Only because the Empress Dowager fell ill, Jin Guifei took charge of the Imperial Harem. The Empress announced plans to cut expenses to save silver for the soldiers fighting on the front lines. Therefore, she specifically petitioned the Emperor to release a batch of idle palace maids from the palace.
As a result, most of those let out were from the staff of the Empress Dowager. Even she, who had served in the palace for over thirty years, was let go!
Nanny Xi had no family left outside the palace, and no place to go after her release. Fortunately, Young Master Huo heard of her predicament. He reached out to the Embroidery Bureau to arrange for her release. As soon as she was out, he moved her directly to the Farmer’s Manor, offering her a high salary to solely supervise the embroidery training of Cai Fei!
Nanny Xi, having spent more than thirty years in the palace, had developed a meticulous nature. On hearing that she was to teach a Miss the art of embroidery, she was concerned that she might be training a delicate Mistress, who might burst into tears at the slightest hardship. So, when she sat in front of Cai Fei, her first words were: "Miss, if you want to master the art of embroidery, you must be prepared to bear hardship and work hard. Moreover, you must have enough patience and care. Embroidery is a delicate work. If after a few days of learning, you complain about eye or neck pain, you might as well not bother learning from me!"
Cai Fei stood up and said respectfully, "Thank you for your guidance, Nanny. Rest assured, I will see this through to the end - I won’t give up halfway!"
Nanny Xi was pleased to see her humility, sensibility, and gentle and dignified demeanor. "Good, as long as you say so, I can rest assured in teaching you."
Nanny Xie took a pink silk thread from her basket of needle and thread and handed it to Cai Fei, asking her to thread the needle. When she saw Cai Fei skillfully thread the needle without delay, she nodded approvingly to herself. A girl is worth cultivating!
Afterward, Nanny Xi started explaining to Cai Fei the stitches of Shu Embroidery.
Shu embroidery stitches include twelve major categories with more than a hundred kinds, like fading stitches, flat stitches, rolling stitches, etc. Each stitch is meticulously detailed and Nanny Xi’s Shu embroidery double-sided embroidery is so beautiful it impresses all. The handkerchief she carries with her, for instance, is double-sided embroidery - a work of remarkable ingenuity!
These days, Cai Lian stayed home instead of coming to learn embroidery with Cai Fei. There was a large order from the family’s businesses - more than ten restaurants were ordering five-flavored peanuts and five-spice sunflower seeds from them. Her parents were too busy to cope and didn’t want to hire help out of fear of their recipes getting stolen. Hence, they chose to bear the hardship by themselves without hiring help.
Cai Lian felt sorry for her parents’ laborious efforts, so she remained at home helping them instead of coming to learn embroidery with Cai Fei.
Although Cai Fei felt slightly disappointed that Cai Lian couldn’t come to the Fabric Manor due to this, she respected that everyone has their own will and could not impose her own will on others. So, she could only feel regret for her older sister Cai Lian’s missed opportunity to learn Shu Embroidery.
It was still night when the Fabric Manor finally closed. Cai Fei had hardly put in any stitches, and only practiced various stitches in one corner of the embroidery stretch, according to Nanny Xi. Before leaving, Nanny Xi stated that just learning the fundamentals would take about a year. Cai Fei didn’t voice any impatience at this. Instead, she simply nodded and smiled as she left.
After getting into the horse carriage, Cai Fei was still excited about taking Nanny Xiu as her master. On seeing her father who came to pick her up, she excitedly exclaimed, "Dad, Nanny Xi is really awesome! You have no idea. The handkerchief she uses is actually double-sided embroidery. It is so beautiful!"
Mu Zhongqing smiled and looked at his daughter with affection, "As long as you’re happy, that’s what matters. When your sister returns and sees that you’ve learned double-sided embroidery, she’ll be very happy too!"