Yan Xiaonan looked at Fu Qingping and said, "Grandma Fu, thank you for taking my mother as your apprentice. I'll go back and tell my mother, and she'll definitely be very happy."
Watching Yan Xiaonan run off happily, Fu Qingping's face showed a satisfied smile. Apart from Ye Huixian, Cuihua was the most talented embroiderer he had ever met. He had to teach this apprentice well.
He rummaged through his bag and found that he had nothing but a pencil and a few sheets of paper. He breathed a sigh of relief and knew he had to find a way to get some paper so he could at least write down some of his thoughts and give them to Cuihua. Otherwise, living in the cowshed, he wouldn't be able to teach her properly.
When Cuihua learned that Fu Qingping had accepted her as an apprentice, she was very happy. She ran to Grandma Yan's room and asked, "Mom, you know so much. What kind of gift do you think I should give to my master?"
Grandma Yan thought for a moment and said, "In the past, the apprenticeship ceremony was very grand, with all sorts of traditional gifts and rituals. But that's no longer possible. Just get twenty catties of rice, two or three catties of sausage, some rice cakes you made yourself, and a catty of oil. That'll make four."
Yan Xiaonan then took out some blank notebooks and pens: "Mom, Grandma Fu will definitely need to draw pictures or something, so you should bring some for her too."
Cuihua nodded repeatedly. How wonderful her mother and daughter were! Being a daughter-in-law of the Yan family was truly fulfilling.
The next day at noon, while the Li siblings were drying grain in the threshing ground, Cuihua and Yan Xiaonan brought gifts to Fu Qingping's door. Fu Qingping was very happy to accept these gifts for becoming a disciple. Respecting teachers is the primary condition for a teacher to accept students, and Cuihua did a very good job.
Yan Xiaoqiang didn't say anything, but whenever he had free time, he would run to the town and use his limited cloth coupons to buy a lot of scraps of cloth and threads of various colors. He silently supported Cuihua's hobby. His wife had been married to him for so many years, and it was rare for her to have a hobby, so of course he had to support her.
Cuihua felt a sweet warmth in her heart. She couldn't find such a good man anywhere else in the surrounding villages. Now, apart from not hearing from Beinan, everything else was perfect.
Winter has passed and spring has arrived, and the busy farming season has come. However, Yan Xiaoqiang forbids Cuihua from going to the fields. The reason is simple: embroidery hands are always smooth. Otherwise, how could you thread a needle and do embroidery with calluses all over your hands?
Cuihua was unwilling and embroidered on scraps of cloth, never ruining the fabric. Yan Xiaonan supported her father's statement, saying that the current conditions did not allow for it, and the practice cloth used was scraps of cotton or linen.
When conditions are right, the fabric in my hands will become real silk, and the threads will become precious silk threads. There can't be even the slightest burr on my hands, otherwise, if I accidentally scratch even the smallest thing, the whole embroidery will be ruined.
Cuihua thought about it and was still a little reluctant. The busy farming season was so hard. Although both of her sons would come back to help, it would always be good to have one more person.
Yan Xiaonan insisted that Cuihua cook at home, so that when life gets better, her mother wouldn't need to cook anymore, and her mother could take good care of her hands and enjoy tending to the things she likes.
Before they knew it, it was Yan Xiaonan's sixteenth birthday. The old bachelor was released. He had spent over ten years in prison for stealing the grain with Widow Zhang and a few others using sleeping potions. Widow Zhang was in an even worse situation; she had stolen a child and attempted murder, and was likely to spend the rest of her life in prison.
The old bachelor went to jail in his thirties and is now almost fifty. When he came back, he looked haggard, which made people sigh. He not only didn't get to eat a single bite of the stolen grain, but he was also imprisoned for so long. What a bad deal!
The losses didn't stop there. The old bachelor's house had collapsed under the weight of snow long ago because no one had lived there or maintained it for years. When he returned, he faced the prospect of being homeless. Village Chief Ma had another headache. Why were all these problems never going to end?
When villagers face difficulties, the village chief has a responsibility to help them. Fortunately, Widow Zhang's house was quite sturdy and did not collapse. Although it was dilapidated, it could still be lived in after some minor repairs. Village Chief Ma gave the old bachelor some firewood and coarse grains from his own home so that he could get through the next few nights.
The next morning, when the villagers learned that they were to help the old bachelor repair his house, no one was willing, even if they were offered work points. Village Chief Ma had no choice but to hand the task over to the Li and Ye sisters, saying, "Who told you to be bad elements? As for the mother and daughter, aren't they supposed to be in charge of the cowshed?"
The four men, along with the old bachelor, started working, preparing to move the collapsed roof aside and discard all the rotten wood and other materials. Ye Chenming didn't want to work with the others, so he suggested dividing the work into sections, and he and Ye Chen'er started working.
The old bachelor's eyes lit up when he saw Ye Chen'er. He had never seen such a beautiful girl before, and the boy was also good-looking. However, judging from Ye Chenming and Ye Chen'er's cold expressions, he knew that these two were not so easy to deal with.
Then I looked at Li Ping and Li Qiang. Hmm, these two are not bad either. Although that woman is not as pretty as the other woman, she is really not much prettier than the village girls who do farm work all year round.
I'm almost fifty years old, and there are some good things buried under the house. My old man got them from somewhere and has kept them buried there, telling me not to take them out unless absolutely necessary.
If I sell these things and get some money for food and grain, it would be good to get married. I don't need to think about the girls in the village; no family wants to marry their daughters off here, otherwise I wouldn't be an old bachelor.
These people are all bad elements. No one will help them if something happens to them. As for that pretty girl, she's fine. Judging from how she and her brother take care of each other, they must have a good relationship. On the other hand, Li Ping and her older brother are obviously extremely selfish people. They would definitely do anything for a little benefit.
His drooling look caught Li Qiang's eye, and Li Qiang's heart immediately started racing. If he sold Li Ping to this old bachelor—no, he should say married her to this old bachelor and asked for a dowry—wouldn't his life be a little better?
Since being labeled a bad element, life has been incredibly difficult. To spare herself some suffering, she used her meager savings to buy candy and give it to the children to sweeten their mouths. Sure enough, after eating her candy, the children threw mud and stones at Li Ping, thus saving her a lot of trouble.
Li Ping knew her older brother too well and immediately sensed Li Qiang's thoughts. She also began to ponder the matter herself. If the old bachelor could offer her enough benefits, then marrying him would be a way out. At least she could get rid of the label of a bad element and live an upright life.
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