At night, Qiuhua lit a kerosene lamp and embroidered.
Her father told her to go to bed early, and she agreed and continued to embroider.
She couldn't sleep without embroidery because her second brother hadn't come home yet and she was worried. In the morning, she told her mother that her second brother had grown up and would go to work and help with the family work, but within a day, his true colors were revealed. He didn't come home so late and no one knew where he had been.
Qiuhua rubbed her eyes. The kerosene lamp was a little dim after all, and it would make her tired after a long time, so she closed her eyes and rested for a while.
After half a day's work and the evening's effort, this stretch will be finished soon. There is still one dark thread of the peony petal that has not been put in. It is estimated that it will be completed in half an hour.
"Bang bang bang" There was a knock on the door, and Qiuhua's heart skipped a beat with fright.
"Open the door! Open the door!"
It was Erhua's voice. Qiuhua stood up angrily and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, a smell of alcohol hit her face.
"Be quiet! Everyone is asleep, but you are still hanging around outside under the moonlight!" Qiuhua scolded Erhua in a bad mood. He was really a worry.
Erhua felt guilty and said nothing. He glanced at Qiuhua who was still working the night shift and sat next to her with a guilty conscience.
"Girl, let me help you thread the needle!"
Qiuhua didn't say anything. Erhua took the thread, put it in his mouth, and threaded it through the eye of the needle. Finally, he tied a knot at the end of the thread.
"Don't do it after you finish this line. It's dark and hurts your eyes."
"Don't do it? What if I don't do it? The team still owes me work points, and even eating will be a problem!"
Qiuhua's words were full of resentment, but his hands were still moving without any slackness.
After Erhua finished threading the second needle, he rubbed his head and said, "I know you blame me, but I'm not just hanging around out here. What kind of money can I make by working in the team every day? If I'm going to make money, I'll make more!"
"You're not doing your job!"
"Nonsense! How can I say I'm not doing my job? I'm doing my job!"
Qiuhua was so angry she was speechless. She stopped what she was doing and looked up at her second brother angrily. This ignorant second brother! When will he share some of the burden of the family? This second brother who always dreamed of a grand life!
Erhua saw Qiuhua's red eyes and looked like she was about to cry, so he quickly gave in.
"Okay, okay, brother, I was wrong. I was really wrong."
"You are so wrong. Then you will start working in the team tomorrow!"
"this……"
Still unwilling! Qiuhua was furious. She raised one foot and passed it under the embroidery frame, kicking Erhua's calf hard. Erhua was kicked by his own sister, and he was furious.
"What are you doing! I'm your brother, and you're doing this for such a small thing? I told you I'll make money, lots of money!"
"We'll all starve to death when you make a fortune!"
Qiu Hua was completely fed up. He was a complete scoundrel, a scoundrel who wouldn't listen to anyone. He was stubborn and unyielding! He was lazy and greedy! He was a scoundrel!
She ran through all the bad words she could think of, but she still felt uncomfortable after going through them. She looked up and glared at him fiercely. Erhua was also very upset to see how vicious she was to him. He turned his face away in anger and got up to go to bed.
"My younger sister was almost suffocated to death by my mom today."
"What?"
Erhua was startled, and his raised butt dropped heavily again, "Why?!"
Qiuhua touched the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand. She could cry, but she must not dirty the embroidery. She couldn't afford the compensation.
"It's because my family is poor and we can't afford to support her. We can't even afford to eat on weekdays, let alone buy another pair of chopsticks! Why do you think I'm still embroidering in the middle of the night?"
"There are so many people in our family, why can't we have a good meal? Why do you think so?"
Erhua remained silent, not because he recognized his own problem, but because Qiuhua's words had shocked him. He had never imagined that his loving mother would suffocate his younger sister. He knew his family was poor and sometimes barely made ends meet, but he had never imagined it would come to this. His mind suddenly cleared up.
"Now that Mom has given birth to my little sister, she needs to recover and take care of her. The only ones who can go to work are Dad and my eldest brother. They have to support our entire family. You're in your twenties, can't you just go to work? Don't you have hands and feet?"
Qiuhua complained about her dissatisfaction with Erhua, and simply pushed the embroidery frame aside and looked at him.
Although Erhua didn't like going to work in the team and disliked the hard work and low pay, he really cared about his family. Listening to what Qiuhua said, seeing her angry and crying, and thinking of his younger sister who was almost suffocated, he felt suffocated. He wanted to make a lot of money so that his family could live a good life, but he didn't expect that his family had suffered so much at this moment.
"Don't cry, don't cry."
Qiuhua didn't want to listen to his useless comfort.
"I'll go to work tomorrow. I'll go cut grass for the pigs first in the morning, and then go to work, okay?"
"Really?" Qiuhua stopped crying and asked in disbelief.
"real!"
"You promise?"
"I promise! Really, don't worry!"
Qiuhua wiped away her tears, pulled the embroidery frame to her side, bent down, and flexibly moved the needle and thread up and down on the embroidery surface.
"Brother, go to sleep first. Get up early tomorrow to cut the grass."
Erhua originally wanted to accompany Qiuhua and help her thread the needle so that they could finish the work quickly, but his eyelids kept fighting each other due to the alcohol, and his head was getting heavier and heavier in his daze. After Qiuhua's concern, he thought it made sense and decided to go to bed early.
After Erhua returned to her room, Qiuhua also felt sleepy. The peony petals had a light pink base, with a slightly darker pink inlay, and finally the base of the petals were inlaid with dark red silk thread. The needlework went from the outside to the inside, with the lines converging towards the center of the flower. Every stitch had to be correct, otherwise the embroidery of the flower would fail.
Such delicate work does not allow for any sleepiness or inattention. Qiuhua quickly stood up and wiped her face with cold water. She shuddered suddenly and a little cold water went into her nose, and the sour taste rushed straight to her forehead.
Finally, the stretch was completed. Qiuhua removed the stretch thread, pulled out the two latches on the side of the embroidery frame, slowly rolled up one stretch shaft to roll in the finished part, and then turned the other stretch shaft to gradually withdraw a new unfinished pattern from the stretch.
This is the last part of the embroidery. Qiuhua estimated that if she worked hard, it would take about 10 days. If she went to school and did housework, it would probably take 20 days.
Qiuhua thought it would be over soon, and her mood became better again, as if she could already see chickens and ducklings running around at home!
Perhaps she was very tired from what she experienced during the day. As soon as Qiuhua touched the pillow, she fell asleep. After a while, everything around her became quiet and everyone fell asleep.
Qiuhua began her beautiful dream again.
What will tomorrow be like? Can Erhua fulfill his promise?
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