TRCT_32

Chapter 32: Treasure Hunting

The next morning, although they didn't need to go to work, influenced by their biological clocks, the two of them, Ji Qingzhou and Jie Yu'an, still woke up naturally around eight o'clock.

But although they were awake, with the morning sun shining warmly into the room, neither of them wanted to get up.

So one simply sat up, leaning against the headboard to sketch, while the other lay in the covers with his back to the sunlight, dozing off to the 'swish-swish' sound of the pencil scraping against the paper coming from beside him.

Jie Yu'an sometimes found himself puzzled. He wasn't naturally someone prone to sleepiness, especially after losing his sight, when overthinking often made it hard for him to fall asleep.

But ever since Ji Qingzhou had arrived, the other man seemed to possess some sort of magic that always managed to create a space of ease and comfort for him, making his nerves relax unconsciously, and greatly improving the quality of his sleep.

For instance, right now, he had only been awake for a short while before, listening to that faint rustling sound of the pencil, he drifted off to sleep again before he knew it.

The two of them dawdled like this, lying in bed, dragging it out until almost nine o'clock, when Ji Qingzhou finished drawing the design for Lu Xueying's first gown and only then slowly got up to change clothes.

By this time, Shen Nanqi had already rushed off to work at the school, and as for Jie Jianshan, the early train he was taking was probably nearly arriving in Shanghai by now.

After finishing breakfast, it was already close to ten o'clock, leaving three hours until the one o'clock train in the afternoon.

Originally, in Ji Qingzhou's plan, since they'd come all the way to Suzhou, of course they ought to go stroll around Guanqian Street, eat some tea snacks, and then go check out the local fabric market to see if he could gather any inspiration.

However, it was clear that he didn't have enough time, so he could only set aside the activities of 'wandering Guanqian' and 'nesting in the teahouse' for another attempt next time, and for now go visit the fabric market first.

Just as it happened, not long after they got up, Luo Mingxuan came running over with his own suitcase, saying he wanted to go back to Shanghai together with them.

Hearing that Ji Qingzhou wanted to go browse fabric shops, he, being a local, immediately perked up and volunteered himself as their guide.

After that, Ji Qingzhou was led by him to Taimingxiang, which was Luo Mingxuan's own family's silk and satin shop.

After all, this shop was the closest and largest silk and satin shop to them, located right on Xizhong Street, less than a hundred meters from the Guoxue Bookstore.

"I think I finally understand why you, Qiu Wenxin, and Luo Mingxuan ended up as childhood friends, the three of you."

Across a distance of a dozen or so meters, catching sight of the red and gold signboard hanging above the main entrance of the silk shop, Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but tug at Jie Yu'an's sleeve, leaning his head in close to say this.

Living this close together, it would have been hard for three boys of similar age not to become friends, especially with Luo Mingxuan, that supremely sociable type, acting as the go-between.

Hearing that Luo Mingxuan was going to lead the way, Jie Yu'an already knew their destination would inevitably be Taimingxiang.

For a place only a hundred steps away, he hadn't really wanted to come, but had been forcibly dragged out by Ji Qingzhou under the excuse that they still hadn't taken their after-meal walk, so his mood wasn't particularly pleasant.

Hearing this, he replied in a cool tone: "The Jie family's ancestral home is at the eastern end of Taohua Wu, the Luo family is at the western end."

The implication being that they hadn't actually lived close together in the past.

"Oh." Ji Qingzhou responded without much interest, thinking to himself, so what, it's not like Taohua Wu to Xizhong Market is more than a kilometer or two away anyway.

While the two of them were chatting, Luo Mingxuan had already run into his family's shop, greeted the shopkeeper, and brought over a chair to place beside the front entrance, in a spot the sun couldn't reach, so that Jie Yu'an could sit down and rest as soon as he came through the door.

Although Ji Qingzhou didn't feel any particular novelty about Taimingxiang, when he stepped over the shop's threshold and saw the spacious interior filled wall to wall, shelf to shelf, with brilliantly colorful silks and brocades, his eyes still lit up, and his mood lifted right along with it.

He settled Jie Yu'an into the seat by the entrance, asked the shopkeeper to help look after him, and then, accompanied and guided by Luo Mingxuan, made his way around behind the counter to examine and select fabrics up close.

Taiming Xiang truly lived up to its reputation as one of the top silk and satin shops in Suzhou—compared to the branch in Shanghai, this shop's goods clearly had a fuller range of colors and more varied patterns.

Ji Qingzhou was practically dazzled by the bolts upon bolts of silk and damask hanging there; if his purse weren't so thin, he would have loved to tear off a few meters of sample fabric of everything he liked to take home.

That said, after browsing for a few minutes, Ji Qingzhou still hadn't spotted any fabric that particularly caught his fancy.

The silks in this shop, though gorgeous, were ultimately somewhat traditional and conventional in color and pattern.

It wasn't that such fabrics were bad, but they truly were difficult to spark his creative inspiration.

It wasn't until he walked into the area on the east side of the shop reserved for distinguished customers' selections that his gaze was suddenly drawn to a bolt of white silk gauze hanging on the rack.

This plain gauze was in itself unremarkable, but what caught his eye was the pear blossom embroidery scattered freely across the thin fabric.

Tiny, delicate white flowers and pale green leaves, clustered together in a way that seemed random yet was reasonably arranged, decorated the surface of the semi-transparent plain gauze, giving this otherwise plain fabric a touch of vividness and weight, while also making it even more fresh and elegant.

The instant he saw this bolt of fabric, it immediately brought to mind a garden and lawn bathed in the gentle morning sun of a spring day.

"Is this all hand-embroidered?" Ji Qingzhou picked up the fabric to examine the embroidery on it closely.

The diagonal stitching was fine and even, tight and smooth, with the same satin-like sheen effect on both front and back, and under natural light it gave off a soft luster—it appeared to be Suzhou embroidery.

"Of course it's hand-embroidered!" Luo Mingxuan said with a look of utter obviousness, "A few years back, my mother bought some kind of embroidery machine, and the stuff it embroidered out was just. I can't even describe it, not something you could look at closely at all."

Ji Qingzhou nodded, ran his fingers over the embroidered silk gauze, thought for a few seconds, then turned to ask the shopkeeper how much it cost.

He thought to himself that he had already found the main fabric for Shen Nanqi's gown.

The shopkeeper had been keeping an eye on them the whole time, and upon hearing this, came trotting quickly over, glanced at the fabric Ji Qingzhou was pointing to, and said with a warm smile:

"Sir, this fabric is sold by the whole bolt. If you were to cut it, it would inevitably damage the embroidery on it."

"And this bolt is?"

"This bolt is about two zhang long, with a width of two and a half chi. If you want it, I'll let you have the whole thing for eight silver dollar."

"Eight dollar?" Ji Qingzhou was stunned for a moment.

A width of nearly ninety centimeters, seven meters of hand-embroidered silk gauze, for only eight dollar!

That worked out to roughly four jiao per chi, even cheaper than the custom price Luo Mingxuan had given him for Su silk gauze!

Ji Qingzhou was practically stunned by the price, and immediately said: "I'll take it."

Since he had just received thirty yuan in pocket money from Shen Nanqi a couple of days before, he wasn't being quite so tight-fisted about buying fabric at the moment.

After that, with the mindset of treasure hunting, he carefully examined shelf after shelf, bolt after bolt of fabric, and as it turned out, he really did pick out another fine piece of fabric.

It was a bolt of pale blue chiffon, without any decoration or printed pattern—just solid-colored chiffon.

But its blue was a low-chroma, low-saturation blue rarely seen in the market these days, a kind of elegant, sweet cream blue.

Ji Qingzhou remembered that what Jie Linglong had taken a liking to at first glance in his sketchbook had been a sky-blue tube dress, so for the dress he was designing for that little girl afterward, the main fabric he'd had in mind to use was blue silk chiffon.

But because he had never been able to find a blue that matched what he imagined, he hadn't gotten around to starting it yet—this time, he had finally come across it.

Ji Qingzhou called the shopkeeper over, and after asking the price, requested his help in cutting ten chi of the fabric.

That purchase came to another one and a half yuan.

While waiting for the shopkeeper to cut and wrap the fabric, Ji Qingzhou walked toward the entrance, asking Luo Mingxuan along the way: "Why does this place have such a fuller range of colors and patterns compared to the Taiming Xiang in Shanghai?"

By rights, the Shanghai market should have been bigger, and yet when he'd gone to select fabric at that Taiming Xiang on Nanjing Road, he hadn't seen this kind of full range of colors in chiffon.

"What other reason could there be—the Shanghai market is practically being squeezed out by foreign cloth! Can you believe it, their warehouse over there still has stock piled up from ten years ago? Eh, fewer and fewer people these days are willing to buy traditional silk, everyone likes foreign cloth..."

Luo Mingxuan pursed his lips, sounding rather listless, "But there's nothing to be done about it, who can blame people when foreign cloth has more and fresher patterns, costs less than silk, and is produced in much greater volume..."

Ji Qingzhou furrowed his brow slightly and asked: "Have you all not considered setting up a printing factory?"

"My eldest brother did bring it up once, but my father shot it down, saying we should stick to traditional dyeing and printing methods. In truth, it's really that he's afraid of pouring a huge amount of money into buying machinery and setting up a factory, only to still lose out to those foreign-run factories, and end up losing everything in the end."

Ji Qingzhou nodded thoughtfully.

From what he understood, no one in the country had yet invested in setting up a mechanized printing factory, which meant that the prospects for entrepreneurship along this path remained an entirely blank, unknown territory as far as his countrymen were concerned.

Especially since the Luo family ran a century-old, well-established silk and satin shop that traded specifically in traditional styles, it was only natural that they'd have reservations about new things.

The two of them chatted as they walked over to the shop entrance.

Hearing the sound of their footsteps approaching, Jie Yu'an, who had been left out in the cold for a good ten-odd minutes, felt his mood ease somewhat. Just as he was about to pretend to leisurely lift his teacup for a sip, the porcelain cup was snatched right out of his hand.

Ji Qingzhou happened to be a bit thirsty, and seeing Jie Yu'an holding the teacup without drinking from it, simply took it from him and gulped down a couple of mouthfuls, finishing off the water in the cup completely.

He casually stuffed the empty teacup back into Jie Yu'an's hand, turned to look at Luo Mingxuan, and continued with the earlier topic, asking: "Then if there were patterns more numerous and fresher than the foreigners', would you dare to give it a try?"

"After all, you're the foremost giant in Suzhou's silk and satin trade. You wouldn't want to just watch your family's business get left behind by the times, would you?"

This time he didn't use the term 'you all,' but rather 'you' singular.

"Brother Ji, are you trying to talk me into setting up a factory?" Luo Mingxuan, for all his carefree, somewhat scatterbrained manner, had sharp instincts when it came to certain matters, and with a bit of thought he understood Ji Qingzhou's intention.

"So these so-called more numerous and fresher patterns, you mean the ones you'd design yourself, right?"

He gave a small laugh, "Though I'll admit, the pattern you gave us last time really was novel and rare, even the old master dyer at our dye workshop said that bolt of luo silk turned out remarkably beautiful once dyed."

"Then it looks like there's room for us to collaborate," Ji Qingzhou said. "If you're willing to put up the capital to set up the factory, I could contribute through a technical stake."

"And here you are, trusting me with this. I've never run a business of my own before..." Hearing this, Luo Mingxuan gave a reluctant smile, scratching the back of his neck somewhat conflictedly.

Then he tilted his head and said: "Tell you what, when I get back, I'll go talk it over with my brothers. If they're willing to back me, I'll do as you say and set up a printing factory."

Luo Mingxuan truly did lack understanding when it came to investing and starting a business, but he had always been bold and willing to try things since childhood, and with his family there as a safety net, he felt able to make this kind of commitment.

"Sounds good." Ji Qingzhou agreed readily.

He had only thought of this on the spur of the moment and brought it up as a suggestion; if it worked out, it would certainly benefit him, and if it didn't, he wouldn't lose anything either.

By the time their conversation reached this point, the shopkeeper had also finished wrapping the fabric he'd bought and brought it over.

Ji Qingzhou then let the topic drop, tucked the two bolts of fabric, rolled up and wrapped in cotton cloth, under his arm, and headed home in a satisfied mood.

.

In the afternoon, on the train heading to Shanghai.

The scenery outside the window flowed past unceasingly; what remained unchanged was the deep blue sky stretching over the fields and the wisps of softly unfurling white clouds.

With one extra person on the way back, the four of them—Ji Qingzhou and the others—just managed to fill up a whole compartment.

Ji Qingzhou and Jie Yu'an sat on one side, with Luo Mingxuan and Huang Youshu across from them on the other side of the small table.

Finding it boring, not long after the train departed, Luo Mingxuan asked the attendant for a copy of the "Shanghai Daily", and flipped eagerly to the back, to the fourth page, to skim through it quickly. He then slapped the newspaper and said: "Eh! Just as I thought, this issue Brother Xin reviewed the food at Zhuangyuan."

Zhuangyuan was the very Ningbo restaurant where Jie Yu'an had treated them to a meal last time.

Ji Qingzhou had just taken out his unfinished copy of "Sherlock Holmes" from his bag, and hearing this, looked up curiously: "Really? Let me see."

The newspapers the Jie family subscribed to were mostly major papers focused on reporting current affairs, whereas the "Shanghai Gazette" run by Qiu Wenxin's father was a small paper, focused on covering everyday local matters of food, clothing, housing, and transportation, with content including short commentaries, fiction, opera talk, jokes, and gossip about various famous courtesans and entertainers.

It had to be said, this little paper was actually doing quite well, with circulation sometimes even surpassing those of the established old-school newspapers.

It could only be said that the public loved gossip, and the more popular and accessible something was, the more it was welcomed.

Aside from reading the newspaper aloud to Jie Yu'an, Ji Qingzhou himself rarely flipped through papers, and this was the first time he was getting his hands on the "Shanghai Gazette".

Flipping to the back, sure enough, he found the piece Qiu Wenxin had written, 'On Zhuangyuan'.

Ji Qingzhou skimmed through it roughly; what Qiu Wenxin had written was purely his evaluation of the dishes and drinks ordered that day, with hardly any mention of his dining companions.

His writing was brief and witty, mostly recommendations, but he had also delivered some sharp criticism and warnings about two of the dishes—reading it in his spare time was actually rather entertaining.

Ji Qingzhou was just thinking about reading this article aloud to a certain host who had treated them to that meal, when his gaze happened to catch on a short commentary piece above it.

——【In recent days, a new style of dress has become fashionable among Shanghai women, altered from the old-style qipao. This new garment is long and narrow in cut, with tightly fitted sleeves, and an exceptionally narrow waist. When ladies wear this garment, their delicate curves are fully displayed—seemingly slender and graceful, refined and elegant—but in truth, the chest juts out in front and the hips jut out behind, frivolous and wanton, utterly unbecoming, no different from women of the brothels, and hardly the way of self-respecting women.

And yet such an unseemly style of dress has actually drawn female students to imitate it one after another, which is truly harmful to public morals. I believe that the authorities ought to strictly investigate and ban this kind of bad trend, or else I fear it will only grow worse...】

"What kind of nonsense is this!" Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but curse out loud before he'd even finished reading.

He glanced at the name of the commentary's author, 'Ju Jinqin'—clearly some stubborn old relic.

"Where does he get off—ladies can wear whatever they like to wear, what business is it of his."

He slapped the newspaper down on the table.

The moment he saw this kind of antiquated rhetoric, it brought last night's matter back to his mind.

So he deliberately bumped his left leg against the right leg of the person beside him, taunting: "And here I thought there couldn't possibly be anyone more old-fashioned in their thinking than you, what an eye-opener."

Jie Yu'an turned his head: "Have I offended you somehow?"

Ji Qingzhou gave a soft snort, not bothering to respond.

"Where, where? Let me see." Seeing his agitated expression, Luo Mingxuan hurriedly took the newspaper and skimmed over the commentary on it.

He then chimed in: "Ah, those stubborn old pedants, with nothing better to do all day, just love meddling in this kind of business that's none of theirs.

"Don't even get me started on them, I've got an old stubborn relic of my own at home. Take this leather jacket you made for me, the day I wore it home from your shop, my old man gave me an earful, said I looked like some good-for-nothing dandy, not the least bit proper, and insisted I go back to wearing those gaudy patterned silk robes, said they looked more auspicious. But my brother, my mother, and even the dog I keep all said this outfit looks great!

"What does that tell you? My father's taste is worse than Sanwang's!"

This unfilial son Luo Mingxuan clearly harbored quite a lot of pent-up grievances against his father in private, and the way he railed against him was full of vivid expression.

Ji Qingzhou and Huang Youshu couldn't help but be amused by his tone for a moment.

Only Jie Yu'an remained composed as ever, looking utterly absent-minded.

Seeing that Ji Qingzhou was no longer upset, Luo Mingxuan also broke into a smile to match.

Then, his eyes rolling, he leaned forward and said: "Eh, that leather jacket you made for me really is excellent, not to hide it from you, it's become my battle armor for all kinds of occasions, I don't feel confident on any day I don't wear it.

"But one suit of battle armor isn't quite enough to wear. Could you make me a couple more? Other styles would be fine too."

Halfway through, Ji Qingzhou already understood his intention, and leaning back against his seat, shook his head: "Get in line. I won't have any free time these next two months anyway."

"No free time for two whole months? That busy, huh? Who all are you making clothes for?"

Luo Mingxuan's tone carried a bit of disappointment, then after a pause he asked again: "Have you ever made anything for Brother Yuan?"

Ji Qingzhou raised his eyes and glanced at the person beside him, letting out a soft laugh: "What would he need me to make for him for, his whole wardrobe closet is already full of his clothes."

Hearing this, Jie Yu'an, who had been quiet for a long while, finally parted his lips and said: "Even if you did make something, I wouldn't dare wear it."

"Don't worry, I never had any intention of making anything for you anyway."

"......"

After these words, the atmosphere inside the compartment suddenly turned cold.

Even the noise of the train couldn't mask that awkward silence.

Luo Mingxuan's eyes darted back and forth, glancing at Ji Qingzhou, then at Jie Yu'an, and instinct told him that the two of them were both somewhat upset.

Especially his Brother Yuan—judging from the slight downward turn of his mouth and his ice-cold expression, he was probably quite seriously annoyed.

"Uh, haha, Brother Yuan, your hair's gotten a bit long, hasn't it? Have you not had it cut at all since coming back to the country?"

To ease the atmosphere, Luo Mingxuan deliberately changed the subject, suggesting: "Why don't we go get a haircut once we get to Shanghai later? I know a barbershop with a pretty skilled stylist."

After saying this, seeing that Jie Yu'an was ignoring him, he turned to look at Ji Qingzhou instead, saying with a hint of a smile in his voice: "Or you could just cut it yourself, Brother Qingzhou, your skills are good enough anyway."

Ji Qingzhou flatly refused: "At most I could style it for you all, but actual haircutting needs to be left to a professional barber."

But hearing these words, what Jie Yu'an noticed was the word 'you all' in his phrasing.

He himself didn't know where this temper of his was coming from, but he flatly declined: "No need. It doesn't affect my eyesight either way."

Hah, now he was starting to play the victim too...

"I really don't know what you're being so stubborn about every single day." Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but grumble.

"When have I ever been stubborn?"

Even though the sound of the train running was quite noisy, and Ji Qingzhou's grumbling hadn't been loud either, Jie Yu'an had still heard his words clearly.

"Oh please, that mouth of yours, not even a cannon could get through it."

"......"

Jie Yu'an fell silent again, his expression even more tense than before.

Ji Qingzhou propped his chin up and looked at him; inexplicably, seeing Jie Yu'an's handsome face looking so displeased, he suddenly felt a bit like laughing again, and along with it, that flare of irritation from a moment ago dissipated all at once.

Having spent a month together with him, if Ji Qingzhou couldn't say he understood Jie Yu'an's temperament through and through, he at least had a fairly good handle on most of it.

He could tell at a glance when the other man genuinely meant to refuse something, and when it was more a case of 'protesting while secretly wanting it'.

So, as if deliberately being contrary, he said to Jie Yu'an: "I'm dragging you to the barbershop for a haircut later, no arguments."

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