The plum rain was pouring, and Su Chen stood in front of the "Tiangong Embroidery Workshop" holding an oil-paper umbrella. The faded silk lantern under the eaves suddenly fell to the ground, and the wick that rolled out turned out to be half a human bone. Tang Ren raised his foot to kick, but was grabbed by Qin Feng: "Bone, there are words engraved on the bone!"
Su Chen wrapped the bones in a handkerchief and looked at them carefully in the daylight. On the yellowed bones, the remaining chapters of "Snow Official Embroidery Manual" were densely written in regular script, and a faint fishy smell seeped in the rain mist.
"This embroidery..." Su Chen's fingertips stroked the uneven marks, "It is the lost 'splitting needle technique'."
Suddenly, the sound of looms was heard from the second floor of the embroidery workshop. As the people rushed up the wooden ladder, twenty embroidery threads turned in unison, blood threads flowed on the silk, and gradually the Big Dipper with tooth marks appeared.
The setting sun that came through the lattice windows cut the corridor into fragments of light and darkness. Su Chen stood in front of the "Nine Lions" embroidered screen and suddenly tore open the back lining - the interlayer was filled with moldy silkworm cocoons, and each cocoon shell was engraved with the date of birth.
"This, this is the evil magic of 'divination'!" Qin Feng stuttered and trembled. Tang Ren used a silver hairpin to poke the silkworm cocoon, and the sticky juice actually condensed on the green brick into a map of the Suzhou River. Su Chen dipped the juice and sniffed: "It's corpse wax mixed with cinnabar."
The night watchman rang, and the embroidered screen suddenly fell over. A gilded incense ball rolled out of the secret compartment, and a strange fragrance wafted out from the hollow space. Tang Ren approached to smell it, and the incense ball suddenly exploded, and the silver needle rubbed his ear and nailed into the corridor column.
---
The black-sailed boat passed the bridge, and Su Chen stared at the broken pieces of the incense ball in his hand. Qin Feng used tweezers to pick out the gold thread at the end of the needle: "This, this is the gold embroidery of split silk embroidery!" The boat girl suddenly said: "My dear guest, the embroidery girl fell into the water the other day..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a muffled sound came from the bottom of the boat. Tang Ren leaned over and pulled up a swollen brocade box. Inside the box, the "Jiangnan Textile Bureau Secret Files" was softened by the water, and a red note on a page read: "In the 20th year of Guangxu, 20 pieces of secret color porcelain were collected."
In the dusk, Su Chen pushed open the nanmu door of the Shen family embroidery building. On the dusty loom was a half-finished "Prosperous Scene of Suzhou", and the gate pier embroidered with blood lines was more prominent than the surrounding area.
"Loom, there is a secret compartment under the loom!" Qin Feng touched the raised lotus button. Tang Ren used a hairpin to pry open the secret compartment, and twenty porcelain embroidery needles shone coldly. Su Chen took the needles and drew across the plain silk, and the indigo that seeped through the needle tip actually revealed a map of the canal's secret passage on the silk surface.
---
At midnight, when everything was completely silent, the clear and monotonous sound of the night watch echoed in the long and quiet streets and alleys. Suddenly, a burst of fire shot up into the sky, illuminating the entire night sky. Everyone looked in panic and saw a magnificent embroidered building on fire for unknown reasons.
The fire spread quickly, with thick smoke and flames. At this moment, a figure rushed out from the embroidery building. They tried their best and finally rescued a heavy loom. However, before they could catch their breath, they heard a loud "boom" and the floor of the embroidery building collapsed under the weight.
Among the charred ruins and the pillars emitting black smoke, people were surprised to find that there were 20 exquisite porcelain bottles neatly placed there, forming a shape like the Big Dipper. Each of these porcelain bottles was exquisite, but what was strange was that each bottle mouth was stuffed with a piece of embroidery with a Q pattern.
The morning bell of Hanji Temple dispersed the thick smoke, and Su Chen stood in front of the ruins. Tang Ren dug out a tin box from the rubble, and the words written in blood in the box were: "Heaven's hand, all stained with blood." Qin Feng suddenly pointed to the remaining embroidered screen - the face of the woman hidden in the scorch marks was exactly the same as the embroidered girl who drowned in the pond ten years ago.
When the prefectural runners escorted the old man of the Shen family away, the old housekeeper suddenly laughed crazily: "Twenty embroiderers, twenty pieces of secret color porcelain..." The voice stopped abruptly, and the embroidery needle that slipped from her sleeve pierced her throat.
Amid the sound of the boat whistle, Su Chen unfolded the burnt-yellow "Snow Official Embroidery Score". The mulberry paper holding the last page suddenly caught fire, and the ashes on the river surface spelled out a new hexagram. Tang Ren chewed the crabapple cake and muttered: "Where are we going this time?" Qin Feng looked at the ashes floating towards the Taihu Lake, and his stuttering voice was cold:
"No, Wuxi Hui Clay Figurines..."