After returning home, Mrs. Zhou, mindful that her children were hungry, quickly went to prepare a meal.

Meanwhile, Fu Wenyu took a small red plum-shaped velvet flower Mrs. Zhou had given him, along with the newly purchased materials for making velvet flowers, and sat at the table with his younger sister, Fu Rong, to study them.

It was an ordinary velvet flower.

In Fu Wenyu’s memory, he had seen two types of velvet flowers on television and in videos made by bloggers. One type was fluffy, and the other was flat. He couldn’t recall the exact names but knew both were called velvet flowers. The fluffy kind seemed to also be called “Tongcao flowers.” Both types were quite beautiful.

The one Zhou had was the flat kind.

Fu Wenyu examined it closely and found that its crafting method was similar to collage-making. Threads were glued piece by piece onto a frame, then trimmed into shape. Whatever adhesive was used was not only incredibly strong but also didn’t make the flower look bulky.

“Brother, do you understand how it’s made?”

Across from him, Fu Rong asked nervously.

“I understand. Let’s give it a try.” Fu Wenyu put down the plum blossom velvet flower in his hand. He didn’t dare take it apart since it had been a gift from their late father, Fu Qingshan, to Zhou. With Fu Qingshan now gone, every flower was precious, so he decided not to delve into the finer details and began experimenting instead.

He decided to make the fluffy version of the velvet flower for a simple reason: they didn’t have any glue at home. Using the materials they had, he planned to experiment with other styles later.

Threads, copper wire, scissors…

Fu Wenyu gathered all the tools they had. The thread was newly bought today, but the colors weren’t very pure or vibrant, likely not of high quality. Still, it was good enough to make a velvet flower.

Under Fu Rong’s watchful and slightly distressed gaze, Fu Wenyu carefully split a small bundle of pale yellow thread into finer strands. This step would normally require a bristle brush, but since he didn’t have the right materials, he had to do it manually. After splitting the threads, he straightened them as he had seen in those crafting videos.

“Brother, why are you making the threads so fine?” Fu Rong couldn’t help but ask.

“They’re supposed to be this fine. Watch closely,” Fu Wenyu replied as he carefully secured the split threads between two pieces of copper wire and trimmed them.

“Is this it?” Fu Rong asked curiously as she looked at the bundle of thread on the table. She still couldn’t figure out how it would become a flower and thought it didn’t resemble anything she had seen before.

“Not quite. I need a block of wood…”

Fu Wenyu looked around but couldn’t find a suitable tool. He went to his room, grabbed his wooden paperweight, placed one end of the copper wire on the table, and pressed down on it with the paperweight while rubbing it vigorously.

In the end, he produced over a dozen pieces that were thicker in the middle and thinner at the ends, resembling tiny feather dusters. Of course, these miniature fluffy sticks were much smaller than actual feather dusters.

Fu Rong’s expression grew even more puzzled. “…This is it?”

Fu Wenyu smiled in satisfaction. “This is it. Now I need pliers. Hmm, it seems we don’t have any pliers. No problem, I’ll just use my hands.”

He then used his hands to shorten the yellow threads to create a stamen. Surrounding the stamen, he arranged the pale yellow fluffy sticks. Finally, he tightly wrapped one end of the wire with brown thread.

Using scissors, he trimmed the excess wire, adjusted the fluffy sticks into an appropriate curve, and completed a simple yellow chrysanthemum velvet flower.

“How does it look? Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It’s so beautiful!” Fu Rong had been watching intently the entire time, her eyes wide and unblinking. Now, hearing her brother’s question, she didn’t hesitate to exclaim her admiration.

“It looks just like the ones sold in shops!”

“Then it’s yours!”

Fu Wenyu handed the velvet flower to her and stretched lazily. “After we eat, I’ll teach you how to make them. Embroidery is hard on the eyes, but this isn’t. Once you and Mother learn how to make velvet flowers, you can sell them to earn money and stop doing embroidery.”

After finishing the chrysanthemum velvet flower, he felt it wasn’t difficult. Although his flower wasn’t as exquisite as those made by bloggers or cultural heritage artisans, it was still quite decent.

Fu Rong beamed with joy.

When Mrs. Zhou came in carrying dishes and bowls, Fu Rong couldn’t wait to announce, “Mother, Brother said he’d teach me how to make velvet flowers!”

“Mother, look! This is what Brother made!”

Startled, Mrs. Zhou looked at the lifelike chrysanthemum in Fu Rong’s hands and then at her son sitting nearby. She asked in astonishment, “Wenyu, did you really make this?”

When Fu Wenyu nodded, Mrs. Zhou was overjoyed.

She took the velvet flower from Fu Rong’s hand, examined it closely, and said, “I heard from Madam Li that the noblewomen in the palace are very fond of velvet flowers, so they’ve become quite popular among commoners as well. It’s because Madam Li mastered this craft that she was able to open an embroidery shop in the city. I never expected my son to know how to make them too.”

“Oh, you said you learned this from a book?”

Fu Wenyu nodded. “It wasn’t exactly a book but rather a self-made booklet. I found it a long time ago when I was buying books at a bookstore. It didn’t just have instructions for velvet flowers but also for other small crafts.” To cover any potential gaps, he added, “But when I went back today, I couldn’t find it again. Maybe someone else bought it.”

“That’s possible.”

Mrs. Zhou speculated, “The booklet you mentioned might have been written by a craftsman intending to pass it down to their descendants. Somehow, it ended up in the bookstore. No wonder it’s different from the way Madam Li makes hers.”

After a moment of reflection, Mrs. Zhou looked at the velvet flower in her hand and said joyfully, “This is great news.”

“With this new skill for making velvet flowers, our family’s financial situation can improve. Wenyu, once your father’s mourning period is over, you’ll be just in time to take the county-level exam. I heard your father say that the county exam isn’t too difficult.”

“My son is so clever; you’re sure to pass.”

Fu Wenyu didn’t argue. In this society, the social status of someone with an official title was vastly different from someone without one. So once the mourning period ended, he was determined to try his hand at the imperial examinations.

With the day’s earnings, Mrs. Zhou was in a great mood. She made a pot of lotus root, lotus seeds, and rice porridge using the ingredients she had bought that morning. The side dishes were no longer just homemade pickled vegetables but included a bowl of scallion-tossed tofu and another bowl of stir-fried lotus root slices. On top of that, there was a large bowl of fragrant, mouthwatering steamed egg custard.

Taking a bite, Fu Wenyu felt as if he had come back to life.

While the family ate, he told Zhou and Fu Rong about selling his storybook for thirty taels of silver. He handed Mrs. Zhou a twenty-tael silver note for household expenses. As for the remaining ten taels, he kept them for himself to buy ink, brushes, and other items later.

Mrs. Zhou never imagined that Fu Wenyu’s storybook could sell for thirty taels of silver, so she was naturally thrilled. She not only agreed to Fu Wenyu’s request to improve their meals regularly but also carefully stored the silver note, planning to save it for his education.

That day, the Fu family’s household was filled with the rare sound of laughter.

…

“Wenyu, Wenyu, are you here?”

Just as Fu Wenyu and his family were happily eating, a somewhat familiar voice came from outside. Fu Wenyu responded and quickly finished the food in his bowl before stepping out. To his surprise, it was Fu Qingtian.

Fu Qingtian had come to deliver something.

He handed a basket to Fu Wenyu with a hearty smile. “Wenyu, you’ve really helped your uncle a lot!”

“The clan leader told me that you knew my family had little land but too many mouths to feed, especially those half-grown boys who can eat an old man out of house and home. That’s why you rented your land to me. I don’t even know how to thank you properly.”

“So, your aunt saved up a few eggs over the past few days, and I brought them over for you.”

“You must accept them!”

Fu Wenyu suddenly realized that the clan leader must have said good things about him. After all, he couldn’t even remember who Fu Qingtian was before this, and it had been the clan leader’s idea to rent the land to him.

So Fu Wenyu said, “Uncle Qingtian, there’s no need to thank me.”

He pushed the basket of eggs back and sincerely said, “I should be thanking you for taking care of the fields for me and preventing them from going to waste. Please take the eggs back. We just bought some eggs ourselves.”

Fu Qingtian firmly refused to take the basket back. The two of them pushed it back and forth, one insisting, “You must accept them. These eggs are from our own chickens, and they’re good for your health. If it weren’t for your mourning period, I’d have brought a whole chicken for you.” The other kept saying, “Uncle Qingtian, please take them back. We really don’t lack eggs right now.”

The commotion grew loud enough to draw the attention of others in the household.

Then, from behind him, Fu Wenyu suddenly heard the low voice of his grandfather, Fu Dashi, “Wenyu, you rented out the land?”

Startled by the question, Fu Wenyu froze.

Only then did he realize that he had never told Fu Dashi about renting out the family’s land. Although they had seen each other several times in the past few days, Fu Wenyu, accustomed to being in charge of his own affairs in the modern world, had completely forgotten to inform his grandfather about such a significant decision.

But this was ancient times, not the modern era.

Uh…

This was going to be troublesome.