Su Jin took the phone and scrolled through the pictures. As each photo passed, her worry eased a little.
At that moment, Jian Ran was incredibly grateful that she had gone out with Chu Lulin; otherwise, she didn’t know what she would have done.
“Oh, Master, I met Liu Hongxiu, the inheritor of Bai ethnic silver embroidery, this time. I was lucky enough to study under her for a few days.” She pointed to one photo. “This was taken at her embroidery workshop.”
Su Jin was surprised to hear that, but seeing that Jian Ran had even gone to a local embroidery workshop, she believed her words even more.
“Then you really made the right decision to go. People should get out more. It’s my fault too, or you wouldn’t have had to rush back.”
“It’s fine. I was almost done anyway. I only came back a few days early.”
After their heart-to-heart talk, both of them felt more at ease.
“Alright, since you’re back, you don’t get to be idle. Rest tonight, and tomorrow go to the workshop. I took on a project for a film crew to embroider some costumes. That job is yours now,” Su Jin said.
Jian Ran let out an “Ah.”
Su Jin shot her a glance. “What ‘ah’? It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone. I need to rest, and someone has to do the work.”
“Aren’t there the senior sisters?” Jian Ran muttered under her breath.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work; it was just that embroidering for a film crew was urgent and tedious, and she’d have to coordinate with the crew…
Okay, she just didn’t want to do it.
Su Jin snorted. “The intangible cultural heritage workshop needs supervision, the collaborative project with the tourism bureau needs management, and that digital teaching platform you proposed also needs attention. Tell me, which of these can do without people?”
She even reached out and tapped Jian Ran’s forehead. “You need to settle down soon. It’s time for you to stand on your own. Don’t just think up ideas and boss your senior sisters around all day.”
Jian Ran rubbed her nose and didn’t dare to argue.
“Alright, I’ll obediently go to the workshop tomorrow, okay?”
Su Jin ‘hmph’ed. “That’s more like it.”
Jian Ran smiled, and once she had calmed her master down, she finally asked the question on her mind. “Master, how did you find out about my breakup?”
Su Jin didn’t hide it. “I overheard Xiao Ning on the phone at the workshop yesterday.”
Jian Ran suddenly understood.
So that’s it. Apart from Lu Chuchu, she hadn’t told anyone the details of the breakup. How did Su Jin suddenly find out? The answer was Xiao Ning.
As for how Xiao Ning knew, her boyfriend happened to graduate from A University. He wasn’t close with Zhou Yu, but they were classmates, so she probably got the news from some alumni group.
No wonder she had slipped away so quickly.
Su Jin took a bite of her apple, then suddenly remembered something. “By the way, don’t tell your uncle and aunt about my sprain. I don’t want them to make a big deal and come all the way back.”
Jian Ran said “Oh.”
Her master was her aunt’s biological aunt, so besides the master-disciple bond, they also had this real family connection.
*
Their workshop was a long-established Beijing embroidery workshop. In recent years, with the promotion of Beijing embroidery as an intangible cultural heritage, the focus had shifted from “museum-style preservation” to “living heritage for use,” emphasizing that traditional skills should be “alive” in the present and accessible to the public.
Thus, the workshop had developed many other businesses, such as setting up Beijing embroidery experience studios and collaborating with brands to launch everyday items.
Nevertheless, partnering with film and television crews remained one of the workshop’s main businesses. Usually, they only took on fully custom orders from high-end productions.
But this time was an exception. They had taken on a partial outsourcing job from a small-to-medium crew, reportedly as a favor to a producer they had worked with before.
Jobs like this, which only involved embroidery, were relatively simple. The crew would purchase the garments themselves, and the workshop only needed to hand-embroider parts like insignias and cuffs. The quantity wasn’t large—just a few costumes for the main characters.
Jian Ran buried herself in the workshop for a week and finally finished the batch.
“Alright, contact the crew to pick up the goods. The rest is up to you.”
Xiao Ning quickly nodded. “Leave it to me, Ran Jie. Don’t worry.”
As Teacher Su’s assistant, she was used to these tasks and could handle them with ease.
“Ran Jie, your embroidery is amazing! When are you going to take on apprentices? I’ll be the first to sign up!”
Jian Ran shot her a glance. “Stop flattering me. You caused trouble, and I’ll settle accounts with you when I have time.”
Herself not yet a master, what apprentices was she taking? The girl was just being a sycophant.
Xiao Ning sheepishly rubbed her nose.
She felt wronged too. Who would have thought Teacher Su would overhear her call?
Still, even if Xiao Ning was being a little flattering, she genuinely thought Jian Ran’s embroidery was excellent.
Teacher Su often praised her behind her back, saying she had talent and had practiced since childhood, even if she had taken a few years off. But everyone guessed she had never stopped practicing in private.
Leaving the workshop, Jian Ran stretched lazily. Finally done. She needed a good bath—she was exhausted from these past days.
She reached the parking lot, got into the driver’s seat, and just as she was about to start the car, her phone vibrated.
A WeChat message.
Jian Ran picked up the phone. It was Chu Lulin.
[Big Sister, do you have time to meet? I just realized I haven’t returned the handkerchief I borrowed from you.]
He followed up with a photo—the fish-playing-with-lotus handkerchief.