Chapter 24: The Disguised Embroidery

The crisis had been temporarily averted, but Shen Guilan knew this was no permanent solution. Relying solely on Gu Changshan’s strength would eventually prove insufficient. She needed allies.

The following morning, she gathered five women from the village—all known for their embroidery skills and all struggling to make ends meet—at the grain-drying ground near the village entrance.

"Aunts, sisters," Shen Guilan began, cutting straight to the point, "I, Shen Guilan, wish to establish an embroidery workshop specializing in 'Mountain Harvest Gift Sets.' But my own strength alone is far from enough."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over faces marked by varying degrees of doubt and anticipation.

"I hereby propose an 'Embroidery Pact': each household need only provide me with two embroidered panels per month according to my patterns, and you will not have to bear any costs. In exchange, I will pay you five catties of high-quality mountain goods each month—be it poria or Solomon’s seal—all personally procured and transported by Brother Gu Changshan."

"As for the profits, Brother Gu and I will take only thirty percent. The remaining seventy percent will be distributed entirely among the sisters who participate!"

A seventy-thirty split!

The women’s eyes lit up instantly. In their daily lives, they could toil away at embroidery until they were exhausted, only to receive a few copper coins in return. Now, they could earn tangible mountain goods and a share of the profits just by moving their needles. Where else could they find such a deal?

"Guilan, are you speaking the truth?" the wife of the Li family asked, her voice trembling with excitement.

"I, Shen Guilan, swear it in the name of my late parents!"

"Good! I’m in!"

"I’ll join too!"

In an instant, the crowd was filled with fervor.

This was more than just a livelihood; it was a source of dignity and a glimmer of hope. Under the morning sun, the Guilan Embroidery Workshop began to take shape.

The business soon found its rhythm, but Shen Guilan quickly discovered a new bottleneck: high-quality embroidery thread was exorbitantly expensive and incredibly difficult to obtain.

Late one night, Gu Changshan led her deep into the back mountains. He brushed aside a dense thicket of ferns to reveal a cluster of peculiar vines entwined around an ancient tree. Under the moonlight, these vines emitted a faint, rippling blue glow.

"This is 'Luminous Vine,'" Gu Changshan said, his voice low and firm. "It only glows at the midnight hour of a full moon, and this is the only place in the mountains where it grows. If you dry the core and twist it into thread, it possesses remarkable resilience and a natural, subtle luminescence."

Shen Guilan reached out and touched the vine; a trace of coolness greeted her fingertips. She suddenly envisioned countless possibilities, an endless array of embroidery styles never before seen. This was a treasure bestowed by the heavens! It would be the unique signature of her Guilan Embroidery Workshop!

She did not sleep that night. By the light of the moon, she used the natural "Luminous Vine" thread to embroider a piece titled "Moonlight Vines." On the black silk, the ghostly blue vines entwined around a bright, clear moon, the blue halo shimmering like a dream—a sight of breathtaking beauty.

"Moonlight Vines" became the pride of the Guilan Embroidery Workshop and a distant, whispered legend throughout Qingshui Town.

As the workshop’s fame grew, the mountain goods and transportation managed by Gu Changshan became increasingly stable. Then one day, he returned from the county seat, but instead of bringing the usual mountain goods or fabric, he handed Shen Guilan a piece of unremarkable, old burlap.

The fabric was a dull yellow, embroidered with strange, chaotic lines and symbols that seemed to hold no meaning. The stitches were crude and the composition messy, looking like a child’s doodle.

"What is this?" Shen Guilan asked, puzzled.

Gu Changshan’s expression was grave. He lowered his voice, "I found this near a pile of discarded files at the county magistrate’s office. Look at these stitches—do they not resemble the 'Dark Embroidery' technique you once mentioned, the one that was lost to time?"

Shen Guilan took the burlap. As her fingertips touched the raised lines, her heart gave a violent jolt. To others, this was merely a doodle. But to her, having immersed herself in the craft for over a decade, this was no mere stitching technique.

This was a code disguised as embroidery!

Just the night before, while researching a lost technique for double-sided variegated embroidery in an ancient text, she had happened to see a similar example. Her breathing quickened. She laid the burlap flat under the lamp and began to rapidly map the lines and symbols against the decryption methods in her memory.

A dot represented an acre, a curve represented a river, a square represented a village...

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, as she reconstructed all the symbols into a complete image in her mind, a chill surged from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head.

What she held in her hands was no embroidery pattern at all.

It was ironclad proof of the fraudulent reporting and embezzlement of tens of thousands of acres of fertile land surrounding Qingshui Town! And the mark embroidered in cinnabar-red thread on the map—the one representing the ultimate beneficiary—was the official seal of the Qingshui Town Sheriff, the very man who was the brother-in-law of Shopkeeper Qian.

Shen Guilan looked up at Gu Changshan. The calm she usually displayed was gone, replaced by a tempestuous storm of realization.