Ji Pianran took Tang Tang to Auntie Zhang's house early this morning.
He also remembered that he had to go to Gu Chen's house on the first day of the lunar year, so he went to the coal washing station next to the village.
There is a large coal yard there, and there are thousands of workers in the factory, so there are many things to sell around.
Ji Pianran took the money and went to buy some meat, as well as nutritional products such as black sesame paste.
She also bought two pairs of cotton shoes, one for each of the grandparents.
It was already 12 noon when she returned home with her purchases.
In order to avoid the meal time, she had to rest at home for a while.
It was about two o'clock when she briefly tidied up and prepared to go to Li Youmo's house at the east end of the village.
Today was a nice day with no clouds in the sky.
It was a rare sunny day, and there was a hint of warmth in the courtyard.
Ji Pianran walked to the door with her head down.
Then she remembered something and hurried back.
She went into the living room and divided up some of the wolfberries that Gu Chen had left yesterday and put them in a bag.
After all, she was not related to the person, and if she wanted to ask for guidance, she had to bring a gift.
Looking at the bright red and translucent wolfberries in the bag, Ji Pianran hesitated.
She pursed her lips. This was something Gu Chen had given to her and Tangtang, so it would be bad to just give it away, wouldn't it?
If she didn't give it away, there wasn't anything else at home to give.
But if she did give it away, it was something that Gu Chen had given her with all his heart!
He had given it to her and Tangtang, so if she just gave it away, would he be angry?
After thinking about it for a long time, she sighed and put the wolfberries down.
She turned around and went to the kitchen, where she took the dried wolfberries that Gu Chen had brought back last time. According to Gu Chen, someone had given them to her, so she wouldn't mind giving them away!
It was already 9 o'clock in the morning when she arrived at Li Youmo's house.
Li Youmo and her neighbour Dong Qingfang were chatting while shelling corn when they heard a knock at the door.
She put down the corn in her hands and muttered to herself, 'Who could that be, so early?'
Then she got up and walked towards the courtyard.
She was a little surprised to see Ji Pianran holding a bag of wolfberries when she opened the door.
Because the two families lived far away from each other, and because Gu Chen's reputation in the village was not very good, they basically had no relationship.
They were obviously a little unprepared for Ji Pianran's unexpected arrival.
Ji Pianran smiled, 'Auntie, I came today because I want to ask you something. I heard that you do a good job embroidering, so I came to ask you a few questions.'
Her voice was very pleasant.
Although everyone was from the same village, Li Youmo always had the feeling that this Ji Pianran seemed a little different from the rest of the villagers.
But exactly where, he couldn't say.
Although the two of them usually didn't get along, Li Youmo and Aunt Zhang had been friends since childhood, and he heard that it was Aunt Zhang who asked her to come.
So he smiled and said, 'Oh, I see. Don't stand out here, it's cold. Come in and talk.'
After saying that, he stepped aside, and Ji Pianran then entered the courtyard and followed Li You'e to the house.
Inside, Dong Qingfang was still sitting on the kang, shucking corn. Seeing that it was Ji Pianran, she was full of surprise and hurriedly stopped what she was doing.
'Oh, it's not Pianran, why are you here today?'
Li You'e said warmly, 'She was told to come by Auntie Zhang, who said she had some questions.'
Dong Qingfang nodded without saying anything and continued to peel her own corn.
Ji Pianran placed the wolfberries on the table and then took out some photos and patterns from her cloth bag and handed them to Li You'e.
'Auntie, please take a look at this.'
Li You'e took the pattern and looked at it carefully. It was quite complicated.
It was completely different from the patterns used at home.
She looked at Ji Pianran in surprise, 'Pianran, where did you get this pattern?'
Ji Pianran smiled and said, 'A woman at the market gave it to me. She said she liked my embroidery and wanted me to become an embroidery master. I came here to ask what kind of stitches should be used to make this kind of picture look more lively.'
Dong Qingfang couldn't help but raise her head again and sneered when she heard this.
'Pianran, everyone knows that your family's conditions are not good, but in my opinion, it's better to do something else than embroidery, it doesn't make money.'
Dong Qingfang didn't know that Ji Pianran was going to make cheongsam, and just thought it was an ordinary handkerchief or something.
Embroider a butterfly and mandarin duck on a handkerchief and earn three or five dollars.
Even if you are fast, you can only embroider fifteen handkerchiefs a month, earning seventy-five dollars, which is less than a hundred.
It's better to work as a manual labourer, carrying bricks and earning a hundred dollars a month.
Afterwards, she thought about her own wood-shed, which was dirty and messy and hadn't been tidied up before the New Year.
She continued, 'How about this, you go to my house and tidy up the wood-shed. Since we're neighbours, I'll ask my husband to pay you an extra ten yuan, what do you think?'
Dong Qingfang was a typical person.
She was not good at anything, and she had no patience with children. After a few days, she gave the child to her mother-in-law, saying that she needed to earn money, but she was not good at manual labour and she was not good at mental work.
But one thing she is, is a shrewish character with a sharp tongue.
She has had several arguments with her husband, and he can't do anything about it, so he just lets her be.
Now she just sits around at home, ignored by her family and unconcerned by other people. When she's not busy, she goes over to her neighbour Li You'e's house to find someone to chat with.
They're from the same village, and Ji Pianran actually knows what kind of person Dong Qingfang is.
She frowned, ignored Dong Qingfang, and continued to look at Li You'e.
'Auntie, does this pattern need to be embroidered on both sides?'
Li You'e looked at the embroidery design carefully.
'It's true, I feel that for this pattern, it's best to embroider on both sides. But embroidering on both sides is even more time-consuming, and the places where the needlework is concentrated are actually the inconspicuous places.'
Ji Pianran nodded, 'Thank you, Auntie.'
In fact, she already had a rough idea of what she wanted to do, but she wasn't sure, so she asked someone for advice.
The two of them were talking and didn't pay any attention to Dong Qingfang.
Dong Qingfang suddenly felt as if she had been ignored. If it had been anyone else, it would have been fine, but it was this Ji Pianran.
Her life was a mess, and now she had the nerve to ignore her?
Dong Qingfang raised her voice,
'Hey, do you have any manners? I'm talking to you!'
'Who doesn't know that your family is short of money? Asking you to clean up our wood room is already an honour. To be honest, with your style, I'm really afraid that you'll try to hook up with my man!'
'If you want to talk to me, don't do any embroidery. Sell these, and you'll make more money than selling meat!'
Dong Qingfang's mouth was even worse than Shen Cuilan's.
This remark was not only directed at Ji Pianran, even Li You'e couldn't help but frown.
It was really unpleasant to hear.
She looked at Dong Qingfang, 'You're in your forties too, why are you getting worse and worse at what you say?'
Dong Qingfang sneered, "How is that bad? I'm doing it for her own good.'
Ji Pianran didn't want to deal with Dong Qingfang, but who knew that she was getting worse and worse at what she said, and her delicate face immediately turned cold.
Even her eyes looked frighteningly dull.
She looked at Dong Qingfang sitting on the bed, "Say that again?'