A Good Country Wife
Chapter 543 - 537_1

Chapter 543: Chapter 537_1

Silver Coin was heartless; even though she disliked Fangcao, she didn’t show any consideration for the suffering of her own mother. Being confined to her room by her father, she simply hid under the covers and fell into a deep sleep, which was a lot quieter than her usual yelling and screaming. It seemed she finally realized she had done something wrong. At this time, she was not aware of how much the arrival of her second stepmother would change her life. By the time she felt regret, it was too late—there was no longer a place for her in the household.

After Fangcao was promised to Zhang Qiusheng, Lin Yue no longer let her work in the embroidery room. Fangcao’s skills in embroidery were only average among all the embroidery maidens. Now that she had betrothed her to Zhang Qiusheng, she simply let her stay in her own room to prepare for marriage, to avoid her being the target of gossip and potentially causing more trouble.

"Madam, here are the recent pieces produced by the embroidery room. The servants feel that they have made significant progress and have brought them especially for Madam to see," Musheng’s wife said as she spread out the embroidered pieces one by one in front of Lin Yue.

Ever since her husband made that mistake and put Madam in harm’s way, both of them felt deep shame. Although Master was angry, he only docked their salary for a few months. They felt even more uneasy and truly sorry, wanting to achieve something to present to Master and Madam. Musheng’s wife thought that if Haishi’s wife could do so well and gain Madam’s appreciation, then as the manager of the embroidery room, she should not fall behind. She urged the embroidery maidens to practice their craft daily and taught them everything she knew, apart from the double-sided embroidery technique taught by Madam, without holding anything back. Only then did the maidens make such great progress.

Lin Yue picked up the pieces on the table and looked them over one by one, indeed very satisfied. "Not bad, to make such progress in a short time is truly commendable. However, the maidens in the embroidery room must have practiced day and night to achieve such improvement."

"Yes, our embroidery room has been working from dawn to dusk recently, spending almost all our time on practicing the craft," the Servant replied.

"I am happy to see such dedication from you all, and I understand Sister Musheng’s intentions—to manage the affairs of the embroidery room well and impress me. Your heart is in the right place, but as the saying goes, extremes lead to opposition. If the embroidery maidens overwork themselves practicing day and night, they will inevitably become extremely tired. If they start to harbor resentment against the master’s family, thinking that we are exploiting their labor, and if discontent arises among them, it would mar the situation," Lin Yue said as tactfully as possible, knowing that Musheng’s wife wanted to manage her responsibilities well.

Musheng’s wife understood Lin Yue’s point. "Madam, rest assured, I remember all that you have taught. The embroidery maidens’ daily work hours are all according to what Madam has set. I have not forced them at all, allowing them to go back to rest early if they are tired. It’s just that everyone is unwilling to leave, and they would rather stay in the embroidery room to practice whenever they can find the time," she replied.

Lin Yue was somewhat surprised by what Musheng’s wife said. "Oh? Is that so? There must be some reason behind this. Sister Musheng must have devised some method to make them willing to do so."

"Madam guessed right," the servant promised the needlewomen that she would impart all her embroidery skills to them. If there were anything they did not understand or knew not how to do, they were welcome to ask, and she would not hide anything from them, except the double-sided embroidery technique taught by madam, which the servant could teach them. Moreover, the servant promised to reward the two needlewomen who made the most progress each month appropriately, while the one who performed the worst would be penalized by having half their monthly wage cut, which was exactly what madam said, ’Reward the meritorious, punish the faulty.’" Musheng’s wife particularly remembered this phrase of Lin Yue’s, and now was the perfect occasion to use it.

Lin Yue had always thought of Musheng’s wife as an honest person, and even after realizing she was quite astute, she didn’t change her view of Musheng’s wife’s integrity. She didn’t expect her to be so clever at times, knowing how to apply what she learnt, and utilizing the techniques for managing servants in the embroidery room management, which was indeed smart.

Lin Yue remained silent, making Musheng’s wife worry she had done something wrong, especially since she had enacted this rule in the embroidery room without informing Lin Yue first. Fearing that Lin Yue might be angry because of it, Musheng’s wife said earnestly, "Madam, the servant has acted on her own authority, which may have angered you. The servant does not dare to argue, but the money rewarded to the needlewomen comes from her own wages, without using any of the public Silver Coin, so the servant..."

"Sister-in-law Musheng, why are you kneeling? You did very well, there is no need to apologize. I simply didn’t expect someone as honest as you to come up with such a good method. You managed the embroidery room very well, beyond my expectations. Since you did this for the sake of the embroidery room, the bonus should naturally come from the public funds. Why should you pay out of your own pocket? In the future, I will order that you directly pick it up from the accounting office along with everyone else. And for the money you’ve already spent, you will be compensated from the public funds. It makes no sense for you to be so diligent and dedicated in your work for me and still have to pay out of your own pocket."

"The servant thanks madam, and will surely manage the embroidery room even better in the future," Musheng’s wife assured repeatedly, then, remembering something she had not told Lin Yue, she added, "But madam, this was not the servant’s idea— it was Dong Xue who came up with it and told the servant, enabling her to do so well."

"So it was Dong Xue, eh? She’s a clever girl, coming up with such a method shows some insight," Lin Yue was not surprised when Musheng’s wife mentioned it was Dong Xue’s idea. Dong Xue was a smart lass, capable of bearing important responsibilities. Lin Yue had hesitated in the past about choosing her, fearing that Dong Xue’s cleverness was excessive, losing steadiness and loyalty. However, having observed Dong Xue’s character over time, Lin Yue found her to be quite exceptional, and as such, came to rely on her more and more. Lin Yue even intended to have Dong Xue learn more from Nurse Xu, who was getting on in years and needed someone to gradually take over and be taught to follow in her footsteps.

"Even with her intelligence, she is no match for madam. Besides, Dong Xue was personally taught by you, madam. It is expected that she would be a bit more clever than others," Musheng’s wife spoke sincerely. Fortunately, Dong Xue was not the type to take offense easily, and was not upset by these words.

After Musheng’s wife had left, Lin Yue asked Xixi to pack up the embroidery pieces and send them to the carpentry workshop for framing. Although these embroideries were not yet as refined as she deemed perfect, they were still better than those sold outside, at least above average. After all, she had put a lot of effort into selecting these needlewomen through a strict selection process—it was an era when every woman embroidered, and the selected ones were the best embroiderers among them. They had improved a lot after months of training, and selling these pieces would not be a problem. After all, not everyone could afford the truly exquisite embroidered pieces, and most people could only afford those at a more common price.

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