The Chief of Changxin Gang wailed, “I boast, boasting is not enough?”
The pharmacies and clinics in the city were closed, unwilling to do business with injured fighters.
Mo Li mentally counted the types and quantities of herbs in his travel bag and found that the herbs he needed to replenish were not scarce in the south. So, he put down his hand, which was about to knock on the door, and decided to buy herbs in the next town.
As he turned around, he noticed Meng Qi was gone.
Puzzled, he took a few steps back along the way they had come and saw Meng Qi in a fabric shop by the street.
Mo Li thought for a moment. The weather was getting hotter, and indeed it was time to buy an extra set of clothes. Even if one did not sweat, wearing the same clothes every day while traveling was somewhat sloppy.
When Mo Li entered, he saw Meng Qi selecting a piece of fine fabric. It had a bamboo green base color with leaf patterns embroidered on it, looking very elegant.
Only scholars with official titles, noble offspring, and elders over seventy could wear brocade and silk, so there were more varieties of fine fabrics in small towns. Some fine fabrics were even more expensive than silk. Meng Qi had asked for the most expensive fabric in the shop, making the shopkeeper beam with joy.
“Sir, take a look at this piece. It’s even cheaper. See how smooth and delicate the material is. Although it’s not Songjiang fabric, it’s not much worse.”
Mo Li originally did not understand fabrics. After all, Zhushan County was a small place, but it was different after visiting Taijing once.
Even if he did not understand the intricacies of weaving, he could tell the general quality.
For example, the fine fabric that the shopkeeper was eagerly promoting was a very light shade of moon white and sky blue, lighter than the usual moon white. However, the problem lay in this color.
Comparable to the fine fabric of Weitang yarn, it was very thin, and such a light color was very easy to get dirty.
If it was to be made into inner garments or underclothes, the price of this fabric was high. In small towns, such fabric was hard to sell because of the lack of literati who appreciated elegance. Most people loved fabrics with complex embroidery and rich colors. Except for those in mourning, others would not look at such plain material.
“How much?” Mo Li touched the fabric.
The color of this fabric reminded him of the moonlight filtering through the water’s surface from the bottom of a pond, a pale blue illuminated by the night.
The shopkeeper glanced at the two of them and quoted a price of four taels of silver.
“Songjiang fabric costs six qian per piece, and sells for one tael in Taijing. Shopkeeper, your price is too high,” Meng Qi skillfully bargained.
“Look at you, you can’t buy Songjiang fabric now even if you want to! Goods from the south require connections to get. Songjiang fabric is cheap and good, but other fabrics aren’t.” The shopkeeper looked around and, seeing no one outside, awkwardly smiled, “I’m not overcharging. The price of new fabric can’t be reduced.”
Newly woven fabric, like new grain, was the most expensive.
Fabric would fade, and grain would mold. Neither kept well.
“Alright, we’ll take two more pieces. The price…”
Meng Qi wanted to continue bargaining, but Mo Li interrupted, “No, just one piece of each color.”
One piece of fabric was just enough to make one set of clothes, no share for another person.
Meng Qi reluctantly asked, “Doctor, isn’t it good if we both wear clothes made of the same fabric?”
“It would cause confusion.”
Mo Li exposed someone’s hidden intention.
Outer garments were quite loose. As long as the shape wasn’t too different, they generally fit. Rarely would they be ill-fitting.
Meng Qi pretended not to understand and seriously asked the shopkeeper how many days it would take to make the clothes.
“This… Sir, it is quite unfortunate. Originally, we had a tailor and an embroiderer, but they have gone home to visit relatives and won’t be back for three to five days.” The shopkeeper smiled apologetically, very worried that Meng Qi and Mo Li would not buy the fabric because of this. He quickly added, “At the end of this street is the home of Tailor Li. His work is quick and good, and the prices are reasonable. You don’t need to worry, it won’t delay your business.”
Meng Qi seized the opportunity to haggle with the shopkeeper, getting a discount of three hundred wen, and then bought a piece of fabric for each of them as Mo Li had suggested, according to the pattern.
He pulled the fabric open and draped it over his shoulder, strolling out with a carefree air.
Mo Li: “……”
People who bought fabric usually did not carry it away themselves, as they had carts or ox-drawn vehicles for transportation. Poor people who used fabric as money might wrap it around themselves, but the shopkeeper had never seen anyone “waste” fine fabric like Meng Qi did.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi called back, his expression calm.
Mo Li pondered, perhaps in the National Master’s mind, any fabric worth less than ten taels of silver was as light as the wind.
“Is it hard for the doctor to carry? How about…”
“Don’t!”
Mo Li quickly stopped him, suspecting that if he were a moment slower, Meng Qi might drape both pieces of fabric over his shoulders and strut around town.
A piece of fabric was neither too large nor too small.
It could be held or carried.
The problem was that Mo Li already had a bag on his back, and adding a piece of fabric would require adjusting the position of the bag to avoid crushing the herbs inside.
Watching Meng Qi nonchalantly continue his shopping, draped in the fabric without caring about others’ looks, Mo Li was momentarily speechless.
In the Wei and Jin dynasties, famous scholars behaved uninhibitedly, with some letting their hair down and others walking barefoot with open robes. Compared to being disheveled and barefoot, what was draping a piece of fabric?
Mo Li looked down at the fabric.
“Doctor, hurry up, we still need to find a tailor to make clothes!”
Over there, Meng Qi urged, and eventually, Mo Li folded the fabric into three sections and carried it on his arm.
Handling the fabric so closely, he felt its softness and smoothness even more.
If it weren’t for the long journey, Mo Li would have wanted to buy a few more pieces to make clothes for Mr. Qin and Tang Xiaotang.
—Everything about Zhushan County was good, except that the local products were truly too scarce.
Mo Li walked behind, watching as passersby on the road turned their heads in amazement, their eyes following Meng Qi until they bumped into walls or stalls.
“Brother Meng, what’s the need for this?” Mo Li asked helplessly.
“If the shop had duoluo cotton or gold-woven fabric, and if the doctor liked it, it would have been worth the money. Otherwise, draping that would be even better.”
Meng Qi clicked his tongue, made a gesture of sweeping his sleeves, and the fabric naturally fluttered with his movements.
“With the sunlight shining on it, it would be brilliantly radiant.” Meng Qi slightly squinted, imagining how dazzling Mo Li would look in such clothes.
He touched his money bag and couldn’t help but smile wryly.
Sadly, poverty limits one’s ambition.
The dragon vein was a mountain. If the mountain was exhausted and the water dried up, it wouldn’t be good. If the water dried up, how could it raise fish? It couldn’t.
“Since the Four Gangs, Twelve Assemblies, Jinyiwei, and Fengxing Pavilion all already know our identities, there’s no need to hide anymore. We might as well use these people to flush out any hidden monsters and demons in the small town.”
Mo Li quickly grasped the point, referring to the Piaoping Pavilion, Holy Lotus Sect, and the people and secrets behind them.
The identity of a former National Master was indeed very useful.
Mo Li couldn’t help but laugh.
After Meng Qi finished speaking, he casually picked up a wooden hairpin from a roadside stall.
The hairpin was polished very smooth, with no splinters. The pattern was the simplest kind, but the natural grain of the wood was interesting. If one had to describe it, it looked like a child’s scribbled drawing of a little fish.
Meng Qi was so pleased that he didn’t even ask the price and directly gave the stall owner fifty copper coins.
The stall owner, seeing his strange attire, had been hesitant to approach, but upon seeing his generous payment, he immediately thanked him repeatedly and even grabbed a rattle to press into his hands.
“Sir, take this home to entertain the child. It’s nothing much.”
“……”
The little dragon vein could barely take form; what use did it have for a rattle?
Meng Qi was about to refuse when a hand behind him accepted the rattle.
“Thank you, old man.”
Mo Li saw that the toy was made very playfully. The drumstick was unpainted, and the dangling pellets on either side were made to look like tiny fists. The drum face had a big-bellied Maitreya Buddha. When shaken, it looked like the fists were hitting the belly, perfectly matching the ever-smiling Maitreya Buddha, making anyone who saw it laugh.
Even those who felt the craftsman was disrespecting the Buddha would think of Maitreya Buddha’s big belly that could tolerate everything and be unable to speak their thoughts.
This would be perfect to take back to Tang Xiaotang.
Meng Qi was full of questions and wanted to ask Mo Li who he planned to give the rattle to when he suddenly heard Mo Li ask the stall owner if he could make a rattle according to a design.
“…Sure, it won’t take long. This job is simple.” The stall owner readily agreed.
Mo Li bought paper and pen from a nearby shop, preventing Meng Qi from peeking, and quickly drew a few lines before handing it to the stall owner.
“Alright, I’ll copy this. Half an hour, and it’ll be done.”
The stall owner happily accepted the broken silver, feeling like he had struck gold today.
Meng Qi still wanted to look, but Mo Li already dragged him away.
“We still need to make clothes!” Mo Li reminded.
Upon reaching the end of the street, they found that Tailor Li was not in, and the two apprentices, seeing the fine fabric, trembled and dared not take the job.
These fine fabrics were nothing special in Taijing, but in the small town, they were top-quality. If they messed up or didn’t meet the customer’s expectations, they couldn’t bear the consequences.
If it were just for his own clothes, Meng Qi wouldn’t care, but weren’t Mo Li’s clothes also involved?
When in Yongzhou, the ready-made clothes Mo Li bought for him were fitting and comfortable. Meng Qi didn’t want to mess things up now that it was his turn.
After inquiring about another tailor shop, Meng Qi leisurely strolled over, looking around along the way, entering every shop.
Though he didn’t buy much, he fully attracted everyone’s attention. Eventually, not only the Fengxing Pavilion but even Elder Cai, who was preparing to leave the city with his men, heard the news.
Elder Cai, with a grim face, ordered his men not to delay and to leave quickly.
The Chief of Changxin Gang failed to sell the information and had offended Meng Qi. Seeing that even the head of Fengxing Pavilion didn’t like him, he quickly changed his outfit to look like a beggar. He wandered around the city, thinking about how to turn his situation around and how to get Elder Cai to give him a break so he could continue to make a living in Yuzhou.
After walking a few steps, he saw someone, in the heat of the day, draped in a piece of expensive green fabric, strutting down the street.
“Where did this lunatic come from…”
The voice stopped abruptly, and the Chief of Changxin Gang’s face turned pale as he ducked into a half-closed shop by the roadside.
Peeking through the crack in the door, he saw National Master Meng and the doctor calmly enter the tailor shop at the end of the street.
Moments later, they came out, the fabric on their bodies and in their hands untouched.
“What are they doing? Selling fabric?”
The Chief of Changxin Gang muttered, feeling a sudden pang of fear. Fortunately, his body moved faster than his brain, instinctively diving out of the way.
“Crash.”
Ge Changxin, along with the shop’s door panel, rolled onto the street, landing right at Mo Li’s feet.
Mo Li: “……”
The Chief of Changxin Gang struggled to get up, but Mo Li suddenly lifted his foot and kicked up the door panel to block in front of him. A series of sharp sounds followed, and more than a dozen pitch-black bone-piercing nails embedded themselves into the door panel.
Meng Qi had visited every tailor shop in the city without success and was feeling frustrated. Now that trouble had come to him, he immediately spread his figure, floating gracefully into the shop with the fabric draped over him.
“What happened inside?” Mo Li questioned the Chief of Changxin Gang.
Ge Changxin was at a loss for words, as he had seen nothing.
With the door panel broken, the shop’s door was wide open. Inside, it was pitch black, with no lights and windows closed.
Meng Qi waved his sleeve, and his inner strength shattered the windows, allowing sunlight to pour in.
Two shadows rushed forward with eerie speed.
The entire piece of green fabric, stimulated by inner strength, spread out in the air like a sentient being, tripping and striking the two black-clad figures. Despite their agile movements, they were forced into retreat by the relentless fabric and resorted to using hidden weapons.
All the hidden weapons were poisoned, leaving black marks wherever they hit the wooden boards.
Stimulated by inner strength, the fabric caused everything it touched to go askew, redirecting the hidden weapons.
In the street, there were citizens who had no time to escape, along with their wares.
Mo Li decided to imitate Meng Qi and spread the fabric he was holding.
Encased in his inner strength, the hidden weapons seemed to fall into a large cloth pouch, disappearing without a trace.
The Chief of Changxin Gang stared wide-eyed as Mo Li retrieved the light blue fabric, while a pile of various hidden weapons appeared at their feet on the wooden board, making it seem like they had set up a new stall selling hidden weapons on the street.
The two black-clad figures, disoriented from the fabric’s attacks, stumbled out.
Meng Qi calmly extended his arm, and the fine fabric gracefully fell back onto his shoulder, while Mo Li hadn’t yet had time to put away his piece.
The Chief of Changxin Gang met Meng Qi’s amused gaze and, in a panic, forced a flattering smile and stammered praises:
“Good… good fabric. Sparse bamboo leaves, moon white frost clear, you two have chosen excellent fabric!”
Author’s Note:
In ancient times, fabric was used as currency during periods of social upheaval, as people preferred fabric over coins.
Thus, in some stories, you’ll see someone traveling with two bolts of white silk or red satin wrapped around them, using it as money.
If a place is peaceful and prices stable, using fabric as currency becomes less common.
Meng Qi’s behavior in the story draws attention for two reasons. First, expensive fabric would not typically be used as “currency” or a general equivalent. Since fabric has intrinsic value and is needed by everyone, cheaper fabric is more widely circulated.
Second, letting the fabric flutter in the wind… After all, it’s money. Holding, wrapping, or carrying it to avoid soiling it makes sense. Letting money flutter in the wind—what kind of idea is that?
