Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 410: Can It Be Done?

At the end of February, Kang Youxin’s vacation ended, and he had to return to work.

Wen Shi saw him off, and they hadn’t been gone for half an hour when Qin Jiu ran out of the room looking terrified.

"Aunt, there’s suddenly a sum of money under my pillow."

Yi Chichi, busy at the embroidery frame, flinched, pricking her fingertip with the needle, a common occurrence in this line of work, and said calmly, "How much?"

"One hundred eighty."

This amount wasn’t insignificant.

"And there’s a red envelope."

Yi Chichi put down her work and got up, "Did you look at the red envelope?"

"No."

Qin Jiu explained reasonably, "I remembered your teaching, Aunt, not to touch things that aren’t mine."

He had counted the money, thinking it was just his imagination at first, but it turned out to be real money.

Almost scared him to death.

"Good, keep it that way."

Qin Jiu grinned silly, and soon, the aunt and nephew were standing in front of the kang, staring at the money in silence.

After a while, Qin Jiu asked her, "Aunt, what do we do now?"

What else to do, it’s not their money, so the right action is to return it.

But today, except for Uncle Kang, no outsiders had visited the house, so it was obvious whose money it was.

She couldn’t handle this matter.

"Wait for Grandma to come back and ask her."

Qin Jiu responded with an "oh" and started waiting by the door for Wen’s mother to return.

Yi Chichi ignored him and went back to work.

About ten minutes later, Wen’s mother arrived with Liu Lan.

Qin Jiu politely greeted Liu Lan and then held Wen’s mother’s hand, saying softly, "Grandma, I have something to tell you."

The tone was formal, and the expression was serious.

Wen’s mother couldn’t help but find it amusing, thinking how funny the child was, yet she cooperatively said, "Okay, Little Qin, let’s talk in the room."

Saying that, she instructed Yi Chichi, "Take good care of Lanlan."

"Of course."

So, Wen’s mother and Qin Jiu went to his room to talk about the money.

Yi Chichi prepared tea for Liu Lan, and also brought out some sunflower seeds, peanuts, and dried fruits for her to munch on.

Liu Lan didn’t rush to eat but instead took out package after package, wrapped like dynamites, from her small box of embroidery materials and handed them over.

"What’s this?"

Yi Chichi dared not take it; Liu Lan’s demeanor was a bit intimidating.

"Beef jerky my husband sent back, very tasty."

Before the words were finished, she opened the oil paper package and handed a piece of beef jerky to Yi Chichi, "Hurry up and try it."

"I’ll do it myself."

She reached for the beef jerky, looked at it, and saw it looked a bit dark. She sniffed it – there was a strong aroma of mixed spices.

Taking a bite, the meat was firm and had a rich flavor.

"Delicious."

Her eyes lit up, and Liu Lan laughed heartily, "I guessed you would like it."

Indeed, she liked it.

"How does it compare to the beef jerky next door?"

The "next door" Liu Lan mentioned refers to Inner Mongolia, a province famous for its beef and mutton brands in later generations.

Oh, and dairy products.

Yi Chichi has tried a lot of beef jerky brands, from the major beef and mutton-producing regions, and even imported ones.

While she can’t recite the taste and quality of each beef, she’s quite familiar with them.

However, instead of boldly evaluating, she laughed, "You’ve got me there; I haven’t tried much beef from next door. To me, as long as it’s meat, it’s delicious and aromatic."

Liu Lan didn’t find her answer strange. Nowadays, no one finds meat unpalatable, and even wild boar meat, which isn’t known for its great taste, is eaten voraciously, not to mention what her husband sent from a beef-producing area.

The taste could only be better.

"It’s all yours."

The whole bag of beef jerky was handed over, and Yi Chichi’s brows arched in delight, "That’s almost two pounds, are you sure you want to give it all to me?"

Liu Lan rolled her eyes, "Don’t make me out to be stingy. You helped me earn some money, so giving you some beef jerky is no big deal."

Yi Chichi just laughed, "Then I won’t be polite."

"No need to be polite with me."

She waved her hand, smiling, "Let’s get to work."

"You start, I’ll snack on some beef jerky and watch your needlework."

"No problem."

Liu Lan was now extremely confident in her chaotic needle embroidery skills, in other words, she had become a bit cocky.

Fortunately, her inflated confidence was limited to her mindset. Earning foreign exchange through her embroidery works, a little pride was normal.

As long as her actions remained humble and she continued diligently researching, the problems wouldn’t be significant.

She expertly went to wash her hands, then took an old, small-sized embroidery frame discarded by Yi Chichi and secured the fabric well, skillfully threading the needle, "I’m starting now, watch closely."

"Watching, go ahead and embroider confidently."

Yi Chichi took a bite of beef jerky, thinking how delightful it was to eat beef jerky and watch someone else work, without having to do anything herself. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

So when Wen’s mother and Qin Jiu came out, they saw Yi Chichi joyfully munching on beef jerky, while Liu Lan was focused, working intently with needle and thread at the embroidery frame.

"Aunt, what are you eating?"

Qin Jiu trotted over, curious about the beef jerky in her hand, the color seemed a bit off, and he wasn’t sure if it tasted good.

"Have some, it’s the beef jerky your Aunt Liu brought."

Yi Chichi stuffed a piece into his mouth, then handed him the rest, "Take it, and share it with grandma and the others."

Qin Jiu hadn’t grasped her meaning, but Wen’s mother responded quickly, waving him over, "Come, grandma will take you for a stroll."

"...Okay."

Honestly, he wasn’t very keen on going; the wind was strong and not very pleasant for him.

But since grandma wanted to take him for a walk, he’d go.

The result was that Wen’s mother took him to the cowshed to see Grandpa and the others.

What happened next was almost like a nightmare for Qin Jiu.

Seizing the opportunity, Grandma Song and the others gave him an impromptu lesson plan.

The grandma who was supposed to take him for a walk was instead chatting and gossiping with Grandpa and the others while snacking on beef jerky and peanuts.

Yi Chichi knew nothing of this; her cravings satisfied with beef jerky, she washed her hands clean and got down to her work.

Liu Lan also enjoyed immersive work; once both entered that state, they lost track of time without idle chatting.

Until—

"Chichi, I’ve encountered a problem."

"...What?"

Immersed in work, Yi Chichi looked up, taking a moment to process her words.

Liu Lan handed the embroidery pattern to her, pointing at the blue area, "I can’t quite distinguish this blue."

Yi Chichi glanced over, puzzled, "Isn’t this straightforward? From dark to light, distinguish the thread into varying thicknesses based on the color depth, and the problem is solved."

Liu Lan hesitated, "But this needs a triangle stitch."

The triangle stitch, also known as the small chaotic stitch in chaotic needle embroidery, is characterized by its crisscrossing threads dispersing in all directions without orientation.

Yet it requires each stitch to be precise, concealing the needlework under the thread, one after another.

While seemingly difficult, for those skilled, it’s quite simple.

Yi Chichi couldn’t understand, "So, what’s the problem? Can’t you use the small chaotic stitch?"

"No, I mean, what about the whole thread?"

"Just embroider directly."

Yi Chichi took the embroidery pattern, pointing out the sky-blue area, explaining in detail how to distinguish lines, confirm colors, and then asked her, "Can you handle it now?"