CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER 206: UNINTENDED REVELATIONS IN CONVERSATION

Lin Lishan looked at him disappointedly and said, "I thought I finally found something Jiao Jiao likes. This child, aside from books, has no special interests. When you give her things, she saves them, making sure not to waste anything."

Zhao Yuanyuan anxiously shouted, "Auntie, I know! I know what Jiao Jiao likes. If you buy pretty things, she’ll like them. Let me tell you, I’ve been paying attention to her. Just take clothes for example. She really dislikes jackets with big floral patterns. If you give her big red and green ones, she’ll get angry. White, black, or small flowers without big red and green, she can accept. If you want her to wear red clothes, the whole piece must be red, no flashy patterns.

Oh, she said she wants something elegant. Even in the dead of winter, she’d rather freeze than wear my floral cotton-padded jacket. Every time she sees a classmate showing off in a bright floral outfit, she’d quietly walk away."

Lin Lishan laughed heartily, "That’s right, I knew about her preference early on. She requests black or brown for coats, pairing them with bright red or light yellow sweaters to look steady. She’s picky with her taste. Yuanyuan, Jiao Jiao mentioned making plaid shirts, even wearing the men’s style herself. Do you want one? You’d look great in it."

"I do, I do. Where do you buy the fabric? Oh, I need to find Jiao Jiao soon. The floral dress she asked me to make last year turned out beautifully. Several classmates used it as a model."

Lin Lishan curiously asked, "Doesn’t she dislike floral fabric? Would she let you wear it?"

Zhao Yuanyuan anxiously looked at her mom, "Mom, explain to Auntie. It’s not floral fabric, oh wait, it really is floral fabric. Oh dear, I can’t explain it."

Cheng Hongli patted her, holding back laughter, and said to Lin Lishan, "It really was big red floral fabric. Jiao Jiao cut the large red flowers inside the fabric to patch them into matching front and back large red flowers, with both sides of the waist cut into plain red with no patterns. Wearing it makes the front and back two pieces large red flowers, while the rest is red, very nice looking and not gaudy at all. It feels like a red dress with big red flowers as decoration."

Lin Lishan watched her gestures, nodded, and had an idea, "I must say, it’s quite nice. She learned a lot of skills from her grandmother."

Mrs. Zhou listened joyfully, nodded in agreement at the end, "Yes, except for medical skills, she didn’t get to practice much. She learned embroidery very well, especially good at bamboo, could sell it. Making and sewing clothes is simple for her, she does it quickly, just that she usually doesn’t have the chance, otherwise even city tailors can’t compare.

She loves making qipaos, claiming that’s real clothing making. But she’s never had good materials and doesn’t bother, too much effort and inconvenient. Usually, she accompanies me in my room embroider small items. At five years old, she could accompany me all afternoon quietly embroidering. Grew up and stopped, afraid the family would make her sew or embroider at home. Her nature dislikes roughness, prefers meticulousness, and mood decides her doing. Likes secretly learning things, doesn’t want people knowing until she embroidered orchids, and no one at home knew. What I know is just embroidery and some ancestral medical skills, she learned it all before eight years old."

"Wow, I didn’t know she was so skilled, even embroidering, never told me, really unfair. Mrs. Zhou, where are her past embroidered works? Are they still around?"

Zhao Yuanyuan’s eyes gleamed green with desire to find Zhou Jiao soon, must get some small pieces. She envied Zhou Jiao’s pencil case for long, thinking it was bought, didn’t dare ask.

Mrs. Zhou sunk into memory, not hearing, continued muttering, "My Jiao Jiao, really resembles, everything like. At three, had a fever, lying on the kang still reciting books, those big bright eyes gazing at you, not whining even drinking bitter medicine, gulped down bitter medicine and recited a line of ’Thousand Character Classic,’ proudly giving herself a thumbs-up, babbling away.

Later, growing up, don’t know when started not liking to talk, loved running to the small room in the ancestral hall. Meeting anyone just smiles. Doesn’t want to speak just smiles, even when angry would smile and walk away. Sigh, this child grew up like this, doesn’t talk to Grandma about inner matters, keeps things inside. Ask and says nothing, just smiles back. Yes, I couldn’t protect her, why would she say, what’s use of saying..."

Zhang Guoqing sitting nearby drinking grape wine with them, always paying attention to this side. Over there, Zhou Xiaozheng and Zhao Dashan drank white spirits, reminiscing about fallen comrades, not noticing Mrs. Zhou’s voice quieter. Had it not been for his extraordinary hearing, he’d ignore too. He curiously looked at Mrs. Zhou, gesturing everyone not to disturb her, to eat first and talk later.

Cheng Hongli hurriedly tugged on Yuanyuan’s hand, signaling her to be quiet and eat. Her own grandmother is the same, recalling and sinking into memories, snaps back later. All old folks are like this, she wonders what her own old memories will be when her time comes? Will she be like this old lady too?

Lin Lishan put some dishes in Zhao Yuanyuan’s bowl, smiled, and signaled Zhao Hongbing and Xiao Wu to help themselves. She worriedly looked at her mother-in-law, helplessly gazing at Zhou Xiaozheng. Found him chatting happily with Zhao Dashan, not noticing anything unusual here.

Finally looking at Zhang Guoqing, seeing him gently shaking his head, she relaxed.

After a while, even the inattentive Zhao Dashan turned over, surprisedly looked over to the women over here, turning his gaze to his wife Cheng Hongli, only to find his wife winking at him.

Seeing Mrs. Zhou distracted, he knowingly nodded. Caught sight of Zhou Xiaozheng, found that even Brother Zheng was lost in thought like Mrs. Zhou. Why do Old Zhou Family members love zoning out?

Should he remind Mrs. Zhou to eat or not? Not knowing what just happened, this quietness, he found it difficult.

Zhou Xiaozheng noticed Zhao Dashan pitifully looking at him. He chuckled, "Stop staring, drink up. Where’s this white spirit from? This is quite good, not inferior to special supply ones."

Zhao Dashan breathed a sigh of relief, hearing him talk about the alcohol, got interested, "Brother Zheng, how’s this alcohol? Bought from my old home. You know my old place is even more remote than here. In the village, no one goes out to buy liquor, they all brew themselves.

In recent years, few brew, grain shortages. This batch was from a family needing money for a wedding, so they sold it. My mother heard and bought two large jars to send over, brewed long ago in the backyard, this alcohol dates back to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, how about that? Isn’t this an antique too? Hehe, I still have dozens of pounds at home, later when you go back, I’ll give them all to you."

Zhou Xiaozheng, hearing this, surprisedly picked up the liquor, took another sip, savored it, and said, "I’ve had 50-year cellar-stored wines, lingering taste, if a master brewed, this couldn’t be cheap."

"All home-brewed, where can a master be found? This won’t be costly. If it were, my mom wouldn’t have bought two whole jars to send over.

I didn’t inquire, and she didn’t mention it either. Been drinking it for over two years now. Xiao Wu said this has a 30-year taste, I find it fine. Oh dear, I forgot, Zuo Lin mentioned inviting us to dinner, asked when you’ll be free. He has a 50-year unopened sorghum spirit waiting for us. Hehe, how about it? When to go check it out."

Zhou Xiaozheng noticed his mischievous grin—he’s set his heart on it, "When we come down from the mountain, we’ll bring game and go, directly ask for the liquor. This time we have to get some. Once we’re free, we’ll go out asking, there must be old cellars, just that we haven’t found anyone." Zhou Xiaozheng didn’t realize he couldn’t join the hunt tomorrow.