“What do you call this? This is what you call serving yourself right,” Huang said.
After chatting for a while, Zhao Qinshi sensed something was amiss; the Qianci family was unusually quiet.
"Sister-in-law, where have all your family members gone?"
I heard from the kids that your land hasn't been worked on much, and I don't see any of them at home right now. What have they been busy with? Are they all still asleep?
Zhao Qinshi Bagua Dao.
"What kind of talk is that, sister-in-law? Da Bao and Xiao Bao are definitely sleeping."
The girls are not young anymore; some are doing embroidery, some are digging for wild vegetables, and some are gathering firewood.
If you don't hurry up and save more things now, when will you?
You know what it's like in Lingnan Prefecture in winter: it's not only damp, but also freezing cold.
While the weather is nice now, let's prepare so that when winter comes, the kids can warm themselves by the fire pit at home.
"I don't want my kids to get chilblains in the dead of winter; that would be so painful," Mrs. Huang replied.
"That makes sense. Winter here isn't necessarily better than in the north."
I've heard that people in the north burn earthen stoves, adding firewood, and they keep burning them for months on end.
It's unbelievably warm inside. If only we knew how to fix it, we could build one, and then everything wouldn't be damp in the winter.
Zhao Qinshi's reverie.
Upon hearing this, Huang realized that her family knew how to build a kang (a heated brick bed).
After thinking it over for a while, he arranged the work for those little rascals who were still on their way home from the mountain.
"That's right. I heard that thing was dug out from under the house, like a cellar, filled with all sorts of firewood and stuff, and it had to be filled up at once."
"It's called burning earthen stoves, but different types of firewood require different methods of burning. Some can burn for months, while others burn out very quickly. This is a skill that requires instruction; without it, you really can't do it."
“Sister-in-law is right. That’s why they say every profession is like a mountain to climb, and every profession can produce an expert,” said Zhao Qinshi.
Huang chuckled to himself, thinking, "You've managed to turn a simple earthworm into a top scholar; you've really gone too far with your claims."
Huang was being kept chatting, so she couldn't very well send them away.
The three sisters-in-law had no choice but to take the remaining chili peppers to Zhao Qingyan's room to cut them.
The three women, an aunt and her sister-in-law, were chatting and working happily when there was a knock on the door.
The girl who came was from the clan, named Zhao Shuilian.
She walked with a graceful and elegant gait, wearing a light blue dress that was about 70% new, with a basket slung over her arm.
"Sister-in-law, is Qingyi home? I haven't seen her in a long time. I've come to find her to do needlework together."
His voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, as if he was afraid of startling someone.
Liu Xiaohua has been married into the Zhao family for a long time, and her personality has become like theirs; she's developed a loud voice long ago.
Hearing Zhao Shuilian's soft, delicate voice, I immediately felt short of breath.
But there's no way to tell people to speak politely, so I can only patiently say...
"Qingyi isn't home. She went up the mountain with her sisters. I don't know when she'll be back. If you want to do needlework with her, let's do it another day."
When Zhao Shuilian heard that Zhao Qingyi was not home, she looked disappointed.
"So Qingyi isn't home. I was planning to embroider my new flower pattern with her."
"I got these flower patterns from the county."
After saying that, she revealed an expression that was three parts shy and seven parts smug.
"Wow, is he here to show off?" Liu Xiaohua thought to herself.
"Oh, congratulations! Now that you've got a good design, hurry home and start embroidering."
My Qingyi isn't home. Look, I'm busy working right now.
I don't have much time to chat with you, so I won't invite you in. Please don't take offense if I've been rude.
After seeing the people off and closing the gate, he went back to Zhao Qingyan's room to continue working.
"Who came, and why did they talk about all this time?" Zhang Cuicui asked.
"Zhao Shuilian said she came to see her younger sister."
I received the flower patterns from the county and I'm going to embroider them with my older sister.
Just listening to her talk doesn't seem like much, but don't be fooled by her expression. She's not really looking for our younger sister to embroider with; I think she's more here to show off.
It seemed like it wasn't something from the county town, but a gift from the imperial palace in Beijing. It gave me goosebumps.
Liu Xiaohua had a very bad impression of Zhao Shuilian.
"Hehe, that girl is just like that. Many of the older women in our village praise her for being gentle and virtuous."
"No matter how I put it, I can't stand that kind of energy." Zhang Cuicui said, rubbing her arms as she spoke.
"Haha, you two are really funny."
"So what if her voice is a little gentler? So what if she's more popular? What's wrong with that?"
Zhao Qingyan spoke in that incredibly sweet voice, and almost vomited after she finished.
Her two sisters-in-law looked at her with mixed feelings, "Third sister, please, please don't do this again."
Seeing that her two sisters-in-law were having such a hard time accepting it, Zhao Qingyan stopped joking.
"When my older sister and the others come back, I need to tell her that it's best to stay away from that 'lotus' person. There's a type of person called a 'white lotus'."
They're the kind of people who seem harmless, all innocent and kind, but behind your back they can be incredibly ruthless and unscrupulous. So, these kinds of people shouldn't be underestimated.
Zhao Qingyan said seriously.
After listening, Liu Xiaohua thought about it for a moment.
"Could I be seeing things? What if I am? Wouldn't I lose a close friend?"
Zhao Qingyan glanced at Liu Xiaohua, making sure her eyes were full of sincerity, and then smiled and said,
"Sister-in-law, you're overthinking it. Although I rarely see that Lotus, I don't particularly like that kind of personality."
Putting everything else aside, just take speaking as an example, everyone in our family has a loud voice.
Having a soft-spoken person around could easily lead to misunderstandings and accusations of bullying, which would be quite unpleasant.
To avoid misunderstandings, it's best to be careful.
I'll tell my older sister later, and that my sister-in-law should keep quiet.
After all, it's not really appropriate for a sister-in-law to control her sister-in-law's friendships, but it makes communication between sisters much easier.
Zhao Shuilian's incident was just a minor episode; the three sisters-in-law finished off all the remaining chili peppers in one morning.
The rest is seedling cultivation, which has to be left to the men.
Huang was forced to work and chatted with Zhao Qinshi for the entire morning.
To make the most of the time, she took out a needle and thread and actually sewed a new set of clothes for the old man.
The results can be described as remarkable.
"Sister-in-law's craftsmanship is still so good. Look at these stitches, you can't even see them unless you look closely," Zhao Qinshi praised.
Mrs. Huang was very proud.
"Yes, my cooking skills are truly a direct inheritance from my mother."
When I was a child, I couldn't control my strength.
At first, my mother asked me to pick beans.
Mung beans, soybeans, red beans, black beans—anything we had at home was mixed together.
I had to use both hands; it took me a whole month just to pick the beans.
Then they taught me cat's cradle, which I really enjoy playing.
At first, they used hemp rope, then the thread became thinner and thinner, and finally they used embroidery thread to make me caterpillar rope.
Only after seeing that I stopped breaking things did they start teaching me how to sew with a needle and thread.
Don't laugh, but I've broken at least three hundred, if not five hundred, needles.
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