Liu Xiaomei watched Meizi, her expression complicated. 'She used to be so carefree. I was always so envious of her good fortune back then.'
'It seems that no matter how blessed a girl is, once she's married, she still has to do what needs to be done. Mom was right; it's never a mistake to learn more skills for running a household.'
Juhua felt the atmosphere had grown a little somber, so she changed the subject. She explained how to make chrysanthemum tea, adding that the flowers for stuffing pillows only needed to be washed once and sun-dried.
Only then did the three of them start chatting and laughing again.
There was so much more to do this year; picking chrysanthemums was no longer the leisurely activity it had been last fall.
Juhua's hands moved without stopping, pinching off the chrysanthemums. As she picked up speed, her pinching turned into plucking. She felt like one of the tea-leaf pickers, her hands fluttering up and down.
