Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 425 - 345: The Treachery of Human Nature

Wu Baoceng is an easily amused young man, who immediately grinned to reveal two tiger teeth upon hearing this.

"You should learn Li Embroidery, sis."

Yi Chichi rolled her eyes, "I’m just one person, I can’t be everywhere at once, and besides, greed will ruin it. I am letting you learn Su Embroidery with me now, are you interested?"

"Not interested."

He loudly and decisively refused, with a very valid reason, "I haven’t even officially graduated from Li Embroidery yet, I genuinely don’t have the extra energy to follow you and learn Su Embroidery."

However, "The manager might assign you an apprentice."

Yi Chichi knew immediately he was talking about Zhuo Xuezhen, but she had a different opinion on this.

Ning Jiandong wouldn’t do something so foolish.

If he really wanted to find an embroidery master for Zhuo Xuezhen, Qiu Yu or Master Shu would be more suitable than her.

After all, she is not stationed in Yangcheng all the time, her main base is in the Northeast.

Zhuo Xuezhen wouldn’t go to the Northeast with her either.

So, the reason Ning Jiandong is looking for her must be for something else.

If it’s about taking on an apprentice, it’s probably just a side mention.

Sure enough, when she returned to the office, she learned from Zhuo Xuezhen that Ning Jiandong had arrived and immediately came to find her.

Back in his office again, Yi Chichi got straight to the point, "Uncle, why did you call me here?"

"Will you take on an apprentice?"

Before he finished speaking, Zhuo Xuezhen came with tea.

Yi Chichi took the teacup, thanked her politely, and pretended to know nothing, "Who is it, to trouble Manager Ning to personally advocate?"

Whether it was her guilty conscience or not, Zhuo Xuezhen always felt that Yi Chichi’s words were not right.

She didn’t dare to speak, after all, her previous attitude had been genuinely poor.

Afraid that if she spoke, Yi Chichi would complain and she would get scolded.

So, she stood by, observing but not speaking, her ears perked up.

Ning Jiandong frowned, thinking there was something off about Miss Yi’s tone.

His gaze shifted between Yi Chichi and Zhuo Xuezhen’s faces, particularly noticing Zhuo Xuezhen’s guilty expression, and he understood.

"Zhenzhen, go out first. I need to discuss some work matters with Master Yi."

Ning Jiandong wanted to send her away. Zhuo Xuezhen was a bit unwilling, she opened her mouth, "Uncle, I..."

"Go out, we’ll talk about your matter later."

Ning Jiandong’s smile disappeared, his expression turning serious, looking a bit intimidating.

Zhuo Xuezhen was startled, swallowed her words, and after a simple acknowledgment, exited the office.

Once she left, Ning Jiandong and Yi Chichi got down to business.

"I remember you can do fashion design."

"Yes."

She nodded, "Uncle, do you want to make some clothes?"

"Not me, but the relevant department needs a uniform that can showcase their spirit!"

Yi Chichi’s first reaction wasn’t refusal, but rather engaging in the specifics with him like discussing business.

"How is the design fee calculated? If selected, do I provide the design and there’s someone else responsible for tailoring, or do I handle everything?"

It’s not unreasonable for Yi Chichi to ask, as dealing with relevant units is very troublesome.

Moreover, the awareness of patents and copyrights in China didn’t really improve until after 2010.

This improvement is limited; there are still plenty of enterprises and departments that do not respect copyrights.

High-tech products like semiconductors, chips, and large aircraft are stronger on patents and copyrights, while industries related to livelihoods are the main targets for piracy.

In fact, footwear, hats, and bags are the worst hit among them.

It’s hard to protect designs against theft initially, and even harder later.

Designers work hard to produce a style, and if it doesn’t become popular, it might be stolen; if it becomes popular, the streets are filled with knock-offs.

Embroidery is different; this field is a niche industry, not lacking in money-making ability but requiring high skills.

Poor craftsmanship? You can’t make anything noteworthy even if you steal.

Instead, you might lose everything and gain nothing.

This is why, in the original world, Yi Chichi chose to focus deeply on embroidery instead of the design industry.

Being extremely familiar with the domestic market, she didn’t have much hope for design fees.

Things turned out as she expected when Ning Jiandong stretched out one hand towards her, "If selected, the design fee is this amount."

"Five hundred?"

Definitely not five thousand.

Five hundred seems reasonable.

However, Ning Jiandong didn’t say anything, his expression somewhat speechless, Yi Chichi’s face changed, "Fifty?"

"Right!"

Ning Jiandong clapped his hands, "Just fifty. Other masters don’t even get a design fee, this is something I fought for you."

"I truly thank you."

Yi Chichi was amused by him, fifty is insulting, who pays only fifty for a design layout?

She’d rather...

"No refusal accepted, it’s a mandatory task!"

Ning Jiandong left her with no choice, every thought she had vanished.

She, just an ordinary citizen, actually had a day when she couldn’t reject a mandatory task, it’s absurd.

The key is, she can’t refuse.

"Alright, I’ll do it!"

"That’s more like it, don’t focus on the money, focus on the benefits once your design gets selected."

Yi Chichi sighed, there are benefits indeed.

The premise is that it gets selected.

If it doesn’t, it’s all pointless.

"How many people are participating in the design? How many will make the final decision?"

"Three and five people."

Yi Chichi’s eyes widened abruptly, "Including me, only three people?"

"Yeah."

Ning Jiandong nodded with a troubled expression, "There are too few people skilled in clothing design."

Renowned ones are hard to engage, skillful ones know only outdated styles, lacking imagination and creativity, unable to create perfect fits that can showcase an upward spirit yet remain appealing.

"...When is the deadline?"

"Tomorrow!"

This is truly absurd, beyond absurd.

Yi Chichi didn’t want to say anything anymore, what is this?

If she had known beforehand it would be like this, she wouldn’t have come.

She silently stood up to leave, Ning Jiandong hurried to grab her, "Where are you going?"

"The world is malicious, I’m safer back on the island."

"What about me if you leave?"

"Too bad! You took this job, figure out how to solve it yourself, I can’t do it."

Even if the deadline was a couple of days later, she could conduct research.

Wow, tomorrow’s the deadline, where would she find time to research, how would she know what the associated unit’s spirit is.

Isn’t this making things difficult?

However, Ning Jiandong wouldn’t let her go, he tried good words and bad ones alike, but failed to move her, then he threw in the trump card.

"Pick any defects in the warehouse, no limit."

Yi Chichi was shamefully tempted, "Really no limit?"

"As long as you don’t empty out the warehouse."

"I’m not that reckless."

Defects are considered employee benefits, doing that would anger everyone.

"Bring the materials, I’ll design on the spot."

"Here!"

Ning Jiandong had prepared in advance and pulled out materials from the drawer for her.

Yi Chichi didn’t rush to start but rather asked him about the main occasions for the new uniform, as well as specifics on the kind of spirit the related leaders wanted to convey.