Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 387: Whose Talent Is Greater?

Er Zhuang was a bit confused, "Is that so?"

"Then, do I also not need to call her aunt?"

"No need, you’re both of the same generation."

Besides, she hasn’t decided to take Niu Niu as a disciple yet, it’s too early to talk about this.

He responded with an "oh" and asked Yi Chichi, "Aunt, are you done yet? Can you check our homework now? I’m in a hurry to go home and cook."

Dazhuang also nodded, indicating he needed to go back to chop wood.

Poor kids take charge of the house early, and the Dazhuang brothers are the best examples.

Going up the mountains to chop wood, working in the fields, doing laundry and cooking were all unavoidable.

Yi Chichi also knew about their situation, and she nodded in response, saying she was done, "Come on, little monkeys, bring your homework here for me to check."

"Here you go!"

A few kids swarmed to the desk, each bringing their homework for Yi Chichi to check.

First, she looked at Qin Jiu’s. This kid’s homework really didn’t need her to worry, it was done very well with no mistakes, because the teaching content was fairly simple and posed no difficulty for him.

Next was Dazhuang’s. This kid was seriously biased in his studies, with language arts being decent only in reading comprehension, while the rest was a mess.

He also had a bit of a knack for math, so after marking a few wrong questions for Qin Jiu to explain, she started checking Er Zhuang’s homework.

As soon as she opened it and saw Er Zhuang’s handwriting, Yi Chichi hopelessly covered her eyes.

Here we go again.

No matter how many times she reminded him, his writing was still eye-straining.

It was truly eye-straining!

In all her years, she had never seen anyone’s writing quite like his, each stroke full of wildness and flamboyance.

For instance, there’s a character he wrote that just exuded a flirtatious feel.

The character for ’father’ felt like it was seducing someone.

It’s inappropriate to critique a kid’s handwriting this way, but the first impression his writing gives is a lack of seriousness.

"Aunt, why are you covering your eyes?"

Er Zhuang was a bit dumbfounded, looking at his homework and then at Yi Chichi who had her eyes covered, not knowing what went wrong.

"Aunt was overwhelmed by your writing."

Qin Jiu glanced over and, after a moment of silence, managed to say, "The character structure is not correct."

"Huh?"

Er Zhuang looked puzzled, "Characters have structure?"

"Yes."

Yi Chichi pointed at his writing, "I remember reminding you before. Your writing is lively, but many strokes lack hidden strength and instead have too many points sticking out."

"Also, the stroke positions are incorrect, and the shapes are problematic."

She picked up a pen and wrote a character, "Look, compare how my character looks with yours, see the difference."

Er Zhuang looked for a long moment before saying hesitantly, "Aunt, what you wrote looks neater than mine."

"Exactly, because when Aunt writes, there’s hidden strength. You lack that and have too many points, so the character looks somewhat unsteady."

Sighing, she continued, "Er Zhuang, you need to practice your writing, as the saying goes, ’Your writing reflects who you are.’ If you continue studying, it could impact your future work."

To Er Zhuang, these things were too distant. He didn’t know how many more years he could study, let alone think about working...

But he knew the importance of learning, thinking it’s always good to learn more.

"I’ll practice."

Even if he couldn’t go to high school, at least writing beautifully could allow him to write wedding couplets and such.

He needed to practice to earn money this way in the future.

But—

"Aunt, how do I practice?!"

His willingness was a good thing, and Yi Chichi would certainly support it.

"Xiao Jiu, give him two of your practice calligraphy books."

Qin Jiu nodded, turned around to leave, but then remembered something and asked, "Aunt, which calligraphy books should I give him?"

"Running script and regular script."

"Ok."

Soon, two calligraphy books in running and regular script were placed in front of Er Zhuang. He took and flipped through them, finding them much better than his own writing.

He glanced up at Qin Jiu, "You’ve finished practicing these?"

"I’ve finished!"

His aunt was strict, making him practice daily.

So far, he’s learned running script, regular script, and cursive script.

He also learned the small standard script occasionally, but his aunt said it wasn’t suitable for boys, and Grandma Song agreed.

So he gave it up and didn’t continue with it.

Instead, he practiced other three types more, but his aunt said it would still take a long time to capture the essence.

Plenty of practice needed.

"We’ll practice together then."

"Alright."

Dazhuang raised his hand to say he’d join too, and Qin Jiu, grinning, said, "Niu Niu will join us too."

Niu Niu, "??? I have to practice too?"

She looked at Yi Chichi, clearly seeking help.

But Yi Chichi hoped they would learn more skills, as good handwriting had plenty of advantages during a time without widespread computers.

Therefore, instead of supporting her, she agreed with Qin Jiu, saying, "Practice, it’s always good to learn more."

"Okay, then I’ll practice too."

Quite pitifully.

Er Zhuang patted her and said, "Don’t be afraid, we’ll practice together, and we’ll all get scolded together by Aunt Chichi if it’s not good."

Yi Chichi rolled her eyes, "Don’t talk nonsense, I don’t generally scold people!"

This kid sometimes wasn’t wise, picking at words when he shouldn’t.

Wen Sheng promptly chimed in, "So you do scold sometimes."

"...I won’t scold, I’ll let your teachers do that."

This was quite a threat, because regardless of how the schoolteachers were, the teachers at the Youth Corps Courtyard could definitely scold, and they would also smack their palms.

This made them clench their palms tight in fear and quickly nod that they’d practice diligently.

Yi Chichi was satisfied to see this and began to check Niu Niu’s homework.

Qin Jiu and the others on the side were correcting their homework.

When everything was finished to standard, half an hour had passed.

The Dazhuang brothers bade farewell and went home. Qin Jiu went to the kitchen to help Wen’s mother light the fire and steam buns, while Yi Chichi carried Niu Niu’s school bag to take her home, planning to talk with Aunt Ma and others about her wanting to learn embroidery.

Upon learning of her intentions, Aunt Ma’s family, who warmly received her, was stunned.

"What talent did you say Niu Niu has?"

After a while, Niu Niu’s father, Liu Dalin, spoke with a somewhat peculiar expression.

"Embroidery talent."

The whole family looked at Niu Niu in unison, and the little girl, who was receiving all these stares, grinned, "I want to learn."

It was an announcement, as well as a notification.

There was no request for approval.

The little girl, who grew up loved and cherished, had the courage, confidence, and backing to voice her true thoughts to her family.

The squad leader uncle took a sharp breath, didn’t rush to agree, but asked Yi Chichi, "Are you sure she has a talent?"

"More than sure."

She took out Niu Niu’s work to show them, "This is the needlework she practiced today. Initially, her threadwork was unfamiliar and awkward, but with more practice, it got much better."

The squad leader uncle took it and looked at it seriously for quite a while but couldn’t make much sense of it. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

After all, as someone who hadn’t even sewn a button before, figuring out needlework quality was a tall order.

"Have a look."

Unwilling to make things hard for himself, the squad leader uncle handed the fabric to Aunt Ma instead.

Aunt Ma looked at it and then passed it to Niu Niu’s parents.

Then, four people, all at once, asked, "Compared to Lanlan, who has more talent?"