After entering the elevator, the two people swiped their cards and pressed the same floor.
"What a coincidence." The young man seemed not good at chatting up women. His ears and neck were red. "My name is Zhou Dong. Although I am not from Furong City, I am a native of Shu Province. Maybe I know Furong City better than you people from other provinces. If you have anything you want to know, you can ask me. This is my business card."
As he spoke, he took out a business card from his wallet and handed it to Hua Jin.
Hua Jin looked at the blushing man in front of her, reached out to take the business card, and said with a half-smile: "Mr. Zhou, your way of chatting up is too old-fashioned."
“No, no, no.” Hua Jin’s teasing made Zhou Dong’s cheeks red like the sunset. “I didn’t mean anything else, it’s just… it’s just…” He was at a loss, lowering his head to explain, “You and I liked each other in high school…”
"Am I disturbing your interest?" The elevator door opened at this moment. Outside the elevator, Pei Yan crossed his arms and looked at the two people with a sidelong glance. "The elevator is a public tool. If you two want to talk to each other, you can talk slowly after you come out."
"Thank you Mr. Pei for the reminder." Hua Jin put Zhou Dong's business card into her handbag. Zhou Dong, who was standing next to her, blushed and reached out to help her carry the suitcase, but was stopped by Hua Jin.
"Mr. Zhou, if you continue to be so attentive, I will think you are interested in me." Hua Jin raised her eyebrows and smiled at Zhou Dong, her red lips slightly raised.
Zhou Dong was so frightened by the smile that he picked up his suitcase and ran away.
Hua Jin couldn't help laughing at Zhou Dong's reaction. She walked out of the elevator slowly and extended her hand as a gesture of invitation: "Mr. Pei, please."
Pei Yan didn't go in, but squinted at her: "Do you know who I am?"
"Of course." Hua Jin smiled and coughed dryly, "After all, not everyone is as lucky as me. I can just pass by and hear others scolding Mr. Pei so fiercely and with such courage."
Although the man became cowardly when he saw Pei Yan after he finished cursing, at least at that moment when he was cursing, he was full of the momentum of one man blocking the pass from ten thousand.
"It seems that you haven't seen enough. There are so many people who secretly curse me behind my back. If the person who cursed me that day wanted to queue up to get a number, he would probably have to queue more than 200 places." Pei Yan raised his wrist and adjusted his cuffs. His beautiful eyes were shining, and he was simply a walking male vixen.
Hua Jin was silent for a moment: "Is it something to be proud of that many people scold you?"
"Being scolded is not something to be proud of, but many people clearly want to scold me, but still praise me in front of me, this is something to be proud of." Pei Yan raised his wrist and slightly raised his chin and said, "Move aside, you are blocking my view of the mirror."
After looking at the elevator door, Hua Jin took out a small portable makeup mirror from her handbag and said, "This high-definition mirror is given to you for free. No need to thank me."
Pei Yan threw the mirror back into Hua Jin's arms with disgust. Just as he was about to mock Hua Jin, his cell phone rang.
"What's the matter?" Pei Yan glanced at Hua Jin, opened the elevator door and walked in. "Embroiderer?"
"The signal in the elevator is not good. Let's talk about it tonight."
Seeing the elevator door closed, Hua Jin sighed with some regret. She felt that she would be at a disadvantage if she didn't take a closer look at such a handsome boy. Especially that slightly proud look in his eyes, which was simply the best in the world.
After returning to the room, Hua Jin opened Weibo and found that the netizen who had ordered the panda embroidery for her had sent her another red envelope. It turned out that the netizen had discovered that she had come to Sichuan Province and guessed that she had come to look up information about the panda embroidery style of the last century, so he sent her several big red envelopes.
She didn't even give her a receipt, but this netizen kept transferring money to her. He really treats money as dirt.
But...she likes it.
The next morning, Hua Jin slept until she woke up naturally on the soft and comfortable big bed in the hotel. After washing up, she took a car to the home of the master who was good at panda embroidery.
In the past eight years, the whole Shu Province has changed a lot. Expressways, cement roads and asphalt roads have been built in all directions to reach villages of all sizes. Aunt Gao said that the panda embroidery master had a bad respiratory tract and returned to his hometown for recuperation. Hua Jin thought that she would have to travel through mountains and rivers to find the master's home, but she didn't know that when she arrived in the county town, she only needed to spend two yuan on the rural bus fare to go to the village where the panda embroidery master lived.
Most of the people on the bus are farmers returning home after the market. Most of them know each other, and they gather together to talk about their own livestock and poultry. There are also elderly people showing off the new appliances bought for them by their children. It is very lively.
There was an auntie named Hua Jin who was fair-skinned and dressed fashionably and beautifully. People thought she was the daughter of a successful family who came back to visit her family, so they took the initiative to ask her about her.
"No, I'm here to look for Ms. Song Lian. My elders are old friends of hers, so I came to visit her." Hua Jin answered the elder sister in Sichuan dialect. She hadn't spoken Sichuan dialect to anyone for many years, and it seemed that even her accent lacked a bit of Sichuan flavor.
"From your accent, you don't sound like a local." The elder sister thought for a moment and asked another uncle in the car, "Hey, is Song Lian, the girl, from Songjiawan?"
"Song Lian?" The uncle thought for a moment, "Is she looking for Song Lian who used to work at Furong Embroidery Factory?"
"Yes, yes, that's her." Hua Jin didn't expect to hear about Master Song so soon. She asked happily, "Uncle, do you live in the same village as Master Song?"
"Oh, you don't know yet. Song Lian passed away last year." The uncle said, "When she held her funeral last year, many people came to pay their respects. How could you find anyone?"
Seeing Hua Jin's expression change, the uncle advised: "Don't worry, her eldest daughter and son-in-law are still in her house. Wait, come with me and I will take you to her house."
"Thank you." Hua Jin was in a low mood. Aunt Gao had mentioned that Ms. Song was a great embroiderer. She had once told Aunt Gao that it was a pity that she had no successor and her craft might be wasted.
I wonder if, after all these years, Master Song found someone to inherit her craft before she passed away.
Master Song Xiu's daughter lived in a two-story building. When she heard that Hua Jin was looking for her mother, she, who was already over fifty years old, warmly invited Hua Jin to sit down and wanted to cook sweet soup for her, but Hua Jin stopped her.
There are some embroidery paintings hanging on the wall at home, all of which are rare and exquisite. Hua Jin couldn't help but take a few more glances. Noticing Hua Jin's eyes, the eldest daughter was half proud and half regretful, "My mother's favorite thing in her life is embroidery. She once won a provincial award. Later, her eyesight became bad, and she often told me that fewer and fewer people like embroidery, and no one inherited her craft."
"Are all these on the wall the work of Master Song?" Hua Jin looked up at the wall. These embroidery pieces were of different styles and didn't look like they were made by the same person.
"No, these are the works of my mother and some of her friends." The eldest daughter said, "Her legs and feet have not been very good in recent years, so she hung the works given by her friends on the wall for her to appreciate."
Hua Jin went to the grave with Master Song's eldest daughter to burn incense and candles for Master Song. On the way back from the grave, the eldest daughter asked, "Ms. Hua, you are also engaged in embroidery, right?"
"You figured it out?" Hua Jin was a little surprised.
"Although I have no talent for embroidery, I can see the unique temperament of an embroidery master in you." Master Song's eldest daughter smiled bitterly, "Last year when my mother was buried, a leader who valued traditional art came to pay his respects, which led to many people coming to join in the fun. However, no one has come in the past six months."
"Before I came here, my master said that she had met Master Song several times before, so she asked me to come to Master Song to broaden my horizons." Walking on the ridge of the field, smelling the rich fragrance of the golden rapeseed flowers, Hua Jin said in a low voice, "Master Song and I are not destined to be together."
"If you don't mind, I have a few copies of notebooks that I can give you. They contain my mother's summary of embroidery before she died."
"These are all the hard work of Master Song Xiu. How can I..."
"My mother's biggest regret when she was alive was that she didn't have a young and talented apprentice. Today, I'm lucky enough to meet a young person like you who is so dedicated to embroidery. I will only be happy to give you the notebook, not sad." Master Song's eldest daughter smiled, "What's more, it's just a copy, not the original."
After returning home, Master Song's eldest daughter gave Hua Jin a copy of the notebook and showed her many photos of Master Song's panda embroidery works during his lifetime, as well as the information collected by Master Song.
Every top embroiderer not only has needlework skills that surpass ordinary people, but also has unique talents in artistic aesthetics. Master Song is worthy of being one of the most famous panda embroidery masters in Sichuan Province. The oldest photo of her panda embroidery works is from nearly a hundred years ago.
The photocopies of photos from a hundred years ago are not very clear, but even through the blurry photos, you can still see the vivid appearance of the pandas on the embroidery.
It is lively and vivid. Although it is just embroidery, it gives people the illusion that it is a living thing.
This is a true masterpiece.
After seeing the works of Master Song and the photos of embroidery she collected, Hua Jin finally realized how far away she was from these masters.
Aunt Gao always praised her for her talent, and Tan Yuan also said that the things she embroidered were full of spirit, which almost made her really believe that she was a genius among young embroiderers.
What does it mean to feel ashamed of oneself?
A blurry photo taken a hundred years ago was enough to make her blush with shame.
On the way back to Furong City, Hua Jin thought a lot, but the most vivid impression was the exquisite embroidery. Rubbing her confused brain, she opened her phone and took a look. It was not too cold in winter and she had received a message again.
Winter is not too cold: Master, my grandma lives far away, so you don't have to rush there. If you really want to go, you can go with my cousin, who is going back to his hometown to worship his ancestors. If you don't mind, can you add me on WeChat?
Hua Jin glanced at the WeChat QR code image sent by the other party, remembered the red envelopes he had sent, and silently added him as a friend.
The WeChat avatar of "Winter is Not Too Cold" is a popular cartoon character. After the two added each other as friends, the other party sent several messages to him.
Dongdong: Thank you for your hard work, old man.
When Hua Jin saw this, she immediately frowned.
Old man?
Who are you saying is old?
The author has something to say: Hua Jin: You can insult me for my high fees, but you can't insult my age!
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