Yan Hongxiu was very disappointed after she heard the unfriendly words. It turned out that Mr. Li didn’t get angry for her behavior. She looked a little better, but she felt bitterer in heart.
“Maybe she would take me as an apprentice if I behaved better just now.”
Yan Hongxiu had played with Yan Ziye since she was a little girl, so she was deeply influenced by Yan Ziye. She still held the unpractical dream that she could become a chivalrous swordswoman in the martial arts circle other than becoming a female general. It was obvious that Mr. Li was her idol in her heart.
“Mr. Li.” Yan Ziye took a deep breath and said after he finally calmed down, “Will she really reach that realm in one year if she practices the archery with you?”
“Certainly not!”
Su Li looked at Yan Ziye and said with a bit of tease, “The martial arts circle will be in a mess if the inborn realm can be so easily achieved.”
“Mr. Li, what do you mean…?” Yan Ziye immediately got worried.
Su Li waved her hand and said coldly, “I certainly have another way to make your sister master the way to use the bow. Although it isn’t better than the inborn realm, she will absolutely be better than Satrap Yan on the archery if she can improve the combat power through this bow. Childe, can you accept this result?”
Yan Hongxiu screamed with a surprised face before Yan Ziye said anything, “I can accept it!”
It was well-known that their father was the first senior in the Qinghe Town. Therefore, if she could surpass their father on the archery, she certainly would not be controlled by the family and may become a female general in the future!
“We would like to accept it.” Yan Ziye’s face beamed with happiness and then he murmured with hesitation, “Then my…”
“Childe, rest assured. We will not let you down after the thing is done.” Su Li promised. Then she turned to Yan Hongxiu and said, “Miss Hongxiu, you will have a rough time this year.”
Yan Hongxiu was a little worried, but she finally said with her teeth clenched, “Mr. Li, rest assured. I can hold on so long as my aim can be achieved!”
“Then the first step…”
Su Li put the silvery bow in Yan Hongxiu’s hand and said, “You must carry this bow when you eat, sleep or go anywhere else. And you should caress the bow with sincerity no less than one thousand times every day. I will tell you the next step one month later if you can do as requested.”
“Carry the bow all the time?”
The length of the silvery bow in her hand was the same as her height. Yan Hongxiu blankly stared at it with a worried face.
…
In the study of the East Courtyard of the Jin Family —
Jin Cheng’ao lazily leaned against a chair back and lowered his head. He said bossily, “What did my father say?”
The manservant who deferentially stood in front of Jin Cheng’ao quivered and immediately replied, “The Master said that you must stop dealing with the Linli Building before finding out the wire-puller.”
After hearing the words, Jin Cheng’ao immediately chuckled and said, “After all, my father is old. He is overcautious and indecisive. My goal is not just the Dahan Country. How can I waste time on small Qinghe Province? Since I am not allowed to deal with the Lingli Building, what about the embroidery workshop?”
The manservant bent down and didn’t dare to move. He knew that the master didn’t ask him.
“If you can get hold of the embroidery workshop, the Jin Family will certainly have a greater say!” The head of the Jin Family said while looking at his son with complex and ambitious eyes, “But Gong Xiangjun… is very hard to deal with! If you want to have the embroidery workshop, you have to deal with her. You may not enter the door when you go there because of her and the butler of the Yan Family.”
“Father, you are telling a joke.”
Jin Cheng’ao patted the folding fan in his hand and said while laughing uncontrollably, “The current workshop owner is merely a little silly girl. The supervisor of officials has an executive power on both the Satrap Mansion and the embroidery workshop.”
The head of the Jin Family’s pupils narrowed and he said coldly “What do you want to do? We can’t offend the Gong Family!”
“Father, rest assured. I have sense of propriety!”
Jin Cheng’ao beamed with happiness and an inexplicably dangerous breath slowly spread from him. Even his father, the head of the Jin Family, couldn’t help feeling cold.
His son had completely changed since he came back that year…
Although he was very pleased with his son’s current talent and abilities, he could never feel again the affection between the father and son.
…
On this day, Su Li was in the library with nothing to do. Suddenly, someone passed a message to her.
“Trouble for the embroidery workshop?”
Su Li’s eyebrows slightly rose. She glanced at Gao Dahai with sweat all over his face and said calmly, “Take me there.”
Looking at Su Li’s calm face, Gao Dahai gradually became calm. He and Su Li rushed to the embroidery workshop in a carriage.
“Making trouble for the embroidery workshop at this time…”
Su Li sat in the carriage. From her eyes, it could be seen that she was thinking about something. Few families dared to make trouble for the embroidery workshop, not to mention that Gong Xiangjun was still alive. Su Li could easily guess the troublemaker who dared to act in this period.
“Has Jin Cheng’ao obtained the practice method?”
Su Li gently rubbed her eyebrows. Suddenly she said with a meaningful smile, “It turns out that the thing is far simpler than I have thought.”
“Stop —”
Gao Dahai stopped the carriage. Then Su Li immediately walked out and hurried to the back hall. The atmosphere of the back hall was extremely grave.
The first administrator stood at the front and a group of embroidery artificers angrily stood behind him while a group of rich merchants stood in the opposite direction with a cold face.
“I have told you that these embroidery works are not made in our embroidery workshop. The embroidery workshop of the Qinghe Province only makes first class works. But the embroidery works brought by you have errors even in basic embroidery skills. How can these be our embroidery works?”
Jia An placidly defended the workshop. The leader of the rich merchants immediately sneered, “Old bastard, you are truly able to blow your own trumpet! I have often found such rubbish in your embroidery works since you changed the workshop owner! You must have raked in more profit. How dare you to deny it!”
Jia An’s face immediately changed. He knew the moral quality of the new workshop owner best. She had never mentioned the profit whenever she came to the embroidery workshop. And she even didn’t draw her salary for several months. How could such an embroidery owner try every means to get more profits for herself?
Jia An easily knew that someone was making trouble for Su Li on purpose.
Jia An was more resolute when he thought of that girl who had mastered excellent embroidery skills at a very young age. He would never allow anybody to slander her.
“What are all these noises about?”
At this time, a ringing voice came from outside. Su Li hurriedly rushed in with a slightly concerned face. Gao Dahai who followed Su Li saw that nothing had changed. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
“Workshop owner!”
“Workshop owner, you are finally here!”
“…”
Seeing Su Li, a group of embroidery artificers with red eyes surrounded her one after another. It seemed that they had found their backbone. Their life had barely changed since Su Li took over the embroidery workshop, but their embroidery skills had more or less improved under the guidance of Su Li.
Therefore, although Su Li was the youngest among them, they respected her all the same.
The rich merchant curled his mouth when he saw the scene. He had never thought that this little silly girl could have such a high reputation in the embroidery workshop. It was a pity…
“Workshop owner, you are here on time.”
Jia An looked sullen. He didn’t think that Su Li could change the situation, but he still explained the trouble to her.
Su Li slightly nodded after she heard it. She walked to the inferior embroidery works and squatted down to carefully examine them.
The rich merchant suddenly laughed out and said, “Workshop Owner Su, you can’t change the fact that these are made in your embroidery workshop even if you examine them for ten thousand times. You’d better admit it. Have you raked in our hard-earned money?!”
“Right, quickly admit it!”
“Bitch! I have never thought that you could be so greedy at such a young age!”
“Are you dazzled by the glory? Do you think that the entire embroidery workshop belongs to you?!”
“Bastard, get out of the embroidery workshop immediately!”
“…”
The rest rich merchants immediately abused Su Li with harsh and insulting words. Jia An’s face dramatically changed after hearing them. Some grieved embroidery artificers couldn’t help crying in a low voice when they saw that Su Li was still squatting down to examine the inferior works.
God! The embroidery owner was only a sixteen-year-old girl. Why was she abused to such an extent?
Jin Ruolan hid among the embroidery artificers. She nearly laughed out when she saw this.
“Su Li! Su Li! I have never thought that you will be a thorn in my brother’s side. I would like to see how you retain your position. Raking in the profits of the embroidery workshop is a felony!”
Su Li slowly stood up and raised her head after she examined the last batch of embroidery works. She remained calm and said coldly, “Are you done talking?”
The entire back hall suddenly turned quiet. Even the rich merchants’ faces changed. Since they were overwhelmed by an invisible force, their breath became rapid.
Su Li smiled and said, “Since you have finished, it is my turn.”
Then she picked up an embroidery work and asked, “Landlord, I would like to ask you a question. Do you remember the specific purchasing date?”
The rich merchant remained calm and snorted, “No one can remember such trifling things? These inferior products were mixed with good ones. It was very hard for me to let servants pick them out.”
“Then what about the approximate date?”
Su Li’s smile seemed to signify something more and she said, “Were they delivered in the past month? That is to say, were they delivered after I took office?”
Su Li’s words obviously meant something more. Many embroidery artificers reminded of something, and their eyes brightened up.
However, the rich merchant didn’t notice it. He immediately nodded and said, “Of course! When Mrs. Gu was the owner of the embroidery workshop, there wasn’t such a thing. How can I doubt Mrs. Gu’s moral quality?”
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Su Li immediately clapped her hands with a smile. The rich merchants were dumbfounded when they saw this.
“Then what happened today is interesting! Qingshang, explain this to the landlord.”
A shrewd young woman behind her walked out when Su Li mentioned her. She was a talent that Su Li had found after she had observed for a month.
Qingshang glanced at Su Li in excitement and hurriedly squatted down to check the cloth. The rich merchants all felt worried.
Was it possible that there truly was a defect?
One of them subconsciously looked at Jin Ruolan’s direction. Instantly Jin Ruolan slightly shook her head to signify that she didn’t know.
Su Li saw this, but she didn’t say it out.
“Embroidery owner, I have finished examining it.”
Qingshang stood up and coldly saw the rich merchants, who had blamed Su Li and talked harshly, “These embroidery works are inferior products used by the apprentices of the embroidery workshop for practice. So both the thread and cloth belong to the embroidery workshop. In the past month, the workshop owner taught us some new skills which dramatically improved the efficiency of our workshop. But she didn’t teach the apprentices. So they can’t appear on the embroidery works a month ago. The embroidery skills in these embroidery works aren’t simplified, so… there are only two sources!”
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