Wei Nian insisted on charging her for the two pieces of material, which made Chen Xuan feel bad. Although Chen Xuan had figured out some tricks to coax Wei Nian, she was not very good at bargaining. The key point was that Chen Xuan felt that she had returned the material without consulting Wei Nian. Wei Nian insisted on her paying for it, and she had no choice.
But, who would be happy to have two more huge debts
Especially after Chen Xuan asked Wei Nian about the price of the two pieces of material, she heard that one piece of material cost one dollar in cash, and that was the cost price. Chen Xuan wanted to ask Wei Jin to get the material back. But when she saw Wei Jin the next day, she felt that if she forced him, Wei Jin might not give it to her. If she made a scene, it would be another problem. After thinking about it, Chen Xuan would rather owe Wei Nian two dollars. After all, she could pay it off by planting more strawberries next year. If she provoked Wei Jin for no reason, she would never have peace in the future.
Just think of it as paying for a lesson.
Chen Xuan thought silently that she could never return anything to Old Mrs. Wei casually again.
Chen Xuan was in a bad mood because of the huge debts. She was listless for two days. Wei Yin thought that Chen Xuan was not feeling well and asked her. Chen Xuan said it was because of the two huge debts. Fortunately, people can't let debts worry them to death. Anyway, they owed Wei Nian a lot of money. Chen Xuan was listless for two days, but she picked up her spirits and struggled again. She thought that she was not smart enough, otherwise, she wouldn't have these two debts.
So, Chen Xuan worked harder and studied harder.
Counting the solar terms on the calendar, Chen Xuan harvested the cabbages in the vegetable patch before the Frost Descent, and moved the cabbages with Li and Wei Yin to the kitchen space that had been cleared in advance, arranging them neatly. Old Mrs. Wei nodded as she watched, thinking that Chen Xuan had grown a good cabbage crop, saving most of the vegetables for the winter.
After Chen Xuan harvested her own cabbage, she went to the neighbor Xu's house to see Xu's cabbage. The two families planted their cabbages only one day apart, and now Xu's cabbage is almost the same, with cores wrapped and very solid. Chen Xuan helped her family harvest the cabbage. Mrs. Xu and Aunt Xu carried the cabbage into the house, and Chen Xuan turned over her family's vegetable field. When they were almost done, everyone went to the house to drink tea.
Mrs. Xu smiled and said, "Thank you for helping me do this half-day work again."
"It's nothing, just a simple task." Chen Xuan didn't think much of it. She knew that the Xu family didn't know much about growing vegetables, so she said to Mrs. Xu, "Winter is the time to nourish the soil. If you keep the stove ash or the water from the hot pot for a few days, you can use it to irrigate the vegetable garden. It will be fertile for next year's crops."
"Okay." Mrs. Xu smiled. "With this vegetable garden this year, we don't have to buy vegetables this fall and winter."
"We are the same. Our old lady didn't say anything. Yesterday, when we were putting the cabbages into the kitchen, she came over to look two or three times. Then, after each look, she nodded back with satisfaction." Chen Xuan secretly imitated the way Old Lady Wei nodded, which made Mrs. Xu and Aunt Xu laugh. As Chen Xuan got to know the Xu family better, she became more relaxed and talked more. She still had something to ask Mrs. Xu. Chen Xuan said, "Brother Anian was invited by Mr. Jiao to a salon. I knew a little about salons when I was learning foreign languages. I heard that it was spread from foreigners, but I don't know what it is like. Aunt, you have some knowledge, please tell me about it."
Mrs. Xu thought for a moment, "I've only heard about these foreigners. As you said, this was originally an activity for foreigners, mostly brought back to China by some students who went abroad to study. It's nothing, just an informal gathering in the social scene, how should I put it?" Worried that Chen Xuan didn't quite understand, Mrs. Xu smiled and raised her teacup, "It's just like us drinking tea together, with more people and chatting about any topic, it can also be called a salon."
Chen Xuan suddenly realized, "So we were just drinking tea and chatting together."
"You can say that." Mrs. Xu smiled. "Generally speaking, the people who hold salons are mostly people from the cultural world. It's not a bad thing to go and see a little."
After hearing Mrs. Xu talk about the salon, Chen Xuan was very happy that Wei Nian could participate in cultural activities.
On the day Wei Nian went to the salon, Chen Xuan prepared clothes, shoes and socks for him early in the morning. In the morning, she also made Wei Nian's favorite millet porridge with porridge dumplings. After breakfast, she personally sent him out. She was so thoughtful.
Even Wei Jin said, "Although he is from the countryside, he is really good at serving people."
Wei Yin really couldn't stand her elder sister's words, so she laughed, "Don't worry, elder sister. It's your old lady's birthday soon. You should learn from your second sister-in-law. If you can be half as diligent as her, your old lady won't be able to find fault with you."
Wei Jin was depressed when she thought about going back to her husband's house to celebrate her tricky mother-in-law's birthday. Wei Yin even mentioned it to her, but Wei Jin got angry and said, "Don't worry, this day will come to you too."
Wei Yin snorted and went back to his room.
Wei Yin had almost finished knitting Chen Xuan's sweater, and only needed to finish the last few stitches. She showed it to Chen Xuan for comparison, and Wei Yin thought that her work was pretty good. Chen Xuan also said, "This is really well knitted."
After finishing the stitches, Wei Yin asked Chen Xuan to try it out to see how it actually felt. Chen Xuan touched the incredibly soft sweater and said shyly, "I'll try it again tomorrow."
"It's right here in my room, what's the matter?"
Chen Xuan thought about it, and that was right. Besides, she really wanted to give it a try. This was the first time in her life that she wore such an expensive sweater. Chen Xuan was tall and thin now, but it didn't look good with the cheongsam and the sweater. She changed into a black tweed skirt and matched it with the bright red sweater that fit her body perfectly. Wei Yin kept saying, "Sister-in-law, you look really good in this." She also called Li and Wei Jin to come over and watch. Li also agreed. Wei Jin snorted and pouted, "Who can wear something so ugly when it's made of such expensive wool?"
Wei Yin was helpless, "Big sister, you are so hard to say nice things." Then he said to Chen Xuan, "Sister-in-law, you look better with leather shoes when you wear this."
Wei Jin continued to spoil the fun, "Okay, just try it at home. You only wash pots and cook all day, why do you need to wear such nice clothes?" Chen Xuan was not a dress-up person, but she remembered Wei Nian's words. Wei Nian said that it was okay to stay at home, but you had to dress up when you go out. Chen Xuan was not very particular about dressing up, but Wei Yin was very knowledgeable. Chen Xuan quickly said, "My leather shoes are in the room. Wait a minute, I'll put them on and show you." Then she ran into the room to change her leather shoes.
After changing into the little leather shoes that make a clacking sound when walking, Chen Xuan also felt that she looked a lot more fashionable.
Li also said, "This is a nice outfit."
Wei Yin suggested, "Sister-in-law, you should go get your hair done when you have time. I see that celebrities in the magazines now have curly hair."
Wei Jin immediately screamed, and said to Wei Yin first, "Stop giving bad advice! You've burned your head like a lion dog! My God, our family is not like that!"
"It's just a little curl, not as exaggerated as you say."
"You are not allowed to perm your hair. Just tie it up in a bun. No decent wife would perm her hair. That is something that only unrespectable women would do." Wei Jin said sternly, "You just came from the countryside. How can you know what is good and bad? You must not learn from those female stars in magazines. They are not decent women! No decent woman would show her face in public and do that!"
Wei Yin curled his lips when he heard Wei Jin's words.
Chen Xuan did know about some female stars in magazines. I heard that there is a thing called movies now, which is said to be better than the big plays in the theater! Female stars are people who come out of movies. Chen Xuan has seen some female stars in magazines from Wei Yin. They are dressed very beautifully. Yes, that's right, it's what Wei Jin said, not the kind of beauty that a decent woman has. But some of them, Chen Xuan thinks, are also quite decent. They are just beautiful and know how to dress up.
However, it is true that Chen Xuan does not like to curl her hair. She used to wear braids, but changed to wearing her hair in a bun after getting married. Thinking about the hairstyles of female celebrities, Chen Xuan thought that perhaps wearing her hair in a bun is indeed a somewhat outdated hairstyle for people outside nowadays.
Chen Xuan secretly asked Wei Yin about the popular hairstyles. Wei Yin showed Chen Xuan a picture album and said, "Generally speaking, the most popular hairstyle is curly hair."
"Ah Yin, my elder sister-in-law and I have the same opinion about this curly hair. People in our country have always looked good if their hair is combed smooth and shiny. Those curly hairs look like those of foreigners. I think they are not as good-looking as buns." Chen Xuan flipped through the album, "Are there any other hairstyles?"
As she was talking, Chen Xuan flipped to a picture of short hair. Chen Xuan couldn't help but point at the picture and reported, "That day, when Anian and I went out, we occasionally saw female students with short hair on the street."
"Well, there are many people who cut their hair short like this. I heard that many girls in college cut their hair short."
"You even know about college students?"
"The eldest brother of the Xu family is studying at Peking University. The second and third sisters of the Xu family have all been to Peking University. I heard that it is a great place."
Chen Xuan couldn't help but feel yearning, "Hey, Ah Yin, you said that this college student is said to be a very remarkable person. Then what kind of people are the teachers who can teach college students in the university?"
"He must be better than college students." Wei Yin had never seen a professor in college, so this was all he could say.
Chen Xuan fantasized about what her college professors would be like, but soon, she didn't have to fantasize anymore, because Wei Nian came back from the salon. Chen Xuan hurried over to ask about his well-being and asked about the salon. Wei Nian took off his scarf, sat down at the kang table, took the hot tea from Chen Xuan to warm his hands, and said, "It's getting colder outside."
"Yes, it's almost frost. Brother Nian, how is it? What's the salon like?" After hanging the scarf in the cabinet for Wei Nian, Chen Xuan asked anxiously.
Wei Nian was not in the mood. He yawned and his big eyelids drooped. "It's so boring. I listened to a bunch of nerds talking about poetry, novels and literature for an entire afternoon. I might as well go to the shop and do business."
Chen Xuan had never been to a tea party called a salon. As she listened to Wei Nian's talk, she couldn't help but say, "Why does it feel like studying in a school? I heard from the Xu family's sister that they learned novels and other things in the school."
"It's a bit easier than school. There are professors from universities and some newspaper editors. They talk at once." Wei Nian was not interested anyway.
When Chen Xuan heard that there were professors from universities here, her eyes lit up. She also sat down on the kang and said to Wei Nian, "Brother Nian, I heard that these professors from universities are very knowledgeable."
"Look at what you said. Can you teach without any knowledge?"
"Brother Anian, will you go next time?" Chen Xuan asked. Although she didn't understand poetry, novels, literature, etc., she also wanted to go.
Wei Nian said, "It depends on whether they will invite me. This time, Mr. Jiao took me there, and I can't always rely on Mr. Jiao's favor."
When Chen Xuan heard Wei Nian say this, she knew that Wei Nian probably didn't have a good relationship with the owner of the salon, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed. Wei Nian saw that her eyes were dim and she was not energetic anymore. She looked listless and disappointed, and said to Chen Xuan, "You are really unambitious. It's not up to people to think of solutions. How can a living person complain about difficulties? Just think of a way."
Chen Xuan immediately perked up and asked, "What's the solution? If I can help, just tell me, Brother Anian."
Wei Nian raised his lips, "Although I can't get along with these nerds, it's not a problem to build some relationships with them."
The next day, Wei Nian brought back a box of old books.
The author has something to say: ps: Good afternoon everyone, the first update is here, there will be another update in the evening~~~~~