Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 83: Splitting Threads

"Communal work."

"Can anyone take it?"

"Not really, you have to put down some money."

Many people are reluctant to put down the money, hoping to take the materials for free, but the factory doesn’t agree.

Liu Xiaocao probably has some thoughts, and upon hearing this starts inquiring about how much money needs to be put down, whether there are deadlines for delivery, and so on.

Wu Yongfei and the others didn’t plan on keeping it to themselves, so they were open and honest.

Liu Xiaocao showed obvious interest on her face, seeing this, Wu Yongfei said, "Do you want to do it? If you do, we can take you along when we go to deliver."

Liu Xiaocao looked troubled, wanting to speak but stopping herself.

Bai Chen immediately became wary, seeing Liu Xiaocao like this, is she planning to borrow money?!

Just as this thought popped into mind, he heard Liu Xiaocao hesitantly say, "Um, could you lend me a bit..."

"Shut up!"

Liu Lan’s face turned stern, snapping, "If you need money, go ask your parents; Chichi and the others don’t have any money to lend you, they only earn a few work points a year, it’s hard enough to support themselves!"

Yi Chichi and the others remained silent, this was not easy to respond to.

It was a bit presumptuous.

Having a hard time supporting themselves, at least give them some dignity.

They kept complaining silently in their hearts, while on their faces they remained calm and resolutely did not respond to Liu Xiaocao’s words.

Lending money was out of the question, there’s no way they could lend money to Liu Xiaocao this lifetime.

It’s not that Liu Xiaocao was a bad person, on the contrary, the girl wasn’t bad.

But her mom, Big Mouth, was a real piece of work.

When there were no benefits involved, they already wanted to avoid her, and if they were involved, it was like throwing a bun to a dog—it would never come back.

Liu Xiaocao did not know their thoughts, but she could see that Yi Chichi and them did not want to lend her money.

With Liu Lan’s scolding added, she felt a bit embarrassed and complained, "It’s not like I wouldn’t pay back."

"It’s not about paying back, Chichi and the others simply don’t have money, that’s the key."

Liu Dongmei retorted unhappily, thinking Liu Xiaocao was not thinking clearly, "Your mom has money, why don’t you ask her?"

The Liu Family’s finances were managed by Aunt Big Mouth, and the men in the house were kept in line, only knowing how to work like Old Yellow Oxen.

Money never passed through their hands.

Liu Xiaocao sighed, "My mom is stingy, I can’t even get a dime from her usually."

"You used to ask for money just to spend it, but this time you’re asking to make money, she’ll definitely give it to you."

Liu Dongmei encouraged her to try.

Liu Xiaocao shamefully felt tempted, "Then I’ll go back and try?"

"Go ahead, at worst, you’ll just get a beating from your mom."

Liu Lan responded coolly while sorting threads.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Yi Chichi skillfully dividing a silk thread with her fingernail, as if discovering a new continent, she curiously approached, "What are you doing?"

"Splitting silk."

"??? Why split it?"

"For embroidery."

Liu Lan mumbled an acknowledgment, still curious, "How many parts do you split it into?"

"It varies, depending on the design."

Su Embroidery has requirements for stitches and threads, and since Yu Ritang’s order is custom-made at a high price, it naturally has to be perfect.

Because of Liu Lan’s sudden interjection, the topic of Liu Xiaocao borrowing money naturally shifted to embroidery.

Hua Hua and others were interested in splitting threads, and while Yi Chichi and Liu Lan were chatting leisurely, they perked up their ears to try to learn a trick or two, but each word was understandable, yet together it was like listening to a foreign language.

They had no clue about the needlework, terms like looping stitch, couching stitch... single and double couching, they had never even heard of them before.

Seeing Wang Nan and others focused on their work, Hua Hua approached, "Why aren’t you learning?"

"We learned, but didn’t master it."

Wang Nan kept her head down, her wrist moving up and down, the sound of pulling hemp thread continuous.

"You did a good job with the thousand-layer sole."

Liu Dongmei picked up a finished shoe sole, gave it a look, and made her evaluation.

"Juanzi’s is really the best."

Her shoemaking skills were taught by Ge Sujuan.

Before Juanzi came, they had to keep fixing worn-out shoes, it was quite pitiful.

If they wanted to buy a pair of shoes, they needed a ration coupon.

It was truly made to make life difficult.

"It’s because you guys are smart, someone like Chichi couldn’t learn it."

Yi Chichi didn’t expect to be used as a bad example by Juanzi, feeling a bit wronged, "I never complained you couldn’t make clothes either."

"We can!"

Ge Sujuan glared at her, "It’s just not as good as what you make."

Not being able to and not being as good are two different concepts, not to be mixed up.

Wang Nan and others quickly nodded in agreement, Bai Chen and the others pretended not to hear, looking at the ground.

As men who neither made shoes nor clothes and relied on female educated youths for help, they had no say in this topic.

Keeping quiet and playing dumb was the best choice.

If they carelessly spoke and offended someone, they’d have no clothes or shoes to wear.

The consequences were too severe, they couldn’t bear it.

"Chichi makes good clothes?"

Liu Lan became interested, she hadn’t seen Yi Chichi make clothes.

Curious~~~

"Very good."

Exquisitely made, beautifully styled, with tight and solid stitches, there was no risk of stitches suddenly coming loose while wearing.

"Next year, I’ll save up some fabric and have Chichi make me a set of green military uniform."

Zhou Qiuyu’s eyes shone brightly, Yi Chichi glanced at her, responding with two words, "Good luck!"

Given her small stature, accumulating enough military uniform fabric would be difficult.

But as with children, it’s not suitable to discourage them, encouragement should be the focus.

"If you can gather the material, I’ll not only make you a set of green military uniform but also make the hat for you."

"Then should I also save some material for the hat?"

"No need, once you have material for clothes, there will be leftovers for the hat during the cutting process."

Zhou Qiuyu gave an okay, "That could work."

Liu Lan thought about the scraps of fabric at home, feeling tempted.

"Chichi, I have lots of fabric scraps at home, can you help me make a hat?"

"I don’t have time now."

She at least had to finish the work for Yu Ritang before considering it, besides—

"I won’t do it for free."

"You make me a hat, I’ll treat you to eggs,"

Pausing, she smiled and held up one finger, "One pound, is that okay?"

Yi Chichi calculated the cost, eggs were 6-7 cents each, now they were local hens, small eggs, a pound would be seven or eight large ones, or ten small ones.

Around sixty to seventy cents.

Making a piece of clothing was 1-2.5 yuan, so the price for a hat was about right.

"Deal!"

Ge Sujuan couldn’t bear it, gritting her teeth, "Chichi, I want to learn to make hats, I also want to eat eggs."

Upon saying this, Yi Chichi and the others stared at her, Ge Sujuan felt herself turning red under their gaze, angrily saying, "What? Is it wrong to want to learn to make hats to eat eggs?"

"Nope!"

It was just about wanting eggs, what’s wrong with that.

They were all craving it badly, eggs were a treat, who wouldn’t be tempted.

However—

"You should learn to make clothes, not hats."

Bai Chen said seriously, "Not everyone has extra fabric scraps to make hats, and hats aren’t as useful as clothes."

That was the truth.

Yi Chichi nodded, "Old Bai makes a good point, learning to make hats is optional, but making good clothes will bring you many benefits."