"Now can you believe me?"

Wei Rongchang countered, surprised himself. Now it seemed he had indeed wronged the old man, but the fact that the old man had driven his mother to her death was something he could never wash away, something he could never forgive for the rest of his life.

The worker just nodded and couldn't answer.

After weaving for about half an incense stick's time, Yunniang suddenly stood up and handed the wooden shuttle to the spinner who had just questioned her, saying, "You try it."

"I...I don't know how..." the spinner stammered, reluctant to take the wooden shuttle.

Yunniang smiled generously and said, "With me here, I can teach you anything you don't know."

This kind attitude quickly won everyone over. In the past, Master Chen was arrogant because of his skills and never took ordinary textile workers like them seriously. But this Fifth Aunt was not only skilled, but also kind and friendly.

Everyone in the room surrounded Yunniang, eager to learn her skills. Seeing this, Sun Miao'er felt she had repaid Yunniang's kindness, and now it was time to get back to the main topic.

Today, she had promised the village woman that she would go and buy raw silk. After saying goodbye to Wei Rongchang, she hurriedly left the workshop.

Wang Xueru waited for her at the Wei family's door, carrying a heavy money bag in her hand.

Sun Miao'er quickly went over, took her purse and hid it in her sleeve. "Be careful. We don't know anyone in this village. What will we two young girls do if we get targeted by thugs?"

"A young lady?" Wang Xueru chuckled and pointed to the large willow tree not far away. "Look, your bodyguard is here."

Sun Miao'er looked in the direction she pointed and saw her master leaning against a tree root. Noticing her gaze, he narrowed his eyes.

The man under the tree brushed the fallen willow leaves off his shoulder and walked over.

"Master, are you getting used to it?" Sun Miao'er has been so busy with the white yarn these past two days that she has no energy to spare and has naturally neglected Fu Yuchi.

Fu Yuchi carefully examined her from head to toe and asked, "Why aren't you wearing any rouge?"

Sun Miao'er felt her face flush and made an excuse, "I'm not used to applying it."

"It looks good when applied." Fu Yuchi rested one hand on his chin, his eyes playful.

Wang Xueru chimed in, "Miao'er, I knew it would look good with it on!"

"Let's get down to business first."

Sun Miao'er didn't know if the two of them were doing it on purpose or not, but recently they had been making fun of her all the time. Unfortunately, she was outnumbered and outmatched.

Upon receiving the raw silk ordered the day before, the woman took the money bag, which was full of gleaming silver. She couldn't stop smiling and insisted that they sit down and have a cup of tea before leaving. However, they declined, thinking that they still had things to do.

Sun Miao'er held a pound of raw silk, never feeling it was so heavy before; it was truly precious.

"Xue Ru, have you ever heard of Zhe Kui?" Sun Miao'er asked casually. She had never even met him, and only knew his name.

Wang Xueru shook her head. "What is ochre? Is it edible?"

"Now that we have raw silk and have found Yunniang who can weave white silk fabric, all we need is dye. We can't do without either. Ochre is what we use to make dye."

Sun Miao'er was preoccupied with her thoughts and quickened her pace, leaving Fu Yuchi behind. He didn't hear what she said clearly.

He only heard the name Zhe Kui. He knew she had been very busy these past few days, and he tried not to bother her unless she needed him.

Back at the Wei family home, the servants told them that Fifth Aunt had been the talk of the town in the workshop that day, leaving the workers dumbfounded, some even wishing they could become her apprentices on the spot.

After much deliberation, Sun Miao'er asked Wei Jingnian to lead her to the Wei family's study.

The house contains at least several thousand books, if not tens of thousands. After all, it's a hobby passed down from my ancestors. Although none of them ever became Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), they certainly put a lot of effort into their book collection.

The books in the study were neatly arranged according to their categories. Sun Miao'er thought that since ochre was a plant, and most plants could be used as medicine, she wanted to start with medical books. However, there were more than ten books on the shelf that introduced herbal medicine.

How long will it take to flip through this?

Just thinking about it made her brain feel tired, but she still gritted her teeth and picked up a book to start flipping through.

I flipped through the pages from noon until night, but I still couldn't find the two characters "Zhe Kui". My eyes were sore and trembling, after all, reading by oil lamp is very harmful to the eyes.

"Never mind, let's come again tomorrow."

Sun Miao'er closed the book. If she had known that this knowledge would be so useful now, she should have learned more skills before, instead of cramming at the last minute. In the past, the heroines in novels were reborn with golden fingers, but she only had a superficial understanding and had to figure everything out on her own.

If I hadn't experienced so much in the past and seen so much of the world, I'd probably be somewhere making clay by now.

The wind was strong at night, and she was dressed in thin clothes, shivering all the way back to the west wing. The lights in Wang Xueru's room were all off, so it seemed that she had gone to bed early.

From afar, she saw a person sitting on a stone bench under the moon.

Upon closer inspection, it was Fu Yuchi.

Sun Miao'er rubbed her sore eyes, instantly becoming more alert. "Master came to see me?"

"Yes," he replied, his lips white from the cold wind, his back ramrod straight.

Sun Miao'er's gaze swept across the stone table, where three stewing pots were placed. She blurted out, "Master, what is the meaning of this?"

"Did you ask Zhe Kui today?" Fu Yuchi's eyes darted around, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her.

Sun Miao'er nodded. She had mentioned it casually to Wang Xueru, but what did it have to do with the three stew pots?

Fu Yuchi was silent for a moment, then said, "Zhe Kui is not effective. These three are all formulated by me based on ancient prescriptions, and they are better than that one."

Upon hearing this, Sun Miao'er immediately reached out and opened the stewing pot. Inside were red date and red bean paste, and two other pots containing dark-colored herbs. She couldn't understand why they had sent her these things out of the blue. "Master, ochre is used for dyeing!"

Fu Yuchi's expression froze for a moment, then he forced himself to remain calm and explained, "Ochre is used as a herbal medicine to treat menstrual irregularities in women. I did not know that it could also be used as a dye."

Sun Miao'er was also stunned. It turned out that her master had misunderstood. "Master, I didn't explain it clearly."

She said this on purpose, afraid of embarrassing him.

But it would have been better if she hadn't said anything. Now that she had, she seemed to see Fu Yuchi blush for a moment, but the night was too dark and the moonlight wasn't bright enough for her to see clearly.

"Since it's from Master's heart, it must be the best thing. I'll try it now."

Fearing the atmosphere would remain awkward, Sun Miao'er picked up the stew pot and took a bite.

"I added extra licorice for you, so it won't be bitter this time," Fu Yuchi said.

The warmth melted in her mouth, instantly warming her body and dispelling the chill. The warmth made her brows and eyes relax, and she exhaled a breath of hot air, saying, "Delicious."

"You can drink it anytime to nourish your body."

Fu Yuchi's palm ached slightly. He was quite skilled at brewing medicine, but that bowl of red bean soup had truly taken a lot of effort. Not only had he burned several pots, but he'd also burned a blister on his palm before finally achieving the barely passable result before.