Ah Chou didn't want to agree at first, but when Grandma Chen called her "girl" so tenderly, she had no reason to refuse. She took the needle and thread from Grandma Chen and began to embroider seriously.
"The girl's embroidery is really good, the stitches are so dense. It looks beautiful too," Grandma Chen watched from the side. She kept praising Ah Chou. She turned to Chen Qingxuan and said, "Qingxuan, come and take a look. The flowers embroidered by this girl are more beautiful than the flowers on the clothes of our prefect's wife. After all, she is from the capital. It's different, Qingxuan, don't you think?"
Chen Qingxuan came over to watch. Ah Chou's hands moved up and down, back and forth. After a while, a thin bamboo leaf took shape. Chen Qingxuan couldn't help but say, "It's beautiful."
"Girl. Who did you learn this skill from?" Grandma Chen couldn't help asking as she looked at the bamboo leaf.
"I learned it from... from the elders at home." said Achou.
In fact, Ah Chou learned the craft from Nanny Xiang, but she didn't want to say more about it.
"Girl, with such a skill, you will never have to worry about food and drink in your life. Not to mention other places. Just in our Wangjiatun, when girls get married in the future, won't they all be eager to find you to embroider for them?" Grandma Chen turned the embroidery piece over and over again, and the more she looked at it, the more satisfied she became. She immediately took Ah Chou's hand and said warmly, "Girl, if you agree, I will take over any suitable work for you in the future. You can make a lot of money with your skill."
"Really?" Ah Chou was so happy that he stood up and bowed to Grandma Chen, saying, "Then I'll be grateful for your help, Grandma."
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it for you." Grandma Chen patted Achou's shoulder with a smile.
After wasting some time on embroidery, Ah Chou did not dare to stay too long, as she was worried about Zhong Mingwei being alone at home. She immediately divided half of the fungus with Chen Qingxuan, and then hurriedly said goodbye to Grandma Chen.
Chen Qingxuan sent Achou out of the fenced yard. He looked at Achou's smiling face, but he himself could not smile at all.
"Mr. Chen, please stay. I can walk by myself." After leaving the courtyard, Ah Chou said goodbye to Chen Qingxuan.
"You...is your family in need of money?" After holding it in for a long time, Chen Qingxuan couldn't help asking. He looked Ah Chou up and down, "Who else is there in your family? Why do you have to let a girl like you go out to find work?"
In Chen Qingxuan's opinion, Achou looked no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, but such a half-grown girl was always busy and hard-working every time he saw her. In the Zhou Dynasty, there was no tradition of letting women show their faces in public, let alone such a young girl. Chen Qingxuan could not bear to see her, and naturally felt a little dissatisfied with Achou's family.
"My family member...is not in good health, I will help him as much as I can," Ah Chou looked at the mountain behind him and whispered, "I am willing to do so, I just hope I can take care of him for the rest of his life."
The second half of the sentence was so soft that Chen Qingxuan did not hear it at all. He just watched Ah Chou carrying a large bamboo basket and carrying her skirt up the mountain. The red plum blossom at the corner of her skirt flickered and was finally drowned in the lush green fragrance after the rain.
…
We ate dumplings a few days ago, and noodles these past two days. This was Zhong Mingwei's request.
Achou made the hand-rolled noodles himself, and fried shredded pork, black fungus, and tofu toppings. As soon as the noodles were brought in, Zhong Mingwei was busy taking a towel to wipe his hands and waiting to eat. Zhong Mingwei could move both arms now, but his movements were still not very flexible. However, it was much better than before anyway. More importantly, this gave him hope. He used to have to be fed by Achou, but now he forced himself to eat.
"Can you hold it?" Ah Chou held the bowl of noodles and didn't put down his chopsticks for a long time. He looked at Zhong Mingwei's trembling hands with concern, "How about I feed you again, and you can practice using chopsticks tomorrow."
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