Transmigration: A Farm Girl’s Brocade
Chapter 119 The Favorite Flower_1

Chapter 119: Chapter 119 The Favorite Flower_1

The old lady saw Cheng Yue talking back and became even angrier, cursing, "Are you foolish or just talking nonsense? Are you off your medication again? How could that wench be compared to my Jinwa?"

Qian Yixiu, afraid that Cheng Yue would say something else to provoke a scolding, stood up and pulled Cheng Yue back to their room.

In the room, Cheng Yue took out a piece of satin and said, "Mother has thought it over, embroidering a ’National beauty and heavenly fragrance’ will definitely fetch a good price, enough to buy a maid for Yixiu."

Qian Yixiu felt so moved that her eyes started to warm up. Her silly mother was still worried sick about her daughter suffering any unfair treatment. She hugged Cheng Yue and said, "Mother, Yixiu really doesn’t need a maid, don’t overexert yourself."

"No, my Yixiu must have a maid," Cheng Yue insisted, ignoring her daughter’s advice and began drawing patterns on paper again.

The design was probably too intricate, and she couldn’t recall it all at once, so she drew very slowly. Moreover, she would draw, then alter, think, and draw again. By nightfall, she hadn’t even finished a single peony and started to feel anxious. It took her brother and sister half the day to persuade her to go to sleep.

The next day, Qian Yixiu asked Huang Tie, who was going to town to shop, to bring back a peony pattern.

She presented it as if offering a treasure, "Mother, the peony, national beauty and heavenly fragrance."

Cheng Yue took one look at it and, disliking it, handed it back, saying, "Ugly, it’s not the peony mother wants to embroider." Then she continued drawing on the paper.

Seeing her mother like this, Qian Yixiu was afraid she’d get sick from worry, so she became extremely anxious but couldn’t persuade her mother to stop, no matter what she said.

Qian Yijin also came back and sympathetically said, "Mother, don’t work too hard. If it comes to it, your son will also give up having a boy servant, and Xiao Lei can serve the whole family."

Cheng Yue stared blankly at her son, realizing that if her son had no boy servant, her daughter seemed to lack reason to absolutely have a maid. Thinking this way felt wrong, yet she couldn’t pinpoint why. Unable to grasp the knack, she became even more entangled.

Seeing her mother’s intense dilemma, Qian Yixiu comforted her, "Mother can take her time, no need to rush. Later, when Yixiu has bought a maid, we can get a boy servant for brother. How does that sound?"

That was exactly what Cheng Yue meant. Hearing her daughter articulate her thoughts, she smiled, no longer in a hurry, and took her time. But even after drawing, she was still unsatisfied, lamenting, "Yixiu, what should we do? Mother’s drawing is so poor. If I can’t produce a good piece of embroidery, we might lose Jinwa’s boy servant too. How useless I am!"

Qian Yixiu said, "Then don’t embroider the peony. What should we embroider, then?" After thinking for a moment, she continued, "Just embroider the flower that mother likes best in her heart. Whatever flower mother finds beautiful, embroider that one."

Cheng Yue nodded thoughtfully.

Afterward, Cheng Yue began her "creative" process on paper, drawing the flower she loved most in her heart.

What Qian Yixiu didn’t know was that her casual remark would lead her dear mother to complete an "Extraordinary Masterpiece."

Years later, it moved someone to tears like the surging rivers flowing endlessly, as uncontrollable as the flooding Yellow River. This peerless piece of embroidery was fought over by many aristocratic families, and after many complications, it finally made its way back home, becoming the family heirloom. Of course, that’s a story for another time.

While the young mother was busy creating, the little lad was busying himself with studious efforts. Everyone else was engaged in their own affairs, and it seemed that only Qian Yixiu was idle, spending time playing with Benben and Tiaotiao or the occasionally visiting Duo Duo.

She got her wish and received two sets of new clothes, one made of silk and the other of coarse cloth. Cheng Yue was still somewhat unhappy, to which Qian Yixiu consoled, "Yixiu likes the coarse cloth clothes, they’re sturdy and warm."

With some free time on her hands, Qian Yixiu began to think about the Cave Sky Pool again.

As long as she could get there and obtain the items, she could make a fortune. It was just a pity that the Fierce Red Monkey was there now.

Thinking about the Fierce Red Monkey rampaging through the place and taking everything, her heart bled.

Ever since the Xia Grass was gone, the main and second branches of the Qian family had lost their way of making money. Not to mention Lady Tang, Lady Wang’s visits to the third branch had increased, and her words were filled with more envy for their wealth. Qian Dagui and Qian Ergui, during their drink at her place, also mentioned that without the income from selling Xia Grass, the family’s finances had once again tightened.

Qian Yixiu also wanted the other two branches to have easier lives, so they would think less about her own family. At the same time, she always felt that Qian Dagui and his son, as well as Qian Ergui and his son, were good people who had lent a helping hand during her family’s toughest times. Now that her family was better off, she thought it was only fair they should make some money too.

After thinking about it for most of the night, she decided to let them open a pastry shop. She had learned a few pastry recipes at the pastry shop in Guisheng Garden in the provincial city and could teach them.

However, Qian Yixiu did not want to open a pastry shop with them. She was willing to help both families become wealthy, but she did not want to mix with them in the same pot. One reason was that she disliked Lady Tang and was wary of Lady Wang.

It wasn’t that she was afraid of them, but she felt that if any trouble arose, it would be bothersome.

Another reason was that previously, Qian Sangui had earned the better part of the family’s wealth, yet due to his severe illness, he was ruthlessly cast out, left to live or die. This incident always troubled her.

She felt that although Qian Dagui and Qian Ergui had helped the third branch quite a lot, their support was limited to matters that did not touch upon their own fundamental interests. If those interests were affected, they would let their wives make trouble. A few hundred or a few dozen copper coins, some manual labor, they were willing to help with all that. But when it came to fields and houses—even if those were earned by Qian Sangui—once they were in their own pockets, they were unwilling to give them up to help a brother through tough times. In this regard, Qian Sigui seemed to be much better than they were.

Therefore, her family could work with them as individuals, but could not be bound together.

The next day, Qian Yixiu, with eyes swollen like a panda, shared her thoughts with Qian Sangui and Lady Wu. She said she had come up with some delicious pastry recipes and suggested that the other branches of the Qian family open a pastry shop, but her own family should not be involved.

Lady Wu was not willing, saying, "It’s impossible for us to come up with the idea and then simply hand it over for others to make money from it while we just watch. Our large family of over a dozen mouths needs feeding, and now we don’t even have an income; how can we possibly pass up the chance to earn money?"

Although Qian Sangui was aware of the temperament of his two sisters-in-law, he still wanted his family to earn some money together.

He said, "Currently, our family’s days are not easy, with many mouths to feed and little income. Although we have some savings, the inflow isn’t much, and the crops from those fields won’t yield until next year. In the future, digging ponds and hiring people will cost money, buying lotus seeds and fish fry will cost money. Moreover, we have no experience in managing these, so it’s not clear whether we’ll succeed..."

The youngest aunt also rarely spoke up, opposing Qian Yixiu’s "elbow bending outwards."

Qian Yixiu very much wanted to say, once I get to the Cave Sky Pool, our family will have a lot of money in the future, and we won’t need to earn these small amounts of money.

But these thoughts were only that, and she couldn’t say them out loud.