Colored Glaze (Part 2) — Destiny's Call

The carpenters at Golden Curtain Terrace hadn't been idle either. Three days after the glass was finished, it hung in the shop's lattice windows.

Nine Kilns didn't have enough hands, though. If they were going to sell glass, production had to keep up first...

Just as she was fretting over this, Qi Yanhan walked in, impeccably dressed. He wore a carefully calibrated smile, trying to pass himself off as a gentle, refined gentleman. "Your Highness."

Zhou Yao turned. Before her eyes even registered him, her nose caught the deep, clean scent of sandalwood clinging to Qi Yanhan. Her gaze traveled upward—past layer upon layer of robes, past the occasional glimpse of pale, snow-white neck—until finally reaching his face, that visage of a false gentleman, all smiles and kindness, yet utterly insincere.

"You're swamped with official business—what brings you here all of a sudden?" Zhou Yao asked, eyeing him with suspicion.

Truth be told, she couldn't quite make sense of his behavior. They were barely acquainted, yet whenever they appeared before others together, they'd put on a show of affection, playing the devoted couple.

Qi Yanhan's eyes had been curved in a smile, but her words wiped the good mood right off his face. His brow furrowed slightly, and his tone was gentle, yet laced with a hint of hurt. "Your Highness, this humble one's wounds have just healed, and you show not a shred of concern?"

He hung his head in sorrow and sighed. "Very well. I'd heard that Golden Curtain Terrace was shorthanded and overwhelmed, so I brought extra hands to help. But it seems these people won't be needed after all..."

"In that case, I'll take my leave and head back to Qi Manor with them..."

Zhou Yao watched him, showing not the slightest fluster at having her predicament seen through. She gave a friendly smile. "Now that Master Qi has brought people all this way, it would be a shame to send them back. Please, take a seat."

"No need. I imagine Your Highness hasn't rested well lately. I've blended a calming incense by hand—I'll have Duyun bring it to you shortly." His voice was unusually tender, making Zhou Yao wonder if he was feeling unwell or weak from his injuries today.

"Do your wounds still hurt? Why does your voice sound so feeble?" Zhou Yao asked hesitantly. After all, she was the one who'd schemed against Qi Yanhan, and she couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt.

Qi Yanhan forced a smile onto his face, gazing at her steadily, and feigned frailty. "To be honest... they hurt."

"Father-in-law hit me for good reason. I failed to discipline my younger brother properly, and he went and stirred up trouble that angered Your Highness. Please don't blame him." He made to bow as he spoke, but as he bent forward, he suddenly broke into a violent fit of coughing.

Zhou Yao hurriedly reached out to steady him, a note of urgency in her voice. "If you haven't fully recovered, why did you run all the way here?"

He lifted his head again, the corners of his eyes faintly red, a glistening sheen of moisture in them. "Your Highness hasn't returned for days. This humble one was worried—I'm afraid I was too hasty... forgive me." His voice came out hoarse and weak.

"Let me help you inside to rest."

Zhou Yao was about to call for a servant to help Qi Yanhan to the backyard of Golden Curtain Terrace, but before she could, he closed the distance and leaned in close to her neck, his warm breath ghosting across her ear and making her freeze mid-motion.

"Your Highness, it's all because your servant has been unwell these past days that I failed to notice your predicament. Had I discovered it earlier, I could have spared you all this running about day and night." Qi Yanhan's fox-like eyes were brimming with watery light, as clear and crystalline as a glass cup filled with wine.

"You..." Zhou Yao did her best to turn her head away, using every ounce of effort to put some distance between herself and Qi Yanhan. "This is what I should be doing anyway."

He was so strange. Just a few days ago, he'd been scheming to maximize his gains, and now he was acting like this?

He was standing way too close. Zhou Yao thought—thank heavens the Golden Curtain Terrace staff were all elsewhere at the moment. If anyone saw this, it would be a real disaster!

"Your Highness asked me some time ago to acquire certain goods. They arrived at Qi Manor today, so I had them brought along." Qi Yanhan's gaze fell on the glass window of Golden Curtain Terrace, a smile lingering on his lips.

Noticing Zhou Yao's discomfort, Qi Yanhan slowly withdrew, taking a step back to put distance between them. A hint of smug satisfaction at having teased her showed on his face. "With that, I'll take my leave and return to the manor."

After he left, the servants indeed brought in the goods.

The boxes were packed full of seashells, plus several large crates of the porcelain clay used for making glass. Porcelain clay was cheap, but it was exceedingly difficult to find in Chang'an. Unless he'd tracked down a proper seller, it must have taken considerable effort.

That was thoughtful of him.

Qi Yanhan had sent a fair number of people—no fewer than fifty household servants, ten guards, and thirty maids.

Zhou Yao dispatched some to Golden Curtain Terrace and some to Nine Kilns. The maids stayed at Golden Curtain Terrace, while the stronger ones were sent to Nine Kilns to help with glass production and lend Chen Yuwen a hand.

These past few days, to ensure Golden Curtain Terrace opened without a hitch, Cui Wei had accompanied Zhou Yao all over, applying to the prefectural office for the merchant license and handling various paperwork. Once everything was in order, the shop's decorations were gradually finished as well.

Earlier, Zhou Yao had sent people to retrieve the original golden curtain of Golden Curtain Terrace. Now that it was re-hung, it was the icing on the cake. With the glass windows and golden curtain side by side, one could almost imagine being back in the palace.

"Madam." Cui Wei called out to Zhou Yao, then thought for a moment and said, "Today Golden Curtain Terrace opens for business. Why not have someone ask a master to pick an auspicious day?"

Lately, word had been spreading that the abbot of Fahua Temple outside the city was deeply cultivated—a living Buddha on earth. Even the wealthiest nobles were treated no differently in her eyes than the city's vagrants; she treated all equally.

"Fine. I've long heard of Master Wuchen's reputation. Better to see once than hear a hundred times. We'll go pay a visit tomorrow morning."

Zhou Yao scooped a handful of glass beads from the tray and handed them to Cui Wei, offering a gentle smile. "These are for you." She looked at the remaining beads in the tray and gave a slight chin tilt. "You've all worked hard these days. Take these beads and share them among the others."

Cui Wei looked at Zhou Yao, delighted beyond measure. She eagerly picked up one bead and held it to the candlelight. "Your Highness, these are really for us? I thought someone like us servants would never get to own such things!"

"Back at Qingyun Terrace, it was hard enough just to catch a glimpse of something like this. I never dared to dream that today I'd get to benefit from your generosity."

Zhou Yao wanted to call her silly, but the words changed as they left her mouth. "There will be many more things like this in the future. If you like, you can pick a couple to take back to your room."

"Thank you, Madam!" Cui Wei's joy was undeniable. She bounced and hopped around, a far cry from the cautious, timid girl she'd been when Zhou Yao first met her.

"But..." Cui Wei dropped her smile and said cautiously, "Madam, if your status is so noble, then why did you end up at..."

"From now on, swallow those words."

"Yes." Cui Wei bowed and withdrew, then raced off with the tray in her hands.

The next morning, a carriage came to a slow stop at the gates of Fahua Temple on the city's outskirts.

Zhou Yao was helped down from the carriage. Today she was dressed in simple white, with not a trace of makeup, and her face showed plain, visible exhaustion.

The temple's incense was thriving. Many young women of marriageable age came here to pray for love, farmers to pray for a favorable harvest in the coming year, and merchants to pray for prosperous business.

Zhou Yao paid no attention to the people coming and going in the temple. She climbed the high platform, accepted three sticks of incense, and knelt on the prayer mat. A flood of emotion welled up inside her.

She couldn't understand why her marriage had become a pawn in the royal game. She couldn't comprehend why the world always favored men. And what she could bear even less was that women in this world had no way out except to cling to men...

"Amitabha." Someone knelt down beside Zhou Yao and bowed three times toward the towering Buddha statue seated at the center of the hall. "Unutterable, unutterable."

"What can't be uttered?" Zhou Yao couldn't help glancing sideways, but the person knelt there seemingly unmoved, murmuring something under their breath that she couldn't quite catch.

It wasn't until she'd placed her three incense sticks in the burner and was about to move on to the next hall to kneel in prayer that the person slowly rose from the cushion. "In the vast world, there are many who are ugly and diseased—some of royal blood, some commoners, some in plain robes. The joys and sorrows of this world all lie in a single thought, a single motion. This is destiny's call."

Then he left.

Destiny's... call...?

Zhou Yao didn't understand what he meant. She had Cui Wei donate some silver to secure an auspicious day, then headed to Qi Manor.

She'd been staying at Golden Curtain Terrace all this time, and leaving her beagle boarded at Qi Manor indefinitely was hardly a long-term solution.

Zhou Yao figured: rather than leaving her adorable little beagle in someone else's care, she might as well keep it by her side.

This was Cui Wei's first time following Zhou Yao to Qi Manor. There was much she didn't understand, so Zhou Yao handed her over to Duyun for training.

Were it not for the shortage of people around her, Zhou Yao wouldn't have had Cui Wei follow her so hastily.

Especially those close to her—their lips had to be sealed tight.

Zhou Yao found her way to the courtyard with practiced ease, but there was no sign of the beagle. Instead, besides the holes in the ground she'd seen before, there were now a few bricks with dog-bite marks piled in the corner, along with beagle droppings scattered all over.

Staring at the scene in despair, Zhou Yao could practically hear the abacus beads of her debts clicking and clacking in her mind.

The courtyard repairs, the flower beds, the wall restoration, the cleaning fees—and the boarding fees for all those days.

Every single one of these would have to be paid to the Qi Manor steward.

On top of that, there were the silver taels she'd borrowed from Qi Yanhan—at minimum, it came to nearly ten thousand strings of cash.

Her vision darkened. Her future was so bleak she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face.

And in the dead of summer, no less—she actually felt a chill. What a nice, cool breeze!

Her vision swam, her head spun, and she toppled over, straight as a board, right onto the ground.

From a distance, it looked like she'd been killed by sheer rage at the beagle.

When she woke, she could barely breathe. Something heavy was pressing down on her face—she couldn't open her eyes, couldn't draw air through her nose. The suffocating sensation of death's doorstep crept over her.

Zhou Yao raised her hand and felt a furry texture. The answer came to her immediately.

She pushed with all her might, and sure enough, the beagle was right beside her.

She'd been suffocating because the beagle was lying with its belly right across her face!!!

Zhou Yao was exhausted, but Zhou Yao didn't say a word.

She raised her hand to scold the beagle, but it let out a soft, aggrieved "werwerwer," as if pouring out how much it had missed her during their time apart. And Zhou Yao admitted—she went soft-hearted all over again.