when question marks become people

In the early morning of the first day of the new year, Wen Hao and Ying Annian met at the door of Lele's room. Wen Hao looked at the things in Ying Annian's hands and smiled knowingly.The two uncles quietly put the red envelopes prepared by each on the pillow of the sleeping little guy, and then quietly exited.

After walking away for a while, Ying Annian took out another red envelope from his pocket and handed it to Wen Hao, saying, "Happy New Year!"

Wen Hao was surprised: "I have it too? I'm already working."

Ying Annian had a good reason: "I'm older than you, so I can be regarded as a big brother. It's only natural to give red envelopes to my younger brother."

Wen Hao took the red envelope with both hands, and thanked with a smile: "Thank you, boss!" It feels really good to receive the red envelope during the Chinese New Year.

The red envelope Wen Hao prepared for Lele was very thin. He didn't earn much money himself, so he expressed his heart.The two red envelopes that Ying Annian took out were not thick. He originally planned to prepare a check or card, but after thinking about it, he changed it to cash, and after thinking about it again, he reduced the amount significantly.Wen Hao's salary card is still with him, but he has been very restrained in spending money, and it is not appropriate to give more.

What Ying Annian wanted to do but didn't do, Ying's mother did.Ms. Ying took out three huge red envelopes and stuffed them one by one into the hands of the juniors at home.

Seeing the thickness, Wen Hao hurriedly waved his hand to decline.Counting his salary and the small contribution of taking care of Lele for a short time, he can't actually live the life he is now. Although they are close, he himself is not a person who can calculate in detail in this regard, but he can also You can't take all this for granted, it's not enough to take advantage of it.

Ms. Ying raised her eyebrows. "You are depriving me of fun. When I am old, I want to give money to the younger generation and let you spend it as you like. Usually you are self-reliant and look down on me. You can be so cool once a year. This is You have to meet the spiritual needs of our elderly."

Seeing that Wen Hao took it, she smiled again and said, "Fortunately, there are more of you and Lele in the family. I used to give red envelopes to Niannian. Looking at his expression, there is no atmosphere at all. I have been too lazy to prepare for several years."

"Then why is it mine?" Ying Annian shook the big red envelope in his hand.

"I'm afraid you will be jealous." Ying's mother replied to him.

A question mark appeared on Lele's head. "Grandma, why are you afraid that my uncle will be jealous? Will my uncle get sick if he is jealous?"

In the end, the three red envelopes were all taken away as gifts by the big one and the small one, and no one thought of opening them to spend them.

After packing up, the four of them took Xiao Wu to a resort not far from City C.The resort is located in a tourist development zone. In addition to the leisure items that come with the villa, you can also climb mountains, visit ancient towns, and pick strawberries nearby. There are many places where children can go. There is also a special pet club in the villa, which is suitable for the whole family.

Young colleagues and friends have all sent messages one by one to celebrate the New Year. On the way, Wen Hao made a few brief phone calls to the elders who are more familiar with New Year greetings.While talking with Mr. He, Wen Hao encountered another "spiritual needs of the elderly".

"I'm not used to the fact that I don't have basic courses anymore." Mr. He felt a little regretful, "The public elective courses scheduled for next semester can only be given to young teachers."

The old professor injured his leg once, and the school and his family refused to allow him to teach undergraduates again.Except for teaching discussions with graduate students and doctoral students, Mr. He has always insisted on standing up in class. It is very energy-intensive to take public lectures, and now he has to give up first.

Wen Hao thought for a while, and suggested: "Would you like to try using live lectures? Telling online students and history lovers, the method and time are more flexible."

"What live broadcast?"

Wen Hao briefly introduced the live broadcast to Mr. He, and also talked about his own experience and experience. Mr. He became interested after listening to it, and wrote down the name of the live broadcast. After hanging up the phone, he called the young man at home. Give yourself guidance.

After discovering the new continent, I must share it with my old friends. In two or three days, the small island of Laiqian has boarded a group of seniors who are eager to try.Wen Hao thought that he was just providing a small direction for the spiritual needs of an old teacher, but he didn't expect to change the direction of the money.

It was already past the meal time at the resort, and we had casually laid out on the road before, so we simply went to the ancient town to eat something special.

The ancient town is very small, and smokers go to the end before they have finished smoking a cigarette.It is said to be an ancient town, and many buildings have only been built in recent years.But here is considered a minority ghetto, with some unique styles.

The ethnic minorities living in this area are the Yan family, who worship flames. Many flame shapes can be seen on the roofs, window panes, and flags on both sides of the road. Within a few steps, there are shops selling flame sugar cakes.The Spring Festival is the peak tourist season, and locals greet tourists warmly in homespun clothes embroidered with ethnic patterns and down jackets.

Wen Hao led Xiao Wu, who was wearing a small dress, to follow Ying Annian and the others, and sat at a small table outside a bean noodle shop.While waiting for the food to arrive on the table, he checked the information of the Yan family in his mind.

This ethnic group has a small population. Over the years, due to intermarriage and urbanization, it has fully integrated with the Han people. Most of the younger generation study and work abroad, and their living habits are not much different from those of the Han people.The ancient town where they are located gathers so many ethnic elements because of the development of tourism.Some tourists said on the Internet that many of the handicrafts sold in the store were produced in small commodity cities in other places.

Still the food is pretty authentic.Several large bowls of bean flour were served, and the rising heat was wrapped in a strong aroma, which whetted the appetite.Wen Hao helped Lele mix the bean flour, and he quickly picked a chopstick and put it into his mouth. The slightly spicy and moderately salty taste, with a bit of roughness in the toughness, immediately won the automatic praise of the taste buds.

The proprietress brought a packing box, which contained light soy flour cooked for Xiao Wu.Putting the box down, she asked with a smile, "Is it delicious? All the beans are made locally, and the pickles are homemade."

Grind the three kinds of beans into powder according to the proportion, spread them into cakes, cut them into shreds, boil them in high broth, sprinkle with chili oil, minced pickles, and add some meat. It is really delicious.Seeing that both grandma and Uncle Wen answered, Lele also replied: "It's delicious." Accidentally poked the chopsticks crookedly, and the soup drew a long line around the mouth, and spilled on the table.

The proprietress laughed, turned around to go to work, and said: "The napkin is inside, please take it yourself."

The tissues he brought were indeed not enough, Wen Hao got up and entered the store, and saw that there were still several stacks of books beside the counter.The people who put the books imitated the way of bookstores, turning and stacking the books on top of each other. The angles were meticulous, as if they valued these books very much.But on the cardboard hanging in front of the pile of books, it says "10 yuan a copy, a full set of tools for free", which feels like a big sale at a loss.

The boss was helping to clean the table. When he turned around and saw someone paying attention to those books, he hurried over and asked, "Do you want to read it?"

"Come back later." Wen Hao said.He had to get the napkin out first.

A lot of people would come back later but never come again, and the boss didn't show any disappointment on his face, as if he was used to it.Before turning around, Wen Hao glanced at the middle-aged man with a simple and honest face. The gray dialog box contained: "How to sell Abo's book?" 』

Gray is the color of disappointment and depression.

There was also a faint gray layer on the pile of books, making the already inconspicuous green light even thinner.Books are valuable books, and the person who wrote the book has shown great seriousness, but when he wrote it, he predicted that not many people would read it, and it was difficult to share what he wanted to share.

Wen Hao, who sat back in his seat, slowed down his eating speed. The content of the book was very little for him, and the information was quickly received, but he "turned over" it again from the beginning.

The book introduces the traditional embroidery method of the Yan family: Yan embroidery.

Unlike Shu embroidery and Suzhou embroidery, few people know about flame embroidery.Even the Yan people themselves don't pay much attention to it, let alone promote it.The reason is simple, low artistic value.

The thread of flame embroidery has only three colors, ocher red, dark green and a kind of grayish white, which are the colors obtained from plants and stones by the ancestors of the Yan people.The basic pattern is also monotonous, with only flames, the sun, several kinds of monsters and some daily utensils.In the past, the Yan people embroidered them on the shoulders and the hem of their clothes to drive away evil spirits.

The three-dimensional effect of this kind of embroidery does not come mainly from the gradient of colors, the alternation of stitches and the meticulous outline of the border, but from the collage and overlapping of geometric shapes, which also makes it more crude.

It was only natural that Yanxiu was abandoned when there were clearly better and diverse alternatives.Wen Hao observed the people wearing homemade clothes on the street. The ethnic patterns on their clothes were all printed or painted, and no one was embroidered.

Many traditional things will gradually disappear, losing their use value and lacking in artistic value. The last place where they are most exposed is the museum.This is an inevitable development, and some people will regret it, but this is not something that needs to be judged by right or wrong. Wen Hao has no feelings about it, and history will remember it.

Flame embroidery itself is not very attractive to him, and the author of the book is not professional enough, the text is dry and the pictures are detailed, but it is a pity that it is black and white.What really prompted him to read it again was the author's simple and a little clumsy energy. Between the unadorned words and lines, there was a love and reluctance for flame embroidery.

In order to make people willing to learn flame embroidery, the author not only displays the embroidery methods in detail one by one, but also breaks the narrow circle of traditional patterns and creates several patterns that can be embroidered by flame embroidery, such as trees, flowers, rabbits, etc. And so on, but neither pretty nor cute.

Wen Hao seems to see a person using a rope to pull the "old craftsmanship" that is about to be solidified in the past, and wants it to keep up with the times. At the same time, he shouted loudly, hoping that people in the new era will pay more attention to it and pull Pull it and let it move forward.But he wasn't strong enough, nor loud enough.

The most amazing thing is that he is clear about this result, but he still continues to try.

This is a more "useless" spiritual need, but Wen Hao was moved, and decided to buy a book and a set of tools, and go back to embroider.With him alone, Yanxiu's disappearance might be a little bit late.

After a while, he really returned to the counter and picked up a book called "Quickly Master the Secret Technique of Flame Embroidery".

The boss was a little suspicious, and asked, "Do you want to learn by yourself?"

The proprietress patted him and scolded: "You just bring things for the guests, so why not ask!"

The boss shrank his shoulders to hide, but his eyes were still on Wen Hao.Wen Hao nodded: "I want to learn." The boss smiled and brought him gifts from under the counter, including three-color threads, needles, small pieces of earthen cloth, and embroidery stretchers.

Wen Hao asked curiously: "Can you tell me how many copies of this book can be sold in a day?"

The proprietress is actually straightforward, and she said after hearing the words: "Including what you have in hand, I sold two copies this week. Our family is stupid. If people say they don't want to learn and only want those gifts, he will persuade them not to read." I don’t know when it will be sold out.” This is not a tourist souvenir that most people would choose.

"It's not about making money with this." The boss retorted in a low voice.

Wen Hao paid the money and seemed very interested in Yanxiu. The boss was willing to chat with him a few more words, and also talked about why he wanted to sell books in the bean powder store.It turned out that the book was self-published, and the title was picked up by the editor of the publishing house, but it still couldn't be sold.When the bookstore returns it to the publishing house, the publishing house returns it to the individual, and they still have a pile of them at home.

Wen Hao knew that the boss didn't write the book himself, so he asked, "Is the author also in this town?"

"It's my uncle, who has passed away."