Casting Nets to Catch a Husband

Chapter 115: Ruyi Embroidery House

Early the next morning, the Lu family father and son planned to go to the county. Lu Chengxiao had been thinking about Liu Yu and initially wanted to go to Anyi County together, as the Liu family was likely already at their shop. However, just as they were about to leave, the eldest son of his eldest uncle’s family, his eldest cousin, arrived.

He mentioned that many people in the clan wanted to sell their cloth to Lu Chengxiao and invited him to discuss the details.

With this, the trip to Anyi County was out of the question. Business matters took priority. Lu Xun and the others returned to Anyi County, while Lu Chengxiao took Babao and followed his eldest cousin to Chenjia Village.

~

In Yangshan Village, now that Liu Yu’s marriage was settled, the Liu family focused entirely on their shop. Mrs. Wei stayed home to manage the betrothal gifts sent by the Lu family, while Liu Yu, Liu Yanping, and Liu Yanan began preparing to move. They planned to move from Yangshan Village to live at their shop in the county.

Naturally, this “move” mainly involved bringing everyone’s change of clothes, bedding, and some perishable food. The toiletries would be bought in the county, and the set in Yangshan Village would remain since they wouldn’t be completely abandoning their home. Their land and house were still in Yangshan Village, where Liu Yanping and Liu Yanan would continue to collect cloth, as that was their base.

Early in the morning, the three siblings hired a mule cart from town, packed their belongings, and headed to the embroidery shop where Liu Yanqing was already living. The walls had been repainted five days ago and were now thoroughly dry.

The siblings brought a few quilts, bundles of clothes, and daily supplies of rice, flour, vegetables, and meat. There was still some firewood left in the corner of the yard from the previous occupants, Manager Lin and his wife, so they didn’t need to go back to Yangshan Village immediately and could live comfortably.

However, they still needed to buy toiletries and condiments. Liu Yanan took on this task while Liu Yanping and Liu Yu started moving the shelves.

The newly painted walls and the tidied shop looked neat. Since they wouldn’t be selling cosmetics for now, some of the shelves were moved to the empty rooms at the back. According to Liu Yu’s plan, the remaining shelves were arranged: fabric on one wall, ready-made clothes on another, and embroidered shoes, handkerchiefs, and pouches on another.

As for the counters, they kept four, creating a separate space by aligning them with the shelves against the wall. One of the central counters had a small drawer, likely for the cash box, while the others would hold needles, threads, and various embroidery threads. Behind the counters, Liu Yu planned to set up small display racks for selling expensive items like hairpins and pearl hairpins.

After about half an hour of arranging, they were finally satisfied. Now they just had to wait for the clothing display racks from Carpenter Tan. Liu Yu still felt the space was somewhat empty.

Liu Yanping thought for a moment and said, “When I went to Yuanzhou City, I noticed that the embroidery shops selling men’s clothing had fitting rooms. Should we set up a couple here too?”

Liu Yu lightly patted her forehead. She hadn’t seen these in small embroidery shops and wasn’t aware of them in larger ones. After asking for details about these fitting rooms, Liu Yanping explained, “See where it would be best to place them, and I’ll get Uncle Tan to come by.”

Liu Yu nodded, and they decided on it right away.

This idea reminded Liu Yu of the inconvenience of cutting fabrics at home. She said, “We need a few large cutting tables for the empty rooms in the backyard where we can do the daily sewing. Also, embroidery frames—these we can buy directly.”

Liu Yanping noted the required sizes of the cutting tables and embroidery frames.

Liu Yu saw him writing the list on the counter and said, “Should we also put a small table and some stools in the shop? That way, customers can sit and rest, and the shop won’t look so empty.”

Liu Yanping’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea.”

He quickly noted it down and then looked up, asking, “Anything else?”

Liu Yu smiled. “Of course, the most important thing—the shop’s signboard. Second Brother, have you thought of a name for our embroidery shop?”

This stumped Liu Yanping. He looked at Liu Yu and asked, “Do you have a suitable name in mind?”

Liu Yu frowned. “I’ve been thinking for days but haven’t come up with the perfect one.”

Liu Yanping thought for a moment, “Maybe we should use some auspicious characters?”

Hearing the word “auspicious,” Liu Yu’s heart was stirred. “Speaking of auspicious, how about using the characters for ‘Ruyi’ (which means ‘as you wish’)?”

“‘Ruyi Embroidery Shop’?” Liu Yanping thought for a moment and said, “How about ‘Ruyi Embroidery House’? It sounds smoother, and since the shop is quite large, calling it an ’embroidery house’ is more fitting. Besides…”

He smiled, “I made a bold claim to open a dozen branches in Yuanzhou. I think ’embroidery house’ fits perfectly and saves us the trouble of renaming later.”

Liu Yu chuckled, “That’s right. Let’s go with ‘Ruyi Embroidery House.'”

With the shop name decided, Liu Yanping asked, “Should we post a notice and hire some embroiderers?”

“Yes, I was about to mention that.” Liu Yu asked him to wait a moment, then went inside and brought out seven or eight sheets of Xuan paper. “Brother, I’ll need you to write the notices. We need five or six embroiderers and a dressmaker. The embroiderers will be paid by piece, and the dressmaker will be paid monthly. As for the exact wages… write ‘to be discussed in person.’ I’ll go ask Uncle Lu about the going rates in a bit. Write several copies so we can post them in various places in the county to speed up the hiring process.”

Liu Yu planned to carefully select the embroiderers. Her embroidery skills were average, and the ready-made clothes they sold didn’t feature very complex embroidery patterns. Instead, they mainly utilized the fabric’s original prints and colors, with embroidery as accents rather than the main attraction.

To run the embroidery house successfully, one or two embroiderers wouldn’t be enough. However, with limited funds initially, Liu Yu decided to outsource the embroidery work first and later hire permanent staff. By then, she would have a better idea of which embroiderers had good skills and character, making it easier to hire them.

The dressmaker would help share her workload, as running a large embroidery house couldn’t rely on just one person for cutting fabrics. At least one assistant was needed. For general needlework, Liu Yu had already asked Liu Daitian and Liu Chunshan’s wives, who were willing to work at the shop as long as their food and accommodation were covered. With Mrs. Wei helping out, there was no need to hire more people for now.

Seeing how organized Liu Yu was, Liu Yanping felt pleased. He thought for a moment, then began writing the notices. After finishing, he showed them to Liu Yu, and both found them satisfactory. They then made several copies.

When Lu Xun arrived at the shop, he saw that a notice had already been posted at the entrance and the shelves were beginning to take shape. He praised them and told the Liu siblings not to cook lunch but to come to his place to eat.

Initially, Liu Yu declined, but Lu Xun insisted, saying he would instruct the cook to prepare the meal and call them when it was ready.

Refusing further would be awkward, so the siblings thanked him.

Liu Yanqing also returned at noon, and the four siblings had lunch at Lu Feng’s place. During the meal, Lu Xun said, “Same for dinner; eat here. Since your mother isn’t here, just come over for meals.”

The Liu siblings were hesitant to impose, but Liu Yanqing quickly declined, “No need. We have to cook anyway, and we have plenty of rice, flour, and oil.”

Lu Xun waved his hand, “Cooking isn’t the issue right now. You’re rushing to open for the autumn season, and with less than half a month left, there are a lot of things to do in the shop. How can you find time to cook? If your mother were here, it would be different. Since she’s not, come over.”

Liu Yanping thought about how his mother would be busy at home for a couple of days, preserving and drying some meat, and would likely come to the county soon. He said, “Alright, thank you, Uncle Lu. But we brought some meat and vegetables from home that can’t be kept for long. I’ll bring them over later and share with you.”

Lu Xun didn’t decline, “That works.”

After lunch, Liu Yanping took the meat and vegetables they had brought that morning to Lu Feng’s place and handed them to their cook before returning.

The shop was bustling in the afternoon. Liu Yanping went to Yangshan Village to find Carpenter Tan, while Liu Yanan and Liu Yu went out to buy tables, embroidery frames, and stools. The furniture store staff delivered them in a cart, and after some moving and arranging, the shop started to look like a proper embroidery house.

Carpenter Tan arrived quickly, coming with Liu Yanping by evening. After surveying the place and discussing the designs, sizes, materials, and costs, they settled everything and agreed to start work the next day.

Before leaving, Carpenter Tan said, “The shelves you ordered were finished a few days ago, but the varnish needs a few more days to dry. We’ll deliver the new shelves along with the fitting rooms to avoid dust.”

This was a sound plan. Liu Yanping said, “Let’s do as you suggest, Uncle Tan.”

~

After visiting Chenjia Village, Lu Chengxiao found that not only was his maternal family’s clan interested in selling their cloth, but even the village chief, after hearing about it, was keen on the idea.

The village chief knew that Chen Shi’s family had been thriving in recent years. He even knew about Lu Feng’s cloth shop expanding to the county, making this grandaunt the best-married woman in Chenjia Village. The village’s hemp had already been collected, and selling the cloth on credit to the Chen family’s nephew yielded an additional thirty wen per bolt. Thirty wen per bolt! The village chief held Lu Chengxiao back, asking detailed questions for nearly half an hour before letting him go.

That day, he didn’t ask Lu Chengxiao directly if he wanted to buy his cloth but secretly sent his son to Yangshan Village in Xifeng Town to inquire whether this credit cloth business was reliable.

Meanwhile, Lu Chengxiao thought he could go to the county to see Liu Yu the next morning but was approached by his two aunts. They were also about the same matter: selling cloth.

Lu Chengxiao felt both joy and worry. Joy because, at this rate, he might be able to take 800 taels’ worth of goods with him on his August trip to the Jiangnan region instead of just 400 taels. Worry because it had been so long since he had seen Liu Yu, and he missed her terribly.

Knowing that business was important, he also understood that Liu Yu was likely just as busy as he was. Accompanied by Babao, he first visited Qiandian Village and then Jiangjia Village.

While he was in Qiandian Village, the village chief’s son from Chenjia Village had already gone to Yangshan Village to gather information. He returned home late at night, excitedly reporting that the cloth was successfully credited to the Liu family in Yangshan Village, earning an extra thirty wen per bolt. The silver was paid in full the day after the Liu brothers returned from the Jiangnan region.

The village chief of Chenjia Village was thrilled. The next day, while Lu Chengxiao was in Jiangjia Village, he gathered his clan and shared the news. Every household wanted to try their luck and kept the news tightly under wraps to avoid missing out on such a good deal.

The village chief and a few clan elders privately approached the Chen family’s eldest uncle. So, on the fourth day, Lu Chengxiao was once again intercepted at home by his eldest uncle and several people from Chenjia Village.

Fortunately, since the village chief of Chenjia Village was now familiar with the details, they were only there to give him a heads-up, which didn’t take much time. That afternoon, Lu Chengxiao finally made it to Anyi County with Babao.

By then, the gold-lettered sign of Ruyi Embroidery House had been hung outside the shop. The brand-new sign bore the four characters for Ruyi Embroidery House, with a small Liu family mark next to them.

Babao looked up, almost in disbelief.

Lu Chengxiao had already headed straight for the embroidery house. Inside, several carpenters were working, clearly in the final stages. The outline of the embroidery house was already visible.

Carpenter Tan saw a young man enter the embroidery house and was momentarily puzzled until his youngest son reminded him, “Dad, that’s the future son-in-law of the Liu family.”

Oh, Carpenter Tan immediately recognized him and greeted him with a smile, “Young Master Lu, Yu’er is in the backyard.”

Though Lu Chengxiao didn’t know how the carpenter recognized him, he smiled and thanked him before heading to the back of the shop.

Several embroiderers had come in response to the recruitment notice, and Liu Yu had just assigned them work, planning to review their embroidered products later.

As she stepped out of the embroidery room, she caught a glimpse of someone approaching. Turning her head, she saw Lu Chengxiao, and both of them stopped in their tracks. It had been half a month since they last saw each other.

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