Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife

At dawn the next day, the Wanglou Brigade organized the strong laborers to process flour, and it was bustling with activity.

Since the noodle factory was built by the riverside in the northwest direction of the brigade, not far from the Lu Family, as Feng Qingxue returned from taking the kids to school, she took a look at the lively scene along the way home.

The so-called flour processing involves smashing the selected and cleaned sweet potatoes, using a grinding machine powered by a tractor's engine. During the process, you have to add water; the finer the sweet potatoes are crushed with skin and flesh, the better. Then, they're placed in a cloth filter for beating, needing to be filtered twice. The filtered solution flows slowly into the pool below.

The pool is specially made for flour processing, with four rectangular pools side by side. The bottom and walls are coated with a thick layer of cement, polished smoothly. After thorough cleaning, there's no dust left, making it the cleanest and most hygienic for settling sweet potato flour.

If the noodle processing isn't clean, it tastes gritty like containing sand, making it very unpleasant to eat.

As for the sweet potato residue left in the filter cloth, none of it is wasted; it's all used to feed pigs.

It's said that the sweet potato liquid flowing into the pool needs to settle for two days, then the water is drained completely, more water is added for stirring, and it continues to settle. After that, the process is drying the starch, boiling the paste, threading, and drying before the product is finished. Feng Qingxue lost interest in continuing to watch the noodle processing and distributed candies, pastries, and other items brought from Shanghai to each family.

Since Wang Jiao wasn't at home, Feng Qingxue didn't deliver anything to her but instead went to study with Wen Ruyu.

Although they had corresponded regularly over the years, sending her works for Wen Ruyu to critique, it was far less profound than face-to-face learning; many details became clear to Feng Qingxue through Wen Ruyu's explanations.

After several days, the learning came to a pause.

Wen Ruyu felt a bit regretful, sighing, "You have great talent, you're diligent and patient. If work didn't occupy most of your time, your level could be higher. As it stands, your skill can only be regarded as a hobby. Maybe after years of practice, you can become a painter or calligrapher, but not an iconic master."

Feng Qingxue, however, was optimistic, not overly focused on fame and fortune, and said with a smile, "As an artistic pursuit, this is quite good already. Without a teacher, I wouldn't even have a chance to become a calligrapher or painter in the future."

Furthermore, she was still studying medicine, a pursuit that couldn't afford to slack off.

Art increases one's cultural refinement, but medicine can save lives. In a time when the country is in dire need of talent, even if her medical skills are average, she couldn't give up her job pursuit art.

Wen Ruyu understood her choice very well; saving the world and helping people should naturally be a priority. Art is the lesser path.

Traditional culture had been denounced as dross. People like Feng Qingxue, who were willing to learn and have their children learn this field, were extremely rare. Without the accompaniment of these children and the care of the Lu Family, he might have ended up like some old friends — those who died tragically, those who lived worse than animals. Wen Ruyu wondered when cultural heritage could be revitalized again.

"Now, my goal is to teach you and the children well so that the heritage does not end with me. I heard Xibao isn't going back to Beijing with you? That's good; let him learn from me as well. His talent surpasses both you and Fubao."

Feng Qingxue sighed lightly, "I wanted to take Xibao with us, but I respect his decision."