However, although her son was "sick from exhaustion," this year's Mid-Autumn Festival was the most comfortable one that Qu's mother had ever experienced in all her years of marriage.
In previous years, when her husband was still alive, they would spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together with their families every year.
Her two sisters-in-law were both incredibly lazy. Qu's mother had to prepare all the meals for the whole family of more than ten people during the holidays by herself, and it wasn't just one meal; it was a meal that lasted from morning till night.
Every year after the holidays, it feels like Qu's mother has gone through a tribulation. When she gets home, she has sore back and legs that she needs to rest for several days.
That's not all. Every holiday, the couple would carry large bags of things home and give red envelopes to their second and third children.
What angered Qu's mother was that while they gave red envelopes to the children of her second and third sons, the second and third sons never gave Qu Jingjiang a red envelope. They even smiled and said in front of their mother-in-law that Jingjiang had grown up and was now earning a salary, so they would no longer give him red envelopes... Was that even human?
Ms. Qu disliked spending holidays at her mother-in-law's house. Any holiday spent with the Qu family turned into a calamity.
Her son fell ill from exhaustion, and of course she felt sorry for him.
But the thought that this would give her an excuse not to go back and spend the holiday with her mother-in-law made Qu's mother secretly delighted.
What warmed her heart even more was that although Qu Jingjiang hadn't taught many classes at Langshan Elementary School, when they heard he was sick, many families in the village brought gifts to visit him. They even brought seven live hens!
For so many years, their family has only ever thrown things out during holidays; this is the first time they've ever brought things back in.
Qu Jingjiang has gone astray too. In the past, he definitely wouldn't have accepted gifts from students' parents, but now it's different. Not only did he accept them, but he also lay in bed, his face pale, feigning difficulty, and said to Qu's mother—
“When I was teaching in Langshan, I don’t know how many free-range eggs the students’ parents gave me. Now that we’ve moved here, I should have gone to their homes to return the favor for the first major holiday, but unfortunately the doctor won’t let me get up…”
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Qu immediately became restless.
"You lie down! I'm going to the supermarket in town to buy some things. We should reciprocate favors. We can't just take advantage of the fact that you've taught their kids for a few years and shamelessly accept their gifts for nothing. Help me write down a list, and I'll use that list to return the favors to them."
Mrs. Qu immediately got busy, completely forgetting about her troublesome mother-in-law and brother-in-law.
...
On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the entire Langshan Mountain was bustling with activity.
In recent years, very few people working away from home are willing to put down their jobs and go home specifically for holidays. After all, the holidays are too short, and some factories are only willing to give one day off. Even if they want to go home for a family reunion, they can't.
This year, it was a rare occasion for every family to be reunited. Even Grandma Jiang's family was brought to Shanghai in advance to spend a Mid-Autumn Festival with Jiang Cancan.
The mountains were also exceptionally lively.
After the reunion dinner, mooncakes, pomegranates, bamboo leaf cakes, and glutinous rice candy were offered in the courtyard. Jiang Xiaoman turned off the lights in the courtyard and watched as Jiang Youliang and Jiang Baichuan lit torches.
"Steal the big one, and may it bless you to find a good wife and have a chubby baby next year!" Jiang Youliang solemnly handed the torch in his hand to Jiang Xiaoman.
In Langshan, there is another Mid-Autumn Festival custom, which is called "stealing autumn vegetables" by the locals.
On the night of the full moon on the fifteenth of August, after the family reunion dinner, the young people and children would take torches and run around the village, stealing melons and vegetables from other people's fields.
Children often steal vegetables, especially cauliflower, supposedly because the word for cauliflower sounds like the word for "talent." Whoever steals the biggest and most beautiful cauliflower is said to get good grades in the coming year.
Children Jiang Xiaoman's age usually steal melons, like pumpkins or watermelons, and they have to steal the big ones, the heavier the better.
So you need to bring a torch, not only to light the way, but also to find a big melon.
Jiang Xiaoman hadn't been this childish in many years, but it was all because he had let slip in his live stream that his fans knew about this custom in Langshan.
Fans are clamoring to see Xiaoman stealing melons under the moonlight, what can Xiaoman do?
Of course, we want to satisfy our dearest fans!
What left him speechless was that someone had first spread the rumor that he was some kind of "Little God of Wealth of Langshan," and that anyone who stole his family's melons and vegetables would surely make a fortune this year along with the God of Wealth!
While Jiang Xiaoman was down the mountain stealing a melon, her own vegetable garden was ransacked!
The next morning, when he went to his vegetable garden to pick some greens to make noodles, he discovered that his garden had been completely robbed, not even a single scallion was left...
The villagers laughed and joked as they tied the scallions they had stolen from Jiang Xiaoman's vegetable garden with red ropes and hung them on their doorframes. They then happily pulled up even more scallions from their own gardens and transplanted them into Jiang Xiaoman's garden.
Since the stolen pumpkins and winter melons couldn't be replaced with new ones, the villagers simply picked more pumpkins, winter melons, gourds, and the like from their own vegetable gardens and piled them up in front of Jiang Youliang's house while he was working on the mountain!
For several days in a row, people have been sending him melons, and his storage room is almost overflowing. Jiang Xiaoman had no choice but to appeal to everyone in the newly established Langshan Village "We Are a Loving Family" group chat to stop sending him melons!
It's not like the entertainment industry, where there's a new scandal every day; you can't possibly keep up with all that gossip.
The melons from Langshan are so big and delicious, it's really easy to eat until you're stuffed...
Chapter 277
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, another piece of good news came from across the ocean.
The promotional video for Hera's haute couture fashion show is out!
Edmund was the one who told them the news.
Edmund had been back preparing for this big show for several months. In recent years, high-end luxury brands from Europe and America have increasingly valued the Chinese market, mainly due to its strong purchasing power. Therefore, their designs are increasingly incorporating unique Chinese cultural and artistic elements.
For example, the "Blue and White Porcelain" series, the "Forbidden City" series, and the "Tang Dynasty" series from earlier years, although they only learned the basics, incorporated some of the most iconic elements.
But it's clear that the wealthy Chinese fathers are extremely proud of it. Even though the final designs can no longer be called Hanfu, countless wealthy Chinese are still willing to spend a fortune on this so-called "Chinese style".
The news that Langshan embroidery could reach such an international stage, and that Jiang Xiaoman, Jiang Xia, and others were invited to participate in the brand's branch event in Shanghai, caused a sensation throughout the county.
This time, Jiang Xiaoman didn't need to beg and plead for money anymore. The county's media center sent its most capable interview team to accompany Jiang Xiaoman and her group to Shanghai to participate in the event.
Of course, they went at their own expense, but the TV station's leaders didn't say anything at this point.
The reason is simple: without Jiang Xiaoman bringing the reporters in with the invitation, a mere county-level TV station wouldn't even have the right to attend such a high-end fashion show.
However, no one expected that they would go to the event with great enthusiasm and high spirits, only to return home feeling frustrated.
Who would have thought that the external promotion claimed it was "totem culture from a mysterious ancient Eastern country," but in the end, some totem elements from Langshan were distorted by another Eastern designer under Hera's company into "the pattern blending Chinese and Korean cultures"...
What the hell is Korean culture?!
When Jiang Xia heard the on-site translation, he almost jumped up and started a fight with the smug-looking Korean designer!
Edmund wasn't here, and Jiang Xiaoman wasn't sure if he knew about this matter, so of course she couldn't let Jiang Xia turn against him now.
"Go back first! Call Edmund!"
"I want to ask him, how did a pattern that was clearly copied from those old things your father left behind become Korean?" Jiang Xiaoman said coldly, holding Jiang Xia's arm tightly.
Jiang Xia was furious.
Jiang Xiaoman, however, did not believe that Edmund was involved in this matter. If she put herself in his shoes, she would understand. If he were a top designer of Edmund's stature, he would not need to risk his reputation for half a lifetime for a single piece of work.
That's blatant plagiarism!
Moreover, this plagiarism wasn't for his own country, but for the so-called "national glory" of South Korea.
The departure of several guests of Chinese descent did not elicit a significant reaction from the audience.
Ironically, it was the internet that first stirred things up.
Jiang Xiaoman's more than ten million fans are one thing, but the influence of internet celebrities can't compare to that of real top stars.
What really troubled Hera was that, in order to expand the brand's influence in the Asian region, they invited several influential celebrities in Asia to attend the show.
These ultra-luxury fashion shows have always been the perfect venue for celebrities to showcase their sophistication.
Before the show even started, the teams of several invited celebrities were already releasing press releases and buying trending topics, keeping themselves extremely busy. Half of the dozen or so trending topics on the homepage were about this show.
Not only were the celebrities' fans watching this big show, but their haters were too.
The incident involving a South Korean designer misattributing items and allegedly misappropriating totem cultural elements of Chinese ethnic minorities was first exposed by these anti-fans.
So what if celebrities look bad in unedited photos?
The fashion show they participated in is suspected of infringing on intellectual property rights, specifically the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. This is a scandal that even passersby cannot tolerate, okay?
Haters don't care whether the clothes were designed by a celebrity or whether the celebrity has worn them. They just think that as long as you attend this fashion show, you're colluding with those thieves who steal Chinese culture, betraying your nation, and hurting the feelings of the people of your motherland!
While Jiang Xiaoman and the others were still trying to contact Edmund off the field, the online battle between fans and haters had already become a bloody storm.
More than an hour later, probably after the main venue event had ended, Jiang Xia finally got through to Edmund on the phone.
Jiang Xiaoman had to admire him. In order to chase after his idol, he actually taught himself English and his spoken English was not bad. After making the call, Jiang Xiaoman heard Jiang Xia arguing loudly with the other end of the line in fairly fluent English.
Jiang Xiaoman, whose English level was only at the CET-4 level, didn't know what they were arguing about. She only vaguely understood some swear words like "fuck" and "bitch." It was only thanks to watching a lot of foreign movies that she could barely remember these foreign slang terms...
However, the good news was that after hanging up the phone, Jiang Xia told him that Edmund was indeed unaware of this matter beforehand.
As the go-to designer for top luxury brands, Edmond's team was only responsible for designing a portion of the final fashion pieces at the main event.
Unfortunately, the high-end couture segment, which was supposed to be aimed at the Asian market, was handled by another design team within the company. And the designer who misattributed the designs and attempted to confuse Chinese culture with Korean culture was actually a designer from this team.
"Isn't this ridiculous? When did we authorize this designer to use elements of Langshan embroidery?" Jiang Xiaoman quickly grasped the key point.
When Edmund came to Langshan for inspiration, including his collaboration with Jin Yan, the contracts were signed in the name of his personal studio.
May our ancestors bless us!
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaoman was always stingy. At the time, she thought that international big brands like Hera were not short of money and would be willing to pay a copyright fee to legally use the iconic elements of Langshan embroidery. So, she went through the trouble of dragging Jiang Xia along and, with the help of the county's intangible cultural heritage center, went to register the copyright for "Langshan embroidery".
Fortunately, he had a good relationship with the leaders of the intangible cultural heritage center. With their reminder, they divided the copyright of Langshan embroidery into three parts.
The name "Langshan Tuxiu" belongs to the government because it has been applied for international intangible cultural heritage status. As long as it is used by local people in Langshan, there are no copyright disputes. This is also an important reason why big brands like Jinyan and Hera are willing to give up some profits to cooperate with them.
Without the participation of inheritors of Langshan Tuxiu (a type of traditional Chinese embroidery), if they want to use the name "Langshan Tuxiu" for promotion, they will have to deal with national-level officials, which is not only very troublesome, but the cost will also be much higher.
The second part of the copyright application is for some innovative Tu embroidery techniques. These are some innovative embroidery techniques that they unexpectedly discovered among the Tu embroidery artisans in Langshan in recent years.
These embroidery techniques were the livelihood of embroiderers in the past. Jiang Xiaoman felt that if they passed them down from generation to generation, the inheritance would be in danger if a generation did not have a daughter. So she talked to them privately and asked the cooperative to help them apply for design patents.
In this way, firstly, they can confidently train apprentices and cultivate more embroiderers skilled in this technique, thereby generating revenue for the cooperative; secondly, by applying for a patent, both the cooperative and anyone else who wants to cooperate with them in the future must pay patent royalties to the patent holder.
To put it simply, any of Jiang Xiaoman's experienced embroiderers who successfully obtained a patent could live comfortably for the rest of their lives solely on patent royalties, even if they went home and retired right now.
The third part of the copyright refers to other peripheral products derived from the "Langshan Embroidery" brand by Jiang Xiaoman's cooperative. These include not only clothing, but also shoes, bags, jewelry, handicrafts, and so on.
In short, Jiang Xiaoman, the stingy one, applied for patent protection for everything that was even remotely related to Langshan embroidery!
It doesn't cost much to make this.
Looking back now, it's fortunate that I wasn't afraid of the trouble and applied for so many patents at once.
Otherwise, we would definitely suffer in silence this time.
"What do we do now?" Jiang Xia clenched his fists, wishing he could smash Edmund's head in!