Chapter 842 Double-Sided Embroidery With Different Patterns
After everything was ready, Elise and Ekaterina began their duel at Blitzy Entertainment’s live studio. In a tense and electrifying atmosphere, each of them did their utmost to display their embroidery skills on stage.
Meanwhile, Alexander and Irvin were playing an exciting game of cat and mouse in Elise’s dressing room. The man and the boy ran around in a space of less than 20 square meters, with the former chasing after the latter while the latter tried to run away from him. Two minutes later, Alexander was still unable to gain the upper hand.
Using the chair for support, Irvin jumped onto the table while Alexander wasn’t noticing. Then, he jumped onto the sofa with movements as agile as a monkey’s. Alexander turned around to face the sofa, but the former had gotten around behind him.
Curling his lips into a barely perceptible smirk, Alexander decided to stay where he was and see what trick the little boy was trying to pull off.
The instant he got distracted, Irvin suddenly brought out a box from his pocket. Then, with a slight pull at the box, he instantly produced a fine silk string between his hands. As soon as he stopped in his tracks and stood behind Alexander, he swung the box toward the latter’s feet, causing the fine string to twist around them right away under the effects of inertia and elastic force.
When Alexander looked down, he immediately realized Irvin’s intentions.
At the same time, Irvin tightened up the string in his hands and pulled it with all his might. However, Alexander, who was supposed to fall to the ground in an embarrassing fashion, didn’t budge at all.
“Crap… Aah!” No sooner had Irvin realized he’d come across a tough opponent than the latter grabbed his shoulders and lifted him up. “Let me go!” Unwilling to admit defeat, he kept flailing his arms and legs. “If I were a grown-up, I’d have brought you to my knees by now!”
“There are no ifs in this world,” Alexander replied with a faint smile. Then, he commented, “You’re pretty clever, but it’s unforgivable to underestimate your opponent. You still need a lot of practice to overpower me.”
Unwilling to listen to the man’s lecture, Irvin kept on struggling for a moment, but to no avail. In a fit of desperation, he simply puffed out his cheeks and rolled his eyes at the former. “Hmph!”
Just then, an alarm clock sounded in the room. Alexia ran inside and picked up the backpack where the sound of the alarm clock came from, shouting, “Time’s up, Irvin!”
“Okay!” Irvin nodded seriously before turning his head to glower at Alexander furiously. “You let go of me! I gotta go find my mom. Hurry up and let go of me!”
Alexander cocked an eyebrow. “Is this how you’re begging someone for mercy?”
Irvin knitted his brows; his hands instinctively clenched into fists while hanging at his sides. Unwilling to humble himself before the man, he glowered at Alexander furiously with big, round eyes.
“You’re not even willing to say something to plead with me, huh? Seems like your mom doesn’t matter that much to you,” Alexander teased him on purpose.
Irvin immediately gave up resisting as Elise was his and his sister’s weakness. “Fine!” He shouted, “I give up! Please put me down, Mr. Alexander. My mom needs me very much. Please!”
Alexander’s nonchalant expression instantly turned serious as he slowly put Irvin down.
Upon gaining his freedom, Irvin ran over and carried the backpack on his back before running outside while taking Alexia and Mimi by the hand.
Alexander stood where he was while losing himself in thought for a long time. Having been absent from his son’s upbringing for seven years, he had thought that Irvin wouldn’t know how to choose between his family and his own interests. However, it seemed from the test just now that his son was an outstanding person. Dignity was important to men, to be sure, but it was a man’s responsibility to learn to make compromises for the safety of his lover and family.
…
Meanwhile, in the live studio, Ekaterina unsurprisingly became the first to finish her piece. She stood up and turned the embroidery frame around to show her embroidery of a Persian cat before the audience.
As the camera kept zooming in on the piece, one was even able to see clearly the fluffiness of the cat’s fur. The meticulous handling of the details and the clever use of angles made the cat’s image all the more stereographic. However, this alone wasn’t sufficient to satisfy the audience’s expectations for a top master at embroidery, so the piece was only greeted with a lukewarm response from the audience.
Ekaterina looked down at the audience while still proudly holding her chin up. After a brief silence, she sent the whole embroidery frame spinning with a wave of her hand. However, the Persian cat she had embroidered remained perfectly still while sitting obediently in the center of the embroidery frame like a living thing.
“She’s made a double-sided embroidery!” Clutching the microphone in excitement, the discerning judge began his professional commentary. “Such an embroidery technique involves the use of over 50 kinds of stitches. One has to sew on both sides of the fabric simultaneously in order to produce the same pattern on both sides of the embroidery in the end. One might as well say that only someone who’d mastered various embroidery techniques could achieve this. As expected of the top embroiderer of Rosepeak!”
Ekaterina could hardly conceal her smugness as she flashed a sidelong glance at Elise, who was still burying herself in her embroidery work. She wasn’t as foolish as Abby, who’d put all her skills to use. However hard Cittadelians tried, they’d only end up becoming a foil to her. It’s been seven years. If this woman really could defeat me, why would she wait until today? Everything at the moment is just a show for the Cittadelians who are still vainly hoping to reclaim embroidery as something that belongs to them, or perhaps it’s a conflict stirred up on purpose by the organizer for ratings’ sake. Whatever it is, it’ll only further prove that my skills are unsurpassable.
She couldn’t help but lower her head and sigh with a smile at the thought of how her popularity would rise to a new level.
Just then, Irvin reached the side entrance with his two sisters and quietly observed the situation on stage.
Seeing how Elise’s hands were still moving busily after two more minutes, the audience couldn’t help holding their breath for her.
“Don’t tell me that Anastasia is just halfway through her embroidery?”
“Sigh, it’s unlucky of Anastasia to come across Ekaterina. The latter and Abby aren’t in the same league, after all.”
“Seriously, what’s the point of her trying to play the hero? Don’t come on stage if she can’t do it! Now she’s gonna bring disgrace upon the nation!”
“Embroidery isn’t about who embroiders faster than others! Just go up on stage if you can. She at least has the courage to take on Ekaterina, but what about you? Just keep your mouth shut if you’re bad at talking!”
The audience had different opinions, but Elise wasn’t affected at all. Another ten minutes later, she finally heaved a long sigh and put down the embroidery needle in her hand under the eager gaze of everyone. “Sorry to keep you guys waiting, everyone.”
“You’ve indeed kept us waiting for a long time, Miss White. Now let’s see what kind of surprise she’s gonna bring us!” The emcee impatiently stepped behind the embroidery frame while being followed by the camera. After darting a look at the embroidery, he turned to face the audience professionally. “Miss White has made an embroidery of water lilies! I must admit, she’s really gifted in many ways. Not only is she good at playing the piano, but she’s also skilled at—”
Halfway through his speech, a commotion suddenly broke out among the audience. Looking baffled, the emcee stopped talking and looked embarrassedly at the team of directors below the stage to ask them what had happened.
The next instant, an assistant held up a white board, on which several eye-catching words were written with a marker pen. The words read, ‘Look in front of you.’
In front of me? The emcee hurriedly trotted to the front, only to be stupefied by what he saw. “An embroidery of flying birds?” Putting up his microphone, he turned to look at the audience in surprise. “Miss White has made two pieces of embroidery at the same time!”
“Could it be the long-lost double-sided embroidery with different patterns?!” The special guest stood up in excitement.
