Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 500: Developing Long-Term Clients

At this time, it was already late, and Wen Shi and the others were returning on the last ferry to the port.

This meant there were no more ferries leaving the island, so Ning Jiandong had to stay overnight and wait until morning to leave.

A guest is a guest, so Wen’s mother prepared several good dishes to entertain him.

She even called over Old Li from next door, and Mr. Zhang, who came back with He An, to accompany him.

The evening was lively with clinking glasses and laughter.

The topics of conversation covered everything under the sun, but they carefully avoided topics that should not be touched upon.

Yi Chichi and Wen’s mother didn’t join the conversation, focusing instead on eating their meal and taking care of He An, letting the men talk if they wanted to.

After they were full and satisfied, Ning Jiandong also fell asleep.

Not naturally asleep, but rather he was drunk, courtesy of the old men.

His behavior when drunk was quite good, falling asleep without babbling nonsense or getting crazy drunk.

He snored thunderously as he lay on the table.

Even when Wen Shi and the others moved him into the prepared guest room, he didn’t wake up from their fussing.

"Will he throw up tonight?"

After settling him in, Old Li asked a question that sent shivers down their spines.

Yi Chichi and the others exchanged glances, then looked at Mr. Zhang, who nonchalantly remained uninvolved.

Mr. Zhang, sipping tea slowly with a teacup in his hand, sensed their burning gazes, looked up, and said, "Why are you looking at me? I control the heavens and the earth, but I can’t control whether he throws up or not."

Wen Shi laughed, "I didn’t mean that. I just wanted to see if you have any tips to prevent Uncle Ning from throwing up tonight."

"I could give him a bowl of hangover soup, but you guys don’t have any."

Indeed, they didn’t have any.

So, they just had to pay attention through the night.

After cleaning up and sending everyone off, Wen’s mother yawned and said, "I’m going to take a bath first."

"I’ll get the water for you."

Wen Shi scurried to the back to prepare the bathwater for Wen’s mother.

Two large buckets, all the hot water in the pot was used up.

Women use quite a bit of water for baths, so after taking it inside, he boiled another pot. Yi Chichi saw the amount and asked, "Aren’t you going to bathe?"

"It’s a bit hot; I’ll use cold water."

Yi Chichi touched his body, the temperature was normal, then noticed Wen Shi looking at her with a speechless expression, "Wife, I’m not running a fever, just feeling internally hot."

It was quite meaningful.

Yi Chichi, "..."

Got it, been holding it in too long.

She held it in for a moment, then managed to say, "I haven’t left you hanging either."

"There’s still a bit of a difference, can’t really swim through the waves like a fish."

Seemingly very aggrieved, "I have to take it easy."

In other words, not satisfying enough.

Yi Chichi sighed, "Bear with it for now, the belly’s too big."

It’s uncomfortable, no desire for anything else.

Even turning over is hard, really can’t expect her to have fun ideas.

Wen Shi agreed softly and, when the water warmed up, he took a basin to the guest room, "Wife, you go rest in the room first, I’ll wipe down Uncle Ning so he doesn’t sleep uncomfortably tonight."

"Okay."

Half an hour later, after Wen’s mother finished her bath, she came to take over, and Wen Shi busily helped out. By the time the couple had both bathed and laid down in bed, it was nearly nine o’clock.

The baby had also rested enough and was entering a phase of lively kicking and rolling around.

Wen Shi watched as her belly bulged here, then there with a small bump popping out. He reached out to touch it and asked, "Wife, does it hurt?"

"Got used to it."

At first, it did a little, especially the first few times, but after it happened a lot, she didn’t feel much anymore.

Wen Shi kissed her, "You’ve worked hard. I’ll educate her well when she comes out."

"I’m afraid you won’t have the heart to."

He thought seriously for a moment, "For a daughter, I really might not have the heart. For a son, though..."

Pausing, he sighed deeply, "Probably wouldn’t have the heart either."

Yi Chichi was speechless, he would probably be a doting father.

In the future, there was a good chance she would have to be the strict mother in their family.

"Let’s agree on this first: if you are the doting father, when I’m being the strict mother, you can’t interfere in the education. Regardless of the situation, you have to ensure my authority in education.

"I understand this, I promise not to interfere, no matter the matter, I will resolutely support your authority."

Answered particularly readily, yet Yi Chichi didn’t have much hope.

They could only wait until the child was born and act according to the situation.

Perhaps because they were ignoring the baby, the little one in the belly started kicking up a storm. Holding her belly, Yi Chichi nudged Wen Shi with her foot, "Read to the baby, singing would work too."

Wen Shi responded, first picking up a picture book to read, then singing and interacting with the baby, spending over half an hour before the belly calmed down.

He stopped his hand on Yi Chichi’s round belly and, after a long silence, whispered as if afraid of waking the baby, "Is she asleep?"

"Probably."

"Then can we sleep now?"

"Let’s sleep."

So the couple lay down, Wen Shi habitually hugging her, with his hand on her belly. Yi Chichi closed her eyes and chatted casually with him. As they chatted, he suddenly asked—

"I forgot to ask, how much did Uncle Ning offer you for the family portrait?"

Yi Chichi’s eyes snapped open, "Oh no, I forgot to ask about the price."

Wen Shi was silent for a moment, "Uncle Ning didn’t mention it?"

"No."

They were too busy discussing other things to talk about the price.

But she wasn’t worried. "I won’t lose out; the difficulty of this family portrait is no less than that of double-sided embroidery, plus the meaning is different. I believe Uncle Ning’s offered price will be high, not low."

It turned out she was right; the next morning, when the couple asked, Ning Jiandong quoted a price of fifty-eight hundred.

Wen Shi’s eyes widened, "In foreign currency?"

"What else? Can’t possibly count it using our currency."

"Paying my wife in foreign currency?"

"Dream on, payment will be in our currency."

Foreign currency was not something she would get.

Yi Chichi didn’t mind; she wasn’t planning to go abroad, so foreign currency was useless to her, plus, submitting documents to prove the source of foreign currency was troublesome. Direct exchange was more convenient for her.

"When will the payment be settled?"

"Payment is upon delivery; you’re getting an advance now."

Ning Jiandong didn’t hide anything from them, emphasizing honesty, "Even though delivery is two years away, don’t slack off; this client could develop into a long-term one."

There seemed to be something happening.

However, the couple didn’t plan to ask more; in the short term, they didn’t have the opportunity to directly face a foreign client, and asking would be pointless.

Given that, they might as well wait for the right moment to plan.

"Finish breakfast quickly, and once you’re done, I’ll take you to the port."

Wen Shi laid out the breakfast they brought back one by one, and Ning Jiandong glanced over and remarked, "Islands are great, never short of seafood."

Wen’s mother, setting out the utensils, responded, "Why not, after eating, I accompany you to the market to buy some dried seafood to take back?"

The island has a market where you can find grain, oil, rice, noodles, seafood, and even some fabrics woven by local ethnic minority villagers. It’s a legal market, free to trade, and no one reports it.

Even if reported, there’s no one to deal with it.

It’s only been open for two years or so.

Previously, only government purchases and sales were allowed, akin to the nature of department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives.

Now, local ethnic minority villagers are allowed to set up stalls freely, although they have to pay a management fee, it’s not expensive, and you only pay after products are sold.

Ning Jiandong wasn’t aware of these things, Wen Sheng was intrigued but anxious, "No problems?"

"None."

Wen Shi explained the nature of the market, and he immediately got fired up, stating his intention to go on a big shopping spree.

However, he had a problem—he didn’t bring enough money and coupons.

So he asked to borrow money.

Yi Chichi wasn’t afraid he wouldn’t return it and promptly took out five large banknotes and some coupons to give to him.