Designing a Bracelet
"All right." Hearing that the flavor could be even better, Xu Yongyi felt more confident than ever about the business.
Since they ate only two meals a day, dinner was relatively early. It was only the beginning of the eighth lunar month, and darkness fell late. When Xu Xi returned to her room after bathing, it was still early and there was plenty of light, so she began drawing a design.
Xu Xue leaned over to look. "Sis, what are you drawing?"
"A bracelet." Xu Xi finished the last stroke and asked Xu Xue, "Is it pretty?"
"It's so pretty!" Xu Xue nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling.
Xu Xue had looked through the catalog at the silver shop with Xu Xi that day, so she had some idea of the bracelet styles there.
The jade bracelets at the silver shop were mostly blessing bracelets, with round bands. The more elaborate worked bracelets were twisted bracelets and carved bracelets. As the name suggested, twisted bracelets were shaped like twists, while carved bracelets had decorative patterns carved into their surfaces. The main difference lay in the patterns carved on them, but at a glance they all looked much the same.
Gold and silver bracelets were somewhat better, but their styles were still roughly the same as those of jade bracelets. The craftsmen who made them had probably settled into a fixed pattern, so there was little variation from the jade ones.
But the bracelet Xu Xi had designed was meant to be made of gold or silver. She had shaped it like a bird, its beak chasing its beautiful tail as its body curved into a circle. The beak and tail did not meet, however, leaving a gap between them.
Xu Xi had studied drawing for a while as a child in her previous life. Later, although she had entered an industrial design program after graduating from high school as a science-track student, and usually used computer software for design work, drawing was a required course for her university major, so she had practiced it hard for a while. She was probably quite talented too, and her skill at drawing designs by hand was outstanding.
In her design, the little bird's expression was lifelike, its plump face full of docile charm, and its movement as it chased and tried to peck its own tail was lively and spirited. Not only was the design distinctive, but the bird's spirit also held the eye, making it impossible not to take a liking to it.
The moment Xu Xue saw the drawing, she loved it too much to put it down. If a bracelet were made from it, with the little bird looking exactly as it did in the picture, she felt she would buy it even if she had to spend her entire fortune.
"Sis, it really is so pretty." Xu Xue could not bear to take her eyes off the drawing. "Are you going to have a bracelet like this made? When I have enough money for a silver bracelet, could I have one made in your design?"
"No, I'm planning to sell this drawing to the silver shop," Xu Xi said.
Xu Xue finally looked away from the drawing and turned to Xu Xi in surprise. "Sell it?"
Xu Xi nodded. "Yes." She added, "I plan to draw designs for the silver shop in the future and earn some money."
She seized the chance to give Xu Xue a pep talk. "Xiaoxue, whether we marry or not, we have to be able to earn money. Think about it: if everything you eat and wear is paid for by a man, can you stand up to him? If he tells you to get lost, you'll have nowhere to go and no way to support yourself. You'll have no choice but to swallow your anger and carry on. But if we can earn money, we won't have to live by a man's mood. If he tells us to get lost, we can pack our things and leave. Three-legged toads are hard to find under heaven, but two-legged men are all over the streets. If we have money, looks, and a family fortune, plenty of men will come asking to marry us. There's no need to live by someone else's mood."
That transmigrated empress had long since smashed the ideas that a woman must remain faithful to one husband for life and that "starving to death is a small matter, but losing one's chastity is a grave one." Women in Great Jin could divorce by mutual agreement and remarry.
Thus, Xu Xue was more than happy to accept Xu Xi's pep talk.
She nodded, her face full of agreement. "Sis, you're absolutely right." Then her little face fell. "But I don't have any skills I can use to earn money."
"Aren't you good at writing stories? Why don't you write storybooks?" Xu Xi suggested.
The reason Xu Yongyi and his wife doted on Xu Xi was also that his elder brother Xu Yongzeng and sister-in-law Lady Lin treated Xu Chongwen and Xu Xue very well. Xu Yongzeng had given Xu Chongwen his first lessons, and he had also taught Xu Xue to read. When Xu Yongzeng taught the original owner to read and write, he had brought Xu Xue over and taught her along with her.
Xu Yongyi earned an income as a small trader and could not bear to see his wife and daughter work too hard. He kept only three mu of farmland to grow grain for the family; when it was time to work the fields, he would set aside his business and tend to them, while renting out the other fifteen mu to tenant farmers. Madam Xie usually kept an eye on the water in the fields, grew vegetables, raised chickens and ducks, and did the housework. Though she was somewhat busy, the work was not too strenuous.
Xu Xue usually only lent a hand and did not need to do much work. She spent the rest of her time reading and writing, as well as learning embroidery and other needlework. She was fairly clever, and her reading and writing skills were respectable.
Ever since the original owner had been brought back, Xu Xue had had a playmate for the past two years. The two whispered and chattered together all day, and after reading the storybooks Xu Chongwen brought back from school, Xu Xue made up stories of her own for amusement.
In the original owner's memories, the original owner liked drawing, while Xu Xue liked making up stories. The little stories Xu Xue wrote herself were quite good.