Chapter 1: A fleeting life, a dream within a dream, a worldly affair, a fleeting breeze. ...
After the spring rain, the water and trees are bright and clear.
Remove the old stems of the Elsholtzia ciliata, leaving only the tender leaves about three fingers long at the top. Shake out the small insects from the center of the Inula japonica flower and put them all into the bamboo basket on the left.
"Qiao Niang, I never expected you to have such skillful hands. You're not only good at embroidery, but you're also more adept at picking herbs than I am."
Su Jinxiu looked up and saw Lan Shexiang, dressed in a sky-blue silk robe, coming out after frying the spring tea. She stood smiling in front of the steps and smiled apologetically: "No, I'm just here to help. I'm definitely not as skilled as you, an expert."
Lan Shexiang sat beside her, and the two spent half a day picking herbs in the courtyard. Su Jinxiu took the opportunity to ask about her past livelihood, the situation of her neighbors, and even the old stories from the Zhaoning era, asking about everything clearly.
Finally, Lan Shexiang suddenly leaned close to her ear and said, "Hey, have you heard? Yesterday, that He family member accidentally fell into the moat and drowned."
To outsiders, this would likely have been an accident, but Su Jinxiu's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.
The woman, surnamed He, was the original owner's aunt. She was a complete scoundrel. Knowing that the original owner had earned some savings through her unparalleled embroidery skills, she often came to beg for money.
Su Jinxiu had just woken up that day when she saw the woman ransacking the house, and it took all her strength to stop her and force her out of the house.
But unexpectedly, just a few days later, this He family member fell into the moat and lost her life.
A suspicion arose in Su Jinxiu's mind, and she panicked.
"Shexiang, I still have embroidery threads drying in my yard. I'm afraid they'll get damp if I bring them in too late, so I'm heading back now."
She hurriedly bid farewell to Lan Shexiang and walked quickly into her own courtyard. When she reached the door, she immediately saw the brass padlock that she had personally put up, now with the latch open and the wooden door ajar. She knew then that he had returned.
So she gently pushed open the wooden door and entered the courtyard. She hurried to the bedroom door, raised her hand to knock, but paused in mid-air, not daring to knock.
It's best not to alert them; let's go back inside and see what's recorded in the book first.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned around, he bumped into a hard chest, his head was stunned and his body fell backward.
The next moment, a strong arm firmly wrapped around her waist and pulled her forward.
Su Jinxiu subconsciously gripped the other person's clothes to steady herself. When she smelled that familiar fragrance, she quickly pulled back to keep her distance before daring to look up at him.
The young man before me wore a simple white robe, yet it could not conceal his exquisitely handsome features. A black sash cinched his waist, accentuating his tall and straight figure. His jet-black hair hung down, his nose was high and straight, and his eyes were slightly upturned, filled with utmost concern.
"Since you've come looking for me, why didn't you knock at the door? You just raised your hand to knock, why are you turning around and leaving?"
"...It's nothing important, so I won't bother you any longer."
After saying this, Su Jinxiu tried to escape, but the young man reached out and grabbed her around the waist, half-carrying her into the house.
She struggled frantically as her feet left the ground, but Wen Shiqin's arms were as strong as iron clamps, and the difference in strength was too great, so all her efforts were in vain.
"Achin!"
As soon as they landed, Wen Shiqin's angry voice came from above: "I really can't figure out my sister's attitude lately. Why don't we make it clear today?"
"Explain what..." Su Jinxiu suppressed her fear, looked up to meet his gaze, and tried her best to force a smile.
Before she could finish speaking, Wen Shiqin suddenly raised his arm and reached out. Su Jinxiu's heart tightened, thinking he was about to commit violence again. She was so frightened that she shrank back, but the back of her head hit the wall hard.
"hiss……"
With a muffled thud, she curled up in pain, clutching her head and groaning softly.
Wen Shiqin's hand froze in mid-air. The withered leaf of the Inula japonica that had been on her head drifted through his fingers, brushed past her hair, and finally left the room in silence.
Then his voice rang out, clearly clenched through gritted teeth, suppressing surging emotions, each word deliberate and forceful.
Are you that afraid of me?
Seeing that he was about to get angry, Su Jinxiu quickly softened her tone and tried to make amends: "I was thinking that you should be home by now, and I couldn't find you in the courtyard, so I thought I'd come in to check on you. It wasn't anything important, but I've made you worry. It's my fault, sister."
Upon hearing this, Wen Shiqin's expression softened slightly. He suppressed his surging anger and reached out to her. Su Jinxiu quickly took his hand, and he pulled her into the courtyard with their fingers intertwined. She then discovered that he had prepared a meal. On the stone table were shepherd's purse soup, comb-shaped dessert, and pickled plums, which were some of her favorite dishes.
After a silent meal, Su Jinxiu brought over a small stool and, in the glow of the setting sun, began her embroidery. Her fair fingers threaded colorful threads, creating half a magnolia blossom on the silk. Wen Shiqin took a bamboo broom and slowly swept the fallen petals in the courtyard. The bamboo branches brushed against the blue bricks with a soft rustling sound.
Su Jinxiu looked up to make conversation, sometimes mentioning how soft the newly dried clothes were, sometimes talking about how the sugar figurine seller from the alley entrance had returned, her chatter mostly about everyday matters. Wen Shiqin, his hands still busy, would always turn his head to respond with a few words when he heard her.
Seeing the gloom in his eyes gradually dissipate, Su Jinxiu dared to speak cautiously: "Aqin, have you seen Madam He these past few days?"
Wen Shiqin clearly sensed the suspicion in her words and scoffed, "What do you mean by that, elder sister?"
Su Jinxiu realized that she had asked abruptly, and paused for a moment before saying, "This afternoon I heard from She Xiang that He Shi had accidentally fallen into the moat."
She stared intently at Wen Shiqin, trying to catch a glimpse of his expression, but saw that his face remained expressionless, neither pleased nor angry, only calmly looking back.
"What exactly is my sister trying to say? Is she asking if I did this?"
Su Jinxiu was taken aback, her words swirling in her throat, ultimately leaving her in a dilemma.
If I don't ask, I'm afraid he'll do something wrong. If I do ask, I'm afraid I'll upset him.
Hesitating for a moment, Su Jinxiu put down her embroidery and walked lightly to Wen Shiqin's side, raising her hand to tidy his hair that had been ruffled by the evening breeze.
"My sister didn't suspect you, she just mentioned it casually."
Wen Shiqin refused to believe it and leaned closer: "If I told you that I did it, and that I regret not being ruthless enough to make her suffer, what would you do, sister?"
Su Jinxiu was startled and looked up to meet his gaze.
Upon seeing this, Wen Shiqin chuckled softly: "Sister, tell me, are you going to report me to the authorities and have me thrown into jail? Or are you going to act on behalf of Heaven and make me pay with my life?"
Su Jinxiu composed herself, suppressing her panic, and feigned sincerity: "Even if it's true, your older sister will take responsibility for you and will never let anything happen to you."
Wen Shiqin was taken aback upon hearing this, and the coldness in his dark eyes dissipated somewhat.
“If He dared to bully my sister a few days ago, she should have expected this day to come. My sister doesn’t need to tell me that she doesn’t deserve to die. From now on, anyone who dares to harm my sister in the slightest will be killed by my own hand.”
Su Jinxiu was startled by his words and quickly grabbed his wrist, her tone becoming urgent: "You can't even think about hurting or killing anyone anymore!"
Wen Shiqin refused to listen. His eyes darkened, and he coldly said, "Sister, there's no need to worry about being implicated. I always act cleanly and decisively. You and I will never be implicated."
He turned and left after speaking. Su Jinxiu panicked and reached out to tug at his sleeve, but only brushed against the edge of his clothes. Her voice trembled as she hurriedly chased after his retreating figure, saying, "Sister, that's not what I meant..."
Su Jinxiu sighed deeply, feeling utterly defeated, and dragged herself back to her bedroom.
Her bedroom was cramped but clean and cozy. There were neatly arranged embroidery threads piled on an old wooden table, embroidery patterns stacked on a low cabinet, and the door was half open, through which one could see embroidery frames placed under the bamboo shed in the courtyard.
He picked up the book of miscellaneous notes from the table, turned the pages, and saw that it read: "He bullied Qiaoniang. Qin sought revenge for his adopted sister, used a borrowed knife to kill, and led He's creditors to demand payment, causing Qiaoniang to panic and fall into the moat and drown."
Su Jinxiu overlapped her slender fingers and gently massaged her forehead. The throbbing pain between her brows had not subsided. Suddenly remembering something, she hurriedly spread out her notes and counted the page numbers one by one.
Sure enough, one page was missing.
Su Jinxiu's heart sank little by little.
Last month, she was still embroidering the unfinished "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" in an old house in Suzhou, with her close friend by her side. At that time, she held her breath and thought about the principle of adding the finishing touch to a painting: a dragon without eyes loses its majesty, and a phoenix without eyes loses its spirit.
But just as she was about to finish the needlework, a careless mistake occurred. The needle tip pierced her fingertip, and a drop of bright red blood fell onto her phoenix eye. Suddenly, she was plunged into a state of chaos and transmigrated into the book.
Now that she had transmigrated into the book, the "Embroidery Alley Chronicles" had become even more mysterious, giving her two tasks. The first was to help the original owner, Su Qiaoniang, become the number one embroiderer in Bianjing within two years so that she could live past the age of twenty.
Su Qiaoniang lost both her parents at a young age and was fortunate enough to be adopted by the Wen family, her neighbors in the embroidery alley. However, less than a year later, her adoptive parents were killed in a boat accident, leaving her and her adopted younger brother, Wen Shiqin, to depend on each other for survival. The siblings' daily livelihood, as well as Wen Shiqin's tuition fees, were all provided by Qiaoniang through her embroidery, stitch by stitch.
The life of Wen Shiqin, as described in his miscellaneous notes, can be aptly described as tragic.
Born into a poor family, he was brought into the Censorate by his benefactor Zhang Mingxu. However, he used his clever words and flattery to win the emperor's favor, ostracized his colleagues in the court, and even turned his sword against his benefactor, framing Zhang Mingxu for treason and exiling him three thousand miles away. He was also specially assigned a military doctor to accompany him, so that his benefactor would suffer all kinds of torture on the way and die quickly.
The old censor Yi Bojian impeached him for abusing his power. Upon hearing this, Shi Qin ordered his tongue to be cut off and his body thrown into a mass grave. He then falsely claimed that Yi Bojian had died suddenly from an illness, silencing all officials. Later, he wielded immense power, impeaching not only his enemies but also dissidents, causing great chaos in the censorate. Yet, he still sneered, "Your integrity is not as good as a fire to warm you." He was truly a notorious traitor.
Su Jinxiu was terrified when she first read about Wen Shiqin. Now that she had met him in person, although he looked like a young man, his words and actions revealed a sinister hint, which made her even more wary.
The second task stipulated that for every evil deed Wen Shiqin committed, a page would disappear from the miscellaneous notes, and her health would decline accordingly. If all the pages were lost, not only would her life be in danger, but she would also be trapped in this cycle of fate forever, with no chance of escape.
After spending more than a month together, Su Jinxiu could tell that Wen Shiqin listened to her, his elder sister, to a certain extent.
Just a few days ago, when He Shi humiliated her, Wen Shiqin happened to see it when he returned home. The look in his eyes when he stared at He Shi was frighteningly deep, clearly indicating that he had firmly remembered this grudge.
Su Jinxiu was afraid of the hidden ruthlessness in Wen Shiqin, but she had no choice but to bite the bullet and discipline him. She also had to rack her brains to figure out how to rise from a commoner to become the number one embroiderer in Bianjing.
For the past month, I have been exhausted and restless.
It was hard to say whether it was the exhaustion from all these tasks or the fact that a page was missing from the book, but in the middle of the night, she slept very restlessly and developed a high fever.
A note from the author:
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