At the Hour of Mao, the East Market weaving workshop was fragrant with the scent of wine. Pei Hongxiu's ivory comb struck heavily against the *Silk Road Trade Alliance Proposal*, and the glass beads on her golden hairpins trembled in unison. "Zhang Yifan, you actually intend to let the foreign merchants use our dyeing method? Aren't you afraid they will bite the hand that feeds them once they've learned it?"
Zhang Yifan rattled his Gilded Abacus Beads, the beads hopping across the sheepskin parchment to spell the character for "Shared." "Does Boss Pei know that the weavers of Samarkand still do not know the Fermentation Dyeing Method, and that the Persian dye vats lack Huwa's ghost face—" He abruptly pointed out the window, where the foreign merchant Ali was leading the weavers in learning how to carve the ghost faces. "What we teach is the 'technique,' but the 'Dao' is in people's hearts. They may learn to dye cloth, but they will never learn to conceal benevolence and righteousness within the fabric."
Huwa squatted atop the proposal, his carving knife gouging a tiny figure holding a wine cup between the characters for "Trade Alliance," his abacus-bead eyes gazing longingly at the Persian candied dates brought by Ali. "Sister Xiao said the foreign merchants' looms lacked a 'Heart-Protecting Ghost Face,' so I carved one for each of them!" Sure enough, all of Ali's weavers had wood carvings crafted by Huwa tucked into their belts, their abacus-bead eyes fixed on the dye vats…
Chapter 109