Chapter 13: Learning Skills
As a woman herself, she couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic. Seeing that Yu Huatang hadn't eaten anything since she got up early in the morning, she patted her awake.
"Miss Yu, here are some pastries. If you don't mind, feel free to use some. No matter what, your health is the most important thing."
She is young and doesn't know how to comfort others.
Yu Huatang took it and thanked him. After finishing the meal, he stared out the window in a daze.
The carriage moved quickly and was out of the city gate in half an hour.
It was the hottest time of the year and the number of pedestrians on the road had decreased. The area outside the capital city looked desolate. Weeds grew beside the moat and only solitary geese would call out from time to time, making the place seem exceptionally deserted.
Yu Huatang said, "Stop here..."
The carriage stopped and Wang Xuqing got off the carriage with her puzzled look.
Yu Huatang stood beside the moat for a while, then suddenly threw the jade pendant in his hand into the river.
"Ah, Miss Yu, you..."
With a "dong" sound, the snow-white jade pendant sank to the bottom of the river with the waves. One or two dragonflies flew around for a while, and the river surface returned to calm again.
Yu Huatang looked at the quietly flowing river and said bitterly, "...It's just something that shouldn't exist."
Wang Xuqing saw that she looked unhappy, and thought that the things thrown away must have made her uncomfortable, so she stood by the river with Yu Huatang for a while without saying anything.
The carriage continued on its journey, this time without stopping. It traveled day and night and finally arrived in Quanzhou two months later.
Boss Zhou asked her whether she needed to go to a relative's house or go back to her own home, and he would help her with anything she needed.
Before leaving, her mother-in-law told her to help in any way she could, as she was an orphan and felt very sorry for herself.
Besides, she gave a lot of travel expenses, so she couldn't let the woman suffer any loss.
Yu Huatang originally wanted to go back to see his parents, who had some connections with the Li family in Quanzhou Town.
Li's grandfather and her grandfather were from the same school. Her own grandfather died early and did not pass down the lantern making skills, leaving only a few books.
Grandpa Li’s lantern making skills are the best in Quanzhou, and her father also learned the craft here before.
Now that I can’t go back to my cousin’s house and cause them trouble, I might as well become his disciple here.
After telling his plan, Yu Huatang asked Boss Zhou to help him look at several houses. Finally, he chose a three-bedroom courtyard house with a reasonable price.
Boss Zhou was shocked when he saw what she did. "If you don't go back to your cousin's house, you will be alone and helpless here. What if you get bullied?"
She shook her head and thanked Boss Zhou for his kindness.
Boss Zhou was helpless. After all, he was from a poor family and could not help much. In the end, he said goodbye and left.
After they left, Yu Huatang cleaned up the house for a while, counted some silver, and finally took out some change and buried a few banknotes under the osmanthus tree in the yard.
As the sky darkened, she sat alone at the table, opening a notebook.
This is a book that records the techniques and types of Quanzhou lanterns.
One of the pages records the core craftsmanship of the "Tiangong Lantern", the core of Quanzhou lanterns.
Her father once went to sea to visit a master in order to find a certain mechanism in this lamp, but met with disaster on the way back.
Before my father had the accident, our family sold some lanterns and lived a good life.
She suddenly thought that people in the capital only knew that Luoyang's palace lanterns were exquisite, but they didn't know that Quanzhou's lanterns were equally as good.
Now everything in the capital is like a dream. When she wakes up, she will be reborn. She has also given up the idea of getting married.
If she passed on the skills of Quanzhou lantern making, it would not be a disappointment to the wishes of her father and ancestors who were craftsmen.
After a few days, Yu Huatang came to the "Dengshitang" in Quanzhou City.
Grandpa Li is now the owner of the Dengshi Hall. After listening to her story, he fell silent.
"You know, folk skills are usually passed down from father to son, not from father to daughter. Although you have talent, if you leak this skill, I'm afraid..."
Yu Huatang knew what Grandpa Li was worried about, so she said gently, "Grandpa Li, I'm divorced now, and I've given up on getting married. You don't need to worry about me leaking my technology."
"To be disrespectful, the purpose of craftsmanship is to pass it on. If we still care about whether the person is a man or a woman, it is a bit biased. Huatang has no parents and no one to tie him down. His life's wish is to carry on his father's legacy and pass on the art of lantern making. Let Quanzhou lanterns be famous all over the world."
Li Xuguang was surprised. "You're young, but you've experienced a lot, and you have a strong character. Even after divorcing your husband's family, you didn't give up on yourself. Instead, you gained some insights. If you think about your character, you're truly suited to learning skills."
"The so-called passing down of skills to males but not females is because females need to go through the process of getting married. If someone with a weak heart uses half-learned skills to deceive others in the future, it would be a disgrace to our reputation."
"But……"
Yu Huatang looked up, his eyes hopeful. "Grandpa Li, if you have anything to say, just say it."
"However, nowadays, all the students who come to learn martial arts are men. Even if I accept you as my last disciple, it will damage your reputation."
Yu Huatang said, "I have no intention of getting married. Grandpa Li knows that I was divorced from a family like that in the capital, so naturally I am disheartened. My past and future have also made Huatang realize that some things cannot be achieved by just looking up to them. There is a huge gap between me and my previous family, and now I have repented. I just want to have a skill to rely on in this life and not be miserable."
"I hope Grandpa Li will take Huatang in because of her sincerity. Huatang can swear that she will never dishonor the craftsmanship of Huadeng."
Li Xuguang sighed, "As an elder, I naturally hope you can find a husband. With your looks, as long as you can make a decent case, you won't have any trouble finding a husband. Once you learn this skill, people will talk about you and spread rumors about you. You have to think carefully..."
Yu Huatang shook his head. "Thank you, Grandpa Li, for your consideration. But I've already made up my mind, so I don't regret it."
After saying this, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed several times.
Li Xuguang quickly helped her up. "That's not necessary. Since you've made up your mind, I'll teach you. The road to learning is difficult, and I won't treat you any differently just because you're a woman. If you can endure the hardship, then follow me..."
"Huatang thanks the master..." She knelt down again and performed the ceremony of paying homage to the master.
…………
Three years passed by.
It is spring again. Starting from the Licheng area, lantern activities are held from the time of the Lantern Festival to the Lantern Festival.
But this year, an epidemic broke out during the Lantern Festival. People were under curfew and dared not go out. The epidemic did not pass until March.
The government has decided to hold the Lantern Festival, which was postponed this year, at the end of April.
The Dengshi Hall was busy early in the morning.
The guys took the lanterns ordered by each household from the counter, and carried down the lanterns for the Lantern Festival that the government wanted from upstairs.
Some shopkeepers who didn't know the purpose of these lamps lined up one by one to listen to Xu Fu's explanation.
Yu Huatang is the busiest.
In addition to festival celebrations, people also buy lanterns for children to play with or for lighting.
Whenever this happened, Yu Huatang would carefully recommend which type of lamp was more suitable, and would not ask ordinary people to buy expensive needle-prick lamps just to make money.
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