The warm sun in the East Market weaving workshop drifted with the fragrance of dark plums. Moli looked at the indigo fabric unfurling in the dyeing vat, her wolf-hair brush leaving its final stroke on the plain silk—at the center of the painting was the "protective brocade grimace" carved by Huwa, its Abacus Bead eyes gazing at Zhang Yifan's fingers clicking along the abacus, with Pei Hongxiu's loom and the boundless evening clouds filling the background.
"Xiao Moli's painting should be called *Portraits of Textile Masters*," Zhang Yifan said, rattling the indigo Abacus Beads, the cord glistening in the sunlight. "Though I think adding the detail of Huwa sneaking a bite of dark plum would be even better." Huwa immediately carved a little figure holding a dark plum in the corner of the painting, the Abacus Bead tongue licking the fruit pulp, which set the weavers laughing heartily.
Pei Hongxiu tapped the edge of the dyeing vat with her ivory comb, a new Abacus Bead pendant carved by Huwa dangling from her golden hairpin: "Yifan, the foreign merchants want to order the 'Four Seasons Brocade'—peach blossom red for spring, lotus leaf green for summer..." She suddenly pointed to Moli's plain silk. "Xiao Moli's draft needs to incorporate my Twin Lotus as well."
Chapter 100