Chapter 51

As Shen Xitang’s embroidered shoes crossed the threshold of Jinxiu Workshop, the hum of three improved looms rushed to meet her. She brushed past the "Hundred Sons and Thousand Grandsons" Suzhou embroidery as if by chance, her fingertips lingering on the pupils of the infants—there, Ice Silkworm Silk had been used to embroider a hidden Big Dipper pattern, a cipher that would only emerge when revealed by magnetic powder to read "7:45 PM." "Does Shopkeeper Shen wish to see the newly arrived Shu silk?" The embroiderer, Qingdai, pushed aside the beaded curtain of the east parlor, her silver bracelet clicking against the brass door knocker with a crisp rhythm: three long taps followed by two short ones.