Jian Zhaoxing

Chapter 48: People want face, trees want skin
The maid was stunned, thinking she had misheard, and did not respond for a while.

Lin Zhiqing spoke again with a good temper: "Excuse me, do you still have this kind of fabric?"

"Oh, yes...yes." The maid nodded.

She didn't dare to agree to other fabrics, but she had this kind of mesh in stock as much as she wanted.

Lin Zhiqing smiled with satisfaction: "Thank you for your hard work, please take out some more for me."

"You...you mean now?" The maid was obviously a little incredulous.

Only after seeing Lin Zhiqing nod did he accept the order and leave.

Looking at the maid's back, Princess Pingning was the first to laugh out loud: "In this day and age, there are actually people who want to use mesh to make clothes. It's funny, really funny."

Lin Zhiqing was busy picking out the remaining fabrics and ignored her.

Princess Pingning felt as powerless as if she was punching cotton, and could only snort coldly.

Lin Zhiqing is looking for another material.

Now that she has the flowing mesh, she needs extra-smooth satin.

Lin Shian felt so frustrated as he watched Lin Zhiqing put all the fabrics he liked back to their original places.

Lin Shian knew his cousin well, and his impression of Lin Zhiqing always remained that of a well-behaved girl who never left the house.

She always wore that worn-out skirt, and others thought the Lin family didn't give her good clothes.

He carried this impression with him until now. He was full of distrust towards Lin Zhiqing and quietly picked up his cloth.

Lin Zhiqing did not fail to see his actions, but she did not have time to argue and could only follow her cousin.

While everyone was busy choosing, Lin Zhiqing had quickly found the material he wanted and went to where the pens and ink were placed.

This naturally caused another round of discussion.

The old woman, who had just changed her mind about Lin Zhiqing, couldn't help but frown when she saw this:

"That's ridiculous! It's not even halfway through the incense stick, why are you so anxious?"

You know, it actually takes less than a stick of incense to pick out a few pieces of material.

The reason why the old lady gave such a long time was to let everyone think more about it so that the finished product would not be too ugly.

But Lin Zhiqing's actions were contrary to her ideas, which made people feel arrogant.

"I used to think Lin Zhiqing was smart, but now she's acting so foolishly again. Not to mention that the time hasn't come yet, what kind of materials did she choose?"

"You all know the Lin family's situation. Lin Zhiqing is short-sighted and only won by luck. Now his true colors are revealed."

"I don't quite agree with that. Isn't this round of testing about new costumes? What if the finished product she makes is good?"

The crowd's discussion grew louder, and even several people in the stands began to whisper to each other.

Lin Zhiqing turned a deaf ear and signaled Lin Shian to grind it.

Although Lin Shian did not agree with her approach, he would not offend her in this situation.

Lin Zhiqing picked up the pen with his hands and started drawing on the paper without hesitation.

The others were too far away to see clearly, but Lin Shian, who was standing nearby, saw it clearly.

My cousin's painting skills are really hard to describe.

The rough lines and disorganized strokes were hard to read even for someone like him who was not very well versed in literature.

"Lin Zhiqing, what do you usually do when you hide in the yard? Do you want to devote yourself to studying other skills?" Lin Shian stepped forward and tried his best to block other people's sight.

A man needs a face, and a tree needs its bark.

He had never felt as nervous as he did today, fearing that Lin Zhiqing would bring harm to the Lin family's reputation. "I only have an old maid by my side, where do you want me to study?" Lin Zhiqing didn't even raise his head.

Lin Shian choked and was unable to speak for a while.

He felt strange when he went out today. Other young ladies were accompanied by several maids, but Lin Zhiqing was special. She chose an old nanny to follow her.

When he asked, he found out that Lin Zhiqing had no maid at all. This broke his previous idea and made him realize that the Lin family sometimes had shortcomings.

Of course, he wouldn't say it.

With no one nagging him, Lin Zhiqing's speed became noticeably faster.

In contrast to the rough lines, Lin Zhiqing sketched out a piece of clothing with a peculiar style with just a few strokes... perhaps something that could be called clothing.

Lin Shian's eyes had changed from worry at the beginning to surprise.

How can this be?

Lin Zhiqing actually drew a complete picture using that method of using a brush, but the pattern was not right.

"Lin Zhiqing, you drew it wrong. Where are the sleeves of this dress?" Lin Shian pointed to both sides of the drawing.

"Cousin, don't move." Lin Zhiqing patted Lin Shian's hand.

Lin Shian frowned at this "out-of-line" behavior: "Who gave you permission to touch my hand? And if you make a mistake, won't you let me speak out?"

Lin Zhiqing sighed and stood up straight: "Cousin, if you keep making such noise, I'm going to kick you out."

"How dare you..." Lin Shi'an frowned and was about to speak, but in the blink of an eye he saw Lin Zhiqing spread out another piece of paper.

And she began to paint without hesitation, as if she had already planned it in her mind.

Lin Shian slowly closed his open mouth and watched Lin Zhiqing's movements intently.

Soon, others also selected their materials and it was time to draw the ideas in their minds.

When they passed by Lin Zhiqing, their eyes were not honest, and they always wanted to find out something.

Lin Zhiqing noticed this and quickened his pace.

Soon, the time of an incense stick passed, and without any interval, it directly entered the "two hours" time of making the finished product.

While others were still concentrating on their ideas, Lin Zhiqing picked up his work and blew away the ink with satisfaction.

Then, he walked briskly towards the tailor.

This attitude of being several steps ahead of others is not considered a good sign in the eyes of some people.

As soon as Lin Zhiqing stepped into the tailors' territory, he was looked at by several people.

But at the same time, she was also sizing up the tailors, and it was actually a two-way choice.

Lin Zhiqing did not rush to take the painting to save time, but instead took a leisurely look around.

Surprisingly, among these ten or so tailors, there was only one woman, and she didn't seem to be in harmony with the others.

Lin Zhiqing was surprised for only a moment, then began to observe the tailors.

When some people saw that she was the first to arrive, they looked very distant.

Lin Zhiqing would certainly not choose someone who has a grudge against him.

Some people were very enthusiastic towards him, but Lin Zhiqing could see that they were smiling but not really smiling, and their noses were twitching, which meant that they were pretending to smile, and he couldn't tell if they had other intentions.

After avoiding several people who couldn't reach a cooperation, Lin Zhiqing locked his sights on the woman at the end:
"Well, it's her!"

(End of this chapter)