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

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

were still a family yesterday, but now that the separation is being seriously proposed, it suddenly feels like we will no longer be a family soon. After being together for more than ten years, she couldn't accept the sudden decision to separate.

Ruan Xi didn't say anything about it. As a person in the 21st century, she was more adapted to a small family with a small population, rather than a large family of more than ten people. The more people there are, the more things there are, the more conflicts and quarrels there are, whether there is a blood relationship or not. People

like Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui, who only want to take advantage and cannot bear any loss, and are full of calculations, should be separated as soon as possible. Otherwise, when she learns the craft, who knows how they will try to take advantage of her.

After the family is divided, they will each live their own lives. They will not be able to take advantage of her.

She said, "It should be."

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

Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui are not good to her daughter. She can be said to be brought up by her grandmother Liu Xinghua. Apart from working, Ruan Changgui and Sun Xiaohui focus their remaining thoughts on Ruan Yuejin and Ruan Yuehua.

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

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

Ruan Jie hesitated, "Can I say it?"

Ruan Xi said: "Why not? But if you follow grandpa and grandma, don't be disloyal in the future. You have to remember that you were raised by grandpa and grandma, you have to be good to grandpa and grandma, and dad and mom have to stand in the back."

Ruan Jie thought for a while, "Then I will ask grandma privately tomorrow."

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

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, and directly carried her schoolbag 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. In their eyes, there is only my big brother and little brother, not me at all."

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

Ruan Jie shook his head firmly, "It's different. They won't give me the delicious food. It all goes to my big brother and little brother."

Liu Xinghua turned her head and looked at her. She loved her granddaughter herself, so she said, "It depends on your parents' opinion. If they agree, you can eat in our pot. But grandma has to save money for your fifth uncle to marry a wife, so she usually saves a little."

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

Liu Xinghua was like a big supporter who could protect her from the wind and rain, "Then you can follow grandma."

When Ruan Xi came to the tailor shop with his schoolbag 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 to the house to sweep the floor.

The old tailor blew the steaming porridge and said to himself, "Very good."

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

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

No matter how picky the old tailor was, he couldn't say anything picky now.

Ruan Xi understood the micro-expression on his face and saw that he was still quite satisfied with her, so she wiped her hands and stood in front of him, smiling and asked: "How about 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 open the blue square cloth covering the sewing machine, bend down and sit down in front of the sewing machine. She looked like she was humbly learning and asking for advice, as if she really didn't understand anything.

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

Ruan Xi responded very straightforwardly, "Okay."

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

Ruan Xi's eyes widened slightly - hey! Why doesn't this old man have anything good to say!

She pursed her lips and swallowed her breath, looking at the old tailor and said, "Please don't look down on me. I was born extremely smart and have a photographic memory. I only learned once. If you want to teach me a second time, I won't learn!"

The old tailor never liked to give face to others. "Boasting."

Ruan Xi gritted her teeth and raised her chin slightly to face the old tailor. "Let's not talk too much. Let's start now."

The old tailor was too lazy to say more. He started teaching from threading the needle, without pausing in the middle, leaving no time for people to digest and remember. He operated with his hands and explained briefly with his mouth, and refused to say a word more in detail.

“Thread the thread like this, use the upper thread to lead the lower bottom thread out of the needle hole, sort out the upper and lower threads, put the fabric to be sewn in, and then lower the pressing 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 it turns, the wheel can only rotate forward and not reverse, otherwise the thread will break immediately.”

After teaching, he didn’t ask Ruan Xi whether she understood or remembered it. He directly pulled out all the threads on the sewing machine, stood up and stood aside and said: "Come on, the smart and clever king of cowhide."

Ruan Xi: "..."

Is she a king of cowhide now?

She held her breath gently, and without arguing with the old tailor, she sat directly in front of the sewing machine, picked up the thread end and threaded it, then easily led out the bottom thread, put a piece of rag, lowered the press plate, and stepped out the straight stitches.

The old tailor was reluctant to watch at first, as he was sure that Ruan Xi would not be able to learn. But when he saw Ruan Xi leading out the bottom thread and stepping out the stitches, the expression on his face slowly froze, and he even squinted 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 lead out the bottom thread, nine would break the thread as soon as they stepped on the pedal, and the remaining one had a soaked thread and could not step out a smooth and smooth stitch.

He was an impatient and bad-tempered person, so he did not train a single apprentice.

He couldn't stand those stupid people, and he didn't have the patience to teach them step by step, while those people couldn't stand his harsh words, weird personality and lack of popularity. Not only did he not know how to teach properly, but he also didn't say a single nice word.

He thought Ruan Xi was the same as the previous ones who came to learn from him, but he didn't expect that she could really learn it in one go.

He looked puzzled: "Have you learned this before?"

Ruan Xi straightened his back and looked at him, his eyes sparkling with smile, "Of course not, there is only this one tailor shop on Fengming Mountain, and you are the only tailor, and there is only this sewing machine, who can I learn from?"

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

His family has inherited the tailoring skills from their ancestors, and they relied on this skill to make a living before the revolution, but they didn't open a formal shop. After the revolution, they discussed with the commune and officially opened a tailor shop. The shop is considered public, but he is the only one in charge, after all, others don't understand.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Ruan Xi smiled and asked, "What do you think? Am I smart?"

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

Ruan Xi smiled but said nothing.

The sun was setting in the west, and the mountains were backlit.

The setting sun stretched the shadows of people, dragging them on the narrow path.

The goal was achieved. Ruan Changgui took Sun Xiaohui home and said to her while climbing the mountain: "My parents agree that we can separate. Today, they have asked Gao Wu to build a stove. When the stove is built, we will put in the pots, bowls, tables and chairs. Then we can each share the other things and eat separately."

Sun Xiaohui was very happy, but she said: "I have become the sinner in your family. I don't know 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 look at me with a good face in the future."

Ruan Changgui said indifferently, "Just pretend you don't see it. "Okay."

He thought of something else and said hurriedly, "By the way, Xiaojie said she doesn't want to follow us, she wants to follow her grandparents. Dad and Mom are willing, what do you think?"

Hearing this, Sun Xiaohui's eyes lit up, "Oh, isn't this what they want? If Xiaojie follows them, she will have to eat less of our food, right? She helps us raise our daughter for nothing, who wouldn't be willing?"

Ruan Changgui said, "If you are willing, let her live with her grandparents."

Sun Xiaohui smiled and said, "Of course I am willing, Xiaojie is a really sensible child , she knows how to save food for us. She eats her grandparents' food, but she still works for us on weekdays. What 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, she said, "I heard that your eldest brother will take Xiaoxi over when things get convenient there. Why would you take her over now that she's grown up? Isn't it better for her to stay at home and get married? Oh, do you want to find her a son from an official's family? Would anyone be interested in a country girl like Xiaoxi?"

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

Sun Xiaohui said, "Everything depends on human intervention. She grew up at home since she was a child, her father and mother are not around, and we, as uncles and aunts, are half of her parents, so why can't we make the decision on her? But she is going to the military area, so these words are empty talk."

Then she changed the subject: "I can make the decision on Xiaojie, that's all."