Chapter 134 The Biggest 12 Silver
"Hey, you don't know, Dongsheng's father in our village also had an affair with Ma. There was a commotion in their family yesterday. What kind of sin is this? Ma is not a widow. Her husband is still lying at home, but she is still attracting men everywhere."
"She treats this as a business. Her husband is worse than a useless person now. If she doesn't make money, how can she provide money for Mr. Wang's expenses? My wife often goes to the town to sell vegetables. She has seen Mr. Wang inviting his friends to eat in the restaurant many times. He doesn't even look at his own family background."
Everyone was complaining about Ma one after another, and Shen Zhi listened with great interest while eating melon seeds.
"You said Ma was willing to do anything to make money, but I wouldn't dare to shout when my wife was selling vegetables. I also want to make some money to support the family. What can we farmers do to make money?"
"Yes, everyone's life is tight. I have plenty of strength. Sometimes I want to carry the heavy bags if there are women recruited at the docks."
Everyone talked about how difficult life was and sighed.
Shen Zhi interrupted at this time: "I have an idea to make money. Can all the aunts do needlework?"
Everyone laughed when Shen Zhi asked this question. Aunt Zhang replied, "Er Ya, we also wanted to make some embroidery to sell. But the requirements of the embroidery shop are quite high. They require superb embroidery clothes, and the hands must be smooth to avoid ripping the silk. Look at us farmers, who do rough work all year round? Who doesn't have rough hands? Alas, it's hard to make money."
Shen Zhi said: "That's okay, ladies and gentlemen, please wait a moment. I'll go get something for you all to see."
Shen Zhi returned to his room and placed an order for a few cross-stitches from his space, and then took out a finished product.
Shen Zhi showed everyone a mounted cross-stitch work, and everyone was attracted by it at first sight. It was a landscape painting, different from the ink painting of this era, and it was an oil painting style that no one had ever seen.
"It's so beautiful, Arya. This looks very difficult to embroider."
"It's not difficult, it's very simple. Let me show you guys." Shen Zhi demonstrated it to everyone on the spot. Everyone understood it at a glance. It was indeed very simple and they could learn it right away.
"To be honest with you, I plan to open an embroidery shop for my mother in a while. But the embroidery shops in our town are all time-honored brands, the embroiderers have superb skills, and their old customers only recognize them. I want to open a different one, only selling this kind of cross-stitch, which others cannot imitate. I bought these from foreign merchants, and the main purpose is to make them fresh. If you have nothing to do, you can take them home to have them embroidered. After the embroidery is done, you will be charged according to the size. For example, this pillowcase-sized one is three hundred wen, this medium-sized one is half a tael of silver, and this largest one is one tael of silver." Shen Zhi introduced it to everyone.
Everyone gasped. The biggest one tael of silver? You know, a strong laborer carrying a large bag at the dock for a month can't earn half a tael of silver, and that's when there is work every day.
Seeing that everyone was in disbelief, Shen Zhi continued, "After you finish embroidering, give it to my mother. After my mother checks it and it's passed, she will pay you the wages immediately. But I have one thing to say, I have registered who took which set. If anyone is short-sighted and gives this pattern to other merchants in the future, they must pay a hundred times the compensation. If you agree with me, sign and seal it, take the things home to embroider. If you are not sure about the contract, you can ask Sister Guo Ning from Aunt Cuihua's family to take a look."
Aunt Cuihua nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go call my daughter-in-law over right away so that everyone can feel at ease."
Everyone smiled and nodded. With such a good opportunity to make money, anyone who didn't do so would be a fool. However, when it came to signing a contract, they still had to find a literate third party to take a look at it, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future.
Guo Ning quickly followed her mother-in-law over. On the way, she had already heard her mother-in-law explain the whole story. Shen Zhi had already written the contract in duplicate.
Guo Ning carefully looked over each one and read the contents to everyone. Everyone thought they were quite reasonable.
Shen Zhi took out cross-stitches of different sizes and patterns, all of which were unopened. There were patterns printed on the outer packaging boxes, including European pastoral scenery; various healing flowers, fresh and refined, which made people feel better at a glance; there was also a very cute persimmon theme, with a Q version of a little girl standing under the persimmon tree. Children should like this sweet pattern; there were also various themes with good meanings, such as magpies climbing branches, fortune deer, and welcoming pine trees, which businessmen should like, and housewives like flowers blooming and wealth, and family harmony brings prosperity.
Everyone was overwhelmed by the selection and thought this one was beautiful, that one was beautiful too. But Shen Zhi only allowed them to choose one and they could only take the next one after they finished embroidering. After everyone had chosen, Shen Zhi registered them and asked everyone to sign and seal. Everyone took their own contract and cross stitch and went home happily to embroider.
Guo Ning deliberately waited until the end, until everyone else had left, and then, with the encouragement of her mother-in-law, she shyly said, "Sister Erya, can I get one too? I can embroider, too."
Shen Zhi nodded and let her choose one.
Guo Ning looked at Shen Zhi and said hesitantly, "I have a younger sister in my mother's family who is also good at embroidery, but she is born weak, so I can never say that I am related to her. My father loves her and asked her to stay at home and find a son-in-law when he has the chance. But our family is poor now, so I want my younger sister to try. If possible, I will ask her to come and sign the seal."
Shen Zhi pondered and said, "Sister-in-law Guo Ning, I trust you, just take two and sign your name.
Guo Ning was pleasantly surprised, and happily chose two and followed Aunt Cuihua away.
After the guests left, Shen Shi pulled Shen Zhi to sit down with a worried look on her face, and said, "Xiao Zhi, mother can also embroider this thing. You spent so much money, what if you lose money later?"
Shen Zhi smiled and comforted Shen, "Mother, how long will it take you to finish this cross stitch by yourself? This one will take at least a month, and if you work overtime at night, it will take 20 days. Don't worry, this cross stitch will definitely not lose money.
Shen heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this. This child has a good idea and it should be right.
In the afternoon, Song Shijie sent someone to inform Shen Zhi that villagers from various villages would go to Baiyun Villa tomorrow morning to learn about hybrid rice breeding and sweet potato seedling cultivation techniques, and asked her to be present tomorrow.
As for the grain seeds, Shen Zhi had discussed it with Song Shijie in advance, and she would provide them all, with the unit price even two cents lower than the market price.
Song Shijie thanked her on behalf of the people and sent people to carry away the grain seeds that day, which took several hours to complete.