Chen Xuan was very skillful. In the early spring, it was not only the Chinese toon that sprouted, but also the willow trees on the roadside. Chen Xuan picked some tender willow branches and took them home. She plucked the tender leaves and used the tender willow branches to weave several small baskets. When she got up early in the morning, Chen Xuan first went to pick the Chinese toon sprouts from the trees. She picked them when there was dew, because they were said to have the best fragrance. Chen Xuan kept some for her family and sent some to the Xu family in the morning. After sending the Chinese toon sprouts, Chen Xuan did not enter the house and smiled, "It tastes better when it is fresh. Auntie, I have to go back to cook, so I won't go in."
Mrs. Xu was very polite. "It's not that much of a difference. I have to give you the basket."
"I made this up randomly. I picked some willow branches from the roadside yesterday and gave it to my aunt to play with." Chen Xuan smiled with her teeth showing. After giving the toon, she went back to make breakfast.
As for the toon sprouts for Mr. Wen and Mr. Jiao, Wei Nian asked the shop assistant to deliver them after he got up.
Mr. Jiao received a basket of wisteria flowers as a return gift, and Mr. Wen received a piece of letter writing that Wei Nian and Chen Xuan were not present at the salon this year, and asked them to come when they were free. Many young people came to the salon, and it was a pleasure to talk about the past and present together.
Chen Xuan thought that she had been busy since the Chinese New Year, first with Wei Yin's marriage, then with Strawberry, and indeed she hadn't been to Mr. Wen's salon for a few days. What Chen Xuan didn't expect was that a man like Mr. Wen actually remembered her and Wei Nian. Well, how should I put it, Chen Xuan was very happy.
Chen Xuan was very happy the whole day, especially because she didn't expect that the wisteria flower could be eaten. Wei Jin asked someone to take half of the wisteria flower and send it to the pastry shop, and paid the pastry shop to make wisteria cakes with aged lard. Chen Xuan felt very curious and said what was in her mind, "I thought it was a flower to be put in a vase, but it can be eaten?"
Wei Jin turned his mouth to show his disdain for Chen Xuan's ignorance, "You don't even know this? Spring wisteria cakes are very famous. In addition to wisteria cakes, you can also make wisteria porridge and deep-fry wisteria fish wrapped in batter. They taste good too."
"My sister-in-law knows so much." Chen Xuan said embarrassedly.
"Of course I'm going to say that!" Wei Jin said, "This wisteria flower tastes best when it's picked right from the flower stand. Hey, you look so clumsy, you don't seem like you can cook it. The wisteria fish fried by my eldest sister-in-law is not good either. Aren't you and Ah Yin going to learn how to draw flowers today? I'll show you my skills tonight and fry some wisteria fish for you to try, so you can open your eyes."
Chen Xuan felt that she had a good grasp of Wei Jin's situation, so she boldly said, "Then we are in for a treat."
"Needless to say." Wei Jin pouted his lips in condescension and nagging about Wei Yin's painting learning. "That kind of painting, not only does it have to be painted since childhood, but it also costs money to learn it. This is really new."
Wei Yin was too lazy to pay attention to her elder sister, and couldn't explain to Wei Jin the difference between painting and drawing. Wei Nian went to the painting class early to help Wei Yin check it out. He thought it was okay, so he paid one month's tuition in advance. Today was Wei Yin's first time back. Although Chen Xuan was with her, Wei Yin was very nervous because it was the first time in her life to go to school. She changed her clothes three times in the morning alone, and finally decided on a lotus-colored cheongsam with a high collar and piping, and two shiny pigtails, which made her look very pretty. Staring at the old mahogany clock in Mrs. Wei's room, when it was time to go out, Wei Yin called Chen Xuan to go out.
Wei Jin started to grumble again, but this time she wasn't grumbling to Wei Yin, she was grumbling to Chen Xuan. Wei Jin originally wanted to accompany Wei Yin to paint. It wasn't that Wei Jin was very happy to go, she was worried about Wei Yin, afraid that Wei Yin would be bullied when she went out. As a result, Wei Yin, who didn't know how to be kind, refused to let Wei Jin accompany him, which made Wei Jin very angry. She felt that Wei Yin had no vision. Chen Xuan was such an honest girl, had she ever seen what a school looked like? What use could she be outside!
Well, the honest Chen Xuan was indeed back to school for the first time, and her nervousness was no less than Wei Yin. Fortunately, honest people have their own ways, and Chen Xuan is very good at putting on a dull face. Of course, Chen Xuan thought she had a dull face. She used to look quite dull with her head down and silent. But since she listened to Wei Nian's words, no matter how nervous and scared Chen Xuan was, she would never lower her head easily. Now she habitually holds her head high and chest out. Therefore, coupled with Chen Xuan's serious face, even Teacher Lin from the painting class was a little restrained when seeing Chen Xuan.
Wei Yin was here for the first time, and she was so beautiful with her face and cheeks. Teacher Lin was a very solemn person, but who doesn't like good-looking students? Teacher Lin introduced the situation of the class to the two sisters-in-law. They were basically all beginners.
Teacher Lin asked, "Has Miss Wei ever learned to paint before?"
Wei Yin shook his head. "No, I have never learned it. Teacher Lin, is painting difficult?"
"It's not difficult. As long as you persist, it's easy." Teacher Lin asked the two sisters to look at some of the students' works in the class. Some of them were only two or three months old, but Chen Xuan thought they were very good. Those characters looked just like the real ones. Chen Xuan felt that they were like the idiom: lifelike.
Chen Xuan saw that Teacher Lin was indeed quite skilled, so she added, "Teacher Lin, my sister wants to study fashion design in Paris in the future. Professor Chu from your school suggested that my sister learn the basics of painting first, and she needs your guidance."
Teacher Lin nodded, "Then Miss Wei made the right choice by choosing my course. I previously studied oil painting in Paris."
Wei Yin said happily, "I'll leave it to you, teacher."
Chen Xuan also thought that Teacher Lin was good. Since this teacher had studied in Paris, Wei Yin would go abroad to study in the future, and maybe he could ask Teacher Lin about the situation of foreign schools.
Teacher Lin selected an easel for Wei Yin and introduced the types of pencils. Knowing that she had no basics, she started by learning to draw lines. Chen Xuan moved a stool to a corner at the back of the classroom, took out a book from her bag, and began to read carefully.
Even though both Chen Xuan and Wei Yin came to the school for the first time, the students in the school were very polite and no one looked down on them. Chen Xuan thought that the reason was that the students in the class had good character. In fact, the real reason was that, first, Wei Yin was beautiful, and the female classmates in the class treated her normally, and some male classmates would blush when talking to Wei Yin; second, Chen Xuan was too good at bluffing. Chen Xuan was a person who would not waste any time. Whenever she accompanied Wei Yin, she would always bring a book with her. The key point was that Chen Xuan brought all pure English reading books. People of this generation would read for a long time and read with great interest when they saw someone holding a foreign book. So, everyone speculated that Wei Yin's sister-in-law must be a very knowledgeable person. Therefore, everyone was very polite to Wei Yin and Chen Xuan.
Wei Yin also felt that her second sister-in-law was particularly capable. Sure enough, it was right to let her second sister-in-law come with her.
Wei Yin went home and said, "My second sister-in-law is very nice and good at talking. My classmates all praise her."
When Wei Jin heard this, he found it quite unbelievable and wondered if those kids outside were all blind
Chen Xuan didn't have time to pay attention to Wei Jin's words now. She was about to go to Mr. Wen's salon with Wei Nian and Wei Yin. Chen Xuan always liked the atmosphere of the salon. Although she didn't read much, she loved listening to these learned gentlemen talk about the past and the present. Even if they talked about folk customs, she found it interesting. Chen Xuan went to Mr. Wen's salon this time for another thing. She discussed it with Wei Nian. Wei Nian wanted to learn Japanese again. Mr. Jiao didn't understand Japanese. Chen Xuan thought that Mr. Wen knew many learned people and had studied in Japan in his early years. Chen Xuan wanted to ask Mr. Wen to introduce a gentleman who knew Japanese.
The two of them had a small disagreement over this.
Because, according to Wei Nian, it was such a small matter, there was no need to trouble Mr. Wen, the Japanese teacher could just look for it slowly.
Chen Xuan took this matter very seriously, and for the first time in her life, she refuted Wei Nian's opinion. Chen Xuan said with a serious face, "If you can find it quickly, why take your time? Brother Nian, you are wrong to think so. We are so young and we should not waste time. This time, let's ask Mr. Wen for help. Mr. Wen is a very good person and encourages young people to read more. He won't think it's troublesome. I think Mr. Wen will like you more when he sees how hard you work. Brother Nian, you want to be like Mr. Rong in the future, so you can't slack off."
Wei Nian, "With you constantly motivating me, how can I slack off?"
Chen Xuan didn't hear the sarcasm in Wei Nian's words at all. She nodded seriously, "I'm not trying to motivate you, Brother Nian. You're the one who's always been good at big things. If you just wanted to live off your past achievements, you wouldn't have learned foreign languages from Mr. Jiao and done business with foreigners. Last time, didn't Brother Nian want to expand your business to foreigners' territory? And, Brother Nian, you said you wanted to get a doctorate in the future. Could it be that you've forgotten everything?"
Chen Xuan looked at Wei Nian in disbelief, her brown eyes full of shock. Wei Nian made Chen Xuan feel guilty, "That can't be possible. Don't we study math every night?"
Chen Xuan felt that Wei Nian's attitude towards learning was not very serious, but she did not say it out loud. Chen Xuan just said, "Wait until Brother An Nian invites a Japanese teacher to come over. Brother An Nian, you can learn Japanese with the teacher in the evening. I will learn math by myself first, and then ask you for help when I don't understand something. You just focus on learning Japanese, and don't neglect math when you have time. Although it seems that there are many things to learn now and it is very hard, it is all for improving your skills. I don't know why, but I really want you, Brother An Nian, to be a first-class person. I think, Brother An Nian, you should be the kind of person, and what you do, when others talk about you in the future, they will give you a thumbs up."
Even though Wei Nian was used to Chen Xuan's flattery, he was still a little flattered by this kind of flattery. Wei Nian immediately decided to learn Japanese, "Okay. I'll talk to Mr. Wen today. If there is a suitable gentleman, we will decide."
Chen Xuan nodded and said seriously, "I have to work harder, otherwise, you, Brother Nian, will be left behind."
Chen Xuan was relieved to see Wei Nian finally willing to learn Japanese. Sometimes she didn't understand Wei Nian. In Chen Xuan's opinion, Wei Nian was much smarter than her. Even a mediocre person like her knew to study hard, but Wei Nian would slack off after studying for a while. Chen Xuan still didn't understand that in the patriarchal society for thousands of years, men's inherent political rights, right to choose, and right to education were already natural to them. But it was different for Chen Xuan. If it weren't for such a vigorous era, women's education would always remain in the private school-style learning that caters to men's aesthetics in scholarly families, and the old women at that time would not have equal rights with men in the name of politics and law. It was this earth-shaking torrent of the times that for the first time in this land of male superiority and female inferiority, opened a ray of opportunity for women to see the light of equality.
Therefore, women who are awakened by the times cherish such an era more than men, and Chen Xuan also seizes the opportunities and power given by this era more fiercely and forcefully than Wei Nian.
This is the worst of times, and the best of times.
Chen Xuan still couldn't understand it, but fortunately, she had already done it.
The author has something to say: ps: The second update is here. I went back to Hangzhou yesterday. I will start adding updates today. There will be another update later. The time is uncertain. Just refresh it before going to bed. If you can't refresh it before going to bed, you will definitely be able to refresh it early the next morning~~~~~~~~Good afternoon everyone~~~~~~~~~~