Chapter 163: Petty Men Greedy for Gain

The sneaky artisan wept with a wry face: "Why did you change it? When you threatened me last night, what you clearly said was 'Shanyin’s Young Master Jiang Jianchou'."

Young Mistress Lin was quite a difficult character. Terrified to this extent, even out of ten statements, at most seven parts were true. Xie Yi grew impatient, stood up to make space, and handed the wooden staff over to Clerk Lu. Deep down inside Clerk Lu, a tiny Clerk Lu was looking up at the sky and sighing, knowing it was his turn to "cooperate."

Smack! He first lashed the sneaky artisan across the right cheek with the staff.

A pig-like scream, mixed with bloody spit and broken teeth, scared Young Mistress Lin so badly she wet herself without realizing it. "R-really hitting?"

"Your turn." Clerk Lu half-squatted, switching to a two-handed grip on the staff to gather strength, targeting Young Mistress Lin.

"I’ll tell, I’ll tell! If I lie again, may the heavens strike me dead!" Young Mistress Lin swore fiercely.

The sneaky artisan wept even harder. Grabbing her clothes, he begged her incoherently, "Hurry, hurry and confess... Spill it all, just spill it all..." If he didn't confess everything right now, he would still end up implicated and dragged down with her.

Sima Chong's strategists were not all fools; at least Young Mistress Lin was not.

Sima Chong had provided the strategists with Wang Ge's background, including the primary school experiences he had coaxed out of his cousin Nandi. He had also provided the types of tasks in the intensive training camp, such as how fortune tasks, once claimed, would continue to reappear if left uncompleted.

Originally, they hadn't expected it to be of much use, but Young Mistress Lin had remembered his offhand remark about "Cranes in the South Mountain."

Her strategy against Wang Ge was unhurried and composed, with the goal of gradually ruining Wang Ge's reputation.

The "fake task" was the sneaky artisan's idea. Young Mistress Lin had actually opposed it, but with no other choice once he decided to go through with it, she could only try her best to observe Wang Ge's behavior, only to find that the girl truly worked from dawn till dusk.

At this point, Young Mistress Lin said with heartfelt admiration, "I really do admire her from the bottom of my heart."

Xie Yi picked up another wooden staff, this one with a sharpened point.

Not daring to waste time talking nonsense, Young Mistress Lin continued her confession. On the first day she entered the intensive training camp, she heard someone fail to complete the "Carve the Crane" fortune task, and that was when she began plotting step by step. First, she let the artisan women in her shared quarters know that such a fortune task existed, and that if left uncompleted by anyone, it would keep recurring.

At that time, before recounting this incident, she had stood by the doorway and seen Wang Ge return, only then beginning to speak. Judging others by herself, who would waste precious time telling opponents the various forms of a crane? What if she encountered someone tactless who kept asking follow-up questions?

Now, they were sharing a room, but they were opponents nonetheless! How wonderful it would be if everyone else were eliminated early on.

Sure enough, Wang Ge didn't make a sound after entering the room.

The first step succeeded; the rest was simply repeating the process continuously. Young Mistress Lin not only discussed it with the artisan women in the courtyard, but whenever she went outside and made friends, she would also unintentionally and proactively bring up the crane carving task.

Even if none of the artisan women in her shared quarters claimed this unlucky task, she would "accidentally" run into the sneaky artisan, at which point he would loudly announce in a crowded place, "I heard Prospective Artisan Wang Ge is studying in South Mountain, and there are cranes there."

Therefore, although this strategy required waiting a few more days, it was effective, and Wang Ge would never suspect she was the one pulling the strings. Once Wang Ge was isolated by the artisan women in her shared quarters, it would be even easier for her to implement other plots to ruin her reputation.

***

The interrogation was finally concluded. After Xie Yi and his companion came out, he instructed Clerk Lu: "Starting today, give them only water to drink. Once the rest of the strategists are rounded up, feed them."

"Understood." He had long heard that the Commander’s eldest son was brave, bold, and resourceful. Presumably, it would take only a few days to root out all these malicious criminals. It was just hateful that these criminals had backing, making it impossible to punish them directly.

Sensing Clerk Lu's reluctance, Xie Yi sighed and said, "Vile people are always like this—greedy for petty gains, seduced by a little money and silk, willing to abandon even the great path of craftsmanship. So young, yet casting their minds entirely on framing others. Hmph, it's both pathetic and detestable! Therefore, we must all the more establish upright conduct and shoulder our responsibilities so that evil and sycophantic people will retreat because of our presence."

Inspired, Clerk Lu responded heavily, "Understood!"

***

Bamboo Material Section C.

Wang Ge was crafting a "four-square basket" artifact.

A square-shaped, practical bamboo-woven item basically referred to a box or chest (qieshi). These boxes were either styled as drawers, with lift-up lids, or perhaps similar to modern tissue dispensers.

The one Wang Ge was making was the most commonly used lift-up lid style.

The width of the bamboo strips was increased to two fen. The overall material of the basket used green bamboo peel strips closest to the bamboo wall. However, on the top lid of the box (right in the middle of the edge), she added a small pull knob made from skin-side bamboo strips, woven into the shape of a crane with spread wings.

The crane symbolized auspiciousness.

One of the crane's legs was exaggeratedly lengthened, enlarged, and hung down, vaguely blocking the body of the box. The blocked area was woven into a special pattern that, at first glance, looked like an openwork fish.

When the box was closed, only the crane could be seen; when the lid was lifted, the fish pattern was revealed.

The fish also symbolized auspiciousness.

The artisan official announced the time: "Two quarters remaining."

Time was too tight. Wang Ge hastily placed the newly crafted box into a bamboo winnowing basket and hurried to make her third artifact.

Irregular shapes undoubtedly tested an artisan's creativity the most. With not enough bamboo strips left, she had to split more bamboo.

Slice, slice, slice... slice, slice, slice!

While tearing the bamboo with her teeth, she mentally retraced the weaving steps once more. Human potential often makes breakthroughs in moments of urgency; the speed at which she split bamboo with her teeth had never been faster.

The number of bamboo strips was now sufficient.

The third artifact was a gourd.

The gourd symbolized fortune and emolument (fulu). Using bamboo strips spaced at two fen, she wove an openwork gourd. Little did she know, her idea clashed with another prospective artisan. That person's very first creation had been a gourd, crafted with much greater detail than the one Wang Ge was making.

***

A one-hour time limit was far too harsh. All three prospective artisans had first crafted what they were most adept at, leaving the last one to be finished simply by completing it, with no room to fuss over fine details.

After the two fist-sized gourd shapes were woven, less than half a quarter of the time remained.

In truth, all three of them had completed their tasks by this point, but no one stood up early. Those two were using every last bit of time to inspect their work.

Wang Ge was even busier, for she hadn't truly finished yet!

She took all the remaining bamboo strips, split them in half, split them in half again, and then twisted, inserted, pressed, and picked them to weave into a chubby doll hugging its knees.

No time left, no time left... A voice inside her head counted down anxiously. Just as she attached the chubby doll to the narrow mouth of the gourd, time was up!

Wang Ge let out a long breath, stood up, and waited for the artisan officials to inspect and announce the results.

Three people and nine crafted artifacts were placed in front of the stack of clumping bamboo.

Prospective artisans who hadn't received daily tasks would generally linger around the various material areas. Once the arena competition ended, they would be allowed to enter the material area to observe the results.

This was also a form of learning—observing the strengths of others to make up for one's own shortcomings.

This time, Wang Ge had won. Her gourd was not as exquisitely detailed as the one made by the other prospective artisan, but her small rolling lamp and the crane-and-fish box possessed a more elegant artistic quality than the other two entries.

Especially the rolling lamp. Some prospective artisans didn't even know there was such a lantern that could sway freely without spilling candle oil. Although the rolling lamp was small, the cage was double-layered, each equipped with an opening and closing door to add sesame oil and lampwicks. The two layers of doors could overlap or rotate out of alignment.

Prospective Artisan Shen from Shanyin County was remarkably thick-skinned; wherever the artisan official moved to display the rolling lamp, he shifted his feet to follow, forcing everyone else to look at the back of his head.

The reward Wang Ge received this time was truly unexpected. Aside from the fixed materials and tools (a slicing knife and five sections of clumping bamboo stalks), she also received an oil lamp. With this oil lamp, she could request sesame oil and flint from the official in charge of the quarters.

She still hadn't registered for the competition three days later. It wasn't time yet; she knew she still lacked seasoning. The artisan official's warning was correct: competitions were held every month, so there was no need to be impatient. Among the contestants, anyone ranking in the lower half would be punished, and who knew what the punishment might be? Let it not be forgotten that failing to receive a daily task for three consecutive days would result in expulsion from the intensive training camp.

"Prospective Artisan Wang."

Was he calling her? Wang Ge turned back to look—it was the big-headed artisan lad who had wedged himself right in front of the rolling lamp just moments ago.