Chapter 247 (Second Update) It's just a match, how...

On the other side, the Fu family.

Although they returned relatively early, the house was large, and they had high standards for cleanliness. Also, when you're doing the work yourself, you'll find that the work itself starts to appear. In short, it took them more than a week to clean the whole house.

Two more days of rest, and there's only one week left until Chinese New Year. Time to start preparing for the holiday.

Fu Ci has returned, and the young couple decided they would take care of the remaining things they needed for the New Year themselves.

In previous years, the mother doted on her two children and would do as much as she could, never doing the least.

But she didn't compete this year. After cleaning up the whole house, she did feel extremely tired.

They had a lot to buy, so Tang Mingli and Fu Ci decided to leave early and have lunch outside.

"Mom, Dad, Grandma, Xiaoyu, we're off!" Tang Mingli waved to her family, excitedly heading out with her husband to go shopping.

Although she had just finished a thorough cleaning of the entire building, she didn't feel tired.

These tasks weren't to be completed in a day or two, but rather a little bit each day, which I considered a form of training.

Moreover, she really enjoys going to the market to buy New Year's goods before the Lunar New Year. It's lively and festive everywhere, and it really has the spirit of the New Year.

In a few decades, such scenes will be hard to see, so she wants to immerse herself in them while she can still experience them.

Watching the two young people leave, both Mrs. Fu and Madam Fu felt the same emotion.

This family is truly led by the younger generation.

After lunch, Fu's mother brewed a pot of flower tea for everyone.

Tang Mingli started drinking this flower tea with her whole family after they went to Shenzhen.

I must say, after getting tired of traditional tea, drinking these flower teas has a unique flavor.

Madam Fu took a sip of hot tea and said contentedly, "This old woman is getting better and better at enjoying life as she gets older."

“I’m the same way,” Mrs. Fu said with a smile. “On a day like this, enjoying the afternoon sun and drinking a cup of hot tea is so comfortable. No wonder Mingli likes it.”

"Mingli is a girl who knows how to enjoy life; following her is definitely the right choice."

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law laughed as they talked.

After finishing their tea, the two men looked at Fu Yu, who was engrossed in reading, and asked her if she wanted to take a nap.

Fu Yu shook her head. "I want to finish reading this comic book."

Since the child wasn't sleeping, the two elderly people didn't plan to sleep either, as they weren't really sleepy.

Madam Fu wanted to practice her calligraphy, and she had just gotten up when the phone rang. She picked it up without thinking.

I thought it was a relative or friend who contacted me, but it turned out to be someone from the calligraphy association.

The other person was clearly excited to hear her voice and exclaimed, "Teacher Leman, I've finally gotten in touch with you! Where have you been these past few months?"

Madam Fu smiled and said, "She didn't go anywhere. She just went to live in Shenzhen with her grandson."

"You've moved to Shenzhen? Will you be staying there long-term from now on?"

"Yes, the children are all over there. Since they don't mind that I'm an old lady, I'll go and live with them."

"No wonder, I've called several times in the past few months and no one answered. I almost wondered if your phone was broken."

Madam Fu chuckled and asked, "What brings you here?"

"That's right," the other party explained. "We have two main things to discuss with you. First, our association wants to hold a calligraphy and painting exhibition during the Spring Festival and would like to invite you to contribute a few works."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, I'm afraid it's too late."

"There's plenty of time, absolutely plenty of time. As long as you send two of your works to the exhibition, we'll arrange for someone to pick them up from your home immediately."

"Well... all the works I've written recently are in Shenzhen, I didn't bring them back." Madam Fu said with some difficulty.

The other party was a little embarrassed after hearing this, but still forced a smile and said, "Could you please write two pieces of calligraphy today? We'll come to pick them up tomorrow."

Since the other party was so sincere, Madam Fu did not refuse and said with a smile, "Alright, then I will write two."

Upon receiving a positive reply, the other party was overjoyed and thanked them several times over the phone.

"The second thing is that we have a youth calligraphy competition after the Lantern Festival and would like to invite you to be a judge."

"After the fifteenth."

This timing put Mrs. Fu in a difficult position, as she was likely already in Shenzhen by then.

The other party continued to plead, "Teacher Leman, you may not know, but because of you, many young girls have the opportunity to learn calligraphy. More than twenty girls have signed up for this youth calligraphy competition. It would be very meaningful if you could be there as a judge. And the competition only lasts one day. Do you think you can spare the time?"

At that height, even the elderly Mrs. Fu felt embarrassed to refuse.

After thinking for a while, she could only reply, "I need to discuss this with my granddaughter-in-law first."

"Granddaughter-in-law?"

The person they were discussing this with clearly surprised the other party.

Even if they were to discuss it, it should be with the son or grandson, not the daughter-in-law.

What granddaughter-in-law has such power to interfere in her elders' affairs?

Surprised as he was, he knew it was someone else's private matter and didn't want to say too much. He simply asked the old lady to do her best to help.

When Madam Fu started talking on the phone, Madam Fu listened intently, but only understood bits and pieces, knowing that she had to discuss something with Mingli.

As soon as her mother-in-law hung up the phone, she immediately asked, "Mom, who called?"

"The staff of the calligraphy association said they had been looking for me for several months."

"Oh, is there something important you need to talk to?"

"It's not really anything important. They just want me to submit two of my works for an exhibition, and there's a youth calligraphy competition after the New Year, and they want me to be a judge."

Fu's mother said with pride, "This is a good thing."

"I suppose so." Madam Fu chuckled, clearly feeling quite honored. "It's just that the calligraphy competition is after the fifteenth of the month. I was afraid that by then we would already be in Shenzhen, but the other party would be begging us, so I said I would have to wait for Mingli to come back and discuss it with her."

"That's true. Xiaoyu will be in school when she's seventeen, and she'll probably already be in Shenzhen by then."

"So my saying that I would discuss it with Mingli was just an excuse; most likely I won't go."

Mrs. Fu nodded.

Even if they didn't go, it wouldn't affect the holding of the competition, so they didn't think it was a big deal.

However, none of them expected that when Tang Mingli and Fu Ci returned that evening and told her about it, Tang Mingli's attitude was very supportive.

“Dad and Mom can take Xiaoyu and Fuci to Shenzhen first. I’ll stay in Guangcheng with Grandma and then come down later.”

This attitude was something Madam Fu never expected. It was just a competition; how could it be more important than Fu Yu?

Tang Mingli explained with a smile, "It's not that she's more important than Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu also has her parents taking care of her. I think what that staff member said is very true. Grandma's achievements in calligraphy have indeed influenced many young women. There are very few women who can hold a place in the calligraphy world. Take Guangcheng for example, before Grandma, which female calligrapher could be on par with male calligraphers? This has led many parents to believe that women are inferior to men in learning calligraphy. But Grandma started learning calligraphy at an advanced age and achieved even greater success than male calligraphers, making many people realize that it's not that women are inferior to men, but that women have fewer opportunities than men."

“You see, in the past, when there were both sons and daughters in the family, wouldn’t parents subconsciously tell their daughters to do chores while their sons didn’t have to do anything? Whether it was favoritism or not is another matter. More importantly, in people’s subconscious, girls are expected to learn to do chores. Otherwise, if they grow up and marry into their husband’s family, they won’t know how to do chores, and their parents will be criticized for not raising their children well.”

"So many girls started practicing calligraphy because they like their grandmothers and were influenced by them. If they could see their idols on the competition field, they would be greatly encouraged."

...

Tang Mingli grew up like this in her previous life, so she can spout these profound truths fluently, and she even choked up at the end.

This wicked society! When will it finally treat girls with some equality?

Tang Mingli's words moved everyone present.

Even young Fu Yu, after hearing this, told the old lady, "Grandma, when you go to the calligraphy competition, I will listen to Grandpa and Grandma and be good."

At this moment, Madam Fu was also experiencing a surge of inexplicable emotions.

She immediately made a decision: "I'm going to be a judge for this calligraphy competition."

“Okay, I support Ah Tai becoming a judge.”

After Fu Yu finished expressing her gratitude, she looked at the other elders.

As a result, others also expressed their support for Madam Fu to serve as a judge.

The next day, when the calligraphy association members came to collect the artwork, they were so excited to learn that Madam Fu was willing to be a judge that she almost bowed at a 90-degree angle.

“You may not know, but my daughter also really likes you. She participated in this calligraphy competition. If she knew she would get to see you, I'm afraid she wouldn't want to go out and play during the Chinese New Year. She would definitely stay home and practice hard.”

This was the first time that Madam Fu had ever met someone who confessed their love to her face. Her face flushed instantly, but she still managed to remain calm and say a few words of encouragement.

The other person was even more excited after hearing this, and said, "I will definitely pass on your encouragement to my child."

Alright, Madam Fu's face turned even redder.

After seeing the person off, she said to the others, "People nowadays are different from us back then. When I was young, we young people also had a particular crush on a movie star. But we only dared to talk about it in private, and we were so ashamed."

Fu's mother added, "The movie star that Grandma really likes is Zhou Xuan. You younger generations might not know her, but she used to be very popular. You haven't seen 'Street Angel,' but that movie is really good."

Madam Fu wholeheartedly agreed: "I've seen quite a few movies in my life, but this is my favorite. I even secretly imitated the scene where Xiao Hong sits by the window and sings."

When talking about her funny stories from her youth, Madam Fu smiled happily.

Tang Mingli had never seen it before and said with some anticipation, "I wish I could watch this movie now."

Perhaps when information becomes more readily available in the future, she will actually be able to see it.