The hand that takes from others is short-handed, and the mouth that eats from others is soft-hearted.
After eating the shrimp dumplings that Jiying brought, Shi Xiang and others looked at Jiying with a little more friendliness.
Why did I think Jiying was cold and arrogant and didn't know how to get along with others
Zhou Shaojin complained in his heart, spread out the moon-white Songjiang three-shuttle cloth that Jiying left behind yesterday on the clothing table, then took out the drawing powder and scissors and asked Jiying: "How does it look?"
Ji Ying was stunned and asked her, "What does it look like?"
Zhou Shaojin blinked and said, "You asked me to tell you how to make socks for Uncle Chi. If you don't give me a sample, how can I know the size?"
Ji Ying's face darkened, and he said, "Wait a moment, I'll go find a pair of old socks."
Zhou Shaojin was silent.
Ji Ying hurried out the door, but bumped into Shi Xiang who was carrying tea and snacks in.
Shi Xiang looked at Ji Ying who passed by her and asked in confusion: "What happened? Why did Miss Ji Ying leave just after she arrived?"
"Nothing." Zhou Shaojin slowly placed the small box of painting powder next to the clothing table and said, "I'll be back soon."
Shi Xiang hummed, put the snacks on the small table next to her, and said, "Second Miss, have some tea."
Zhou Shaojin nodded and took a sip of tea. She thought that she had taken a bath this morning. It was estimated that Jiying would come again tomorrow morning. She would have to rush to make a birthday gift for Mrs. Guo at night. In this way, she would not have enough time. Forget about shoes and socks. She could just make two forehead scarves and send them to her. Then there was her own needlework. It would be better to give it as a gift to others less. Before, Yuan asked her to help draw a picture of playing babies, and now Jiying asked her to help make socks. Who knew who would come tomorrow? She was not an embroiderer. Besides, her sister was getting married soon. In her previous life, her sister had difficulty in having children. She wanted to embroider a picture of Guanyin delivering a child for her sister as a dowry. Such a large embroidery would take her at least half a year to embroider. If something delayed her, it would not be surprising to take her a year. After careful calculation, she had to prepare now.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that she didn't have enough time.
He simply called Shi Xiang in and asked her to prepare a few larger sheets of paper for him: "… I want four feet square."
Small pieces of Ming paper are cut from large pieces of Ming paper, which is a very simple thing.
Shi Xiang smiled and went away, bumping into Ji Ying who was entering the house.
Zhou Shaojin couldn't help but exclaimed, "Why did you come back so soon?"
Ji Ying looked unhappy. She did not answer her confusion, but threw a pair of shoes she was holding with two fingers in front of Zhou Shaojin: "Here, your uncle Chi's shoes."
Zhou Shaojin looked at the dark blue fine cloth fat-toed shoes with auspicious clouds embroidered on them lying on the ground, one right side up and the other wrong side up, and said in astonishment, "Didn't you ask me to tell you how to make socks? Why did you bring a pair of shoes? Did Miss Nanping ask you to help Uncle Chi make shoes?"
Jiying was even more surprised than her. She opened her eyes wide and asked, "Aren't we supposed to make socks according to the size of the shoes?"
"Who told you!" Zhou Shaojin opened his eyes wide.
"When I was at home, the maids at home made socks according to my shoes." Ji Ying's eyes were wider than Zhou Shaojin's. "If you don't make socks according to the size of my shoes, then what size do you make socks according to? Do you want me to measure your uncle Chi's feet?" She looked disgusted and continued, "If that's the case, I would rather ask Nanping what size socks your uncle Chi wears."
That's because you are a girl, so your nanny can't use your old socks to show off to others.
Zhou Shaojin didn't know what to say anymore. He closed his eyes and said after a while, "You can either find Uncle Shuangchi's old socks or ask Miss Nanping to draw a picture of the socks."
Nanping was in charge of the needlework at Xiaoshan Congguiyuan. She must have known Uncle Chi's size very well, so drawing the pattern of socks was just a piece of cake for her.
However, Zhou Shaojin estimated that Jiying would not look for her.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a big misunderstanding just now.
But Jiying said that when she was at home, the maids at home made socks for her according to her shoes. This is the style of a well-off family... Could it be that Jiying's family is a family of officials who were confiscated? No, didn't she say that her parents were farming in their hometown? And she has two brothers... Then why did she come to serve Uncle Chi in the mansion
The more Zhou Shaojin thought about it, the more confused he felt.
Jiying had already folded back like the wind, holding a pair of socks with two fingers... "Here, here you go!"
Zhou Shaojin knew what was going on after just one look.
She pointed to the small rattan basket next to the clothing table and said, "Just put it there."
Jiying threw the socks into the wicker basket.
Zhou Shaojin took the drawing powder and started to draw the shape of socks on the cloth.
Ji Ying asked curiously, "Don't you even need to measure it?"
"Do I need to measure?" Zhou Shaojin said without even looking up. "When I was learning needlework, I made countless pairs of socks."
Jiying became even more curious and asked, "Why do you want to make socks?"
"To practice sewing!" Zhou Shaojin picked up the scissors and began to cut the cloth. "Whether the sewing is good or not depends mainly on whether the needle is even and smooth. This requires frequent practice. Otherwise, no matter how well you cut your clothes, they will be wrinkled after sewing because of the uneven stitches, and the clothes will not look good. So novices in embroidery embroider handkerchiefs, and novices in making clothes make socks." Seeing that Jiying didn't know anything about sewing, she was quite interested in Jiying's origins, so she asked, "Didn't you learn sewing when you were a child?"
Ji Ying said vaguely: "My mother wants me to learn, but my father said that for me, it doesn't matter if I don't learn. There are many women who can do needlework anyway, so I can just ask someone to make clothes, shoes and socks for me when the time comes." When she said this, her face turned a little ugly.
Zhou Shaojin looked at it and sighed in his heart.
Ji Ying didn't expect that her family would eventually make her Uncle Chi a maid, right
For a maid, needlework is the most basic skill.
If you can't do needlework well, no matter how good you are, it will be difficult to succeed.
Zhou Shaojin paused.
There is another situation, that is, some girls are born with the ability to count accounts. They cannot do needlework, but they can still gain a foothold in their employer because they can count accounts.
"So are you good at numerology?" she asked Jiying.
"Compared to others, it's good." Ji Ying said, a hint of gloom flashed across his face, and said, "But compared to your uncle Chi... it's not good."
Zhou Shaojin felt relieved.
Daring to compete with boys, she must be very strong among girls.
It's no wonder her father said it was okay for her to not know how to do needlework, and he eventually sent her to the Cheng family. It's no wonder she was so arrogant, because the more skilled you are, the bolder you are!
"That's already amazing." She comforted Ji Ying, "Like my aunt, she has always wanted to find a maid to help her with the accounts, but she hasn't found one until today, so she has to ask my sister to help. A few days ago, my aunt said, what will she do when my sister gets married? You are in charge of the accounts in Uncle Chi's house, many people envy you!"
Ji Ying curled her lips in disdain and said, "Why would I help your Uncle Chi manage the accounts in the house? Nan Ping manages the accounts in your Uncle Chi's house. Although her math skills are average, she obeys your Uncle Chi's words like a decree. As long as it's what your Uncle Chi says, she will never get tired of doing anything, no matter how boring it is. I can't compare to her."
Isn't this what should be done
Zhou Shaojin looked at Jiying's disapproving expression and was really speechless.
Fortunately, she quickly finished cutting the socks and told Jiying which piece of cloth was the bottom of the sock and which piece of cloth was the tube: "... Do you understand? Sew these two pieces together, and then attach this piece, and it's done."
Jiying was very smart. Almost as soon as she picked up one of the pieces, she immediately understood the function of the other piece. She also saw that she had cut a total of ten pairs of socks and said, "Nanping only asked me to make four pairs. Why did you cut so many?"
Zhou Shaojin smiled and said, "The rest is for you to practice."
In fact, she just stacked the cloth together, and one pair was also three scissors, two pairs were also three scissors... ten pairs were also three scissors, which was not a big deal.
Jiying also noticed it, she said "Oh" and didn't say anything.
Zhou Shaojin taught her how to hold the needle and how to hold the thread.
Jiying also learns very quickly.
But when it was time to sew, she hesitated and said, "Why don't you make a pair for me first? I feel like I'm going to waste the material."
Zhou Shaojin was in the same situation when she first started learning needlework. She was afraid to start sewing.
She smiled and let Jiying watch as she started sewing socks.
Zhou Shaojin's hands were steady and fast. His stitches were smooth and dense, like embroidery. He used a cross stitch. In this way, although the socks had no patterns on them, the joints looked like they had embroidered edges. The thread was the same color, and it looked surprisingly low-key and gorgeous.
Jiying couldn't help but praise: "Your needlework is better than Nanping's!"
Zhou Shaojin thought she was just being polite and said with a smile, "Even Madam Zhang in the sewing room praised Miss Nanping's needlework. How can I compare with her?"
"I think your needlework is really better than Nanping's." Jiying said seriously, "She is a maid, and I don't know how many things she has to make every year. But you are a lady, and at most you only make two small clothes for yourself, but your needlework is no less than Nanping's, so I say your needlework is better than Nanping's."
Zhou Shaojin decided not to speak anymore.
Shi Xiang walked in with a smile and said, "Second Miss, Miss Nanping is here."
Zhou Shaojin was surprised.
Ji Ying frowned and asked, "What is she doing here?"
"I don't know." Shi Xiang smiled and said, "Miss Nanping didn't say anything."
Ji Ying said to Zhou Shaojin: "If she asks about me, don't tell her I'm here."
Zhou Shaojin noticed that there was something wrong between Jiying and Nanping, and she didn't want them to cause trouble in her place.
"I understand." She smiled and agreed to Jiying, and went to the small flower hall for receiving guests with Shixiang.
"I'm so sorry!" Nan Ping apologized to Zhou Shaojin with an apologetic face when she saw her, "Ji Ying is careless and doesn't know the rules. She came to you rashly like this and caused you trouble." She pointed to the paper box on the table and said, "This is Qi Fangzhai's snacks, for the second young lady to calm down. Please forgive Ji Ying's unintentional mistake."
Jiying was changing her shoes and socks, making such a big noise. As the head maid in Xiaoshan Congguiyuan, Nanping would definitely not be able to hide it from her.
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Sisters, today's extra update.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)