Seeing that her master and Grandpa Nan were busy, Qiu Xi quietly went upstairs.
She had originally planned to help in the kitchen, but her dad said that Little Pigeon and Cousin Xuanming were enough, and her presence would affect his cooking.
Qiu Xi felt helpless.
To avoid seeming lazy, she decided to tidy up and come down immediately.
After all, in Mom Qiu's eyes, chatting was also doing something, not being idle.
Thinking this, Qiu Xi sped up her actions.
In less than half an hour, all the manuscripts were sorted.
She put them in a pencil case and went downstairs.
After informing her master, Qiu Xi walked towards Song Daiyao.
Now, almost all the women in the family were here.
Mom Qiu and Aunt Chu were chatting about various women's beauty and fashion, while Grandma Qiu and Grandma Li were gossiping about recent life.
Song Daiyao was bored and was dragged by her aunt to discuss life.
Upon seeing the scene downstairs, Qiu Xi was impressed.
Indeed, no matter what they were talking about, their hands were not idle.
It was a vivid portrayal of the highest realm of gossiping: having something to do with your hands!
"Xiao Xi, come join us."
Song Daiyao waved to the person who had come down.
Since it couldn't be avoided, having one more person share the burden of conversation was acceptable.
Qiu Xi smiled and nodded, then walked over.
She wasn't afraid, as her family members saw each other every day and knew each other well, so the conversation was unlikely to be directed at her.
However, seeing Song Daiyao constantly giving her signals, Qiu Xi couldn't pretend not to see.
So, she started asking Song Daiyao about her days after returning from Shen Yan's house.
"Daiyao, what have you been busy with since you came back from Yan Yan's house?"
Hearing Qiu Xi's question, Song Daiyao immediately smiled and began to lament the hellish days she had experienced since returning.
It turned out that although Teacher Yang Yue's project was to be carried out after the start of the school year, to ensure no mistakes, she had gathered everyone for training once the team was finalized.
According to Teacher Yang Yue, they would likely have direct contact meetings, so their skills had to be top-notch, otherwise, there might be major problems.
So, their group of five was being trained by Teacher Yang Yue every day.
In their own words, they were trained to death if they weren't dead yet, which was better than being embarrassed on stage.
When Qiu Xi heard that her friend's life was not much better than hers, she felt a moment of happiness.
Then, adhering to the idea of shared suffering, Qiu Xi comforted her earnestly.
"Daiyao!"
"Keep it up!"
Song Daiyao: "..."
If she hadn't seen Qiu Xi's fleeting smile, she would have believed her.
"Are children's lives so difficult these days?"
Huang Xianyi, who was listening to the two girls chat, couldn't help but exclaim.
"That's not just the children, it's us too..."
What started as a topic of complaint between Qiu Xi and Song Daiyao quickly turned into a lively discussion among the adults about reality and competition.
"..."
"So, it's a good thing that our children are all doing well now. Otherwise, life would be quite something."
This was the experience summarized by the women.
Qiu Xi and Song Daiyao listened from beginning to end and remarked that their mothers' way of thinking was truly extraordinary.
Unlike the group of men over there, whether young, old, or in-between... they were all like teenagers, laughing merrily.
After Qiu Xi and Song Daiyao finished their work, they went out to wait.
Because the stir-frying would be handled entirely by Dad Qiu from then on.
...
Around evening, the warm gathering banquet began.
As soon as the dishes were served, Dad Qiu started to call out, "Come, everyone eat and drink to your heart's content!"
"You kids, just eat and drink amongst yourselves."
"Brother, you're too polite. Don't worry, we'll definitely give you face."
Even Nan Hao, who usually didn't talk much, had developed a good impression of Dad Qiu after spending the afternoon together.
He was insightful and easygoing, someone one could talk to.
With toasts and exchanges, the large table of people ate heartily.
After this gathering, although the Qiu and Nan families didn't say it out loud, they were both secretly pleased.
The people were good, and the family was also good; they could be friends!
After the meal, Mom Qiu took Chu Sheng upstairs to see her workshop.
Because Chu Sheng knew Mom Qiu liked fashion, she was very curious about Mom Qiu's work and wanted to see it.
Mom Qiu was also eager to have someone to chat with about her interests, so they left as soon as they finished eating.
As for Qiu Xi, they had planned for the younger generation to chat in the courtyard and perhaps have a barbecue later.
However, before she could even go out, her master stopped her, saying they should attend to urgent matters first and go out afterward.
With no other choice, Qiu Xi had to lower her head and return to the study with her master.
The remaining people, except for her aunt and a few elders, were busy clearing the dishes.
After a short rest, everyone followed Dad Qiu to prepare for the barbecue.
After all, it was the daughter's request, so they had to work hard.
Fortunately, they had bought enough supplies to handle a barbecue and late-night snack.
While downstairs was busy eating, upstairs Qiu Xi held her breath, waiting for her master to speak.
"I've scanned this manuscript. Overall, you've made significant progress in less than a month."
When her master spoke her first sentence without scolding, Qiu Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
But she didn't dare to relax completely, because she knew that her master's key points always came later.
"Although this is a good manuscript, there are still some issues. Take a look."
"Mmm..."
As expected!
Hearing this, Qiu Xi immediately moved closer and looked earnestly.
"This is an official manuscript for the company. Business text translation is different from other types of text."
"In terms of words alone, your translation is indeed very good and accurate, but it might not be applicable."
"And these professional terms, you need to pay attention to them..."
As expected of an old hand with many years of experience, Qiu Xi saw that her master had only glanced at it, yet she had already pointed out most of her problems.
"Do you understand?"
Seeing her stunned young apprentice, Du Bin asked again, uncertainly.
Qiu Xi snapped back to attention, "Master, I understand!"
"Well, then you can look at it yourself again."
"You don't need to show me after you've revised it. Just take it over."
This wasn't her own work, so she could only use it as an opportunity to guide her apprentice. The rest would have to be explained by that kid, Xiao Su.
"Mhm, okay."
"Alright, hurry up with this. You still need to come back for classes!"
Qiu Xi said helplessly, "Okay~ Master!"
She thought about how she had indeed missed quite a few classes.
Since the start of summer, she had spent almost a month at the Shen family's house, then only a week at her master's after returning, and then she had been busy with Teacher Su. She really didn't have much time to go to her master's.
Thinking this, Qiu Xi felt that she needed to make up for lost time, as she also had the Century Cup to prepare for after school started.
Fortunately, Teacher Su's project was almost finished, and with a bit more effort, it should be completed ahead of schedule.
So, although time was short, one day earlier was still earlier.
With this thought, after her master left, Qiu Xi immediately started revising.
Following her master's instructions, Qiu Xi flipped through the materials and, holding a pen, directly revised the printed manuscript.
After more than an hour of work, she put down her pen.
Shaking her sore wrist, Qiu Xi grumbled to herself, thankfully it was finished. If she had stayed up any longer, her hands might have gone crazy before she did.
She initially thought the client's requested illustrations were the most difficult, but as she started working, Qiu Xi realized her initial assumptions were completely off!
Illustrations were a matter of practice, and she had almost finished the drawings the day after receiving the photos.
This manuscript had gone through multiple revisions on her end – first draft, second draft, third draft, and now it was the fourth draft.
If there were any more issues at school tomorrow, she might not even see the final draft even if it went through five or six drafts.
Feeling dejected, Qiu Xi carefully put away the sorted manuscript and shuffled downstairs for a break.