Chapter 179 Anomaly
Zhang Zhaodi's pregnancy was going well, and as long as she didn't experience any discomfort, she spent half of her time each day in the bamboo weaving workshop.
The apprentices she had previously taken on, under the guidance of her and her grandfather, were making bamboo weaving works that were quite impressive.
Their talent is far inferior to Zhang Zhaodi's, and they cannot produce high-quality bamboo weaving that can be sold at a high price in a short period of time.
The little gadgets they made during practice were sold at the market every few days, earning them a little extra money that was enough to cover the daily meals for several people.
Recently, Zhang Zhaodi took on several apprentices who are currently learning from Xiao's maternal grandfather.
Looking at the bustling scene in the courtyard, Sheng An felt that the day these apprentices graduated would be the day her good friend's bamboo weaving art shop would open.
With her large pregnant belly bulging, Zhang Zhaodi, supported anxiously by Zhang Daikui, led Sheng Anlai to the half-finished house, pointing to one of the rooms and saying:
"One night I had a dream where I went up to heaven and saw many ethereal fairies and a colorful heavenly palace. This is a dream I made up based on my memory."
However, the dream was incomplete, and the bamboo weaving could not perfectly present it, so it was woven into this strange and indistinguishable shape.
This unfinished work had taken Zhang Zhaodi a lot of effort, and it would be a pity to give it up so easily. She wanted to let Sheng An see it with his own eyes and hear if he had any good ideas.
Sheng An examined the bamboo weaving closely and immediately noticed a problem: "It's too small and too cluttered. When piled up together, it looks messy and lacks any aesthetic appeal."
Perhaps because I'm used to making small and medium-sized bamboo weavings, the largest bamboo weaving I sold before was a flying dragon in the sky. The main feature was the bamboo dragon, which wasn't too complicated to weave. It was less than two meters long and only one meter high.
The current celestial palace map is actually smaller than the Flying Dragon in the Sky.
It's like wanting to build a big villa, but ending up with a foundation of less than 100 square meters. At most, you can build a rural self-built house, the kind without even a yard.
Reminded by Sheng An, Zhang Zhaodi suddenly realized: "No wonder it felt wrong no matter how I wrote it; the reason is right here."
Sheng An nodded and gestured with both hands on the bamboo weaving: "It needs to be at least three times larger, so that the finished bamboo weaving is as big as this wall."
After saying that, she gave Zhang Zhaodi an idea: "You can make two sets, one that can be hung on the wall like a painting, and the other that is the same as the ones you usually weave."
Zhang Zhaodi muttered to herself, "It's like a painting. You've mentioned bamboo weaving before, but... but I have no clue how to do it."
Sheng An scratched his head, unsure how to describe it: "Calling it a painting isn't entirely accurate; it's more like a mural, with raised, flat, and recessed areas. This would be very difficult."
Immediately, she painted a rosy picture for her best friend: "I guarantee that as long as you can make it, this Heavenly Palace Bamboo Weaving set will be in high demand even if you ask for a thousand taels of silver."
When the price of one thousand taels of silver was announced, not only was Zhang Zhaodi stunned, but Zhang Daikui was also speechless with wide eyes.
“I’m not kidding. This kind of large bamboo weaving can’t be completed in a month or two. It might take several years. A thousand taels of silver is considered a small amount.”
Sheng An was particularly confident in her best friend's skills. She patted her on the shoulder and encouraged her, "You have to believe in yourself. As long as you can make this Heavenly Palace, your name, Master Zhang, will be famous throughout Dongjiang Prefecture."
She felt that she had been too conservative in her words. If the effect of the Heavenly Palace Bamboo Weaving was as magnificent, grand, golden, and full of artistic beauty as she had imagined, it was not impossible for it to become famous throughout the Great Wei.
Sheng An's promise was too tempting and delicious. As expected, Zhang Zhaodi was madly excited. Her fingertips gently stroked the half-finished Heavenly Palace, her eyes shining with fervent light: "An'an, I'll listen to you!"
Whether it takes several months or several years, it's worth it as long as we can build the Heavenly Palace.
Zhang Daikui remained silent, but his silent support for his wife was unspoken.
Shengyuan gets five days off every month, and today is the last day of that five-day holiday. Sheng'an had nothing else to do, so he stayed at the Zhang family's house for dinner.
When the couple arrived at the Zhang family's house, Xu Cuilian enthusiastically pulled her along to admire the little clothes and shoes she had made by hand for her unborn grandchildren over the past few months.
These small clothes and shoes were stored separately, filling two boxes completely.
“I made some, but most of them were made by Da Kui’s aunts. These are enough for my grandchildren to wear until they are two years old.”
Xu Cuilian stroked the cute little shoes, her face full of a kind smile: "It's because we don't lack money now. In the past, we wouldn't have been willing to buy good fabric to make so many."
When her three sons were first born, they wore hand-me-downs from relatives and friends.
The worn-out clothes were cut up to make diapers or shoe uppers. The total number of clothes the three brothers wore when they were young was less than the number of clothes in these two trunks.
Sheng An felt Xu Cuilian's love for her unborn grandchildren and smiled as she said what she liked to hear: "With such a good grandmother like you, this child is truly blessed."
Xu Cuilian smiled, her love for her grandchildren growing even stronger: "When it gets cold, I'll find someone to make sausages, earn money to save up fabric for the children, and make clothes for them to wear slowly."
Sheng An laughed and said, "My sewing skills are not good, so I specially asked Granny Sun to make a few sets. I will bring them over when she finishes them."
Xu Cuilian smiled even more happily: "You're so thoughtful."
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Sheng An's stomach, and she sighed inwardly.
This child has been married to Jin Nian for over a year, but there has been no good news yet.
She didn't know if it was because the childbirth was difficult or because Jin Nian was useless; as his aunt, she didn't want to ask too many questions.
Xu Cuilian sighed inwardly, worried about the young couple not having children, but showed no emotion on her face, and happily went to the kitchen to cook dinner.
By the time Sheng An finished eating, the sun had already set.
There weren't many pedestrians on the road, and she controlled her horse's speed to return to Shengyuan as darkness fell.
As soon as he led the horse through the small gate, Shuqi, who had been waiting for a long time, came up to him and said that a broker had come by that morning and registered two good shops in the brokerage. He asked if Sheng'an was interested in taking a look.
Sheng An was certainly interested and planned to go to the brokerage tomorrow morning.
At this moment, Shuqi said again: "This morning, Shuli went out on business and met a strange man in the alley ahead. This man pulled him aside and asked about Shengyuan, asking how much income Shengyuan had every day and how many shops and estates the master had added."
Upon hearing this, Sheng An immediately became wary.
It's not surprising that Shengyuan is so curious about its daily income; customers who come to eat will ask about it out of curiosity. But it's quite intriguing that she secretly inquired about the shops and estates she had acquired.
Upon hearing Shuqi's description again, Sheng An was certain that this was not someone he knew.
Sheng An was unsure of the man's purpose in inquiring about these things, and while remaining vigilant, he reminded Shu Qi, "Keep your mouths shut, and don't easily reveal anything about Sheng Garden to anyone."
Shuqi quickly agreed, then asked, "Does Master have anyone he suspects?"
Sheng An pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "It's not certain yet, I'll send someone to investigate."
She suspected that Liu Huazhi was behind it all, so she sent A Tu and A Shui to keep an eye on the woman and see if she had shown any unusual behavior recently.
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