Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 245: Not Much of a Surprise

As soon as the door opened, the siblings slipped in like thieves, and Liu Lan murmured to quickly close the door.

Wen’s mother swiftly closed the door, and Yi Chichi greeted the siblings to sit down.

"Chichi, this is for you."

Second Brother Liu, Liu Zhongwei, casually unloaded the thing from his shoulder and threw it onto the table with a bang.

The mother and daughter-in-law looked closely and, wow, pork.

And it wasn’t just a pound or two, but a significant portion with the hind leg attached.

Yi Chichi was dumbfounded, "What does this mean?"

"It’s for you."

Liu Lan hugged her with a smile, "Aren’t you surprised and delighted?"

Not really delighted, but the surprise was genuine.

The mother and daughter-in-law exchanged glances, Yi Chichi said with some headache, "I’m asking why you and Second Brother Liu are bringing so much pork."

This portion of pork was at least thirty to forty pounds, worth about thirty to forty dollars.

That’s quite a substantial gift, comparable to an ordinary worker’s monthly salary.

"You helped sell the Spring Bunting, you wouldn’t take a share of the money, but the embroidery pattern for that Spring Bunting came from you, the technique was also taught by you..."

Saying this, Liu Lan sighed, "Your generosity makes me uneasy."

In other words, accepting the money felt uncomfortable.

"The main thing is my sister at home isn’t good at designing embroidery patterns. If she wants to continue on this path, she’ll need your help quite a bit in the future."

Liu Zhongwei said earnestly, "So, after discussing as a family, we thought that since you don’t want the money, we’ll give you and auntie some meat instead."

This reason was pretty solid.

The mother and daughter-in-law both fell silent.

After a while, Yi Chichi helplessly said, "I..."

"No refusing."

Worried she might say no, Liu Lan quickly interrupted her, threatening, "If you don’t accept it, I won’t dare to bother you for embroidery patterns in the future."

With one sentence, she completely blocked what Yi Chichi was about to say.

In a dilemma, she looked at Wen’s mother, "Mom, what do you think?"

"Take it."

Wen’s mother calmly replied, the sibling duo had sneaked over to deliver this, their words sincere enough, also hinting a bit of embarrassment knowing they would need her daughter-in-law’s help for embroidery patterns in the future.

Refusing wouldn’t be good, it might hurt their feelings.

Upon hearing Wen’s mother’s words, Liu Lan and her brother relaxed their tense emotions.

Faces smiling, they got up to leave.

Wen’s mother warmly tried to keep them, "Stay a while longer."

"No, auntie, we need to get up early tomorrow for handing in the grain."

Liu Zhongwei smiled and refused, with Liu Lan chiming in, "Chichi, you and auntie should rest early, I’ll come to play with you tomorrow."

"Okay!"

And so, the mother and daughter-in-law saw them off.

Then, the two stared at the pork on the table, looking at it for quite a while before Yi Chichi spoke, "Mom, how should we handle this pork?"

"Do you want to eat it fresh or prepared in another style?"

"Fresh meat."

Wen’s mother twitched the corner of her mouth, "Keep half fresh, and the rest, do you want it smoked or cured?"

"Smoked meat."

"Alright, you go to bed, I’ll handle the rest."

"I can’t sleep yet, I have to deliver meat to Wang Nan."

Made several pairs of shoes, all with layered soles, which was both hand-cramping and time-consuming.

Previously, with no meat, I could only owe it and make up later when I had it. Now that I have it, it’s better to give it earlier.

Just to replenish their nutrition a bit.

Wen’s mother looked at the sky outside, so dark you couldn’t see a hand in front of your face.

She frowned disapprovingly, "Too dark, go during the day."

"Too many people during the day."

Concerned about gossip, thinking it better to be more discreet.

Wen’s mother had nothing to say, she checked the pork, then turned to the kitchen and came back with a knife, efficiently cutting off a piece of pork belly.

"Wang Zhiqing and the others are probably short on nutrients, with no fatty meat, let them make do with pork belly."

And so, Wang Nan, who was lying on the kang about to fall asleep, received a delivery of pork belly from Yi Chichi.

Xue Jiahuan had a room to himself, while Wang Nan, Ge Sujuan, and Zhou Qiuyu were sharing a room.

Once the door was closed and voices lowered, even with an ear to the door, you wouldn’t necessarily hear them.

After entering, the four headed straight to the kang table to whisper.

"Why deliver meat at this time?"

"Not convenient during the day."

She didn’t say why, but they weren’t foolish and understood her implication.

The source of this meat was a bit illegitimate, very likely from the black market.

"It’s a bit much."

Wang Nan weighed it by hand, looking at her, "You didn’t bring all the family’s meat, did you?!"

Yi Chichi looked at him as if he was an alien, "Who’s the fool between us? Do I look like such a generous person?"

"Not to others, but you’ve never been stingy with us!"

This made Yi Chichi’s lips uncontrollably curl up, "Knowing I’m good to you, be good to me in the future too."

"Of course, we have to."

The three of them pledged, or you could say they painted a pretty picture, including even promises to take care of her baby and wash diapers when she had one.

The picture they painted was as big and round as can be.

But Yi Chichi wasn’t buying it, she reminded Wang Nan, "Wen Shi has a lot of activity, wears out shoes quickly, remember to make his shoes solid enough."

"Don’t worry, I dare not speak for other things, but my shoe-making skills are top-notch."

Afraid she’d still worry, he nudged Ge Sujuan, "I can even have Juanzi help too."

"I can too,"

Zhou Qiuyu quickly raised her hand to show her presence, only to be rebuffed by Wang Nan and Ge Sujuan, leaving her feeling quite wronged, "I’ve learned almost everything about making shoes, I can do it."

"Being able to do it doesn’t mean you’ve mastered it, your shoemaking skills still need honing."

Yi Chichi didn’t want to count on her, "I don’t want Wen Shi to receive shoes only for them to fall apart after a couple of days."

This hit Zhou Qiuyu hard, she gloomily said she’d help out once she was skilled, and by then Yi Chichi wouldn’t be allowed to refuse.

Refusal wasn’t possible.

After all, Yi Chichi had no intention of learning shoemaking, cloth shoes were a product of the times, once industry advanced they could be mass-produced, making it too low in cost-effectiveness to be worth learning.

"You study hard, I’ll rely on you for my cloth shoes in the future."

She soothingly patted Zhou Qiuyu’s shoulder, with a look that said, I’m counting on you.

This girl was easy to please, hearing this made her beam, promising to study well.

Then, after the four chatted leisurely for a few more lines, Yi Chichi headed home.

With meat already taken care of for her by Wen’s mother, waiting for her return, they each went to their rooms to rest, sleeping soundly through the night.

The next morning, after breakfast, Yi Chichi went to the clinic, and Wen’s mother took the money and tickets given to her to join the group handing over the grain at the commune.

They received two big packages sent by Wen Shi, three letters, a sewing machine, as well as soy sauce, vinegar, salt... toilet paper and other daily necessities.

There were also White Rabbit candy, pastries, and so on.

Even stationery and comic books, prepared for Qin Jiu according to her list.

The appearance of the sewing machine caused a small stir; the only reason it didn’t cause a major commotion was that at Liu Lan’s wedding, her husband had prepared the three revolving items and one sound.

The brigade leader and the party secretary’s homes also had sewing machines, as the saying goes, rarity adds value, but since the village already had three households with them, the sewing machine Wen’s mother brought back didn’t seem so precious.