Looking at this aggrieved kitten crying emoji, Zhan Xi felt the boy's lost mood, thinking that he had just met in the morning, how come he knew it failed at noon? And according to this, the girl must not be interested in him, so Zhan Xi couldn't help but want to be a considerate little sister and enlighten him.
Egg Pudding: Don't be sad. It's rare for a blind date to be right at first sight. You probably lack experience. Be well prepared next time. Girls like thoughtful, considerate, polite and gentlemanly guys. If you meet a girl you like again, take the initiative to find topics to talk about. Don't give up easily. Girls need to be pursued.
Luo Jingyu looked at the earnest teachings sent by "Egg Pudding" and wondered if he would have another blind date. He planned to have a good talk with his sister and brother-in-law. He really didn't want to face this situation again and again.
What a Big Fish: I am not sad. I have prepared myself mentally. My conditions are not good.
Egg Pudding: Conditions will change. You are still young now. Work hard and save more money, and your conditions will be better in the future.
Luo Jingyu chuckled. The other party was really wrong about this. The conditions that affected his marriage and love would never change in his lifetime. He decided to end the topic.
Big Fish: Is your fever getting better
Egg pudding: No, I just measured 38.2 degrees. I slept all morning and plan to continue sleeping in the afternoon.
Big Fish: What did you have for lunch? Did someone cook for you
Egg Pudding: Try asking this: What did you eat for lunch? Did anyone cook for you? I answered: Don't worry, my sister-in-law cooked noodles for me at noon.
Qin Fei was fine. Seeing that Zhan Xi had no appetite at noon, she cooked her a bowl of vegetable noodles and cut half a sausage. She said that if the fever was still burning in the evening, she would let Zhan Jie accompany her to the hospital after returning home.
What a Big Fish: You should have a good rest. If you have a high fever, you should go to the hospital.
Egg Pudding: Yeah, I know, thank you for your concern~
Luo Jingyu put down her phone. Not long after, her mother Yan Yajuan came to the supermarket with a lunch box. When she saw her son, she immediately asked him about the blind date.
Luo Mingsong pulled his wife's arm and waved at her, asking her not to ask. Yan Yajuan didn't understand what was going on, so Luo Mingsong used sign language with her in private. When Yan Yajuan looked at Luo Jingyu again, her expression became sad and miserable.
Luo Jingyu had a headache: Mom, don’t be like this, I was supposed to stay for the whole afternoon, if you continue like this I will leave.
Yan Yajuan pursed her lips and rolled her eyes at him: Who wants to see you
Luo Jingyu smiled and helped open the lunch box and put it on the table. Dad and Mom sat down to eat side by side. Luo Jingyu looked at the dishes in the lunch box, and Yan Yajuan pointed at the smoked fish and motioned him to eat.
He didn't care, he just picked up a piece of smoked fish and put it in his mouth, giving his father a thumbs up. This smoked fish was made by Luo Mingsong himself from a large fresh grass carp he bought. It tasted better than the ones bought outside, and Luo Jingyu loved it since she was a child.
In the afternoon, Luo Mingsong went home for a nap, and Luo Jingyu stayed with her mother to look after the store.
Qingque Jiayuan is in the southwest of Qiantang, and his parents' home is in the north of the city, which is quite far away. Luo Jingyu comes back once a week, either staying in the supermarket or eating at home. He doesn't need to buy anything when he goes home, because his family runs a supermarket and has everything. He just needs to chat with his parents.
Yan Yajuan sat behind the cashier, knitting a sweater. This sweater belonged to Luo Jingyu. It was a dark green turtleneck style with an elegant color. Yan Yajuan's knitting skills were excellent, and the yarn she used was good. Luo Jingyu believed that after the sweater was finished, the quality would definitely be comparable to the sweaters that cost hundreds or thousands of yuan in the mall.
By the way, his first handicraft teacher was Yan Yajuan.
When he was a child, his parents were still working in a welfare factory, while other little boys were naughty and playing around, Luo Jingyu liked to move a small stool and sit next to Yan Yajuan to watch her do various handicrafts, such as beading, sewing, and knitting... He liked quietness since he was a child and could sit for a long time. If you gave him a pile of cloth scraps, scissors, paintbrushes, and needles and thread, he could make a new set of clothes for Ultraman.
With her son around, Yan Yajuan didn't take care of the cashier and inventory, and let Luo Jingyu do it. Luo Jingyu was a big boy after all, and didn't have a proper lunch. He was hungry in the afternoon, so he took a bucket of potato chips from the shelf and ate it. When he passed by the beverage shelf, he also took a bottle of orange juice.
Yan Yajuan glared at him, and Luo Jingyu smiled embarrassedly: I'm hungry.
Come home for dinner tonight, your sister and brother-in-law are coming today. Yan Yajuan put down her sweater and gestured in sign language.
Luo Jingyu ate potato chips, thought for a while, and replied: I don’t want to eat anymore. I took an order and I’m in a hurry. I have to start work tonight.
Yan Yajuan did not force him, knowing that her son had worked very hard in recent years, sometimes working day and night. She felt sorry for him, but she also understood that it was not easy for her son to achieve what he has today. A young man who is deaf and has never been to college can only work harder than ordinary people if he wants to gain a foothold in society.
At 4:30 pm, Sister Feng came to the supermarket to take over. Luo Mingsong and Yan Yajuan were both over 50 years old and lacked the physical strength and energy to keep up. They could only watch the store during the day, so they hired Sister Feng to watch the store until 9 pm at night.
After Yan Yajuan and Sister Feng handed over the money, the mother and son walked out of the supermarket. Luo Jingyu put on her hat and mask again, put her hands in her pockets, and strode forward.
Yan Yajuan caught up with him a few steps and patted his arm. Luo Jingyu turned to look at her mother. Yan Yajuan gestured with dissatisfaction: Don’t walk with your back hunched, young man, be more energetic.
Luo Jingyu's eyes above the mask curved slightly, she nodded slightly, and her back straightened a little. Yan Yajuan sighed, and waved her hand to drive him away with a look of disgust: Go away, go away, just looking at you is annoying.
Luo Jingyu took the subway back to Qingque Jiayuan and it was already 6 o'clock when she got home.
He was very hungry, so he cooked himself a bowl of noodles, then boiled a pot of water. After taking care of more than twenty pots of flowers and plants indoors and outdoors, he looked at the gray ceramic jar on the cabinet and thought, it's time to get started.
Luo Jingyu sent a WeChat message to “Egg Pudding”.
What a Big Fish: Teacher Egg, I'm home. I plan to make a sunflower lily tonight. If you think it's ok, I'll make three lilies tomorrow.
Luo Jingyu's studio is located in the living room. In the rectangular space, there are no dining tables, chairs, sofas or coffee tables. There is only a large white workbench and two rows of cabinets filled with various tools and materials.
He turned on the air conditioner, changed into a comfortable navy blue sportswear, made a cup of jasmine tea, prepared the necessary tools and materials, and officially started work.
The so-called hand-made embossing is a kind of handmade art creation originated in Europe. It was evolved and developed by a Japanese female artist in the 1940s and became a unique handmade technique. It has now spread to many countries, including China.
Its production process is to cut and dye fabrics of various textures to make petals and leaves, then use a special hot stamping tool - a hot trowel, iron them and paste different types of iron wires, and finally assemble them into a flower.
It is not difficult to get started with the art of hot stamping, but it takes years of study and accumulation to make it exquisite and realistic. Because it is all handmade, every flower made by a skilled person can be lifelike, and the shape and color of the flower can be permanently preserved, making it an exquisite handicraft, which is completely incomparable to the mass-produced silk flowers on the market.
In China, due to the popularity of Hanfu culture in recent years, the art of embossing has been more widely used in hair accessories, clothing and jewelry. Large works are also used in interior furnishings, show settings, high-end banquets and high-end exhibitions.
It is undeniable that this is a niche art, and Luo Jingyu has been exposed to this art for ten years.
He sat at his workbench, holding a pen and drawing patterns on the new satin-pasted fabric.
A sunflower lily has six petals, each of which is made up of two single petals. A single petal is made of two pieces of cloth to increase its rigidity. Therefore, the petals of a sunflower lily alone require 24 pieces of cloth to make. It takes four to five hours to make the whole flower, including the leaves, stamens and stems.
Luo Jingyu only planned to make one sample tonight. If he wanted to make three in one go, he would have to stay up all night. Although the finished product only required three flowers, he still planned to make four or five to compare the flower shapes.
Just like fresh flowers, each hot flower has different looks because the petals are dyed and ironed in different shapes. He wants to see which three flowers will look most beautiful together.
When Luo Jingyu put her full attention into it, time passed quickly.
The world was so quiet that it made people feel at ease. The room was warm, the scented tea was fragrant, and the fabrics and tools in front of him seemed to have come to life, changing their appearance little by little under the manipulation of his deft hands.
This is something Luo Jingyu has done hundreds and thousands of times. With his current level, he no longer has to worry about dyeing or burning the fabric. He enjoys it and doesn't find it boring at all.
His flower-stamping teacher once said in public that he was very talented. As a boy, he was calm, careful, studious, and modest. Luo Jingyu was so embarrassed at the time. Until now, he can still recall the probing eyes that the female students of the same period cast on him that day.
In fact, it’s not as exaggerated as the teacher said. Luo Jingyu does the embossing purely because she likes it.
He had been fascinated since he first saw a calendered flower at the age of fifteen.
Hot stamping is indeed an art that tests patience, consumes physical strength and pays attention to aesthetics. Most of the people are women/enthusiasts. The flowers are beautiful, and many big hands on the platform are female teachers.
However, after Luo Jingyu learned that the new generation leader of a well-known Japanese embossing school was a man, he began to wonder whether he could also make embossing a lifelong career.
After more than two hours, the pile of cloth was all dyed. Luo Jingyu let them dry naturally and went to take a shower first.
After taking a shower, he drank some jasmine tea, took out his mobile phone, and found that "Egg Pudding" had not replied to his message.
Luo Jingyu thought that the other party might still be resting. Having a fever must be very uncomfortable, so it is normal to sleep for a whole day.
—
Zhan Xi was not resting. Instead, she was in the hospital's infusion room receiving an IV drip.
Two hours ago, the family had just experienced a family quarrel. The cause was that after Zhan Jie came home from get off work, Zhan Xi told his brother that he planned to move out and rent a house.
Zhan Jie disagreed to everything, thinking it was unsafe for a girl to live alone and a waste of money. Zhan Xi only said, "Consider your sister-in-law's feelings." Zhan Jie thought that Qin Fei had bullied Zhan Xi, and went to confront Qin Fei angrily, and Zhan Xi couldn't stop him.
This really stirred up a hornet's nest. Qin Fei burst into tears and screamed in front of Zhan Xi: "Zhan Xi, do you have any conscience?! I cooked noodles for you when you were sick at home! I poured water, took medicine, and measured your temperature! I cooked for you every day! When did I ever bully you?! When did I chase you away! Are you an ungrateful person? None of you Zhans are good people! I've had enough!"
Weiwei was so scared that he burst into tears and started shaking under the quilt.
Zhan Xi had no words to express her grievances. She kept explaining to her brother that Qin Fei had never bullied her and that she was the one who wanted to move out. However, she looked sick and weak. In Zhan Jie's eyes, she seemed to be suppressed by Qin Fei's "lion's roar" and dared not resist. In the end, she even said nonsense such as "This is my house, and I have the final say on who can live here!"
Qin Fei was so angry that she wanted to go back to her parents' home on the spot. Zhan Xi was so angry that her head was about to explode. Her temperature suddenly soared to 39 degrees and she almost fainted. Zhan Jie was anxious and sent her to the hospital. Qin Fei was worried about Weiwei, so she stayed reluctantly with tears.
In the infusion room, Zhan Xi was half lying sickly, and Zhan Jie sat beside her with a sour face and asked, "Did that Luo instigated you?"
"It's none of her business." Zhan Xi was really annoyed. "Brother, can you please listen to me? You and sister-in-law are a family, I'm just your sister. I've lived in your house for half a year. Don't you think it's weird to keep living like this?"
Zhan Jie said angrily, "What's so strange about that? Who in our family doesn't live together as a family?"
"You said it's our place. In our place, everyone has a three- or four-story house." Zhan Xi was about to vomit blood. "How can the town be compared with the city? How big is your house?"
"Hey! You little heartless boy, you still complain that my house is too small?" Zhan Jie was very angry. "Even if the house is small, there is still room for you to live! I promised my parents that I would take good care of you!"
A nurse passing by turned to look at him and said, "Family member, please speak more quietly."
"I'm sorry." Zhan Xi apologized to the nurse.
After the nurse left, she persuaded Zhan Jie in a gentle voice, "Brother, you really need to consider your sister-in-law's feelings. You always work overtime, and your sister-in-law is really hard-working. You don't cook, do housework, or take care of the children. Now that I am here, she has to cook more dishes every night, and it's not easy to take Weiwei out to play on Sundays. Aren't you adding burden to her? You are taking it easy, just talking, but put yourself in her shoes. Your sister-in-law is an only child. If she has a younger brother who lives in your house every day and you have to cook for him every day, would you be happy?"
Zhan Jie moved his lips and spoke after a while: "Then how do you want me to explain to our mother? She will definitely think that your sister-in-law and I bullied you."
"Don't tell her yet. I'm going back on New Year's Day. I'll tell her myself." Zhan Xi continued to persuade Zhan Jie, "Brother, I'm 23 years old. I'm not a child anymore. Don't control me all the time. I'm also very depressed."
Zhan Jie raised his eyebrows: "What are you suppressing? Are you secretly looking for a partner?"
Zhan Xi rolled his eyes in anger: "I won't talk to you anymore, my head hurts so much. Anyway, I'm moving out. If you have the guts, just lock me up and don't let me go to work."
"..." Zhan Jie was silent for a while and asked, "Where do you plan to rent it?"
Zhan Xi was speechless: "Where else can I rent? It must be near the company. Your house is so far away. I commute three hours every day and I am about to collapse from squeezing into the subway."
After the initial communication, Zhan Jie went outside to smoke, and Zhan Xi looked at the clock on the wall. It was already past 11 o'clock in the evening. She took out her mobile phone and found that there were many unread WeChat messages.
Excluding those irrelevant group chats, in the group of four little fairies, Luo Xinran was telling the other two the entertainment gossip she had heard.
In the work group, the HR sisters were discussing what kind of performance their department would put on at the annual meeting. Someone called Zhanxi three hours ago, saying that she was the youngest, pretty and had a good figure, and asked her to perform. Zhanxi didn't even see it, and a group of women had happily assigned this task to her.
Chi Guilan sent video requests three times, and Zhan Xi knew about it. Later, her mother called Zhan Jie, who fooled her.
Lin Yan sent another "good night" at 10 o'clock.
At around 8 o'clock, Wang He said that he wanted to make an appointment with Zhan Xi a week in advance and meet next weekend.
Finally, there is the news about “what a big fish”.
One at 6:51, saying that he had gone home and would make a flower in the evening.
10:43 Two -
What a Big Fish: I have made a sunflower lily, does it look good
What a big fish: Sunflower Lily.jpg
In the photo, a purple sunflower lily is quietly inserted in a glass bottle. The glass is crystal clear, the flower is gorgeous and bright, and there are three green leaves on the flower stem, with clear veins on each leaf.
Zhan Xi felt dizzy and looked at the camera light shining on the flower. It was as if he saw a flower covered with dew in the early morning.
Egg Pudding: You are lying, this is obviously a real flower.
What a big fish: This is a permed flower, I just made it, there is only one.
Egg pudding: I don’t believe it!
What a big fish: [question][question][question]
What a big fish: Really, I’m not lying to you.
Egg Pudding: Pick it up and take a picture of it. I will only believe it if you can take a picture of your hand.
Luo Jingyu stared at the screen blankly, not understanding what the other party meant, but he did it anyway.
He picked up the flower with his left hand, and found the angle with his phone in his right hand. He took a picture of his left hand and the flower, and sent it to "Egg Pudding".
What a big fish: holding a flower.jpg
What a big fish: Let me show you, do you believe me
What a Big Fish: It will take me 4 hours. Tomorrow I plan to finish making three lilies. It will look better if I put the three together.
Zhan Xi leaned back on the IV chair and squinted at the photo. The flower was so delicate! Even the purple spots on the petals were so vivid. How could it look fake? Made of cloth? It was too realistic!
Her eyes shifted to the left hand on the flower stem. His gestures were natural and relaxed, his thumb and index finger gently pinching the flower stem, the other three fingers casually bent, each of the fingers was slender and graceful, and you could see the thin and strong wrist bones, just like in a cartoon, which made Zhan Xi think of a word - flawless.
The 39 degrees fever was not in vain. Before my brain realized what was happening, my hands had already spoken a word.
Egg Pudding: Your hands are so beautiful, I love them so much.