Pei Yan panted, his eyes swept over Hua Jin's body, and after making sure that she was not injured, he had the energy to look at the child in her hands. He pulled the corner of his mouth, turned around and left.
Seeing him leave, Hua Jin let go of Xiao Hai's hand and ran to Pei Yan: "Mr. Pei, don't leave so fast."
"What are you doing?" Pei Yan raised his arm that was close to Hua Jin. "If you have anything to say, just say it directly. Don't touch me."
Hua Jin quickly put her hands behind her back: "Why are you here?"
"I'm just passing by, is that not okay?" Pei Yan walked quickly towards the car parked on the side of the road. As he got closer, he saw a ticket on the front of the car fluttering in the wind. He tore off the ticket, opened the car door and got in.
He closed the car door, tilted his head to look at Hua Jin who was standing outside the passenger window, then opened the car door again and got out, and said to Hua Jin: "Did you have breakfast?"
Hua Jin shook her head and blinked at him with her big eyes.
"Get in the car first. I'll take you to breakfast." He turned around and glanced at Sister Qin and Xiao Hai who were still standing at the entrance of the police station. "Call your friends too."
He still had some impression of Sister Qin, and he was afraid that he would not be able to forget that unusual quarrel for a while.
Hua Jin went to call Sister Qin, who held her son's hand and shook her head to refuse: "I have already troubled you today. I will take Xiao Hai back to eat. I won't trouble you and your friend anymore." Although she didn't know the identity of this young man, she ran over in a hurry, obviously thinking that something had happened to Hua Jin. Her mouth can lie, but her eyes can't. Xiao Hua has been working hard alone for many years. She has never been seen returning to her hometown during the holidays. It's easy to imagine that her original family is not good. It would be great if she could meet a man who cares about her in every way.
She looked down at her silent son, stretched out her dry and rough hands, gently touched the top of his head, and felt infinite bitterness in her heart. She was born against expectations, married not for love, lived in confusion, and even failed to raise her own child. If Xiaohai hadn't disappeared this time, she would never know how to live.
Hua Jin is different from her.
"Xiao Hai, go home with your mother." Sister Qin sniffed, looked up and smiled at Hua Jin, "I will set up the table at home in a few days, and everyone can come to my house for dinner."
Hua Jin was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay."
Sister Qin is a woman who is not easy to get along with. Maybe it’s because of her divorce and her family’s bad treatment to her, so she is very sensitive. Sometimes when others complain about something, she thinks that they are talking about her. Therefore, she doesn’t have a good relationship with anyone in the entire rental house. It is quite rare for her to take the initiative to treat everyone to a meal now.
Afraid that Hua Jin would invite her over again, Sister Qin took Xiao Hai's hand and left. This time she held Xiao Hai's hand tightly and didn't want to let go for even a moment.
Looking at the backs of the mother and son, Hua Jin was a little stunned. After a long time, she laughed and turned around to find that Pei Yan was standing behind her at some point. She was so scared that she stepped back.
Pei Yan stared at her for two seconds: "Am I scary?"
"There's an idiom 'stunningly beautiful'. You're so beautiful that I would be particularly surprised as well." Hua Jin followed Pei Yan into the car. The cell phone in her bag rang. She took out her phone and saw that it was a message from the Pineapple Spirit.
Dongdong: Hua Xiushi, are you okay? I saw you sitting in the police car this morning. Was there any misunderstanding?
Hua Jin briefly replied to the whole story, put away the phone and looked at Pei Yan: "Did Mr. Yang tell you that I was in the police car?"
"Don't think too much. I just heard what Yang Shao said, so I came to see the excitement." Pei Yan looked ahead, "I didn't expect you to come out so quickly. I didn't see anything exciting."
Hua Jin's laughter was heard in the carriage.
Pei Yan's ears turned red: "What's so funny? Have you ever seen others watching the fun?"
"I've seen it before, but I've never seen someone as handsome as you watching the fun." Hua Jin smiled with tears in his eyes, "If I had known you were coming, even if there wasn't a lot of fun here, I would have put on a show for you in advance."
"You woman, do you talk like this to everyone?" Pei Yan stopped the car at the traffic light and stared at Hua Jin, "Really... Really..." Looking at Hua Jin's beautiful eyes, Pei Yan couldn't say anything harsh, so he had to turn his head away and ignore her.
"I'm sorry, actually I wanted to say thank you." Hua Jin's eyes curved into crescents with a smile, "Thank you for coming."
"I just came to watch the fun."
"I know."
"Are you happy to come and watch the fun?"
"I was very happy when someone rushed over when I was in trouble."
"You..." Pei Yan turned his head to look at Hua Jin. Her smile was warm and beautiful, but Pei Yan felt his chest was stuffy and painful, and a little sore. He even felt the urge to reach out and touch her head.
Beep!
A whistle sounded from behind, and Pei Yan came to his senses, realizing that the red light had turned green at some point.
Pei Yan took Hua Jin to his favorite breakfast shop. It was no longer the breakfast peak period, so there were not many people in the shop.
Looking at the exquisitely shaped breakfast buns, Hua Jin took out her phone to take a picture and said with emotion: "The buns are made so cute, I really can't bear to eat them."
Then she ate a whole bun.
Pei Yan put down the spoon and looked at the empty food box in front of Hua Jin: "I couldn't bear to eat it... and you ate it all?"
"Who knows that every grain of rice on the plate is the product of hard work." Hua Jin wiped the corners of his mouth, "These ingredients have gone through untold hardships to become beautiful buns. Eating them is the most basic respect for them. As a noble human being, how can I waste their hard work?"
Pei Yan: “…”
It turns out that someone can explain "can eat" so nicely.
"After dinner, shall I take you to the store?"
"No, I want to go home, put on makeup and change clothes." Hua Jin remembered that in order to help Sister Qin find the child in the morning, she didn't comb her hair, didn't put on makeup, and even chose ordinary clothes. In the afternoon, she would go with Teacher Sun to meet the senior experts in the embroidery industry, so she couldn't be too casual.
"You are so serious, who are you going to meet?" Pei Yan lowered his head and poked a duck-shaped custard bun with chopsticks. After a few chopsticks, the duck turned into a few pieces of dough.
"I'm meeting a very important person." Hua Jin's eyes lit up, "At least I can't let him have a bad impression of me."
"It doesn't have to be that troublesome. I have a friend who opened a styling studio. I'll take you there to get your hair done. After lunch, I'll drive you there." Pei Yan put down the chopsticks that were poking at the custard buns. "This is more convenient."
"That's embarrassing." Hua Jin shook her head. "Besides, there's no need to be so serious. It's not like I'm going to an important banquet. I can just go back and pick out some clothes that fit me."
Pei Yan looked up at Hua Jin: "Don't you want this important person to have a better impression of you?"
"I do." Hua Jin was honest, "But that kind of deliberate styling and makeup is not suitable for us."
us?
Who is "us" to her?
Hearing these two words, Pei Yan felt a little anxious. He raised the corners of his mouth and smiled: "I know."
After sending Hua Jin to the shabby alley, Pei Yan looked sideways at Hua Jin who was unbuckling her seat belt and asked, "You really don't need me to send you off this afternoon?"
"No, thank you for today." Hua Jin looked up at Pei Yan and smiled, "I'm embarrassed to always trouble you."
"It doesn't matter. I'm just sitting around doing nothing anyway. When I'm bored, I tend to be kindhearted and help anyone I can." Pei Yan gently stroked the steering wheel with his left index finger. "Besides, this is just a small matter and not a big deal."
Hua Jin tilted her head and smiled: "That's great."
"What?" Pei Yan looked at her in confusion.
"I think this is good." Hua Jin pursed her lips, "Good people should meet the best people and live the best life."
Pei Yan frowned slightly. What's the difference between what Hua Jin said and "You are a good person"?
"When we met by chance at the lake a few months ago, you deliberately teased me. Did you think I was going to jump into the lake and commit suicide?"
"What else could it be? Do you really think I'm attracted to your looks?" Pei Yan turned his eyes away from Hua Jin's face. "What kind of beauties have I not seen?"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Pei is well-informed and has seen a lot." Hua Jin smiled and nodded, "There is no one better than you in the world."
"You're talking nonsense again." Pei Yan sneered, "You think I'm a kindergarten kid, you're praising me so perfunctorily."
"Actually... I'm an honest person." Hua Jin said in a serious tone, "I'm sincere when I praise you."
"You'd better get out of the car." Pei Yan pointed out the window. "Anyone on my advisory team can flatter people better than you."
"Let them talk nonsense, it's better for me to be sincere." Hua Jin opened the car door and walked out, bending down and waving to Pei Yan, "Mr. Pei, thank you so much, goodbye."
The car door closed and the interior became quiet.
Pei Yan watched Hua Jin walk into the alley for a long time, and then said, "A woman with a frivolous mouth and a frivolous heart, humph!"
At about 2:20 in the afternoon, Hua Jin arrived at the place where she had made an appointment with Teacher Sun. After waiting for less than 20 minutes, Teacher Sun came over on a small yellow bike. When he saw Hua Jin, he waved to her and said, "I didn't expect you to come earlier than me."
Seeing that Teacher Sun had sweat on his forehead, Hua Jin took out a handkerchief from her bag and said, "Teacher Sun, please wipe the sweat off your face."
"Such a beautiful handkerchief, I can't bear to wipe it." Teacher Sun took the handkerchief, looked at it, folded it carefully and returned it to Hua Jin, "At my age, it's good to sweat a little to detoxify."
"If you like it, keep it. When I'm not too busy, I'll embroider some handkerchiefs and keep them. This handkerchief has never been used, but the fabric is ordinary Shu brocade. Don't mind it." Hua Jin helped Teacher Sun put the small yellow car away. "Are we taking a taxi now?"
"Then I'll shamelessly accept it." Teacher Sun put the handkerchief close to her body. "She lives not far from here. We can just walk over there."
"Okay." Hua Jin walked slowly with Teacher Sun. This was a busy street. There were shops selling flowers, birds, insects and fish nearby. Small shops were crowded together, including cross-stitch shops, bedding shops, and fruit shops.
Passing through the downtown, there was a faded sign on an old building with the words "Suzhou Embroidery" written on it. Hua Jin followed Teacher Sun upstairs and heard voices through the door.
"The cannon has overturned the mountain, and you can't keep this chess piece anymore."
"I won't take this step, I won't go any further..."
"No regrets in making a move."
Teacher Sun knocked on the door and someone soon came to open it. It was a woman in her forties. Hua Jin noticed that the woman was leaning on a crutch and one of her legs was hanging empty.
"Teacher Sun, you are here." The woman was very enthusiastic and invited Teacher Sun and Hua Jin to come in. After Hua Jin entered the house, he closed the door and saw three or four elderly people sitting together in the living room, arguing over a wooden chessboard.
"Master, Teacher Sun is here." Although the woman was leaning on a cane, her movements were very agile. Hua Jin saw several embroidery frames on the other side of the living room. Most of the people sitting next to the frames were disabled. Hua Jin even saw a one-armed man embroidering a picture of Guan Gong.
"Sister Sun, you're here?" A tall old lady came out from the inner room. She was wearing a dark short-sleeved cheongsam and her hair was neatly combed. She looked like a very particular old lady.
"Sister Zhou, this is the talented young man I told you about." Teacher Sun seemed to be very familiar with this teacher, so he didn't even bother to be polite. "I'll bring her over to meet you."
"What a nice girl." The old lady smiled kindly and asked Hua Jin to sit down. "It just so happens that several old colleagues are here today. Let's sit together and chat."
A young girl brought out a plate of fruit, and the old lady said, "This is my granddaughter. She's still in high school. It's the weekend, so she came to see me."
Hua Jin glanced at the little girl, and the little girl smiled at her. Two dimples appeared on her round apple face, making her look innocent and cute.
Hua Jin sat next to Teacher Sun and chatted with the old lady for a while. She found out that the old lady's surname was Zhou, and her name was Zhou Yun. When she was young, she worked in an embroidery factory. Later, the factory went bankrupt, so she came out to work on her own. Although she didn't earn much over the years, she could still make a living. She also helped several disabled people find a new direction in life.
No wonder there are several disabled people here, so this is the reason. Hua Jin has great respect for Zhou Yun. She is able to stick to her ideals and still think about helping others. Such a person is worthy of admiration.
Hearing Hua Jin say that she mainly learned the needlework of Shu embroidery, Zhou Yun was not disappointed. Instead, she said with emotion: "The development of Shu embroidery in recent years has not been easy. It is rare for young people to calm down and learn embroidery, no matter which needlework they learn."
Several old men and women who were arguing about chess put away their chessboards and came over to watch the young embroidery masters. Especially when Teacher Sun took out the handkerchief that Hua Jin had given her, these old masters kept praising her, wishing they could praise Hua Jin to the utmost.
The enthusiasm of the elders made Hua Jin blush a little. She had only learned embroidery for five or six years. How could she be as good as these predecessors praised her?
"Among us old guys, two are from the Suzhou embroidery school, one is from the Guangdong embroidery school, and the other is from the Hunan embroidery school. Although embroidery is all about needlework, each school has its own differences in needlework and color usage. It's hard to say that I can provide guidance." Zhou Yun carefully looked at Hua Jin's embroidered handkerchief, and first praised Hua Jin again and again, and then said, "I think your stitches are not a big problem, and your strength is also strong. However, your color usage is not as bright as traditional Shu embroidery, but is more in line with the aesthetic taste of young people today. This is actually very good. The future belongs to the young. Only when young people accept the things in our embroidery industry can embroidery continue to be passed down."
Hua Jin blushed a little. Teacher Zhou Yun was right. Her embroidery style did cater to the aesthetic tastes of young people. Compared with these old artists who always stick to their original intentions, she was still a little materialistic.
"It is traditional and fashionable, but it does not lose the original characteristics of Shu embroidery." Zhou Yun praised, "Although you are young, your embroidery has the characteristics of an embroidery master, that is, vitality. The great embroidery masters of all ages have beautiful works with soul. No wonder Sister Sun brought you here specially, it's a pity that you already have a master, otherwise I would have accepted you as my personal disciple."
That afternoon, Hua Jin listened to a lot from these predecessors. They talked about the glory of embroidery in the past, the future of embroidery, and the original intention that embroiderers must not forget.
After leaving Teacher Zhou Yun's house, Teacher Sun saw Hua Jin looked a little dazed, and said with a smile: "Were you scared by their enthusiasm? Please don't blame them, it's just that young embroiderers like you are so rare, they thought that as long as they praised you more and said some nice things to you, you would be more determined and go further on this path."
"They just want the embroidery craft to be passed down for a longer period of time..."
The author has something to say: Pei Yan: Who are “we”? Who are you from the same country with?
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