Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

Chapter 110 Embroidery Livelihood
The officers and soldiers trembled in shock from the sudden voice, and when he turned around to see the person coming, his face turned pale and his legs became weak from fright: "Mr. Gu Gu Gu, you, why are you here?"

Gu Yunji was so angry that his face turned blue, the burning anger in his eyes was about to burst out, his whole body exuded an icy chill, and his posture seemed to be eating people.

Before Gu Yunji could speak, a yamen servant behind him came forward in two or three steps, and kicked the officers and soldiers to the ground: "What are you talking about, calling turtledoves? You are so brave, you are so brave, you are so bright and bright, you are so brave!" If you dare to leave your post without authorization and have sex with a woman from a good family, you still want to lose your head!"

The officers and soldiers were so frightened that they could not speak coherently, they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "Young Master Gu, spare your life! Young Master Gu, spare your life! The little one was just confused for a while, please forgive me this time!"

Gu Yunji ignored the officers and soldiers' begging for mercy, but turned his attention to the woman behind him.

The woman looked like she was in her 20s, and she knelt tremblingly on the ground when Gu Yunji uttered her voice.Now she was pale, trembling, and weeping softly with her head bowed.

Gu Yunji didn't hear the conversation between the two of them very clearly just now, he glanced at the torn clothes on the woman's chest, then quickly looked away, and asked in a deep voice: "Did he force you?"

Before the woman answered, the officers and soldiers hurriedly said: "No, no! She is voluntary!"

"I asked her! Did you tell me to talk!" Gu Yunji's eyes narrowed, and he glanced over, "Just stay aside for me!"

Afterwards, he slowed down again, looked at the woman and said, "My lady, don't be afraid, just say it, I will make the decision for you. If he forced you, I will definitely not spare him!"

The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, bit her lips and whispered, "He, he didn't force me, I voluntarily..."

Gu Yunji's breath was stagnant, and he didn't understand: "Why?"

"Because, I really can't live anymore..."

The woman took a deep breath and slowly raised her head, as if feeling embarrassed, she grabbed the clothes in her hand and said slowly: "Looking back at you, my family name is Wu, from Jiaocheng County, Taiyuan Prefecture. It disappeared on the way south, and now only my five-year-old son and I are left at home."

"It was okay in the past few months, and I was able to eat every day. But these days, the government's porridge has decreased, and we often can't get it. I can't go out to work, so I can only dig some bark and grass roots to fill Filling our stomachs, life suddenly becomes difficult, but even so, we still can’t get enough to eat, and the children always wake up hungry in the middle of the night...”

Speaking of the latter, Mrs. Wu was already crying, and her voice trembled a little, which made people feel sad for a while.

"Later, I saw that many women were embroidering handkerchiefs, and they had a few pennies a day to supplement their household expenses, so I wanted to follow suit." Lady Wu sniffed and adjusted her emotions, " But we are refugees and cannot enter the city, and we have to rely on officers and soldiers to buy needles, thread and sell handkerchiefs, which is very inconvenient."

"But everyone is terrified. After finally finding a way to make money, naturally they refuse to give up. There are many people who want to sell handkerchiefs, and they swarm around the officers and soldiers who sell handkerchiefs every day. Fuck me. I'm so anxious, and I have no choice but to watch."

"At this time, Zhou Dayong came to me, this officer and soldier, and said that as long as I was with him..." Mrs. Wu's voice was rough, and she wrinkled the cloth in her hand, almost unable to speak, "... He, he can help me sell handkerchiefs, I didn't want to, but I really have nowhere to go, my son is so hungry that he has no strength to speak..."

Miss Wu's eyes were red, her voice became smaller and smaller, and finally she fell down weakly and sobbed emotionally.

Gu Yunji fell silent when he heard the words, and waited until she had recovered from crying before asking, "Can I see the handkerchief you embroidered?"

"Yes, yes." Lady Wu was taken aback for a moment, then she quickly realized that she took out a handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to him, "Young Master Gu, take a look."

This handkerchief is made of cotton cloth, the material is a little rough, with a few sprigs of plain magnolia embroidered on it, the stitches are fine, and the lines are clear and smooth. Although it is not so exquisite and complicated, it is also somewhat elegant, and it can be seen that the embroiderer is female. The level is not low.

Gu Yunji nodded, and returned the handkerchief to her: "The embroidery is pretty good. You just said that the officers and soldiers sold handkerchiefs for you, so how much will they give you?"

"Most of the time, it's a piece of seven coins, and the cost of materials is calculated separately."

"Only seven coins?" Gu Yunji raised his voice, a little unbelievable, "Can you only get seven coins at your level?"

The price of handkerchiefs on the market ranges from more than ten yuan to several hundred yuan. Even if Mrs. Wu’s handkerchiefs suffer from a loss in material and can only be sold at the moment, she is good at embroidery, and such a handkerchief sells for fifteen or six yuan. , no problem at all.

These officers and soldiers are really dark-hearted, they can go back to the city in shifts every day, and helping to sell a few handkerchiefs is just a matter of convenience, and it doesn't take much effort.Who knew that they were able to deduct more than half of the money in the middle. Isn't this bullying the refugee women who are unfamiliar with the place and don't understand the local market?
Hearing Gu Yunji's tone, Miss Wu also noticed that there must be a lot of tricks in it, but she had no choice but to smile bitterly: "What can we do? They buy the silk thread and they sell it, and the price is not theirs. It’s as much as you say. My level is really nothing, there are many people who can embroider better than me, and they can still only get seven coins.”

Gu Yunji's heart moved slightly, and he asked: "From what you said, there are many people who can embroider handkerchiefs? So besides embroidery, do they know how to weave?"

Mrs. Wu said: "Women's red is a compulsory course in the boudoir, but every woman knows a little bit, it's just the level of skill. As for weaving, we peasants come from the fields for food and clothing. I will be willing to spend money to buy it outside, and I will weave and wear it myself, so naturally I will."

Gu Yunji's eyes lit up immediately, and he couldn't wait to ask: "What about weaving silk, can you do it?"

Hangzhou Prefecture is located in the south of the Yangtze River. The silk weaving industry has always been very prosperous. There are many government-run and private weaving and dyeing factories.Moreover, it is still in a period of vigorous development, and the silk production is far from being saturated. There is a shortage of silk, looms, and weavers.

More importantly, due to the social division of labor between men farming and women weaving since ancient times, women are basically responsible for the textile tasks of the family, so the local weaving and dyeing factories are basically recruiting female weavers.This means that women who can only do some weaving and tailoring within the family in other places can completely earn money by virtue of their craftsmanship in Hangzhou Prefecture and become an important source of income for the family.

If the weaving and dyeing skills of these refugee women are good, it is entirely possible for the government to recruit them to the factory as weavers. This will not only solve their livelihood problems, but also promote the development of the local silk industry and reduce The cost of government resettlement of refugees.

"Weaving silk?" Mrs. Wu was startled when she heard the words, and said slowly, "We have never woven silk, but the principle of weaving should be similar to that of weaving cloth. There may be some differences in the size of the shuttle and the length of the warp beam, but As long as I learn to observe it, I will be able to get started soon.”

After getting a clear answer, Gu Yunji felt that this idea was even more feasible, and almost wanted to go back to the city immediately to discuss with Lu Xianzhi.But before that, we still have to deal with the current matter well.

(End of this chapter)