Chapter 110 Embroidery Live

Author: Emei Swordsman

Chapter 110 Embroidery Live

The officers and soldiers were shocked by the sudden sound. When he turned around to see the person clearly, his face turned pale, and his legs became weak: "Gu Gu Gu Gu Gu Jung Gu, why are you here?"

Gu Yunji's face turned blue with anger, and the burning anger in his eyes was about to burst out, and his whole body was filled with cold air, as if he was about to eat people.

Without waiting for Gu Yunji to speak, a yamen runner behind him walked up in three or two steps and kicked the officers and soldiers to the ground: "What are you, Gugugu? You are so brave. You are in the sky and the sun. You dare to leave your post without any responsibilities and have a slap with good women. Do you still have the brain?"

The officers and soldiers were so scared that they were incoherent that they knelt on the ground and begged repeatedly: "Good luck for Mr. Gu! Mr. Gu! The young man was just confused for a moment. Please spare me this time!"

Gu Yunji ignored the officers and soldiers' begging for mercy, but instead turned his eyes to the woman behind him.

The woman looked like she was in her twenties and knelt on the ground tremblingly as soon as Gu Yunji made a sound. At this moment, her face was pale, her whole body was trembling, and she lowered her head and sobbed quietly.

Gu Yunji didn't hear the conversation between the two of them very clearly. He glanced at the woman's torn clothes on her chest, then quickly looked away and asked in a deep voice: "Has he forced you?"

Before the woman could answer, the officers and soldiers hurriedly said: "No, no! She was voluntary!"

"I asked her! Did you tell me!" Gu Yunji's eyes narrowed and his eyes swept over, "Stay honestly by the side!"

Then, he slowed down again, looked at the woman and said, "Don't be afraid, you just say that I will make the decision for you. If he forced you, I will definitely not spare him!"

The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and bit her lip and said in a low voice: "He, he didn't force me, it was my own voluntary..."

Gu Yunji's breathing stagnated, and he didn't understand: "Why?"

"Because, I can't continue to be happy..."

The woman took a deep breath and slowly raised her head, as if she felt embarrassed. She grabbed the clothes at her hand and said slowly: "Looking back at the young master, my family's original surname is Wu, and I am from Jiaocheng County, Taiyuan Prefecture. My relatives are gone on the way south. Now there are only my five-year-old son and I left at home."

"It was fine in the past few months, and I could eat at least every day. But these days, the government has less porridge and we often can't get it. I can't go out to work, so I can only dig some bark and grass roots to fill my stomach. Life suddenly became difficult, but even so, we still couldn't eat enough, and the child was always awakened by hunger in the middle of the night..."

Speaking of the latter, Mrs. Wu was already crying, her voice trembling, which made people feel sad.

"Later, I saw that many women were embroidering handkerchiefs. They calculated how many cents a day could be used to supplement their household expenses, so I wanted to do it with me." Mrs. Wu sniffed and adjusted her emotions. "But we are refugees and we can't enter the city. We have to rely on officers and soldiers to do it on their behalf when buying needles and threads. It is very inconvenient."

"But everyone was afraid. After finally having a way to make money, they naturally refused to give up. There were many people who wanted to sell the veils. Every day, they flocked to the officers and soldiers who sold the veils. It was not my turn at all. I was so anxious that I had no choice but to watch it."

"At this time, Zhou Dayong came to me, this soldier, saying that as long as I and him..." Mrs. Wu's voice was awkward, and she wrinkled the fabric in her hand, almost unable to say anything, "...He, he can sell me a handkerchief. I didn't want to, but I really had no way out. My son was so hungry that he had no strength to talk..."

Mrs. Wu's eyes were red and her voice became smaller and smaller. Finally, she leaned down weakly and began to whimper with an emotional collapse.

Gu Yunji was silent when he heard this, and waited until she recovered from crying before asking, "Can I see the handkerchief you embroidered?"

"Yes, yes." Mrs. Wu was stunned, then quickly reacted, took out a handkerchief from his arms and handed it to him, "Young Master Gu, please see."

This handkerchief is made of cotton cloth, with a rough material, and a few simple magnolias are embroidered on it. The stitches are fine and the lines are clear and smooth. Although they cannot be called exquisite and complex, they are also somewhat elegant. It can be seen that the embroiderer's level of female red is not low.

Gu Yunji nodded and returned the handkerchief to her: "It's well-embroidered. You just said that the officers and soldiers helped you sell the handkerchief, so how much does they give you one?"

"Most of the time it costs seven cents per person, and the materials are calculated separately."

"It's only seven cents?" Gu Yunji raised his voice, feeling a little unbelievable, "Can you only get seven cents at your level?"

The prices of handkerchiefs on the market range from more than a dozen to hundreds of yuan. Even though Mrs. Wu's handkerchief suffers from the material, she can only wait for the product to be sold at the moment, but her embroidery skills are good. If such a handkerchief is sold for fifteen or sixteen yuan, there is no problem at all.

These officers and soldiers are so damn-hearted. They can take turns to return to the city every day. It is just a matter of helping sell a few veils, and it doesn't take much effort. Who knew that they could actually deduct more than half of the money in the middle? Isn't this just bullying the refugee women who are not familiar with the local market and do not understand the local market?

Hearing Gu Yunji's tone, Madam Wu also noticed that there must be many tricks in it, but she had no choice but to smile bitterly: "What can we do? They bought the silk thread and sold it. The price is not as much as they say. My level is really nothing. There are many people who are better than me, and they can only get seven cents."

Gu Yunji's heart moved slightly and asked, "I heard what you mean, there are many people who can embroider the veil? Then, besides embroidery, can weave cloth?"

Mrs. Wu said: "The girl's red is a compulsory course in the boudoir. Any woman can do more, but her skills are just the level of her skills. As for weaving, we farmers, food and clothing come from the ground, and rarely are willing to buy money outside. They weaving cloths themselves, so they can naturally do it."

Gu Yunji's eyes lit up suddenly and he couldn't wait to ask, "Where can weave silk, do you have to?"

Hangzhou Prefecture is located in the south of the Yangtze River. The silk weaving industry has always been very prosperous. There are many official and private weaving and dyeing workshops. The silk produced is famous all over the world, and even overseas supply is in short supply. Moreover, it is still in a booming period of development, and the silk production is far from saturated. There is a shortage of silk, looms, and even weavers.

More importantly, since ancient times, the social division of labor between men and women has led to the fact that the family's textile tasks are basically carried out by women, and the local weaving and dyeing workshops are basically female weaving workers. This means that women who can only do some weaving and tailoring in the family can make money in Hangzhou Prefecture with their own skills and become an important source of income for the family.

If these refugee women have good weaving and dyeing skills, they can be recruited by the government to work as weavers in workshops. This will not only solve their livelihood problems, but also promote the development of the local silk weaving industry and reduce the cost of the government resettlement of refugees.

"Weaving silk?" Wu Niangzi was stunned when she heard this and said slowly, "We have never weaved silk before, but I think it should be similar to the principle of weaving. There may be some differences in the size of the shuttle, the length of the warp shaft, etc., but as long as I learn to observe it, I will get started soon."

After receiving a clear answer, Gu Yunji felt that this idea was feasible and almost wanted to go back to the city immediately to discuss it with Lu Xianzhi. But before that, he still had to handle the current affairs well.
Chapter completed!