Gu Dashan has recently been busy not only with the workshop tasks but also with supervising the progress of the shop. Despite being tired, Xiao Yu wonât allow him to rest, saying he is the head of the family and these matters rightfully fall to him.
Brother Cheng didnât understand and asked, "Dad, what is it when an earth dragon turns over?"
Third Grandma said, "Itâs when a dragon underneath the earth turns over, the ground will shake fiercely, and houses will collapse. You havenât seen it, but when your Third Grandpa and I were young, we experienced it once. It was terrifying how the ground shook, and many houses fell."
Some people were buried underground and just died like that.
Brother Cheng, frightened, said, "Thatâs scary."
Gu Dashan picked him up and laughed, "Brother Cheng, donât be afraid. Doctor Wu said that Jianghuai doesnât have earth dragons turning over; itâs safe here."
"Really?"
"Yep, thatâs what Grandpa Wu said."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jinli thought of Doctor Wu. Where was he from originally? And how did he come to Qingfu Town? This old man seems quite mysterious.
But Doctor Wu is kind to them, and as long as someone is kind to them, thereâs no need to probe too much.
Mrs. Cui quickly finished cooking, and called out to them, "Xiao Yu, Sister Xiu, bring the dishes to the main hall."
"Okay." Gu Jinli entered the kitchen, carrying a plate of cold amaranth and a plate of fried tofu stewed with meat in one hand. Their family can eat meat every day now.
Gu Jinxiu was carrying a plate of scrambled eggs with spring onions and a basket of bean dregs cake.
Following behind them, Mrs. Cui carried a pot of sweet potato rice porridge. The family happily enjoyed their dinner. After the various families came to settle their daily accounts and left, they could finally rest.
Gu Jinxiu didnât go to sleep right away but began to draw patterns.
Back in her old home, although Granny Gu didnât allow Gu Jinâan to read or write, she would let Mrs. Cui and Gu Jinxiu draw patterns because the patterns could become embroidery, which brought in silver for the Old Gu Family.
Gu Jinli nestled in bed, propping her face with her hands, looking up at the patterns Gu Jinxiu was drawing. This time it was an agricultural busy painting, depicting not only contiguous wheat fields but also farmers scattered like stars in the fields, bustling and lively.
"Sis, if you want to embroider this picture, itâs going to take quite a bit of work."
Embroidering a picture isnât easy; a small one takes half a month, and a big one like this canât be done in less than a couple of months.
Gu Jinxiu smiled and said, "Itâs okay, I can embroider it slowly, thereâs no hurry."
She was first to draw out the pattern, as she had no time to embroider it recently. The weather was getting hot, and she needed to help her mother and Third Grandma make summer clothing for the family.
Thinking of summer clothes, she looked at Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, youâre not young anymore; you should learn needlework. Otherwise, you wonât even be able to make clothes. Starting from tomorrow, you will learn how to make clothes with us."
Gu Jinli responded, "No need to learn, I can do it already, and Iâm quite good at it."
Gu Jinxiu glanced at her, "Bragging again, can your skills be called good? The stitches on the clothes you make are asymmetric."
Gu Jinli: "Thatâs because itâs sewing clothes. If itâs sewing something else, my skills are really good."
Such as sewing flesh and blood.
In her previous life, Gu Jinli dealt with âneedles and threadsâ the most, and in this life, she didnât want to wrestle with needles and threads again. Changing the subject, she asked, "Sis, what do you want to do in the future?"
Gu Jinxiu was startled and asked in confusion, "What else could we do? Just like everyone else."
"Just like everyone else?" Gu Jinli frowned. "So you mean to say, you want to help out at home before you get married, then get married when itâs time, give birth to children, and spend your whole life toiling at your in-lawsâ place?"
Seeing Gu Jinli speak so bluntly, Gu Jinxiu blushed a little. After a short pause, she nodded and said, "Yes, thatâs how everyone lives. Can it be any different?"
"Of course, it can." Gu Jinli sat up and looked at Gu Jinxiu seriously, saying, "Sister, donât you want to make money? Just think about it, if you could earn a lot of money in the future, you could spend it however you want. Wouldnât that be great?"
Hearing this, Gu Jinxiu laughed: "Youâre always calling Aunt Da Gui money-crazy behind her back, but I think youâre the little money grubber. As long as we have enough silver for our expenses, there is no need to earn so much."
Gu Jinli snorted in derision, "Youâre complaining about having too much money? Sister, you canât be like this. You should find something you love to do. Otherwise, whatâs the point of living this life?"
She continued, "Think about it. What do you want to do? Choose something you love most, and then chase that goal for the rest of your life."
Seeing Gu Jinli so serious, Gu Jinxiu had to take it seriously as well and thought about it before saying, "What I want the most is to take good care of you all, to not let you be bullied again."
As children, their grandmother didnât like their family and always bullied them. Every time she saw Xiao Yu and Brother Cheng getting bullied, she felt very upset. She thought to herself, if she could protect them throughout her life, so they never got bullied again, she would be willing to do anything.
Gu Jinli was stunned when she heard this and felt a bit moved.
After a while, she laughed and said, "Sister, now we are all in a good place, and the people from the Old Gu Family canât bully us anymore. You donât have to worry about that. Besides this, what else would you like to do?"
Gu Jinxiu looked at the agricultural busy painting on the table and said: "Embroidery, I guess. I like to embroider things. Embroidery can make some money to help with household expenses."
Gu Jinli replied, "Since you like embroidery, then you can focus solely on embroidering in the future. We arenât just after the silver. If you like it, embroider; if you get tired, rest... Embroidering too much is bad for the eyes as well. Starting from tomorrow, besides practicing martial arts, letâs also do a set of eye exercises."
"What are eye exercises?" Gu Jinxiu didnât understand.
Gu Jinli explained, "Itâs massaging the eyes to make them feel more comfortable."
Gu Jinxiu responded, "Oh," seemingly still confused.
Then she asked Gu Jinli, "Xiao Yu, what do you want to do in the future?"
Gu Jinli answered, "I want to be lazy and carefree, not having to work."
Gu Jinxiu laughed, "I knew you were lazy."
The sisters talked for nearly half an hour. After Gu Jinxiu finished painting the agricultural busy painting, then she went to sleep.
The next day, after practicing martial arts with Gu Jinâan, Gu Jinxiu, and Brother Cheng, Gu Jinli got busy in the workshop.
Days passed by quickly, and soon it was June 16th, the day the first shop was to open.
The opening of the shop was important, and several families took it very seriously. They started preparing two days in advance, and on the night of June 14th, the Qin Brothers and Luo Wu also came back, riding horses.
Elder Qin was woken up by their noise and was surprised to see them after opening the door, asking, "Why are you back?" Today wasnât the end of the month for rest.
Qin San Lang said, "Uncle Jiang knew our familiesâ shops were opening, so he specially gave us two days off to come back and help."
And this time, he remembered what Gu Jinli said about giving him a gift on his birthday.
He wasnât concerned about birthday gifts; he just thought that since he had already promised her, he should keep his word and come back to get the gift on his birthday.
After listening, Elder Qin nodded, "Lord Jiang is thoughtful."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly made a move, attacking the Qin Brothers.