Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 343: Special Requirements

Sorting, learning, and marking color codes took Yi Chichi a total of two and a half days.

After annotating the last color code, she put down her pen and looked at the densely marked paper, feeling a weight lift from her heart.

"Finally done!"

Qiu Yu, who’s been working intently beside her, darted over as if on radar, "Really done?"

Yi Chichi was startled by her, "How can you move so fast?"

"I’ve been waiting for this."

Pointing at the paper filled with red, blue, and black pen marks, she asked eagerly, "May I have a look?"

"Go ahead!"

Yi Chichi handed over the paper, and Qiu Yu took a careful look, realizing that Yi Chichi’s work ethic was truly outstanding.

Not only did she annotate the color codes for each type of embroidery thread, but also indicated which codes were needed for various embroidery techniques.

Even the types of threads were marked.

It was all clear at a glance, so the embroiderers only needed to find the corresponding techniques and color codes when working on the Plum and Sparrow piece.

"Old Qian, come over and have a look."

"Coming!"

She shouted at the top of her voice, and Qian Hua, busy at his workstation, put down his tools and walked over.

"What am I looking at?"

"See if you can understand this."

As she spoke, Qiu Yu handed him the results of Yi Chichi’s hard work.

Qian Hua took it, focusing on the embroidery thread annotations, and was delighted upon seeing them, "Xiao Yi, you even marked the color codes for the thread embroidery?"

"I did."

Yi Chichi had no choice; when dealing with a design that required multiple embroidery techniques and people who were not particularly sensitive to colors, she had to put in extra work herself.

This way, it would be easier to ask for their help in the future.

"Can you understand it?"

"Yes!"

It was indeed very clear.

Qian Hua, eager to test it out, took the chart to the thread rack, matched the threads according to the marked numbers, and found them simple and easy to locate. He couldn’t help but praise, "Young people’s brains really work better these days."

Yi Chichi said, "...If I remember correctly, Master Qian, you’re not that old either."

He wasn’t even forty, only about ten years older than her. This generational vibe was amusingly out of place.

"If I got married early, my kid would be about your age."

"Too bad you didn’t marry early."

Master Gu couldn’t help but join the conversation, then reached for the chart in his hand, "Let me have a look."

With Master Gu joining in, the rest of the older and younger masters left their workstations to verify the usefulness of the chart.

When Ning Jiandong came over to check things out, he found a crowd gathered around Yi Chichi, some asking her how she came up with such a clever method, others asking how she could distinguish subtle color differences...

In short, the questions were as varied as could be.

Suddenly, he felt a surge of curiosity. What had Yi Chichi been up to these past couple of days to become so popular all of a sudden?

"Ahem..."

He cleared his throat, and when everyone looked over, he said seriously, "Why is everyone gathered around Xiao Yi during work hours? Have you all finished your tasks?"

"No!"

They all responded in unison, their voices loud and clear.

He couldn’t maintain his stern expression and broke into a smile, "Get back to work, or there won’t be any meat for dinner tonight."

Xiao Ying, Master Qian’s apprentice, perked up, "There’s meat tonight?"

"Yes, roasted meat, cooked by Master Li personally."

Master Li was a talent, hailing from a family of chefs for generations. Their family used to own the Jinjiang Restaurant until policies changed and the restaurant became a public-private partnership, resulting in its closure.

The Li family members were then assigned to different positions.

Because of his excellent culinary skills, Master Li was originally set to work at a state-owned restaurant, but he didn’t want to. At the time, the manager of the Friendship Store, who was not Ning Jiandong, was a friend of Master Li’s.

Unwilling to separate, the two became colleagues at the same workplace.

Later on, Master Li’s friend got promoted and wanted to take him along, but Master Li didn’t want to leave. He enjoyed the atmosphere at the Friendship Store, as well as its defective goods and internal shopping benefits.

He refused to go.

And so, he firmly held the position of head chef at the Friendship Store, allowing the staff to enjoy culinary delights rivaling imperial dishes daily.

Master Li’s skills were truly exceptional; even the simplest ingredients could be turned into gourmet meals, and his meat dishes were particularly outstanding.

Upon learning that the canteen was serving roasted meat today, it wasn’t just Master Qiu and the others who were tempted; Yi Chichi was too.

She swallowed her saliva and asked Ning Jiandong, "Will we be able to eat as much roasted meat as we want?"

No matter the world, she was a meat eater and never worried about gaining weight due to her unique acupressure constitution.

She never needed to avoid her favorite foods.

Ning Jiandong’s lips twitched, and seeing the expectant looks from Qiu Yu and the others, he said helplessly, "Unlimited? Definitely not."

There simply wasn’t enough meat.

"But..."

As soon as this was said, the previously dim eyes of Qiu Yu and the others brightened up again.

Ning Jiandong sighed with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "You’ll still get four or five pieces each."

Yi Chichi calculated in her mind and realized the Friendship Store must have gotten quite a bit of meat from the slaughterhouse today to be this generous.

When it was finally time for dinner in the canteen, Yi Chichi realized her expectations were too high.

There really were four or five pieces, but each was smaller than a Mahjong tile, just enough for one bite, maybe two if stretched.

Yi Chichi sighed, "I knew better than to trust everything you say, uncle."

Too disappointing, truly disappointing.

These pieces didn’t satisfy at all; just when the craving hit, they were gone, like scratching an itch through a shoe.

"Uncle, can I get a bit more?"

She looked at Ning Jiandong with hopeful eyes.

Ning Jiandong rolled his eyes, "Dream on. The portions are fixed; if you get an extra, someone else will miss out. If you really crave meat, I’ll take you to a state-run restaurant tomorrow."

"Never mind then!"

Yi Chichi decisively abandoned her meat craving and focused on her rice.

Ning Jiandong noticed her demeanor and swallowed back what he was about to say, instead asking, "Are you taking on clothing work?"

Gu Xinghua’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at him, "Chichi can make clothes?"

"Yes, and she does a great job."

Ning Jiandong had seen the clothes Yi Chichi made for Wen Shi and was confident in her skills.

Gu Xinghua nodded, "Can you draft patterns too?"

Not knowing the answer, Ning Jiandong looked at Yi Chichi.

Gu Xinghua also turned to her, and Yi Chichi nodded after finishing her bite, "I can!"

"Then you should definitely take on this job."

Gu Xinghua looked at Yi Chichi with confidence.

She was puzzled, "Can’t they find a good pattern maker in Yangcheng?"

That seemed impossible.

As the city closest to the border, Yangcheng had always been at the forefront of fashion.

Famous old tailors there were no worse than those in Shanghai; good jobs shouldn’t land on her lap. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Unless there was a special requirement.

"They can, but you’re the only one who knows how to make clothes and does Su Embroidery."

Yi Chichi got interested, "Tell me more about the situation."