The people from the Yang family’s second and third branches had been taken to a location before the night banquet. While the celebration feast was being held in the Nanzhao palace, Second Master Yang and Third Master Yang anxiously stared at the tightly closed wooden door. After it opened, their fate would be decided.
Escorted by Sheng Fengze’s guards, Niu Wuniang walked gracefully to the door. She didn’t see anyone from the Yang family’s main branch. Perhaps the arrogant Yang Shi who had rejected the marriage proposal, and Yang Jingyuan’s two half-brothers, along with their legitimate nieces and nephews, had all been quietly sent here by Sheng Fengze.
“By the Prince’s order, the people inside are at Second Madam Zhao’s disposal. Once you enter this door, the Prince will have fulfilled his promise. After you leave, they will no longer be his concern. Please.” The guard signaled the soldiers to open the great door.
Niu Wuniang took a deep breath and entered. She wanted to make Yang Shi kneel before her, to destroy Yang Chenyu, Yang Jingyuan’s favorite nephew. Since he couldn’t love her, she would make him hate her more, hate her so much that he would never forget her in this lifetime.
The firelight from iron braziers cast an eerie glow on the Yang family members kneeling in the room. They were a dense crowd, every face filled with anxiety. Niu Wuniang’s brocade attire with its flowing sleeves, so different from the Nanzhao dress, greatly surprised the Yang family.
Weak coughing broke the silence. The dying Yang Siling lay on the ground, extending his frail arm to use his last strength to call out the final words of his life: “Niu Wuniang!”
He seemed to want to smile. The long journey and his unhealed leg injury had depleted his health. The last image in Yang Siling’s mind was of his eldest aunt, Yang Shi. In the spring sunlight shining into White Egret Hall, Yang Shi wore a crimson brocade robe with floral patterns and wide sleeves, sitting properly in her chair, hands folded on her lap, seriously telling the official matchmaker from the Niu family: “My third son practices celibate cultivation and cannot marry before eighteen. We dare not delay the young lady from the Governor’s family.”
He and Yang Jingyuan had hidden behind the screen, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. He had grinned mischievously at Yang Jingyuan: “A young lady from a third-rank Governor’s family isn’t good enough for you, a concubine’s son?”
Yang Jingyuan had punched him, saying: “She’s more than good enough for you, the legitimate son. Want me to tell Mother to switch it to you instead?”
What had he said then? “You reject her and try to pass her to me? I’ll marry someone of higher status and more beautiful than your wife!”
If only they could return to Yizhou, return to those times.
“Siling! Siling!” Madam Zou watched Yang Jingting’s arm go limp and fell upon him, shaking him desperately. Yang Siling gave no more response. It felt as if a piece had been carved from Madam Zou’s heart, and she burst into loud sobs.
Second Master Yang, grateful he had sent his youngest son away, saw Yang Siling breathe his last and tears streamed down his face.
“It’s all your fault! All your fault!” Madam Zou turned and lunged at Second Master Yang, crying and tearing at his clothes. “If you hadn’t schemed against the main branch to become family head, my Siling wouldn’t be dead, our family would still be fine. The White Prince spared the main branch, why couldn’t he spare us…”
So that was it! Sheng Fengze had spared the Yang family’s main branch and given her the second and third branches. What did she want with their lives? Help Yang Jingyuan eliminate those who had plotted against the main branch. Niu Wuniang was so angry she nearly coughed blood. Was this all she got for abandoning everything? Sheng Fengze had bought her father’s compliance with just a gold medallion. How shameless for a prince! What should she do? Wait for Yuyuan to come to Nanzhao and take her away. With her father dead in battle, what was there for her in Great Tang? Live in seclusion, enduring the cold looks from her mother, brothers, and sisters? No, she wouldn’t live like that. A flash of inspiration struck Niu Wuniang, and she shouted harshly: “Silence! Or I’ll order your deaths right now!”
Her voice immediately silenced the Yang family members who had been weeping for Yang Siling.
Good. Niu Wuniang said coldly: “The White Prince has given your lives to me. If you don’t want to die, tell me, what kind of brocade is Huanhua Brocade!”
She wouldn’t believe Ji Yingying’s claim that Huanhua Brocade was inferior to Linjiang Chrysanthemum Brocade. The Yang family was determined to reclaim the Brocade King title this year. The newly woven Huanhua Brocade must have something unique about it. If Ji Yingying hadn’t told her, she would find out.
“I know!” Madam Zou, heart aching from Siling’s death but driven by fear of death herself, couldn’t help but cry out.
Both branches of the Yang family showed strange expressions. Originally, Second Master Yang and Yang Shi had agreed that if they couldn’t win the Brocade King title, Yang Jingshan would give up the family headship. The main branch had kept the new competition brocade strictly secret. Despite much inquiry, people only knew its name was Huanhua Brocade, and had never seen a sample. How could Madam Zou know?
But Madam Zou asked for assurance: “If I tell you, what if you still kill us after knowing?”
Niu Wuniang smiled coldly: “Don’t tell, and die. Tell, and perhaps live.”
All eyes fell on Madam Zou. She gathered her courage and said: “The main branch’s First Madam mentioned it accidentally while viewing flowers. It’s named Huanhua Brocade because Third Madam lives by Huanhua Stream, and since she made such a great contribution, even randomly dyed silk could be woven to express the meaning of washing brocade and rinsing flowers.”
She finished and looked anxiously at Niu Wuniang.
Everyone fell silent. What did this mean? The First Madam’s words had carried spite, yet revealed the secret.
Niu Wuniang murmured: “What does ‘randomly dyed silk’ mean?”
Second Master Yang remembered: “During the worship of the Silkworm Flower Goddess, Ji-shi chose to dye raw cocoons. Everyone knows cocoons can’t be dyed before the silk is extracted and degummed into mature thread.”
No matter what it looked like, they could try copying the method and see what happened. Niu Wuniang felt relieved. Though she didn’t understand brocade weaving, she could have others make it. If Ji Yingying didn’t tell, she would suffer for it. This trip hadn’t been entirely fruitless. She turned and walked out.
Seeing her emerge, the guard smiled: “Second Madam Zhao, this humble officer will have someone escort you back to the Deputy Director’s residence.”
When the sovereign appointed Zhao Xiuyuan as Deputy Director of the Textile Bureau, he hadn’t forgotten the captured Yizhou brocade households. A street in the city was sectioned off and mansions were granted to them.
After one night, the Zhao and Yang families, who had competed for a century in Yizhou, became next-door neighbors in Nanzhao’s Taihe City. The craftspeople captured from wealthy households were also assigned to the various mansions’ jurisdiction, along with textile workshops. According to the sovereign and Du Yan’s plan, freeing them from slave status and letting them put down roots in Nanzhao was the best strategy.
The Zhao family masters had moved back into spacious courtyards thanks to Zhao Xiuyuan becoming Deputy Director. Though it couldn’t compare to their home in Yizhou Prefecture, it was worlds apart from the craftspeople living in bamboo sheds.
If she had nothing useful to Zhao Xiuyuan, she might be sent to the cattle pen tomorrow. While Zhao Xiuyuan was too busy with his new position to pay attention to her, Niu Wuniang spent just one night after returning to her Taihe mansion before having the guarding soldiers deliver a letter for her.
Since Sheng Fengze had used and discarded her, she could only turn to his enemy, Nanzhao’s Qingping Official Du Yan.