Chapter 130: The Past is Smoking
The next morning, Liu Wangxue was writing a script in his small study, while Gu Xuelan was looking at the three little cuties in the living room and embroidering her cross-stitch.
The "masterpiece" she chose was "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains".
This painting is a representative of green landscape painting. The main colors are azurite and malachite, which are mineral pigments. They make the mountains and rocks in the painting appear thicker and greener, and the picture is bright and gorgeous, with strong and brilliant colors. Sometimes the outlines of the mountains and rocks are outlined with mud gold, which increases the magnificent effect and is called "golden and green landscape"①.
When they first came here to buy a house, Xu Qingsong's mistress gave them three Chinese paintings, one of which was a golden landscape. When the house was being renovated, Liu Wangxue took the painting to the city to have it framed and added a photo frame. It is now hanging on the wall behind the sofa.
When Gu Xuelan saw the golden and green landscape painting by her mistress, the first thing that came to her mind was "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains".
At that time, she had a plan. After she settled down here, she would have nothing to do and would have plenty of free time, which would be just right for her to develop her personal hobbies in depth.
When she was a college teacher, her job was not very busy, and the four elderly people in her family were in good health, so she didn't have much financial pressure, so she signed up for a hobby class to learn Chinese painting. But maybe she really didn't have the talent, and the teacher couldn't help her with her paintings.
After studying for a year, Gu Xuelan decided not to waste the money anymore, but she really liked Chinese paintings and other types of art, so she finally settled for the next best thing and started cross-stitching.
Gu Xuelan is really good at hands-on work and she is also very patient. She starts with small and simple tasks and can quickly move up to more difficult levels.
Many of the cross-stitch ornaments at Liu Wangxue’s aunt’s and uncle’s homes were made by Gu Xuelan.
She even joked, "I can't tame a brush, but taming a needle and thread is not a problem at all."
Later, small works could not satisfy her, so she decided to do something big. Aunt Liu Wangxue even made an appointment with her to do one - because her aunt had clumsy hands and did not have the patience to sit for half a day, and she said that she felt dizzy when she saw the dense blocks of color and printed symbols on the embroidery cloth.
But accidents always come before plans.
At first, it was about evaluating professional titles. Their school leadership had changed factions, and the new leader wanted to quickly win over everyone to his side, so he launched a targeted "big distribution of benefits." He thought that for Gu Xuelan, this benefit was the title of associate professor.
As a teacher, there is no one who doesn't want to be promoted. After all, the professional title is directly linked to the salary. If the professional title is promoted, the salary will also increase.
Gu Xuelan also thought so when she was young, but evaluation of professional titles cannot be based solely on strength. One must also maintain good relationships with colleagues, especially with leaders.
After Gu Xuelan participated in several selections, she realized that the requirements for the title evaluation were flexible and would change according to the specific candidates. Every time, no matter how complete her information was, she was always just a little short.
Gu Xuelan was quite angry the first two days, thinking that her leader was deliberately targeting her, so she went home and complained to Liu Nanshan.
Liu Nanshan didn't know much about job title promotion, but he had come from the bottom of society and was familiar with the twists and turns between people. He knew what the so-called "standard" was all about, and the leaders just pulled in a few runners-up to make the selection look fair and just.
Gu Xuelan was speechless after hearing his explanation. She participated in two more sessions and verified Liu Nanshan’s words. She was completely heartbroken.
Liu Nanshan hugged her and comforted her: "It's okay, it's just that little money, I can earn it if I work hard. Life is only a few short decades, why put so much pressure on yourself?
You chose to be a teacher because you liked the feeling of standing on the podium, didn't you? What does your job title have to do with it? So just teach your classes well and don't worry about these mundane things."
After that, Gu Xuelan no longer cared about the evaluation of professional titles. But she was eventually evaluated because she had enough experience. Moreover, she had good teaching quality and had won many awards, so it would be unreasonable not to give her the title.
When the new leader came to talk to Gu Xuelan, she thought of winning him over. She had always believed that her main task was teaching, and she never participated in these petty intrigues. But it was hard to refute the leader's face, so she tactfully said that she would go home and think about it.
After hearing this, Liu Nanshan felt that this was simply a piece of cake. He had also figured out the things in the system over the years: "If they want to win you over, then win you over. It's not like they are asking you to do anything bad. Most likely, when they need you to take sides, you just need to stand on their side."
Gu Xuelan thought it made sense. It would not affect her teaching, and it was equivalent to getting an associate professor title for free, and her salary would increase significantly. Why not do it?
In fact, it was not in vain. Teachers who joined the company in the same year as her, and even those who were not as good as her, have been promoted one after another, and now it is her turn.
Afterwards, the college signed her up for a prestigious teaching competition. She won a prize, published a paper, and after working hard for a long time, she finally got the professional title.
This time I finally have time to embroider a large cross-stitch. Aunt Liu Wangxue has asked me about it many times.
But the good times did not last long. When the cross-stitch was half completed, Liu Wangxue's grandmother had problems with her physical examination, and the whole family put all their attention on the old lady.
During those years, their family seemed to have suffered some misfortune. Starting with Liu Wangxue's grandmother, four elderly people fell ill and died one after another.
Gu Xuelan's mood was just like her family's savings, which were worn down to almost nothing. She had Liu Wangxue's aunt and uncle on her side, and Liu Nanshan also had Liu Wangxue's uncle on his side. With the combined efforts of the several families, they watched the money pour into the hospital without hearing any sound.
Liu Nanshan sold his fruit shop, and the couple was so worried that they couldn't sleep all night. Fortunately, the copyright of Liu Wangxue's script was sold at that time, and the 200,000 yuan really solved the family's urgent needs.
From then on, Gu Xuelan had no mood to do these things, and just wanted to make more money. Fortunately, she had previously sided with the new leader, and he turned a blind eye to her part-time job in an educational institution.
She originally wanted to save money to open a shop for Liu Nanshan, but Liu Nanshan didn't want her to be too stressed, so he said he couldn't do it anymore. He bought a car the next day and set up a stall in front of the elementary school every day at the end of school, selling octopus balls and starch sausage.
Gu Xuelan retired last year. On her retirement day, Liu Wangxue transferred some money to her card so that she and Liu Nanshan could go on a trip to relax. After she came back, she finally had time to finish embroidering the painting "Lady with Flowers in Her Hairpin" by Liu Wangxue's aunt.
Afterwards, she thought she would live out her life with Liu Nanshan in that small town, but she didn't expect her daughter to meet the wrong man and suffer so much. She also indulged her and moved to this small town in the south.
①Be lazy, from Baidu Encyclopedia Hehe (End of this chapter)
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