Ruan Xi and Ruan Jie lay down in the room and went to sleep.

Ruan Jie asked Ruan Xi: "Sister, are we really going to separate?"

We were clearly a family yesterday, but now that the issue of separation has been seriously raised, I suddenly feel that we will soon no longer be a family. The family had been together for more than ten years, and suddenly they wanted to separate, which she couldn't accept.

Ruan Xi didn't care about this. As a person from the 21st century, she was more adapted to a small family with a small number of people rather than a large family of more than ten people. The more people there are, the more problems there are; the more conflicts and quarrels there are, regardless of whether they are related by blood or not.

People like Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui, who only want to take advantage and cannot suffer any loss and are full of calculations, should be separated as soon as possible. Otherwise, once she has learned the skill, who knows how they will find ways to take advantage of her.

After the family is divided and everyone lives their own life, they won't be able to take advantage of others even if they want to.

She said, “It should be.”

Ruan Jie lay on the bed and sighed, "But I don't want to follow my parents."

Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui were not kind to their daughter, who could be said to have been raised by her grandmother Liu Xinghua. Apart from working, Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui focus the rest of their attention on Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua.

If I call her every day, it means I have something for her to do.

Ruan Xi said directly: "Then just say it directly."

Ruan Jie hesitated, "Can I tell you?"

Ruan Xi said: "Why can't I tell you? But if you follow your grandparents, don't be disloyal. You have to remember that you were raised by your grandparents, so you have to be nice to them, and mom and dad have to take the back seat."

Ruan Jie thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll ask grandma privately tomorrow."

Ruan Xi didn't dwell on these things. She turned sideways, closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.

She went to bed early and woke up early the next day. She got up, washed, tied her hair, helped Liu Xinghua make breakfast, and washed the dirty clothes with Ruan Jie. After breakfast, she didn't stay at home for long. She put on her schoolbag and went straight to Jinguan Village.

After everyone in the family left, Ruan Jie went to ask Liu Xinghua: "Grandma, if the family splits up, can I follow you and Grandpa? I don't want to follow my parents. They only have big brother and little brother in their eyes, not me at all."

Liu Xinghua said: "Even if we split up, we can still live together. It's the same with anyone. With your parents, you can eat better."

Ruan Jie shook her head decisively, "It's different. They wouldn't let me eat the delicious food. They all belonged to the eldest brother and the younger brothers."

Liu Xinghua turned her head and looked at her. She loved her own granddaughter, so she said, "It depends on what your parents think. If they agree, you can eat from our pot. But grandma has to save money to marry your fifth uncle, so she will save money on weekdays."

Ruan Jie smiled and said, "I'm not picky."

Liu Xinghua was like a strong supporter who could protect her from the wind and rain. "Then you should just follow grandma."

When Ruan Xi arrived at the tailor shop with his schoolbag on his back, full of energy, the old tailor was still eating breakfast.

Ruan Xi greeted him, then put down his schoolbag, picked up the broom and went into the house to sweep the floor.

The old tailor blew on the steaming porridge and muttered to himself, "That's quite good."

He ate breakfast very leisurely, and by the time Ruan Xi had simply cleaned the house, he had just finished his breakfast.

Ruan Xi was still very considerate and hurried over to help him clean up the dishes, washing them and putting them away.

No matter how cunning the old tailor was, he couldn't say anything to complain about it.

Ruan Xi understood the micro-expression on his face and saw that he was quite satisfied with her, so she dried her hands, stood in front of him, and asked with a smile: "How is it? Master, can you teach me how to operate the sewing machine now?"

The old tailor cleared his throat twice, put his hands behind his back and turned to the main hall, "Come with me."

Ruan Xi followed him to the sewing machine and watched him tear off the blue square cloth covering the sewing machine, then bend down and sit down in front of it. She looked like she was eager to learn and seek advice, as if she really knew nothing.

The old tailor cleared his throat again and said, "I will only teach you once. If you still can't learn it, I won't teach you a second time."

Ruan Xi responded straightforwardly, "Okay."

Hearing this, the old tailor looked up at her in surprise, then uttered two words slowly: "Treasure."

Ruan Xi’s eyes widened slightly—Hey! Why doesn't this old man have anything nice to say?

She pursed her lips and took a deep breath, then looked at the old tailor and said, "Please don't look down on me. I was born very smart and have a photographic memory. I will only learn once. Even if you want to teach me a second time, I won't learn it!"

The old tailor never liked to give people face, "Boasting."

Ruan Xi gritted her teeth, raised her chin slightly and looked at the old tailor, "Let's not waste any more time, let's get started."

The old tailor was too lazy to say more. He started teaching from the step of threading the needle to the needle without pausing in between, leaving no time for people to digest and remember. He operated the machine with his hands while giving simple explanations, and refused to say even a word more in detail.

"Thread the thread like this, use the upper thread to lead the lower thread out of the needle hole, straighten the upper and lower threads, put the fabric to be sewn in, and then put down the press plate. Turn the wheel on the right and step on the pedal at the same time, and the sewing machine will start to turn. When turning, the wheel can only rotate forward, not reverse, otherwise the thread will break immediately."

After teaching, he did not ask Ruan Xi whether she understood or remembered. He directly pulled out all the threads on the sewing machine, stood up and said, "Come on, you smart and cunning bullshit king."

Ruan Xi: “…”

Has she become a big shot?

She held her breath gently, and without arguing with the old tailor, she sat down directly in front of the sewing machine, picked up the thread end and threaded it. After threading, she easily led out the bottom thread, then put a piece of cloth on the pressing plate and stepped on the needle to make a straight thread.

The old tailor seemed reluctant to watch any more at first, as he was sure that Ruan Xi would not be able to learn it. But when he saw Ruan Xi lead the ball out of the bottom line and step on the stitch, the expression on his face slowly froze, and he even narrowed his eyes.

You should know that he has trained many apprentices in this way. Among those apprentices, three out of ten could not remember how to thread the thread, five could not draw out the bottom line, nine had the thread break as soon as they stepped on the pedal, and the remaining one could not make a smooth and neat thread.

He was an impatient and bad-tempered man, so he didn't bring out a single apprentice.

He couldn't stand those people's stupidity, and he didn't have the patience to teach them step by step. Those people couldn't stand his harsh words, weird personality and unpopularity. Not only does he not know how to teach properly, but he also never says a single nice word.

He thought Ruan Xi was the same as those who came to become his apprentice before, but he didn't expect that she could actually learn it in one go.

He looked puzzled: "Have you ever learned this, girl?"

Ruan Xi straightened her back and looked at him, with a smile in her eyes. "Of course not. There is only one tailor shop on Fengming Mountain. You are the only tailor, Master, and there is only one sewing machine. Who can I learn from?"

That's true. Although there are more than a dozen villages on Fengming Mountain, he is the only tailor.

His family has inherited the tailoring skills from ancestors, and they relied on this skill to make a living before the revolution, but they never opened a formal shop. After the revolution, he discussed with the commune and officially opened a tailor shop. The shop was public property, but he was the only one who managed it, after all, no one else knew anything about it.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Ruan Xi smiled and asked, "How is it? Am I smart?"

The old tailor snorted and laughed, "It's because I taught you well."

Ruan Xi smiled but said nothing.

The sun sets in the west and the mountains are backlit.

The setting sun lengthened the human shadows, dragging them along the narrow path.

The goal was achieved. Ruan Changgui took Sun Xiaohui home and said to her while climbing the mountain: "My parents agreed that we should separate. Today, they have asked Gao Wu to build a stove. When the stove is built, we can put in the pots, bowls, tables and stools. Then we can give each of us half of the other things and eat from separate pots."

Sun Xiaohui was very happy in her heart, but she said, "I have become the sinner of your family. Who knows what your parents will say about me behind my back. But your mother has caught me. She didn't like me before, and she will never be nice to me again."

Ruan Changgui didn't care, "Just pretend you didn't see it."

As he was talking, he thought of something else and hurriedly added, "Oh, Xiaojie said she doesn't want to follow us, she wants to live with her grandparents. Mom and Dad are willing, what do you say?"

Hearing this, Sun Xiaohui's eyes lit up, "Oh, isn't this what we want? If Xiaojie follows them, she will have to eat less of our food, right? Who wouldn't want to help us raise our daughter for free?"

Ruan Changgui said: "If you want, let her get along with her grandparents."

Sun Xiaohui smiled and said, "Of course I agree. Xiaojie is a very sensible child. She knows how to save food for us. She eats her grandparents' food and usually works for us. It's such a good thing. When she gets married in a few years, we can easily get a share of the betrothal gift."

Thinking of Ruan Xi, he added, "I heard that your elder brother wants to take Xiaoxi over when things get more convenient there. I think she's grown up so much, why would you take her over? Wouldn't it be better to just leave her at home and find a suitable marriage partner? Oh, do you want to find her a son from an official family? Will anyone be interested in a country girl like Xiaoxi?"

Ruan Changgui understood what she meant and continued, "Even if we don't take it, I'm afraid Xiaoxi's wedding gift won't reach us. She was raised by her mother, and you can't make the decision on this matter."

Sun Xiaohui said, "Everything depends on human effort. She grew up at home, her parents are not around, and we, her uncle and aunt, are half her parents. Why can't we make the decision for her? But she wants to go to the military region, it's just empty talk."

Then he changed the subject: "It's OK as long as I can be Xiao Jie's boss."