Chapter 38 Let rumors and gossip dissipate like waves; justice will prevail. ...
Su Jinxiu returned to Bianjing and slept soundly for two or three days, a rare treat.
Every night, I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, sound and peaceful. The fatigue of the past few days of travel and the tender feelings I had for Jiangzhou all vanished in this deep sleep.
When I woke up, I felt refreshed and light as a feather.
Now, as the Awakening of Insects approaches, the biting chill is gradually fading, and the warm sun is intoxicating. She has moved back to her old courtyard in Embroidery Lane, spending her days working at Huayun Pavilion and returning home to tend to the flowers and trees in the courtyard. Seeing the withered vines sprouting new buds and the sparse plum blossoms shedding their last petals, a warmth naturally arises in her heart.
When the spring breeze arrives, will my beloved return?
Every two or three days, Su Jinxiu would receive a letter from Wen Shiqin. However, since she returned from Jiangzhou, Wen Shiqin's letters had contained more offensive and private words.
That day at Huayun Pavilion, as soon as she opened the first letter, her heart pounded in shock, almost thinking he had been possessed. How could someone who was usually well-versed in classical literature and whose writing was full of eloquence have written such intimate and explicit nonsense?
Just then, an embroiderer stepped forward to speak with her. As soon as she opened her mouth, Su Jinxiu was so frightened that she quickly crumpled the letter into a ball and hid it in her sleeve. If anyone else were to see even a single word, she would be unable to clear her name, even if she jumped into the Yellow River, and she would have no face to stand in Bianjing City anymore.
Later, Su Jinxiu received the letter at Huayun Pavilion and immediately put it in her bundle. She only dared to open it when she returned to her small courtyard late at night.
In her reply, she wrote nothing but rebukes and lectures.
It would be better if we could just express our feelings as before and write something clean and simple. He insists on being so silly, making all these emotions seem so complicated. I'll definitely teach him a lesson when he gets back.
If there are no worries on your mind, then every day is a good day. However, Su Jinxiu had two worries weighing on her mind. One was Wen Shiqin, and the other was that Huayun Pavilion had recently encountered some tricky troubles, which forced her to divert her attention.
Now that Huayunge has become so popular, it attracts a lot of jealous people.
Su Jinxiu wasn't afraid of the open competition. But the underhanded slander was like a persistent boil, impossible to guard against.
You never know where those scoundrels in the gutter might be causing trouble. They live like maggots, taking pleasure in disgusting others, and harming others without benefiting themselves is their lifelong creed.
In the past two days, rumors have intensified, claiming that Huayun Pavilion discriminates between people, paying meticulous attention to orders from the Prince of Jing and other noble families, while neglecting ordinary people.
Having no faults of her own, Su Jinxiu naturally dared to face the rumors. Therefore, on this day, she made full preparations and drove to the Shen residence.
The Imperial Street of Bianjing runs through the western part of the city, lined with the mansions of nobles and officials. The red gates are often adorned with the tinkling of jade pendants and the embroidered curtains of carriages.
The Shen family, a royal merchant family, lived at the end of the street. Although it was only a few steps away from the residences of the nobles on the left and right, the social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants was like an invisible chasm. The gate and eaves of the Shen family's house were always lower than those of the other families.
As soon as Su Jinxiu and the others entered the gate of the Shen Mansion, before they could even exchange a few words, a nanny dressed in a dark blue vest came over angrily and threw the Bixiao Yingyue skirt at Su Jinxiu, with wine stains still clinging to the folds of the brocade.
Linlang immediately stepped forward to protect her, and Su Jinxiu raised her hand to press her forearm to indicate that it was alright. However, the old woman had already spoken out in a shrill voice: "Our family's salary is always paid according to the above three rules. How could Miss Jinxiu use such a defective product to make do? Do you think that my Shen family, which is engaged in business, is a soft persimmon, not as precious as your high-ranking customers? At the family banquet the other day, the young lady's sleeve tore as soon as it touched the flowers. The grape wine she stained bluish-purple and made a mess of her skirt. She lost face in front of all the guests and is still crying in her room!"
Su Jinxiu showed no sign of anger. She first bowed slightly to the nanny and said, "Nanny, please calm down. Let me take a look at the dress first."
She slowly stepped forward, picked up the Azure Sky Moonlit Skirt from the ground, turned to face the morning light, and the brocade unfolded in the sunlight. She examined the stitches and embroidery inch by inch, her brows gradually furrowing.
Seeing that she only frowned and remained silent, the old woman immediately sneered: "What? Now you want to nitpick and play dumb, not admitting that this is your work? This whole outfit with its blue and purple hues and Suzhou embroidery with flowing clouds is clearly the signature skill of your 'Lady of Brocade'. How could it be fake?"
After looking at it, Su Jinxiu understood. She lightly draped the skirt over her arm and said, "Granny, this Azure Cloud Reflecting the Moon skirt was not made by me, nor is it the work of any of the female workers in my Huayun Pavilion."
The old woman thought she was shameless and immediately stepped forward, raising her hand to point at her nose and scold her.
“Granny, please come closer and take a look.” Su Jinxiu interrupted her, explaining gently, “Our family’s dyed dresses require three layers of kesi weaving to reveal the blue-purple shimmer. When embroidering the flowing cloud pattern, each layer must be seamlessly blended, with no gaps between the stitches. But the stitches on this dress are sparse and uneven, even the most basic overlock stitches are sparse and uneven. This is hardly our family’s craftsmanship.”
The old woman couldn't understand these words, and simply retorted, "Don't beat around the bush with me! This dress was indeed sent by someone from your Huayun Pavilion. If it weren't for your poor workmanship, would my young lady have ruined your clothes for no reason?"
Su Jinxiu came prepared and immediately called out towards the door, "Bring the things in."
Before long, the servant came forward with two basins of water boiled with sappanwood and a jar of yam paste.
Su Jinxiu first immersed the Shen family's skirt in a basin of sappanwood water, and stirred it lightly with her fingertips. In an instant, purplish-black flocculent matter floated on the surface of the water, and the blue-purple color of the skirt faded to grayish-pink.
She then placed her dress into another basin of water, and the water remained clear, the dress's shimmering light unchanged.
Su Jinxiu explained, "Our silk threads are soaked to fix the color before being used to make clothes. This is a well-known rule among embroidery workshops in Bianjing. However, the silk threads used for this skirt are dyed with the lowest grade saltpeter, so they will bleed when wet."
Manshu pressed her advantage, saying, "When we sew pearl buttons on skirts, we always use cross-stitched thread, with the knot hidden inside the button core, never showing. But the knot on this button is crooked and sticks out, and it will come loose with the slightest pull. It's definitely not our craftsmanship."
The old woman's arrogance immediately subsided considerably: "But...but the person who delivered the dress said they were from Huayun Pavilion!"
"Who sent the dress? Was it me?" Su Jinxiu asked back.
The old woman shook her head.
"Is it Linlang or Manshu?" Su Jinxiu pointed to the two people behind her again.
The old woman still shook her head.
Su Jinxiu then raised her voice: "Let the embroiderers come in."
As soon as the words were spoken, the embroiderers of Huayun Pavilion filed in, all dressed in moon-white lotus-patterned ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and stood in neat rows.
"Granny, can you recognize the person who delivered the dress that day?"
The old woman looked them over one by one, finally shaking her head, her face turning from red to white: "This...this isn't one of your people?"
"Then tell me, what did the person who delivered the dress look like?" Su Jinxiu pressed.
The old woman pondered for a moment: "It's a girl wearing a light green jacket, who says she's an embroiderer in the pavilion."
The pale green jacket was exactly what Danli, who had resigned from her post, often wore.
Seeing the nanny's ashamed expression, Su Jinxiu said gently, "Nanny, the Shen family has lost face because of this dress, and I understand the grievance that Miss has suffered. Today, I will return the entire deposit to the Shen family. In addition, I have already brought three new family banquet dresses that I have made for Miss. As for that defective dress, I will investigate it immediately and give your family an explanation within three days. Do you think this is acceptable?"
Jiang Mama then realized that it was her servants who had failed in their duties and accepted the cheap clothes without asking where they came from. As a result, she had wrongly accused the person without distinguishing right from wrong. She quickly stepped forward and bowed deeply to Su Jinxiu.
"Lady Jinxiu, it was this old servant who was confused!"
Su Jinxiu was about to step forward to help her when Granny Jiang led her inside, saying, "Please come with me and do me the honor of sitting in Miss's boudoir. I will certainly apologize to you properly in front of Miss."
Su Jinxiu gave a wink, and Manshu and Linlang led the Huayun Pavilion group back first.
She followed Granny Jiang through the hanging flower moon gate, then around a plain gauze mica screen, before stepping into Miss Shen's boudoir.
As soon as you enter the courtyard, warmth washes over you. There are four golden censers standing in the courtyard, and the warmth wafts out through the openwork carvings, mixed with a faint scent of agarwood, keeping out the chill of late spring outside.
Stepping over the threshold into the inner room, the delicate fragrance of spring blossoms in the snow wafted towards her. Su Jinxiu looked up and saw a bright and beautiful woman reclining on a chaise longue. Her fair skin and beautiful face were accentuated by a royal blue dress with gold trim. Her hair was adorned with kingfisher feather hairpins with silver tassels. A vermilion mole between her eyebrows and her crimson lips complemented each other. She exuded a composed and noble air cultivated from her privileged upbringing, and was definitely not the tearful girl that Granny Jiang had described.
Seeing Su Jinxiu enter, Shen Qiwu straightened up, put down his teacup, and said with a smile, "Lady Jinxiu, you have quite the skills. You actually managed to make my usually stubborn nanny submit. She has a quick temper, so please forgive her if she offended you just now."
Shen Qiwu was only twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, but he had already taken the lead in the Bianjing Merchant Alliance. Su Jinxiu knew that if she did not come to the Shen residence today to prove her innocence, as long as she said "Huayun Pavilion's embroidery skills are not good", no one in Bianjing would be willing to use Huayun Pavilion's embroidery products in the future.
“Miss Shen, you are too kind. The old woman is just trying to protect her mistress. She is not made of wood or stone. She would defend her mistress like this if she saw her mistress being wronged. How can you blame her?”
"I've long heard that Huayun Pavilion's embroidery is the best in Bianjing. But seeing how you handle things with such composure is even more admirable than your embroidery skills." Shen Qiwu led her to sit down and poured her a cup of tea. "After the incident at the family banquet a few days ago, there were rumors in the capital that Huayun Pavilion's embroidery was of poor quality. I was skeptical at first, but seeing how openly you investigated today, I realized that someone deliberately caused trouble."
Su Jinxiu reached out and took the teacup, saying, "Miss has a discerning eye. A few days ago, Huayun Pavilion was indeed deserted. At first, I thought it was just the off-season, but later I learned that it was because of the rumors about the family banquet."
“However, you are the first person to dare to come directly to my Shen residence to prove yourself.” Shen Qiwu’s eyes showed a hint of appreciation.
Su Jinxiu had long heard of Shen Qiwu's remarkable abilities, how she, as a woman, broke the Shen family's ancestral rule of "passing down the business to men but not women," sending her father and brothers to take charge of the Shen family and saving the family business from ruin. Thinking of this, she replied, "In this world, merchants are considered lowly, and we women are even more looked down upon for doing business. Since we have no one to rely on, we have to personally fight back when rumors arise. I hope you will forgive my presumption."
These words struck a chord with Shen Qiwu's past hardships. She lowered her eyes for a moment, then raised them again, her tone softening: "Since it was someone else who caused this, I know what's going on. Tomorrow I will have someone in the capital clarify this matter and clear Huayun Pavilion's name. I'll help you with this."
People say that daughters are like weak water, but water can carry all things and gather from all directions.
Su Jinxiu quickly stood up and nodded, her tone sincere: "Thank you so much, Miss. I came here today not only to prove my innocence and protect my livelihood, but also because I was afraid that others would ruin the friendship between the Shen family and the pavilion."
Looking at the girl before him, seeking justice all by herself, Shen Qiwu couldn't help but think of himself back then. He smiled and waved his hand, saying, "I should thank you, Madam, for letting me see who's been playing tricks behind my back. From now on, all embroidery work in the Shen household will be handled by Huayun Pavilion."
The huge weight that had been hanging over Su Jinxiu's heart for many days finally lifted. Thinking that she had gained Shen Qiwu's trust today, and that her goal of becoming the number one embroiderer in Bianjing was closer, she abandoned the carriage on her way back to her room and walked lightly along the broad road.
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