Chapter 51: Real and Fake Silk

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Real and Fake Silk

With all the commotion in the courtyard, Dabao might have been frightened. When Ji Huan turned around, she saw him half-hidden in the kitchen doorway, staring in their direction.

The fire had naturally gone out. Ji Huan patted his head, relit it, and had Dabao sit down to keep feeding the flames.

Zhen Jili sauntered in with his hands clasped behind his back, a smug look on his face. "So? Good thing I had the brilliant foresight to take a day of family leave. If I hadn’t shown up, they would have bullied you to death!"

"Not necessarily."

Ji Huan was scrubbing a small pot. She pointed to the other stove opening and told him to tend the fire with Dabao.

Zhen Jili grumbled as he went to sit down. Dabao’s little brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, his eyes glued to the firewood in Zhen Jili’s hands.

Seeing this, Zhen Jili teased him, "Why don’t you do it? I always respect the old and care for the young."

Ji Huan called out to Dabao, "I’m hungry. Why don’t you two tend the fires together, each to your own? That way, we can eat sooner, alright? See? Your fire hole is bigger than his, so let’s just let him use the smaller one."

Dabao wasn’t pleased. He glanced at the two fire holes and saw that his was indeed larger. He stopped fussing with Zhen Jili, turned away, and went back to feeding his own fire.

Zhen Jili was speechless. ’So they’re letting me tend the fire out of pity?’

He could tell, however, that Dabao didn’t seem like other children.

He opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t ask.

"You said ’not necessarily’ earlier, but I think you were just putting on a brave face. So tell me, if I hadn’t come, how were you planning to deal with those people?"

Ji Huan chopped vegetables without looking up. "Initially, I didn’t know Wang De would be coming, so I only had a plan for dealing with Gu Yutian."

Upon hearing that Widow Xie had been dismissed, Ji Huan didn’t rush to the Hu family. Instead, she went into town to gather information from Boss Fang at the bookshop.

Juyong Town was small, so it wasn’t hard to find out what was happening at the silk workshop. Furthermore, when she arrived, she happened to run into Song Jing, who was there to exchange some books. As it turned out, one of Song Jing’s classmates was a neighbor of Gu Yutian.

By cross-referencing the information from these various channels, she managed to uncover a major secret—or rather, some leverage she could use against Gu Yutian.

"What leverage?" Zhen Jili asked, his curiosity piqued.

"The daily work at the silk workshop is to soak silkworm cocoons in hot water to unravel the silk. For that, you need silkworms. And the silkworms’ main food source is Mulberry Leaves. At this time of year, most of the mulberry trees have lost their leaves. They won’t sprout again until early spring."

Zhen Jili was getting confused. "Silkworms, cocoons, tree leaves... What does any of this have to do with Gu Yutian?"

Ji Huan shot him a look.

"Based on the growth cycle of Mulberry Leaves, the silkworm-raising seasons are spring, from May to June; summer, from July to August; and fall, from September to October. Even the very last of the late-fall silkworms are done by the end of October. But it’s November now, and the silk workshop shows no sign of shutting down."

Aunt Xie mentioned that since she’d returned to work, they weren’t having her unravel cocoons or reel silk. Instead, she and many of the other women were assigned to scrub some kind of tree bark. Once cleaned, the bark was sent by a dedicated person to another courtyard. No one knew what for.

The workers couldn’t figure out the scheme, but Ji Huan, who had watched countless consumer rights exposés in her past life, had a pretty good idea.

After finding out from a cook at Gu Yutian’s home that he had recently hired men to cut down a type of light brown tree deep in the mountains, Ji Huan was nearly certain.

She gave the cook a little something extra to bring her a piece of the bark.

As it turned out, the fibers from this bark could indeed be processed into a silk-like material.

At first glance, it was almost impossible to tell the difference, but the two were actually very different.

Real silk is milky white with a slight yellow tint. It has a soft luster, and the threads are long and continuous.

Some long filaments produced from viscose or other artificial fibers can also be quite long, but they lack the loft and insulating properties of real silk.

"But the most important and easiest way to tell real from fake silk is this—real silk doesn’t burn easily, while fake silk goes up in a ball of flame."

Zhen Jili stroked his chin, nodding. "Sounds plausible."

It was obvious he hadn’t understood.

As it happened, Ji Huan had kept some samples, originally intending to use them against Gu Yutian. Since they were no longer needed, she decided to give Zhen Jili a demonstration on the spot.

She pulled a burning twig from the fire hole and held it near the real silk.

It only caught fire when the flame was held close, and it extinguished the moment the flame was pulled away, leaving behind a smell like burnt eggshells.

Upon closer inspection, the burnt area was black and glossy. When she crushed it between her fingers, it crumbled into a fine, delicate powder.

Then, she did the same with the fake silk.

It burned more intensely than the real silk. When the flame was removed, it took a moment before it went out.

It produced a good deal of gray smoke as it burned, leaving behind the smell of burnt paper. The residue contained black particles, and when crushed, revealed unburnt fibers within.

Nothing illustrated the point more clearly and vividly than a live demonstration.

Zhen Jili gave her a thumbs-up, but he still had a question.

"Weren’t you afraid that not only would Gu Yutian deny it, but he’d also accuse you of slander?"

"It wouldn’t matter whether Gu Yutian admitted it or not. This evidence wasn’t meant for him. I found out that in a week, eight merchants from out of town are coming to the silk workshop to inspect the goods. If I’m not mistaken, that shipment will be a mix of real and fake silk. At a time like that, if even the slightest rumor were to get out... do you think he’d dare take that risk?"

"Thank goodness I’m not on your bad side!" Zhen Jili wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. "But I was right about you. You’re definitely not wired like other people."

’That didn’t sound like a compliment.’

"You can’t win a fight against the powerful, but that doesn’t mean the little guy wants to just sit back and wait to be crushed. All we can do is rack our brains for a way to protect ourselves."

The water in the pot on Dabao’s side was about to boil, but Zhen Jili was so engrossed in talking that he didn’t even notice his fire was about to die out. Ji Huan tapped on his pot, and only then did he hurry to add more wood.

She heated some lard in a pot, then tossed in ginger, garlic, and dried chili rings to release their fragrance.

Next, she added peeled, ripe tomatoes and stir-fried them until they broke down, then mixed in diced winter melon.

There was still half a pot of pork bone broth from before. She ladled in a few scoops, just enough to cover the vegetables, then put the lid on to let it simmer.

"But I really do have you to thank for today," Ji Huan said, and she meant it.

Although she had leverage on Gu Yutian and could have used it to fight back when he came to threaten her, the plan came with a huge hidden risk.

Even if Gu Yutian backed down temporarily, he would surely hold a grudge. Unless it was a last resort, she really didn’t want to make a mortal enemy for herself; it would only create more trouble.

For someone who threw their weight around like that, Zhen Jili’s method of using his own power to crush theirs was far more effective—the classic "four taels to move a thousand pounds." Not only would the target not dare to harbor resentment, they would likely be scrambling to curry favor.

Praised so suddenly, Zhen Jili’s eyebrows danced with delight, and he looked like he was about to float away.

"Hmph. So you do have a conscience! In any case, I’ve eaten a few more years’ worth of salt than you. You still have plenty to learn from me!"

’Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.’ The saying was a perfect fit for Zhen Jili.

Ji Huan told him to let the fire die down. She lifted the pot lid, seasoned the dish with salt, scallions, and pepper, then thickened the sauce with a light starch slurry. The tomato and winter melon stir-fry was ready.