But things had come to this point, so she could only brace herself, roll up her sleeves, and start directing.
“Da Chun, watch the fire! Keep it low, just small bubbles!”
“A Man, you stir! Keep it steady, don’t stop!”
“Xiao Ya, you… you stand back, don’t get splashed.”
With the orders given, the dye workshop immediately descended into chaos.
Da Chun crouched in front of the stove, eyes wide as he stared at the flames, so nervous that sweat beaded on his forehead.
Afraid the heat might be wrong, he carefully added firewood. But his hand trembled, and he stuffed in too much. The fire in the stove flared up with a whoosh, instantly sending a scorched smell from the bottom of the pot, followed by billows of black smoke.
“Cough, cough… S-sorry, Boss!” Da Chun, choked by the smoke and tears streaming, scrambled to pull the firewood out.
A Man, suppressing a laugh, picked up a long wooden stick and began stirring the increasingly viscous dye in the pot.
She started cautiously, but the dye seemed to have a temper. As soon as the stick stirred, it let out a plop, splashing a large glob of thick paste that landed squarely on the front of her new apricot-colored dress, spreading into a huge stain.
“Ah! My dress!” A Man shrieked, stomping her foot in anger. She stirred even harder with the stick, as if wrestling with the dye in the vat, wishing she could stir it until the sun and moon lost their light.
Pei Yanshu, meanwhile, stood leisurely by the doorway where the ventilation was relatively better, arms crossed, grandly calling it “overseeing the overall situation and providing theoretical guidance.”
He pointed his fan urgently at the dye vat. “Quick, quick, quick! Now add the ground lime powder! Yes, that white sack in the corner!”
Hearing this, Da Chun grabbed the lime sack and, without looking, dumped it in with a whoosh.
As the powder hit the water, the dye vat immediately began bubbling with dense, suspicious white foam that rapidly expanded, threatening to overflow.
Pei Yanshu stroked his chin, his brow furrowing slightly, his tone turning hesitant. “Hmm, no… this reaction… seems a bit too much… the color doesn’t look quite right…”
Seeing that a pot of hard work might be ruined, he snapped his fan shut with a crack and pointed at A Man. “Quick! A Man, don’t just stand there! Go to the vinegar shop next door and bring back Boss Zhang’s whole jar of his prized aged vinegar! Hurry, try mixing it in!”
Seeing the dye vat that seemed about to explode, A Man forgot her heartache over the dress. She dropped the stick and rushed out.
Shen Nianyi watched this farcical scene, feeling a vein throbbing at her temple.
She began to seriously doubt whether following Pei Yanshu’s wild ideas was the worst decision she had ever made in her life. Could this pot of stuff really dye any cloth?
Fortunately, A Man was fast on her feet. In no time, she rushed back carrying a heavy vinegar jar.
“Quick! Pour it in!” Pei Yanshu commanded.
A Man didn’t have time to think. She tore off the seal, held her breath, and poured the aged vinegar—whose sour smell could knock out an ox—glug, glug, glug all at once into the churning dye vat.
Strangely enough, the foam that had nearly overflowed, after the aged vinegar was poured in, quickly subsided like a tamed beast, leaving only fine bubbles on the surface and an even more complex, indescribable smell.
The color of the liquid in the dye vat also seemed to settle, no longer so murky, presenting a… hard-to-describe deep ochre.
Seeing this, Pei Yanshu finally breathed a sigh of relief and pointed with his fan at the stack of trimmed white silk samples that Xiao Ya had been holding all along.
“Come on, Xiao Ya,” he said, his voice regaining its previous composure. “Put this in.”
Xiao Ya glanced at Shen Nianyi, and after receiving her expression of “resigning to fate,” carefully dipped a piece of white silk into the dye solution, whose outcome remained unknown.
The wait felt exceptionally long.
Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on the piece of silk floating and sinking in the dye.
“Can this thing… really dye anything?” Da Chun couldn’t help but mutter quietly, nudging A Man beside him with his elbow.
A Man nervously clutched the hem of her clothes, which was still stained with dye from earlier splashes. “I doubt it… With this pot of stuff that looks like spoiled slop, it’d be a miracle if it could dye fabric…”
Even Shen Nianyi couldn’t help leaning forward slightly, her gaze locked intently.
Finally, it was time to retrieve it. Xiao Ya used long bamboo chopsticks to lift the fabric. As it emerged from the dye vat, it appeared a dirty, murky brownish color, causing everyone’s hearts to sink.
“See! I told you…” A Man’s sarcastic remark had just begun.
Xiao Ya started following Shen Nianyi’s instructions, placing the fabric into a nearby bucket of clear water to rinse it. Murky water swirled and spread, and as Xiao Ya rinsed it again and again, the color of the fabric miraculously began to transform…
When the final piece of white silk was lifted from the clear water, gently wrung out, and unfolded by Xiao Ya before everyone, silence fell over them all.
The fabric displayed a color none of them had ever seen before—it wasn’t the usual red but a primary hue somewhere between ochre and dark crimson. It resembled amber buried deep underground for years or the last intense glow of the sunset as it sank into the earth.
Even more wondrous was that, over this base color, there were naturally distributed mottled textures of varying depths. And under the sunlight filtering through the window lattice, the entire piece of fabric faintly shimmered with a delicate, warm golden-brown luster, as if unmelted gold dust had been sprinkled over satin—ancient, gentle, and radiantly understated.
The wooden stick in A Man’s hand clattered to the ground as she murmured, “This… this doesn’t seem… like dog shit yellow…”
Da Chun’s mouth hung open, and he even forgot to wipe the coal dust from his face. “This color… is strangely beautiful! It looks like the tea infusion from an aged tea cake, or like… like…”
Pei Yanshu stepped forward, gently lifted a corner of the fabric, and examined it carefully against the light, a satisfied expression on his face. He cleared his throat and began speaking with an air of seriousness, though his words were pure nonsense.
“This is Buddha’s Hand Gold!”
He paused briefly, seemingly enjoying the stunned expressions on everyone’s faces at the name, then continued with an earnest explanation.
“It appears low-key and unadorned, yet it conceals brilliance within. Its color is as warm and smooth as jade, with golden light hidden inside. It represents the highest state of seeing through worldly glamour and returning to simplicity! Perfectly in line with the Zen meaning of the Buddha’s subtle smile while holding a flower!”
His far-fetched explanation, paired with his earnest expression, left everyone who had just been immersed in awe feeling both amused and exasperated.
As for Shen Nianyi, she was completely lost in another emotion.
She stared blankly at the unique fabric flowing with golden-brown luster under the sunlight, her mind utterly empty.
This… this actually worked?
Using those moldy madder roots, assorted tree barks and minerals, and that jar of emergency-aged vinegar?
She had devoted years of painstaking research, strictly adhering to the formulas and techniques passed down by her father, not daring to deviate in the slightest. And now, she was actually… actually outdone by this person’s seemingly chaotic hodgepodge in a single pot?
“Excellent! We’re saved now! We don’t have to pay compensation!” A Man was the first to cheer, excitedly grabbing Da Chun’s arm and shaking it.
Da Chun also grinned broadly, revealing two rows of white teeth: “Young Master Pei! You’re truly amazing!”
Even Xiao Ya couldn’t help clapping, her face showing undisguised admiration.
Amidst the cheers, Pei Yanshu still maintained that profound and inscrutable leisurely demeanor, as if all this had long been within his expectations. He even leisurely fanned himself with his folding fan.
Shen Nianyi looked at him like this and couldn’t help speaking up, her tone carrying a probing note and an acidity she herself hadn’t noticed: “You… was this just a coincidence, or…”
Pei Yanshu stopped fanning, raised an eyebrow at her, and a teasing curve lifted the corner of his mouth: “Manager Shen, you don’t understand this. This is beginner’s luck, heaven lending a hand. To put it simply, commonly known as—the beginner’s protection period.”
He paused, took a step closer, lowered his voice to a volume only the two of them could hear, and said: “Perhaps seeing that I’m pleasing to the eye, and it’s my first time dyeing cloth for you, they specially gave me an opening bonus.”
After saying this, without waiting for Shen Nianyi’s reaction, he suddenly turned, pointed his fan at the dye vat that was still faintly steaming, and raised his voice with a sense of urgency:
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! What are you still standing around for? Da Chun, keep the fire going! A Man, prepare the white silk! Xiao Ya, go to the storeroom and fetch a few more bolts of plain brocade! Opportunities are fleeting. This Buddha’s Hand Gold is incredibly marvelous. Once this chance is gone, it’s gone. While my beginner’s protection period hasn’t expired yet, let’s dye as many bolts as we can!”
Seeing everyone still looked a bit dazed, he snapped his fan shut with a “pa” and declared decisively: “Listen up! This Buddha’s Hand Gold will be a limited release from our Cloud Silk Atelier! Scarcity increases value. In the future, anyone who wants to buy it will depend on fate, and also on our Manager Shen’s mood!”
These words were like a thunderclap, instantly awakening everyone who was still immersed in joy.
A Man and Xiao Ya jumped up and rushed toward the storeroom. Da Chun scrambled to stuff firewood into the stove.
Shen Nianyi watched as he mobilized everyone’s energy with just a few words, and had even already planned the limited-edition gimmick for this new color.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to call him reckless or admire his sharp… shrewd merchant mind.
In the blink of an eye, the delivery day arrived, and a wave of tension filled the Cloud Silk Atelier.
A Man stood on tiptoe peering toward the entrance, the cleaning cloth in her hands nearly twisted into a knot. Da Chun stood by the door like a door god, stretching his neck to look outside from time to time. Xiao Ya also fidgeted restlessly, frequently glancing toward the direction leading to the backyard.
“Manager! Manager!” A Man caught sight of that slender figure surrounded by maids and matrons appearing at the street corner and yelled at the top of her lungs toward the backyard, “Quick, quick, quick! Miss Li is here! She’s brought several people with her!”
Da Chun added in a flustered manner: “Her expression doesn’t look too good!”
Shen Nianyi picked up the bolt of Buddha’s Hand Gold carefully wrapped in plain brocade, walked steadily out from the backyard, and came to the front shop.
Almost as soon as she had taken her position, Miss Li stepped over the threshold with her attendants. Today, she wore a goose-yellow ruqun dress, her hair elegantly swept up into a high bun adorned with a gold and kingfisher-feather hairpin. Her makeup was exquisite, yet the impatience clouding her brow marred the delicate beauty of her carefully crafted appearance.
“Manager Shen,” she said coldly, “is my Rouge Crimson wedding fabric ready?”
Shen Nianyi’s heart tightened. She bowed slightly and gently placed the wrapped bundle on the counter, steadily untying the ribbon.
“Miss Li, there has been an unexpected issue. The Rouge Crimson you ordered… is temporarily unavailable. However, our shop has prepared another unique fabric for you, called Buddha’s Hand Gold. Please take a look.”
As the silk unfurled, Miss Li’s brows immediately furrowed. “What… what color is this?” she asked, her dissatisfaction nearly overflowing. “I wanted a proper red! This yellowish, reddish-brown…”
Yet, at that very moment, a beam of morning light streamed through the window lattice and fell upon the silk.
Upon its originally subdued base color, a delicate and warm golden-red luster instantly shimmered, while the mottled texture appeared exceptionally deep and captivating under the light.