Ink Burns

Chapter 2 The Coming Rainstorm

The old shopkeeper lowered his chin, raised his upper eyelids and looked at He Shanyue: "Hey, you want to pay more?"

He Shanyue laughed again, "Look at what you said - I drew the patterns, my mother embroidered them, and you collected them for two years. I collect them every two months. A square pattern costs three cents, and the price has never increased. Last month, the girl from Chen's went to the county to look at the materials. She said that a square fan pattern like this could be sold for eight to ten cents, which would make a lot of money. So she invited me to go to the county to sell the embroidery patterns. She gave me six cents, and she earned the rest for travel expenses."

He Shanyue smiled and took out a handkerchief from the wicker basket. Inside the handkerchief were some sugar-threaded crisps. "She just came back from the county today and brought me some sugar-threaded crisps!"

The old shopkeeper narrowed his eyes, glanced at He Shanyue, leaned over to pick up the embroidery pattern on the counter and looked at it carefully.

Qiu Erniang secretly tugged at the corner of He Shanyue's clothes.

He Shanyue blinked and patted the back of his mother's hand soothingly.

After a long while, after examining about twenty embroidery frames, the old shopkeeper put down his hands, lowered his chin, and continued to look at He Shanyue with a half-smile: "Well, I remember you, the embroidery looks good, but the workmanship is so-so - Chen's will give you six, and I'll give you five, do you want to sell them?"

Before Qiu Erniang had time to think about it, she heard He Shanyue's full voice: "Sell!"

The old shopkeeper smiled.

The mother and daughter immediately found an open space. He Shanyue used scissors to separate the wooden strips, while Qiu Erniang concentrated on embroidering the words. She also used a fire stick to burn the thread ends to hide the stitches. The mother and daughter cooperated well, and in less than two hours, the money and the goods were exchanged. A hundred copper coins fell into He Shanyue's pocket with a "ding ding dong dong" sound.

When the mother and daughter walked out of Shen's, the shop assistants came over and laughed, "This little girl is amazing. The little bird has dazzled your old goose. That old bearded man Chen was so angry that he didn't want to spend the six copper coins!"

The old shopkeeper raised his eyelids and said, "You can see clearly, but your ancestors can't see clearly?"

Pushing the finished pattern in front of the clerk, she said, "The embroidery skills are similar, so we're competing to see who has a better-looking pattern. Take a look at it, and see what's so special about it."

The guy squinted and scratched his head: "I can't tell, but I think it's brighter than others."

The old shopkeeper lowered his head and shook his head, his voice drawn out: "It's not bright, it's spiritual energy - look at this little shepherd boy embroidered here, look here, it's hidden here. Do you see it?"

The guy craned his neck.

The old shopkeeper knocked on the counter and said, "This embroidery is called Farming. The main characters are the rice flowers in the front. The shepherd boy is as small as a thumb shell. Other embroidery is not like this. It's good enough if you can vaguely see the shepherd boy's hat. - Her shepherd boy is alive! He is standing by the river and skipping stones. Here, and here, do you see these white indigo flowers splashing water?"

The whole picture moved instantly.

This embroidery looks like a painting, no, no, it's just like the real thing!
The guy said "Oh".
The old shopkeeper carefully put away the embroidery pattern: the people in this town have narrow vision and do not know the value of things, but the nobles in Suzhou and Songjiang cities have good vision.

Ten cents?
The old shopkeeper sneered in his heart.

Last month, an antique painting studio in Suzhou Prefecture sold all the round fan embroidery patterns made by this mother and daughter for 18 wen per piece!

After leaving Shen's, Qiu Erniang could not help asking, "When did you ask Chen to go to the county town to inquire?"

The wicker basket was to be used to store the meat, so He Shanyue wrapped the scissors and fire starter in cloth and kept them close to his body.

"I didn't ask Chen Ji. Chen Ji can't give Shen Ji the price, so there's no need to work for nothing." He Shanyue walked and looked, his eyes flashing across the stalls one by one, and finally locked onto the figure of Ku Cao Xiao Cai Tou at the candy man stall.

"Then how do you know that a fan costs ten cents in the county?" Qiu Erniang frowned.

He Shanyue walked and said, "I don't know. I just guessed. Uncle Lin Wu sold lotus pods. He gave two to the town for one cent and one to the county for two cents. I just guessed based on the price."

Mrs. Qiu opened her mouth and said, "That sugar-thread pastry? It looks like it is indeed a pastry from the county?"

"Oh, I paid five cents more to ask the clerk at Chen's to buy it for me from the county. I took it when I first arrived at Chen's." He Shanyue grabbed Kucao Xiaocaitou's neck and gave one of the sugar-coated crisps wrapped in a handkerchief to his sister and one to his mother.

Qiu Erniang didn't take the cake: "It's sweet, but I have a toothache and can't eat it. You guys eat it."

He Shanyue gave both sugar-coated crisps to his sister and said, "However, the old manager of Shen's probably didn't believe what I said." "Ah?" Qiu Erniang didn't understand.

"If he believed it, why would he say 'Chen Ji gives six, we give five' and ask me if I want to sell it?" He Shanyue smiled and touched the top of his sister's head, "At least he should give Chen Ji the same price."

Qiu Erniang was even more puzzled: "Then why did he raise our salary?"

He Shanyue raised an eyebrow disapprovingly: "The premise of the deal is that you need what I have. If our embroidery pattern is not good, he won't fall for it even if I blackmail him and cheat him. In the final analysis, he wants our embroidery work."

It is also possible that it is not him who wants it, but someone else.

He Shanyue did not ask any further questions. She did not have the ability to leave Taobao Town now.

Although Qiu Erniang didn't understand, she looked at her eldest daughter with relief and pride.

The eldest daughter was precocious and stood out among the children in the fields. She even thought that the eldest daughter was smarter than Huang Xiucai's son, and she often said things that she could not understand but were very shocking!

"It would be great if you were a son." Qiu Erniang sighed.

Qiu Erniang lowered her head and listened to the "ding-ding-dong-dong" sound of copper coins hitting each other in her purse.

A girl cannot become a son, but embroidery can turn into money.

"I'll listen to you. Let's go buy some meat first. Then go to the market to buy some paper and pens for your father. Oh, frost will fall after autumn. Buy your father a pair of leather boots, and you and Shuiguang a pair of cotton shoes each."

Qiu Erniang started to think about it.

how about you?
Everyone gets a reward, but what about you who have ruined your eyes and hands by embroidering day and night?
He Shanyue lowered his head and suddenly felt a little angry.

"Take the rest of the silver and hide it. Let's work harder. Your father will take the imperial examination in the future, and there will be many more places where we need money. When your father passes the examination and becomes a scholar, we can buy some land and two oxen to plow the land. Only then will our life be better!"

Qiu Erniang sighed with satisfaction.

Forget it—He Shanyue took a few deep breaths before telling himself to forget it.

When I lowered my head, I saw my sister chewing candy like a little hamster, her cheeks moving as if she was hungry.

He Shanyue asked: "Didn't you eat the five-thread noodles?"

He Shuiguang pouted immediately: "I didn't get to eat! The breakfast stall at the market was closed after noon!"

He Shanyue kneaded two handfuls of turnips and said with a smile, "Come back and eat later."

As it got darker, the mother, daughter and her two daughters walked towards Shuijing Lane in the east. The setting sun stretched their shadows, and then slowly disappeared into the endless darkness as the sun set and night fell.

He Shanyue walked in front, and Qiu Erniang followed behind holding He Shuiguang.

The bricks and stones of the alley separated the bustle of the market. In the silence, He Shanyue suddenly caught a strange sound coming from behind him.

He Shanyue turned around and was suddenly hit in the face by a club!
The soft, slow, dull "clang" sound was dragged out as long as a shadow in the alley, in the dark night where the demons were dancing wildly.

In the narrow alley, there is only this ownerless wicker basket.

Nothing more.

(End of this chapter)