After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

Emerging from the embroidery workshop, with four heavy taels of silver in their pockets, Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing felt their steps become much lighter. Four taels of silver! This was the largest single income they had ever earned since they started doing embroidery! The two small embroidery designs, "Four Joys at the Door" and "Lotus Brings a Noble Son," could actually sell for such a price, something they had never dared to imagine before. The workshop owner's words, "Top-quality large-scale auspicious embroidery designs start at twenty-five taels of silver," were like a spark thrown into the sisters' hearts, stirring up ripples of longing.

Twenty-five taels! That's how many bags of grain, how many bolts of cloth, how many important things could be accomplished with that!

"Sister, the shopkeeper said... Dafu Embroidery Pattern." Su Xiaoqing, carrying a basket that was much emptier, spoke with excitement in her voice and her eyes shone brightly.

"Hmm." Su Xiaoyin responded softly, her palms slightly sweaty, still feeling the cool touch of the silver ingots. "But such embroidery is time-consuming and laborious, and the materials are precious. We... need to think about it carefully."

Despite saying that, the two quickened their pace involuntarily as they walked toward the fabric shop. The cautiousness they had in mind—to "think it over carefully"—felt precarious in the face of such a huge possibility.

They first went to Tao's Fabric Shop, a place they frequented. As soon as they reached the entrance, the sharp-eyed Su Xiaoqing spotted two bolts of fabric prominently displayed and marked "Special Price." One was sky blue, and the other was ginger yellow. The colors weren't dyed particularly evenly, with some areas being darker and others lighter, but the fabric itself was soft, fine cotton that felt very comfortable to the touch.

"Shopkeeper, how much is this cloth?" Su Xiaoyin asked as she stepped forward.

The shopkeeper, who was working on his abacus, looked up and saw a regular customer. He smiled and said, "Madam Su, you're here. There was a small mistake at the dye shop; the color got stained unevenly. We're selling these as second-hand fabric. Eighty cash a bolt, more than half the usual price. This fabric is perfect for making undergarments and summer clothes for children; it's breathable and soft."

Eighty coins for a bolt of fine cotton cloth! The price was indeed tempting. Su Xiaoqing squatted down, carefully feeling the thickness and softness of the fabric. She then looked at the not-too-unpleasant, slightly blurred sky blue and ginger yellow hues, and quickly began to calculate. The four little ones in the family were growing fast, and the summer clothes she had just made were already too short for this year; they needed to buy new ones. Although the color of this cloth wasn't perfect, for children, durability and comfort were the most important things.

She looked up at her sister, her eyes asking a question. Su Xiaoyin nodded slightly.

Su Xiaoqing then said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, I'll take both bolts of cloth. Is 150 cash a fair price?"

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, then, seeing that it was indeed clearance fabric and that it was a regular customer, readily nodded: "Alright! Since you're a frequent customer, one hundred and fifty it is! Madam Su, you're so generous!"

The two sisters happily paid and watched as the shopkeeper carefully rolled up the two bolts of cloth. Su Xiaoyin then picked out some commonly used embroidery threads, which the shopkeeper wrapped up as usual. Pointing to two large bundles of fabric scraps in the corner, he smiled and said, "Same as always, take these two bundles. They're just some odds and ends; you're both skillful, you'll definitely find them useful."

"Thank you, shopkeeper!" the two sisters quickly expressed their gratitude. These free scraps of cloth were excellent materials for making hair ties, sachets, and small dolls, saving them a lot of money.

Holding the inexpensive and high-quality fine cotton cloth and embroidery thread, along with two large bundles of fabric scraps, the two sisters felt much more at ease. But as they left Tao's Cloth Shop, the newly opened "Yang's Cloth Shop" across the street, with its more impressive storefront, seemed to attract their attention like a magnet.

"Sister..." Su Xiaoqing called softly, her eyes constantly drifting in that direction. She had only caught a glimpse inside, but the sheen of the fabrics and the color of the embroidery threads there were clearly superior to those from Tao's Cloth Shop. They knew they got what they paid for.

Su Xiaoyin also looked in that direction. The four taels of silver in her arms felt heavy, reminding her of the "huge sum" they had just received and the "blueprint" drawn up by the embroidery shop owner. For ordinary embroidery, the materials from Tao's cloth shop were sufficient. But if they really wanted to challenge the "Great Fortune Embroidery" worth ten or twenty-five taels, the quality of the base material and silk thread was crucial.

"Let's go take a look." Su Xiaoyin's voice was a little dry when she heard herself say this.

The two sisters stepped into Yang's Cloth Shop again. The shop was indeed different; the floor was paved with blue bricks, the counters were polished to a shine, and all kinds of fabrics were neatly displayed, their colors bright and their textures delicate. Especially noteworthy was the section dedicated to embroidery fabrics, displaying silk threads of various colors and thicknesses, their sheen soft and lustrous. There were also several bolts of silk and brocade with a corner partially unfolded, as thin as cicada wings and as smooth as a mirror, shimmering with a pearly luster in the light filtering through the window.

A woman dressed in a decent blue cotton dress came forward with a polite smile: "Ladies, what would you like to see? We have just received some soft satin from Jiangnan and raw silk from Huzhou, which are perfect for embroidery. They will make the embroidery smooth and prevent the needle from slipping, and the colors will also show up well."

Su Xiaoyin forced herself to remain calm and asked, "How much does this raw silk cost?"

The woman led them to the light beige raw silk: "This is top-quality Huzhou raw silk, forty coins per foot. If you buy the whole piece, the price can be reduced a bit."

Forty coins per foot! Su Xiaoyin's heart skipped a beat. A bolt of cloth usually weighs over thirty feet... that's more than one tael of silver! And this is just the base fabric!

Su Xiaoqing also took a deep breath, but her gaze couldn't leave the soft color and delicate texture of the silk. She remembered her mother, Lin, once stroking an old piece of silk and marveling at how the fine silk from Jiangnan was "smooth to the touch and lustrous without being dazzling." Only such material could support the most intricate and exquisite embroidery.

The two sisters exchanged a glance and saw the struggle in each other's eyes, and beneath that struggle, a flickering flame called "ambition".

The embroidery shop owner's words echoed in my ears again: "...The top-quality Dafu embroidery starts at twenty-five taels of silver."

Su Xiaoyin bit her lower lip, her fingertips digging into her palm. The four taels of silver hadn't even warmed her hands yet… but what if it worked? What if they could really embroider a decent "Da Fu" pattern?

"These embroidery threads..." she heard her own voice ask, pointing to the neatly arranged bundles of richly colored silk threads beside her.

"This is colored silk thread from Suzhou and Hangzhou. The color is vibrant, it doesn't fade easily, and it's very resilient. The price varies depending on the thickness and color; even the most common one costs five copper coins for a small strand," the woman patiently explained.

Finally, amidst a mix of heart-wrenching regret and excited anticipation, the sisters made their decision. They bought a bolt of high-quality raw silk, carefully selected over a dozen strands of top-grade silk thread in various colors, all guaranteed to create a magnificent effect, and two even finer embroidery needles. As they settled the bill, the sound of the shopkeeper's abacus seemed to resonate deeply within them.

"Thank you, that's two taels of silver and one hundred and twenty cash in total. Seeing how generous you two are, this bundle is the leftover fabric scraps. It's not big, but it's all good material. You can take it back and make something with it." The woman smiled as she quoted the price.

Two taels! A full two taels of silver! When Su Xiaoyin took out the four-tael silver ingot, still warm from her body, her fingers trembled slightly, and she almost couldn't bear to hand it over. In return, she received a carefully wrapped piece of silk and a small bundle of embroidery thread, which felt incredibly heavy in her hands.

As they left Yang's Cloth Shop, half the silver in their arms was gone, but that heavy weight had transformed into an investment in the future and a heavy burden of pressure. The sunlight was a bit dazzling, and the two sisters didn't speak, but instead quickened their pace, heading towards their own stall in the market.