Two young men stood simultaneously at the windows of two opposite side chambers. One wore blue brocade with woven patterns and a gold mesh crown, bending to support his white-haired elderly father as they prepared to leave. The other, dressed in a silver-red brocade robe, stood tall with his hands resting on the windowsill as he looked across.
Fifth Lady Niu felt Zhao Xiuyuan’s gaze. She turned her head slightly to return his look.
Her flowing sleeves outlined her graceful figure, as elegant as a lotus flower. Though he couldn’t see her features clearly, Zhao Xiuyuan could sense the refined nobility in her bearing.
For no apparent reason, he felt that this gauze-veiled young lady from the Niu family was his betrothed. No, he didn’t like her lofty manner. Suddenly, Ji Yingying’s face flashed through his mind. Where was Yingying? Only then did Zhao Xiuyuan awaken from his excitement over winning the Brocade King title and remember Ji Yingying.
Zhao Xiuyuan shifted his gaze, hurriedly scanning the open hall and scattered seats below. He couldn’t find the Ji siblings. Hadn’t she been taken away by Third Young Master Yang? Had they not come to watch the brocade competition? No, that couldn’t be. She must have come. Had she seen that Brocade win the Brocade King title? How he wished her voice had been among the cheering crowd below.
“Yingying… you’ll never see me again, will you?” He called out her name involuntarily. Reason told him she would never again look at him with that admiring, joyful gaze as before. She would never again jump up happily and praise him: “Brother Xiuyuan, you’re the best!”
This time, he had truly lost her forever. This realization made Zhao Xiuyuan’s face turn pale, and he became dazed.
Before winning the Brocade King title, his heart had been consumed by those two words. After winning it, his heart was filled with Ji Yingying’s image.
He had to find her. He needed to tell her that this brocade won the Brocade King title thanks to her contribution. Every time she heard that her color combinations had enhanced his brocade, she had been overwhelmed with joy. This time they had won the Brocade King title; surely she would be happy again.
Driven by this thought, Zhao Xiuyuan turned to leave.
“Second Son, where are you going?”
Elder Master Zhao’s soft question was like a bucket of cold water awakening Zhao Xiuyuan. He stopped in his tracks. Ji Yingying’s three sentences echoed in his ears again. With each sentence she had spoken, she had moved further away from him. The cheering continued downstairs, with long strings of firecrackers crackling continuously. The Military Commissioner personally draped the red silk over the Riverside Immortal Chrysanthemum brocade. Zhao Xiuyuan suddenly returned to the state he was in when the announcer declared the Brocade King. The surrounding sounds gradually faded away. His mood was like an empty wine cup.
“I must find her!” No one could double his joy except Ji Yingying.
Elder Master Zhao walked before him, his cold gaze preventing Zhao Xiuyuan from speaking further. Elder Master Zhao said flatly, “One seeks a worthy wife. The Zhao family competed for over twenty years and finally reclaimed the Brocade King title from the Yang family. Winning once is easy, but maintaining it for a lifetime is difficult. Second Son, you must learn restraint and composure. You will be the future head of the family; you need the support of your wife’s family. Even if you don’t marry the Niu young lady, like your elder brother, your wife cannot be from a small dye house family.”
Zhao Xiuyuan trembled: “Grandfather, you promised me back then.”
Elder Master Zhao needed no pretense: “Grandfather only feared you would lose focus and ruin the brocade competition! Second Miss Ji has talent, which can be used.”
Ji Yingying was too insignificant; they could use her talent without marrying her.
“Tonight’s banquet at Scattered Flowers Tower will mark the rise of our Zhao family’s reputation. Vice Commander Niu will introduce you to the Military Commissioner, and I will announce that you are the Zhao family’s future head.” Elder Master Zhao smiled gently and continued, “If you don’t attend, it means you’re giving up. I will find a way to compensate the Niu family.”
Elder Master Zhao finished speaking and led the Zhao family members out of the side chamber.
That day at Pine Wave Court, he had already understood he had no choice. Zhao Xiuyuan watched Fifth Lady Niu gracefully depart across the way, then turned to follow Elder Master Zhao.
…
The brocade competition ended with the Zhao family claiming the new Brocade King title. The celebrations continued. The Riverside Immortal Chrysanthemum brocade, decorated with red silk, was carried by porters hired by the guild, accompanied by gongs and drums, in a lively procession to Scattered Flowers Tower.
Li Bai’s poem “Ascending Scattered Flowers Tower in Brocade City” contained these lines: “Sunlight bathes the city’s crown, Morning light graces Scattered Flowers Tower. Golden windows frame embroidered doors, Pearl curtains hang from silver hooks. Flying stairs midst green clouds, Far views disperse my worries. Evening rain towards Three Gorges, Spring River encircles Twin Streams. Today I ascend to gaze, As if touring the Nine Heavens.”
Scattered Flowers Tower was one of the four famous towers of Yizhou City. Legend said it was where celestial maidens scattered flowers. It stood in gardens where two rivers met. The tower was surrounded by green trees and abundant flowers. The garden’s beauty could rival Chang’an’s Upper Forest Garden.
Every year after the brocade competition, the Brocade Guild would reserve Scattered Flowers Tower for a banquet. As lanterns began to light, music from silk and bamboo instruments rose from the tower. For the first time in over twenty years, the Zhao family became the banquet’s focus.
Although Elder Master Yang had advised his family to be gracious about losing the Brocade King title, the Yang family members all felt unsettled. This feeling of stepping into emptiness from a high place was difficult to explain to outsiders.
At the central table, the guild leader and new Brocade King family head Zhao Binsong sat at the end, accompanying Administrator Sang, the Prefecture Chief, Vice Commander Niu, and the Military Commissioner.
Elder Master Yang and Elder Master Zhao shared a table with the distinguished scholars and elders who had served as judges today.
Yang Jingshan was the Yang family’s current head; for the first time in many years, he had to move from the main table to sit with the other brocade-making families. No matter how uncomfortable he felt, he could only force a smile.
Having lost the Brocade King title, the Yang family still had to maintain an appearance of magnanimity. All male members of the Yang family’s three main branches were present, except for the grandson’s generation. Although Yang Jingyuan was an illegitimate son, he was still the son of the main branch that managed the family. He sat at the same table as his second brother Yang Jingyan, directly across from Zhao Xiuyuan.
The table was divided. Half were Zhao family members, half were Yang family sons.
Zhao family’s eldest son Zhao Xiucheng had a mild temperament and couldn’t speak sarcastic or mocking words. Zhao Xiuyuan felt the chrysanthemum brocade displayed in the main hall was enough to make the Yang family uncomfortable; there was no need for additional boasting. The other Zhao family members were still young, and with both elder brothers silent, they too kept quiet.
Forcing the Yang family sons to offer smiling congratulations would be too much to ask. From the moment they sat down, the table was filled with a strange silence.
Yang Jingyuan and Zhao Xiuyuan’s gazes clashed silently in the air. Zhao Xiuyuan hated his familiarity and entanglement with Ji Yingying. Yang Jingyuan despised Zhao Xiuyuan’s ingratitude towards Ji Yingying. The two men stared at each other directly, like two lions fighting over territory.
Yang Jingyuan felt the brocade handkerchief in his chest growing hotter; he had to speak: “Second Young Master Zhao, I heard this chrysanthemum brocade was woven by your own hands. The concept is ingenious as if using the chrysanthemum to represent a person, depicting a beauty by the water, about to ascend. Its triumph lies in the extremely clever color combinations, using light and shadow variations to bring the picture to life. If Second Young Master Zhao had conceived such excellent color combinations earlier, the Brocade King title could have been carried back to the Zhao family last year. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Last year, the Yang family had merely woven a vivid Tiger Descending the Mountain scene and won the Brocade King title. Unlike this year, when they had a new brocade yet lost to the Zhao family.
Zhao Xiuyuan’s expression immediately turned strange. Yang Jingyuan’s words carried hidden meaning—had Ji Yingying told him about the color combinations? Was she taking revenge for his betrayal of their engagement? Though she claimed not to blame him, she must hate him deeply in her heart. Yingying, how cruel! You let the Yang family question whether the Zhao family truly could win the Brocade King title.
He smiled, his pupils slightly contracting, and said word by word: “Third Young Master Yang, do you understand brocade weaving?”
A bastard son could never inherit the family’s brocade-weaving techniques. Never grasp the key secrets of weaving. You, Third Young Master Yang, are nothing but a waste raised by the Yang family!
Like dry tinder meeting flames, it only needed a spark.