The needle and thread were in a mess

As winter wheat is planted and the weather grows colder, the village near the mountain becomes quieter.

That day, Shen Yan was sent by Ling Zhan to inspect the weeds in the field.

He was bored out of his mind, poking around here and there, inwardly complaining that his wife was being nosy.

Suddenly, a flash of golden light appeared in the bushes beside the field!

Shen Yan's eyes lit up: Hey, wouldn't it be great to grab a helper?

He immediately put on a friendly expression and waved to the shadowy tree: "Brother Monkey! Brother Monkey! Look! The insects here are plump and tender, even more fragrant than dried meat!"

A small, golden-brown monkey peeked out from among the branches, tilting its head and darting its eyes around.

Shen Yan pressed on, dramatically pulling a fat green worm from the soil and making a gesture as if to swallow it: "Mmm! Delicious!"

The movements were exaggerated, and the insect was still eight feet away from its mouth.

The little monkey was indeed attracted. With a "squeak," it scurried down from the tree and landed on the ridge of the field, curiously approaching the insect in his hand.

Shen Yan was secretly delighted. He casually tossed the insect to the ground and pointed to the overgrown weeds nearby: "There! There are more there! Bigger and fatter! Go quickly!"

The little monkey hopped over, rummaged around with its little paws, and found a few worms, which it happily stuffed into its mouth.

"Yes, yes, yes! Well done, Brother Monkey! I'm counting on you to take care of the bugs in this area!" Shen Yan said smugly, patting his butt as he tried to sneak off to hide under a tree to relax.

I turned around, but bumped into someone hard on the shoulder, making it hurt.

Ling Zhan had appeared behind her at some point, carrying several large bundles of freshly cut hay, which she intended to use to cover the soil and retain moisture. Her cold gaze swept over the little monkeys "diligently" catching insects in the field, before settling on Shen Yan's guilty-looking face.

"To catch bugs?"

"You're going to be the supervisor?"

Shen Yan chuckled dryly: "Hehe...isn't that...humans and monkeys working together, achieving twice the result with half the effort..."

Before the words were even finished, the little monkey that was searching for insects suddenly froze!

It suddenly raised its head, its small nose pointing southwest—towards the mountaintop grassland—and twitched rapidly! Its amber-colored round eyes were fixed on that direction, its fluffy golden-brown fur instantly bristled, its tail stiffened and stood erect, and a short, sharp "chirp chirp chirp!" sound filled with extreme fear escaped its throat!

Like a golden lightning bolt, it suddenly pounced on Ling Zhan on the ridge!

Ling Zhan was taken aback, then immediately recognized the golden monkey. She asked in a deep voice, "Is something wrong on the mountaintop?"

The golden monkey had pounced on her calf, its two little paws gripping her trouser leg tightly. It tilted its head back and let out a mournful, urgent "Chirp! Chirp chirp!" Her big eyes filled with unprecedented terror and pleading, and tears streamed down her face!

It pointed desperately at the high mountains to the southwest with its little paws, and anxiously patted Ling Zhan's legs, as if it were screaming:

"Quick! Go there! It's dangerous!"

Ling Zhan's face suddenly turned icy cold! She was all too familiar with this aura—it was the most instinctive tremor of a weak creature facing annihilation!

This exceptionally intelligent little monkey would never behave so erratically without reason!

She scooped up the trembling baby monkey and held it tightly in her arms. The golden monkey immediately clung to her chest as if it were a lifeline.

Ling Zhan's gaze was like lightning, piercing through the clouds and shooting towards the southwest mountain peak.

That place is the home of the golden monkey, the grassland that gave her a brief period of peace, and also... the place where she never sleeps!

Shen Yan didn't even bother spitting out the grass clippings in her mouth. She scrambled over and, seeing the whimpering monkey in Ling Zhan's arms and her grave expression, her heart sank: "Wife... this... Brother Monkey...?"

Ling Zhan did not answer.

She gently stroked the trembling little life in her arms, her voice low and menacing, carrying the chilling tone of an impending storm: "Something happened to its home."

The mountain wind swept across the wheat field, suddenly adding a touch of biting cold.

Ling Zhan, cradling the wailing golden monkey, didn't even have time to explain further. He simply uttered a cold, iron-like command: "Guard the home! Watch the seedlings!" Before his words had even finished, he had already vanished like an arrow from a bow, disappearing in a few leaps along the rugged path leading to the mountain peak.

Shen Yan stared in the direction she had disappeared, then looked down at the heavy bamboo basket at his feet.

The basket was stuffed with thick coarse cloth, cotton wadding, several rolls of thick thread, several large sewing needles, and a heavy pair of scissors—the winter supplies that Ling Zhan had obtained from the peddler before leaving, using some of the money he had "rescued" from selling bear skins!

"A cold wave is coming soon."

Ling Zhan's icy voice still echoed in my ears, carrying the chill of a mountain peak, "You, sew winter clothes for the five youngest children in the family."

Shen Yan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes!

In town, he could swindle, cheat, write poetry, and indulge in romantic musings, always finding a way to get cotton-padded clothes for the children. But here in the mountains… was he really supposed to sew and needle?! He wailed, his face contorted with despair, "This is going to kill me!!"

As soon as Ling Zhan left, his carefully constructed composure crumbled instantly.

Half of his heart was filled with a bottomless abyss of despair, the other half with the relief of being free from his wife's surveillance, and there was even a strange tinge mixed in...

Easy? Yes, it's easy!

He resignedly picked up the large bamboo basket and shuffled unsteadily toward home.

Just as they reached the village entrance, kind-hearted Aunt Wang came towards them carrying her grandson. Seeing his distraught appearance, and noticing the fabric peeking out of the basket and the scissors he was holding upside down, which almost poked his eye, she burst into laughter and nearly dropped her grandson!

"Oh my! Young Master Shen! The way you're holding scissors doesn't look like you're about to go into battle!"

Aunt Wang laughed until she wiped away tears. She put her grandson down on a nearby haystack and snatched the scissors from his hand without saying a word. "Come, come! Auntie will teach you! You can't rush this needlework!"

Aunt Wang deftly spread a piece of dark blue coarse cloth on the stone mill in the yard, and grabbed a fire poker to use as a ruler: "Here! First, take a rough measurement of the child, shoulder to here, sleeve to here... Write it down! Draw the lines, then cut the scissors! The stitches have to be tight! Otherwise, not only will the cotton wadding out, but it won't be able to keep out the wind!"

Disgusted by being half-forced to "study" by Aunt Wang, Shen had no choice but to bite the bullet and invite her into the house.

Aunt Wang didn't stand on ceremony, directing Shen Yan as she drew the pattern: "Here! Make it wider here! Oops! It's crooked!"

After finally finishing drawing, Chen Yan took a deep breath, picked up the scissors as if facing a formidable enemy, and carefully cut along the drawn lines...

"hiss--!"

The moment the cloth tore, a sharp pain shot through his fingertips! Shen Yan screamed in agony and jerked his hand away!

A drop of bright red blood landed precisely on the freshly cut light-colored front panel of fabric, and quickly seeped in!

"My goodness!" Aunt Wang slapped her thigh. "I told you to be careful! What a waste of such good cloth!" She hurriedly found strips of cloth to bandage him.

The commotion attracted other children to gather around.

Upon learning that their father was going to make new cotton-padded jackets for their youngest siblings, they all curiously stood on tiptoe to look.

Six-year-old Erzhu approached the blood-stained cloth: "Dad, you're bleeding! Does it hurt? Can I... embroider a big tiger on my clothes? Awooo!"

Five-year-old Atao timidly tugged at the hem of Shen Yan's uninjured clothes: "Daddy... Atao wants a pink bunny..."

The other little ones, also waiting for their new clothes, started chattering away:

"I want a little bird!"

"I want flowers!"

"I want... I want Daddy!" The youngest one could only grin foolishly.

Shen Yan's head was throbbing from the noise, and her fingertips were twitching with pain.

Looking at the chattering little heads in front of me and that "blood-stained glory".

His eyes darted around, and enduring the pain, he raised his fingers, which were wrapped up like white radishes, and cleared his throat: "Silence! Silence!" He tried to put on a stern face and adopt a "strict father" demeanor. "Do you want new clothes? Do you want them embroidered with patterns you like?"

The children immediately fell silent, nodding like chicks pecking at rice.

"good!"

Suppressing his smugness, Shen Yan said, "Let's make a gentleman's pact! From now on, whoever is the quietest, most obedient, and doesn't make a fuss will have their favorite design embroidered on their new clothes! How about that?"

"good--!"

The children, as if frozen in place, immediately found small wooden stools or stones to sit on, their little hands neatly placed on their knees, their backs straight, their big eyes blinking as they stared at Chen Yan, not daring to breathe.

The world suddenly became quiet!

He hummed a ridiculous, off-key tune with a smug look on his face, considering himself a genius.

However, reality soon dealt him a heavy blow.

When he tried to sew the cut pieces of fabric together, he discovered that the sleeves were uneven in length and the collar was crooked!

The cotton stuffing was so tight that one side was bulging like a ball, while the other side was flat like a pancake! It looked exactly like a deformed burlap sack!

“This…this isn’t right!” Shen Yan scratched his head in frustration.

Aunt Wang went to the kitchen to add some firewood, and when she came back and saw it, she slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Oh my! Young Master Shen! Your skills... you should go and ask Old Li the tailor at the east end of the village for help! He was the head tailor of a shop in the city when he was young!"

Looking at the pile of unsightly half-finished products, and then at the children's eager eyes waiting for the "beautiful designs," Shen Yan steeled his heart and decided to go all out!

With his face smeared with charcoal ash and a trace of dried blood, he brazenly rushed towards Old Li the Tailor's low mud-brick house at the east end of the village. After much pleading and promising to humbly ask for his advice on how to kill wild animals in the future, he finally obtained permission.

After being tapped on the forehead several times by the old tailor's bamboo ruler, he finally returned with his head and face covered in cotton fluff, carrying a few key pieces of fabric that had been skillfully corrected by the old tailor—the glue was discarded, and the old tailor gave him a few pins to temporarily fix the fabric.

After receiving guidance from a "master," Shen Yan seemed to have gained some insight.

He learned to use pins to secure the edges of the cut pieces, carefully aligning and pressing them firmly.

The stitches were still crooked and crooked like earthworms crawling, but at least the basic shape of the garment was formed!

With the help of Aunt Wang and several older children, especially Da Niu, he worked hard, even neglecting to eat dinner.

One by one, they sewed and embroidered the flowers, plants, and tiger heads, stitch by stitch...

When Ling Zhan, still carrying the lingering chill of winter and a faint smell of blood, pushed open the courtyard gate carrying the little golden-brown monkey that clung tightly to her clothes—a monkey that, though somewhat relieved, remained listless—a scene that greeted her eyes was both amusing and subtly heartwarming:

Under the dim glow of the yellow oil lamp, Shen Yan was surrounded by the five youngest children.

His face was covered in loose threads, cotton wool, and even a few dried bloodstains, and his fingers were red and swollen from being pricked.

The most amazing thing is that three shiny embroidery needles were comically stuck on his originally greasy and messy hair bun!

She looked like a hedgehog with its fur standing on end.

However, he held the five neatly folded cotton-padded jackets in his hands with utmost care!

The stitching was rough, and the seams were bulging, but on the front of each piece, the children had chosen the patterns, which were embroidered crookedly but with great care, with thick, colorful threads: a "fierce" little tiger baring its teeth, a pink rabbit with drooping ears, a round little bird whose species was indistinguishable, a crooked sunflower, and the smallest one... had two crooked words embroidered in red thread on the front - "Dislike Daddy".

"My wife! You're finally back!"

When Shen Yan saw Ling Zhan, with his spiky hair, he proudly held up the cotton coat embroidered with a crooked-mouthed dragon, which he considered to be a tiger. His face showed unconcealed fatigue, but also a hint of clumsy pride.

"Look! My and the children's masterpiece! Everything is complete! They even embroidered flowers!"

Ling

Zhan's gaze swept over the loose thread on Shen Yan's nose and the embroidery needle in his hair, then landed on the few roughly stitched but clumsy yet warm cotton clothes in his hands, finally settling on his fingers covered with red dots and wrapped in strips of cloth.

The little monkey in her arms also curiously poked its head out, sizing up this "strange person".

Ling Zhan's lips twitched upwards almost imperceptibly.

She didn't say anything, but walked over, reached out, and brushed away an unsightly wisp of cotton wool from Chen Yan's hair.

The movements weren't exactly gentle, but they made Shen Yan freeze, and her ears inexplicably felt hot.

"Um."

She responded and took the "crooked-mouth dragon" cotton coat.

It's thick and stuffed with cotton; it may not look pretty, but it's definitely warm.

That night, a biting cold wave arrived as expected, bringing with it heavy snow that howled and raged over Kaoshan Village.

Chen Yan huddled on the thick thatched bed. The warmth of the new house was far superior to that of the dilapidated shacks in town. He rubbed his sore and stiff fingers, listening to the howling wind outside the window. This time, the bone-chilling cold he used to feel was gone.

Instead, a crisp, joyful laugh, filled with boundless delight, pierced through the howling wind and snow, faintly reaching his ears.

Curious, he lifted a corner of the straw curtain and peered out through the crack in the window.

The heavy snow fell as expected.

Five tiny figures, wrapped in brand-new, thick cotton coats, looked like five fluffy little snowballs that had suddenly descended to earth!

They ran, rolled, and threw snowballs at each other in the ankle-deep snow.

Atao's pink "rabbit" stood out lively in the snow, Erzhu's "crooked-mouthed dragon" ran around baring its teeth and claws, and the little one embroidered with "disliked father" fell on its bottom, giggled, got up, and continued to frolic...

The cold wind was like a knife, and the heavy snow covered the sky.

But the children's pure, joyful laughter was like a bonfire lit in the dark night, not only dispelling the winter chill but also silently soothing the tired, sore fingertips and the long-standing restlessness in their hearts.

He lowered the straw curtain.

He buried himself deeper into the warm blankets, but the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up into a silly grin.

"This needlework... doesn't seem so unpleasant after all?"

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