As they walked out of the cloth stall, Xiao Huiniang clutched the heavy copper coins in her sleeve pocket, still feeling as though she were dreaming.

Not only had they sold the entire basket of embroidered handkerchiefs at a high price, but the cloth stall owner had also taken the initiative to suggest that in the future, if they had handkerchiefs, they could bring them to him to sell. The price naturally wouldn’t compare to what they could get selling themselves, but it was still considerably higher than what the peddlers paid, and he declared he would buy as many as they had.

The only requirement was that the designs couldn’t be inferior to those they had sold today.

The market remained noisy. The sun had melted the snow, and the weather became even more harshly dry and cold.

Xiao Huiniang looked at Wen Yu, who walked alongside her with a composed demeanor. Perhaps it was because the silk veil covered most of the red rashes on her face, but the gentle morning light fell upon her brow and eyes, softening those tiny rash marks. Xiao Huiniang only felt that she seemed to be enveloped in a layer of radiance, and even the patched old jacket she wore no longer appeared shabby.

It was at this moment that she felt as though she was only meeting this young lady properly for the first time today.

At home, she was so obedient and sensible it made one’s heart ache, but here in the tile market, the way she sold handkerchiefs with unhurried composure and negotiated business with the cloth merchant neither servile nor overbearing suddenly made Xiao Huiniang think of the word “nobility.”

Perhaps it was precisely because of that indescribable bearing she possessed that the women and young ladies who came to buy handkerchiefs from her at the cloth stall were all so polite, completely unlike when buying things at the embroidery stalls, picking and choosing and haggling over prices.

Xiao Huiniang stared at Wen Yu so intently that she became lost in thought, not even noticing an approaching ox cart. It was Wen Yu who pulled her aside, saying, “Big Sister, be careful.”

Xiao Huiniang said, “The money just went into my pocket like this. I still feel like I’m dreaming, and my feet feel so light, as if I’m stepping on cotton.”

Wen Yu couldn’t help but smile lightly: “Next time the tile market opens, you can bring more handkerchiefs and sell even more.”

When it came to the matter of money, Xiao Huiniang touched the copper coins in her sleeve pocket and suddenly stopped Wen Yu: “A’Yu, without you, I couldn’t have sold these handkerchiefs. Take this money.”

Wen Yu’s hand was suddenly stuffed with a large string of copper coins. The heavy weight made surprise flash in her eyes. What Xiao Huiniang had given her was probably half of what they had earned today.

She quickly refused: “This won’t do. You embroidered most of those silk handkerchiefs. I only embroidered seven or eight. What’s more, there’s the cost of needles, thread, and cloth in there. I’m also eating and staying at your house. I absolutely cannot take this money!”

Xiao Huiniang still insisted on giving it, saying, “One thing is one thing. Today it was entirely thanks to your method that we sold all those silk handkerchiefs and opened up connections with the cloth merchant. Even keeping half, I’ve earned more than I used to make selling handkerchiefs to that Chen Erlang. Don’t you still need to find your family in the future? Keep it…”

She pressed down on Wen Yu’s hand, not letting her return the money.

Her palm was warm. The string of copper coins Wen Yu held in her palm, pressed by her hand, was also warm—it was the temperature from her clothes pocket, yet it made Wen Yu’s heart gradually grow warm as well.

She softened her tone: “Then Big Sister, please keep it for me first. I still owe Second Master thirty taels.”

When Xiao Huiniang heard the latter part of her sentence, she seemed to want to say something but hesitated. In the end, she sighed and counted out a hundred copper coins to give her, saying, “Then you take these hundred wen. If you see anything at the market, you can buy it.”

This time Wen Yu didn’t refuse again.

As the two continued walking forward, a voice suddenly called from behind: “Would the young lady wearing a veil up ahead please wait!”

Wen Yu and Xiao Huiniang both stopped in their tracks and looked back.

They saw a young lady with double hanging buns running to catch up with them. Her clothing was quite respectable; she appeared to be a maid from a wealthy household.

When she reached the two of them, she said, “Were you two the ones selling Suzhou embroidery silk handkerchiefs at the cloth merchant earlier?”

As she spoke, she displayed a Suzhou embroidery silk handkerchief in her hand. In the lower corner of the handkerchief was embroidered a sprig of red plum blossoms with what appeared to be some kind of insignia seal, which complemented the design quite well.

Wen Yu recognized that the handkerchief in her hand was one she had sold to a certain woman. Now that this maid-like person had come looking for them with it, she didn’t know what had happened.

Xiao Huiniang was also quite puzzled. She answered on Wen Yu’s behalf: “It was us. What’s the matter?”

The little maid’s face showed delight as she quickly asked again, “Was the embroidery on this also done by you?”

Wen Yu nodded: “I embroidered it.”

The little maid said, “Then I’ll trouble this young lady to come with me. Our madam wishes to meet you.”

Wen Yu asked, “Who is your madam? Why does she want to see me?”

The little maid only felt that although this woman’s clothing was shabby, when those dark, cool eyes fixed on her, she inexplicably felt somewhat breathless. She hurriedly explained, “My madam’s surname is Xu. Earlier she went to the cloth market to select fabric and saw a woman holding a handkerchief that was actually rare Suzhou embroidery. Upon inquiry, she learned it was sold by the young lady. My madam seeking you out this time will only bring good things. Please rest assured and come with me.”

As she spoke, she pointed not far away, saying, “My madam’s carriage is parked right over there!”

Wen Yu looked at Xiao Huiniang: “Big Sister, shall I go?”

Xiao Huiniang had nearly been dazed by today’s succession of happy events. Knowing well that if that noble person took a liking to Wen Yu’s embroidery, Wen Yu would have another way to earn money, she was only happy for her and said, “Since the noble person is waiting, you should go.”

Wen Yu was led by the maid toward the carriage. When the maid went forward to report, Wen Yu stood waiting five paces away.

This feeling was quite novel to her. For the past dozen or so years, she had always been the person inside the carriage. Now she had suddenly become the person waiting outside the carriage for an audience.

Her gaze swept over that carriage, which could already be considered quite imposing in the tile market. Not seeing any insignia on the carriage body or horse’s rump, she guessed that the carriage owner’s family was probably in commerce.

Before long, the maid gestured for Wen Yu to come forward.

The noble lady inside the carriage wore a gold-woven red jacket trimmed with rabbit fur and held a hot water bottle in her hands, looking quite prosperous. After sizing up Wen Yu from head to toe with her narrow eyes, she asked in a leisurely manner, “Why do you still show yourself to others with your face covered?”

Wen Yu knew the ways of those nobles and dignitaries. She lowered her eyes without looking at the other party, only answering, “This commoner woman’s appearance is unsightly. I fear it would offend Madam’s eyes.”

The noble lady had no particular interest in her appearance to begin with, and instead asked, “You know Suzhou embroidery?”

Wen Yu answered, “Yes.”

The noble lady asked again, “How long have you been embroidering?”

Wen Yu said, “I learned from my mother since I was young.”

Only then did the noble lady lift her eyelids slightly: “Can you do double-sided embroidery?”

Wen Yu’s brows furrowed almost imperceptibly as she replied, “I can, but I’m not proficient.”

The noble lady’s well-maintained fingers lightly tapped the hot water bottle resting on her lap. After seeming to consider for a moment, she said, “I observe that the needlework on your silk handkerchief is delicate and well-arranged, no worse than those embroiderers who have been famous for quite some time. Embroider a fan face for me. Can you complete it in one month?”

Wen Yu was currently short of money and certainly wouldn’t refuse. After a moment of contemplation, she said, “I can.”

A smile appeared on the noble lady’s face. Holding her hot water bottle, she shifted to a more comfortable position and said, “I’m going to give this item as a gift, so you need to put in your full effort to embroider it for me. Once it’s finished, you’ll naturally receive good compensation. For a single-sided fan face, after completion I’ll give you five thousand wen. However, if you can embroider it as double-sided embroidery…”

The noble lady glanced at Wen Yu: “I’ll multiply the price by ten times for you.”

Wen Yu’s long lashes suddenly lifted slightly.

Ten times?

That would be fifty thousand wen, equivalent to a full fifty taels of silver!

Never mind regaining her freedom—she would even have enough silver to hire people to protect her while searching for her trusted aides.

It was just that embroidering this double-sided embroidery was indeed time-consuming and mentally taxing.

In the Suzhou-Hangzhou region, who knew how many embroiderers had ruined their eyes embroidering double-sided embroidery.

Seeing that Wen Yu didn’t speak, the noble lady assumed she was shocked by the compensation and, not minding it, called the name of her maid beside her.

The little maid understood perfectly and took out a silver ingot to hand to Wen Yu, saying, “This is the deposit. For this month, don’t take on any other business and focus on embroidering what my madam wants. Where do you live? Later, Madam will send someone to deliver the satin, silk thread, and embroidery pattern to your home.”

Wen Yu had already made up her mind. After accepting the silver ingot, she reported the street and alley where the Xiao family lived.

When that noble lady waved her hand to indicate she could leave, Wen Yu curtsied and withdrew. Throughout the entire encounter she had never raised her eyes, but even with her head half-lowered, she still gave people the impression of being aloof yet not servile.

The noble lady watched her departing figure and remarked with puzzlement, “That bearing of hers—she doesn’t seem like someone who makes a living doing embroidery work.”

The little maid also glanced at Wen Yu’s retreating back and said, “Perhaps her family circumstances were once fairly good, and she fled here as a refugee after the war?”

The noble lady withdrew her gaze and lowered her eyelids: “Forget it. Never mind what she was before. As long as she diligently embroiders what I want, that’s enough.”

After returning, Wen Yu told Xiao Huiniang about the noble lady having her embroider a fan face.

Xiao Huiniang naturally didn’t think Wen Yu could embroider double-sided embroidery. Not to mention how extremely it tested one’s skills—one month’s time simply wasn’t enough.

Although embroidering just a single side for five thousand wen was already quite generous, Xiao Huiniang didn’t show any joy because of the compensation. Instead, she knitted her brows and said, “I’m afraid the other party’s embroidery pattern will be complex. To embroider something meticulously, one month is still too rushed…”

Wen Yu only said, “Big Sister, you needn’t worry for me. I know what I’m doing.”

Xiao Huiniang sighed and said, “Don’t treat those thirty taels like a mountain pressing down on you. At the root of it all, this is Chen Laizi’s fault. When Huan’er’s side finds Chen Laizi, he’ll be the one to repay the money. How could we truly make you, a child, repay Chen Laizi’s gambling debt?”

But the problem was that as long as Chen Laizi couldn’t be found for one day, this debt would remain without an owner for one day. Since Wen Yu had been given to her son by Chen Laizi as payment, Xiao Huiniang ultimately had no authority to let her son release Wen Yu to leave. She could only treat her as well as possible.

Thinking of these things, Xiao Huiniang’s heart also grew heavy. She returned to the subject of embroidery: “For this coming month, you just focus on embroidering that fan face. I’ll embroider the silk handkerchiefs. You just prepare several embroidery patterns later. As long as the designs are novel, that cloth stall shopkeeper will buy them all the same.”

Wen Yu thanked Xiao Huiniang and then handed that silver ingot to her. Xiao Huiniang naturally refused to accept it, but Wen Yu forcibly stuffed it into her hand: “Please keep it. The household needs to spend money on firewood, rice, oil, and salt. Just consider that I’ve already repaid one tael.”

Xiao Huiniang held the silver ingot, her heart a complex mixture of feelings. Looking at Wen Yu with eyes full of both heartache and some guilt: “You, child…”

To prevent Xiao Huiniang from talking about money again, Wen Yu mentioned hiring embroiderers to work together on silk handkerchiefs. After all, she couldn’t spare time to embroider Suzhou embroidery silk handkerchiefs anymore. Those handkerchiefs taken out to sell would rely entirely on the designs to win. Each batch of handkerchiefs given to that cloth merchant meant one less batch of novel embroidery patterns. Only if each batch of embroidered handkerchiefs taken out was numerous enough could they earn more silver with the same embroidery pattern.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Huiniang was truly persuaded. The two had nearly walked to the tile market exit when she turned around to go back: “No, if we’re going to hire people to embroider handkerchiefs, then I need to buy more silk cloth!”

The two had already bought quite a lot of New Year goods along the way. What Wen Yu was carrying already felt quite heavy, and she feared that buying more would make it impossible to carry everything. She advised, “Big Sister, why don’t we come buy more next time? We’ve already bought so many things today.”

Xiao Huiniang calculated the market days and shook her head, saying, “The next market day won’t be until after the New Year. I’d better go back and buy another bolt of silk cloth. There’s a tea stall up ahead. A’Yu, you take the things and sit there to wait. I’ll be right back.”

Wen Yu wanted to call Xiao Huiniang back again, but Xiao Huiniang had already turned around and squeezed into the bustling crowd. Holding the large and small packages, Wen Yu could only go wait at the tea stall first.

She asked the waiter for a pot of hot tea and sat down after putting everything down.

Who would have expected that before the waiter had even brought the tea water, several slovenly thugs came walking into the tea stall, spitting melon seed shells all along the way with smirking faces, their feet heading straight toward Wen Yu’s table without even turning.

“Little lady, you’ve done quite a lot of business in this tile market today! Bought so many things—how could you not show some respect to us?”