Siheyuan: Walking the Path of Qin Huairu

Xu Huizhen remembers that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, rural women would use their spare time to embroider buttons. The county embroidery factory would send workers to the village to assign jobs. There were blueprints, and everyone embroidered flowers according to the blueprints, some pure white, and some colorful.

Although it is time-consuming and the wages are low, most rural women do it because they have nothing to do during the season when there is no farm work, and earning a little money can help supplement the family income.

Hu Yingzi had done it, too. Occasionally, when Xu Huizhen was free, she would help her with some simple trimmings. If she didn't do it well or made it dirty, she would be beaten.

At that time, she didn't understand why they were embroidering these useless things. The technicians at the embroidery factory said that they were exporting them to earn foreign exchange. Many foreigners liked them, and the prices were quite high when they were sold abroad.

Thinking of this, an idea came into her mind. She could promote cross-stitch in this time and space. Cross-stitch is more advanced and technical than button stitch. Nowadays, there is a lot of surplus labor in both rural and urban areas, especially housewives, many of whom are unemployed. Cross-stitch does not require much physical strength, and even old ladies in their sixties and seventies can do it.

Now private factories are not allowed, but you can open a small factory on the street. If it is well operated, it can be exported to foreign countries to create foreign exchange for the country. She knew that China would be in a difficult situation in the next few years. The Soviet Union unilaterally terminated the aid agreement, withdrew all aid experts, and took away the drawings. It caused us huge economic losses. my country must repay the debt as soon as possible.

Although cross stitch is a small project with negligible income, it can add up to a lot. If it is well managed and supported by the government, it may become bigger. The most important thing is that the investment is small and the risk is small. For such a good project, the director of the street office is probably not stupid. There is no reason to promote the existing performance.

She thought of the two cross-stitches on the wall of her space, one of which was "A harmonious family brings prosperity" and the other was "Wealth and prosperity bring prosperity and prosperity". (If you want to know why there are cross-stitches in the space, it is because the author needs them, so there are.)

She did it right away! She entered the bedroom and took out the two cross-stitches from the space. She called Han Qingqiu: "Auntie Han, come and take a look at these two embroidery works."

Han Qingqiu came over, took a closer look, and said, "You can only look at it from a distance, not up close. It's too crude. But what kind of embroidery method is this? I've never seen it before."

Xu Huizhen: "This is called cross stitch. Although it is not as delicate as Suzhou embroidery, Suzhou embroidery is too high-end and not affordable for ordinary people. Cross stitch is simple and easy to learn, and the cost is low. You can embroider it with a little training, and the most important thing is that ordinary people can afford it."

Han Qingqiu wondered: "Huizhen, what do you mean?"

Xu Huizhen: "I have an idea. Tell it to me and give it to me for reference." Then she broke down her plan and explained it again.

Han Qingqiu agreed with this idea and asked, "What do you need me to do?"

Xu Huizhen: "I need you to design the pattern. Those of you who are good at Suzhou embroidery can definitely draw. And you have the basics, so you can easily master cross-stitch. The two of us can work together to start a small street factory. If everything goes well, we can expand it and even promote it throughout the city or even the country."

In order to mobilize Han Qingqiu's enthusiasm, Xu Huizhen painted a big pie for her, "Auntie Han, your capitalist class will be very troublesome in the next few years. If we make the cross-stitch, I will say that these two embroidery works are collected by your family. With this credit, it is not impossible to ask the director of the neighborhood committee to change your class."

Han Qingqiu looked hopeful: "Huizhen, are you serious? Is it possible?"

Xu Huizhen: "More true than Zhenzhu! Man proposes, God disposes. How can you know if it works if you don't try?"

The two hit it off immediately. Xu Huizhen picked up a cross-stitch and tore off a small piece in the lower right corner. While doing so, she explained the cross-stitch embroidery technique. Han Qingqiu also understood it immediately. She said, "It's very simple to embroider. It's just that the embroidery cloth is quite special. I don't know where to buy it."

Xu Huizhen: "After we build a factory, we can ask the textile factory to make custom embroidery cloth for us. But now we have to find similar cloth and embroider a few finished products. This way, when we report to the street office, it will be more intuitive and convincing. We will strive to get support from the higher authorities."

Han Qingqiu: "Huizhen, you've thought it through very carefully. How about this, we will split up and act in the next few days. I won't be at work, so I'll be in charge of finding materials. We'll start by practicing with simple patterns, and then progress step by step. When we have a satisfactory finished product, we'll report our plan."

Xu Huizhen clapped her hands and cheered: "Well, I will find a carpenter to make some embroidery frames. You and I will be the initiators of the embroidery factory, and Hu Yingzi and Xu Jianmei will be the first batch of apprentices."

Xu Huizhen took out 100 yuan and handed it to Han Qingqiu, saying, "Take this money first and use it to buy embroidery cloth, embroidery thread and other supplies."

Han Qingqiu: "I can still afford this little money, so you don't have to worry about it."

Xu Huizhen: "That's fine too. Keep a record of all the money you spend so you can get reimbursed when you make money in the future."

The next day, Han Qingqiu went to buy materials for cross stitch. The thread used for cross stitch is different from the embroidery thread she used before. The thread used for Suzhou embroidery is very thin, while the thread used for cross stitch is thicker. Soon she bought the thread she was satisfied with. Although there were not many colors, it was barely enough for the current learning stage.

But the embroidery cloth was a bit troublesome. Han Qingqiu first went to Wangfujing Department Store, but didn't buy any. She then went to some smaller cloth shops, but none of them had the cloth she needed.

After shopping for a whole morning, she was exhausted and went home to rest at noon. In the afternoon, she went to the textile factory and gave fifty cents to the warehouse keeper. For the sake of the money, the keeper took her into the defective goods warehouse.

The warehouse was filled with unqualified defective products. In the corner of the warehouse, she saw a pile of cloth and brushed off the dust. Han Qingqiu felt that this kind of cloth could be used as is. Although it could not be compared with the embroidery cloth in Xu Huizhen's home, it was the most ideal choice she could find at the moment.

Han Qingqiu asked: "How much do you sell these cloths for?"

When the custodian heard that Han Qingqiu was interested in these cloths, she was very happy. These cloths were made for a factory, used for filtering, and the first batch was not up to standard, so they were piled here. Most people came here to buy cloth that could be used to make clothes, and no one wanted this kind of cloth with holes, so it was left here for a long time without anyone paying attention to it. If she could sell it, it would be a great achievement for her.

So the custodian said, "There are six pieces of cloth like this here. If you want them, I'll charge you twenty yuan." She didn't have the confidence and didn't dare to ask for an exorbitant price.

Han Qingqiu saw a lot of defective cloth in the warehouse, and she wanted to buy some to make clothes. She couldn't use it herself, but Xu Huizhen and the others would definitely like it. So she said, "I agree to this price, but you have to give me some of this cloth. There are many people in my family, and I can make pants, vests, etc. when I go back."