On the other side, Li Jingshan walked out of the main street and was going to the suburbs to look for wild vegetables.

It's the beginning of summer, and wild vegetables aren't as tender and delicious as they are in spring. However, along the way, Li Jingshan was attracted by a different scenery. In summer, plants bloom and turn the mountains in shades of green, and wildflowers bloom to create a beautiful carpet of flowers.

However, these plants and wild scenery have a different meaning in Lai's eyes.

The greyish color of the poles of this clemat fern indicates that the soil here is rich in aluminite; This dark purple basil flower is the result of being nourished by the element copper underground; And those violets are so lush, there must be zinc underneath; The sparkling sand in the river beach is very silicon-rich, and there may be crystal veins......

In geological and mineral exploration, there is a discipline that infers underground mineral deposits based on the growth conditions and types of plants on the surface. As a senior geologist, Li Jingshan often used this knowledge to find ore veins during field surveys in the past.

Now, while picking wild vegetables, she identifies these plants that can indicate minerals with an occupational disease, and is surprised to find that this place is full of mineral deposits, which is simply a huge underground treasure trove. It's just that from her knowledge of this era, it seems that people did not mine any other metals here, except for a few commonly used gold, silver, copper, and iron. Is it that the people here don't know these metals yet?

If only she could uncover all these underground treasures...... Does she still need to worry about money?

However, this thought only passed for a moment, and then it died down. Not to mention the low labor force in ancient times, even in the modern era where she lived with advanced technology, mining deposits and refining metals was a job that required a lot of money.

Moreover, when people have a demand for those metals, they can only make money by mining them. And those strange metals actually have little to do with ordinary people.

Li Jingshan smiled bitterly in her heart, she had studied hard for many years, and she was full of knowledge, and it seemed that she could only use it to find wild vegetables.

She sighed, looked up again at the green of the mountains and the nearby splendor, and decided that it would be better to abandon the scientific value of these plants and treat them as food for the stomach.

With such a change of angle, Li Jingshan saw the beauty of these plants in her eyes:

The cretinel of the fern curls in a graceful arc; Cardamom flowers are like cute little wine glasses, and the shallow honey inside attracts bees to indulge in the flowers; The blossoming clusters of wild rhododendrons, the burning torches, and the colored stones in the clear water of the river, are as beautiful as gems in the sun......

Li Jingshan couldn't help but put the wild vegetable basket aside, took out a drawing book and drew it. A smile hung on the corner of her mouth while drawing: if it was her occupational disease to say that the plants she looked at just now were also full of metal deposits, then her obsession and love for beautiful things now is probably the natural pursuit of the original owner's body.

At this moment, the two are so harmoniously integrated that the knowledge of plants helps her to be satisfied; The quest for beauty nourishes her spirit.

Lai Ching-shan stayed in the suburbs until nearly noon before returning home, carrying a basket full of wild vegetables and nearly a dozen drawings.

When I returned home, I saw Li Jingjue at home. Seeing his sister come back, he cheered out and helped put the things Li Jingshan back one by one, and he was already very skilled in all kinds of work at a young age.

"Where's my mother?" Li Jingshan asked.

"My mother went to the town to help people wash clothes, and the weather has been getting hot recently, and many families have packed up their winter clothes, so business has been good recently." Li Jingjue was busy in the kitchen, and suddenly turned her head and said proudly: "She won't come back at noon, and I prepared lunch myself." Look, sister, I can cook! ”

Li Jingshan went over to open the pot and took a look, and saw that in addition to sweet potatoes and coarse grain rice, there was also a bowl of egg custard steamed in the pot.

Li Jingshan looked up at Li Jingjue in surprise.

Li Jingjue showed excitement on her face: "The day before yesterday, I went to pick wild vegetables and found two wild duck eggs. Today I memorized a thousand-word text, and my mother promised to give me a reward! ”

Li Jingshan touched her little brother's head and smiled, and took out a sugar gourd she bought when she came back, "Then this is the reward given by my sister." ”

Li Jingjue happily took it, took a bite of the fruit, and handed the sugar gourd to her sister's mouth, asking her to eat one too, until Li Jingshan shook his head no, he happily sat aside and ate it.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Li came back and was very happy to see her eldest daughter, and Zhang Luo wanted to add food to her. Li Jingshan saw that her mother first carefully put the dozen copper plates she earned from today's laundry into the small wooden box at the head of the bed, and then carefully counted out a few copper plates, and wanted to go grocery shopping, her heart was still sour.

She took her mother's hands, looked at the pair of slender jade fingers of everyone's ladies, and now they have been roughened and cocooned, thinking that her mother's fingers were not touched by the spring water at home before, but now they have been rubbed like this, and her heart hurts one by one: "Mother, I brought some food back, I don't have to go." Don't work too hard, keep an eye on yourself. ”

Mrs. Li smiled and said: "It's not hard, there were people who served me before, but now it's just self-reliance." By the way, can you help me ask, do you still need a washerman in your master's house? My mother can also go. ”

Li Jingshan had no choice but to agree to go back and ask. However, she looked at the new gray hair on her mother's sideburns and sighed in her heart: earning hard-earned money by selling coolies is not the way to support her family. But how can we find a job that doesn't have to be so hard?

-------

At night, Mrs. Li cleaned up the house, saw Li Jingshan fiddling with a half-made purse under the lamp, and asked with a smile, "There is a girl in the family who has just grown up, who is my Shan'er embroidering a purse for?" ”

Li Jingshan said seriously: "Brother Li Zhang has taken care of our family a lot, I think it's not good to owe him too much favor, and I saw that his money bag was worn out that day, and I planned to make one for him." ”

She is not good at embroidery, and she is still not satisfied with the needlework and thread for a long time. Seeing her frowning and looking annoyed, Mrs. Li asked solemnly, "Shan'er, you tell me honestly, you fell in love with that Li Zhang, and embroidered this purse for him as a token?" ”

Although Li Zhang is a son of a side branch of the clan, he is already a distant relative of Wufu, even if he wants to intermarry, he will not be criticized and tolerated by the world.

It's just that Mrs. Li thinks that they are the eldest family of the Li family, and Li Jingshan is the eldest daughter, so her identity is naturally much more valuable than Li Zhang, a side branch. Besides, Li Zhang's family background is ordinary, and there are many brothers and sisters-in-law in the family, if he really marries in the past, it will be a big trouble to just deal with this concubine relationship.

However, Mrs. Li thought about it and her expression darkened again. Now that they are so down, what are they talking about? According to the current situation, these two children don't know what to do when they marry in the future, where are they qualified to dislike others.

"Mother! Where do you want to go! Li Jingshan was stunned, and when she understood her mother's thoughts, she couldn't help crying and laughing, "I'm just thanking him for helping us a lot, and I just want to repay one or two." She patted her mother's hand soothingly, "We're still young, and we don't have time to think about these things." ”

When Mrs. Li heard this, Li Jingshan still had a few months to arrive, and Li Jingjue was only ten years old, so it was indeed too early to think about this. She didn't know whether to relax or nod in frustration, looked at the purse in her daughter's hand again, and said, "When you asked me to learn female red embroidery, you wanted to learn jewelry making from your father." Now I regret it. ”

She took the purse, pursed her lips and smiled, "Your handiwork is really not enough, since it's just a thank you gift, I'll help you embroider." ”

Mrs. Li quickly matched the embroidery thread and flew the needle under the lamp. Li Jingshan was originally afraid that her mother would be affected, and wanted to push back, but seeing that Mrs. Li was skillful, the needle drop was accurate, and the embroidery was fast and good, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Mother, your embroidery is so good, but you are the heir of Shenzhen Villa?" ”

Mrs. Li didn't know what she made up the "Divine Needle Villa", but she smiled quite smugly: "My mother's maiden home is Tanxi, where the embroidery capital of Daxia is located." Which boudoir woman can't embroider, but she can't get married. Even so, the craftsmanship of the mother is considered to be the best in the local area. It's a pity that I haven't done it for a long time, and I'm a little rusty. ”

Li Jingshan looked at her mother for less than half an hour, and embroidered the purse that she had tossed for two nights and still couldn't get it, and the handiwork was many times finer than hers, and her eyes became brighter and brighter.

She took out a drawing book and showed her mother the patterns she had drawn, "Mother, look at these patterns, if you make embroidery, is it difficult?" ”

Mrs. Li took it and looked at it, and said with a smile: "These patterns are a bit ingenious, but they are not cumbersome embroidery, and they are not difficult to do." ”

"Great!" Li Jingshan cheered, and her heart was overjoyed by that thought.

Perhaps, I can find a way to make my mother less tired.

On the second day, when she returned to the Ruan family's courtyard, Li Jingshan found a spare time, showed the purse and painting book embroidered by her mother to Sister-in-law Zhang, and asked softly if she could let her mother take over some work in the embroidery village, or put the embroidery made by her mother in her niece's embroidery village and sell it on consignment.

Sister-in-law Zhang is also a knowledgeable person, looking at the purse, her eyes lit up, "This handiwork is excellent, and the pattern you designed is also fresh." Eighty percent can be sold for a good price. I'll help you ask, my niece is also a good talker. ”

"What's this good stuff to look at?" From the door came Zhen'er's delicate voice.

Li Jingshan hurriedly put away the painting book, after all, when talking about other tasks when she was on duty, she always had to be careful. She got up and laughed, "It's just graffiti and painting at home in my spare time." Did Sister Zhen'er come here to get something to eat? ”

"The young master woke up from a nap, let me take some snacks and pad them. I don't need his dinner tonight. He's going out in a moment, but he'll have a light supper. Jen laughed.

Li Jingshan cut the newly made plum blossom cake, mille-feuille cake and other four-color pastries into diamond-shaped pieces, arranged them into a five-petal plum blossom pattern, and gently pointed out the flowers and stamens with jam in the center, and picked a few white petals in the yard and sprinkled them on the plate, it became a picture of white snow and cold plums.

Zhen'er looked at it and smiled, "Shan'er is really ingenious, this is a painting." ”

Li Jingshan just smiled, handed over the food box, and sent Zhen'er out of the kitchen.

In the inner courtyard, Ruan Mingyu saw the pattern in the food box, still raised his eyebrows, and commented: "These plum blossoms have a good color match." ”

Zhen'er lowered her eyebrows and chuckled: "Yes, that girl loves to paint, and the slave maid has seen her holding a painting book several times, and she is so obsessed that she forgets everything." ”

There are clear praise and disparagement in these words, implying that Li Jingshan has delayed the work that should be done.