Chapter 1560

Master Zhu raised his head and said, "Then let them come in."

Master Zhu was an old man over sixty with gray hair, wearing a pair of glasses, and having a kind face.

Auntie Zhang then let Song Qiaoli, Su Xinghui, and Lu Xiaoya enter the room. As soon as they entered the room, they felt a cool breeze blowing towards them. It turned out that the air conditioning was also turned on in the room.

However, in Jiangcheng, in this weather, a tailor closing the door to make clothes in the room wouldn't be able to stand it without air conditioning. And Master Zhu being able to make clothes with the air conditioning on also showed that his income was not bad.

Song Qiaoli entered the door and shouted, "Master Zhu, hello!"

Master Zhu said, "Manager Song, are you the one who wants to make clothes?"

Song Qiaoli pointed to Lu Xiaoya and Su Xinghui and said, "Master Zhu, this is my daughter and son-in-law. They are getting married on the National Day, October 1st. They went to the street to buy clothes today, but they weren't satisfied after looking for a long time, so they wanted to ask you to make a few sets of clothes."

Master Zhu said, "Your daughter and son-in-law are getting married? Congratulations, congratulations!"

Song Qiaoli said, "Thank you, Master Zhu."

Master Zhu said, "Then what kind of clothes do you want to make?"

Su Xinghui said, "Master Zhu, we came here today to measure the dimensions. I will design the style of the clothes myself. I want to make a wedding dress and a cheongsam for her, and I want to make two suits and two shirts for myself."

Master Zhu asked in surprise, "You can also design clothes yourself?"

Song Qiaoli said, "This son-in-law of mine is a painter, a member of the Artists Association. A painting he draws can sell for tens of thousands."

Master Zhu said, "Is that so? Then it is my honor to make the clothes you designed. However..."

Master Zhu stopped talking. Su Xinghui said, "Master Zhu, however what?"

Master Zhu said, "I haven't made the wedding dress you mentioned. I don't know how to make it. I know how to make cheongsams, suits, shirts, and so on, but I just don't know how to make this wedding dress."

Song Qiaoli frowned and said, "Master Zhu, then do you know who in Jiangcheng knows how to make this wedding dress?"

Master Zhu shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of anyone who makes wedding dresses well. If you talk about making cheongsams, suits, etc., there are still a few who do it well. However, I dare say that no one in Jiangcheng makes them better than I do."

Song Qiaoli and Lu Xiaoya couldn't help but look at each other. After pondering for a moment, Su Xinghui said, "How about this, Master Zhu, then leave the cheongsam, suits, and shirts to you. I will find someone else for the wedding dress. Please measure our dimensions today, and after I go back and draw the design drawings, I will let my mother give them to you."

Master Zhu nodded and said, "Okay. For these few pieces of clothing, are you buying the fabric yourself for me to make, or should I buy the fabric myself to make them?"

Su Xinghui asked, "What is the difference between buying the fabric yourself and you buying the fabric?"

Master Zhu said, "If you buy the fabric yourselves, I will only charge for the labor. The labor cost for a set of cheongsam and suit is two hundred, and the labor cost for a shirt is fifty. If I buy the fabric, then the price will be calculated according to the grade of the fabric."

Su Xinghui thought to himself, this Master Zhu's labor cost is not cheap. However, this is also normal. His craftsmanship is good, and he often makes clothes for provincial leaders. Can that labor cost be cheap? If the labor cost were cheap, would he still be a good tailor?

Su Xinghui said, "How about this, Master Zhu, we don't know much about fabric, so you buy the fabric for us. You see what kind of fabric can be bought in Jiangcheng. How much money will it cost in total to buy the best one?"

Master Zhu thought for a while and said, "You are getting married on the National Day, October 1st. The best fabric for a cheongsam is brocade, which is not so hot to wear. Using the best quality brocade to make a cheongsam will cost at least two thousand yuan."

Su Xinghui nodded and said, "Okay. Do you have samples of brocade here? I want to take a look. After looking, it will also be helpful for my designing clothes."

Master Zhu nodded and said, "Of course I have. By the way, I have a piece of the best brocade fabric here, with a phoenix embroidered on it by Jiang embroidery master Mr. Zhuang Song, which is just suitable for making wedding dresses. Do you want to take a look? However, this piece of fabric costs more than two thousand yuan."

Song Qiaoli exclaimed, "Master Zhu, do you have Master Zhuang Song's work here?"

Jiang embroidery is an embroidery craft that has been passed down in the Jiangcheng area. Although it was not selected as one of the four famous embroideries in China, it is also a famous embroidery craft with a long history, which can be traced back to the pre-Qin period.

Master Zhuang Song was a famous Jiang embroidery master. He passed away due to illness more than ten years ago, so the Jiang embroidery skills of his branch were lost. His works are very rare in the world. Song Qiaoli, as the manager of the crafts shop, naturally knew this, but she didn't expect that Master Zhu still kept a piece of embroidery by Master Zhuang Song here.

Master Zhu nodded and said, "Yes, that was during the period of turmoil. Master Zhuang Song and I were old friends. I used to make high-end clothing and often had to buy some embroidered brocade fabric from him. Later, due to the turmoil, these old crafts were all called the Four Olds, and he was not allowed to do them anymore. As a tailor, I could only make some coarse cloth clothes and couldn't use such high-end fabric."

Recalling the past, Master Zhu felt somewhat emotional. He shook his head and continued.

"That was in '71. At that time, I could at least support my family by my tailoring skills, but Master Zhuang Song couldn't do brocade embroidery, and he couldn't do anything else either. That year, his family couldn't make ends meet, so he secretly took some of the embroidery masterpieces he had hidden at home to my house, wanting to sell them to me."

"As soon as I saw these things, they were all masterpieces. I couldn't take my eyes off them as soon as I saw them. Although these things couldn't be used at that time, I believed that one day they could be used. I gave all the money in my family to Master Zhuang and kept these things, hiding them at home."

"After the turmoil ended, I thought about returning these things to Master Zhuang because when I bought them, there wasn't much money in my family, and for the value of these things, it was too little. However, Master Zhuang refused to accept them no matter what. He said that the money I gave him at that time saved his whole family's life, and these things should be mine."

Hearing this, Su Xinghui and the others were speechless. In that era of turmoil, how many such moving stories were hidden!

"I have used up most of these pieces of fabric over the years, and only the last piece is left, which is also the best one. I have been reluctant to use this piece and have kept it until today. I will take it out for you to see now."

Master Zhu went into the inner room and brought out a box after a while. He opened the box with great care and brought out a piece of brocade from it, opening it. Suddenly, the whole room seemed to brighten up.

This piece of brocade was bright red, just fitting the joy of a wedding, and a golden phoenix was embroidered on the brocade with golden silk thread.