Smelling the faint fragrance of ink and copying thirty pieces of rice paper that had been cut in advance for easy binding, Zhou Banxia stopped as planned.
Copying books like her and also translating them into classical Chinese is actually not a good job. It is not much easier than embroidery work. It is tiring and eye-catching.
However, since she was diagnosed with Youxi, the whole family has not allowed her to do needlework, so she can only draw, write, and play musical instruments to find her skills.
She doesn’t know when she will be able to do needlework and embroidery, but she still doesn’t want to give up. Embroidery is like learning, and learning is like sailing against the current. If you don’t advance, you will retreat.
She has finally mastered an advanced embroidery art. If she slacked off a bit and didn't mention it, she would be sorry for her master who regarded her as a closed disciple. She also likes to embroider things.
Looking at the artwork that I embroidered stitch by stitch gives me a sense of accomplishment more than painting, and the key is that I can get a lot of money in exchange for it.
A few days ago, Aunt Mei mentioned in her letter that she could easily cost more than 500 taels of silver by embroidering a double-sided embroidery the size of a normal screen.
Even at this price, her real name has not been revealed, and her reputation as a master has not been revealed, but the price is purely based on her embroidery skills.
It can be said that she has truly achieved what her master said when she was still alive - with this embroidery skill, even if she is not a noble lady, she is enough to have enough food and clothing.
How can you give up such good craftsmanship? Even if you are not doing it to make money, it is an extremely pleasing craft to be embroidered and displayed indoors for self-appreciation.
When his brain power was reaching its limitless potential, Zhou Banxia looked up at Gu Wenxuan and saw that he was much more focused than she was. He gently moved his chair and quietly exited the study.
On the second floor, the master bedroom dressing room.
Five meters long embroidered surface.
What was embroidered on the door was a volume of "Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra". Unfortunately, I was temporarily pregnant and had to stop halfway.
Otherwise, the entire text would be no more than 260 words. If one were to embroider it carefully, half a month would be enough to complete it, but there would still be about fifty words left unembroidered.
Zhou Banxia looked at the folded embroidery noodles and put them back into the wooden box, and then looked through the good materials that she had specially hidden in this cloakroom for the past six months.
The advantage of putting good fabrics here is that they don’t need to be packaged, they won’t become stale due to moisture or time, their color remains bright and new, and they can be used at any time.
Among them, the most precious piece of clothing that had just been brought back from the palace in the capital was a piece of brilliant brocade. It was said that it was a tribute brocade given by the emperor of the day.
Seeing this brocade that would glow at night and the texture on it emit different colors as it moved, Zhou Banxia felt itchy and wanted to use it as a base fabric to embroider a picture.
She had it all figured out.
Use this piece of material to embroider a picture of hundreds of flowers celebrating spring, and then embroider a picture of hundreds of filial piety. If there is extra material, embroider the table and screen. It will definitely be worthy of her embroidery skills.
Mai Huang's voice rang out in time, saving this piece of cloth again. The sound of "Second Young Master and Second Young Madam" rang out in time, forcing Zhou Banxia, who was in the cloakroom inside, to put down a pair of silver scissors.
Zhou Banxia ducked out, responded to the call, lifted the curtains, went down to put on soft-soled embroidered shoes, and when she came out of the inner room to the living room, midnight snacks were already placed on the table. She was still the one who used her chopsticks first to eat her portion of the late-night snack for pregnant women. After the wheat, yellow and ophiopogon japonicus took the food box from the old woman outside, she came in, put it on the table and left. Gu Wenxuan also stopped writing for the time being. It's not too early. He was not too late just in time to be released by her to enjoy his midnight snack.
Compared with the college examination, the provincial examination plays a larger role in the classics. Gu Wenxuan is writing two contemporary articles from the classic "Spring and Autumn" tonight.
The study plan he set for himself was not only to write a good article within a certain word limit, but also to improve his speed while practicing calligraphy.
As a result, he couldn't say whether he had made much progress since the college examination, but his husband sent back fewer and fewer criticisms after each review and correction.
At the very least, Mr. Wang said that his style of pavilion and pavilion has improved, and the breaking of themes and the succession, transition and combination are becoming increasingly refreshing, but the quotation of classics and classics still needs to learn from everyone's works.
I wonder if my husband has collected everyone's works this time and asked his father to bring them to him to learn a thing or two when he returned. After all, even Mrs. Qian's good books seemed to have been basically given to him.
Considering this, Gu Wenxuan was eager to see his father for a moment. Calculating the time, it seemed that he would not delay anything by riding back and forth alone tomorrow morning.
So, when Zhou Banxia lay down and opened his eyes again, there was light outside. It was the light of the sun rising and shining on the earth. There was no doubt that he had overslept again.
"The second young master went to the county to study again early in the morning?" Seeing Maihuang Ophiopogon japonicus coming in to wait on him, Zhou Banxia asked curiously, "Zhi Mingke is back, what did you say?"
Maidong had a reserved temperament, and since she was not as early as Maihuang to serve her master, she gave Maihuang the opportunity to respond and quietly picked up the wooden comb to comb Zhou Banxia's hair.
When Zhou Banxia learned that Gu Wenxuan was riding back to the village as soon as possible early in the morning when the city gate was opened, and that he was back in time to go back to the county school at 3:30, she was speechless.
"...The second young master is worried that it will be inconvenient for you to move back and forth. Zhi Ming also said that the master and his wife asked you to rest here peacefully. They will come to stay here for two days tomorrow.
As for the in-laws and their wives, they also asked Zhiming to come back and report that on the first day of the Lunar New Year, Young Master Jiang would not have to go back to the village. They would bring Young Master He here. ”
This meant that she would have to wait until the first day of November at the earliest before returning to the village. Zhou Banxia thought she could stay for a few more days. She would not be able to come to the city when it snowed.
It just so happened that the village heads from all over the country were coming to see her. After staying here for a few days, they returned to the village and moved there. They met the village heads to take care of things and perform New Year's rituals. They were busy with all the other things and it was time to celebrate the New Year.
Since there is no need to rush back to the village today to meet the father-in-law who has returned from a long trip, and the father-in-law and mother-in-law will go to the city again tomorrow, Zhou Banxia feels relieved.
After having breakfast, she saw that the sun was shining brightly today. She immediately asked Mai Huang to take someone to help her move the easel to the yard, and asked Mai Dong to take someone to clean up the room in the main courtyard so that her parents-in-law and others could move in as soon as they arrived tomorrow. , and then asked Mai Xiang to go to the front and talk to Gu Dahua to buy more ingredients.
There are four maids named "Mai", including Maihuang, Ophiopogon japonicus, and Maixiang. Only Maiqing seems to be idle and busy, and goes to the small kitchen to serve pastries and snacks.
Since the three of them, including Mai Huang, were sent to serve closely by Zhou Molan for a short period of time, Zhou Banxia deliberately did not arrange for them to be responsible for any trivial matters for the time being, so the four of them were allowed to discuss on their own first. I plan to see their performance and make other arrangements after a while.
Interestingly, I have to say that Aunt Lan is very good at training people. The four little girls have indeed never quarreled for favor, which is a bit disappointing.
You can't just kill the chicken and scare the monkeys without any reason. Aunt Lan can't blame her. It's not that she is soft-hearted, but Aunt Lan is too good at picking people. (End of chapter)