The Exiled Life of the Noble Girl

Li Mingwei looked at the booth in front of her that was only the size of a door, and doubted life a little. Along the way, she had seen embroidery shops this small, but calling it an "embroidery house" was a bit much.

"What are you staring for, go in!" Wang Chunhua strode in and yelled to the back, "Ms. Yu, are you there?"

Someone inside quickly responded, "Yes, wait a moment."

Li Mingwei's gaze swept over the fabrics on the shelves, most of which were very dull colors. This was really different from what she had imagined. Fabrics like these didn't even need embroidering.

Like the one she was wearing, and the one Wang Chunhua was wearing, they were just simple cuts, without any designs, even she could make clothes like these.

Female embroiderer Yu soon came out from the inside. She had her hair up in a mature woman's bun, with silver hairpins, and was dressed appropriately. She looked very shrewd.

She sized up Li Mingwei, while Li Mingwei sized her up too. Judging by her outfit, she was among the best dressed in this town.

"Who's this?"

Wang Chunhua introduced Li Mingwei's background again, then said, "My sister doesn't know anything, she can just embroider a little. Take a look if there's any work you can give her to do, she's alone and has no money, how can she live?"

Ms. Yu nodded and went behind the counter. "Do you know how to make clothes?"

"Not very well."

"So you only know how to embroider?" Seeing Li Mingwei nod, Ms. Yu took out some handkerchiefs and purses from under the counter and asked her, "What kind of flowers can you embroider?"

She knew a lot of these.

"Plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum, peony, rose, peony, basically all of them."

Ms. Yu raised her brows, "How about mandarin ducks, cuckoos and other living things?"

"Yes."

Seeing her so confident, Ms. Yu took out a white handkerchief and brought her to the back to get her threads of various colors, and let her demonstrate.

Since people wanted to see her skills, Li Mingwei thought she shouldn't make it too simple. She embroidered a multi-colored peony, which took some time, but Ms. Yu watched her needlework the whole time.

"Not bad, very skilled, and the color matching looks good too." Ms. Yu praised her first, then said, "I can see you must have come from a good family. Some things I don't need to say explicitly. Qingshi Town is small and poor after all. Complex designs like these will lose money."

"You spent a lot of effort on it, and surely don't want to sell it cheap. But the spending power here is limited. Just embroider simpler designs in the future. Keep this one here for now. If someone wants something like this, I'll give you a better price for it."

Ms. Yu went back out and got her a dozen white handkerchiefs and some blank purses.

"Embroider these first, anything you want. Just a simple corner on the kerchiefs will do. The purses can be more complex."

Wang Chunhua moved closer. "How much will you pay?"

Ms. Yu thought for a moment. "Five coins for each handkerchief, fifteen coins for each purse. If you put in more effort and the designs are nice, I can pay you a little more."

Wang Chunhua wasn't very satisfied. "The price for the purses is fine, but isn't the price for the handkerchiefs too low?"

Ms. Yu took out a set of needles and threads and handed them to the girls. "I'm also providing the needles and threads. This should be fine, right?"

Only then did Wang Chunhua nod, collecting the needles, threads, handkerchiefs, etc. "Alright, it's a deal. My sister will embroider them and bring them to you when they're done."

"Great. Come get more needles and threads directly when you run out."

Li Mingwei thanked Ms. Yu, then followed Wang Chunhua out.

Seeing her a little unhappy, Wang Chunhua guessed what was on her mind. "Don't think it's too little. This is already a good price."

Li Mingwei pouted without replying. She never thought her skills would be so cheap.

"We're just a small town. Can't compare to bigger cities. She can only sell a handkerchief for a dozen or so coins after all the material costs. She can't earn much either. Just embroider simpler like she said. Five coins per piece, ten pieces is fifty coins, enough to buy several catties of meat."

After this persuasion, Wang Chunhua clapped her hands. "Oh right, I was thinking of going to the market to buy some meat to make for you. It's this late already. Let's hurry, or all the good meat will be gone."

Wang Chunhua pulled Li Mingwei to jog towards the market. They were only at the embroidery house for a short while, but many people in town already knew Wang Chunhua had a new sister.

"Chunhua, this is your cousin?"

"She's so pretty."

"Just down on her luck."

"Oh I'm in a hurry to buy meat. I'll chat more later." Wang Chunhua pushed past them to squeeze out of the crowd, while Li Mingwei smiled awkwardly at them before catching up.

Some teased, "Now that her sister's here, even Wang Chunhua is being generous, willing to buy meat."

"Right."

Wang Chunhua completely ignored them, and ran to the meat stall. Sure enough, only inferior meat was left. She looked at the frail Li Mingwei, and still carefully picked a small piece.

"Weigh this for me."

"Sure."

The owner grinned, cut her a piece, and threw it on the scale. "One and a half catties, I'll just count it as one. How about twelve coins?"

Wang Chunhua beamed. "You're being generous today."

The owner smiled at her, then looked at Li Mingwei. "Your sister just got here. Visitors are guests. I'll give you a discount today. Come often!"

Li Mingwei smiled sweetly. "Thank you, big brother."

"You're welcome, you're welcome. My pleasure."

Wang Chunhua rolled her eyes. Being pretty was useful after all. Even misers were willing to make concessions.

She pulled Li Mingwei to walk further. The stalls on both sides were villagers from nearby selling vegetables. Theirs were fresh and cheap. They only had some cabbage at home, so they still needed to buy more.

"How much for these sweet potato tips?"

"One coin per bunch."

Quite cheap, and the old lady had picked them quite tenderly too.

She squatted down and picked two bunches. Just as she was taking out money, someone else came over. Wang Chunhua looked up and saw it was an acquaintance, so she greeted, "Old Lady Wang, done with work?"

Old Lady Wang nodded, without responding. She glanced at Li Mingwei, and also squatted down. "How much per bunch?"

"One coin per bunch."

Old Lady Wang frowned. "Can it be cheaper?"

The vegetable-selling granny was a little helpless. "How can I give you cheaper? Each bunch is not small already."

Li Mingwei was also surprised. These were big bunches, one coin was quite cheap already. Sister Wang Chunhua didn't bargain, how could this old lady still think it expensive?

However, looking at the old lady's gaunt face, frail body, and washed-out clothes, she didn't say anything. There were many people who lived hard lives in this world. One shouldn't judge others by one's own standards.

Old Lady Wang stood up. "Just a little cheaper. I'm buying three bunches. Take off one coin for me, how about it?"

The vegetable-selling granny sighed. "Alright, alright. Just because it's you. I would never do this for others."

Wang Chunhua didn't care what they were saying. She paid for her own veggies, took her two bunches, and signaled to Li Mingwei with her eyes.

"Let's go."