It took me a lot of effort to embroider a handkerchief and wipe my forehead, and to put it mildly, it is as simple as embroidering a sole for a big girl." ”

Chen Xuejiao understood that the embroidery on the handkerchief was less than the tip of the iceberg. With Jing Hao's self-confidence, what if she learns, her real ability is great.

And so it was settled.

Originally, Jing was mixing meatball stuffing in the pot house, but Li didn't let her enter the pot house.

Xue Jiao helped to move the piles of five-color silk thread cloth on the table to the inner ear room and spread them on the kang, quietly separated the silk threads in the same way, first cut out a piece of silk according to the size, she split the silk by herself, and embroidered the plum orchid bamboo chrysanthemum according to the color.

From the perspective of those craftsmen in the countryside, at most they are boasting, but they didn't expect to exchange a lot of silver in the hands of people who know the goods. To embroider the handkerchief, wipe the forehead, embroidered shoes, are for the big family of the lady or maid, of course, the more delicate the more valuable, quiet embroidery happy, can't help humming a little song.

It is said that those who have been embroiderers in the embroidery room for many years will be confused when their eyes are less than forty. Chen Xuejiao said to Jing Hao, every time she embroidered, she stood up and walked around, and her eyes looked into the distance. The future is long, and this craft is not good for the future, and you must not burn your eyes.

The cold wind was blowing outside, and the split silk threads were blown up, Chen Xuejiao helped sort it out and stacked it in one place according to the color. Jing Hao put down the embroidered handkerchief, picked up the bamboo basket and tied the silk knot, only a moment of effort, braided a cherry blossom brand, picked it up to Chen Xuejiao to see, she didn't know the value of her craft, but she knew that the more delicate the work, the more expensive, the better the price.

Chen Xuejiao helped Jing Hao cut the line, walked out of the house and rushed into the pot house, and the Li family was already making croquettes. The same vegetarian meatballs, the same meatballs, put in two baskets, fragrant.

Zheng Huozi came to the big room and didn't hide it from the upper room, Mrs. Chen scolded through the door curtain, everyone in the upper room only said that it was the brother who kissed in the end, Wen Ying pretended to be a ghost and carried Mrs. Chen to the big room and sent something to the big room.

After the Wang family left, Mrs. Chen took Zhao and Zhang to the pot house to work, steaming steamed buns, marinated pork, and croquettes. Just let the two daughters-in-law cook every day, but they don't dare to let them do this work during the New Year, so she has to personally command the formation.

Outside, the wind was getting stronger, and the snow was beating against the window lattices.

Chen Xuejiao poked her head out and looked at Mrs. Chen, and Mrs. Chen fell off the curtain with a swish. (To be continued)