NOVPUB
Chapter 652: Chapter 657: The Gap is Huge_1
Before long, those who had gone out to eat returned, the outside was bitterly cold, who could find the inside of a house anything but comfortable?
Therefore, they saw that Little Wang Clan was still working on the handkerchief from the morning and, inevitably, subjected her to another round of biting sarcasm and mockery.
Who asked Little Wang Clan to have been so hateful in the past?
"You haven’t finished that handkerchief yet? If you’re any later, there’ll be nothing left to eat in the canteen!"
"Ah Hong and the Old Tan Family have severed ties, and even though Duo’er is kind-hearted, you can’t bully her like this!"
"At this rate, you won’t even earn enough for a meal!"
Little Wang Clan clenched her needle tight. She really wished she could sew all their mouths shut.
Work naturally varied in pace, what was there to comment on?
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of Xu Sanmei and couldn’t help but snort softly, "Third Sister, what did you embroider this morning, a goose or a duck? You must have slipped your aunt a fair bit of silver, huh?"
Xu Sanmei hung her head, her face the picture of shame.
She had always known her embroidery was not presentable, and although she had tried hard that morning, the Mandarin ducks she’d embroidered were still an eyesore.
"Third Sister was specifically recruited by Duo’er, her skill in stitching shoe soles is ranked among the best in our village."
"If only you had half the speed of Third Sister, Fat Aunt would definitely keep you."
Little Wang Clan rolled her eyes, "Fat Aunt is nothing but a dog kept by Qiao Duo’er’s house. Do you really need to suck up to her like this?"
When her own aunt was insulted, Xu Sanmei couldn’t hold back any longer.
She said sternly, "I can compete with you in stitching soles. I’m three times faster than you. If not, you can take my seat."
"You said it, don’t go back on your word," Little Wang Clan immediately agreed.
"This is the first time I’ve seen someone so shamelessly thick-skinned. Third Sister is only sixteen, and she’s almost thirty, yet she has no sense of shame!"
"I’ve seen it all before, their skin could be used as shields!"
However, Xu Sanmei was brimming with confidence and went straight to her aunt.
The materials for the Embroidery Room were kept in the storeroom, and only the person in charge of the Embroidery Room had the keys.
Soon Xu Sanmei brought over the gelatinized cotton cloth. This cloth was made by layering cotton fabric with glue, allowing it to bond after each layer, then drying it with fire to create sturdy panels.
Xu Sanmei divided some of the cloth for Little Wang Clan, "Work starts in half an hour. Hurry up and don’t hold everyone else up."
"Mind your own business," she retorted.
To be three times faster than her, she must not be afraid of the wind slapping her tongue!
Xu Sanmei stopped arguing and picked up the scissors to get to work.
Sewing thousand-layer soles involved seven steps; preparing the gelatinized cloth was the first one. Next came cutting the soles, which meant trimming the cloth into the shape of a shoe sole.
A thousand-layer sole required nine pieces of cloth, each of which was edge-wrapped with white fabric. After wrapping, all the pieces were glued together, then bound around the edges with hemp rope before starting the stitching, which required fine, firm, evenly spaced stitches.
The final step was setting the shape, which could be processed in batches.
That meant that when it came to the thousand-layer sole, the sewing process was complete. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
The Embroidery Room only recruited those who were adept at their work, but upon seeing Third Sister’s pace, they were all astounded.
Her speed was truly unparalleled!
In just half an hour, she breezily finished one, which meant she could complete four pairs in a day, earning sixty wen. This was on par with embroidery wages, and not as exhausting as embroidery flowers.
Looking at Little Wang Clan, she was still wrapping the edges.
Both being human, how could the gap be so vast?
Little Wang Clan had always found stitching the sole troublesome, preferring to buy ready-made soles.
However, she had always thought the task was simple, and that she could finish it quickly if she were willing.
But reality gave her a harsh slap, making her wish she could crawl into a hole right then and there.
