He Xiufang frowned slightly, and said with a smile: "His name is Zhao Shisheng, from the next county, he used to play cotton in the Zou family brigade, and stayed for some days, the little uncle of the Zou family married a daughter-in-law, and my mother-in-law also asked him to play two quilts, I was responsible for cooking for him to eat, and he was cooked as soon as he came and went. ”

  "Oh."

  There is this tradition here, the cotton master comes to the house to play cotton, and the family has to be in charge of the family to eat.

  Shen Ning looked at Zhao Shisheng carefully, he was a very strong man, his height looked like more than one meter seven, he was not short, his skin was dark, and he looked honest and amiable.

  She said to Zhao Shisheng: "Master Zhao, we want to play four new quilts, and I will also help me renovate this old quilt." ”

  "It's done." This door-to-door business can make Zhao Shisheng and his apprentice very happy, "How many catties do you have for these three beds?" ”

  He Xiufang said: "My family has two beds of three catties, one bed of six catties, my brother and daughter-in-law want to renovate a bed of eight catties, two new beds of bedding each three catties, and the cotton for the daughter's cotton clothes also have to be played, Shi Sheng, our family is not very convenient to vacate the space to play cotton, so we can only play here, there should be no problem, right?" ”

  "No problem, no problem, we rented a sleeping place with the monks in the temple for ten days, and gave it to us." Zhao Shisheng's voice was hearty, he took the job, and immediately beckoned his little apprentice to go into the temple to set up tools and start working.

  Shen Ning had also seen the craft of playing cotton before, and when he was working, Zhao Shisheng tied a slingshot around his waist, and a wooden stick was two or three feet above his head, which was used to hang a cotton slingshot made of cedar wood, so that it was more secure and labor-saving when playing.

  The two masters and apprentices are methodically prepared, with a clear division of labor, and they are good at a glance.

  Huo Zhongkai helped get the cotton out for them.

  I saw Zhao Shisheng holding a wooden mallet, constantly beating the cow tendon on the slingshot, the bowstring was buried in the cotton, and the cotton was loosened by the vibration of the cow tendon, and he continued to hit rhythmically with the wooden flower mallet, vibrating evenly, accompanied by the crisp sound of the string, the cotton wool flew in the room for a while, and in this way, the cotton was slowly bounced off and recombined.

  Huo Zhongkai looked very simple, and he wanted to try it himself, Zhao Shisheng said: "Little brother, don't look at me lightly, my mallet is twenty pounds, it's too laborious." ”

  While talking, fine cotton wool floated everywhere, and Zhao Shisheng, who was busy between the cotton wool, seemed to be dyed with frost all over his body, and his hair and eyebrows were stained with cotton wool.

  Zhao Shisheng began to chat while working: "If you want to play cotton well, you have to learn more than 30 processes, learn tearing, pulling, twisting and other techniques, and it will take three years to learn at the earliest. ”

  Huo Zhongkai really felt that it was not easy for these people who ate by their skills.

  Luo Aixian chatted with Aunt Ma and Aunt Zhu, came in slowly, and watched the lively Huo Zhongkai so frightened that the soles of his feet were smeared with oil.

  If you don't escape, you have to be eaten alive by these women?

  Shen Ning shouted to him from afar, "Stay and have a meal before leaving!" ”

  Huo Zhongkai didn't dare to respond, and ran away without looking back, for fear that the mothers-in-law would find him again if he knew where he was.

  Aunt Zhu was so anxious that she stomped her feet, "This young man shouldn't run away, right?" ”

  Aunt Ma was more anxious than her, and asked Luo Aixian, "Is he still coming, is he coming?" Gotta show him my water lotus! ”