Embroidery, literacy

  But Yang Tao is a two-year experienced kindergarten teacher, if she can't see through Er Ya Tou's little tricks, wouldn't it be a waste to have interacted with the little friend for so long!

  "Okay, Peach sister will tell you a story in a while." Yang Tao fell into the habit of speaking softly to children again, looking at Little San gently. "But for now, sister needs to learn embroidery from aunties first, okay?"

  As she spoke, Yang Tao went back into the house and brought out a few more small stools, letting Xiaosan and the others sit down first. She actually knew that children couldn't sit still for long and didn't bother to manage them; anyway, they were waiting to hear stories and would definitely be well-behaved.

  Yang Tao walked up to Mrs. Liu and a few others, they came in with embroidery work in their hands, looking like they were all embroidering flowers. She had to ask them if they were doing it for themselves or what.

  "It's not for personal use, which family in the village would use this?" Lu Danni smiled and replied to Yang Tao's question, really like a spring breeze, making Yang Tao involuntarily imagine whether she would be as ruthless and merciless as a severe winter to her enemies.

  "Yes, it's not just waiting for a daughter to get married, these are all embroidered for the embroidery shop in town." said Liu Aunt.

  "Really? Yang Tao's eyes lit up and he hastily inquired about the price. "How much does it cost to embroider one like this?"

  "Three cents," said Aunt Feng.

  How much is three pieces of writing? How many things can be bought? Yang Tao still doesn't know, but seeing everyone embroidering this, it's probably also one of the family's sources of income. Thinking that she can't shoulder or lift with her hands, this is something that can be done.

  "Where did you all get them from? Can't I have some too, I can also embroider flowers." Yang Tao said immediately.

  "Girl, embroider a couple of stitches for me to see." Lu Daigne smiled and handed over the flower holder in her hand.

  In another space, Yang Tao also embroidered Dongdong. Not only did she embroider cross-stitch, but she was also fascinated by Su embroidery when she was in school. She spent all day online searching for ways to learn Su embroidery and bought Su embroidery patterns on Taobao. With great difficulty, she managed to embroider two simple ones. Although her technique was a bit clumsy, it was barely passable.

  "Oh! This kid's embroidery is actually quite good, take a look. Aunt Liu, it's almost as good as your family's eldest daughter!"

  "Let me see." Lao Liu hurried over. "Really, then let that Wang family bring some more back next time and let our peach also embroider a few to try?"

  "I don't know if she's willing or not, let's just say we'll do a bit more, otherwise she'll definitely think of cutting our wages when she hears it's the young girls doing the embroidery." Lu Danni was indeed older and thought things through. "The only thing is whether Grandma is willing to part with it!"

  "Hehe, this peach is on its own, grandma doesn't care." Grandma was sewing the sole of a shoe while doting on Yang Tao. Yang Tao confirmed once again that this grandma was a typical example of overindulgence.

  "Well, thank you, aunts." Yang Tao said with a smile, and then thought of something. "Is Dabao the sister of Erbao? Why didn't she come with Aunt today?"

  "She's not fond of talking to people, she's shy!" said Mrs. Liu with a smile. "If my two daughters at home were like you, they would be able to talk and embroider too, but unfortunately the older one is too quiet, and this second girl can talk, but all she thinks about is playing, if you hadn't come, she wouldn't even wash her clothes!"

  "Sister!" The second girl pouted. "Who said that? I learned to tell stories today! Peach sister also said she can teach us to read and write, I like reading and writing, don't like embroidery."

  As soon as Er Ya Tou spoke, Yang Tao immediately felt several pairs of eyes staring at her in unison, filled with surprise and anticipation. Yang Tao couldn't help but want to laugh again, no wonder those few maids were so synchronized, it turned out they were all inherited!

  However, everyone's enthusiastic and expectant gaze made her feel a bit embarrassed. She had indeed said that sentence when she was excitedly telling the story in the morning, but she didn't think that this silly girl would actually remember it.

  "Ah Niang, can you read?" Grandma was also surprised.

  Yang Tao remembered that Pei Yifan had said before, there were very few women in the village who could read and write, but her grandmother was one of them. She also believed that her grandmother could read and write, otherwise how would she have given Pei Yifan such a literary name. But as for herself, whether or not she could read and write depended on what kind of characters this era used.

  She not only recognizes but also writes in Simplified Chinese, as for Traditional Chinese, she can probably recognize some of it with difficulty, but writing would be a bit more challenging. Anyway, as long as it's not Oracle bone script or Seal script, considering her childhood experience of "being forced to" learn calligraphy, she might still be able to pick it up quickly.

  But Yang Tao didn't answer Grandma's question immediately, instead she looked at Grandma with a slightly spoiled expression.

  "Grandma, I heard Yifan brother say that her words were taught by you, I'm sure I won't be worse than grandma."

  "Listen to him! Grandma only knows a few words, and she has taught them all to him." Grandma said humbly. "He can only write his own name and a few simple characters, nothing more than that, grandma is not capable of doing anything else either... Cough cough..."

  "That, actually, I don't know much, just a few poems and stories, as for characters, I can barely write a few, not many." Yang Tao said with a smile. "If the older sisters believe me, I'll teach all that I know to the younger brothers and sisters."

  Yang Tao still decided to be humble, in the 21st century she had been reading until university, but who knows what era it is now, and what books ancient people read? Those "Four Books" and "Five Classics" she couldn't teach, "Three Character Classic" was just barely passable, because in kindergarten they needed to teach children to recite.

  She just didn't know what era it was now, whether "Three Character Classic" had appeared or not. If she remembered correctly, this seemed to have been passed down from the Song Dynasty. But this could be ignored, if not, she would just pretend that "Three Character Classic" was her invention.

  It's just classical poetry, which is her strong point. At most, she can teach everyone to write a few simple characters and so on. Anyway, the village children still have other things to do and can't read books and write characters every day. I guess the characters she can think of will be enough for a while.

  "That's great!" Aunt Liu immediately cheered up. "Our little San'er is now in your hands, it doesn't matter if it's simple, as long as the kids are willing to learn, that's all that matters."

  "Sister! Don't be so biased, I want to learn too." Er Ya came up and shook Liu Auntie's arm.

  "I want to learn too."

  "I want to learn too."

  Shui Xiang and Xiao Yu also ran to their mothers' side, shaking their arms in the same way.

  "Alright, you all learn. Go ask your sister Taizi if she's willing to teach you or not." Lao Liu said, still glaring at Er Ya Tou. "What do we need to learn? You're just trying to be lazy!"

  Yang Tao saw Er Ya Tou smiling complacently and knew that she had a similar problem with her. As long as she wasn't made to wash dishes, everything was fine, while Er Ya Tou probably wouldn't mind doing anything as long as she didn't have to embroider flowers.