The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 31: Getting to Know Her Anew

Chapter 31: Getting to Know Her Anew

The once messy and somewhat empty Song family courtyard was now tidied up neatly. The woven grass mats were stacked one by one and placed on bamboo poles to dry and air out, while the newly woven baskets and such were piled up by category under the cool eaves, finally giving the whole small courtyard a sense of fullness.

From outside the gate, looking in, the first things one saw were these grass mats and bamboo woven products. If someone with a strong curiosity passed by, they would surely crane their neck in for a look. Seeing the delicate and pretty bamboo woven products might spark a desire to buy, and this was one of the promotion methods Song Yuyan had come up with for her own products.

In the main room, the mischievous child Song Yuban was sitting inside at that moment, clumsily weaving bamboo with both hands. As for Song Yuyan, she sat among the drying grass mats, and no one knew what she was doing. Tang Zhi could only see her feet and the stool legs.

“Song Dalang.”

Song Yuyan recognized her voice and quickly stood up from behind the grass mats: “Miss Tang, just come in directly. No need to be polite.”

Tang Zhi glanced at her and pretended to be proper: “Song Dalang is joking. I am someone who knows manners. I would not casually enter someone else’s home.”

Song Yuyan was at a loss for words and chuckled. Compared to her previous hot-tempered little pepper appearance, how did she feel that the little girl now seemed to have grown up a bit, with thoughts that were harder to grasp?

She noticed that there was no little radish head following behind Tang Zhi, so she asked: “Is my Bing’er at the Tang house?”

Tang Zhi gave her a sanitary eye: “You sent Bing’er to my house to deliver bayberries. Does she being at my house or not—you do not know? And you are such a big person. How can you have the face to always make a little child go out to deliver things?”

The implication was that she always exploited a seven-year-old child. Did her conscience not hurt?

Song Yuyan really did not. She said: “She just lacks confidence in herself and needs to go out more. Once she goes out more, she will no longer feel inferior because of her feet.”

Tang Zhi had not thought of this layer. After all, every person who had difficulty walking hated to hide their shortcomings and not let others know, but Song Yuyan insisted on doing the opposite. Though she felt it was more likely because this person was too lazy to go out herself, why did it still sound somewhat reasonable…

She found that she could not think any further, or else she would sooner or later be influenced by Song Yuyan, and her thoughts would become different from everyone else’s.

She said: “Anyway, that is your little sister. As long as you have a sense of it in your heart, it is fine… Also, thank you for the bayberries.”

“Uncle Lin sent a lot. I could not let the two little ones eat them all, lest they eat too many and get sour teeth afterward and not eat their meals.” Song Yuyan smiled.

“You are quite attentive to them now.” Tang Zhi said.

One must know that the previous Song Yuyan only cared about the two little fellows’ food and shelter, not letting them starve to death was enough. Where would she care if they could still eat their meals after eating fruit.

“Once a person has a goal, they will always change.”

_____

Inside the room, Song Yuban noticed that Tang Zhi had come. Although nearly a month had passed since the last time she educated him, facing her, he still felt some burden in his heart.

Even so, he recalled Song Yuyan’s words, hesitated at the door for a moment, then walked up to Tang Zhi. With an awkward expression, he said: “Sister Tang… I am sorry for what happened last time, and thank you!”

After saying that, he ran back into the room like a puff of smoke, leaving behind a bewildered Tang Zhi and a Song Yuyan who seemed to have some realization.

“What is wrong with Sun’er?” Tang Zhi had no choice but to ask Song Yuyan for help.

Song Yuyan explained: “Last time I was not at home. Thanks to you helping to look after these two children, he is thanking you!”

Tang Zhi had almost forgotten those matters. With Song Yuyan mentioning it like this, she understood. She felt that in this period of time, Song Yuban had also changed quite a bit, and the changes in the brother and sister were both so great. Perhaps it had a lot to do with the young man in front of her…

The young man did not know when he had started to grow an inch taller than her. His original complexion, with the stable intake of nutrition and the improvement in meal quality, gradually faded the hungry yellow look. His face finally had a bit of color, and his cheeks had also grown a little flesh, allowing his original features to show properly.

His figure, temperament, and behavior all gave her a feeling of getting to know Song Yuyan anew… Perhaps she really was getting to know Song Yuyan anew?

Tang Zhi did not deliberately think too deeply anymore. With a glance from the corner of her eye, she noticed the section of pale yellow bamboo tube always gripped in Song Yuyan’s left hand, and the carving knife pinched in her right hand.

She asked: “What are you… doing?”

Song Yuyan habitually handed the object to her first to look at: “This is bamboo carving, also known as bamboo engraving. In simple terms, it is carving with bamboo. Depending on different carving techniques, one might engrave landscape patterns on the surface, or carve it into specific shapes.”

Tang Zhi was dissatisfied that she underestimated her and muttered: “I naturally know what bamboo carving is…”

After taking the bamboo tube in hand, she could feel a layer of uneven texture on the surface, though it was not very strong. This section of bamboo tube was only as long as her palm and fingers put together, but the mouth of the bamboo tube was as thick as her arm, very much like the pen holder her brother used daily.

The pale yellow skin of the bamboo tube was outlined with a landscape painting contour by fine and smooth lines. Although it looked unfinished, she could vaguely make out a temple under high mountains, and streams formed by gathered spring water. Besides that, the skin in other places had been planed away, revealing the amber-colored bamboo flesh.

She thought that if Song Yuyan were a painter, this painting under her brush would surely have the style of a master.

Thinking of this, though she had never gotten any real answers from Song Yuyan before, she still could not help but ask out of curiosity: “Does bamboo carving require a very high understanding and attainment in painting and calligraphy to achieve? Could it be that this was also taught to you by your mother?”

This time, Song Yuyan shook her head very干脆ly, but did not explain much: “Learn it a bit and you will know how. I think I am quite talented at it. What do you think?”

Tang Zhi: “…”

I think you are just shameless!

So, has this person become too lazy to find excuses to fool her?

____

The system suddenly sighed: “I think this set of rhetoric of yours does not have the previous level of fooling people!”

Song Yuyan: “…Having a high level of fooling people—is that some good thing? This system of yours really is not upright and kind at all!”

The system said: “You can directly copy the set of rhetoric you said to Song Bing. If not, find an excuse similar to the one you used to fool Bai Can and Meng Shuituan. Being so vague like this—are you not afraid of exposing yourself?”

Song Yuyan shook her head: “Lying all the time for some meaningless things is quite boring. I can fool Bai Can to keep those few trees for beeswax, and I can play mind games with Meng Shuituan to make him realize the danger. But if I continue to fabricate lies to fool a little girl, what can I get? Deceiving a little girl for something completely meaningless would damage my character.”

“Then are you not afraid of your identity being exposed and being caught and burned?”

Song Yuyan smiled: “I do not think this girl will say it out. At most, she will keep the matter in her heart. Perhaps one day she cannot hold it in, and it will come out in another form!”

Tang Zhi really did not pursue the question, but asked: “Could it be that from now on you will not weave mats and baskets, but change to carving bamboo?”

Song Yuyan sighed inwardly once more. It was a pity that this little girl was an ancient person; otherwise, she could really pull her back to the construction site to be a supervisor. Look at how well she followed up on her work progress!

Song Yuyan waved her hand, letting her come under the eaves, then took out a few styles that were relatively special from a pile of bamboo woven products: “I have no intention of giving up bamboo weaving and grass weaving. On the contrary, I am thinking of adding more styles. After all, before, because of rushing to make the Lou family’s order, I never had the chance to weave other styles. Now that there are no urgent orders, Uncle Lin also said that as long as they are woven well, no matter what style, he will acquire them at his discretion. So that is why I am letting go to do it.”

Tang Zhi thought of the small basket that held the bayberries: “That small and exquisite basket too?”

“Yes, but that kind of basket was not the first one I created by weaving. It is just that ordinary people do not use it in daily life, so the demand is low, the number of people weaving it is relatively reduced, and it is rare on the market.”

But Tang Zhi thought that using such a delicate and small basket to hold fruit seemed to have a special flavor!

She even a bit did not want to return that small basket to Song Yuyan.

Song Yuyan happened to say: “That small basket that held the bayberries, along with the bayberries, is given to Miss Tang all together. The basket is small, but there are still places where it can be useful. I hope Miss Tang does not mind.”

Tang Zhi casually replied: “I do not mind. I quite like that small basket!”

After saying that, her face suddenly felt a bit hot with embarrassment: How did she say what was in her heart out loud? Would Song Yuyan think she was taking advantage of the Song family?

Song Yuyan did not think that way. She just suddenly felt happy because her work was recognized, and so she said more words.

____

Besides that kind of small basket, there were common斗笠, dustpans, scoops, back baskets, and large baskets. There were also steaming cages, smoking cages, and food boxes, especially the food boxes, which like that small basket also had patterns attached.

Ordinary people used food boxes quite a lot because the fields of farming families were often not near home but scattered in several different places. People going out to work needed their families to send water and food to them at noon, so the usage rate of these food boxes was very high.

Seeing these, Tang Zhi, who had originally only come to probe a bit, felt a bit moved, but her family seemed not to lack these items at the moment.

As a thrifty person who managed the household carefully, she could not waste money and could only shift her attention: “Then where do you get so much time and energy to do so many things?”

Song Yuyan took back the bamboo tube and smiled: “There are always more ways than difficulties. As for time, squeezing it out is all it takes.”

Song Yuyan did not slack off just because she had earned a small sum. But before, when there were urgent orders, she wished she could spend all eight hours of daylight on grass weaving and bamboo weaving. Now that there were no urgent orders, she redistributed her work time, freeing up one hour each day to regain the feel for the bamboo carving technique she was most proficient in.

Although bamboo carving was the technique she was most proficient in, that was also done under the use of exquisite tools. Now that she lacked such exquisite carving knives, she could only first adapt to these tool knives, striving to carve out good works even under these crude conditions.

She had prepared quite a lot of bamboo material. This bamboo material she had started preparing as early as May. She selected bamboo that had grown for about five years, with smooth surfaces and pure colors. After selecting it back, she first boiled it in water, then did shade drying treatment.

However, the best season for selecting bamboo was winter. This season was not very suitable because summer bamboo had dense tissue and hard texture, which was not good material for processing.

Of course, although summer bamboo was not the first choice material, it was not completely un-carvable. It just tested the carver’s carving level even more.

Moreover, when she learned bamboo carving, people did not have so many scruples about selecting bamboo. First, after precise instruments took the bamboo carving technique on the path of industrialization, it became more commercialized. Tourist spots had quite a few bamboo carvings produced in this mode, and the work quality varied.

Second, there were fewer people who could endure the temperament to learn from the beginning. Many could not pass the calligraphy and painting aspect, gave up halfway, turned to the commercialized path, printed some paintings and calligraphy from the internet, pasted them on bamboo material, then carved, mass-produced, and sold on Taobao.

Finally, bamboo decreased greatly, and it was rare for bamboo to grow to five years. It was also hard to find suitable bamboo on the market. So generally, bamboo carving artisans with high requirements for works would choose studios in remote places with abundant bamboo and wood, so they could go to the bamboo groves to select material.

The teacher who taught Song Yuyan bamboo carving was a representative engraver of the Zhe school, stricter on knife work, attainment in painting and calligraphy, literary cultivation, and such aspects. So when she took up the bamboo carving technique, even if she could not select suitable bamboo material, she would find ways to compensate for the bamboo material’s shortcomings with carving techniques.

…

Tang Zhi could tell from just one look and action of Song Yuyan how much she loved bamboo carving, because her gaze stayed on the bamboo tube most of the time, and her fingers would subconsciously rub the surface of the bamboo tube.

This made Tang Zhi think of a phrase—loath to put it down—and she felt that this person’s reaction was natural and unknowing, just like a subconscious behavior. If it were not already a habit, there would not be such a reaction.

Being able to pour so much time and thought into bamboo carving, no wonder she stayed home all day and made the little radish head go out to run errands.

In the past, Miss Tang always left without lingering once she achieved her purpose, but this time, seeing that she had no intention of leaving just like that, Song Yuyan started selling her product: “Do you want to learn about liuqin?”

She subconsciously said “liuqin” because she knew if she asked “Do you want to learn about bamboo carving,” Tang Zhi would most likely say she was not interested and then leave. But if she said a term unfamiliar to Tang Zhi, then their conversation could continue.

Sure enough, Tang Zhi asked: “What is liuqin?”

Song Yuyan instantly turned into a lecturer: “You asked a very good question!”

Tang Zhi: “…”

Was not this question induced by this person?

However, looking at Song Yuyan with eyes shining, Tang Zhi very obligingly listened on.