Xu Su Ying put her eloquence on full display, trumpeting the Wang Family’s standing. She also happened to mention that the family had two grandsons ready to take beautiful brides. Weren’t the young ladies of the county town just fired up about that?

She seized the opportunity to make a hefty sum. Adding that to her savings from previous years, she was finally able to buy that residence.

To show that the residence hadn’t been expensive, Xu Su Ying also told the story of the old couple who had owned it.

She moved on to the old couple’s son-in-law. His greedy scheming was so obvious it was practically hitting them in the face—he was just waiting to take over the family’s assets. At this, all the women present were filled with righteous indignation.

She added that it was all thanks to Chen Song’s quick wits. He had thoroughly investigated the son-in-law’s household and found out the man was committing adultery and even had a son from the affair. They used this to coerce the man into signing a divorce agreement with the old couple’s daughter. Out of gratitude, the old couple made a fair concession on the price.

She didn’t specify how much of a discount they received, nor did she mention that the woman the son-in-law was sleeping with was his elder brother’s wife, making the illegitimate child his own nephew. She worried that those people might track them down later and blow the lid off the whole affair. ’Why ask for trouble for our family?’

In any case, the adulterous sister-in-law was no good, but the man’s elder brother, who always beat his wife half to death, was no saint either. Better to let that pile of rotten meat stew in its own pot. Let their own family deal with the stench.

This tale from Xu Su Ying had everyone completely captivated.

A cry of surprise would erupt from the room one moment, followed by a sharp intake of breath the next. She had them on the edge of their seats, and they all believed her story from the bottom of their hearts.

But then, one woman spoke up, "Sister Xu, that makeup artistry of yours, could you teach it to others? Sister Xu, look at my Qiaocui. She’s so clever and nimble-fingered; she picks up anything in a flash. Sister Xu, I was thinking, do you think you could take the girl as your apprentice? With a skill like that, she’ll be able to secure her footing in her husband’s family later on. We won’t learn for free, we’ll pay the tui-that-thing..."

"Tuition!"

"Right, we’ll pay tuition!"

Xu Su Ying had anticipated this before she even arrived and had already prepared a strategy.

She said cheerfully, "Of course! If all the girls in our village can marry into good families on their own merits, then the young men of our village will benefit too. Who knows, one day we might be the ones knocking on your doors asking for a match! But then again, learning a craft like this is no easy feat."

Xu Su Ying laid out three main points. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

First, this craft depends on both technical skill and an eye for beauty. If you don’t have a good aesthetic sense, you can’t create a beautiful look. But if you have the aesthetic sense but clumsy hands, that won’t work either. So, she said, while she could teach the craft, she couldn’t guarantee the girls would be able to learn it.

Second, the county town was only so big. If they learned the trade from her, they could not compete with her for business.

In other words, if they wanted to work as makeup artists, they would have to go to other territories. To do otherwise would be unscrupulous.

Finally, and this was the most important point, the girls could not do any daily chores. They had to keep their hands soft and supple. Otherwise, if they ran into a difficult client who was disgusted by their rough hands and clumsy fingers and ended up striking them, Xu Su Ying warned that she wouldn’t be able to stand up for them.

The first and second points were fine; everyone could understand those.

After all, everyone has different talents, and there’s the old saying, "Teach the apprentice, and the master will starve." So Xu Su Ying’s demands weren’t unreasonable.

But the last point, which seemed the simplest, stumped them all.

A girl from a farming family, no matter how cherished, how could she not do chores at home? If they really had to do that, wouldn’t it be like having to worship the girl like a little queen?

If they pampered her like a princess, by the time she mastered the skill, their own family wouldn’t be able to enjoy the fruits of that labor. The girl would truly become someone they were raising for her future in-laws.

No matter how they looked at it, it was a huge loss.