CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: HAPPINESS IN LIFE COMES FROM COMPARISONS

"I’ve figured it out, the technique for the flower stamens is like a tic-tac-toe cross stitch."

"Smart!"

Yi Chichi clapped enthusiastically, truly a talent!

Liu Lan not only looks good and has a pleasant disposition, but she’s also genuinely smart when it comes to embroidery.

Others need a hint to understand, but she gets it without any prompt.

Yi Chichi was thrilled, looking at Liu Lan as if she were a rare treasure, her gaze intense.

"Want to give it a try?"

She pointed to the flower-embroidered cotton cloth, "Try embroidering one like mine, let me see."

"Sure!"

Liu Lan had a background in embroidery, so she wasn’t intimidated by Yi Chichi’s challenge and accepted it right away.

Then, a group of people gathered around to watch her embroider.

She was a confident young woman; after threading the needle, she didn’t rush to start but carefully observed the flower Yi Chichi had embroidered before placing the first stitch beside it.

Like Yi Chichi, she started with the petals.

The first stitch went out from point A, in at point B, then pulled out the needle, thread all the way through, and tightened;

Then came the second stitch, which made Yi Chichi’s heart skip a beat, it was wrong.

She opened her mouth to remind her but remembered how her mom and grandmother watched silently when she was learning embroidery, and swallowed her words.

After waiting, Yi Chichi noticed that Liu Lan’s technique was fine, but she didn’t have a sense for the stitch length, leading to inconsistent distances between points.

The angles between the threads were also not forming acute angles.

Clearly a small cross stitch, she embroidered stitches of varying size.

Small cross stitches require acute angles, while large cross stitches should avoid vertical and horizontal lines for the best result.

The "tic-tac-toe" cross stitch hadn’t started yet; it was uncertain what it would turn into.

But seeing the mixed cross stitches, Yi Chichi had already lost hope for the "tic-tac-toe" cross stitch.

Yu Qingqing frowned, and softly said to her, "Chichi, I think Lanlan’s stitches are crooked."

"Mhm!"

Yi Chichi nodded, "Don’t say anything, just keep watching."

There wasn’t really a need to keep watching because as soon as Liu Lan finished the first petal, even the laypeople like Aunt Ma could see the problem.

"Not looking good."

Aunt Niu was straightforward, tact didn’t exist for her.

So, without fear of hurting Liu Lan’s feelings, she commented, "Chichi’s are flower petals, what you embroidered doesn’t look like anything."

Aunt Ma wholeheartedly agreed, "Chichi’s petals clearly show color variation, there’s that, that..."

Struggling to think of how to describe it, she gave up, "In any case, Lanlan, yours doesn’t look good. To reach Chichi’s level, you’ve got a ways to go."

Yu Qingqing felt the same way, "I feel like I can’t learn it; Lanlan’s shoe pads always look better than mine but even she’s like this. If it were me, I’d probably embroider something even uglier."

Aunt Ma blurted out, "It’s rare for you to have a moment of self-awareness."

Unexpectedly, Yi Chichi and the others were stunned by her words and burst into laughter.

Yu Qingqing, embarrassed by the laughter, angrily said, "Auntie, watch your words or I’ll cry for you."

Aunt Ma pouted, quite willing to say you can cry all you want, I’m not stopping you.

But Aunt Niu didn’t give her the chance to speak, covering her mouth, "Don’t provoke her to cry."

That girl crying sounds like a pig’s squeal and goes on endlessly—such a headache!

Aunt Ma quickly closed her mouth.

Liu Lan ignored them, instead looking at the flower petals and dejectedly told Yi Chichi, "Chichi, I failed."

"I saw."

Such an obvious failure, if she couldn’t see it, she might as well quit embroidery altogether.

However—

"For a beginner, this level isn’t exactly a failure."

"But it’s still a failure!"

Alright, alright, is she just splitting hairs with her?!

Yi Chichi got annoyed, "So what if it’s a failure, are you giving up?!"

"No, I’m still interested in learning."

Before she finished speaking, she saw Yi Chichi’s face light up with an expression of "there’s hope for this kid."

"Wanting to learn is good; one failure doesn’t mean anything, just practice, until you can precisely control the distance between stitches, and that’s about it."

"You make it sound so easy."

Yu Qingqing sighed, once again feeling like she had no chance of learning this.

"How about I give it a try?"

"Go ahead."

Liu Lan handed her the cloth and needle, even eagerly pushing her into the chair, "Hurry up, do it and let me see how we compare."

Yu Qingqing realized that Liu Lan was looking for comfort from her.

Well, it turns out, this is what they meant by a lifelong sisterhood.

That’s very Liu Lan.

"Ah, people’s hearts have turned bad."

She shook her head and got busy with the needle and thread.

About to tease her, Liu Lan saw she had already started and, worried about disturbing her, swallowed her words and watched with Yi Chichi and the others.

Then, her worried heart was put at ease.

Indeed, life needs comparison to find happiness!

Though she’s not great, she’s better than Yu Qingqing, and that’s enough for her.

At that moment—

"Chichi, it’s time for lunch."

Wang Nan and her group, waiting in the Youth Corps Courtyard without seeing her return for lunch, thought of her sensitive stomach and couldn’t sit still, bringing food over to her.

Yi Chichi, "??? Is it lunchtime already?"

She raised her wrist to look at her watch and found it was already past twelve, unable to help but remark how time flies when you’re busy.

"I..."

Starting to say something, she saw Wang Nan carrying a cotton bag come in, obviously filled with enamel cups.

She was immediately touched and went up to greet them, "Why did you bring it over?"

"Thinking the team medical room couldn’t go without you, so to save you the trip."

As she spoke, she handed the cotton bag to Yi Chichi so she could eat while it was hot, then greeted Aunt Ma and the others.

"You all have a good relationship."

Aunt Ma looked gratified. Back when Yi Chichi and Zhou Qiuyu first arrived, Mr. Liu worried that they wouldn’t get along well and would cause as much trouble as the neighboring Red Flag Brigade’s educated youths, constantly needing the squad leader and secretary to mediate.

Really, that would be aggravating enough to drive someone crazy.

Unexpectedly, reality was quite pleasant—they had surprisingly harmonious and friendly educated youths in their team.

"Chichi takes good care of us."

Wang Nan said sincerely, and Zhou Qiuyu and Ge Sujuan nodded, confirming that she really did look after them.

Transformed into a foodie, Yi Chichi was enjoying Wu Yongfei’s cooking; a simple dish of sauerkraut fried rice he made incredibly delicious, every bite was pure delight.

Bite after bite, she couldn’t stop eating.

Seeing her eating so happily, Aunt Ma and the others thought it was something good, but when they saw it was just sauerkraut fried rice, they were puzzled, "Is it that tasty?"

She was eating so delightfully.

"Delicious!"

Wu Yongfei might have a ton of flaws, but he had one unbeatable skill—he cooked excellently.

Because of that one skill, everyone in the Youth Corps Courtyard put up with his mouth.

Thinking of Wu Yongfei, Yi Chichi was just about to ask what the men were doing when suddenly a deafening wailing sound came from outside...