Chapter 233 The Master

Seeing that Xie Qi was interested, Shen Yuanzhu also wanted to introduce them to him, so she pointed them out one by one.

"The one with the big belly is the leader of the Songjiang Prefecture Cloth Merchants Association. If you want to purchase a large quantity of Songjiang cotton cloth, just look for him."

"I haven't seen the person next to him before, but I suspect he's probably from the Huzhou Chamber of Commerce. And the others behind him are..."

Xie Qi was surprised: "You know them all?"

Shen Yuanzhu was silent for a moment: "I've met you before when I was with Shen Yanhuai."

Xie Qi nodded, not finding anything wrong with it.

He then said, "You've put a lot of thought into this, inviting people from the other merchant guilds. Who knows, after the dyeing competition, the winning company might make a fortune..."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuanzhu's eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice.

Seeing how adorable she was, Xie Qi couldn't help but squeeze her hand and tease her, "It's not your shop, why are you so happy?"

Shen Yuanzhu glared at him: "You don't understand."

Xie Qi snorted softly, finding her appearance increasingly alluring.

He reached out and tapped Shen Yuanzhu's palm, muttering, "Happy now? Maybe your dream will come true."

Shen Yuanzhu didn't hear what he said.

She was quite puzzled when two men who looked like scholars walked in at the back of the group.

"These two are... I've never seen them before."

Xie Qi looked up, glanced at him, and laughed, "It's normal that you don't recognize the poor, pedantic scholars in Suzhou."

"A poor, pedantic scholar? Why is a scholar among the judges of this dyeing competition?"

She had been puzzled when she looked at the list of evaluators that day, as she didn't know what two of the people on it did.

Upon seeing this, he couldn't help but ask.

Xie Qi smiled and said, "I'm the one who found you."

"You're the one I'm looking for?"

"Um."

Xie Qi said, "Do you still remember when I sold faded red silk?"

"Remember."

Xie Qi was able to sell all of the Xie family's faded red silk at that time because he found some literati and poets who described the red silk as something that existed in heaven and earth.

It was also given an extremely elegant name.

It fades with each wash, just like a beauty removing her makeup.

Not only that, it was accompanied by a sentimental poem, which is still circulating in the streets and alleys to this day...

It is said that those 'rouge cloths' were so sought after by wealthy young ladies that the price of a single bolt is now more than ten times what it used to be.

Shen Yuanzhu glanced at Xie Qi and laughed helplessly.

Xie Qi said, "Don't underestimate your husband. With these two people, they can come up with many things that we can't even imagine, such as the vitality of heaven and earth, artistic conception, and so on."

"With their words, even a shroud can be transformed into a golden robe."

"..."

Xie Qi always plans three steps ahead before taking any action, and he always has a backup plan.

Even if he fails to win the championship this time, or even falls out of the top three, he will still make sure these two people promote Jixia Manor.

The dyeing formula he presented this time became the most famous thing in the streets and alleys.

He will not let go of either fame or fortune.

After Xie Qi finished speaking, he calmly looked at the two people on the stage.

While the couple were whispering to each other, Yuanxu had already summoned all the merchants to the venue.

Shen Yuanzhu then saw representatives from various businesses take out racks from under the long table, hang their own fabrics on them, and place the raw materials they needed beside them.

The first round of screening focuses on the most basic dyeing solution raw materials.

Some raw materials, when mixed into dye solution, have a pungent smell; such inferior materials will be screened out in this round.

Shen Yuanzhu then saw two officials from the Textile and Dyeing Bureau wearing silk gloves slowly walking down.

Even though she knew the ingredients used by Xiecuifang perfectly, she couldn't help but feel nervous when she saw this scene.

The magistrate Liang said something, and the bailiff beside him shouted repeatedly in a deep voice, "Jinyunfang in Suzhou Prefecture, prohibited items, are eliminated."

"Items prohibited from use by the Yuan family cloth workshop in Songjiang Prefecture are being phased out..."

"Suzhou Prefecture..."

Soon after, Shen Yuanzhu saw people being eliminated one after another, and she couldn't help but clench her palms to relieve the tension.

When Lord Liang walked up to the long table in Xiecuifang, he couldn't help but straighten his back.

Fortunately, Lord Liang only stayed for a moment before leaving silently, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When the group reached Yun Zheng, Shen Yuanzhu couldn't help but lean forward again.

Ideally, that unlucky thing should be eliminated in this round.

Xie Qi glanced at Lord Liang's figure, but didn't pay much attention to it.

His gaze swept across the room, and when he saw the cloth hanging on the table in Xiecuifang, he raised an eyebrow slightly.

The cloth was lapis lazuli with indistinct dark patterns, hanging there without any particular distinguishing features; it was neither bright nor eye-catching.

Xie Qi frowned slightly, wondering what was going on with this Cui Cui Fang.

Shen Yuanzhu did see the materials from Jixia Manor, but unfortunately she was standing too far away to see the inside clearly, so she had to give up.

Upon seeing Yun Zheng pass the preliminary selection, he became even less interested.

But when she saw Shen Yanhuai, her heart skipped a beat.

“Shen Yanhuai…”

"What's wrong?"

Xie Qi asked aloud, following her gaze to find Shen Yanhuai.

"Tsk, this piece of cloth of his is quite interesting."

The fabric in front of Shen Yanhuai was dark blue, but it was covered with fine cracks like shattered porcelain shards.

The cracks are whitish, like ice breaking on a lake at night, giving off a cool and refreshing feeling.

Moreover, the crack pattern is natural and simple, and it is immediately obvious that it is dyed in one piece, which can be mass-produced.

Shen Yuanzhu looked at it and pursed her lips slightly.

She was confident in her scale-pattern dyeing technique, but the drawbacks of scale-pattern dyeing were also quite obvious.

This thing cannot be mass-produced.

If it could be used as tribute, that would be fine; if not, given the cost and complex process of scale-patterned dyeing, it could only be used as a shop signboard and then shelved.

Thinking of this, Shen Yuanzhu bit her lip, feeling somewhat annoyed.

She could almost see lots of plump silver coins flying out of her pocket with a whoosh.

Unable to resist glancing wistfully at the two scholars on the stage, Shen Yuanzhu placed her hand on her heart.

At that moment, even breathing hurt her.

Noticing her discomfort, Xie Qi pulled her into his arms: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing..."

Shen Yuanzhu spoke weakly. The two of them were being all lovey-dovey in the audience. Yuan Xu, who was sitting in the highest position, saw their actions clearly.

Yuan Xu looked at it, clicked his tongue, and shook his head.

Bored out of his mind, he picked up a notebook and opened it.

This document contains a list of participating businesses. Yuan Xu was flipping through it when he suddenly stopped.

He frowned as he stared at the words on the page, as if afraid his eyes were playing tricks on him. He flipped forward two more pages, looked at them, and then flipped back.

After checking several times, he realized that he had not misread it.

The name of the owner of Xiecuifang written here is not Luo Qing, but...

Yuan Xu lowered the note, revealing his view.

He glanced at the affectionate young couple below the stage, then picked up the journal again for another look.

After repeating this several times, he finally couldn't help but chuckle.

Hmm, this is interesting.