Chapter Seven: Handicrafts

  Fu Peilan thought for a night and felt that to realize her dreams, she first needed to be financially independent. Although Fu's mother was unreasonable, there was one thing she said that was right: no matter how much desire and talent Fu had, it was still her mother who raised her with the support of Fu's father's salary and her own sacrifices until she turned seventeen.

  Fu Mama doesn't want to pay out now, she can't force it, Fu Pei Lan yearns to go to university, but Fu Mama hopes to get an immediate return, although she is biased, although the way she does things is annoying, however, Fu Pei Lan is currently eating and owing others, she fundamentally has no qualifications to stand up straight.

  But what else can she do?

  Fu Pei Lan splashed the water in the basin out into the courtyard, and involuntarily raised her still damp right hand. The morning sunlight shone on the water droplets, casting a faint glow. This hand was clean and smooth, with agile and powerful fingers. Such a pair of hands should be very suitable for holding needles, shouldn't they?

  Fu Peilan's heart moved, and her mother, Yu Fanglian, was born in a family of embroiderers in Jiangnan. For generations, they relied on their skilled hands to make a living by sewing and threading needles. When it came to her grandparents' generation, because they only had one daughter, Yu Fanglian, they carefully raised her from a young age and passed down the traditional craftsmanship. After growing up, Yu Fanglian went to France to study fashion design. Upon returning to China, she transformed the old embroidery workshop into a high-end bespoke clothing store, combining modern fashion with traditional embroidery techniques. Over 20 years, she achieved remarkable success, even opening specialty stores overseas.

  Fu Pei Lan was frail since childhood and couldn't go out to play like other kids. Yu Fanglian taught her embroidery and sewing to pass the time, and over the years, she developed a good craft. The clothes she designed won two or three awards, and her embroidered works were exhibited and auctioned in several exhibition halls.

  Thinking of this, Fu Pei Lan hastily returned to her room with the basin, opened the drawer to find San Jie's needle box, lifted up the bed sheet and quickly embroidered a simple wild flower in a somewhat worn-out corner.

  Looking at the work in her hand, Fu Pei Lan smiled slightly, it seemed that her craftsmanship was still usable even after switching to a new body!

  Fu Peilan put down the needle and thread in her hand, got up and opened the wardrobe, pulled out a small cloth package from the bottom, carefully opened it, revealing a delicate brocade.

  Her third sister, Fu Peiyao, worked in a textile mill. Every year during the holidays, the factory would give out two pieces of cotton cloth or terrycloth. However, the Fu family's economic conditions were limited, so Mrs. Fu would usually sell them outside for cash. As for this piece of satin, it was an award that Fu Peiyao had won last year when she represented the spinning workshop in a factory competition. At the time, Mrs. Fu had intended to keep it as a dowry for Fu Peilin's future wife, but unfortunately, their neighbor Li's daughter-in-law saw it and ridiculed Mrs. Fu for being too biased towards her son and daughter-in-law, saying that even the prize won by her daughter was being withheld to curry favor with her son's wife, which was simply a case of favoritism.

  Mrs. Fu's face was not going well, thinking that Fu Pei-yao was also twenty years old, and in two years' time, she would have to prepare some dowry clothes, bedding, etc., so she handed over the brocade to her daughter to keep as her own dowry. Later, when Fu Pei-yao saw that her younger sister liked it too, she generously gave it to Fu Pei-shan, saying that in the future, she would use it to make clothes for her to wear.

  Fu Pei Lan didn't want the dowry for her sister, but Fu Pei Yao still stuffed the fabric into her closet. At that time, she didn't want to quarrel with Fu Pei Yao over a piece of cloth, so she left it there, thinking that she would return it when her third sister's marriage was settled. Who knew that this piece of cloth might come in handy today?

  Fu Pei Lan carefully wrapped up the fabric and put it back in her closet, changed into shoes and prepared to go to several garment shops in the city center.

  "Where are you going crazy again?" Fu's mother walked out of the kitchen with breakfast, just in time to see her little daughter who was about to leave.

  "I'm going out for a walk." Fu Peilan said and then ran out of the yard.

  "That stinky girl only knows how to go out and have fun all day, she doesn't even eat her meals!" Fu's mother scolded with a glare.

  "Mom, what's all the commotion so early in the morning?" Fu Peilin walked out of the house with sleepy eyes, stretched and saw his mom standing in the courtyard holding a steamed bun. "It's rare to have a Sunday off, can't I sleep in a bit longer?!"

  "You're lazy to death, what time is it and you still want to sleep? No wonder after working for several years, you're still just a small worker. At this rate, when can you get married and have children?" Mrs. Fu saw her disappointing eldest son and started muttering again, "Look at the young master of the Wang family, who has been working with you for a year, now they are all leaders of the workshop team! Last month, I heard that he was engaged to a kindergarten teacher! When can you also make your mother proud and not make me lower my head when I see people?"

  "When our little sister goes to university, won't that be great? She's the first university student in our whole alley, and it's one of the best universities in the province. At that time, you'll be able to hold your head high!" Fu Peilin said casually.

  Fu's mother's face sank, thinking about what she had said and done in the past few days, and the quarrel with her daughter-in-law was nothing in this son's eyes! Such a heartless and ruthless person, which girl would look up to him? Fu's mother wanted to scold him a couple of times, but saw Fu Peilin closing his eyes and returning to his room. Suddenly she gritted her teeth and cursed, "A bunch of useless things!"

  He turned around to see Fu Pei Qi had already finished washing up and was holding a language textbook under the corridor, suddenly smiling again, still the clever and progressive young son, thinking of studying as soon as he got out of bed!

  The first generation of Fu Peilan, although skilled with her hands, had also learned some simple embroidery from Grandma Fu since she was a child, but she didn't master it and only knew some superficial patterns. Therefore, she wasn't interested in the garment and embroidery industry either. However, now that she wants to rely on this skill to give herself a certain path in life, or even make it her future career, she necessarily needs to understand some current market conditions.

  At this time, high-end customization has begun to emerge internationally, but handmade embroidery is still not valued. In the country, although many people still like this traditional craftsmanship very much, they are hindered by the high cost of consumption, and only a handful of people with capital will use handmade embroidery on clothing.

  In this era, if Fu Pei Lan wants to rely solely on manual embroidery to make a living, it would undoubtedly be a painful and laborious process. Although the income might be considerable, it would take up too much time and effort, which she cannot afford now. At present, all she can rely on is her past experience in fashion design and her grasp of future trends over the next twenty years.

  Qingcheng is a city that emphasizes tradition, and although it can't compare to the grandeur of big cities, it has its own local charm. However, when it comes to embroidery atmosphere, it falls far short of Suzhou and Hangzhou. At least after Fu Pei Lan walked around half the city, she couldn't find any specialized embroidery shops or clothing stores that mainly focus on embroidery techniques. There were only three clothing stores with masters who did hand-embroidery, mostly making Hanfu or formal wear, and the prices varied greatly due to differences in craftsmanship.

  Fu Pei Lan looked at the works of these masters and felt slightly disappointed. This may have something to do with Qingcheng not being a city with high-end embroidery craftsmanship, and those who truly mastered this craft would not be here guarding a tailor shop embroidering two flowers for people.

  The current Qingcheng can only be considered a third-tier city, but because of its proximity to the provincial capital, developed transportation, relatively dense population, and the presence of the province's two most famous universities, the number of people with consumption capacity is gradually increasing. In twenty years, it has even barely entered the ranks of major domestic cities.

  Now, it is the starting stage of Qingcheng's rapid development. Batch after batch of investors have set their sights on this city, and people are paying more attention to popular clothing. Such a city is just right for her, an emerging fashion designer.

  She doesn't have too high or distant goals, she just hopes to be economically independent through this skill, have a say in the Fu family, and not repeat the tragedy of her past, having the chance to fight for her own happiness.

  Fu Pei Lan lowered her head and looked at the embroidery thread in her hand, then smiled quietly.

  After finally getting rid of a nitpicky customer, Zhou Yan sat back down at the counter and discreetly observed the little girl in the middle of the store who was selecting embroidery threads. The girl had come in and immediately ran to the two skirts that Master Embroiderer had just finished making on the right side, flipping them over and examining them extremely carefully, as if she was still slightly disappointed. This made Zhou Yan very surprised.

  Those two skirts were for her niece's wedding, specially brought back from Guangdong with new styles. In order to add some festive and noble atmosphere, she asked the master in her store to embroider a few peonies on the hem of the skirt. At that time, she was very satisfied with it, so she asked her niece to borrow the skirts for a few days to attract customers, but unexpectedly today they were rejected by a little girl!

  Later, seeing the little girl skillfully selecting embroidery threads, she seemed to be quite skilled, Zhou Yan couldn't help but curiously ask, "Miss, are you buying thread to go home and embroider flowers?"

  There are not a few people in Qingcheng who can do embroidery, and many of the older generation can embroider two needles. However, there is a big difference in craftsmanship. At least, those who can or dare to use this skill as decoration for new clothes are very rare.

  "En." Fu Pei Lan smiled slightly, her eyes flashing, "Boss, do you accept finished goods here? Or helping to sell on consignment is also okay."

  "Reselling?" Zhou Yan was taken aback, then burst out laughing. This little girl was indeed simple-minded, but she dared to ask such a question, perhaps she really had some skills. However, this tailor shop of hers not only sold finished products but also accepted custom orders and alterations. It could be said that if she just brought the embroidered pieces to sell, the sales route would be limited. If she made clothes with new styles, she herself could imitate and make similar ones, why bother reselling for her?

  Fu Pei Lan saw what Zhou Yan was thinking, but she didn't mind. Currently, the awareness of intellectual property protection is low, and while shops can imitate once, they can't copy forever. Moreover, she would do hand embroidery on her clothes, and everyone's embroidery techniques are different, which cannot be figured out in a short period of time. Zhou Yan could imitate her style, but couldn't replicate her craftsmanship.

  "Alright, I'll finish it and show it to Boss Zhou. If you think the craftsmanship is good enough, please help me sell it. As for the commission, I won't shortchange you." Fu Peilan dared to say this because she saw that the boss of this store had a broad mind and was a decisive person. Just now, Zhou Yan's attitude was gentle when dealing with the customer who came to cause trouble, from start to finish, there wasn't a hint of annoyance or impatience. Although her attitude was slightly weak, it could be seen that she was a kind and honest person. Fu Peilan could confirm that this person wouldn't easily reject her request, at most, she would just ask her to back down herself. And what she wanted was just an opportunity, as long as it wasn't a flat-out rejection, that was fine.

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