Transmigrated as a Peasant Baby Who is Pampered by All

Chapter 272: Chapter 214: Short Bow

Since the idea of wanting to learn hunting and practice archery came to her, Xiaomi truly started pondering over it, chopping firewood whenever she had nothing to do.

Not to mention going out every day, sometimes even when Wei Ziang came looking for her, she would just give a few perfunctory responses.

At first, everyone thought Xiaomi was just going through a phase; after all, someone who loves to run around how could she have the patience to stay at home?

But who knew that her dedication would last from late autumn into early winter, as the peach wood in her hands was replaced again and again, yet she couldn’t figure out what a bow should look like.

Just when Xiaomi couldn’t hold back and wanted to give up, deciding to ask her dad to take her to town to find someone to make a little bow, there was a knock at the door.

”Big brother? You’re home from school?” Seeing Wei Ziang at the door, Xiaomi paused for a moment before realizing.

Wei Ziang nodded: ”Yes, it’s almost dark. Have you figured it out yet?”

Xiaomi’s shoulders slumped: ”It’s too hard. I originally wanted to make one myself.”

Wei Ziang poked his head in, taking a glance behind Xiaomi, the floor was a mess, with lots of wood shavings scattered about.

It was apparent that Xiaomi had really put a lot of effort into trying, but had failed each time.

Peach wood can be used to make short bows, which are quite small and suitable for children to play with. Xiaomi intended to make one first to practice her feel and accuracy, and then consider other things.

But she hadn’t even gotten past the first step and was already stuck.

”Come with me.” Wei Ziang pulled Xiaomi outside, turning to head toward his own room.

Xiaomi looked baffled. She had become a bit obsessed with making bows during this period and thought about it constantly except when eating and sleeping.

The family had tried to persuade her to give up, but she wouldn’t.

Seeing that what she was doing wasn’t affecting her meals or sleeping, they let her continue, as they rarely saw her take such an interest in something.

Finally seeing Xiaomi head out not during mealtime, Xiaohua was surprised and was about to ask something when she saw Wei Ziang leading Xiaomi back to his room.

With winter here, there wasn’t much work to do in the fields. Jiang Hu took some time with Qixi to finish up some spare chores, planting wheat and rapeseed, digging lotus roots, and even finding others to help.

The chickens, ducks, and geese were taken care of by Eniang and Aunt Yang, which meant Xiaohua could also lean back and focus on her embroidery daily.

Zhang Xiaohua had been gone for a while, just as Xiaohua and Xiaomi had planned. A few days ago, she was able to take on some handkerchief embroidery work at the fabric shop.

But because she only knew one type of embroidery pattern, she couldn’t earn much. A single handkerchief only earned a copper coin.

If she focused diligently every day, she could still make four or five handkerchiefs in a morning.

Zhang Xiaohua’s parents, seeing how easy it was to make money, didn’t let her do household chores anymore. Winter wasn’t busy anyway, so they just let her embroider when she had nothing else to do.

Apart from that, Zhang Xiaohua still came to find Xiaohua for lessons every afternoon.

With Xiaohua’s help, she told her parents clearly that she had only learned this one pattern so far and that her earning capacity was limited.

Only by learning more, working more seriously, and diligently acquiring more skills could she, like Xiaohua, earn much more money!

Moreover, Zhang Xiaohua’s parents now knew what Xiaohua was learning was from the county, at least the textbooks and material were from there, right?

So, they had no objections to Zhang Xiaohua continuing her studies every day.

In fact, recently Zhang Li had been helping the Jiang family with tasks without asking for wages, even refusing them when Jiang Hu offered.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi discovered that Zhang Xiaohua was staying up late sewing with an oil lamp, making her very tired and her eyes uncomfortable the next day.

Xiaomi directly warned her that embroidering under an oil lamp at night could make her blind, and then she wouldn’t be able to embroider anymore.

Of course, she wasn’t wholly joking, so under Xiaomi’s warning and Xiaohua’s advice, Zhang Xiaohua also learned to schedule her embroidery time more reasonably.

But these are side notes; back to the main story.

Xiaomi looked puzzled as she followed Wei Ziang into the room and watched him take out a wooden box as long as a child’s arm.

”Big brother, what is this?” Xiaomi looked at the wooden box on the table, confused.