The skilled widow is busy farming

Chapter 34 Little Surprise

Yingzi began to learn how to embroider purse handkerchiefs and trim threads with tapestry. After a while, she could learn to weave plain belts, usually belts and the like.

Xiu Niang drew a picture. The banner showed wealth and flowers blooming, which made her brow happy. It also meant auspiciousness and was easy to give as gifts. Masterpieces of banners were rare in the capital and were very valuable.

It will take at least a year to weave. The tapestry cannot be made fast, and it is very troublesome to separate the threads. In fact, what the weaver faces every day is the opposite side of the tapestry, which is the side where countless threads accumulate. Using a mirror, you can see a small Part of the front is used to observe whether the weaver is weaving correctly and whether the colors are used correctly.

Kesi is made of warp and weft threads, and the patterns are woven with raw silk and colored silk threads. The weaver cannot see the whole picture until the moment she gets off the machine, and the same painting will look different if she repeats it. This is the charm of craftsmanship. .

The warp and weft threads must be constantly overlapped and woven, and the pattern will have various colors, there will be wiring, and there will be broken wefts. The more exquisite a painting is, the more difficult it will be, and the more warp threads will be broken. This project is extremely complicated and cumbersome. This is why tapestry paintings are so expensive.

There are tens of thousands of densely packed threads, which make your scalp numb just by looking at them. The weaver wants to weave them into beautiful paintings with artistic quality.

After the final completion, you don't just need to get off the machine. Instead, you need to cut off the threads on the back one by one. You can't cut several threads at once to save time. You can't. You need to use very thin gauze scissors against the canvas. Cut off the threads one by one.

The front and back sides of Kesi paintings are the same. The back side of the painting must also be kept clean and beautiful, with no threads visible. It is difficult to make a painting with many threads, and it will take several days just to cut the threads.

Xiuniang's advantage lies in her ability to read and write, especially calligraphy and painting, which is very helpful for Kesi painting.

Yingzi and Qing'er watched and grinded.

"This painting of yours is very rare. Is it a gift?"

Grandma Wang watched from the side and nodded with praise.

"Send it to my eldest brother in the capital. I want to help, but I don't have any other skills. I can still be recognized for this skill."

"It's so fitting."

"There are many things I want to do, and they all rely on this craft. I also want to send things to the capital to show off."

"The craftsmanship is outstanding. Your problem is lack of money. With your ability and ability, it won't be a big problem."

Grandma Wang smiled.

"Xiu Niang, I want to buy a piece of land and build a house in Lijia Village. Can you allow me to settle down?"

After thinking about it for three months, Grandma Wang decided to settle in Lijia Village. Lijia Village has a good atmosphere and good character. It is also a good place to study and produce talents. It is not poor and has a good people's heart. She can stay.

My sister-in-law always wants to pinch herself and desperately calculate her pension money, so she naturally has to plan for herself.

"Great, I'll talk to my second uncle. We'll have money by selling the grain next spring. The clan elder asked you to go to the clan school to teach, and you'll be given a share of the money per person, so you don't take advantage of me."

"Really, it was done so quickly."

Grandma Wang was also quite surprised. There was no precedent for allowing girls to study in nearby villages. They only studied when conditions were good, in order to marry well.

But with this experience in Lijia Village, her reputation and status can be raised to a higher level, and her upbringing is different. She is no longer just a village girl, but a daughter of a prominent family.

It is not a famous family, but Lijia Village is indeed a prosperous family. There are county magistrates and eleven scholar candidates. In this regard, other families cannot compare with them.

"Okay, I'm happy to make money in the Li family. It doesn't need to be that much. I just want to support myself in my old age. The same amount as Qing'er will be fine. It will be cheaper if I pay it on an annual basis."

Grandma Wang relies on this to support herself. It's impossible without money. One code is one code.

"Don't rush to talk about cheap things. Don't you want to buy land? Buy land first. After buying homestead land, you should also buy fertile farmland. Then you can talk about cheap things later, and they will appreciate your kindness and good conduct."

Xiu Niang gave her advice, but she just suppressed her words before speaking. If she had the right opportunity to say heart-warming words, it would get twice the result with half the effort, and it would also appear that we are good people.Grandma Wang couldn't help but laugh, "You are still smart and I will listen to you. I want to be your neighbor."

"Okay, where is your registered residence? If there is any trouble, I need to tell the county magistrate no?"

"No, my household registration is separate. I can settle wherever I want without hindrance. The household registration of everyone in the palace will be removed, and it will be released when I leave the palace. I can settle independently according to my personal opinion. At the beginning, I was afraid that my relatives would not be like my relatives. "

Grandma Wang had lived in the palace for a long time and was used to seeing the warmth and coldness of people, so she subconsciously kept a hand.

"Ginger is still old and spicy. Don't rush to buy fertile land. Buy it with me later. I will buy land next year and the year after next, for my son. It will be cheaper together."

"Okay, thank you for taking care of this lonely old woman like me."

Grandma Wang is also very happy. Xiu Niang has a valuable character and is worthy of her reliance.

The Li family's dishes have been very good these days, and they are mainly trying out the menu.

But several times I was not satisfied and did not meet Xiu Niang’s requirements.

After tasting it, Grandma Wang smiled and said, "Xiu Niang, I think this dish is very good. Don't forget that we earn money from dock workers. Being a dock tracker is a manual job and it is very hard. My family is too poor to bear to eat good meat. You just need oil and water, it tastes good and oil and water are enough. As for the banquet in the future, don’t worry. If it doesn’t work in the future, you can just ask a decent cook to come. So what’s the rush? Let’s prop up the shop first and then talk about the rest.”

"Okay, keep the braised beef offal, you can eat it now and stir-fry it. The braised beef and beef noodles can be kept for daily dishes. The steamed buns can also be kept, and you can add a few fish dishes."

After listening to Grandma Wang's suggestion, Xiuniang also felt that she might have thought wrongly. The dock workers did not need to be delicate at all, but they needed to be rich in oil and water and taste good.

"Success, listen to you."

Everyone was relieved when they saw Xiu Niang finally nodding.

"Too bad there are no pastries."

"Well...I can make pastries."

Sister-in-law Lin spoke weakly.

Xiu Niang looked at her suspiciously, waiting for her answer.

"I really know how to cook, but I haven't been a chef for many years. My mother was a pastry cook in a wealthy family, and my grandfather was the pastry chef in the imperial kitchen who was his apprentice after he left the palace. It's a serious inheritance. I knew how to cook it at that time. When we were young, my mother took us to work in wealthy families in order to let us learn the craft. We could still eat desserts and no one would bother us. We studied like this for five or six years. My eldest brother is more skilled in the craft than I am, but you You know, desserts use powdered sugar, expensive things that poor families can’t afford to eat or play with.”

"Later, my mother got sick and my younger brother became ill. She kept working hard and exhausted her body. Then she lost the chance to continue learning. I couldn't afford such expensive materials and didn't even have the chance to practice. This craft is half-learned. People don't want it. I can only come back to farm."

"If I buy you materials, can you make it? Let your elder brother come and work for me. As long as you do well, I won't treat you badly."

Xiuniang's eyes lit up, wouldn't it be great to live together?

"I'm going to ask my eldest brother. I haven't worked for many years and I don't know if it's okay."

"You go and ask. If your eldest brother is willing to agree, I will allow him to bring his own children to learn, and he will choose the candidates. Besides, your family has a large population. If there are others who want to learn other crafts, I will ask my second uncle to be your guarantor." people."

"I'll go talk."

Aunt Xu immediately answered and agreed.

Sister-in-law Lin was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly, "I'll go tell my elder brother."

(End of this chapter)