The Little Lucky Girl

With a bang, the board fell down, and Ming Youyou cried out and tears burst out.

She tremblingly wiped her tears with her other hand, sniffling through her little nose, trying to stop the tears.

Because Aunt Luo said that if I kept crying, I would be beaten even harder.

After finishing, she had to sit back down again and use her swollen hands to carefully untie the crooked stitches and start embroidering again.

Mrs. Tao felt so distressed that she had to do it herself. "Aunt, look, this is what I embroidered yesterday. Please give me some advice."

She stood in front of Aunt Luo and secretly gestured to Ming Youyou, who was about to tiptoe out.

"Wait," Aunt Luo stopped her and handed her a bag of herbs. "Go back and boil them. Soak your hands in them for half an hour."

As soon as Ming Youyou returned, her little fat hand was enthusiastically watched by Lu Tai and Feng Xu. She felt a little embarrassed and snorted, "Haven't you been beaten before?"

Lu Tai smiled and said, "I am not in good health, so the master dare not hit me."

Feng Xu said proudly: "Zheng Huan and I will run away as soon as the master hits us."

"You'll be fine after running?"

"How can I do that? I need to find my parents." Feng Xu chuckled, "But my parents are not in the capital, so no one else can control me."

"But Zheng Huan will be miserable. His father will have him arrested and brought home to be spanked."

The three of them looked at Zheng Huan who walked in from outside with sympathy.

Zheng Huan didn't understand what he meant and placed a basin in front of Ming Youyou. "The medicine is ready. I tested it and the temperature is OK."

Ming Youyou put her hand in, and then cried again because of the pain, "My bones are sore and numb, as if I was bitten by a bug. It's so uncomfortable."

After half an hour, she took her hand out and found that the swelling had subsided a lot. When she got up the next day, her left hand was almost healed.

"This medicine really works." She moved her left hand and found that it didn't hurt at all.

The system said: "I heard from the maidservant beside Aunt Luo that this medicine is a secret recipe of the palace. It was also used by His Majesty to make medicine after being beaten when he was a child."

"Your Majesty will also be beaten." Ming Youyou was extremely surprised, and suddenly felt that being beaten was not so unacceptable.

While having breakfast, she couldn't help but tell Zheng Huan and the others.

Feng Xu looked at her hand over and over. "This medicine is so powerful. I don't know if it will work on other injuries. When you get the formula, I'll send a copy to my father and brother to try."

Lu Tai also said: "This is a prescription that your majesty has personally tested and found to be effective. Keep it well when you get back and pass it down to your family in the future."

Zheng Huan thought for a moment, "I wonder if the teachers at Bailu Academy have a tradition of beating people. If so..."

Several people immediately burst into laughter, thinking that this business should be very profitable.

Enough of the jokes. Ming Youyou couldn’t help but feel her eyes turn red again when she thought about leaving for the county town soon.

Feng Xu gave her some advice, "Why don't you just pretend to be sick?"

Ming Youyou shook her head. "No, Aunt Luo said that even if I'm sick I have to ask for leave in person."

Lu Tai clicked his tongue and shook his head, "This aunt really knows how to use chicken feathers as a token of authority."

Zheng Huan coughed and reminded quietly: "The teaching matter is the order of His Majesty."

Well, he really has a warrant in his hand.

It seemed that being lazy and slacking off was no longer an option, so the three of them could only watch Ming Youyou leave in tears.

Mrs. Tao rubbed her fingertips in pain the entire night, feeling full of resentment.

What is going on? She is old and her children are grown up, yet she still has to suffer like this.

When she was in a bad mood, she would make trouble for County Magistrate Tao as much as she could; County Magistrate Tao was in the wrong, so she did not dare to get angry and could only coax him carefully.

Then, while greeting the emperor several times in his heart, he rushed to the capital to deliver the memorial.

"Wait a few more days, until the letter from His Majesty arrives, Aunt Luo won't be so serious." Magistrate Tao pinched his wife's shoulders in a flattering manner.

"Also, go talk to her and see if she wants to live in our family in the future?"

"What? Are you planning to win him over now?" Mrs. Tao pushed her husband away.

Magistrate Tao first smiled carefully, then his expression gradually became serious. "I have only heard that Aunt Luo has outstanding craftsmanship, but she is very difficult to get along with. But after observing her for the past few days, I think she has a good character, but she is not good at expressing herself and likes to be alone."

He said, "Before, I was worried that since she is a female official from the palace and has a high rank, she might not be interested in the mansion of a small county magistrate like me. But now, I think I can give it a try."

Seeing that her husband valued talent, Madam Tao also had some ideas. She sighed and said, "According to her current status, she should not be sent to such an assignment. I'm afraid she won't be able to flatter in the palace and will not be liked by the nobles."

As she spoke, Mrs. Tao thought of her youth. "When I was learning embroidery, others were either afraid of our status or did not want to show off our skills, so they were somewhat perfunctory in their teaching."

She said with emotion: "Only Aunt Luo has always been dedicated to teaching and treating us equally. People like this are worthy of our respect."

Mrs. Tao yawned and said, "I haven't touched needlework for a long time. Not only my arms, but my eyes are also sore."

She turned over and kicked Magistrate Tao. "You should also set up your embroidery class as soon as possible, and let Aunt Luo be busy. It's better for her to forget about us. If you keep going on like this, I really can't stand it anymore."

After saying that, he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Ming Youyou arrived at the county government office at the right time. She first went to learn painting from Han Wuniang, then slowly went to the embroidery room, paid her respects to Aunt Luo obediently, picked up a silk thread and started to split it.

She first loosened a silk thread so that she could see the filaments inside clearly, then pinched the center of the thread and slowly picked apart the filaments with her little index finger and thumb.

This step requires patience. Yesterday, she got annoyed halfway through and started pulling hard, but of course the thread became more and more tangled and unusable.

Perhaps because she knew she couldn't escape it, she no longer had any hope today. Instead, she became serious and sweat broke out on her forehead.

The little hands moved clumsily and carefully, and actually separated the thread into eight strands.

She counted them one by one, her eyes bright, and looked up at Aunt Luo.

Aunt Luo nodded and said, "Thread the needle. Let's continue practicing starting and ending the needle today."

The repetitive movements were very boring. After a while, Ming Youyou couldn't sit still anymore. She twisted her body unconsciously, and then the needle became crooked.

Bang! Aunt Luo knocked on the table with a ruler.

Ming Youyou looked up and saw that she was just reminding her and had no intention of hitting her, so she stuck out her tongue thankfully and continued embroidering.