Jiang Xiaoman was unaware that, according to Section Chief Yang, she had already been officially recognized as Secretary Sun's distant cousin. A clear case of connections, the kind that required special attention.
Who could blame them when Secretary Sun was a favorite of the top leader?
After leaving the county government with the documents, Jiang Xiaoman thought for a moment and then went to the Cultural Bureau, where she found Director Chen of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center.
As a relatively quiet department in the county, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center usually doesn't have much to do. Director Chen was slacking off in his office when Jiang Xiaoman and Shan Yan knocked on the door and came in.
Jiang Xiaoman had no idea that Director Chen was slacking off. He had never been a civil servant before and thought that every department in the county was very busy. Not daring to delay Director Chen's work, he quickly told him about their intangible cultural heritage embroidery workshop's plan to discuss cooperation with a top international brand.
Since we're already here and have brought out the stick, it doesn't make a difference whether we hit him once or twice. What if Director Chen offers some kind of policy benefits?
I can't believe it actually exists!
"Xiaoman, are you serious? A top international brand really wants to use our Langshan embroidery to make clothes?" Director Chen was so excited that he almost dropped his teacup.
"Why didn't you tell me about something so important sooner? Hurry! Tell me in detail what exactly happened? What stage are we at now? Do we need any assistance from the county?"
Seeing Jiang Xiaoman still looking completely bewildered and out of sorts, Director Chen was heartbroken!
Comrade Jiang Xiaoman, you haven't fully realized the great significance of this matter for the intangible cultural heritage of Langshan!
That's a top-tier international brand!
A few years ago, a certain inheritor of a domestic embroidery technique, just because his work was featured on a bag by a major international brand and he walked the runway, wanted to release press releases all over the internet, boasting that the whole world knew about it. Humph!
They just stuck a piece of cloth on it! Look how smug they are!
According to Jiang Xiaoman, their Langshan embroidery is about to collaborate with a top international brand! And it's not just a bag, but a design by the brand's in-house designer—what's it called again? It should be a globally limited edition, right?
In short, it's incredibly awesome!
Director Chen felt like he had a board of nails stuck to his butt; he couldn't sit still at all!
"No, Xiaoman, I'll go to the village with you right now! How long has your embroidery workshop been open? Our intangible cultural heritage center hasn't even visited it yet."
Jiang Xiaoman was speechless.
They're just a small village-run workshop, how could they possibly invite county leaders to come and inspect it?
However, since the leader had brought it up, how could Jiang Xiaoman be foolish enough to refuse?
Jiang Xiaoman went to the county and actually brought the leaders of the Cultural Bureau back to the village!
The villagers all came to see what was going on. They heard that the county leaders had come specifically for the embroidery workshop, and families in the village with girls were quite interested.
Jiang Cuicui sat nervously in the front row, showing the county leaders a piece of work she was embroidering.
These are the patterns that Grandma Jiang taught her. She doesn't understand what Xiaoman meant by totem culture. She only knows that in the past, when a family in the village was getting married, they would embroider these patterns on pillowcases and quilts for good luck.
This is how they've embroidered for generations; who knows what these patterns represent?
Director Chen actually understood the meanings of these patterns better than Jiang Cuicui.
What Jiang Xiaoman and the others didn't know was that before Director Chen was transferred to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center, he had actually done some work on the excavation of tribal culture in Langshan Ancient Village. Not only had he come into contact with the totems and obscure characters of many different tribes, but he could also sing several kinds of folk songs.
Upon seeing this, Director Chen wanted to bring Jiang Cuicui back again.
Before he could even begin, he turned around and saw that Shan Cui, who had been embroidering a pattern for over a week, was almost finished.
This is a prickly ash tree, with a lifelike magpie perched on it. Director Chen knew that this pattern was the signature embroidery style used by unmarried girls in the area who wanted to find a husband to live with them... cough!
Don't ask him how he knows. When he was young, Director Chen was a heartthrob in the eyes of girls all around.
Director Chen bent down to admire Shan Cui's craftsmanship for a while and found it to be quite good. He suggested that if the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center had any events in the future, they could invite her to perform.
Because of the scarcity of residential land in the village, Jiang Xiaoman's embroidery workshop is not very large. Director Chen only took a couple of turns around to see it, and after that, he was even more reluctant to leave.
"Xiaoman, your little workshop is truly full of hidden talents!"
"With so many talented people, you need to make a list of inheritors and report it to me. I'll apply for intangible cultural heritage inheritor subsidies for them!" Director Chen said generously.
That's great! You don't have to do anything extra. You just need to cooperate with the county's intangible cultural heritage center to participate in a few activities each year, and you can receive a fixed subsidy every month. How could Jiang Xiaoman possibly turn down such a good opportunity?
Although the money wasn't for him, Jiang Xiaoman knew that those who were willing to stay up late and embroider here were actually from poor families, or like Jiang Cuicui, rural mothers who were married but whose husbands' families couldn't help them and they had to earn money to support their families and children. For them, even an extra thousand yuan a month in subsidies would be a great help!
There wasn't much to see at the small traditional embroidery workshop; it only took half an hour. What Director Chen really wanted to know was Jiang Xiaoman's plans for the workshop's future.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaoman gave a wry smile: "Director Chen, I really didn't lie to you. The main reason I opened this embroidery workshop in the village was to find part-time jobs for the aunties and sisters-in-law in the village during the off-season so they could earn some extra money."
"Isn't this just a coincidence? The young master of Jinyan Group is vacationing in our village. His family is in the clothing business. We put our heads together and initially just wanted to embroider small items like school badges. But then they said they wanted to develop some high-end product line. I was just pushed forward by the situation!"
Director Chen looked at Jiang Xiaoman speechlessly.
He felt that Jiang Xiaoman was in Versailles.
Being pushed forward? Haha~ You don't want this good fortune, can you give it to me instead?
He also wanted to be pushed forward by others, without having to struggle on his own. How wonderful that would be!
Upon hearing that Jin Yan had formally invited Hera's designers to lead a team to Langshan for inspiration, Director Chen's eyes lit up, and he immediately booked two guest rooms upstairs at Jiang Xiaoman's house.
"This is a rare opportunity. Although our intangible cultural heritage center is only a county-level unit, we should cherish this valuable opportunity to learn from international brands!"
"Xiaoman, all guests are welcome, especially since they're here to explore Langshan's intangible cultural heritage. The county should provide excellent hospitality throughout their stay."
Director Chen offered himself up, so how could Jiang Xiaoman possibly let this fat sheep go?
It just so happens that Jiang Cuicui's matter hasn't been completely resolved yet.
When Director Chen heard that someone was trying to steal away the precious embroiderer Jiang Cuicui, making such a skilled intangible cultural heritage inheritor work for a scoundrel, he immediately became furious: "Does this kind of person even deserve it?!"
Why don't you take a good look at yourself? Jiang Cuicui is going to work with top international designers in the future. You're just a country bumpkin who doesn't even have a marriage certificate. You want to keep that girl locked up at home for the rest of your life?
It seems that the county public security system really needs to further extend its legal education efforts to the grassroots level.
The Public Security Bureau's propaganda department, frequently caught in the crossfire: "..."
Hearing that Wang Laoliu, that scoundrel, was detained at the police station for "extortion," Director Chen checked his phone and decided to make a call to an acquaintance at the Public Security Bureau.
Rural women's freedom of marriage should also be protected by national law.
Why should a father who accepts a bride price be obligated to marry his daughter into that family?
This is a serious violation of women's rights! I never imagined that such illegal activities would still be rampant in Langshan. We must arrest a few typical cases and severely punish them!
In a small city like this, everyone in the system is either a friend or a relative. It's quite a coincidence that Director Chen's uncle-in-law is the second-in-command of the county public security bureau.
This is not an abuse of power for personal gain; it is a legitimate exercise of his right to supervise and make suggestions as a righteous citizen of the country!
Hearing Director Chen's righteous declaration that Wang Laoliu, a thug who violated women's will and infringed on their rights, should be used as a negative example to teach them a lesson, Jiang Xiaoman almost burst out laughing.
What's a few days of detention at the police station?
If the Public Security Bureau were to include this in a document as a negative example and circulate it throughout the county, even if they didn't mention it, the people of Caishi Town wouldn't dare let Wang Laoliu harass Jiang Cuicui anymore.
As expected of someone with a keen eye for talent within the system, you can tell a lot from a professional's first move.
Director Chen is so helpful! As soon as Jiang Xiaoman told Grandma Jiang about it, she received a big rooster that Grandma Jiang had asked Jiang Cuicui to kill and deliver to her that very evening!
Just then, Jiang Xiaoman received a box of fresh ginseng from his partner's courier service, so he cut off half of the ginseng and stewed a whole pot of ginseng and rooster soup for Director Chen!
Jiang Cuicui never imagined that she would be able to return to her beloved grandmother's side in her lifetime.
Jiang Yueyue no longer recognized this older sister. When Yueyue was born, Jiang Cuicui was married off by her father in exchange for a dowry before Yueyue was even a month old. Wang Laoliu never allowed her to return to her parents' home, so Jiang Cuicui, Yueyue's older sister, had never even held her once in her arms.
For some reason, Jiang Cuicui never got pregnant after marrying Wang Laoliu, and her mother-in-law would often scold her as a "hen that doesn't lay eggs".
However, Jiang Cuicui was also a normal woman. Seeing other women her age around her becoming mothers and holding their soft, fragrant babies in their arms, she felt extremely envious.
But now there's no need to be envious.
Yueyue is supposed to be her younger sister, but the two are too far apart in age and look about the same age as her daughter. After Jiang Cuicui came back, besides taking care of her grandmother, she devoted all her maternal love to her youngest sister, Jiang Yueyue.
Children have a keen intuition for their likes and dislikes, and within a few days, Yueyue started clinging to Jiang Cuicui.
Jiang Cuicui genuinely loved Yueyue. The child was too young to dress herself up, and Grandma Jiang wasn't aware of it either. She hadn't expected that children would compare themselves to each other. Ever since Jiang Cuicui took over taking care of her younger sister, Jiang Yueyue's hairstyle had changed every single day.
Not only that, Jiang Cuicui also learned online shopping from the girls in the embroidery workshop, and bought a lot of pretty dresses and hairbands for Jiang Yueyue online, dressing the little girl up like a fairy.
Jiang Yueyue usually wears her school uniform, but on weekends she dresses even better than her school uniform, quickly becoming the most stylish girl in the whole village. Not only did she make many good friends, but it's also said that when they were playing house, some of the village boys even fought over Jiang Yueyue...
This made someone who was originally a complete stranger extremely jealous.
Jin Chengjie has now completely settled in Langshan Village. He tells his family that he is keeping an eye on the new project, but in reality, it's just because Shanque is about to give birth. For some unspeakable reasons, the young master Jin is afraid that if Shanque really gives birth to a daughter, he, as the "superior gene donor," will completely lose his value, and he might not even be allowed to see his daughter.
That won't do.
That was Jin Chengjie's first child!
Especially after seeing Jiang Yueyue dressed up like a fairy by Jiang Cuicui, and imagining his child with Shan Que, Young Master Jin firmly believed that with his and Shan Que's genes, if they had a daughter, she would definitely be countless times more beautiful than Jiang Yueyue!
For some reason, although he really wanted the titmouse to have a son this time (so he could continue to stay with the titmouse family), he had a vague feeling that the titmouse was carrying a soft little titmouse...
Thinking this, Jin Chengjie waited for someone while checking his phone and bought several more pretty dresses and a pink stroller for his daughter.
Today is the day that Hera Group's in-house designer is leading a team to Langshan for inspiration. Naturally, Young Master Jin doesn't need to personally pick them up; Jin Yan's people will naturally pick them up from the airport and bring them over.
However, Jiang Xiaoman was so cunning. Fearing that the foreign designer would be poached by other, more powerful studios in China, she simply organized a delegation to accompany him on his inspection tour. She also rented a house in Jiangxia's village, cleaned it up, and planned to keep the designer and his team in Langshan for the next few days!
No inspiration? Not a chance!
Leaving aside the Jiangxia family's rich collection of books and various precious bark paintings and rock paintings, just visiting all the villages in Langshan would be enough for designers to gather inspiration.
However, to the surprise of Jiang Xiaoman and the Jin brothers, the first thing the famous designer Edmund did after arriving at Langshan was not to look for inspiration, but to look for his best friend, cough~ to be precise, his online friend.
"Where's Zhang? Wasn't Zhang supposed to be Jin Yan's art consultant? Why isn't he here?"
Zhang? Is it Zhang or Zhang? There are very few people with the surname Zhang in Langshan. If there are, they are all people with other surnames who moved here. There are people with the surname Zhang, though, there are quite a few in Shuangwan Town.
But isn't Jin Yan's art consultant Jiang Xia?
Edmund was looking for Jiang Xia!
However, this foreigner was probably just learning Chinese and couldn't distinguish between z and j, so what he was actually looking for was Jiangxia.
Wait! Why hasn't Jiangxia arrived yet?
Comrade Jiang Xia was heartbroken. He never expected that even after he deleted his account and ran away, this persistent foreigner would still track him down to his hideout!
Chapter 265
Jin Chengjie and Jiang Xiaoman thought that the famous international designer was genuinely amazed by their Langshan embroidery, which was why he took the initiative to seek cooperation.
Unexpectedly, the two leading ladies in the advertisement Jin Yan filmed for Langshan embroidery did not amaze Edmund. Instead, it was Jiang Xia, who made a brief but stunning appearance in the advertisement, that made Edmund almost jump up when he unexpectedly saw the ad.