Chapter 392: Chapter 401: Which Noble and Beautiful Girl Isn’t Busy?
That day, Shen Hua did not go out.
In front of her was a double-sided embroidery screen brilliant enough to dazzle onlookers.
It depicted a river and mountains, resplendent under the twilight glow. A closer look revealed the clear waters in which stones were visible, reflecting the lushness of the mountains.
The embroidery piece drew a gasp from Ningzhu.
"This is truly beautiful, identical on both sides."
Shen Hua was also very satisfied.
She rarely offered advice.
"Double-sided embroidery overcomes challenges with threading, jumping, and color application; there are only more things to pay attention to. Such a piece clearly took a long time to finish."
The embroidery lady laughed, "This is the work of seven or eight of us embroidery ladies together over the past month. It was a bit rushed."
Shen Hua nodded in approval. Soon, she noticed something.
"And the technique of color borrowing embroidery."
She paused, then added, "Particularly in the areas where the Virtual and Real Needle is used."
"We knew we couldn’t hide it from Miss Shen."
The embroidery lady laughed, "The main technique used in this piece was Variant Embroidery. In the hidden areas, we used darker base colors, and in lighter areas, we banked on the contrasting base colors. At the boundary where darkness meets light, sparse needling transitions from virtual to real to arrange the needles."
Shen Hua nodded slightly: "That was thoughtful."
Variant Embroidery includes double-sided, patchwork, bead, color borrowing, stacked, curtain, and hair embroidery.
Double-sided embroidery is not simple in itself.
But when it comes to technique, it is just eight words.
Marking lines, handling needles, arranging needles, and hiding tails.
Each can be distinctly subdivided in detail.
Marking lines requires trimming the tails, piercing from top to bottom, then picking up the needle two or three spots away to press down the tail and then hide it. Only by doing so will neither side reveal thread ends.
Handling needles requires keeping the embroidery needle upright and not piercing the threads on the other side. Otherwise, there will be crossing.
Arranging needles is crucial; they must not be improperly spaced.
And as for hiding tails...
Shen Hua spoke cheerfully, "If another layer of curtain embroidery stitches were added here, that would be even better."
However, that would be even more mentally taxing.
"Manager Sun said the same."
It wasn’t easy for seven or eight embroidery ladies to complete this piece within a month.
Shen Hua: "Alright, you may go and attend to other tasks. Leave the embroidery here in my room. You have all worked hard these past days; I have ordered that your meals be made more nourishing to replenish you."
"And your wages should be doubled as well."
Knowing Shen Hua’s temperament, the embroidery lady didn’t stand on ceremony.
"Thank you for Miss Shen’s consideration."
After the lady left, Shen Hua instructed Yicui to take good care of it.
Ningzhu exclaimed, "My eyes have truly been opened."
Yicui laughed at her side, "Double-sided embroidery is not that rare; Miss Shen has also done color variant embroidery before. On the same piece of fabric, you embroidered a picture that is identical on both sides in contour, but different in color."
"You can be astonished when you see it; there’s no rush to express it now."
As they were talking, a frantic and hoarse voice was heard.
"Shen Hua!"
"Come out here this instant!"
When Zheng Qianyu first learned of Shen Hua’s whereabouts from an outsider, she didn’t take it to heart.
After all, Shen Hua was dead.
There was no way she could be pretending to be dead.
But as soon as she heard Shen Hua was going to open a coffin shop, Zheng Qianyu was twisted in rage.
This outrageous trick was indeed in Shen Hua’s style.
Shen Hua walked out of the house.
She looked down from her position of superiority.
"Oh, Lady Mi," she said with a gentle voice, "long time no see, you’re still as unpleasant as ever."
Zheng Qianyu came forward fuming with anger.
"You didn’t die, so why didn’t you reply to my letters? Could it be that you didn’t receive them?"
Shen Hua furrowed her brows, her lips twitching. She retorted righteously, "Why should I reply to your messages? Which refined and beautiful girl do you see not being busy?"
The air was full of gunpowder.
Every time the two met, it was always like this.
"And after that, I sent you six more letters!"
Shen Hua stated, "Read, no reply."
Zheng Qianyu: ??? You think you’re the Emperor?
Thinking of the time she cried while digging a grave for Shen Hua, she found it hard to breathe.
Shen Hua really owed it to her to go off and die.
Yet that girl, still as arrogant as ever.
Ever since Shen Hua left Fengzhou City, it had been a long while since anyone had infuriated her like this.
Simultaneously frustrated and excited.
She was finally on the receiving end of sarcasm again. This familiar feeling made her bones feel completely at ease.
Suppressing her unease, she stepped forward swiftly.
She scrutinized Shen Hua from head to toe.
"Feeling better now?"
Shen Hua: "Yes."
"Planning to open a coffin shop?"
"Why, should I send you one?"
Zheng Qianyu couldn’t be bothered to argue with her.
"Now that you’re back, you..."
Shen Hua replied indifferently: "What, you’re still unmarried to this day?"
This sentence hit Zheng Qianyu like a dagger straight to the heart, she clutched her chest: "There’s no need to shame me with that."
"Daddy has arranged for me to meet so many young men; one tomorrow and five the day after, a whole crowd of them circling around me!"
Shen Hua: ?? Such good fortune exists!
She wanted to join in on the fun. But she maintained her dignity and grace.
Shen Hua looked at her mockingly and coyly: "Marriage prospects, they depend on fate. You’ve survived this long already, a few more years won’t matter. Just endure it, life will pass by quickly."
Zheng Qianyu felt insulted.
"You needn’t bother yourself with my affairs, Miss Shen! Worry about your own situation instead. With your temperament, unless you learn to rein it in, you’ll never get married! Who would dare to marry you?"
Shen Hua glared at her: "Don’t compare me to you. Me and you..."
She paused, then began to speak in a tone filled with affectation.
"Are nothing alike."
Zheng Qianyu choked on her words.
No way, surely not.
Someone had taken a fancy to Shen Hua.
With a plethora of words held inside, Zheng Qianyu had thought to thoroughly criticize Shen Hua upon her arrival, but now, sidetracked by this, those thousands of words dried up into a single prosaic question.
"Who? Better than He Chu?"
Shen Hua: ???
He Chu? What’s that!
Not even a single strand of Cui Yun’s hair would compare!
For the girl, it was a complicated matter, but in Zheng Qianyu’s eyes, it became an answer.
— None.
Zheng Qianyu gasped fiercely.
"Have you gone mad?!"
"Back then, falling ill and choosing He Chu, at least he looked decent and held the title of Scholar. Though his family wasn’t as illustrious as yours, if he had the capability to pursue an official career in the future, then it would be a reach for us merchants’ daughters."
"When you left, Zhou Zhizhi didn’t have much to be proud of, after all, you went away with Marquis Cui."
"But don’t I know? He took you in because of your brother. I may not know what happened to you out there, but at least, you need to find someone to surpass He Chu!"
"Shen Hua, you’ve fallen!"
"You’re letting that lowlife Zhou Zhizhi triumph over you!"
Zheng Qianyu: "Can he even read?"
Shen Hua found her annoying. She indifferently nodded.
"His learning is not bad."
"Then have him take the exam for Scholar! Better yet, aim for passing the imperial examinations!"
Shen Hua blinked.
"What I’m saying ’not bad’ about, is the kind that could become a teacher at the Imperial College."
Zheng Qianyu stammered, "The... Imperial College?"
Shen Hua lifted her pinky finger: "He didn’t go. Such trivialities are beneath his notice."
Zheng Qianyu: ...
She was somewhat incredulous.
"Then where is he?"
Shen Hua told the truth: "He’s gone mining."
Zheng Qianyu: Haha! I knew it! Let her boast all she likes!
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