"Sister-in-law, did you bring all your savings?" Yun Tangyin greeted her with a smile, "Come in and rest, you look exhausted."
Yu Xia wiped her sweat, pointed at the stroller and smiled: "Look at this stroller, isn't it great? Yuanshan added bamboo shock absorbers yesterday, so it's very stable to push. I'm thinking of using it to push clothes for the children in the future, so they won't have to carry it around."
Jiang Jianhua also came over carrying a bamboo sewing box: "I brought all the silver needles my mother gave me. You need fine needles to embroider tiger-head shoes."
She opened the box, revealing a dozen or so silver needles neatly arranged inside. "Look at the needle eyes," she said, "they're softer than iron and won't hurt your hands."
The three of them busied themselves around the bamboo table. Yu Xia picked up a blue and white floral fabric and gestured, "Yinyin, look, how about we make a onesie for the child with this fabric? I'll embroider bamboo branch patterns on the cuffs; it'll be both pretty and sturdy."
Yun Tangyin had just nodded when Fu Yucheng came in carrying a small bamboo mold: "Do you think this tiger head mold is good? I carved it half the night, and it's even more lifelike than the one in the painting manual. Use it as a reference when embroidering tiger head shoes, and you're guaranteed to get it right."
"How come you can do everything?" Jiang Jianhua leaned closer to look. "Your molds are even more exquisite than the ones from the embroidery shop in town. Can you carve one for me too?"
At lunchtime, Fu Yuan was carrying in a small bamboo wardrobe with the words "Long Life" embroidered on the door.
"Xia'er, look at this wardrobe. I added bamboo dividers so that I can separate small clothes and socks."
He opened the cabinet door, inside which hung several small bamboo clothes hangers. "They're more breathable than wooden cabinets, so the children's clothes won't get damp easily."
Yu Xia put a piece of pork rib into his bowl: "You're such a troublemaker. But this cabinet is really beautiful, even more exquisite than the ones sold at the supply and marketing cooperative."
She suddenly stuffed a poached egg into Yun Tangyin's bowl. "Eat up, I specially asked Yuanshan to buy these farm eggs from town. They're more nutritious than free-range eggs."
Just as Yun Tangyin was about to thank him, she saw Yu Xia cover her mouth and laugh: "Yesterday he bought me a bamboo rouge box and even carved a little peach blossom on it. Don't you think he's getting old and has learned to coax people?"
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