Re-embroidering life

When she woke up, it was almost noon the next day. After feeding Wei'er, Shui Qinghua leaned on the pillow and thought about things.

Since God has given her a second chance to live, she naturally cannot waste this gift. In her previous life, she left behind too many regrets: her dilapidated and premature death, her inability to stand up straight in the Ji Mansion, her three daughters' growth each with its own flaws, and of course, the truth between Ji Zimo and the Tang family.

Things have to be dealt with one by one. The most urgent thing is to take care of your body. At the moment, her body seems to be fine, but in fact, she has some symptoms. In her previous life, she delayed seeing a doctor, always thinking that she could recover by herself, but after a few years, she was already powerless.

She doesn't see a doctor, firstly because she is busy, and secondly because she is poor.

After the Ji family was raided, the house, land, shop, and cash were all gone, and they had to rely on the old lady's dowry and private property to survive. Most of the servants were forcibly dismissed, leaving only a few female servants. The eldest and second sisters-in-law both had dowry maids, but she didn't, and she didn't get any after she got married. In addition to hiring two maids to do odd jobs for the third room, all other matters were handled by her alone.

She was used to doing this at her parents' home. At first, she was only responsible for the young couple, but as the children were born one after another, she gradually became overwhelmed. Ji Zimo's diet and daily life required her to worry about everything, and she had to get up early and stay up late to take care of all three children.

It was not just the hard work, but the financial difficulties made her miserable. She had no dowry, and Ji Zimo had not started an official career. She could not bear to bother Ji Zimo with worldly affairs, nor did she have the face to ask her mother-in-law for money. She could only save money from the public share, and if it was not enough, she would secretly take on some embroidery work. Burning the candle at both ends, no matter how good the foundation is, it can't stand this consumption, day after day, her body was ruined.

If she had to live her life over again, she would definitely not want to live like this. She would hire someone to help her take care of the children and do the housework, see the best doctors, and buy the best medicines and supplements to nourish her body.

Where does the money come from?

Her eyes unconsciously fixed on the embroidered screen with a picture of galloping horses on the bedside.

It was as if a ray of light flashed across the chaos of heaven and earth, and she suddenly had an idea and decided to sell the embroidered screen!

"Running Horses" is the culmination of Ji Zimo's many years of hard work. Two years later, with the help of this painting, he emerged out of nowhere at a high-level gathering and became a first-class calligrapher and painter of the time. His reputation even spread as far as Jiangnan, attracting the attention of Miss Tang again.

She believed that with Ji Zimo's drawings and her embroidery skills, the price of this embroidered screen would not be low and would be able to solve her urgent needs. The most important thing was to save her life first.

Restraining the reluctance in her heart, Shui Qinghua called Ji Fei to her side and told her to ask someone to go to her grandparents' house to invite her aunt.

The eldest sister Shui Minghua was born smart and went to Yuquan Girls' School since she was young. Her father often said that if she were not a woman, she could have achieved fame. The eldest sister has not married yet and is a teacher in the girls' school, teaching and educating people. If there is anyone in my mother's family who is worthy of trust, it is only the eldest sister.

Soon, the eldest sister Minghua arrived. She held Ji Wei in her arms and looked at her from left to right, looking very curious. She took out a small silver lock and put it into Qinghua's hand: "This is the third-day baptism gift given by grandparents to Wei'er."

Shui Qinghua knew that the silver lock was bought by her eldest sister herself and had nothing to do with her parents, but she just didn't expose it.

Shui Qinghua handed the embroidered screen to Minghua and asked her to sell it. Minghua was surprised. She had some vision. This was not an ordinary embroidery. Strictly speaking, it was an "embroidered painting", a painting made with needles and embroidery made with paintings. On the embroidered screen, the horse was galloping with its head held high, its hooves were flying, its muscles were clearly defined, and its hair was clearly visible, as if it would jump out of the embroidered cloth at any time. Both the painter and the embroiderer must have been immersed in this art for at least ten years. The combination of the two is like a pair of swords, complementing each other.

"You embroidered this?" Shui Minghua was a little bit incredulous. She knew her sister was good at needlework, but she didn't expect it to be this good. She admired it again and again and couldn't let it go. "How can you bear to part with it? The painting belongs to your brother-in-law, right? Does he agree to let you sell it?"

Shui Qinghua turned away her eyes and remained silent.

Shui Minghua knew about her sister's predicament, but she and her father were just teachers with meager salaries and could not help her sister. Because she did not bring a dowry, her sister was always criticized by her sisters-in-law behind her back.

Shui Minghua finally agreed to her second sister's request.

After watching her elder sister leave her bedroom, Shui Qinghua sat blankly on the hardwood bed, her eyes slowly passing over the crude curtains and outdated furniture...

Is she really still alive?

She tried to get up, get down to the ground, and touch the objects in front of her one by one, feeling the texture of the objects with her fingers.

She's still alive. It's great to be alive.

Shui Minghua was reluctant to sell the embroidered screen, so she asked for leave from the girls' school and made a special trip to Siyifang, the largest embroidery shop in Echeng County.

With the treasure in her arms, Shui Minghua was particularly confident and asked to see the shopkeeper directly. The shopkeeper saw that she was dressed in ordinary clothes, but she was elegant and graceful, and had a strong scholarly air, so he didn't want to neglect her. He quickly took her to the private room on the second floor.

After a while, two men came in. The tall man was imposing, with sharp eyes and a face that looked like it was cut by a knife. The short and fat man had a round face and smiled happily when he saw people.

Shui Minghua immediately determined that the short and fat man was the shopkeeper, as he looked just like her, so she nodded to him and said, "Shopkeeper, I have a fine piece of embroidery to sell. What do you think the price is?"

When Shui Minghua took out the embroidery, the tall man took it without hesitation. He had just glanced at it casually, but his eyes froze in an instant, looking it up and down again and again. After a long while, he asked, "How much do you want, young lady?"

Shui Minghua hesitated for a moment and held out five fingers. The man nodded and instructed the short and fat man: "Take five hundred taels of silver."

Shui Minghua was stunned. She originally wanted fifty taels, which was a huge sum of money for an average small family, enough for a year's expenses. She didn't expect this man to give ten times the price without even frowning.

The man asked again: "Who made this embroidered screen?"

Shui Minghua paused. Her sister only asked her to sell something and did not authorize her to reveal the name. After a moment's thought, Shui Minghua said, "It was made by Buddhist Furong."

Shui Minghua is a teacher who prides himself on being honest, but today he discovered that he has a talent for making up stories.

The man was stunned for a moment, then smiled meaningfully and suddenly asked, "Girl's surname is Shui?"

Now it was Shui Minghua's turn to be dumbfounded. Her stunned expression made the man laugh. He bowed and said seriously, "My name is Shen. Nice to meet you, Miss Shui."

Shui Minghua walked out of Siyifang holding the banknote, still feeling dizzy. She was happy again thinking that she had sold the embroidery for a good price and had not let her sister down.

The short fat man asked the tall man, "Mr. Shen, why did you give so much money right away?"

Shen Yi smiled and said, "Manager Wang, I don't believe you can't think of it. The embroidery sold in Siyifang is mostly for decoration of clothing and curtains, and the main purpose is practicality. There is basically no embroidery for painting, it is too difficult, and ordinary embroiderers can't do it at all. This needlework and this drawing are all at the level of masters. Let's make a good relationship and draw later."

Shopkeeper Wang nodded in agreement, thinking about finding out where the girl came from. Who knows, maybe he could collaborate with the author of the embroidered screen in the future.

"How do you know that girl's last name is Shui?"

"I tricked her," Shen Yi put on a mischievous smile, "Look at the lower right corner of the embroidered screen, there is a water ripple embroidered on it, which should be the mark of the embroiderer. I guess the embroiderer's surname might be Shui, or Jiang, or Hai. This girl is probably the embroiderer's sister or close relative. I dared to trick her, but I didn't expect that I would win!"

Thinking of the shocked expression on Shui Minghua's cold face, Shen Yi couldn't help laughing.

"Jiangxia Governor Huang is about to celebrate his 50th birthday, and the officials in the city are racking their brains to find birthday gifts. Governor Huang's zodiac sign is the horse. Look at this horse galloping with four hooves. Doesn't it reflect Governor Huang's success and success in the officialdom? Don't worry, it won't be difficult to sell it for a thousand taels of silver!"

Shopkeeper Wang suddenly realized that although he was good at doing business, his sense of communication in the officialdom was far less sensitive than that of the children of officials. Fortunately, Mr. Shen was inspecting the store on behalf of his sister, Ms. Shen, and happened to meet this girl Shui, so he made this deal.