Chapter 103 Chapter 102 Newspaper and Peach Blossom

old street. Regardless of Mr. Bian's repeated persuasion, Yuan Mei resolutely got up and said goodbye, and left the old street with Xiaoqiu.Mr. Bian was full of disappointment, reluctantly standing on the street until the two disappeared at the end of the ancient street, still waving, reluctant to go back.Pushing the wheelbarrow, Xiao Qiu left the blacksmith's shop, stepped on the wet bluestone slabs after the rain, and continued walking in the direction indicated by Yuan Mei. They went to the suburbs.Hills, bamboos, paddy fields, lotus ponds, farmhouses, peach groves, miscellaneous trees, vegetable beds, aqueducts.The willow wind blowing on the face is not cold.The spring breeze in the suburbs is pleasant, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and the mood of both of them is lifted, just like a young couple on an outing in the green, free and easy.

Accompanied by the beauty, Xiaoqiu's heart is full of warmth.He asked Yuan Mei where are we going? Yuan Mei smiled and said: I won't tell you yet, just follow my directions. Xiaoqiu deliberately said: I will go wherever you go, what should I do if I want to go back to my mother's house with you?Who am I to you?It's not like pretending to be your husband. Smug.Yuan Mei curled her mouth and said: Haven't you played other people's husband enough? Xiaoqiu blushed, luckily his skin was thick enough. Yuan Mei blinked, and said mysteriously: You push me honestly, don't think about anything, don't ask anything, just go.

Where are they going?No matter where Yuan Mei takes him, Xiao Qiu is willing to go with her.Xiaoqiu believes that the place with her is the closest to heaven. Heaven is what they are going to. However, there is nothing wrong along the way, and it is not bad to chat.Yuan Mei said: I can give you a hint.Please say.We are looking for someone.Looking for someone again?Xiaoqiu said: We have met the only disciple of Master Bian just now, who is going to meet this time? A very important figure, a man who has been dealing with needles a lot.Yuan Mei slanted her face on the unicycle: Think about it, who is the person who is best at using needles today?

Xiaoqiu thought about it, but couldn't think of it. You can't blame you, because this person rarely walks in the rivers and lakes.Yuan Mei said: But, she is very famous among the nobles. Yeah, I'm not on the same level as you guys.Xiaoqiu said. Don't say that, heroes don't ask about their origins.Yuan Mei said: People often say that it takes a hundred years to cultivate nobles.The nobles are different from the general class. They pay great attention to self-cultivation, etiquette, and temperament. They are very particular about food, clothing, housing, transportation, and even burials. They have a complete set of etiquette and norms.

Xiaoqiu laughed, and said disdainfully: I am a commoner, but I really don't like these parasites who eat vegetarian meals, eat all day long, and have no shame. life of struggle.However, I like you. Yuan Mei blushed: What do you like about me? Xiaoqiu said seriously: I like your calm and unrestrained, natural and calm, elegant and quiet, noble bearing and demeanor.Unfortunately, Yuan Mei is Lin Xiaofeng's favorite woman, otherwise Although Yuan Mei didn't think so, she was secretly happy that there was no woman who didn't like men's compliments, let alone these words came from the heart.She diverted from this topic and continued today's theme: nobles are very particular about dressing, and their clothes are all tailor-made. What I want to tell you is the embroidery shop that specializes in embroidery.

It is said that ladies from rich families often spend their time with embroidery to cultivate their temperament, which is called boudoir embroidery.Xiaoqiu said: Your embroidery skills must be very high. Well, I know a thing or two.Yuan Mei said very modestly: However, it is far behind Mrs. Gu. Who is Lord Gu? That's who we're going to meet today.Yuan Mei said: She is the best embroiderer and the best needle user. Xiaoqiu suddenly realized: Do you want to find a way to use needles from her? Yes.No matter what kind of needle it is, its usage must have many things in common.She said word by word: I believe that you will not be disappointed when you see her, and you will definitely find some clues.

According to the direction Yuan Mei pointed out, Xiao Qiu pushed her and came to a lake. They walked for a long time, and the time passed slowly in silence, and it was almost dusk before they knew it.The lake is huge, and under the setting sun, it glows with golden scales.There is a small island in the middle of the lake, which appears and disappears in the mist, like a fairyland on earth.Is this heaven? There was a healthy little girl in plain clothes by the lake, leaning on a small boat, obviously she had been waiting for a long time.As soon as she saw them, the little girl greeted them enthusiastically, invited them to board the boat, chatted a bunch of Beijing dialect with Yuan Mei, and had a lot of joking around.Apparently Yuan Mei is a very popular regular here.

The little girl is swaying the scull unhurriedly, people are on the boat, and the boat is in the water, as if driving in a faint ink painting.The surface of the lake is very large, and the small boat traveled for a long time before gradually seeing the small islands bursting with bamboo waves.When the boat landed, the little girl laughed heartily: "Go quickly, my wife has been waiting for a long time." The two climbed up the stairs.To Xiaoqiu's surprise, there are neat cemeteries on both sides of the road, with graves next to each other, quietly telling the reincarnation of time and the tranquility of life.

Xiaoqiu couldn't help but ask: The tomb is just beside the road, aren't the people here afraid? Yuan Mei's voice was very soft, and there seemed to be a layer of mist in her eyes: The people buried here are all their relatives, so what is there to be afraid of?Buried by the side of the road, people can see them when they go out, see them every day, miss them every day, and their relatives can see them every day, so there is nothing wrong with it. Madam Gu has been waiting at the door for a long time with an exquisite lantern.She was a kind-hearted woman in her fifties who seemed like a mother.

Although it was still dusk, she prepared candles for the guests to light up. Embroidery is divided into four famous embroideries: Su embroidery, Shu embroidery, Hunan embroidery and Yue embroidery. Since the Song Dynasty, Suzhou embroidery techniques have flourished and the craftsmanship has become more mature. Every family in the countryside raises silkworms and embroiders at every household. Embroidery thread alleys, Gunxiufang, Jinxiufang, Xiuhua Lane and other alleys. The predecessor of Su embroidery came from Gu embroidery.This motherly and kind Mrs. Gu was the representative figure with the highest embroidery skills at that time. Her embroidery landscapes can distinguish the interest of far and near, the pavilions can express the profound body, the characters can have the vivid feeling of looking at the view, and the flowers and birds can express the intimacy and intimacy. state.

She has three skills, needles, and threads.She can use needles and threads to embroider maps of the five mountains and countries on square silk, and can embroider seven volumes of the Lotus Sutra on one foot of silk. Nothing left behind. Therefore, people at that time called her Mrs. Sanjue. Mrs. Gu looked at Yuan Mei's kind and smiling expression, as if looking at her naughty daughter, with a kind face.When Yuan Mei introduced Xiaoqiu to her, she just nodded lightly and said a word of admiration without a trace of surprise, as if she just heard an inconspicuous name.Xiao Qiu rarely encountered such a situation. Perhaps, in Madam Gu's mind, the word Xiaoqiu is similar to a fisherman. Mrs. Gu arranged a sumptuous dinner for them.After drinking for three rounds, Yuan Mei explained the reason for her visit: I came here today because I wanted to show my wife something. Mrs. Gu said with a smile: "What is it that asked you to bring it all the way?" One piece embroidery.embroidery?Mrs. Gu was puzzled: Your embroidery level is very high, why do you want to show it to me? Yuan Mei is really good at embroidery.As a famous lady, embroidery has always been one of her recreational and sexual activities.In addition, she paints flowers with skill, the ingenuity of being a female celebrity, and the spring breeze with ten fingers, so far away that even Eunuch Liu in the palace was amazed when he saw it: this is the skill! I didn't want to be a fool, Yuan Mei said: Because this embroidery is so amazing, I am ashamed that I can't see the stitches, so I asked my wife for advice. Mrs. Gu waved her hand: Stop flattering me!Even you can't tell, and neither can I.However, she was also really curious, and wanted to take a look at this miraculous embroidery, why even people like Yuan Mei valued it so highly: Well, let's appreciate it together and see what's special about it. good.Yuan Mei carefully and slowly unwrapped the bundle she brought, and gently unfolded a piece of embroidery inside.This embroidery looks very ordinary, and it also embroiders a common pet cat. Cats and dogs have always been man's best friends.In rural areas, every household has several dogs to guard the house and several cats for fun.However, when Mrs. Gu saw the cat, she became more and more surprised, her face changed, she became unbelievable, and full of piety, as if seeing a treasure she had never seen before, and her body trembled slightly due to excitement .Mrs. Gu is the person with the highest embroidery skills. What kind of things fascinate her so much? She took this embroidery and looked at it under the lamp for a long time. time to eat?The little girl who took Xiaoqiu and the two to the island rushed in just in a hurry: Ha, what are you looking at?She grabbed the embroidery in Mrs. Gu's hand: let me see. careful!Mrs. Gu cried out: This is a national treasure! Hmph, what kind of national treasure is it comparable to my Gu family's embroidery?The little girl said dissatisfied, but after only watching for a while, her face changed.Become like Mrs. Gu. Mrs. Gu came back to her senses and hurriedly asked Yuan Mei: Where did you get this thing from?It was given by my father-in-law on the day of my son's full moon.From Zou Xifeng?Yes. How is this going?This thing might not even be available in the imperial palace, how did he get it?Madam Gu said. Yuan Mei shook her head and said: I don't know either. Um.Xiaoqiu said: I am a layman when it comes to embroidery. I really don’t see anything special about this embroidery. Could you please explain it? Not to mention you, even I have never seen such exquisite embroidery.It can only be described as magical.Mrs. Gu sighed: Yuan Mei is ashamed of herself, and I am also ashamed of myself. Can't even my wife embroider it? Well, I'm still a little behind.Mrs. Gu said: This embroidery is double-sided embroidery, which is to divide a hair-thick embroidery thread into one-half, one-fourth, or even one-twelfth, and forty-eighth thin thread embroidery, and divide thousands of threads into thin threads. Thousands of thread ends and knots are hidden without a trace.Therefore, the naughty and lively expression of the kitten can be seen no matter from the front or the back. The most difficult thing to embroider a cat is a pair of cat's eyes. At least more than 20 kinds of silk threads in more than 20 colors are needed to embroider the cat's eyes brightly and vividly, which shows its extreme fineness.She said: It uses a special stitch method called chaotic stitch embroidery. Xiaoqiu asked: What is random stitch embroidery. Yuan Mei replied from the side: Random stitch embroidery, as the name suggests, is an embroidery method with very chaotic stitches. In fact, it is a kind of embroidery that seems to be chaotic but not chaotic, and there are certain rules.The lines are all intricately combined with straight oblique and horizontal oblique lines, cross-blended with stitches of different lengths, and layered and mixed with color again and again, until the light, color, and shape are similar.It is the most difficult stitch in embroidery. Yes.Mrs. Gu continued: Needlework is the soul of embroidery, and the magic of this embroidery lies in its extraordinary needlework. Hearing the needling method, Xiaoqiu was in high spirits.Mrs. Gu explained: Needlework is like a knife in the hands of a sculptor, because of it all uncanny effects are born, and exquisite paintings come out of it.The stitching method of this embroidery is very unique, requiring extremely high skills and martial arts. Xiaoqiu asked: Embroidery also requires martial arts? Yes, this is a kind of internal strength of acupuncture, which requires eyesight, concentration, endurance and ingenuity.Mrs. Gu said: Otherwise, how can a hair-thin embroidery thread be divided into one forty-eighth thin thread, and how can it be embroidered exquisitely? She suddenly called to the little girl: "Go get some needles and let Mr. Qiu see it." The little girl readily agreed.After a while she brought all the tools: frame, jumping frame, floral thread, yarn, gold thread, silver thread and velvet thread, and of course, needles. This kind of needle has a hole in the middle of the needle as the needle nose, and the two ends of the needle body are made of needle points. When embroidering, the embroidery thread is inserted into the needle nose, and the two needle points are used to puncture up and down, so as to improve work efficiency and shorten embroidery time. .The needle body is uniform and round, and the design is very clever. You demonstrate.Madam Gu said.OK.But I saw the little girl threading the needle, moving the needle like flying, and after a while, a small work took shape. Wouldn't it be scary if this kind of needle was combined with the method of needle movement?Xiaoqiu said. Well, not only scary, but also murderous.Mrs. Gu nodded and said: You can kill people without making a sound. Xiaoqiu pointed to the embroidery that Yuan Mei brought, and said: If it was this embroiderer, what would happen? Mrs. Gu said: This person will take your life before you see the needle, and even after you die, the muscles on your face will not have time to change. In other words, when you laugh, death laughs: when you cry, death cries, and when you grin, you grin after death. Xiaoqiu bowed deeply: I would like to be taught. This embroidery has another feature.Mrs. Gu's expression was a little mysterious. what feature?Xiaoqiu hurriedly asked. There are also four characters in the cat's eyes that cannot be seen clearly by the naked eye of ordinary people.Mrs. Gu said word by word: gradually getting better. Yuan Mei's face suddenly became very pale.Why would Zou Xifeng give her such a gift, and hide the words getting better and better?What does it mean? Who embroidered this embroidery?Is Zou Xifeng gradually getting better, or Xiao Qiu getting better, does the better mean Yuan Mei or Zhen, or something else?No one can answer this question. Xiaoqiu also noticed Yuan Mei's abnormality, secretly had an ominous premonition, felt a dull pain in his heart like a needle prick, some things he didn't dare to think about, it would be better if he didn't know.He didn't ask Yuan Mei why, but changed the subject at the right time, saying: Mrs. Gu, you are an authority in the embroidery field. Based on your analysis, who is the most likely embroiderer? The little girl who was carrying the needle stopped her work and said loudly: "I'm not boasting. Our Gu family's Gu Embroidery is the best in the Central Plains. It is famous all over the world. There are almost no rivals in the embroidery field. If I didn't see it personally, I really can't believe it." There are such characters. Well, there is a sky beyond the sky, and there are people beyond people.Mrs. Gu sighed, her face was a little unnatural: However, I couldn't think of anyone with such ability for a while. I can't think of one either.Yuan Mei said: This person must be very outstanding, but also very terrifying. Mrs. Gu said: This person has an evil spirit.Evil?Xiaoqiu said: How can you tell? It can be seen from the way this person moves the needle.There is not only an evil spirit, but also a perverted murderous spirit.This man is demonstrating against us.She pointed to the cat's eyes: You carefully observe the cat's eyes, its faint expression, isn't that right? At first glance, the cat's demeanor is smiling like a fox, but at another glance, it is as ferocious as a wolf, and at another glance, it is as sinister as embarrassment. The cat's demeanor seems to be changing. There was a cold chill in his heart, rushing up to his heart. This person may very well be the needle we've been looking for.This cat is like a needle, watching us quietly in the dark.Yuan Mei's voice trembled: We are looking for the needle, and the needle may also be looking for us. The needle seems to be standing among us, staring at our every move. The faces of Mrs. Gu and the little girl turned green. Xiao Qiu suddenly smiled, no one thought that under such circumstances, he could still laugh out loud, even though the laughter was really not flattering Xiao Qiu felt unconfident.Seeing Xiaoqiu's calm and confident appearance, the women also began to calm down. It does not matter who embroidered this embroidery.Xiaoqiu said: The important thing is that we know that there is a person who can embroider such magical and evil things. Yuan Mei said: What does this mean? This shows that our thinking is not wrong, the needle is not an illusory thing, this person does exist.Xiaoqiu said: This also shows that we are getting closer and closer to the needle. Yuan Mei agreed with her forehead. It is a good thing that the needle came to us, saving us a lot of time and energy.Xiaoqiu laughed happily this time: I was afraid of scaring the snake, and I was afraid that the needle would not come.Ha ha. I really want to meet this man.Mrs. Gu said: I really want to see who can embroider this kind of thing. Xiaoqiu said with certainty: I believe we will meet soon. After a while, Xiaoqiu said: Mrs. Gu, why did I only see the female relatives and not the male master? Mrs. Gu sighed: Our family is a very strange family. The women do embroidery at home, but the men all disdain it. They insist on holding swords and going out into the world.Once the men in our family become adults, they will go out without exception.She looked sad: some of them are still in the rivers and lakes, and some of them are lying on the way you came. sorry!I shouldn't ask these topics and bring up your unpleasant past.Xiaoqiu said sincerely. Madam Gu clasped her hands together: Don't say that.The path of life is chosen by each person. As wives and mothers, what we have to do is to be strong for them, not to let them have any worries, as long as they feel meaningful and realize their dreams. Mrs. Gu suddenly yelled: "Look, I'm too busy talking, the food is almost cold, let's continue to eat."Yuan Mei also laughed: That's right, people who don't know think we are polite.The little girl yelled: "Everyone drink, don't care what it is, we'll stop when we're drunk!" Mrs. Gu is as kind as a mother: It's already dark, you can't go back anyway, so just stay here. Xiaoqiu can't see two things, one is women and the other is wine, as long as she sees one of them, her heart will itch, let alone women and wine.There's no reason not to get drunk. Yuan Mei and Mrs. Gu drank lightly, while Xiaoqiu and the young girl shouted and punched each other. When they met their opponents, they ate meat and drank in big bowls, full of pride.One bowl after another, I don't know how long they drank, Yuan Mei and Mrs. Gu couldn't persuade them no matter how much they tried.I was in a hurry, and the little girl almost got angry.Finally, both Xiaoqiu and the little girl were overwhelmed with alcohol, and both passed out.The little girl was so drunk that she lost consciousness, and Xiao Qiu was still shouting: "Bring the wine, I want to drink more."However, as soon as he was helped to bed, he fell asleep like a dead pig, snoring like thunder. Mrs. Gu has arranged guest rooms for Xiaoqiu and Yuan Mei.