March, everything is budding.
Li Mingwei looked at the tender buds on the branches of the old trees at the village entrance, the wildflowers dotted around the grass, and suddenly realized that she had been in Xinghua Village for so long that it was probably time to say goodbye.
"Auntie."
A little girl walked over to her and held out her hand, revealing a round egg: "Here, this is for you."
Li Mingwei squatted down and pushed her hand back, shaking her head: "You have such a good memory when it comes to studying every day, yet you just can't seem to remember that Auntie doesn't eat eggs."
The little girl didn't answer, but Li Mingwei could probably guess what she was thinking. Her family was poor, and the best thing she could offer was likely this egg.
Looking at the girl's somewhat messy hair, Li Mingwei smiled and said, "Did you get up late today? Your hair isn't combed."
The little girl couldn't see what her own hair looked like. She reached up and touched it, explaining, "I combed it. Grandma went to the fields, so I combed it myself."
After the long winter, the village had started to get busy again. She lived with her grandparents, and since Grandma had gone out, there was no one to comb her hair for her.
Li Mingwei sighed softly, went to the nearest house to borrow a comb, and tied two small braids for her. The girls who gradually came to class begged her to do the same for them.
Seeing there was still some time before class, she obligingly tied braids for each of the girls.
"Okay, next."
Another little girl sat down with her back to Li Mingwei. She touched the two little buns on the girl's head - with such thin hair, small braids really weren't suitable.
She coaxed gently, "Auntie thinks your current hairstyle looks very nice just as it is. No need to comb it again."
"Really?" The little girl reached up doubtfully to touch her hair. Looking at the other girls with their small braids, longing showed in her eyes. "But I want to have my hair like theirs too."
Seeing her pitiful look, Li Mingwei didn't have the heart to refuse. She looked at the girl's old hair ribbon, went to borrow scissors from the nearest house, and cut her own ribbon into strips to tie the girl's hair.
Li Mingwei had made two spring outfits, one pink and one light green. Today she was wearing the pink one, with a matching pink hair ribbon. Naturally, the little girl loved it.
The girls with braids now envied her in turn, crowding around with longing in their eyes.
Li Mingwei didn't mind cutting her ribbon into more strips to give them all new ribbons.
Mrs. Wang looked at the messy hair ribbons in Li Mingwei's hand, feeling somewhat regretful. Her older sister had only recently asked someone to bring them to her, and they hadn't been used for long before ending up like this.
The aunties watching thought that Li Mingwei was so patient styling each girl's hair, and couldn't help commenting, "Mingwei really likes girls, doesn't she!"
The boys could only watch enviously from the sidelines.
"Yes, she likes them so much she might as well have a daughter of her own. With such a pretty mother, her daughter would certainly be a beauty too."
"She should have a son - girls take after their father and boys after their mother. Who knows how handsome her son would be if this young lady had a boy. All the little girls would follow him around."
"If the young master was good-looking, she could have dragon and phoenix twins, one boy and one girl, both beautiful!"
"That sounds good to me!"
Everyone laughed merrily.
But Mrs. Wang looked rather embarrassed. She glanced uneasily at Li Mingwei, who just smiled lightly and nodded, "Hopefully."
Patting Li Mingwei comfortingly on the back, Mrs. Wang came forward to shoo away the onlookers: "Alright, alright, you're done braiding their hair now, time to start class. Stop getting in the way here, don't you have work to do in the fields?"
"Of course we're busy, very busy."
"Then hurry up and go. The crops won't wait."
And so they dispersed. Li Mingwei pinched the bridge of her nose to suppress the thoughts in her heart, and had the children return to their seats to start class.
In fact, there wasn't much left for her to teach them. After drilling with the one book for over a month, apart from a few inattentive or slower children, the others could basically recognize all the characters.
Li Mingwei planned to wait until those last few children had learned well, then she would leave. But after spending so much time together, she had become quite attached to the children, so she wanted to prepare a proper farewell ceremony.
She gave the children a few days off, and went back to the Fang residence under Wang Dazhuang's escort.
When Wang Chunhua saw her walk in, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. The two hadn't seen each other for over a month.
Li Mingwei rushed over to hug her and nuzzled her cheek. "Sister Chunhua, did you miss me?"
Wang Chunhua exclaimed in surprise and looked Li Mingwei up and down, smiling and nodding, "So it really is you! You've finished teaching and are coming back?"
"More or less. I came back to buy some farewell gifts for them, then I won't need to go anymore."
Wang Chunhua didn't understand. "You taught them for so long without taking a penny, and now you want to buy them gifts too? The paper and ink for copying that booklet was bought by you as well. You must have money to burn."
"Oh Sister," Li Mingwei hooked her arm around Wang Chunhua's. "You know very well how much money I have. It's not like I can buy anything valuable for them, just a token, since I did teach them for so long."
"Well, after you taught them for so long, did they give you any tokens?"
"They did! A girl gave me an egg every morning."
Seeing her proud look, as if being given an egg was some grand gesture, Wang Chunhua helplessly pinched her. "When you're home, doesn't Sister cook eggs for you every day?"
"Hehe."
Wang Chunhua paid her no mind and went into the house. She took out some silver and handed it to Li Mingwei. "Here, this is yours."
"Mine?"
Li Mingwei was puzzled. Where did she get so much money?
"Mm. Last time you borrowed two taels from us, I'm returning it to you. There's also five taels from Ms. Yu the embroiderer. She said the spring outfit you made together was well-liked by the mistress, who gave a bonus. She wants you to make more."
Li Mingwei picked up one of the ingots. "How much is this?"
"These two are one tael each, that one is five taels."
The five taels were neatly stacked, from Ms. Yu. The married couple's two taels were separate. Wang Chunhua remembered clearly.
Li Mingwei returned one tael to Wang Chunhua. "Last time the money for the clothes was from Sister, as well as what I used to buy rouge for Xiao Yan. Take it out of this."
Wang Chunhua pushed it back. "The clothes were a gift from Sister, and there was a piece for Xiao Yan too."
"Then count that piece as my gift for Xiao Yan."
Before Wang Chunhua could react, Li Mingwei swiftly pocketed her money and ran outside. "I'm going to the embroidery workshop."
She had originally wanted to ask about the bonus, but as soon as she entered, Ms. Yu smiled and said, "You have a dog's nose, following the scent straight here."
"What scent?"
"What else could it be, the scent of money!" Ms. Yu led her to the back and handed her two bolts of silk. "It's the same client as last time. She wants us to work on something casual for daily wear, nothing too formal."
Ms. Yu laughed. "I was thinking of sending someone to Xinghua Village to ask if you were interested, and you just happened to come back. Perfect timing - you can draft some patterns and we'll discuss them together."
Li Mingwei would never turn down a chance to earn big money. She immediately took paper and brush and started discussing ideas with Ms. Yu.
