Farming is worse than raising monks

Chapter 16
The woman in yellow has a fair complexion and a round face. The friendly smile on her face makes her facial features look softer.

who is she?

The age looks similar to mine, Mei Niang secretly speculated in her heart.

It is not surprising that the woman in yellow clothes had such a reaction to Mei Niang, she smiled and said, "Mei Niang, you may not remember me, I am your cousin Lingli, my mother and your mother are cousins, my family lives in the old Xu Zhuang, we haven't seen each other for seven or eight years, remember?"

Mei Niang followed her prompts and searched for her memories in her mind.

There was a smile overflowing from the corner of his eyes, and he also said joyfully, "It was the third cousin. Shu Mei Niang has poor eyesight and didn't recognize it. How is uncle and aunt recently?"

In the memory of the original owner, this Lingli cousin was surnamed Xu, nine years older than herself, and Mei Niang had seen her several times when she was young.

Later she got married and heard that she went out to do business with her husband, but Meiniang never saw her again.

"Okay, okay, they are all good. If it weren't for Mei Niang, you were born with your mother, and I wouldn't have recognized you. How are you doing now? I heard that you are also married. I have been following your brother-in-law in other provinces these years. I didn’t come back last year, so I ended up in the county.” Xu Lingli took Meiniang’s hand and said with a smile.

Suddenly, her eyes saw a small white flower in Mei Niang's hair, and her smile quickly disappeared.

"Mei Niang, who is this?" She pointed to the white flower.

Mei Niang blinked her eyes lightly, and said softly, "Mei Niang's fate is poor, she wears it for her late husband."

"Ah, what's wrong with my brother-in-law?" Xu Lingli's face turned sad, and La Meiniang's hand was even harder.

"The day we got married three years ago, he went to the battlefield, who knows..." Meiniang briefly explained the reason.

Xu Lingli immediately understood what was going on, looking at Mei Niang's young face, she couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

It must be extremely uncomfortable for this to happen at such a young age, what a miserable child.

"Mei Niang, I'm sorry, I blamed me for talking too much and made you sad. It's an honor for a brother-in-law to sacrifice his life for the country. Don't be too sad." Xu Lingli apologized and comforted at the same time.

"Well, thank you Third Cousin for your comfort, I will be fine." Mei Niang raised the corners of her lips and showed a smile, comforting Xu Lingli.

Xu Lingli breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Mei Niang, I opened a tavern in the next street, wait for me for a while, let's go home and have a good talk."

Mei Niang shook her head, "Third Cousin, you're welcome, just tell me the name of the tavern, and I'll visit you next time. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are here too, and I'm going back with them soon."

"What, the parents-in-law and mother-in-law are here, so you should go to my place to identify the door. By the way, you can also go to my place to have a look. Mei Niang, don't you want to buy embroidery money or something, you go and see first, I will find the embroidery workshop The shopkeeper said something, you must wait for me, if I leave, I will drive you to your house and scold you. You should know my temper, but I will do what I say." Xu Lingli pulled Mei Niang into the embroidery room. Fang, so exhorted, with a solemn look on his face.

Mei Niang couldn't help but smile, this third cousin still has such a hearty personality.

She nodded lightly.

It's good to think about learning more.

Xu Lingli hurriedly lifted the curtain and entered the inner room, while Mei Niang went to look at the embroidery.

There was a dazzling array of embroidery, full of beautiful flowers, Meiniang looked all the way over.

"Sister-in-law, do you want to buy embroidery, or do you want to buy embroidery thread and go back to embroider by yourself?" The young man hurried up to ask Mei Niang.

Mei Niang asked instead, "Who embroidered all the embroidery here?"

"Oh, some of them are made by famous masters, and some sisters-in-law or elder sisters bought embroidered money and cloth from us, and then sold them to us after they embroidered, like these." The young man introduced enthusiastically.

Mei Niang suddenly nodded, and asked pleasantly, "In this way, I can also buy embroidery money from you to go back to embroider, and then you will buy it back?"

"Well, that's right." The boy nodded.

"How do you calculate the price?" Mei Niang asked again.

"Sister-in-law, look, it depends on the size of the embroidery and the quality of the embroidery..." The young man introduced patiently.

Simple ones such as small embroideries used on purses and handkerchiefs cost about five renminbi, and when recycled are between [-] and [-] renminbi.

Larger ones are used for round fans, and the cost is fifteen yuan, but when they are recycled, they can receive thirty to forty yuan.

If it is larger, it will cost tens or even hundreds of dollars to use it as a screen, and the recycling price will naturally be high.

However, due to its high cost and long production time, few people generally choose it. Most of them buy the raw materials of the first two kinds of embroidery. The price is low and the cost can be recovered quickly.

Mei Niang nodded lightly, pointing to a handkerchief embroidered with magpies climbing plums and asked, "How much is the price difference between a handkerchief like this handkerchief embroidered by famous masters and ordinary people?"

The little fellow raised his chin involuntarily and said, "This square handkerchief is made by Master Yun in Suzhou. It costs at least one tael of silver. In our entire county, only our Liu Ji Embroidery Workshop has her authentic handkerchief. If our county The embroidery of other sisters-in-law and elder sisters can only be sold for [-] yuan at most. This is a small piece, if it is a big piece, the price difference will be even greater."

Master Yun?
Mei Niang's heart moved, and she asked, "Brother, is the Master Yun you're talking about Master Yun Fangfei?"

The boy looked at Meiniang a few more times, probably because he didn't expect that a village woman would know these things.

However, he shook his head and said, "I didn't expect you, sister-in-law, to know Mr. Yun, but Mr. Yun is not in good health now, and her embroidery skills have been passed on to her daughter, who is now Master Yun. Sister-in-law, since you know Master Yun's reputation, you should know that their Yun family's embroidery is worth the price."

The corners of Mei Niang's lips twitched, she was noncommittal and said, "When it comes to embroidery, Master Meng might be better than Master Yun."

"Sister-in-law, do you still know Master Meng?" The boy's eyes widened even further.

"I heard from my mother." Meiniang replied.

Twenty years ago, Master Meng's reputation spread all over the country, and her embroidery was hard to find. No matter what she embroidered, it was as vivid as a living thing.

Although Yun Fangfei is also famous, she is not the same as Master Meng.

And because of my luck, Master Meng and my mother are good friends, so I learned embroidery skills from Master Meng for several years.

It's a pity that Master Meng is a fairy-like person, but unfortunately met a ruthless man, heartbroken, never married, had no children, and only a handful of apprentices, I don't know if her embroidery skills will be passed down.

Looking back on the past again, Meiniang still seemed to be in a dream, as if it just happened yesterday.

"Ah!" The boy sighed for a long time, and said with great regret, "Master Meng is indeed excellent in embroidery skills, but it's a pity that she passed away ten years ago, and no one can learn her good embroidery skills. It's a pity. I heard that Master Meng only has a dozen pairs of embroidery left in the world, and each pair is priceless."

When Mei Niang felt sorry for Master Meng, her heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

At that time, Master Meng saw that his mother believed in Buddhism, so he specially embroidered the Deputy Guanyin for her mother.

I don't know where the Guanyin at home is now?

Can it bring any useful information for itself?
(End of this chapter)