Wei Yang didn't want to argue with her about this, so she changed the subject and asked, "Miss Chen, do you already have a craft or do you want to learn a craft to make a living?"
Chen Su's face turned redder and she stroked the teacup with her thumb. She said softly, "I am a concubine's daughter. My mother is very kind to me. I am good at sewing and mending, but I have never learned anything else."
Although she said it lightly, from Yan Xiaoling's words yesterday, Wei Yang could imagine how difficult it was for her to live with her stepmother.
"So you want to learn some skills to make a living?"
"Yes, Miss Xie, I'm telling you the truth." Chen Su bit her lip hard and forced herself to calm down. She could feel that this Miss Xie was different from Zhou Yuner.
"There are four sisters in my family. Except for the youngest sister who is a legitimate daughter, the three of us are illegitimate. I wonder if you have heard about the marriages of my eldest and second sisters. Everyone in Yancheng knows about it. Everyone is waiting to see me make a fool of myself and to see what kind of family my mother will marry me to."
Tears dripped down Chen Su's pale cheeks: "I have no choice. I, I don't want to be like my elder sister and second sister. Miss Xie, I, I am not a person who despises the poor and loves the rich and wants to marry into a wealthy family. As long as the husband's family is not bad, the husband will not wait, wait..."
Chen Su's subsequent words were drowned out by her sobs and she couldn't continue.
Wei Yang reached out and gently patted the back of her hand: "It's okay, it's okay..."
She didn't dare to give her any promises, and could only comfort her in such vague terms. But in her heart, she really hoped that she could do something for her.
Wei Yang thought for a moment and changed the subject: "Yesterday, I found the heir of the Zhou family, Zhou Ji, a famous blanket maker in Yanzhou. Did you know that?"
"Zhou Ji?" Chen Su looked at Wei Yang in surprise, tears still hanging on her cheeks. Of course she knew Zhou Ji, there were not many of Zhou Ji's blankets left now, all of them were collected and were extremely valuable.
Wei Yang pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to her: "Wipe your face first."
Chen Su's heart warmed up, and she calmed down a lot. She blushed and took out her handkerchief, muttering, "I have it, thank you, young lady. Are there any successors to Zhou Ji? Didn't they say they were all dead?"
"Well, Zhou Ji has a successor who now lives in the general's mansion. If you are interested in weaving carpets, you can learn from her. If you are not interested, you can also learn embroidery from me. For now, I can be sure that there are only these two things you can learn. I haven't thought about the others yet." After saying that, Wei Yang couldn't help laughing. It's not that she hasn't thought about it, it's that she clearly doesn't have a master.
She can embroider, so she can learn embroidery. Zhou Mei Niang can weave blankets, so she can learn weaving blankets. She is clearly a blind cat catching a dead mouse, and she will take whatever she encounters.
"I'm not very good at embroidery, but I can make some lace. I want to learn how to weave a blanket from Miss Zhou. Is that okay?" Chen Su looked at Wei Yang, feeling a little uneasy, fearing that Wei Yang would be unhappy if she didn't learn embroidery from her.
When Wei Yang heard that Chen Su wanted to learn how to weave carpets from Zhou Meiniang, she was actually very happy. She was afraid that she would not be able to teach well and would mislead the students.
Wei Yang was very clear about her own abilities, although she always thought she was good at embroidery. Her parents, brother and sister-in-law also praised her, but who knew if they were just praising her out of partiality
You can imagine how difficult it was for her to embroider a purse after spending almost a month on it.