The Female Supporting Role Shows Out - Chapter 96

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

After round after round of bidding, the tapestry of Guanyin was finally bought by the Admiral’s wife for 20,000 taels of silver. The ladies and merchants present are not richer than her, but her status is the most valuable, and the Japanese pirates have committed crimes in recent years, and it is only because the navy is in charge that the safety of Jiangsu and Zhejiang can be guaranteed. Who has the courage to offend her?

After taking the portrait home and hanging it in the Buddhist hall, all the female relatives of the Xu family gathered together and paid their respects to Master Guanyin with a reverent expression.

Suddenly, the door of the Buddhist hall was kicked open rudely, and Admiral Xu, who was tall and majestic, walked in angrily, and scolded: “Madam Wang, you stupid woman, I heard that you bought a picture for 20,000 taels of silver. Embroidery? I only earn this fortune by pinning my head on my trousers belt all day long, and you will spend 20,000 taels with a wave of your mother’s hand! Where is the embroidery, return it to Laozi (Note: a crude and arrogant way to refer to oneself, meaning “old thing,” which is slang for dad), or Laozi will let you immediately fuck off!”

“How dare you?” Before Madam Xu could react, Old Madam Xu couldn’t sit still any longer. She pounded the table and stood up, shouting angrily, “If you dare to have this idea of embroidery, I won’t let you go!”

When Admiral Xu was about to comfort the old madam, he suddenly saw the embroidery on the wall. He took a deep breath, reached his hand to his waist, and almost pulled out his knife to defend himself. It was all because the golden-haired hou was so realistic and horrible. He glanced around in the dark Buddhist prayer room as if he was about to pounce on someone to eat him. When he looked again, he was comforted by the amiable Guanyin and became calm.

“Is this… Is this the embroidery?” Admiral Xu was stunned for a long time before he opened his mouth in disbelief. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that this embroidery was not like a painting, but more like a mirror. The mirror was a passageway to the divine world and inadvertently reflected the legendary figures.

“Exactly.” Madam Xu didn’t even look at him. She just held her two and a half year-old grandson in her arms, pointed at the embroidery, and coaxed, “Good grandson, look, that’s Guanyin. He will bless you in the future.”

When the cute child saw the lifelike golden hair hou, he was frightened to cry and quickly stabbed his head into Madam Xu’s arms.

“Don’t look at the monster, look at the Bodhisattva,” Madam Xu turned around and let her grandson continue to look at the embroidery. She pointed at the face of the Guanyin and said, “Look, the Bodhisattva  is smiling at you.”

The little boy took a timid look at the embroidery and then was fascinated by the gentle and peaceful smile of Guanyin. After a short while, he reached out his hand and giggled, as if he wanted to be hugged by Guanyin. The child’s perception was still in a state of ignorance, and it was impossible to tell that it was just an embroidery, not a real person. However, it was enough to prove how good the embroidery was. 

Looking at his grandson’s reaction, Admiral Xu couldn’t help but be surprised. When he looked at Guanyin, he unexpectedly took a few steps back and circled around the hall. He said in surprise, “Guanyin and the golden-haired hou have been looking at me all the time. What’s going on? The top of his head is still shining. Mother, have you seen it?” He rubbed his eyes, again and again, afraid that he would have an illusion.

When Lin Dan was embroidering the Buddha light on the back of the Guanyin, she combined more than a dozen kinds of needle techniques, such as mixing needles, willow needles, applying needles, horizontal swimming needles, and spraying needles. She cut the silk thread very thin and rubbed it smoothly to express the scattering and softness of the Buddha light. The flat and dense embroidered face looked like a mirror, not only making the golden silk threads more dazzling but also reflecting the light of nature.

Therefore, when others stared at him, they would have the illusion that Guanyin was really shining. Without extremely exquisite techniques, they would never be able to do this.

“We’ve seen it for a long time. Don’t yell in the Buddhist hall. Be careful not to offend the Bodhisattva!” Old Madam Xu was very dissatisfied with her son.

Madam Xu chuckled, “Dear, I haven’t given the embroiderer the twenty thousand taels of silver yet. I didn’t bring enough money at that time. I brought the embroidery back on credit. If you think this embroidery is not good, I will ask the steward to return it immediately.”

“Don’t!” Admiral Xu quickly waved his hand and said, “Don’t return! Send someone to give the money to her, in case she comes to ask for it.” He climbed and rolled up in the military camp and had more than once escaped from death. The most dangerous time was when he fell into the sea and was swept away by the waves. He faintly saw a Buddhist light and heard Sanskrit words. Then he was carried ashore by a dolphin. He was carefully placed on the beach and was accidentally picked up by several subordinates, which saved his life.

After he came back, he knew that his mother had a premonition and knelt down in the Buddhist hall to recite the scriptures for three days and nights, hoping that the Buddha would bless him to come back safely. Mother and son sat together and thought that it was the Bodhisattva that had awakened, and the Bodhisattva was protecting the Xu family. From then on, he had changed from an atheist to a Buddhist believer, and Old Madam Xu was more convinced of the Bodhisattva. Today, Madam Xu brought back such a shining Guanyin figure with spiritual energy. How could they be willing to return it before worshiping it day and night?

“Really?” Madam Xu teased her husband.

“If anyone dares to touch this Guanyin figure, he will be against me!” said Old Madam Xu, standing with her walking stick, making a deafening sound.

Madam Xu smiled and said, “Mom, darling, shall I send the money to Danyan Embroidery House now?”

“Go ahead, in case they can’t get the money and come to ask for a return,” said Admiral Xu, waving his hands anxiously. It was not easy for him to get such a good thing, and he couldn’t lose it again.

—

Since the sale of the Guanyin picture, the name of Lin Dan had spread in Lin’an Prefecture. Now when it came to embroiderers, the first person that came to their mind must be her, then Meng Si, Yao Huiyun, Fang Wenqi, etc. if there was a list of embroiderers written on paper and black, Lin Dan must be the first, and no one dared to compete with her.

On its opening day, Danyan Embroidery House earned twenty-one thousand silver, which was a huge profit. Twenty thousand of them were earned from selling embroidery, and the rest one thousand were the deposit for the customized dresses of the ladies. After all, the end of the year was approaching, and all the families were eager to tailor new clothes to celebrate the new year. Taking this opportunity, Du Ruyan contacted the cloth merchants again, and they bought many clothes one after another and solved another problem.

On the other hand, life was not so good in Meng Clan Embroidery Shop. Eight out of ten customers were taken away by Lin Dan. Every day, Meng Zhong could only watch as many customers came from the opposite side, while his own embroidery house was very deserted. Fortunately, Danyan Embroidery House had just opened, and it was still small in scale, so she could not take too much work. Meng Zhong had picked up some leftovers from her. By the end of the year, the revenue had fallen by 70%. Well, it was not too much to say that business was bad.

In the past, there had been a constant stream of customers looking for Meng Si to customize embroidery screens. Now, they would rather spend several months waiting for Lin Dan. With the bead jade in front of them, who was willing to make do with the inferior products?

Being relegated as “inferior,” Meng Si felt terrible and locked herself in the room, unwilling to come out. At last, Meng Zhong kicked the door open and walked in, pouring cold water on her. The brother and sister cheered up and went to the street to buy new year’s goods. By the way, they took a walk, and their faces darkened when they saw Lin Dan and Du Ruyan walking towards them.

As if she hadn’t seen the two of them, Lin Dan walked over without looking sideways.

With tears in her eyes, Meng Si shouted, “Wait a minute, Lin Dan. Your father killed my family, and all my brother did was to avenge my father. Since your father’s death, the grudge between our two families has been cleared up, and my brother has no longer done anything to you. Why are you so aggressive and take revenge on me? I have never done anything wrong to you.”

Du Ruyan raised her eyebrows and wanted to retort, but was gently pressed on her shoulder by Lin Dan.

“First, you can avenge your father, and I can also avenge my father. It’s not clear.” Lin Dan said, “Second, I didn’t take revenge on you. I’m just reviving my family business, which is also in your way? Have I used the same method as your brother to steal your property? Have I used insidious methods to damage your reputation? Everything I obtained now is earned by my real strength, and my future is also embroidered by me step by step. I didn’t do anything harmful to others or to yourself. Why did you accuse me? Did I do anything wrong when I was better than you? Look at the whole Lin’an City and even the entire Great Zhou. So many people are better than you. Are they wrong?”

Lin Dan turned around and waved her hand. “If that’s what you think, Miss Meng, I advise you to go to see a doctor as soon as possible. Narcissism is a kind of disease, and I think you are seriously ill.”

Du Ruyan tried hard to hold back her laughter. She didn’t expect that Lin Dan’s mouth was even more poisonous than her brother’s. she turned around and rolled her eyes at Meng Si with a disdainful expression. What kind of person was she? She couldn’t afford to lose when she came to scold others!

Meng Si was embarrassed. Noticing that the passers-by were looking at her, she quickly hid behind her brother and secretly wiped her tears with a handkerchief. She really shouldn’t have rushed to question Lin Dan on the spur of the moment. Now she thought that it was true that Lin Dan hadn’t used any dirty means to deal with her. Instead, she had always been dignified. Even if she deliberately aimed at her, it was obvious that she only relied on her own strength. She lost to her because of her strength. She was not as capable as her.

The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. Meng Si said: “Brother, let’s go back. I don’t want to go shopping anymore. I always feel that everyone is laughing at me. It’s been a long time since Jiarong came to see me. She might think that a person like me doesn’t deserve to talk with her. If I didn’t fail, the business of the embroidery shop wouldn’t have declined greatly. After the Spring Festival, the imperial business competition will be held again. What if you lose the qualification of the imperial business? It’s all my fault. I’m the one to blame.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Meng Zhong’s tone was gentle, but there was a hint of malice in his eyes, “The new year is coming, and all the families are busy preparing for the new year’s gifts. Of course, Jiarong doesn’t have time to come to see you. You can send her an invitation another day and ask her out. Next year’s imperial business will definitely be me. Don’t worry. Lin Dan is just a new embroiderer. If I want to kill her, it will be as easy as killing an ant. Look, after the new year, I will let her business fail again. I have an embroidered manual here, which was especially found by Li Xiudian to give to you. It’s an antique from the previous dynasty. You should study it carefully. If you learn this, then who is Lin Dan?”

Meng Si took the manual from her brother and read it carefully. Her depressed expression was immediately replaced by ecstasy. Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com