Chapter 263: Delightful Results
Lin Sanniang hadn’t spoken quite so bluntly; she didn’t wish to make everyone fear Jian Xingxia.
However, awe and respect were necessary.
In Lin Sanniang’s eyes, Jian Xingxia was the best Manor Owner in the world, but precisely because she was so incredibly good, Lin Sanniang felt all the more worried and determined to protect her.
Lin Sanniang taught her class, and the Scholar came over to listen during the break. Finding her points well-taken, he returned to the bamboo weaving classroom and proceeded to follow suit.
“I will only teach you one bamboo weaving technique each day. Once I have taught it, you are to go cut the bamboo yourselves, then return to split it and weave it. For the first hour, I will observe and provide guidance from the side.”
“Everyone, practice diligently. In the second half of the session, I expect to see finished products.”
The Scholar was a bookish man himself. He had endured the hardships of study and had mastered many skills, so he understood how to manage people quite well.
“The Manor Owner rewards you with food, but within this classroom, I am the teacher, and she would not override my intent… If you do not learn well, do not practice hard, and fail to produce finished items, then you shall not have the audacity to consume the meals that follow.”
Upon hearing the bamboo weaving class students would be denied food? That simply wouldn’t do!
Although they didn’t yet know how much money Jian Xingxia would pay to purchase their woven goods, even without any purchases, three square meals a day was already a massive gain.
Hearing the teacher say that those who didn’t learn well wouldn’t be fed, immense pressure descended upon them instantly.
Without a second thought, the pace of their hands quickened.
The Scholar offered a faint smile. “Very good.”
Jian Xingxia had only hired Shaoyin and Da Hei as temporary workers today.
Lin Sanniang and the Scholar had been hired as academy teachers, so they didn’t need to occupy the temporary worker slots and simultaneously enjoyed the benefits of faculty status.
They were teaching in the academy at the back, while Jian Xingxia and Shaoyin were busy greeting guests at the front, and Auntie Pang and Auntie Chunhui were bustling about in the kitchen.
At lunchtime, they were still overwhelmed, so Jian Xingxia had Taoya and Lin Sanniang come over to assist.
Once the lunch rush concluded, Jian Xingxia hurriedly had Lin Sanniang and Taoya return to the academy. Nowadays, one was a teacher and the other was a student. Their compensation was determined by the system and wasn’t as flexible as the temporary worker arrangement; they had to be teaching or studying and laboring in the academy to earn anything.
Lin Sanniang was between laughter and tears. “Manor Owner, I have another wage here!”
The compensation for a guest lecturer did not conflict with the salary of a full-time employee.
However, Jian Xingxia felt that the more they earned, the better. “Earlier, making clothes took up a significant portion of your wage quota. Thankfully, now that you’re a teacher, you can earn a bit more back.”
Lin Sanniang felt a warmth in her heart. She said to herself that the Manor Owner was always this kind-hearted, considering everything for them.
How could she not both respect and love her?
Jian Xingxia had no idea what kind of brainwashing and soft-threat tactics Lin Sanniang and the Scholar had employed on the apprentices.
Regardless, as it approached three o’clock in the afternoon, she headed to the academy to inspect the goods and distribute the benefits, and the haul was significant.
She started with the sewing class.
Contrary to Jian Xingxia’s initial assumption, the sewing class hadn’t each produced an independent finished item. Instead, under Lin Sanniang’s coordination, they had collaborated to produce the goods.
The results: one embroidered fabric pouch, three plain brocade pouches, and two small scented sachets.
Jian Xingxia picked them up one by one to inspect them.
Sun Dongniang and the others were incredibly nervous.
For the past hour, the six of them had divided the work, not daring to delay for even a moment, finally managing to produce these six small pouches.
Never mind offsetting the tuition; they feared they couldn’t even repay a tenth of the value of the food they had eaten.
Setting aside the silver ear fungus soup, just the sweet sponge cakes eaten during the break, the white mantou, and the meat buns they had eaten upon arriving in the morning… what were these few pouches worth compared to all that!
The six impoverished souls—three big and three small—huddled together, not daring to blink, terrified that Jian Xingxia would say they had done a poor job or worked too slowly, and that she would turn them away tomorrow.
But Jian Xingxia, holding the pouches they had sewn, was truly and delightfully surprised.
Honestly speaking, given her penny-pinching nature as a poor Manor Owner, she had spent quite a bit of time scouring online shopping websites for ancient-style clothing and accessories.
After all, the manor had to make money; with so many workers to support, every little bit earned helped.
However, the quality of online shopping was what it was. The cheap ones were questionable in both quality and aesthetics, while the expensive ones were far beyond Jian Xingxia’s wholesale budget.
That was why Jian Xingxia hadn’t been in any rush to launch that side of the business.
She had planned to wait until the academy had more apprentices and their skills had matured before attempting to sell anything.
Yet, to her complete surprise—
Jian Xingxia picked up a cyan-colored pouch and looked toward the group. “Who made this one?”
Fan Shishi’s heart missed a beat.
She was the one who had made it.
Her needlework skills could only be described as slightly better than Taoya and Xing Ya’s, but she couldn’t compare to Sun Dongniang, and her color coordination wasn’t as sophisticated or elegant as Qin Hua’s.
The Manor Owner had picked up her work first.
Fan Shishi was filled with trepidation. The moment she opened her mouth, she felt like crying.
Would she become the first apprentice to be “expelled”?
Back at Feiyue Pavilion, she had no special talents. She was only made to study poetry and practice calligraphy to fill out the image of the “Four Talented Women.”
She wasn’t even a dancer like Shaoyin and Ruan Xiang, who occasionally had to alter their own costumes.
Fan Shishi felt miserable. Shaoyin and Ruan Xiang had exhorted her repeatedly, telling her to work hard and grasp this opportunity with everything she had.
But she…
Fan Shishi didn’t want to cry, but tears welled up in her eyes involuntarily. Qin Hua gripped her hand tightly, wishing to transmit some warmth to her.
With tears in her eyes, Fan Shishi said, “Manor Owner, I made this. I’m sorry… I’ll practice when I go back today. Please give me one more chance…”
“It’s too beautiful!”
“Huh?”
Before Fan Shishi could finish speaking, a cheer rang out beside her ears.
She froze.
Jian Xingxia had already grabbed the other pouches. “Who made this color-blocked one? The color scheme is so elegant; it’s absolutely beautiful!”
Qin Hua was bewildered. “I… I made this one…”
“Not bad at all! You did a fantastic job!” Jian Xingxia picked up another. “Who embroidered this little goldfish?”
Sun Dongniang looked at Qin Hua, then at Fan Shishi. Summoning her courage, she said, “Manor Owner, Shishi and Qin Hua did the sewing; I did the embroidery.”
Jian Xingxia was delighted. “Your embroidery is so vivid and adorable! Heavens! How could anyone possibly reject your embroidery work?!”
Sun Dongniang was both shocked and overjoyed, yet deeply puzzled—how did the Manor Owner know she had just had her embroidery rejected?
She hadn’t told the Manor Owner about that, had she?
But thinking about how close Taoya and Xing Ya were with the Manor Owner, she figured they must have told her.
Sun Dongniang didn’t harbor any doubts; she was simply happy that the Manor Owner actually praised her embroidery skills.
The other pouches and sachets were also claimed by their respective makers.
The stitching had been handled primarily by Qin Hua and Fan Shishi, with Taoya and Xing Ya providing assistance. Xu Sanniu hadn’t mastered the needlework yet, but she had learned how to braid the cords and wrap the silk tassels.
The embroidery work was currently only manageable by Sun Dongniang, who had raced against the clock to embroider a single little goldfish.
But Jian Xingxia was already delightfully surprised.
“Good, good, good. This is wonderful—even better than I imagined!”
Jian Xingxia smiled brightly. She had expected that since the apprentices were new arrivals, they would spend quite a bit of time on adaptation, learning, and practice. She hadn’t expected the results to be so gratifying.
“Let me calculate how much these are worth, and I’ll distribute your wages right now!”
