Black and white banners suddenly fluttered across the wards and markets of Chang'an, bearing a golden "Commerce" character embedded in the center of a Taiji diagram. As the wind blew, the garlic-skin tassels at the corners rustled softly. Huwa rode in a wooden ox-cart piled high with loudspeakers that sang the Twenty Rules of the Commercial Alliance, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Behold the new alliance banner! Merchants who hang it enjoy the 'Garlic-Aroma Discount'!"
Yet this festive mood did not last long before the East Market erupted in chaos. Zhang the Blacksmith, brandishing a rusted iron sword, stormed into the arbitration tribunal: "Shopkeeper Li is stealing business with low prices, and he actually calls it 'Yin-Yang balance'!" Shopkeeper Li waved the alliance banner in his hand, entirely unrepentant: "The Taiji diagram is all about the mutual generation of Yin and Yang. My high-priced goods are 'Yang', and my cheap swords are 'In', perfectly balanced!"
Huwa, wearing a judge's cap made from the fabric of the alliance banner, struck a gavel carved like a head of garlic: "Stop! According to the Twenty Rules of the Commercial Alliance, a price difference of over twenty percent on similar goods constitutes a violation. But your iron sword and his treasured sword—" He suddenly pulled out a magnifying glass, "—aren't even made of the same material, so it doesn't count!" Zhang the Blacksmith slapped his thigh in despair, while Shopkeeper Li smugly rattled his abacus:…
Chapter 557