Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 252: Like Dislocated Bones

As for the important task of teaching how to use the toilet, that was assigned to Da Li.

The duo of one person and two cats cooperated excellently, and just like that, the family gained a new little kitten member.

And a big cat, Da Li, who treated the Wen family like a temporary inn, coming and going every so often.

Northeast winters can be truly harsh, but they can also be quite pleasant.

As long as there’s enough firewood at home, the kang can be heated 24 hours a day. Once you’re sitting on it and hanging up the cotton door and window curtains, it really doesn’t get too cold.

The premise is not to go outside. If you do, you have to be fully armed; otherwise, the cold could freeze you to death.

As a result, apart from accompanying Wen’s mother to the city to meet an old friend, she spent the rest of the winter at home embroidering, tutoring Qin Jiu, supervising him in practicing calligraphy, and practicing English, German, and Russian with him.

Yi Chichi in her original world was proficient in multiple languages. Apart from English in college, her second language was German. During her postgraduate studies abroad, she self-studied French and Latin, but didn’t learn Russian.

However, the original host did and was quite skilled at it.

Therefore, she added another language to her repertoire.

Based on "idle hands are the devil’s workshop" rationale, she took over the responsibility of practicing languages with Qin Jiu on the basis established by Old Mrs. Song and the others.

Wen’s mother wasn’t skilled in foreign languages. Every time she heard the aunt-nephew duo chirping away, she would stop her work and listen attentively, even taking notes.

The notes were quite explosive, similar to a classmate Yi Chichi once had who could translate any language into Chinese.

As for whether the phonetics were standard, it wasn’t a concern for the classmate. The meaning was what mattered, as long as he could speak and understand.

Wen’s mother was now in a similar situation.

After Qin Jiu finished his language practice for the day, he saw Wen’s mother taking notes at the table and approached to take a look.

Then, he spoke up.

"Grandma, just taking notes is useless; you have to open your mouth to speak."

Wen’s mother blushed, her grip on the pen tightening slightly, "I can’t bring myself to say it."

"Why not?"

"Every time you guys start talking, I want to speak too, but it’s like my tongue gets bitten, and I can’t make a sound."

Saying this, the look of melancholy on her face turned to joy, "But I do understand some of what you say."

"It’s okay."

Yi Chichi laughed and encouraged her to open her mouth, "Mom, language is shy. The more you fear speaking, the more you won’t dare to speak. Once you say the first sentence, you’ll find it’s nothing."

Of course, this doesn’t rule out language-challenged individuals with no specific language aptitudes. These cases are tricky unless you throw them into a foreign country where the environment forces them to activate their language skills.

If not activated, survival would be impossible, and fear or lack of talent can be overcome for survival.

But Wen’s mother’s situation wasn’t suitable for this method, so Yi Chichi delegated the task of training Wen’s mother to speak to Qin Jiu.

"Xiao Jiu, practice speaking with Grandma."

"Got it."

Qin Jiu happily agreed.

Subsequently, Wen’s mother began her days of practicing speaking under Qin Jiu’s supervision.

For safety and to avoid trouble, the three of them only spoke foreign languages during the two hours between dinner and bedtime; they didn’t speak any during the day, keeping it well concealed outside.

Yi Chichi’s room was some distance from the main entrance. With doors and windows firmly closed at night, even if someone stood with their ear pressed to the door outside, they couldn’t hear anything.

By the time December rolled around, Wen’s mother could proficiently have basic conversations in English with the aunt-nephew duo.

Yi Chichi praised, "You speak really well!"

Wen’s mother laughed heartily, "I’m actually quite smart."

"Yes, my mom is the smartest."

A very clever Wen’s mother, pleased with the praise, thought about rewarding the aunt-nephew duo.

"How about we have a lamb hotpot today?"

Previously, the livestock shed was crushed by snow, injuring three sheep and a donkey beyond saving. Captain Ma Yong and the team were heartbroken, almost on the verge of tears, but the team members were only thinking about eating meat.

Thus, the three sheep and one donkey were slaughtered and half turned in; the rest were divided among everyone.

With more people and limited meat, each family didn’t receive much, but thanks to Yi Chichi having money and Wen’s mother being open-minded.

The mother-in-law duo used their financial power to exchange with several families in the village for five pounds of lamb and twelve pounds of donkey meat.

Upon hearing they’d be having lamb hotpot for dinner, Yi Chichi and Qin Jiu promptly agreed.

After that, Wen’s mother went to the kitchen to get busy, with Qin Jiu following to help with the fire, while Yi Chichi stayed still, continuing to embroider her panda.

After they finished eating, Yi Chichi heard the loudspeaker outside blaring, "Members, here’s the news: this year the commune is organizing a yangge dance competition on the fifth day of the first lunar month. Every production team must organize a yangge team to participate. There will be an awards ceremony for the top three, with prizes. Those interested, please sign up at the team’s office after dinner!"

The news was so sudden that it took the entire Kao Shan Village by surprise.

Everyone started visiting each other’s homes to get the scoop, and invited each other to join in the fun.

Yi Chichi was among those invited, with two groups of people coming to her.

The first group was led by Liu Dongmei, consisting of local boys and girls from Kao Shan Village, and the second was from the Youth Corps Courtyard with Wang Nan and his group.

Being the invitee, Yi Chichi politely declined.

"I’m not going to participate; I can’t do the yangge dance."

"It’s super easy."

Liu Dongmei, undeterred, pulled out her handkerchief and demonstrated the yangge dance on the spot, "You just need to dance like me."

Wang Nan and her group applauded enthusiastically.

"Dongmei dances well, Chichi, you just follow her lead."

Qin Jiu and the others also urged her to join, making Yi Chichi’s mouth twitch, thinking to herself that they didn’t understand how someone with a coordination disorder when it comes to dancing truly feels.

"I really can’t do it."

She refused again, but it was useless; everyone was dead set on having her join the fun, even Liu Lan, the pregnant woman, joined in the fun watching.

Yi Chichi had no choice but to show them right then and there what a truly uncoordinated person’s yangge dance looks like.

After the dance, everyone was left speechless, utterly silent.

The world quieted down.

Yi Chichi stuffed the handkerchief back into Liu Dongmei’s pocket, slipped on her shoes, climbed onto the kang, and started busying herself with her needle and thread.

One thread was almost done when the group, finally recovering from the shock of her terrible dance moves, came to their senses.

Then—"Oh my gosh, it’s the first time I’ve vividly experienced what it’s like for one’s joints to rust."

Bai Chen’s gaze, like a searchlight, fell on Yi Chichi, filled with confusion, "I can’t understand it. Usually, you seem quite agile, but when you dance the yangge, it’s like all your bones are out of place, nothing’s right."

Yi Chichi sighed, "I don’t know either."

Perhaps it’s an inherited issue, she learned martial arts, and exercises like health-preserving calisthenics and the Five Animal Play, she got them down perfectly, but dancing—no matter the type—she just couldn’t get it right.

In her original world, her mother longed for a well-rounded daughter skilled in arts, sparing no expense to hire a classical dance maestro to teach her. The maestro was quite willing, but Yi Chichi was so hopelessly inept that after two days, the maestro ran away in desperation.

Her mother wasn’t disheartened and thought if classical dance didn’t work, then she’d try modern dance, then ballet, jazz, and such. In the end, all the teachers were driven to bid farewell by her.