Shanghai Embroidery Lady

Chapter 70
After summer, the weather gradually becomes hotter, and the cicadas singing on the trees become clearer.Every afternoon or evening, under the oleander deep in the alley, there is always a small table and a few bamboo chairs, with tea, chess and peanuts on the table.Two or three shirtless old men were shaking cattail fans sewn with lace cloth, fanning the wind one after another while playing chess.

Ever since he got out of the hospital after recovering from his illness, Master Shen has often appeared in this group of old men playing chess.Usually two people play chess, and a group of people watch chess. Master Shen holds a purple clay teapot in one hand and holds Jiaqi in the other hand to watch together.From hospitalization to discharge, unknowingly, Master Shen also had more smiles on his face, and he no longer always had a straight face.He spends all day with his grandson, and seeing someone praise Jiaqi for being smart and cute, he is even happier.

One evening, Master Shen came to the shop suddenly, which made Ye Zijin and Xiaoyue Xiaowu very nervous.Because the doctor had told Shen Qixiao to rest more after he was discharged from the hospital, Ye Zijin was worried that Master would start making cheongsams again if he couldn't be free.

But this time their worries were unnecessary. Master Shen did not rush into the back room to work, but came to check a row of newly sewn cheongsams hanging on the clothes rail. Nodding.

After looking at it for a while, he turned to Ye Zijin and said, "I see that you have almost mastered the craft, and some parts are handled more delicately than an old man like me. You can become a teacher and establish yourself."

Ye Zijin was startled, did Master Shen mean to drive her away?
"Master, my skills are still far behind yours, so don't laugh at me." Ye Zijin had a smile in her eyes, but felt a little uneasy in her heart.

Master Shen waved his hand, sat down on the rattan chair, looked at the three of them and said, "To tell you the truth, I will go to Peiping with my son's family in two days, and the three of you will take care of the shop. After working hard for most of my life, I want to live a leisurely life for the rest of my life."

Xiao Wu hurriedly asked, "Aren't you going to come back?"

Master Shen laughed hoarsely, straightened his cuffs, "I can't say for sure, maybe I will go for a year or two, maybe..."

Xiaoyue walked up to Master Shen, grabbed his sleeve, and said in panic, "Master, you don't want us anymore?"

Master Shen said: "Where is it, how can I not want you, I can go back to Shanghai at any time, you are not allowed to be lazy while I am not around."

Master Shen instructed Xiaoyue to do some trivial things, then turned to Ye Zijin and said, "The thing I, Shen Qixiao, regret the most in my life is accepting you as my apprentice. The business of the shop is mainly entrusted to you. You can't forget me, Shen Qixiao. You messed up the brand. Also, if someone on the street wears the cheongsam you made, I can tell at a glance, don’t let me find any flaws, otherwise I will come back and drive you away..."

Ye Zijin's heart ached when he heard this, and tears rolled in his eyes involuntarily.Xiaoyue was already sobbing softly beside her, she picked up the teapot with trembling hands and poured tea for Master Shen.

"Oh, don't cry, it's not like Master won't come back." Xiao Wu's eyes were red, and he scolded Xiao Yue impatiently.

Master Shen pointed at Xiao Wu's nose and cursed: "You brat, don't think that I don't know what you do every time you sneak out, you'd better calm down for me, you can't make a fortune by buying those broken pieces of paper. Help Zijin take care of the shop."

"Oh..." Xiao Wu responded hoarsely, and wiped his face with his sleeve.

Master Shen stood up slowly, looked around, went to the cutting bed, touched the old pair of open source scissors, and packed the things in the toolbox one by one.

"Zijin, Xiaoyue, Xiaowu, Shen Ji will rely on you from now on, I'm leaving, you go and get busy..." Master Shen put his hands behind his back, sighed, and then walked out of the shop slowly.

Looking at the back of Master going away, Ye Zijin felt both reluctance and joy in his heart.She was happy for the master, happy that he could finally live a life where the three generations of his grandchildren lived under the same roof, but she was so reluctant to let the master go, thinking that she would never see the master bending over and busy under the lamp in the future, and never listen to him again. She felt inexplicably sad when she didn't receive Master's deep and severe reprimand.

Two days later, Ye Zijin bid farewell to Master Shen's family and went to Beiping. She and Xiaoyue Xiaowu officially took care of Shenji's tailor shop.

Now that it is summer, the business of the tailor shop is getting better and better.Many women on the street wear cheongsams with sleeveless or lotus leaf sleeves, with their snow-white arms exposed, and their slender legs looming at the splits. willow.

This day, Ye Zijin took the account book of the purchase to check, and when he saw the column of fabrics, he found a problem.

"Xiaoyue, why hasn't the batch of printed muslin and yarn-dyed poplin ordered last week arrived? Hasn't the money been given to Taojia Cloth Shop?" Ye Zijin asked, pointing to the account recorded on it.

Xiaoyue took a look at the account book, frowned and said: "I have already given the money to Xiao Wu to order from shopkeeper Tao, our shop is a regular customer of shopkeeper Tao, why would they take the money and not deliver the goods? "

Ye Zijin had a bad premonition, the money had already been spent, but the goods hadn't arrived yet, there must have been a mistake, and the key problem lay with Xiao Wu.

"Where did Xiao Wu go?" Ye Zijin asked.

Xiaoyue shook her head, "I don't know either. After lunch, he said he was going out for a while, but he hasn't come back yet."

"Lazy is getting worse and worse." Ye Zijin was a little annoyed, since Master left, she and Xiaoyue were busy every day, but Xiao Wu always sneaked out, and now he dared to be blatantly lazy.

"Go to shopkeeper Tao first and ask. If Xiao Wu didn't pay the deposit, you can pay it together this time. There are not many seasonal fabrics left in the shop, so you have to replenish them quickly." Ye Zijin said from the drawer He took out dozens of oceans and handed them to Xiaoyue.

Not long after Xiaoyue went out, a fashionable girl walked into the tailor's shop leisurely, and there were six burly men with her, who stood motionless outside the door.Ye Zijin felt that the visitor was not kind, and at first glance, this woman seemed familiar.

"Why, have you forgotten the same-sick people from the Chao Gang that night so quickly?" The girl's curly hair was tied in two locks behind her head with a light blue ribbon, and tied into a beautiful bow, revealing two shining pearl earrings.

It was only then that Ye Zijin remembered that the woman in front of her was Duan Zhenzhen who was tied up with her that day, Duan Lipeng's favorite.

"Miss Duan is here, is she here to make clothes?" Ye Zijin asked with a smile.

Duan Zhenzhen casually glanced at the fabrics on the shelf, walked slowly to Ye Zijin's side, and sized her up. Suddenly, she burst out laughing, and said to Ye Zijin, "You are Ye Zijin, no wonder He Manling lost. It's so miserable, if I were a man, I would choose you too. I just can't understand her self-righteous look, but you gave me a sigh of relief. "

Ye Zijin was confused when she heard it, but Duan Zhenzhen's tone seemed to be a little bit against He Manling.

Duan Zhenzhen continued: "Don't be afraid. If He Manling dares to trouble you in the future, come to me directly, and I will make her look good. Who told her to tell me that I am Ye Xiangmei behind her back? You can use Meng Haoxiang to do it for me." How could Meng Haoxiang like the pride of killing her like her. Hehe... tell me how you and Meng Haoxiang met?"

Ye Zijin heard that Duan Zhenzhen also brought herself and Meng Haoxiang together, feeling a little helpless, "Miss Duan, this is a tailor shop, if you want to talk about some boring lace, you can buy a newspaper and read it yourself."

Duan Zhenzhen sensed Ye Zijin's displeasure, and smiled again, "Okay, then I'll make clothes. I heard that you are good at making cheongsam."

Ye Zijin took Duan Zhenzhen to pick out a piece of apricot jacquard fabric, and then went into the back room to measure the size.

At this time, a man's voice came from outside the door, "Hey, let me tell you where the door gods were invited, one by one standing outside like the wooden stakes of the tide gang."

The leader of those burly men said respectfully, "Hello, Mr. Qian."

Qian Jiang waved his hand, walked in lazily, and happened to bump into Duan Zhenzhen who came out.

"Fatty, it's you again." Duan Zhenzhen snorted softly when she saw Qian Jiang.

Ye Zijin opened the curtain and came out when she heard the sound. She was a little surprised when she saw Qian Jiang. During this period of time, she had been deliberately avoiding people from the gang, and Qian Jiang and Qu Xiangtian seemed to be tactful and rarely appeared in front of her.

Qian Jiang stared at Duan Zhenzhen, and said angrily: "Do you think I want to see you, you little girl, no big or small."

Duan Zhenzhen pointed at Qian Jiang angrily, and raised her voice a bit, "How dare you teach me a lesson, you fat man? Last time you kidnapped me, you haven't settled with you yet!"

Qian Jiang didn't bother to pay attention, and walked straight towards Ye Zijin, but Duan Zhenzhen tripped on purpose, he staggered twice and nearly fell down.

"You..." Qian Jiang suppressed his anger, and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth, "A good man doesn't fight with a woman."

Ye Zijin saw that the two of them started talking and making moves as soon as they met, and hurriedly stepped forward to make a rescue, "Mr. Qian is here to find a shop for something? Could it be that he is also here to make clothes?"

Duan Zhenzhen sneered twice, and mocked: "Making him clothes, I'm afraid it will be a waste of fabric, just like wrapping fat pork with a piece of cloth."

Qian Jiang ignored Duan Zhenzhen's sarcasm, but put on the appearance of a peacemaker, restrained his usual idleness in his tone, and said to Ye Zijin: "Miss Ye, there is such an errand, the former interpreter of Baohui International Co., Ltd. Let’s go, now Baohui foreign company is short of an interpreter, you also know that we have more business dealings with British foreign company recently, and Mrs. Wilton likes you very much, so see if you can come to Baohui foreign company to work. As long as you are willing to come , The working hours are completely free, you only need to do the translation when you need it, and the salary is guaranteed to be higher than the profit of your tailor shop for a month, what do you think?"

Ye Zijin knew that Meng Haoxiang sent Qian Jiang to be a lobbyist, she just felt a little ridiculous in her heart, in this huge Shanghai beach, it was not easy for Meng Haoxiang to find an interpreter, she didn't know what he was thinking.

"I'm really sorry. After my master went to Peiping, the business in the shop was too busy. I don't have time to do the translation for Boss Meng. You should hire someone else." Ye Zijin was still polite to Qian Jiang, this time This time she said nothing and would not agree.

"Just ask for a few more helpers in the shop. Don't worry, Ms. Ye. You can be your translator at ease. I will cover the business of this shop and guarantee that your profit will triple in a month." Qian Jiang pointed out three fingers, confident road.

Ye Zijin smiled, "Mr. Qian, it's not about the money. What I want to guarantee is Shen Ji's brand name. Since my master handed over the shop to me, I should devote myself to making every piece of clothing well, and I will live up to it." the expectations of his elders."

Duan Zhenzhen jokingly said: "He is doing his own business, so don't use your outrageously vulgar methods. If Ms. Ye is not willing, are you going to force her to be an interpreter? They all say that Chaobang Acting recklessly, I don’t think you Jin’an Hall will be much better.”

Qian Jiang glanced at Duan Zhenzhen, "Duan Daqian, you can scold me, but don't get Jin'antang involved, or it won't do you Chao Gang any good if it spreads."

Seeing that the two were involved in the gang again, Ye Zijin didn't want them to have any more conflicts, so he said to Qian Jiang: "Mr. Qian, my attitude is very clear, please go back and tell Boss Meng, I will not agree. If there is nothing wrong , you'd better get busy with your big business, don't waste time in this little tailor shop."

Duan Zhenzhen took the opportunity to say: "Did you hear that, fat man, tell you to get lost."

Qian Jiang saw that Ye Zijin had made up his mind, so he had to give up for the time being, thinking about finding other ways to get Ye Zijin to agree later. "Since Ms. Ye is not willing, I won't force it, but please think again, this is a sure-fire deal."

"Thank you Mr. Qian for your kindness, I don't think I need it." Ye Zijin refused with a smile.

Qian Jiang shrugged, and nodded to Ye Zijin, with a hint of helplessness on his face.Looking at Qian Jiang's leaving back, Duan Zhenzhen looked smug.

"My heart is really happy. By the way, my name is Duan Zhenzhen. You taught me a lesson for two people I hate, and I consider you a friend. If you need help in the future, you can come to No. 19, Fenyang Road. Me. When the cheongsam is ready, you can bring it here directly. I don’t have much time to go out.” Duan Zhenzhen’s eyes were filled with sadness, she glanced at the six people guarding the door, and sighed helplessly. After bidding farewell to Ye Zijin, Duan Zhenzhen Get in the car and leave under the protection of a group of people.

Ye Zijin waited until Xiaoyue came back, and after asking, she found out that Xiaowu didn't take money to order at all.Ye Zijin's heart sank, and he concluded that Xiao Wu must have taken the money to gamble without permission.That was still not a small sum, and now that there was such a big gap in funds, Ye Zijin was angry and worried.He thought that when Xiao Wu came back, he must teach him the master's usual posture towards them, otherwise Xiao Wu would not obey her.

But Xiaoyue was a little anxious when Xiao Wu didn't come back after dark.Ye Zijin was still angry at Xiao Wu's misappropriation of the order money, but now the anger in his heart has been replaced by worry.She knew that although Xiao Wu was loose and fond of gambling on weekdays, he was not addicted to it, and she didn't see anyone else for most of the day today, which was really not normal.

Ye Zijin first thought of Xinda Casino, so she immediately closed the shop and went to the casino with Xiaoyue to find someone.

(End of this chapter)