The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 65 - Can You Salvage After Losing Weight
65: Chapter 65: Can You Salvage After Losing Weight?
65 -65: Can You Salvage After Losing Weight?
This kind of rumor, neither painful nor itchy, and not related to one’s character, was mainly aimed at Wang Yongping, but since Wang Yongping wasn’t in a hurry to get a wife at that time, these rumors really couldn’t hurt him.
It was Wang Yongzhu who was incidentally implicated, and for a girl, reputation mattered a lot, especially since Wang Yongzhu’s age was considered not young in peasant families, where girls of her age were generally already settled in their own homes.
After Wang Yongzhu’s marriage arrangement was called off, Old Granny Zhang was relieved that her daughter wouldn’t have to jump into the Song Family’s pit of fire, but she was also anxious about the matter of reputation and took it very seriously.
When she first heard about this, how furious Old Granny Zhang was!
She picked up a broom and gave her son a vicious thrashing behind closed doors.
The thrashing made Wang Yongping almost question his life.
Now, hearing what his daughter said, he gave it some thought and then agreed to go with the flow.
Since his daughter wanted to learn, regardless of how serious she was, the person who would teach her couldn’t be sloppy.
Thinking it over, of the two daughters-in-law at home, the Eldest Brother’s wife was skilled at farm work, but her needlework was just average.
Country folks didn’t fuss over this; as long as the clothing didn’t have holes, they weren’t concerned about the uniformity or fineness of the stitches.
His own daughter, of course, had to learn well, and that would be from Laosan’s House.
Laosan was not much of a talker and, being weak, couldn’t do farm work, but it was said that his deceased mother-in-law used to be a proper embroideress.
Even if Laosan’s House didn’t possess the full legacy, being able to learn two or three parts of the craft would be sufficient in the countryside.
She had noticed that the clothes of the children from the third house were always clean and tidy.
Any patches were neatly done, with fine stitches, all products of Lady Jiang’s skills.
Then Lady Jiang it would be!
Old Granny Zhang made a decision and called Lady Jiang over.
Feeling apprehensive about being summoned by her mother-in-law, Lady Jiang arrived at the main house, only to hear that the old woman wanted to entrust her little sister-in-law to her care, to teach her needlework.
Lady Jiang breathed a sigh of relief.
She hadn’t forgotten the favor her little sister-in-law had done for her previously.
Even though she knew Wang Yongzhu probably just talked big and wouldn’t seriously learn, she still planned to teach earnestly.
She agreed without hesitation.
Seeing how quickly Lady Jiang agreed, without even a moment of hesitation, Old Granny Zhang was satisfied.
Her demeanor softened, feeling that, although the Laosans were not very useful, they were at least honest.
Given that Lady Jiang agreed to teach and Wang Yongzhu was eager to fulfill her task, now was the perfect moment, neither hot nor cold, with good sunshine.
Why wait for another day?
She suggested starting that very day.
Lady Jiang was surprised by her little sister-in-law’s sudden enthusiasm but thought it a good sign that she showed interest.
She went straight to get her basket of needles and thread and started teaching in the courtyard, beginning with threading a needle.
Wang Yongzhu was completely baffled!
This was nothing like what she had imagined!
Although she hadn’t expected to start with rapid stitching, at the very least she thought they’d give her a piece of cloth and let her try a few stitches.
Lady Jiang continued to instruct diligently, “Little sister, if you want to learn needlework, you must first know how to thread a needle.
Learn to thread first, and I’ll demonstrate for you—”
With that, she moistened the tip of the thread with her tongue and, holding the needle up to the light, she deftly passed the thread through its eye with a slight motion of her fingers.
It was then that Wang Yongzhu realized Lady Jiang’s hands, though perpetually busy with household chores and slightly coarsened at the joints, were slender and fair with soft skin.
Her nails were clean and rounded, and there were no calluses on her fingers.
They didn’t look like the hands of a peasant woman at all.
She then looked at her own hands, plump as pig trotters, with thick fingers, more akin to those of a peasant woman than to Lady Jiang’s hands.
Instantly, she let out a sigh, “Sister-in-law, how do you care for your hands?”
Lady Jiang’s body tensed, her hands paused, and she lowered her head to separate the threads, speaking softly, “To do needlework well, the most important thing is to take good care of your hands.
Otherwise, rough hands can damage the fabric and thread.
My mother was an embroideress and she had a special recipe for hand care.
She would soak her hands in rice water every day, and before bed, massage pig lard into her hands for a quarter of an hour before wrapping them with cloth.
Persisting for a while, your hands will become delicate.”
Wang Yongzhu nodded.
She had heard about the wonders of rice water before and knew that in the past, rural women, who couldn’t afford skincare products, used pig lard to prevent their hands from chapping.
Looking at her own hands, hmm, which woman wouldn’t want a pair of slender and delicate hands?
Perhaps her pig trotters could still be salvaged after losing some weight?
Seeing that Wang Yongzhu only nodded without speaking, fear, coupled with a hint of probing, prompted Lady Jiang to say, “Younger sister, the pig lard I use for my hands doesn’t come from the kitchen; I got it by trading with someone else.
Don’t tell mother—” She knew she couldn’t keep it a secret forever, so she decided to come clean, to avoid Old Granny Zhang holding her accountable later.
At first, Wang Yongzhu didn’t quite understand, but after a moment, she grasped the situation, about to reassure Lady Jiang that it was no big deal.
But as the words reached her lips, and remembering the persona she had to maintain, she swallowed them back, and deliberately put on an imperious air, “Then you better teach me well, and I won’t tell mother!”
Lady Jiang gratefully nodded repeatedly and taught Wang Yongzhu a set of hand exercises her mother had passed down to her to improve finger suppleness and dexterity, as a hush money of sorts.
Wang Yongzhu had always felt that her fingers were too stiff.
After learning and practicing these finger exercises a couple of times, she indeed felt her fingertips heat up, and they were not as rigid.
Only then did she begin to thread a needle, a simple act that was extremely difficult for the current Wang Yongzhu.
Her fingers were too thick, the needle too fine, and she couldn’t grasp it no matter what.
If it had been the old Wang Yongzhu, she would have surely tossed everything aside in frustration and stormed off by now.
But the current Wang Yongzhu lacked nothing in patience and determination.
Having calmly accepted her situation after transmigrating here, what was threading a needle in comparison?
Lady Jiang watched from the side, her own body tense and stiff, braced for the moment her sister-in-law might explode and walk out.
Yet to her surprise, she found that although Wang Yongzhu was sweating profusely, she didn’t show any sign of impatience.
After a full quarter of an hour, Wang Yongzhu finally managed to clumsily pick up a needle.
Only then did Lady Jiang let out a sigh of relief.
She quickly pulled out a handkerchief for Wang Yongzhu, “Little sister, wipe the sweat from your palms.
No matter when, as soon as you pick up a needle and thread, your palms mustn’t be sweaty, or it will stain the thread and fabric, creating a flaw.”
These were the lessons her mother, an embroideress herself, had taught her, word by word, when she was younger.
She had wanted to pass all this knowledge to Jinhua.
However, Jinhua was too impatient, couldn’t sit still, and had to help with chores and take care of her little brother, leaving her no time to learn.
During the day, she was under the watchful eye of Old Granny Zhang, without a moment’s rest.
Come night, everyone was tired and in the dim light, teaching was impossible.
So, it had been postponed until today, when she ended up sharing it with her sister-in-law instead.
Wang Yongzhu nodded, took the handkerchief, and wiped her sweat.
She mimicked Lady Jiang’s method of threading the needle, squinting against the light, attempting over and over to thread the needle’s eye.
The needle and thread that obediently submitted to Lady Jiang rebelled in Wang Yongzhu’s hands.
Time and again, the thread missed the eye of the needle.
Wang Yongzhu’s hands were sore, her eyes felt blurred, and it took much effort before she finally managed to thread the needle.
