Seeing that Hua Jin did not accept the red envelope, the person on the other side became unhappy.
Winter is not too cold: Teacher, please accept it. It is just my gift to you.
What else can Hua Jin do? Of course, she can only satisfy the other party's wish. She likes the style of customers who are not stingy even if they have money. In the years of learning embroidery from Aunt Gao, she has met all kinds of customers. Some even cursed because of the high price, saying that it was just a few pieces of rags and a few threads, but the price was so high, and they were really crazy about money.
Being willing to give money does not mean that you respect her profession, but if you don't want to spend a penny and even accuse her of being a scammer, that definitely means you have no respect for her.
As the times change, the needlework of embroidery may not change much, but the aesthetic style will change. Aunt Gao said that Shu embroidery has been changing with the preferences of the people for so many years. The patterns that were popular in the past may not be popular now, and the patterns that are most popular now may not be considered elegant decades ago.
Hua Jinxue's needlework techniques were mostly improved over generations, and she really didn't know enough about the formations and embroidery styles from seventy or eighty years ago.
The next morning, she got up and prepared to go to Aunt Gao's house. When she went downstairs, she ran into Old Mrs. Chen who was coming back from buying groceries.
"Xiaohua." When Old Mrs. Chen saw Hua Jin, she stretched out her hand and waved at her.
Hua Jin looked at the old lady's face, which was full of an expression that said "I have gossip here, you must come and listen", sighed secretly, and walked up to Old Lady Chen.
"Yesterday...did the girl next door introduce you to a man?" Old Lady Chen said mysteriously, "Don't listen to her nonsense. Those relatives on her mother's side, how can they be successful? If they were really successful, would they let her live here? Otherwise, let me introduce you to a guy from my side. Not only does his family have several houses, but he's also an honest man. Isn't he more reliable than the boy she introduced me to?"
Hua Jin: “…”
She only knew that Old Lady Chen and Sister Qin had a bad relationship, but she didn't expect that they were secretly competing with each other in this regard.
"Grandma Chen, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first." If she stayed any longer, the old lady could chat with her for an hour.
"Hey..." Old Mrs. Chen didn't expect Hua Jin to be so anxious. Seeing that she was walking too fast, she tiptoed to look at her back, "Your knees are not good, and you are running so fast..."
When Hua Jin arrived at the home of Aunt Gao, who taught her embroidery, Gao Shulan was watering the flowers on the balcony and Uncle Tan was reading a book with his glasses on. The two elders were very happy to see her and asked her to sit down.
The two old people have only one daughter, Tan Yuan. Hua Jin has been living with them for many years, so she is like half a daughter to them.
"Next time you come here to buy something, I won't let you in." Gao Shulan scolded Hua Jin for spending money recklessly while placing fruits and snacks in front of Hua Jin. "I heard from Yuanyuan that you spent a lot of effort to make a dragon and phoenix quilt some time ago?"
"Yeah." Hua Jin nodded slightly, a little embarrassed to look at her. Aunt Gao always emphasized that the real art of embroidery is to strive for perfection. She spent less than a month to make the dragon and phoenix quilt, which can't really be called perfection.
"I know everything that happened. You did a great job on this matter." Gao Shulan did not blame her. Instead, she was very pleased. "Art and life are not in conflict. I am very happy that you can find the right balance in this matter."
Hua Jin looked up and saw Gao Shulan smiling at her. She smiled helplessly and said, "Under the circumstances at the time, there was really no other way except to rush to make it overnight."
Gao Shulan has always regretted not meeting Hua Jin, a good apprentice, earlier. She believes that Hua Jin's talent in embroidery will far exceed hers. Although they have been master and apprentice for these years, she does not like Hua Jin to call her teacher respectfully. She and Hua Jin are not only master and apprentice, but also relatives and friends. Her husband does not understand her ideas and persistence in embroidery thoroughly, and her daughter is not talented enough. Only Hua Jin has completely inherited her ideas and can adapt to the current environment better than she does.
"Being kind and not pedantic is a virtue." Gao Shulan glanced at her husband when she said this. Tan Qing knew that he was being disliked again, so he pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and got up to go to the kitchen to cook.
Xiaohua came over and asked, "Are the things the old woman made presentable?"
Hua Jin chatted with Gao Shulan about some trivial matters, and then mentioned the panda embroidery style from seventy years ago.
"Panda embroidery is one of the representatives of our Shu embroidery. Although it has changed over the years, the needlework is not much different." Gao Shulan got up and went to the study to find a photo album. "It contains photos of exquisite Shu embroidery over the years. The earliest works were created in the 1920s. It's a pity that the photos back then were in black and white, which cannot highlight the characteristics of our Shu embroidery."
Hua Jin took the old but clean photo album, flipped through it carefully, and found two panda embroidery pictures in it. The style was indeed different from the style that young people like today.
The panda in the photo looks somewhat mighty despite its roundness, but in order to cater to current preferences, some panda embroidery designs feature more naive pandas, a typical example of "being able to survive by being strong but choosing to live by being cute".
But the nurse who sacrificed her life for the country did not embroider the handkerchief for herself, but for her daughter who was only a few years old. When she was embroidering the panda, would she have made it more in line with the aesthetic taste of a child?
Hua Jin was undecided and contacted "Winter Not Too Cold" again. After finding out about his grandmother's ancestral home, he began to look up information about local customs and culture.
Different counties and cities have different customs and habits, not to mention a place as big as Shucheng, which also has different hobbies and taboos.
After looking up information for a few days, Hua Jin still couldn't place the needle accurately. Later, Gao Shulan couldn't stand it anymore and called her back home, advising her: "It's useless to just read information. Why don't you go to the local area and ask the local elders for advice? Maybe you will gain more."
Seeing that Hua Jin didn't say anything, Gao Shulan handed Hua Jin an address: "This embroiderer is best at panda embroidery. I had some friendship with her in the past. Her ancestral home happens to be in this city. If you want to go there to learn more about the situation, you can go and visit her."
After receiving the address, Hua Jin bit her lip and said, "Aunt Gao, I..."
After escaping from the village at the age of seventeen, she has not been to Shucheng for nearly eight years. Although she knows in her heart that her hometown is just a remote mountain village in Shucheng, as long as she hears the familiar local accent, she can recall the dark memories of the past.
"Xiao Jin." Gao Shulan gently touched her head. "You should look forward. You will become one of the best Shu embroidery masters in the future. Only by breaking through the bottleneck can you make progress. I think you know that your embroidery skills have stagnated in the past year."
Hua Jin crumpled the paper with the address on it. She took a few deep breaths and looked up at Gao Shulan's gentle eyes full of encouragement: "Aunt Gao, I understand."
"But don't force yourself." Gao Shulan smiled, "Life is only a few decades long, and the most important thing is to live happily."
Hua Jin forced a smile: "You are right."
The most important thing in life is to be happy. Only by breaking through the bottleneck can we make progress.
A few days later, Dong Tian Bu Liang, who had been following Hua Jin's Weibo, discovered that the blogger named "Fan Hua" finally updated her Weibo. This time, the photos she posted were not of embroidery, but of majestic green mountains and the beautiful Shucheng International Airport.
Fanhua: Eight years later, I returned and I am still a beautiful girl.
Shucheng International Airport is located in the provincial capital city of Furong. Hua Jin stood at the busy airport gate and was instantly surrounded by the vibrant crowd.
After queuing up to get in a taxi, the taxi driver, who was a very straightforward man, told her not to eat in flashy restaurants, as they were not only expensive but also tasted average and were not places where locals would go.
Listening to the familiar Sichuan accent and looking at the tall buildings outside the car window, Hua Jin recalled how she had imagined what Furong City would look like when she was a child. However, the real Furong City was much more prosperous than she had imagined.
"Are you here for a trip?" Seeing that Hua Jin was interested in the scenery of Furong City, the driver introduced her to several places. "But since you are a girl alone outside, you should choose a good hotel. It's safe."
Hua Jin smiled and thanked her.
The driver dropped her off at the hotel entrance, helped her carry her suitcase up the steps, and left happily. It should be said that the uncle was smiling all the way from beginning to end.
Walking into the hotel, Hua Jin handed her ID card to the front desk.
"Are you... Hua Jin?" A young man who was also going through the housing procedures stared at her for a long time, "Are you Hua Jin?"
Hua Jin turned her head and looked at him calmly: "Sorry, you got the wrong person."
"I'm sorry." The young man looked a little embarrassed. "You look a bit like my high school classmate, so..."
"It's okay." Hua Jin took the room card from the front desk staff and smiled. "I have a common face, so it's normal to be mistaken for someone else."
The young man laughed. It was really unconvincing for such a beautiful girl to say that she had an ordinary face. But when he thought of the girl in his class who had excellent grades but inexplicably did not take the college entrance examination, he felt a little depressed.
In their small place, the college entrance examination is the only way out for many girls. His classmate had such good grades that even the teacher said that she would definitely be admitted to a prestigious university, but she did not come to participate in the college entrance examination. Later, there were rumors that Hua Jin's family did not want her to go to college, so they did not allow her to take the exam. Later, there were rumors that Hua Jin was going to get married, and the man she was marrying was very rich.
He didn't know whether the rumor was true or not, because no one had seen her since then.
Looking at the young woman who was already dragging her suitcase towards the elevator, the young man shook his head secretly.
Hua Jin is rather dark and thin, not as pretty as this lady.
The author has something to say: Hua Jin: I have an ordinary face, an ordinary face, sorry to embarrass me.
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