"Hmm? What is it?" Xu Huaqian stopped his hands and looked toward her curiously. Usually, after reading, Wang Wanwan would review and then go help Chen Xiaomei or attend to her own matters. This was the first time she had spoken up with a request.
"I, I, I—" Wang Wanwan hesitated. "C-Could I also learn to make knots from you?"
Everyone in the family had their own way to earn money. Little Sister could hatch chicks; Big Brother was always busy outside; even Second Brother, now blind, could make knots. Only she handled household chores daily, busy here and there, seeming to do everything yet nothing at all.
She also wanted to have her own unique career, like them.
Originally, she wanted to stick to her old trade, sewing clothes. But no matter what she made, it wasn't as good as the tailor shop's work. Her skill was only slightly better than country folk's, nothing more.
But if not sewing, she didn't know what she could do. Lately, seeing Xu Huaqian make knots every day, she felt obsessed . One day, she even went into a silk shop...
"Of course you can." Hearing her question, Xu Huaqian understood what the girl was thinking. " Perfect , I was worrying about not finishing these knots. If you learn, you can help me."
"Really?" Wang Wanwan's voice instantly became delighted .
"Of course it's true." Xu Huaqian was happy seeing her happy. Remembering her good sewing skills, he even praised her: "Your hands are so skillful . Maybe once you learn, you can even sell these knots to silk shops."
Pei Wangshu had sent people to learn twenty types of knots from him but hadn't said whether they sold well. But since this handcraft existed in this world, it must be useful—it just depended on the quality.
"I asked at the silk shop that day..." Wang Wanwan said somewhat shyly . "They also buy knots, but they have to be well-made. For a extra-large double-happiness knot like the one you're making, the labor cost alone is several hundred coins!"
The knot Xu Huaqian was making was meant to hang on his and Chen Liejiu's window—large enough to cover a window, with one big xi, happiness character in the center surrounded by many small ones, and tassels below with pairs of little mandarin ducks. It was incredibly beautiful.
"The price for labor is that high?" Xu Huaqian was surprised. In his world, an extra-large knot like this would only cost a few dozen yuan on Taobao?
He didn't expect the manual labor cost alone to be so high here.
"Probably they're sold to wealthy families." Things like knots were made from silk thread, which wasn't cheap either. Common folks could only afford thread ends for mending clothes. Only wealthy families could be so extravagant as to use silk knots.
"That makes sense." Xu Huaqian nodded. Rich people didn't care about that little money.
He handed Wang Wanwan a ball of silk thread: "Sit closer. Once you learn, maybe one day our whole family will rely on your craftsmanship to make a living."
"How could that be?" Wang Wanwan shook her head. Big Brother and Second Brother were both extremely capable people. In a family, having one capable person was already considered remarkable. Theirs had two. As long as Second Brother recovered his health, their future days would be unimaginably comfortable .
Wang Wanwan thought of the family that had abandoned her.
She truly wondered: if she ever saw them again, and they saw the life she was living now, would they regret it?
Wang Wanwan came from a modest family in the prefectural city. Her father was in the cloth business, running a fabric shop.
There were six people in her family: Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, her, Younger Brother, and Younger Sister.
Life was originally quite happy and comfortable. Father was strict, Mother was gentle and virtuous, Eldest Brother was cheerful, and Younger Brother and Sister were relatively obedient.
But on the day of her thirteenth birthday, her coming-of-age ceremony, everything changed.
That day, she had dressed up early. Mother said that when a girl came of age, she had to go to the temple to burn incense, pray, and seek marriage prospects .
Although she didn't really want to go, seeing the eager looks in her younger siblings' eyes to go out and play, she went along.
At the temple, she burned incense, prayed to the Buddha, and drew a lot. It was neither good nor bad—a middle-range lot.
She noticed her mother looked somewhat unhappy: "My Wanwan is so pretty, how could she get a middle lot?"
Her father also agreed: "Exactly, it should have been the best lot."
She didn't understand; it was just a lot. Why were they making a fuss about it?
Until, on their way down the mountain, they encountered a group of rampaging bandits. Eldest Brother, who was minding the shop, hadn't come. Her parents grabbed Younger Sister and Younger Brother and ran away immediately. Only she was forgotten.
The bandits took her back to the mountains, tearing at her clothes, wanting to...
Just as she was in utter despair , a figure in red—Big Brother [Chen Liejiu]—kicked open the bandits' door, cut down the bandit, tightly wrapped her in a blanket, and saved her.
Later, when government soldiers arrived, she was so scared her legs were weak and she couldn't walk. It was also Big Brother who placed her in a carrying basket and carried her down the mountain step by step.
Big Brother was only seventeen then. Carrying her, he comforted her gently the whole way, even having the boy beside him feed her food and water, making all sorts of funny faces to make her laugh.
At that time, she thought: when she got home, she would definitely have her parents properly repay them.
But when Big Brother delivered her home and she knocked on the door for her parents to open it, they refused. They said their daughter had been killed by bandits on the mountain; they no longer had a daughter named Wang Wanwan.
Just because she had been captured by bandits, her chastity and reputation were ruined. She wouldn't find a good match and was useless to them, so they abandoned her.
That night, her brother, her sister, her parents—not even the neighbors—opened the door for her.
When dawn came, she didn't know where to go.
She could only silently follow the Big Brother and A-Hu who had stayed with her all night.
She only knew them. She only recognized them.
But she didn't know if they would want her.
After all, even her own parents didn't want her.
At that moment, Big Brother stopped walking, looked at her, and said: "Our family doesn't support idle people, and we can't afford to."
She felt even more hopeless than utter despair .
But the next moment, Big Brother added: "But I have a younger brother. He's about your age. If you're willing to be his future wife, then follow me."
At that moment, she lifted her head and saw the boy not far away, who shared some resemblance with Big Brother—the one who had limped, made funny faces all the way, fed her and gave her water, and gently wiped her mouth.
She thought he had light.
Light that illuminated her.
Wang Wanwan learned to make knots from Xu Huaqian, a soft smile always on her lips. Soon, she had made a knot forming the character for "" tiger . She held it up to look, extremely satisfied. She wondered when A-Hu would return home?
She missed him so much.
Xu Huaqian sure enough hadn't misjudged her. Wang Wanwan was very talented. In no time, she learned knot-making and could even infer other things from one instance , making a character on her own.
He let her practice on her own and felt his way out the door to watch Chen Xiaomei teach Chen Wu and Chen Qiang to read.
"Wrong, it's written like this, not like that." Chen Xiaomei, holding a branch, squatted on the ground teaching Chen Wu.
Chen Qiang, who had learned earlier, was already writing very smoothly to the side. Only Chen Wu, simple-minded , kept failing to learn, forcing Chen Xiaomei to teach him over and over again.
A little teacher instructing big students was getting more and more frustrated .
Xu Huaqian walked over and interrupted them: "Chen Wu, how is the road and kiln your Big Brother is building coming along?"
Suddenly interrupted, Chen Wu answered without thinking: "It's going alright?"
"Any difficulties encountered?" Chen Liejiu solved problems himself and never told him, so Xu Huaqian could only ask himself.
"Not really?" Chen Wu scratched his head and thought. Who would dare give their boss trouble?
When the villagers heard Chen Liejiu wanted to repair the road , they were eager to curry favor and work for a couple of days to earn wages. The Chen clan knew Chen Liejiu was building the road for brick-making, hoping to partner up like with the charcoal, so how could they disagree ?
Moreover, a repaired road would make their charcoal easier to sell.
They were all eager for Chen Liejiu to finish the road quickly, not daring to delay. They were even willing to have wages paid later —after all, there was that huge charcoal kiln!
"There's just a small but not insignificant problem." Chen Wu couldn't think of anything, but Chen Qiang beside him spoke up.
"What problem?" Xu Huaqian asked.
"It's not a big deal," Chen Qiang said. "I'm up the mountain burning charcoal every day. Now there's more and more charcoal, and the pile of crushed charcoal debris around the kiln is also growing. This debris can't be burned, and it's in the way wherever we dump it. Second Brother, do you have any method to deal with it?"
"Simple." Upon hearing this, Xu Huaqian didn't hesitate to offer a solution. "Go haul two cartloads of that crushed charcoal debris back for me. Mix it with lime and use it to smooth out my courtyard and the house floors."
Coincidentally , Xu Huaqian had been thinking about whether to renovate the house since he was getting married.
Their family wasn't large, and the house hadn't been built by Chen Liejiu that many years ago. Tearing it down to rebuild would be a waste. But using something to smooth out the courtyard and indoor floors could slightly satisfy his desire to renovate.
"This charcoal debris can be used to smooth courtyards too?" Chen Wu asked simply .
"Of course it can, why not?" Xu Huaqian waved for Chen Xiaomei to bring him a stool and sat in the courtyard, explaining in detail: "This crushed charcoal debris that doesn't melt even under high heat is harder than stones. Paving it in the courtyard and house is not only level and good-looking but also damp-proof and heat-insulating . If mixed into the foundation , it can reinforce it. Ground into powder and used for brick-making, it saves fuel too."
Charcoal debris, in the eyes of someone like Xu Huaqian who worked in poverty alleviation, was a treasure! It wasn't just a cement additive; it could also be used as aggregate for asphalt concrete, for brick-making, road paving, wall building—everything.
"It's that good?!" Chen Qiang's eyes lit up. " Perfect ! My family is about to build a house. I'll also haul a cartload back. I can also tell others in the clan who want to fill their courtyards to take some too. If each family takes a little, the debris on the mountain will be solved."
Chen Qiang happily went to find people, but Chen Liejiu's voice came from behind: " Not allowed !"
Everyone looked toward Chen Liejiu, who had just returned from outside.
"What are you looking at me for?" Chen Liejiu stepped into the courtyard. "Since this coal debris is so good, then haul it all for road repair . Perfect —I always felt the road was missing one layer. Now, adding this layer of charcoal debris, it's finally complete ."
Chen Liejiu had tried it. Roads compacted with clay and crushed stone debris weren't sturdy enough; heavy rain would wash them away. If the charcoal debris was really as effective as Xu Huaqian said, using it for road repair would be perfect.
Both Xu Huaqian and Chen Qiang's moods dropped.
His husband loved road repair more than he loved him!
"However," Chen Liejiu turned back to Chen Qiang, "those two cartloads for your Second Brother must be set aside for him."
Xu Huaqian's lips curled up. He was still the most important in his husband's heart!
Chen Qiang glanced at the two of them and replied, not particularly thrilled: "Alright."
"A-Qian?" After Chen Qiang left, Chen Liejiu approached Xu Huaqian. "If this crushed charcoal debris really works for paving roads, would you reconsider letting this road be called 'Huaqian Road'?"
He had thought it over and over and felt it was excellent. Xu Huaqian was going for the imperial exams, which required reputation. He couldn't help much elsewhere, but in this, he was fully capable.
If they could have it, why not?
"Still, better not?" Xu Huaqian was baffled. Why hadn't his husband given up on the idea of publicly flaunting their affection?
Using his name for a road—wasn't that like a overbearing CEO declaring, "I will build a road so the whole world knows your name!"?
So cringey !
"Alright." After repeatedly confirming that Xu Huaqian didn't want the fame, Chen Liejiu leftedly disappointedly . But he soon had no time to feel disappointed , throwing himself wholeheartedly into road repair.
He had to make sure everyone attending Xu Huaqian's birthday banquet saw the road he built for him!
Not long after Chen Liejiu left, Chen Qiang hauled back the crushed charcoal debris and paved the Chen family's courtyard, inside and out.
The floor paved with coal debris mixed with lime and clay wasn't as smooth as cement, but it was much better than mud.
Walking in the courtyard without any bumps or holes, stepping on the distinct charcoal particles, Xu Huaqian smiled. Yes, this kind of floor was suitable for them blind people!
The doctor in the prefectural city had said that since his vision was too blurry, he shouldn't open his eyes but keep them bandaged to avoid his eyes adapting to the blurriness and never recovering.
He had been bandaged for two or three months now. Had his eyesight improved at all?!
Xu Huaqian tilted his head in thought, then reached behind his head to untie the bandage over his eyes, trying to open them.
At first, when he opened his eyes, he saw a blurry white and felt unaccustomed. But as his eyes slowly opened, it grew brighter and clearer. His vision went from a blurry mass to being able to see the trees outside the courtyard.
Under a tree, there was a limping young man with a bright, sunny smile walking toward him, getting closer and closer. Finally, he reached Xu Huaqian, his smile growing even brighter: "So you're the Second Brother my big brother married for me?"