Re-embroidering life

Chapter 128 Glad

Shui Qinghua scolded him angrily, causing the man's face to turn red and pale: "Who are you to meddle in my family affairs?"

Shui Qinghua answered proudly, "My last name is Shui, and I'm a close friend of Sister Shen. If anyone sees injustice, they can help."

The surname Shui was rare, and the identity of a well-known Shui woman in the capital who was familiar with Shen Xin was not difficult to guess. The man seemed to have guessed something, and looked at Shui Qinghua with resentment and jealousy in his eyes. He said nothing more and left angrily with his two concubines.

Shen Xin seemed to have endured it for a long time, but finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed. Shui Qinghua helped her sit down in a wide chair, and Chen Jinlan stood behind her obediently, helping her breathe.

After recovering from the shock, Shen Xin shed tears and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Master and Disciple today."

Shui Qinghua was puzzled: "Sister Shen, how could this happen? With your talent, family background, and virtue, how could you be bullied by a concubine?"

Shen Xin laughed bitterly at herself, "Talent, family background, virtue, all of these are just icing on the cake for a woman. If you can't give birth to children for your husband's family, you become a sinner. Talent and family background are not your glory, but your crime."

Shen Xin's thoughts drifted back to when she was fifteen years old. At that time, she was in her prime, with eyebrows like distant black and eyes like autumn water, an out-and-out Jiangnan beauty.

Others married according to their parents' orders and matchmakers' words, but she, because of her open-minded parents, chose Yu Hui, a young talent who often visited her home. Yu Hui came from a scholarly family and was good at calligraphy and painting, showing his talent in every stroke. He and she, like Shui Qinghua and his wife, one can paint and the other can embroider, they can be called a "double talent" made in heaven.

After marriage, Yu Hui devoted himself to incorporating the essence of his own painting and calligraphy into his wife's embroidery. Under his careful guidance, Shen Xin's embroidery skills became even better, and she stood out in the Jiangnan area where there were many talented people. At the age of 20, she took charge of Si Yi Fang.

Time passed slowly, and they were married for more than ten years. Their love was as good as ever, and it was a good story in Jiangnan. However, nothing is perfect. Shen Xin has not been able to get pregnant for many years. Seeing that men of the same age have children around them and enjoy the happiness of family life, Yu Hui gradually felt unfair.

After arriving in Beijing, Yu Hui, who thought highly of himself, failed the imperial examination and suffered a heavy blow. Shen Xin wanted to persuade him to return to Jiangnan, but he was encouraged by others and insisted on staying in Beijing to build a career and wait for another fight three years later.

A few months ago, Shen Xin was pleasantly surprised to find that she was pregnant. This should have been great news, but at this critical juncture, Yu Hui received news that the court was collecting embroidery for the Empress Dowager's birthday.

"This is a rare opportunity. If your embroidery is favored by the empress dowager, it will surely become famous." Yu Hui said to his wife excitedly, "When you meet the empress dowager, you can mention me briefly. My literary reputation will rise, and my career will be much smoother."

Shen Xin stroked her belly, quite hesitant: "Although the opportunity is good, but I just got pregnant with our child, and I'm not young anymore. What if something goes wrong..."

Yu Hui disagreed: "I heard from my mother that when a woman is pregnant, she needs to move more. As long as she doesn't overwork herself, it shouldn't be a problem."

Shen Xin had no choice but to prepare for the Queen Mother's birthday. However, she was nearly 30 years old after all. She worked day and night for several days, and her abdominal pain was unbearable, and her bleeding continued. Eventually, she miscarried. The loss of the first child at an advanced age was huge for the mother. When the doctor diagnosed that she would be infertile for life, her world fell!

Seeing that his wife had lost her chance to become famous and could not have children, Yu Hui gradually began to dislike her. He stayed out all night and went to various banquets. Soon he brought two beauties home, and even flirted with them in front of Shen Xin. After one of them became pregnant, he became even more disgusted with Shen Xin.

"Love at first sight, getting married at a young age, knowing each other and staying together, all are not worth a child." Shen Xin felt very ironic. However, in the eyes of the world, in terms of etiquette and rules, Yu Hui's behavior was reasonable and there was nothing to criticize. There are three unfilial acts, and the worst is to have no offspring. Who would care about the wife who lost her child and was heartbroken? Not only could she not feel pain or complain, but she had to watch her husband rubbing shoulders with others and take care of the concubine's belly, otherwise she would be unvirtuous and jealous.

Shui Qinghua never expected that Sister Shen, who was the most kind and beautiful person in her mind, would be so unfortunate in her marriage. Chen Jinlan, who had the same unfortunate experience, was already in tears.

"Sister Shen, you can't think like that. Your talent and virtue are the real you. Your value cannot be determined by whether you can give birth." Shui Qinghua said earnestly. She herself did not give birth to a son in her two lives, which once became a heavy psychological shackle for her, but she finally got over it. Now she is very sure that in addition to passing on the family line, she has a greater mission and value, and she no longer needs to rely on giving birth to a son to prove herself.

"Sister Shui, I can see that although you are younger than me, you live more clearly than I do." Shen Xin wiped away her tears and said gently and enviously.

"Sister Shen, you are a master of Jiangnan embroidery, and your Siyifang shops are all over the world. You have beauty, talent, wealth, and fame. Even if there are some flaws in your marriage, what does it matter?" Shui Qinghua continued to encourage and comfort her.

Shen Xin's mood finally improved, and the smile returned to her face. "Don't worry about the costumes. If there's anything you don't know how to make, just bring it to me at Siyifang."

Shui Qinghua responded crisply and said goodbye to Chen Jinlan.

Both the master and the apprentice were worried. For the first time, they realized that even a woman like Shen Xin, who was excellent and had a wealthy family, was helpless when she was bullied by her husband.

"Master, there are so many poor women in the world, what can we do?" Chen Jinlan's eyes flashed with resentment and pain.

Shui Qinghua thought seriously for a while: "I don't know how far we can go, but I think that helping women to control their own destiny instead of being vassals of their husbands is the most important thing."

Chen Jinlan's eyes lit up: "Master, let's expand the embroidery school. We should not only recruit teenage girls, but also those who are divorced, widowed, or infertile. We should also give them a place to stay and teach them a skill, okay?"

Shui Qinghua was deeply touched. She held Jinlan's hand and said, "Jinlan, you are such a good girl. Master is very pleased."

I am glad that you can stand up after experiencing the pain of hell, I am glad that you can still be compassionate after being treated cruelly, I am glad that you can regard all the unfortunate women in the world as your relatives even though you were abandoned by your relatives.

"Just do whatever you want to do boldly. Master will definitely support you." Shui Qinghua said to Jin Lan solemnly.