Re-embroidering life

There were footsteps, and someone was walking towards her. The next moment, she fell into a cool embrace that smelled of pine smoke.

A pair of strong arms tightly wrapped around her waist, and hot kisses kept falling on her ears and cheeks.

Missing him is like a thread, endless. This is what he said in the letter. It was not until this moment that she realized that her missing him was no less than his.

They hugged each other tightly on the long snowy street, their faces pressed together, their hearts beating wildly.

After a long while, they separated and looked at each other. Shui Qinghua couldn't help but burst out laughing. A thin layer of snow had accumulated on Ji Zimo's head, as if he had grown a head of white hair. Ji Zimo also smiled and reached out to brush her hair. She realized that her hair must have turned completely white as well.

Shui Qinghua thought of her new embroidery workshop. She looked around and saw no one there. All the shop assistants and embroiderers had left. The workshop was quiet. "They must have seen it all," Shui Qinghua said shyly.

"We are husband and wife, there is nothing to be afraid of if someone sees us." Ji Zimo was calm.

"You are the last customer of Shui Xiufang today, please come in." Under the light, Shui Qinghua smiled as beautiful as a flower.

Ji Zimo's heart was moved. He walked into the embroidery workshop and looked at each piece of embroidery carefully. He stopped for a long time when he saw the new embroidery that combined the styles of Suzhou embroidery and Chu embroidery.

"Great!" His eyes sparkled. "It turns out that strong colors can create such a visual effect."

Literati paintings emphasize light colors, and the purpose is to create an "elegant" effect. Although pigments are used, heavy colors are rarely used, as this can appear vulgar if not handled properly.

"The most vulgar is the most elegant, this is true." Ji Zimo thought seriously.

"Painting maniac, stop thinking about it. What do you think of my embroidery workshop?" Shui Qinghua looked around and asked in a brisk tone. She had just observed Ji Zimo. After a few months, his aura became more stable and he became taller and stronger.

He seemed to have overcome the obstacle in his heart and was reborn.

"Qinghua, congratulations," Ji Zimo looked at her, "I have watched you get to where you are now step by step. I know better than anyone how much effort you have put in. You deserve all of this."

"This is just the beginning. There is still a long way to go. Opening an embroidery workshop will not be smooth sailing." Shui Qinghua said seriously.

"Then hold on, I will accompany you. Qinghua, in the past few months, I have learned one thing: life is very short, and there are few things we can hold in our hands. We must seize the time to do what we want to do and what we will not regret."

When he first arrived in Hong County, the people in the county government looked down on him, thinking that he was a weak young man who was only there to hold them back. He refused to believe it, and followed them every day, gritting his teeth and carrying bags of relief food to deliver to each household, rolling in sweat and mud.

He imitated Qinghua's practice when she was ignored by the women in Chen's family. He picked two officials who were easy to get along with, invited them to drink and brag, and soon became familiar with them. The two officials told him that they were not good at numerology and it was easy to make mistakes when distributing money and grain. Ji Zimo volunteered to take on all the counting and verification work.

In between work, he would occasionally take out paper and pen to draw sketches for these officials, including scenes of them delivering food, helping villagers rebuild their homes, and going through wind and rain... After a few months, it had become a thick album. Shangguan was very happy. In the past, when he boasted of his achievements in front of his superiors, it was empty words, but now he had pictures as evidence, and one picture was worth a thousand words.

After working hard for a long time, he finally gained recognition from the county government, and the evaluation of him became: "Master Ji looks like a man made of jade, but he is actually a man like us."

"Later," Ji Zimo's voice deepened, "they took me to Qingyuzui."

Qingyuzui, the place where all homes were destroyed and countless people were killed and injured, the place that haunted him with nightmares, where every night he seemed to be in the huge waves, drowning in the screams.

Just as he imagined, the fields were deserted, the villages were in ruins, and almost every household was covered in white. But unlike what he imagined, no one was crying or complaining. Everyone was working quietly, cleaning up the wasteland and repairing the houses. A middle-aged farmer said to him calmly, "The dead are dead, and the living have to live on."

Knowing that his name was Ji Zimo, the farmer actually said, "I know you. When the officials delivered the money and grain, they told me that there was a kind man named Ji Zimo in Jiangxia who donated a large sum of money to Qingyuzui. You are a good man and saved our entire village."

Ji Zimo was so ashamed. How could he be considered a good man? It was not he who saved them, but they who saved him.

He lived in Qingyuzui for a month, working in the fields with the farmers, building houses and cooking together. His skin became tanned, his body became stronger, he fell asleep as soon as he was tired, and the nightmares that haunted him every night disappeared without any medicine.

"Qinghua, people say that human life is like grass, but grass also has its own resilience and strength. Whenever I see weak grass and dust, I think of the fact that a hundred years of life is just a dream bubble. Apart from life and death, there is nothing important." Ji Zimo put his hands on Shui Qinghua's shoulders, tears already shining in his eyes: "I met an old lady in Qianzhou. When she was young, she encountered a big flood. At that time, she fled with a pair of six or seven-year-old children. The house collapsed and she had nothing. Twenty years later, she fled again with two grandsons who were almost the same age. This time, the family business she had accumulated for twenty years was gone. Now she is already in her twilight years, and it is impossible to start over. Her life has passed like this. But she smiled and told me that she rescued her children and descendants in both floods, and she was very satisfied."

Ji Zimo looked at Shui Qinghua affectionately: "After experiencing Qianzhou, I am very grateful to be alive. Not only alive, but also with you and the children by my side. Since I am alive, I must live up to this life. No matter how many storms there are in the future, I will support you and accompany you through them. Qinghua, are you willing to join hands with me?"

Tears fell from Shui Qinghua's eyes like beads. He saw it, saw that she had always been worried about gains and losses, and was wavering. Because of her past life experience, she had always closed her heart, and because she was afraid of being hurt, she didn't dare to open herself, and even suppressed her thoughts.

Seeing her just crying, her eyes dodging, but she didn't nod for a long time, Ji Zimo understood. His hopeful eyes slowly dimmed. He knew that he had given too little to this family in the past seven years and hurt Qinghua's heart. But they still have many seven years in the future, and he still has many opportunities. As long as he exchanges his heart for hers, one day, he will see the love in her eyes rekindled.

"Qinghua, you have been protecting me for the past seven years. From now on, it will be my turn to protect you." He swore silently in his heart.