When several girls heard Tian Xing'er's exclamation, they gathered around curiously and saw a silver needle floating quietly above the basin of water!
"It worked the first time?"
"What good luck!"
"Could it be that the Weaver Girl has a special preference for it..."
Seeing their guesses becoming more and more outrageous, Su Qingluan couldn't help but laugh and said, "Look at what's at the bottom of this basin?"
The girls looked closely and saw a piece of paper half the size of a palm in the corner of the basin, slowly sinking into the water.
"What is this...?" Everyone looked at Su Qingluan in confusion.
Su Qingluan pointed at the paper at the bottom of the basin and said, "I'll place the silver needle on the paper and put it into the water together with the paper. When the paper gets wet and sinks, the silver needle will float on the water!"
No one had thought of this method, and Liu Er even exclaimed, "This... this doesn't count!"
"Why doesn't it count?" Su Qingluan raised an eyebrow. "Did the Weaver Girl tell you that you can't use external force when throwing a needle?"
"That's not the case..." Liu'er murmured.
"Isn't that the end?" Su Qingluan looked very innocent.
In her heart, she knew she had exploited a loophole in the game and had been a bit cunning, but she really had no interest in playing the needle-throwing game.
In her opinion, this is basically equivalent to seeing if an egg can stand up. If you are interested, you can try it, but she is more interested in watching these folk customs, and not in doing it herself.
"In that case, let's try something else," Tian Xing'er said to Su Qingluan, taking the colored thread. "We each have a piece of thread. In this courtyard, there's moonlight and lanterns hanging below the pillars. Let's use these lights to see who can thread seven silver needles first, how about that?"
Chunhua said softly, "I can't compare to my sisters in this area. I'm always the slowest. Why don't I be the referee?"
Su Qingluan sighed slightly. Seeing that these little girls were full of fighting spirit, she thought that young people were really energetic. However, she was only interested in eating and had no interest in anything else.
But thinking about how the girls had been waiting for her for a long time, she nodded and said, "Well, what's the explanation for winning or losing?"
"The last person to finish has to give something to the first person to finish putting it on." Que'er said with a smile.
"Oh, this is not easy..." Su Qingluan half-joked, "I'm a money-grubber and I can't stand losing anything. It seems I have to work hard."
After saying this, he winked cunningly.
Several girls laughed, but Tian Xing'er was not polite: "Da Ya, you better be careful. Not to mention Que'er, even I have one of the fastest hands in Huaxi Village."
Su Qingluan nodded and chose a cautious statement: "I will try not to be the last one."
When everyone had their own silver needles and colored threads, Chunhua said softly, "Begin!"
Several people started to thread the needle in the moonlight.
This time, in order to prevent Su Qingluan from trying to "fawn" like before, Chunhua, as the judge, specially added: "When threading the needle, you cannot use any tools other than your hands."
Su Qingluan nodded when she heard that, then picked up a silver needle and placed it on her palm.
Chunhua paid more attention to Su Qingluan. She found that the girl neither looked for the needle hole towards the moon nor straightened the thread end. She just held the silk thread flat in her hand and the silver needle in her hand.
Before Chunhua could see clearly what Su Qingluan did, a silver needle pierced through her.
Seeing this, Chunhua widened her eyes and couldn't help but move a few steps towards Su Qingluan.
Su Qingluan did not hide anything and opened her palm to Chunhua so that she could see more clearly.
However, Su Qingluan's movements were very neat and skillful, and the light here was not as clear as in the daytime. She placed the silver needle above the silk thread in her palm again, and with a slight shake of her wrist, another silver needle passed through the silk thread!
This happened several times in a row, and before Chunhua could see clearly, Su Qingluan's seven silver needles were all threaded on the line.
"I'm done." Su Qingluan picked up the pink silk thread and showed the silver needle on it that was flashing under the lantern and moonlight.
At this time, Que'er had just inserted the last silver needle, but she was still one step too late for Su Qingluan.
The others exclaimed in amazement, "There's actually someone who can surpass Sister Que'er in 'threading a needle'!"
Que'er herself was also very surprised. It wasn't that she was arrogant, but since she was ten years old, not only in Huaxi Village, but also on the few times she went to visit relatives with her parents, she had competed with girls from other places. In the "needle threading" event alone, she had never met a rival.
So she actually lost this competition. Rather than feeling unwilling, she was more curious about how Su Qingluan had mastered such excellent techniques.
Su Qingluan shook her head: "This doesn't require any skills."
Tian Xing'er was a little unhappy: "If you don't want to tell us, just say it, and we won't ask. There's no need to say 'no skills are needed'!"
Su Qingluan knew they had misunderstood and explained with a smile, "It's just that my way of threading the needle is a little special - if you don't believe me, ask Chunhua."
Everyone looked over, and Chunhua nodded quickly: "Daya is right! She just placed the silver needle in the palm of her hand, without even looking for the needle hole, and then shook her wrist, and the silk thread passed through! She didn't even look at the needle hole!"
Now Tian Xing'er was no longer angry, and Que'er was no longer unwilling to accept it. Everyone looked at Su Qingluan curiously, wanting to see how she threaded the needle.
Su Qingluan smiled and said, "Didn't someone just say that if I don't want to tell you, then I can just not tell you?"
Tian Xing'er had just thought that Su Qingluan, as a friend, was deliberately keeping secrets, and her temper flared up quickly. Now that she knew she had misunderstood her, she apologized readily: "Oh, didn't I think you were hiding something from us?"
She smiled and took Su Qingluan's hand, gently shaking it back and forth a few times, "Good girl, please don't be angry with me, I apologize to you! Next time I will definitely not be so indiscriminate and mean to you, please forgive me this time!"
Su Qingluan didn't really have any opinion on the girl, she was just teasing her. Moreover, seeing that she admitted her mistake so readily, she called the girls over and explained in detail:
"Just place a piece of silk thread in your hand, place the needle on the thread, and gently rub the end of the needle with the needlehole back and forth. Repeat this several times until the thread tip enters the needlehole. Then, pull out the thread at one end, and you can thread the thread through the needlehole!"
"That's a great idea!" Xiaoman clapped her hands and laughed, "I don't have to thread the needle by candlelight anymore. I don't have to worry about my eyesight getting hurt!"
Su Qingluan looked at Tian Xing'er and said, "See, it doesn't require any skills, right? I can learn it right away."
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