Love growing better is definitely not something one person can achieve alone.
The Xiao family never sits idly by; they all do their best to share the heavy burden with Chun Nuan.
That day, Lady Lin came again inviting the eldest aunt to embroider a screen.
"When I took this order, I thought I must find a few madams to help. Only you can get this work done."
Lady Lin was full of sincerity: "Rest assured, we’ll split the earnings fifty-fifty. How about that?"
Actually, it wasn’t much, but since they had cooperated before and had nothing else to do, the eldest madam gladly agreed to take the order after consulting with Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Huang.
When Chun Nuan returned and heard that the elders at home had taken on embroidery work again, she felt sorry for them.
It was out of necessity in the past when the family’s finances were strained, and they needed the work to make ends meet.
Now, with a stable income of her own and the silver note sent back by her eldest sister, there was no longer a need to toil so hard with embroidery.
Everyone knew that embroidery strained the eyes, especially since they were all getting older, and with the old lady’s recent passing, memories kept resurfacing, bringing tears to their eyes, making embroidery even more burdensome.
"Nuannuan, with something to do, we don’t think too much," the eldest aunt said. "Lady Lin isn’t in a hurry, so we can embroider slowly."
This was a three-panel large screen, and it just happened that the three sisters-in-law each embroidered a piece, which was a good way to pass the time.
"Yes, Nuannuan, since we are idle anyway, doing a bit of handiwork to supplement household expenses can also pass time; it’s quite good," Mrs. Huang said. "Otherwise, we wouldn’t know what to do."
Being daughters of petty officials, they never did farm work. Going out meant socializing or visiting jewelry shops and, most of the time, staying within the inner quarters to assist their husbands and teach their children.
In Shu City, they weren’t accustomed to going out either. When they did, the village women didn’t know how to address them, staring at them like rare creatures, nodding and smiling awkwardly when their eyes met.
They often spoke in dialects, not quite like authentic Shu City speech, which was at least understandable since Old Doctor Xiao often spoke it, but in a dialect called Hakka, from Lake and Guang ancestors, which was truly difficult to understand, utterly incomprehensible.
Listening to them chatter away and occasionally looking and smiling in the direction of the Xiao family ladies was quite intriguing.
Rather than going out and becoming the subject of others’ conversation, it was better to stay home and embroider.
In fact, Mrs. Xu had asked the neighboring Sister-in-law Luo what they were talking about.
Sister-in-law Luo said they were praising how pretty and fair the three Xiao madams were, unlike themselves, who were rounded, with thick legs and dark skin.
The three Xiao madams didn’t even consider it a compliment but simply didn’t want to go out.
Seeing how willingly the eldest aunt and the others embroidered, treating it as a pastime, Chun Nuan suddenly had an idea: to open an embroidery shop.
"Open an embroidery shop?" Mrs. Xu was momentarily stunned: "Can we do that?"
"Eldest aunt, you, mother, third aunt, and the eldest sister-in-law have excellent embroidery skills, don’t worry about whether you can do it, worry if someone can afford to buy it."
Compared to Lady Lin’s embroidery shop, Chun Nuan positioned them at a higher end.
"With such excellent embroidery skills, embroidering on inferior fabric is a waste. Use high-end materials to create premium embroideries to sell to wealthy families."
"We can put a mark on the embroideries we make; customers rave about them and then buy exclusively based on the mark, ensuring a steady flow of repeat and new customers."
They seek quality over quantity, making each embroidery as collectible as works of scholars and literati.
The three sisters, Mrs. Xu, felt there was some truth in it but worried about taking a loss.
"Don’t worry. If the embroidery is good, it will sell. If it doesn’t sell, it can still be used as dowry for the younger sisters."
"Indeed, why didn’t I think of that?"
After all, the majority of what they embroider already is dowry related, and if unsold, it’s just used for themselves.
Seeing the eldest aunt persuaded, Chun Nuan found it amusing.
Who starts a business by first thinking about making a loss and selling to oneself?
So, the Xiao family’s inherent nature is not suited for business!
Yet Chun Ning has a mind to start a venture.
"What venture do you want to start?"