Supposedly, the rain should have made the alley of bluestone tiles thick with moss fairly aesthetic, but because they became extremely slippery to walk on when wet, any artistic inspiration it might have brought was completely lost on Hua Jin.

Pei Yan really couldn’t understand a woman like Hua Jin, who would go so far to buy an umbrella just to take pictures. Seeing Hua Jin holding up the hem of her skirt while slowly moving forward, inch by inch, he finally stretched out his hand to her and said, “You can hold on to my wrist, but don’t you dare touch my hand.”

“What happens if I touch your hand?” Hua Jin grabbed onto Pei Yan’s outstretched arm while she looked at him smiling.

Pei Yan looked away and said, “It’s simply unethical for strangers such as us to touch each other. Besides, I can’t let you take advantage of me.”

Hearing this explanation, Hua Jin couldn’t help laughing, “Don’t worry, I’m not a woman pervert.”

Pei Yan gave her a sideways glance before remarking in a strange tone, “Have you ever seen a pig climb a tree?”

“No.”

“Then do you think anyone thinks you’re credible?”

Hua Jin’s eyes widened, “A man can only be relied on when a pig could climb a tree. This sentence originally described men. What does it have to do with me?”

“Miss, it’s the 21st century now.” Pei Yan lazily replied. “There’s equality between the sexes.” Seeing that Hua Jin was about to refute, he quickly added, “If you say another word, I’ll take back my hand.”

Hua Jin closed her mouth immediately.

After they had walked down a long stairway, Hua Jin let go of Pei Yan’s arm before snorting softly, “You said that it was my hand that’s taking advantage of you, but it seems it was yours that did it instead.”

This was the very first time in Pei Yan’s entire life that he had ever seen someone change their mind so quickly. He turned to look back before crossing his arms around his chest, “It seems that won’t be needing my help from now on.”

“Mr Pei, you misunderstand.” Hua Jin smiled brightly at him, “What I meant was, if it was any other man, they would be the one taking advantage. But you are different. You’re so good-looking and also have an upright character, so obviously, it was I who was taking advantage of you.”

“You should stop being a Shu embroiderer and just go do Shu dramas.” Pei Yan looked ahead and slowly walked forward. “Since you’re so talented in changing faces, it’s a waste not going on that path.”

Hua Jin: “…”

Because it wasn’t a holiday and it had started to rain again, there weren’t a lot of pedestrians to be seen. The street still retained the wooden architectural style of the last century, including the shops. Many of them hung some handicrafts typical of tourist spots, but they failed to find any oil-paper umbrellas even when they walked more than halfway down the street.

After a while, Hua Jin found herself thirsty so she ended up buying two water bottles. She also took the opportunity to ask the boss of the shop about where to find their elusive quarry.

“Oil-paper umbrellas?” The shop owner gave Hua Jin an inquisitive look, “Go straight ahead and there’ll be a small shop on the right that sells some.” Since online shopping was so prevalent nowadays, people have access to many kinds of beautiful umbrellas, so it was rare for a young person to come to a small place like this street to buy oil-paper umbrellas.

“Thank you.” Hua Jin handed the other bottle of water to Pei Yan, which he accepted. “Let’s go there and look for it.”

The two then continued walking for a while before finally finding the shop that sells the oil-paper umbrellas. An old man in a navy-blue tunic was sitting behind the counter and was busy cutting ribs for an umbrella. Behind him, there was a young man and woman that were cleaning up the messy shop, while also complaining about the rain as that meant that the newly made umbrellas couldn’t be taken out to dry.

The old man looked like he had a rough past as there were many white scars visible on the back of his hand. When Hua Jin and Pei Yan came over, he put down the umbrella skeleton and knife in his hands and cleared his body of the bamboo shavings. “Are you two looking for umbrellas? Please come in and take a look.”

The store wasn’t big and the lighting wasn’t very good as well, but there were many umbrellas on display. After Hua Jin stepped into the store, she found it smelling heavily of tung oil.

The man and woman who were busy packing the umbrellas were seemingly unconcerned about their arrival, but when they noticed their appearance and clothes, they suddenly rushed up and enthusiastically greeted them.

A handsome man and a beautiful woman. This couple was simply a perfect match.

“Our shop is an authentic traditional oil-paper umbrella handicraft shop. It has been passed down from our ancestors for nearly two hundred years already.” The old man’s face was full of wrinkles, but his words were still full of energy. He bent down and selected two from the shelves, one red and one blue. “This big red umbrella is our most famous oil-paper umbrella, but for this gentleman over here, the blue one might be more suitable. You’re also free to slowly browse if you’d like.”

“Thank you.” Hua Jin opened the red oil-paper umbrella, which was painted with white plum blossoms, made for an elegant combination. The ribs were also as smooth as silk and there was no trace of an oily odor. The workmanship was exquisite. “It’s so beautiful. It shows that you’ve been doing this for many years, right?”

“Hah. It’s been many years.” The old man gently stroked an umbrella on the shelf as if he was stroking his own child. “When I was very young, almost the whole street was also selling oil-paper umbrellas, and even foreigners would come here wanting to buy them before they returned to their country. These were some of the many that came over to our Jiang Jiu Market.” When he reminisced about the past, one wouldn’t be sure if he was being emotional or recounting regrets.

“Grandpa, how long ago was that?” The man who was busy sweeping the floor said helplessly. “There’s so many beautiful foldable umbrellas on the market now, so who would go out to specifically buy an oil-paper umbrella that just takes up space every day?”

Hearing what his grandson had said, the old man didn’t get angry, but simply smiled cheerfully, “It definitely is inconvenient for everyday use, but if a young man and woman takes a photo with them, it would definitely be beautiful.”

Hua Jin smiled and nodded in agreement, “You are right.”

“Technology is advancing and people’s living standards are rising, so it’s inevitable that traditional crafts like ours will gradually decline,” the old man said. “But this is actually a good thing because it means everything is going great.”

“Nevertheless, traditional crafts must be passed on.” Hua Jin took her umbrella before saying this to the old man. “As you said, they may no longer be necessary for daily life, but that doesn’t mean they can’t enter into the realm of ‘handicrafts to be appreciated’. As long as someone still likes them, they’ll never go away.”

Hearing Hua Jin’s remarks, the old man laughed even more merrily as he turned to take out a box from a room. “You two, take a look at these. Do you guys like these two umbrellas?”

If the umbrellas they’ve just seen were already excellent artwork, then these two from the box could be called masterpieces. The two were both red umbrellas, one featuring dragons and the other phoenixes. The pictures were so lifelike that Hua Jin almost lost her mind.

She bought them without any hesitation and even bought a few more, asking the store to send them to a few of her friends.

It took more than 90 steps to process a quality oil-paper umbrella, and it took between a half month to a month to complete a single one, so they weren’t cheap. Seeing Hua Jin buying so many umbrellas at once, the two shop assistants were overjoyed.

But when the two had left, the man emotionally said, “Pity!”

“What’s so pitiful?” The girl looked at him puzzled.

“That man just now was very good-looking, but when they were going to pay the bill, he pretended not to see and just waited for his girlfriend to pay it.” The man shook his head. “If I had such a beautiful girlfriend, I’d definitely be reluctant for her to spend any of her money.”

“You are thinking too much, since it’s impossible for you to have such a beautiful girlfriend in your life anyways.” The girl continued to lazily wipe the dust off the furniture, “Not to mention that the man was also so handsome, it could be that the beautiful woman just adopts pretty boys.”

Man: “……”

“Mr Pei, can I ask you a question?” Hua Jin looked at the photos Pei Yan took of her on his phone with open disgust, “You… you’ve never dated before, right?”

“What does that have anything to do with you?” Pei Yan’s face was clearly not pleased.

“Because men who’ve had girlfriends before would never have taken pictures this ugly.” Hua Jin continued, “I am 1.68 meters tall, but the way you took these photos makes it look like I’m 1.45 meters tall. Are you even worthy of your expensive phone?!”

“Well I’m sorry.” Pei Yan remained expressionless. “If you don’t want to continue taking pictures, let’s go back to the hotel already.”

“Come, I’ll take a few pictures for you so you can experience what an official photoshoot is like.” Hua Jin took out her own mobile phone. “Open your umbrella.”

“Wait.” Pei Yan inadvertently saw a peek of Hua Jin’s phone screen before his expression became serious. “You’re sharing your location with others?”

“Cough.” Hua Jin embarrassedly turned off the location sharing before saying, “It is getting a little late now, right? A little late.”

Pei Yan continued to look at her expressionlessly.

After being stared at by such gorgeous eyes, Hua Jin turned her head away before confessing the truth, “Uh… as a woman going out alone, it’s safer to occasionally share her position with friends.”

Pei Yan was silent for a moment before impatiently saying, “Hurry up then.”

“What?”

“The photo.”

A young man in a white shirt and a gorgeous red umbrella, and the rain pouring sofly in an alleyway. It was as beautiful as a painting.

Hua Jin raised her phone and pressed the shutter.

Afterwards, she put down her phone and looked at Pei Yan with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye, “Thank you.”

Pei Yan stared at her for a moment before closing the umbrella. “Can we go back now?”

Hua Jin smiled and nodded.

When going up the steps, Pei Yan turned to look at the woman holding his arm using her sleeve. “You guys who are in the traditional handicrafts industry, is it true that it is hard to make a profit?”

“We’re still doing fine since Shu embroidery can be integrated into all aspects of life, like clothes, shoes, socks, bags, and even in jewelry.” Hua Jin continued, “It’s just that the truly top embroiderers become fewer and fewer, and it gets harder and harder to find young people who are willing to learn this craft with a passion. If traditional crafts like ours want to continue and improve, we cannot have a shortage of heirs.”

“Isn’t it boring to just sit there and embroider every day?”

“How could that be?” Hua Jin’s smile grew gentle. “It’s a great achievement to turn gorgeous silk into beautiful patterns.”

“To me, Shu embroidery is…” She lowered her eyelids to conceal her emotions, “It’s my salvation.”

“Are you praising yourself as an heir who’ll carry on your traditional craftsmanship?” Pei Yan asked.

“Oh no.” Hua Jin raised her head with a big grin on her face, “Have I been found out?”

Pei Yan just sneered as he turned to look ahead. She really is a flowery peacock who likes to brag about herself.

———————–

The Author Has Something To Say: [Hua Jin’s Gentle Reminder]: Whether you are a man or a woman, you must stay vigilant when you go out alone. Frequently use your chat software to send your location to your friends and family, and at the same time, be mindful of your privacy to minimize overexposure of your personal identity on public platforms.