The Legend of the Farm Girl

After Yunfang's mother arrived home, Yunfang coaxed her little brother who had just woken up, while Yunfeng had fallen asleep beside her. Yunfang's mother quickly took her little son to feed him. Then she said to Yunfang, "Except for the money I gave to your Aunt Wang, there are 302 coins left. Fang'er, let me discuss with you. You should stop learning this rattan basket. You should start learning embroidery today. You should learn it in your dreams first, and then we will weave rattan baskets together during the day. When you have learned enough, I will go to the county town's embroidery shop to buy you some cloth and take on some work. What do you think?"

Yunfang nodded and said to her mother, "Okay, Mom, I also think that weaving rattan baskets all the time is not a long-term solution. In two months, the rattan will wither and there will be no material left. I know what to choose and how to make it."

Yunfang's mother looked at the sensible Yunfang and couldn't help crying again, "Thank you for your hard work, my dear. Your short-lived father passed away so early, leaving a poor girl like me who was only seven years old without a day to rest."

Yunfang couldn't help but tear up, not because she felt that she was suffering, but because she understood her mother's sadness and guilt. She comforted her mother and said, "Mom, I always feel that the learning system is a gift from God to me. Without it, I will never learn what I want to learn in my life, and I will never have the opportunity to change my fate. So I am not afraid of hardship, and I am not suffering either."

The mother and daughter had another heart-to-heart talk. At this time, Yunfeng woke up and muttered that he was hungry. Yunfang went to cook, while Yunfang's mother went to the mountains to cut some more rattan.

Life has returned to an orderly state. Yunfang learns embroidery in the system every day, starting with the simplest handkerchief embroidery. This is really a very profound knowledge system. Many embroiderers start practicing at the age of four or five, and can only become masters at the age of seventeen or eighteen. But Yunfang has the best teacher, one-on-one explanation, and she can practice in the system without worrying about the cost. In this way, a month has passed, and Yunfang can already embroider a handkerchief very well in the system.

During this period, Yunfang's mother also took the children to visit their grandparents' home. Their grandparents just took a look at little Yun and gave him the name Yunying. They told Yunfang's mother to try not to come in the future. Since Yunfang's father was gone, there was no need for Yunfang's mother to take care of them in their old age. They just needed to live their own lives.

Yunfang's mother went there and cried for a long time when she got home. This time she cried because she felt sorry for herself and Yunfang's father. When Yunfang's father was alive, he tried his best to please his parents-in-law but was never welcomed. Now that he is gone, his parents-in-law don't even miss him and are even more indifferent to his children.

Yunfang's mother felt that she had to fight harder and raise the children well so that Yunfang's father would feel relieved if he were still alive.

During the day, Yunfang and her mother weaved rattan baskets together. This time they mainly weaved larger rattan baskets, and they made more than eighty of them in total. On the fifth day of July, Yunfang's mother hired an ox cart from Aunt Wang's family and transported the rattan baskets to the market. This time the rattan baskets sold as well as last time. After using the baskets sold last time, everyone felt that the quality was very good, and with word of mouth, they sold out quickly this time. Even if there were no small baskets to match, those who needed them came to buy them.

This time, Yunfangniang received a total of 437 coins. She took out 15 coins and gave them to Aunt Wang, saying to her, "I have to trouble your family to take me to the county town. I need to buy some things. The county town is not far from the village. It only takes a quarter of an hour to drive a bullock cart. Yunfangniang decided to buy the things to embroider the handkerchief for Yunfang this time. Otherwise, it would be too difficult for me to leave the village and go to the county town."

Aunt Wang looked at Uncle Wang, nodded and said, "Okay, let's go. The oxcart can't get into the county town. We'll wait for you outside."

Several people drove a ox cart to the county town.

After Yun Fangniang entered the city, she asked around and found a large embroidery workshop. After Yun Fangniang walked in, a woman immediately came forward and asked, "Madam, what do you want to choose? Our Shanhai Embroidery Workshop is the largest embroidery workshop in the county, and we have all kinds of items."

Although Yun Fangniang was dressed simply, the shop assistants here did not look down on her at all. Instead, they were very enthusiastic, which made her, who was originally very nervous, calm down a lot.

She said to the woman next to her: "I'm not here to buy anything, I want to take some embroidery work."

After the woman listened to her, she looked at Yun Fangniang and said, "Is this your first time to take a job here? Then I'll take you to the shopkeeper who gives out jobs, and he will tell you the details."

Soon, Yun Fangniang was brought to the presence of Manager Huang, who was in charge of the temporary embroiderers.

The shopkeeper Huang who brought Yun Fangniang here said, "Shopkeeper Huang, this lady wants to take on a temporary embroidery job, so I brought it to her. Please talk to her. I'll go get busy first."

Yun Fangniang looked at the shopkeeper Huang in front of her with some trepidation. Huang seemed to have seen this kind of scene many times. He said to Yun Fangniang, "If you come to take a job for the first time, you can only take the job of embroidering handkerchiefs. You can only buy blank handkerchiefs from us. One handkerchief costs ten coins, and one coin for an embroidery thread. You can choose the color you want. You can only embroider plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum on the handkerchief. The price we charge for the embroidery will be determined according to your embroidery level, usually ranging from twenty to thirty coins. When you send more goods, the price of blank handkerchiefs will drop, and the price of handmade ones will be higher. Don't be afraid that we will not accept the embroidered handkerchiefs and cheat you out of the money for the blank handkerchiefs. We are such a big store. If we don't have credit, we will definitely go bankrupt!"

Yun Fangniang thought for a moment and said to Huang, "Okay, please bring me thirty handkerchiefs, sixty embroidery threads, and two new embroidery needles."

Shopkeeper Huang was somewhat surprised that the woman in front of him actually took so many goods at once. It was rare for a novice embroiderer to invest so much for the first time.

But he still gave all the things to Yun Fangniang.

"Each embroidery needle is three cents, and two are five cents, so the total is three hundred and sixty-five cents."

After paying the money, Huang also gave Yun Fangniang a cloth bag to hold the embroidery.

"I have to remind you that the embroidery must be kept clean."

Yun Fang Niang nodded and replied, "Okay, I'll pay attention to it. Thank you, Manager Huang."

After leaving the Shanhai Embroidery Workshop, Yun Fangniang went straight to the city gate. After reuniting with Aunt Wang and her husband, the three of them returned home as quickly as possible.

The first thing Yunfang's mother did when she got home was to bring Yunying over to feed her. She had been away for a long time this time, and Yunying was crying loudly because of hunger. When she came back, Yunfang was holding Yunying in her arms and comforting her patiently.

After Yunying drank the milk, she calmed down. Yunfang looked at her mother with her big, bright eyes, and Yunfang's mother burst out laughing.

"I know you're anxious. Look, it's all in this cloth bag. But you have to wash your hands before you look at them. The owner of the embroidery shop said that they can't get it dirty, otherwise they won't accept it."

Yunfang nodded quickly and said to her mother, "I understand, Mom, when I was practicing in the system, I learned all these movements like hand-cleansing. Don't worry."

Yunfang hurried to fetch a basin of water. Yunying had finished her milk and fell asleep by then. Yunfeng stood by and watched his sister and mother washing their hands in a daze. Fortunately, Yunfeng was very well behaved. No matter when he was weaving the rattan basket before or the handkerchief and thread he bought now, he would not touch them with his hands. Instead, he just stood by and watched quietly what his mother and sister were doing.

Yunfang took out a blank handkerchief, embroidery needles and embroidery threads, and said to her mother in surprise: "Mom, these are exactly the same as what I often practice. Once I get used to the real feel, I believe I can embroider a good piece."

After hearing Yunfang's assurance, Yunfang's mother smiled and explained to Yunfang, "Shopkeeper Huang of the embroidery workshop said that we only need embroidery patterns of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum for the handkerchief." Then she explained to Yunfang in detail what Shopkeeper Huang had said.