In the 15th year of the Republic of China, in the west of Beijing, on Baishan Road.

In mid-spring, the gentle breeze stirs up the slender willows on the street, causing them to flutter and sway. The illusory sunset shrouds the street, and this warm feeling makes people feel warm.

Two girls in their twenties were selling sachets at a stall on Baishan Road. The embroidery work on the sachets was extremely exquisite. Sichuan embroidery, Shu embroidery, and Su embroidery can be found everywhere.

Pedestrians coming and going marveled at the embroidery skills of this young girl. Whenever they met, they would buy a few and hang them on their bodies. Business has been doing very well these days.

As the sun set, the pedestrians gradually dispersed. The two girls looked at the sky and closed their stalls. They picked up their bamboo baskets and walked towards the outskirts of the city in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Hey, today's profit is not bad." The taller girl Lu Shuangshuang sighed as she walked: "I made several yuan in this day, which is enough for the two of us to live for a few days."

"In the final analysis, our business is doing well mainly because you are a craftsman. You can do all kinds of Su embroidery and Shu embroidery. You embroidered the patterns on the sachet so lifelike. What girl wouldn't be moved after seeing this?

What an ingenuity, I cannot envy you."

Song Qinglian smiled softly, with a look of indifference on her face: "Shuangshuang, please stop making fun of me. I have never studied, so I can only make a living by relying on this little craft."

The two girls talked and laughed all the way and parted ways at a fork in the village. Lu Shuangshuang walked to her home, Baishui Village, and Song Qinglian returned to Yunshui Village.

At this moment, the setting sun had receded over the hills and dusk was falling. Song Qinglian walked back to the small yard of her home alone. When she was about to take out the key and unlock the door, she found that the key was missing.

She felt a chill in her heart, and then she remembered that in the morning she hurried to the opium shop to deliver food to her father. She must have been too anxious and left the key in the opium shop.

She put the bamboo basket on the ground and walked directly to Song Daquan's opium shop to get the key.

When she entered the door of the opium shop, she smelled a pungent smell of smoke, which made her want to gag. She covered her mouth and nose, resisting the discomfort, and walked in.

"If you have wine today, you will be drunk today, and you will be worried tomorrow. You will be worried tomorrow, and you will be worried tomorrow..."

After blowing away the smoke in front of him, he saw his father Song Daquan leaning on the bed, squinting his eyes slightly, holding a pipe in his hand, smoking and murmuring.

"Dad." Song Qinglian stepped forward and called softly.

"Well, who is it?" Song Daquan glanced sideways at Song Qinglian and asked in a long tone.

He had smoked too much tobacco that day and had become delirious. He could not even recognize his daughter's face.

Seeing her father's dejected appearance, Song Qinglian couldn't help but feel a burst of sadness in her heart, and sighed softly, "Dad, it's me, Qinglian."

Song Daquan opened his eyes and stared at Song Qinglian carefully for a long time. After seeing his daughter's face clearly, he tilted his head again, as if he didn't care. He took another puff of tobacco and said with disdain, "What are you doing here?

ah?"

Song Qinglian said truthfully: "Dad, I left the key here when I brought you food this morning. Did you see where it is?"

Before she finished speaking, Song Daquan frowned, his words were full of impatience, and he scolded her: "Broom star, you are really not successful at all, and you are always at fault. You can't even hold a key. I see you sleeping in the open."

On the streets, you might as well not even go home."

"I don't know where you left your keys. Look for them yourself. If you find them, get out. If you can't find them, you'll sleep on the street!"

"Oh, I got it." Faced with Song Daquan's merciless scolding, Song Qinglian just responded with an expressionless expression.

She has become accustomed to her father's unreasonable venting, and she has become accustomed to it. She no longer thinks too much about these things, nor does she refute them.

She searched for the cabinet for a week and found the key on the cabinet. Sure enough, it was the key she had left behind in the morning. "Dad, I found the key."

Song Daquan waved to her impatiently: "Go away!"

Staying in this house full of strong pungent smell that made her whole body uncomfortable, she originally wanted to leave immediately after finding the key.

But looking at her father who was addicted to tobacco and had been decadent in the opium den for several days, she couldn't help but want to give him some advice.

"Dad, you don't plan to go home yet. You have been in the opium shop for seven days. Smoking tobacco like this is not good for your health. You and I can go home and stay for a few days."

This was an ordinary concern, but he didn't want to arouse Song Daquan's anger. Song Daquan put his pipe down on the kang and shouted angrily at Song Qinglian: "You damn girl, you are so capable now."

No, you dare to control your father, right?"

"It's up to your damn girl to take care of your business when I go back. I can come back if I want to, but I can't if I don't want to. You're just nagging me."

Her father was so angry that Song Qinglian couldn't say anything else. She was originally out of concern, but she was scolded so viciously that she couldn't help but feel sad in her heart.

She could only say softly: "Dad, then I'm going home."


Chapter completed!