Chapter 104 (End of Chapter 104)

The show, featuring light gauze, was scheduled for February 15th, the Flower Festival.

During the annual Flower Festival, in addition to hanging red cloth, ribbons, and red threads on tree branches, worshipping the Flower Goddess, appreciating flowers, and chasing butterflies, the Song people would also plant various flowers by hand on this day, hoping that the flowers would bloom in succession before the new year.

Lin Xiushui didn't like growing flowers; she only liked growing fabric.

However, her achievements in clothing last year included lotus-themed garments, full-pond-like beauties, double-sided swirling skirts, and various derivatives of butterfly-and-flower designs, as well as miscellaneous clothing and light gauze. Both butterflies and flowers are associated with the Flower Goddess, so the festival was naturally set for the Flower Festival.

Beiwazi attached great importance to Sheng Qingsha. Half a month before the opening, flags, notices, billboards, and backrests were already posted on the pillars and blue brick walls in front of all the brothels, indicating that the peony pavilion would be a special performance for Sheng Qingsha on February 15th.

A ticket to enter the peony shed cost 500 coins, and Beiwazi sold more than 600 tickets on the same day. The vast majority of the buyers were women, who were very willing to support Lin Xiushui.

On the day of the Flower Festival, many women, dressed in red, wearing crowns, or in new clothes, went to Beiwazi.

The performance of Sheng Qingsha was in the afternoon. They arrived early, waiting anxiously and excitedly, until Lin Xiushui, wearing a red ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), walked onto the high stage.

She faced the audience, bathed in the bright sunlight, and spoke with a strong and clear voice, “Thank you all so much for coming to our Sheng Qing Sha fashion show.”

"There are still two hours before the show starts. It's not easy for everyone to come all this way, and we don't want to wait here empty-handed."

"How about I be the game master today and we play a game of Passing the Flower?"

The Flower Festival has a long-standing tradition of playing flower-themed games, which are actually a type of drinking game. The game involves an official holding a flower branch while another person beats a drum or taps a bottle with chopsticks. Once the sounds stop, the person holding the flower branch is either penalized with a drink or has to compose a poem.

It had little to do with women. Many people present reflected on their lives and realized they had never drunk alcohol, could not write poetry, let alone play games like the "passing the flower" game.

Immediately, a woman in a green silk skirt stood up and said, "How do you want to play? I don't drink alcohol, I'm not very literate, and I can't write poetry."

After she finished speaking, many voices echoed her. Lin Xiushui slowly walked down the steps with a bunch of apricot blossoms in her hand. The seats in the viewing pavilion of Beiwazi were arranged at different heights and were made up of many hollow buildings that were connected in a winding manner. After walking a few steps, she smiled and said, "Who said we were going to drink?"

"We don't follow that kind of poetry stuff."

"If you're going to play, play something different."

Behind her, on a wooden platform, people carried up clusters of real or lifelike flowers, including peach blossoms, peonies, plum blossoms, crabapples, and pomegranates, which respectively represent peach red, peony red, rose red, crabapple red, and pomegranate red.

But Lin Xiushui, holding a handful of blooming apricot blossoms, is also the flower goddess of February.

"Our game of passing the flower is also called the 'Retreat Red Game'."

The Flower Festival only involves appreciating and hanging red decorations; the phrase "returning red decorations" is never mentioned. Everyone whispers and murmurs among themselves, not understanding Lin Xiushui's meaning.

Lin Xiushui explained to everyone with a smile that the red dye is usually made from madder. After dyeing the hair, another red dye, sappanwood, is needed, along with alum, to remove some of the red, leaving a light pink color similar to that after sedimentation. This is also known as Fuken Red or Buken Red.

Faded red was popular in the Tang Dynasty, but it was not so popular in the Song Dynasty. Pomegranate red was more popular.

Lin Xiushui said, "Removing red from fabric is called 'fading red,' while in a painting, it's called 'leaving blank space.'"

Those familiar with poetry and literature quickly understood her meaning: what is meant by "retiring from the red stage"? There is a poem that says, "The flowers have faded, leaving only small green apricots."

Even those who don't understand can pass the flower game from Lin Xiushui, starting with the darkest pomegranate flower, then peony, crabapple, plum blossom, down to the lightest peach pink, and finally leaving the apricot white.

Because the Shengqingsha is white, and the Flower Festival happens to be the second month of the lunar calendar, the process of gradually fading the red and leaving only white also serves as a warm-up for the opening of the Shengqingsha performance.

It's a new beginning, and Xing is happy and new.

This time, the seating was specially arranged according to age, with the older people sitting in the front and the younger people sitting in the back. The flower-passing game was also passed from the youngest, most vibrant young lady to the next.

There are a total of five or six hundred flowers. To the melodious and gentle sound of drums, each woman completes a process of fading the red and leaving blank spaces.

In the end, these apricot blossoms were left for the women who were no longer young, and also for the old tailors at the front. Lin Xiushui gave the apricot blossom in her hand to the tailor Jin and Wang Yuelan.

The tailor, Jin, held back her tears and said, "The phoenix chicks sing louder than the old phoenixes along the long road to Dan Mountain, where the tung blossoms bloom."

This is the best wish that the tailor has for Lin Xiushui.

Wang Yuelan let her tears flow freely, smearing them all over her face, and then tied apricot blossoms one by one into Lin Xiushui's hair.

She choked up as she said, "The student surpasses the teacher."

It is also a case of the student surpassing the student.

She will always feel fortunate and proud of everything Lin Xiushui has achieved along the way.

Lin Xiushui hugged her and passed the flowers to Xiao He.

In this special passing-the-flower opening, the red flower faded and the white flower was replaced, finally giving way to the light gauze flower.

Everyone was intently focused on the stage; no one was looking at the faces on stage, their eyes were fixed on each figure that walked out from behind the stage in the long corridor.

In the afternoon, when the sunlight was at its strongest, the light could clearly illuminate the texture of the clothes.

The first dress worn was a very fashionable pomegranate red dress, but this time the color was even richer, like the vibrant red of a pomegranate flower in full bloom. When the wind blew the red gauze dress, it looked like a flower on a branch.

The entire outfit didn't have any particularly special decorations, but in the blink of an eye, everyone exclaimed in surprise. The first woman held the long red shawl hanging from her arm in her hand and threw it into the air. In February, the wind never stopped blowing, and the long red shawl floated into the air and was slowly blown further away by the wind.

“I understand,” someone said, looking up at the drifting red veil. “This is lightness.”

It is lighter than a light gauze.

There was no strong wind today. Even though a gust of wind blew by just now, it only ruffled the hair at their temples and couldn't blow away their hanging shawls. Even if they tried to swing the shawls upwards, they would only fall slowly to their legs with the wind.

Everyone knows they can't fly a shawl like a kite, but a light gauze can.

For many years afterward, the image of the red gauze fluttering in the distance was etched in many people's memories, and for many years, no one could surpass the lightness of the gauze.

When the second dress entered, some people were still savoring the touch of red from before, and even after it turned into white gauze, they were still marveling at how wonderfully the red had faded.

The entrance of the white veil, aided by the lighting, with its white reflection, instantly drew everyone's attention back to the stage.

It was a white outfit, from the floral headdress that should have been worn by the lady, to the cross-collar top and pleated skirt, all of which were white.

White does not represent bad luck. The whiter the color, the more expensive it is. This is because most fabrics nowadays are linen, which tends to be yellowish and dull in color. Fabrics woven directly from silk reeling are not considered pure white. Achieving pure white requires many processes.

The stage, bathed in bright white light, made everyone in the audience stand up straight, their eyes fixed intently on the scene. The color transitioned from the off-white of the cross-collar top to the pure white of the skirt. Even though the patterns were barely visible, the sheer whiteness, resembling the clouds at the bluest of days, made the patterns almost irrelevant.

As the woman slowly walked from the winding corridor to me, my gaze fell upon the intricately embroidered patterns. Even though it was all white, it still had a powerful impact.

The audience began to stir, their voices growing louder and louder. When the woman hung the white shawl she was holding on the front pillar, the wind blew the white shawl, making it flutter lightly. The white shawl was now complete.

Each white dress and gown that appeared afterward, with its embroidery or specially drawn thread work, left a different impression on everyone present. In addition to their beauty, some said they resembled white flowers, white snow, pearls, white birds, white butterflies, and so on. Each piece had a different imagery, and all were equally profound.

When everyone was tired of watching and felt a little sleepy, they finally saw the last outfit on display and burst into uncontrollable exclamations of amazement. It was as if hundreds of birds were chirping at the same time throughout the peony shed, and the sound carried far.

They finally understood what a vibrant, multicolored white truly was.

This dress didn't have any special cuts; it was a very simple design. When it first came out, some people booed it, saying it was too sloppy, even to the point that it didn't seem like Lin Xiushui's work.

Until it stepped into the light, the light from the sky shone on the skirt, and everyone sitting on either side saw a unique polarization on the skirt, an extreme brilliance that sparkled and shone.

Everyone can say that they saw gold, silver, blue, purple, or orange and pink light on the white dress, like a rainbow in the sky.

But as it moved, segments of continuous light, sometimes dim and sometimes bright, appeared in the polarized light, making it look like the most dazzling and brilliant fireworks suddenly appearing in the sky.

No one could take their eyes off this dress; it was absolutely dazzling and shimmering.

Especially when you get close, the light doesn't shine on the skirt itself, but rather on the hem. The flowers on the hem that meander upwards are actually made of mother-of-pearl with holes punched in them and woven with gold thread. What looks white from a distance becomes iridescent up close, shimmering with a unique brilliance.

"I can hardly breathe," someone said, holding their breath for a long time until their heart was pounding, realizing they were so engrossed in watching that they had completely forgotten to breathe.

“A fairy has descended to earth,” the person beside her said to himself, “I saw the fairy’s clothes.”

Even after the event ended, people remained lost in reverie, believing it to be a miracle. Even though Lin Xiushui later said in the Miscellaneous Clothing Times that it was woven one by one with gold thread, silver thread and various colored threads, it sparked even more fervent discussions and adoration.

There's a saying that, while not used to describe Lin Xiushui, perfectly suits her today.

It is called "the knife is as smooth as water, and the Wu salt is whiter than snow."

Those who emerged from the Shengqingsha fashion show that day were either dejected or extremely excited, gesturing wildly.

Lin Xiushui accepted all the praise until everyone finally let her leave. The lights of thousands of homes were lit, and the moonlight was bright. She was surrounded by people as she came out and saw the young man waiting for her at the door with flowers.

“Ah Qiao,” Chen Jiuchuan walked slowly toward her.

Lin Xiushui looked at him and walked towards him from the crowd with light steps. Even though they hadn't seen each other for several months, there was no awkwardness between them.

The letters exchanged, though separated by thousands of miles, brought the two closer together and forged a connection in their future destinies.

"Chen Jiuchuan," Lin Xiushui took the flowers from him and walked alongside him in the moonlight.

Chen Jiuchuan tilted his head. "I'm here."

The two acted as if no one else was around. Sang Ying and Xiao Chun'e, who came out from behind Lin Xiushui, looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Do you know about this?" Xiao Chun'e asked blankly.

Sang Ying had already snapped out of her reverie from watching the two figures disappear and calmly said, "It seems that A Qiao forgot to tell us."

She took two steps forward and screamed, "Aaaaaah!"

"Oh my god, what am I seeing?!"

Xiao Chun'e was speechless. She thought Chun'e was so calm, but it made her look embarrassed that she almost tripped.

Even though Lin Xiushui said she didn't tell everyone because their feelings for each other hadn't yet blossomed, and that she was too busy later, she still received unanimous and deep condemnation from both of them.

Lin Xiushui and Chen Jiuchuan walked together, and Wang Yuelan and the tailor Jin saw them together. Wang Yuelan knew what was going on and wasn't surprised. She said to the tailor Jin, "Oh, young girls always have such sweet thoughts."

"You're young."

The tailor said slowly, "It's fine."

"Who says apricots are only white? There are also childhood sweethearts, two children who are innocent and trusting of each other."

In this moonlit night, as ethereal as a veil, with the bright moon and clear sky, my heart is one with all.

After the light veil was lifted, Lin Xiushui was greeted with a flood of praise and coronation.

It also represents a bright and promising future for the woven tapestry of life.

She knew she was still on the road.

The future will be better than today.

Author's Note: This story, which I started writing at the end of April, has had a tumultuous history, with updates stopping and starting. I feel guilty towards the readers who have followed this story and I owe it a lot. I'm sending this red envelope as a token of my gratitude.

I've been in a very bad state this year, and this is the best I could have written. I'm very sorry that it's not quite finished.

I can't guarantee updates for the side stories; I can only finish writing the romance storyline and the story about A-Qiao's career and future through irregular updates.

Finally, I'd like to say goodbye to everyone using this pen name. I started writing in 2021, and everyone gradually became familiar with Xiuyue Shiwu. I'm very happy and honored to be remembered by more readers. I also deeply remember the blessings and expectations that readers gave me in the New Year.

I am always moved by how happy I am to have met such a wonderful group of readers. I will cherish this memory for the rest of my life.

If I continue writing next year, I will change my original pen name and use a new one to meet everyone. Changing my pen name may bring new changes for me and give me more courage to start writing again.

Before the new story begins, thank you to every reader, and see you next time.

This year's blessings are for everyone; may tomorrow be better than today, and may everything go as you wish.