Chapter 158: The Brain Trust of Idiots

Most interesting. From the very beginning, this person had been trembling all over, putting on a thoroughly cowardly facade. Yet, the moment Wang Ge exposed him, he stopped shaking, straightened his back, and retorted, "I wouldn't know anything about that. I am merely stating the facts."

The chief of the guards sneered, "If the young lady has any further evidence, go right ahead and present it, regardless of the rest. I've seen plenty of stubborn people; pull out their teeth one by one, and they'll talk eventually."

What did that mean? Was he about to arrest him? The youth looked toward the master craftsman for help, panic written all over his face.

The master craftsman reined in his peripheral vision, bit down hard on his jaw, and cursed under his breath, "Idiot."

These two scoundrels were indeed in cahoots, and their flaws had finally been exposed! Yet, even if the opposing party stubbornly persisted, Wang Ge still possessed a trump card. "When I retrieved the bamboo slip, to prevent it from being snatched away unexpectedly, I deliberately made two shallow scratches with my fingernail across its wider section."

The master craftsman narrowed his eyes.

Wang Ge looked directly at him and challenged, "If you intend to claim that these two marks were made by you, then pray tell, what is the distance between them?"

"Insolent wench!" No one anticipated the master craftsman would suddenly resort to violence.

The guard chief countered with a swift, decisive kick, sending the master craftsman stumbling backward with a heavy thud. He had been holding back his temper for far too long. With a seemingly effortless swing of his arm, he also knocked the bewildered youth flat onto the ground. "Come here! Arrest these criminals!" he bellowed, his face flushed scarlet.

He was entirely too fierce. Caught up in the excitement, Wang Ge offered, "Shouting like that is terribly hard on the throat. Shall I make a whistle for you?"

Female Official Meng retrieved the bamboo slip from the guard chief's grasp and shot Wang Ge a glare. "Hurry up and submit your assigned task!"

"Understood." Wang Ge hastened toward the straw-weaving section B. The bamboo slip indeed bore the scratch marks she had left behind. Having practiced splitting bamboo strips throughout yesterday, when she finally received her assigned task slip, she had subconsciously pressed markings onto the exact points designated for the initial and subsequent splits. She never expected them to serve such a crucial purpose.

Along the way, she remained convinced that both the master craftsman and the youth were behaving abnormally. The youth's stupidity was obvious to everyone and needed no further elaboration. But what about the master craftsman? Knowing he could no longer deny his actions, rather than pleading for mercy or begging for a chance to reform, he had instead resorted to physical violence against her. The guard chief was clearly an official skilled in martial arts; how could the master craftsman, standing so close to him, dare to commit violence in broad daylight?

After such an act, didn't the master craftsman realize he would certainly be barred from participating in the grand craftsman competition? Worse still, he risked losing his artisan status entirely and facing criminal prosecution.

What kind of deep grudge could drive him to lose his sanity and strike her just to vent his hatred? No, that wasn't it! The master craftsman did not look like a raving madman who had lost his senses; rather, with calculated deliberation and a scorched-earth mentality, he was willing to throw everything away just to punch her once.

"Whose foolish nerves did I cross, hiring two simpletons to harm me?" Wang Ge muttered to herself.

On the other side of the avenue outside the south gate of the Timber and Wood Garden stood a very small wooden ware shop, which dealt exclusively in small-scale artifacts crafted by apprentice artisans. Early this morning, two youths had arrived; instead of purchasing anything, they nitpicked every single flaw in every item. The merchant was furious to the point of apoplexy, but upon seeing several horses tethered outside led by armed retainers, he realized the two youths were scions of aristocratic families and had no choice but to swallow his anger in silence.

What was even more infuriating was that the two youths refused to leave. They simply seated themselves on the steps in front of the shop, endlessly gossiping and casting idle remarks about the Timber and Wood Garden directly across the street. With such obnoxious customers blocking the way, ordinary commoners hardly dared to enter the establishment.

These two youths were Sima Chong and another named Xie Yi.

Sima Chong still bore seven small scars on his face from that infamous "dung battle." While they were hardly noticeable upon a casual glance, they stood as an indelible humiliation—marks that should have been branded upon Huan Zhen's face instead! The mere thought of it contorted his facial features and made his scars shift with rage. "I selected ten strategists and placed them all inside the Timber and Wood Garden's intensive training camp. Isn't that a formidable force? Hmph, I refuse to believe we can't deal with Wang Ge."

Xie Yi remarked, "Don't go too far. After all, she is my second younger brother's fellow disciple."

"I have seven scars on my face; I'm only leaving her with three. Is that going too far?"

"Ha!" Xie Yi slapped his thigh in great amusement. "That makes a perfect ten—cough, cough!"

Sima Chong glared at him indignantly until Xie Yi stopped laughing, then turned his gaze back across the street. "I only took a few days of leave and must head back this afternoon. I wonder if they've succeeded, or if any news can be smuggled out."

Xie Yi said, "What kind of mess is this? Had I known you invited me just to pick a fight with a young girl, I wouldn't have come!"

"You are the local bully here; if I don't turn to you, who else can I ask? Are you still my friend or not?"

"Actually, no. A friend of mine does not sport the Big Dipper on his face."

"I was only taking the blow meant for that Huan scoundrel!" Sima Chong burst out in fury, then quickly clamped his hand over his mouth.

Four figures emerged from the Timber and Wood Garden. The latter two wore official robes and were guards; being shoved and prodded along in front were two men—one in his early twenties, the other around fifteen.

Sima Chong shielded his face with his right hand and muttered under his breath, "This is bad, truly bad. Now I only have eight strategists left."

Xie Yi slapped his thigh again, nearly laughing to the point of tears.

Wang Ge found Artisan Officer Zhao. However, she did not share Official Meng's good fortune; simply handing over the task bamboo slip was not enough. She also had to fulfill an assignment issued by Artisan Officer Zhao: weave small straw fish, in a quantity of her own choosing, place them into a designated task pottery basin, and carry them out through the south gate of the Timber and Wood Garden to sell. The selling price must be no less than one hundred coins. Whether the task was successfully completed would be duly recorded by the artisan officers without requiring her to return to the straw-weaving section B. Regardless of how much coin the fish fetched, she could keep every single cash for herself.

A luck-based task... as expected, it depended entirely on fortune! Five coins could purchase a sheng of fresh grain; who would ever squander one hundred coins on a basin of woven straw fish?

Therefore, the woven fish had to be meticulously crafted and imbued with profound symbolic meaning.

The pottery basin had a shallow rim and was slightly smaller than the laundry basin she used to use.

Wang Ge immediately ruled out weaving large fish. The larger the fish, the more exquisite the craftsmanship required, and the longer it would take. She needed to reserve the vast majority of her time for selling the fish.

Weaving small fish meant she couldn't fit too many inside. Visualizing the size and arrangement of the fish in her mind, she decided on a minimum of over a dozen and a maximum of over twenty. Too few would lack visual appeal, while too many would look overcrowded.

A dozen or so... what auspicious meaning could be attached to that number?

Over twenty... what symbolism could be paired with that?

She had it: the Twenty-Four Solar Terms!

The Twenty-Four Solar Terms were the product of ancient agricultural civilization, with formal textual records originating from *The Huainanzi: Treatise on Topography*. In her past life, the Twenty-Four Solar Terms were inscribed as a folkloric project in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage lists in 2006, and formally entered into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

What was most exasperating was that the "Plagiarism Country" had even attempted to steal the Twenty-Four Solar Terms and claim them as their own invention. They never bothered to consider whether a place no larger than the palm of a hand even had any practical use for the Twenty-Four Solar Terms!

Regarding the promotion of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, Jinan—the city where Wang Nanxing lived—had done an exceptional job. Colorful promotional posters adorned pedestrian walkways and city buses alike. Whenever she passed by them, she would always pause to admire them.

Thus, she would first weave a small fish out of wheat straw; this one would be called Beginning of Spring.

Then she would weave a small fish out of rice straw; this one would be called Rain Water.

A small fish crafted from bulrush would be called Awakening of Insects.

Beginning of Spring, Rain Water, Awakening of Insects, Vernal Equinox, Pure Brightness, Grain Rain;

Beginning of Summer, Lesser Fullness, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Lesser Heat, Greater Heat;

Beginning of Autumn, Limit of Heat, White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost's Descent;

Beginning of Winter, Lesser Snow, Greater Snow, Winter Solstice, Lesser Cold, Greater Cold.

She arranged all twenty-four straw-woven fish inside the pottery basin in rows of six. Furthermore, she blended the materials used to weave them and braided four twisted ropes of straw, which not only separated the "schools of fish" but also symbolized the passage of seasons flowing like water, urging people to cherish their time.

The pottery basin was quite heavy, and the journey was not short. Wang Ge walked a while, rested a while, and by the time she reached the south gate, past noon had already arrived.

Sima Chong's luck was just as dismal as Wang Ge's; he had departed only moments before. Before leaving, he once again instructed Xie Yi to find some way to rescue the two captured "strategists."

Xie Yi watched the retreating figure of man and horse, shaking his head as he muttered, "I knew inviting me along would bring nothing but trouble. How could it possibly be that easy to rescue them? Ah, sigh!"