In the morning mist of the East Market weave shop, Huwa's carving knife chipped tiny wood shavings from the nanmu loom. Xiao Moli, holding a bamboo slip of Mozi, squatted nearby, the tip of her wolf-hair brush following the clicks of Zhang Yifan's Abacus Bead: "Pulley systems are divided into fixed pulleys and movable pulleys. A fixed pulley changes direction, while a movable pulley saves effort..."
"Stop!" Pei Hongxiu's ivory comb tapped against the bamboo slips, her gold hair-tassels swaying with the motion. "Yifan, asking me to install this iron contraption on a loom is no different from telling me you can conjure ten pairs of hands!"
Zhang Yifan chuckled, his Abacus Bead bouncing between the pulleys into the shape of a gear. "Boss Pei, just watch—" He pulled a rope, and the loom's jacquard board automatically rose and fell, operating twice as fast as manual labor.
Chapter 101