When the moonlight of Chongren Ward in Chang'an steeped the bead-infused tea, a certain talented scholar had just recited the line, "When will the bright moon appear?" Beads instantly bounced in his teacup to form the character "Round," and the tea broth revealed the image of "Beads questioning the azure sky." As Moli wielded his brush to inscribe a fan, the beads bounced into the character "Fun" across the fan's surface, changing "A gentle breeze slowly rises" to "Beads slowly rise," which drew a choked burst of laughter from Su Wanyue's wellness teahouse.
"The medical clinic has a new 'Abacus-Bead Worry-Free Powder'!" Huwa ran past holding an abacus-bead medicine packet, where the beads bounced to form the character "Worry," shouting, "Take a sniff and forget all about the naughty abacus beads!" A certain scholar took a deep breath, and the beads immediately embroidered the subtle pattern of "Abacus beads already forgotten" between his eyebrows, while hiding a bouncy abacus-bead candy inside his sleeve.
The Foreign Maiden Tavern in Yanshou Ward drifted with fluorescent wine aromas, and the beads bounced into the character "Illusion" in Pei Hongxiu's cocktail shaker—the newly mixed "Drink of Swaying Bead Shadows" had just been served when the beads leapt into the wine glass, arranging themselves into the lighting and shadows of a foreign maiden's dance. Halfway through his drink, a foreign merchant cried out in surprise, "The beads in the wine can dance the Sogdian whirl!"…
Chapter 232