It is Friday.
In the second class in the morning, the chubby female teacher was in high spirits. She danced with joy when she was excited. Qiuhua also listened with enthusiasm.
"Do you understand..."
She yelled at the top of her lungs, but the tone suddenly changed at the end, leaving only an inexplicable whimper.
Everyone raised their heads to look at her. The female teacher's book fell to the side. The black of her eyes was gone, only the whites were visible. She was motionless as if possessed by an evil spirit. Zhou Hehua, who was closest to her, screamed in fright and jumped up from her seat and moved aside. Everyone didn't know what was going on and stood there in a daze.
It was Zhao Meiying who reacted quickly. She came to her senses immediately and called the principal. When the principal came over, the female teacher had already started to spit out a little white foam from the corners of her mouth, and she fell backwards. The classmates around her hurriedly helped her, some supported her back, and some pulled her clothes, and finally prevented her head from hitting the ground.
Because of this incident, they were dismissed from school before noon.
This gave her a good half day off, perfect for embroidery. Qiuhua had already set up the embroidery frame last night, but she hadn't started yet. She covered it with a piece of clean old cloth.
When we got home, no one was home. Mom had already started carrying Chunhua to work in the production team. Qiuhua was reluctant, worried she'd tire herself out, but Mom insisted she go, and no one could stop her. But then she thought it might be more interesting to join the other aunts and sisters in the production team to build a cucumber shed. She just hoped she could do as much as she could and not tire herself out by trying too hard.
The chickens and ducklings in the fence were looking around leisurely, and pecking at the mud and grass on the ground with their beaks. Qiuhua put a handful of grass in and poured some water into the stone trough. The ducklings buried their beaks in the water and kept pecking at it.
There was no water in the water bottle, so Qiuhua filled the pot with cold water, lit some rice straw and stuffed it into the stove. She then used tongs to put in some thin dry branches, and finally put in some thicker firewood. Slowly, the fire became more and more prosperous. She took a sweet potato and put it in the ashes. This was today's lunch.
After the fire was lit, Qiuhua could sit back in front of the embroidery frame and start her work.
A new embroidery, a new beginning. Qiuhua was a little excited. She opened the pattern and looked at it carefully for a while, determining the colors of the silk threads in each place. The mandarin ducks were difficult to embroider, so she planned to embroider the water waves under the mandarin ducks first.
The water waves are made with green thread. It is relatively simple to embroider. The stitches should not be too long. The next stitch should be inserted from halfway between the previous stitch. One stitch after another, the thin water waves will take shape.
After she had been embroidering for a while, Zhao Meiying came with several bundles of silk threads in her hands, in red, green, yellow and all kinds of colors.
"Last time, Master Qian came to our house to collect embroidery and said you were also embroidering. Here are some extra threads I have, and I'm giving them all to you." Zhao Meiying sat down opposite the embroidery frame and leaned over to look carefully at the patterns on it.
"Your craftsmanship is amazing. You can even embroider mandarin ducks."
"Oh, I can't embroider. I agreed so readily at the time, but now it's bad enough." Qiuhua was really distressed, not at all fake. She looked at the silk thread Meiying brought and asked, "Your mother-in-law doesn't do embroidery anymore?"
Meiying shook her head and said, "I don't want to do it anymore. She's already 75 years old and her eyesight is not good. She asked me to learn, but I don't want to. I want to be a teacher in the future, not an embroidery artist. So I'll give all this to you."
Qiuhua did not refuse. Firstly, she really needed the silk thread. Secondly, she and Zhao Meiying had a good relationship, so there was no need to be polite. It would be better to thank her properly after the embroidery was sold.
Zhao Meiying was also busy, threading the needle for her. As soon as one thread was finished, Qiuhua would pick up the next one and Meiying would continue. The two of them worked together very well, Qiuhua's embroidery speed increased significantly, and while she was threading the needle, they could also chat.
Qiuhua embroidered red crowns on the two mandarin ducks. Zhao Meiying looked at them again and again and admired her from the bottom of her heart.
"I never thought you had such deft hands. You're truly a natural at embroidery. I've been watching my good wife embroider for years, but I can't seem to pick it up at all. You could really specialize in this in the future. Maybe you could become a master embroiderer!"
Qiuhua was also happy to hear this and laughed out loud.
"I know my own limitations. If I really want to do this, this level of skill won't be enough. I need to find a master to learn from."
"I still envy you and Zhou Hehua. You two have it all clear in your heads, but I'm still confused!"
"What's there to envy?" Zhao Meiying looked outside and found the group of furry little guys.
"You have a skill now, which makes you different. Isn't it said that a skilled craftsman will never starve to death?"
She stood up and walked to the fence, looking at the chickens and ducklings curiously, and asked, "What do you raise at home? They're really interesting."
Qiuhua didn't even raise her head, just focused on working.
"I sold a piece of embroidery a few days ago, so I bought four of them. I thought they would grow up and lay eggs that I could sell and eat myself."
Zhao Meiying looked envious. She had always wanted to raise some chickens and ducks, but her family didn't allow her to, saying there was no one to take care of them.
Qiuhua put down her needle and carefully selected dark green, light green, tender green, bright yellow, khaki, brown, bright red, and pale red thread. She kept tracing the pattern, studying how to make it look better. The direction of the lines on the mandarin duck's head, neck, body, wings, and tail should all be different.
Qiuhua only knew how to embroider with flat stitch, but after careful study, she found that this method alone was not enough to embroider the two mandarin ducks well.
Especially the cluster of bright red feathers on the mandarin duck's neck. If it is embroidered with flat stitch, it will only look dull and lifeless.
Now she was in a dilemma, as she wanted to embroider better within the limited time.
"Why don't you embroider anymore?" Zhao Meiying went back into the house and sat down.
"Oh, I can't embroider it well with the flat stitch, but I don't know how to do anything else."
Zhao Meiying thought for a moment and asked, "Does your mother know any other needlework? Ask her to teach you."
Qiuhua shook her head. Yes, if that were the case, she would have thought of it long ago. Would there be any need for her to sigh here?
"How about I ask my good mother-in-law to teach you? I feel like she knows a lot of needlework. I've seen her embroider mandarin ducks before. My good mother-in-law's skills are very good."
This was exactly what she had been asking for. Qiuhua was so happy that she almost knocked over the embroidery frame. The two of them used their four hands to hold it back in a panic.
"Okay, okay, it would be great if my good mother-in-law is willing to teach me!"
"Then I'll go call her right away!" Zhao Meiying was a quick-tempered little mermaid, and she was about to stand up as she spoke.
"No, no, no, my dear mother-in-law is so old, I'd better go to your house."
"That won't work. How can I teach you without embroidery skills?"
Zhao Meiying was right. To learn needlework, one must embroider while being taught. That way, one can learn quickly and effectively. Talking without practice is useless. Qiuhua thought carefully and without hesitation, dismantled the frame, took down the entire piece of embroidery, and folded it.
"Come on, I'll go to your house and learn the craft from Haopo!"
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