Lin Lishan looked at him disappointedly and said, "I thought I had finally found Jiaojiao's hobbies. This child doesn't seem to have any special hobbies except books. She always saves things when you give them to her. Don't waste them."
Zhao Yuanyuan was so anxious after hearing this that she shouted, "Auntie, I know. I know what Jiaojiao likes. She likes whatever pretty things you buy her. Let me tell you, I've been paying attention to her. Just talking about clothes. She hates floral jackets. She gets angry if you give her bright red or green ones. She can accept white, black, or small florals without bright red or green. If you want her to wear red, you should also wear red all over, without any bright colors."
By the way, she said she wanted something more elegant. She would rather die of cold in the middle of winter than wear my flowery cotton jacket. Every time she saw a classmate showing off in a bright red flowery dress, she would sneak away.
Lin Lishan laughed heartily. "Yes, I knew that about her a long time ago. She asked me to buy a black or brown coat, saying that it would look stylish with a bright red or light yellow sweater underneath. She's quite picky. Yuanyuan, Jiaojiao asked for a plaid shirt, a men's one for her own wear. Do you want one? It would look great on you."
"Yes, yes. Where can I buy the cloth? Oh, I have to go find Jiaojiao as soon as possible. The flowery dress she asked me to make last year was so beautiful that several classmates used it as a model."
Lin Lishan asked curiously, "Doesn't she dislike floral fabrics? Will she let you wear them?"
Zhao Yuanyuan looked at her mother anxiously, "Mom, tell me, that's not floral cloth. No, it really is floral cloth. Oh, I don't even know how to explain it."
Cheng Hongli patted her and said to Lin Lishan, trying not to laugh, "That really is a red floral cloth. Jiaojiao cut the red flower at the top of the cloth and pieced it together to make matching red flowers on the front and back. She also cut both sides of the waist completely bright red without any patterns. When you wear it, only the front and back pieces have the red flowers, and the rest are all red. It looks pretty, not tacky at all. It feels like a bright red skirt with red flowers for decoration."
After watching her demonstration, Lin Lishan nodded, understanding what she was doing. "It's really pretty, to be honest. She learned a lot of unique skills from her grandmother."
Mrs. Zhou listened with amusement. At the end, she nodded and said, "Well, she can't do anything except medicine. But she has learned embroidery very well. She embroiders bamboo very well, and she can sell it. Tailoring and making clothes are simple, and she can do it very quickly. It's just that she doesn't have the opportunity to practice it normally. Otherwise, the masters in the city can't compare with her.
She loved making cheongsams, saying that was the real way to make clothes. But she never had good material and was too lazy to make them, as it was labor-intensive and inconvenient. She usually stayed with me in my room, embroidering small pieces. A five-year-old girl would sit there quietly with me all afternoon. As she grew older, she stopped, fearing her family would ask her to embroider clothes. She didn't like rough work and preferred to strive for refinement, depending on her mood. She liked to keep her learning secret, so when she embroidered an orchid, no one at home knew. "All I know is embroidery and a few inherited medical techniques, all of which she had mastered before she was eight."
"Wow, I didn't know she was so talented and could embroider. She didn't even tell me. How mean of her! And what about Grandma Zhou? Where are the things she used to embroider? Is she still there?"
Zhao Yuanyuan's eyes gleamed with green as she secretly wanted to go to Zhou Jiao as soon as possible to ask for a few small items. She had envied Zhou Jiao's pencil case for a long time, but she thought she had bought it and didn't dare to ask.
Old Mrs. Zhou was lost in reminiscence and didn't hear anything. She continued to murmur, "My Jiaojiao, she's really like me. She does everything like me. When she was three years old and had a fever, she would lie on the kang and recite a book. Her big eyes were shining, just staring at you. She didn't act coquettishly even when she drank bitter herbs. She would just take a sip of bitter medicine and recite a Thousand Character Classic. She would also proudly give herself a thumbs-up and chatter non-stop."
Later, as she grew up, I don't know when it started, but she stopped talking and preferred to run to the small room in the ancestral hall. She smiled at everyone she met. If she didn't want to talk, she'd just smile. If she was angry, she'd just smile and walk away. Alas, this child has grown up like this. She no longer tells her grandmother what's really going on, keeping everything to herself. Even when asked, she won't say anything, just smiles. Yes, I can't protect her, so why would she say anything? What's the point of saying it..."
Zhang Guoqing, drinking wine with them, kept an eye on this side. Over there, Zhou Xiaozheng and Zhao Dashan were drinking baijiu, reminiscing about their fallen comrades, oblivious to the old woman's dwindling voice. If it weren't for his exceptional hearing, he would have missed it. He glanced at the old woman in surprise and motioned for everyone to leave her alone, eat their food, and talk later.
Cheng Hongli quickly pulled Yuanyuan's hand, signaling her to stop talking and eat. Her old lady was like this too. She'd lose herself in memories whenever she thought of something, and then she'd just come to her senses. It was like this with age. Who knew what she'd recall when she got older? Would she be like the old lady?
Lin Lishan placed some food on Zhao Yuanyuan's bowl, smiled, and gestured to Zhao Hongbing and Xiaowu to help themselves. She glanced at her mother-in-law with concern and looked at Zhou Xiaozheng with some bewilderment. She noticed that he was happily chatting with Zhao Dashan and hadn't noticed anything unusual here.
Finally, he looked at Zhang Guoqing and saw him shaking his head gently at him, which made him feel relieved.
After a while, even the careless Zhao Dashan turned around and looked at the women in surprise. He looked at his wife Cheng Hongli, only to find that his wife was winking at him.
He saw the old lady was distracted and nodded in understanding. He glanced at Zhou Xiaozheng and found that his brother Zheng was also distracted like the old lady. Why do people in the Zhou family always tend to be distracted?
Should he remind the old lady to eat her food or not? He didn't know what had happened just now, and it was so quiet. He was so embarrassed.
Zhou Xiaozheng noticed Zhao Dashan looking at him pitifully. He said with a smile, "Stop looking at me and drink. Where did you get this liquor? It's really good, not worse than the special supply."
Zhao Dashan breathed a sigh of relief. Hearing him talk about wine, he became interested. "Brother Zheng, is this wine okay? I bought it from my hometown. You know my hometown is even more remote than this. No one in the village comes out to buy wine. We all brew it ourselves."
"There's been very little winemaking these days because of food shortages. This wine was sold by a family who needed money to marry a daughter-in-law. My mother heard about it and bought two large jars of it and sent them to me. They were brewed in the old days and hidden in the backyard. This wine was brewed before the fall of the Qing Dynasty. What do you think? This is also an antique, right? Haha, I still have dozens of pounds at home. You can take them all back when you go back."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaozheng was surprised and took another sip of the wine. After savoring it carefully, he said, "I've had 50-year-old cellared wines. They leave a lingering fragrance on my lips and teeth. If the wine is brewed by a master, it must be very expensive."
"It's all home-brewed. Where did the expert come from? This wine can't be expensive. If it were expensive, my mother wouldn't be willing to buy two full jars and send them over."
I didn't ask, and she didn't say anything. We've been drinking this for over two years now. Xiaowu said it tastes like 30-year-old wine, and I think it's fine. Oh, I forgot. Zuo Lin said he'd treat us to dinner and asked when I'd be free. He's got a 50-year-old Kaoliang Shao that's still unopened, waiting for us to come. Haha, what do you think? Let's go try it sometime.
Zhou Xiaozheng saw him grinning evilly - he was thinking about it, "When we come down from the mountain, we will bring game to your house and ask for wine directly. We will definitely get some this time. When we are free, we can go out and ask around. There must be some in the old cellar, but we can't ask anyone." Zhou Xiaozheng didn't know at this moment that he would not be able to participate in tomorrow's hunting.
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