When white flowers drifted from the scholar trees along the alleys of Chang'an Street, Xiaotao's abacus-bead clappers rang out with a deafening clatter. The Huwa wooden carving atop her double buns held a miniature abacus, its beads bouncing on her apron to form the character for "rumor": "Listen up—the pharmacy is corrupt, rumors fly, Qingniu Seven-Leaf Herb is the real deal! Abacus beads bounce, testing truth from falsehood, stopping bleeding and reducing fever as fast as flight!" The beads followed the rhythm of the clappers with a crisp patter, actually tapping out a beat.
Zhang Yifan stood by the tea stall, shaking his abacus beads, which bounced along his sleeves to form the character for "expose": "Listen up, neighbors! Buy tea and get an abacus-bead authenticity card—" The beads jumped into a tea bowl, spelling out "card." "Scratch off the coating to see the vein diagram of the Qingniu Seven-Leaf Herb; ten times the compensation for a fake!" A tea customer scratched off the card and exclaimed in surprise, "It really has seven ridges! Why won't the pharmacy's card scratch off?" The beads immediately bounced onto the pharmacy's card, spelling out "fake," while a picture of dogtail grass was unexpectedly revealed beneath the coating.
Moli pinched a wolf-hair brush and wrote inscriptions on an abacus-bead poster. The beads immediately bounced to the tip of the brush, forming the character "fast"—just as she wrote "Qingniu Abacus Beads: one fake penalized by ten thousand…
Chapter 192