Pei Du’s heart skipped a beat, and he was just about to reprimand the girl.
But the girl in the pink dress had already rushed forward, clutching her skirts. She fell to her knees with a thud and bowed deeply toward the Divine Lady in the sky.
“The Divine Lady is above,” she said, her voice clear and crisp. “I am Pei Wanning, and I kowtow to the Divine Lady.”
The Divine Lady lowered her eyes and glanced at her.
“For what reason do you seek me?” She asked indifferently.
Pei Wanning took a deep breath.
As if summoning the courage of a lifetime, she spoke loudly. “I embolden myself to beg the Divine Lady to remain in the mortal realm.”
As soon as these words were spoken.
Shen Yu and the other two were momentarily stunned, and they all turned to look at her.
They had been racking their brains on how to persuade the Divine Lady to stay, yet they had never thought of asking so bluntly. It was simply because they did not know what was worth staying for in such a devastated mortal world.
Therefore, after much thought, they could only use the suffering of the mortal realm to plead for a sliver of the deity's pity.
The spirit fox scoffed and was about to mock her, but it was gently suppressed by a single look from the Divine Lady.
Her tone carried a hint of interest. “Tell me then, why should I stay?”
Pei Wanning looked up, her almond eyes bright and sparkling, reflecting the light of the sky and the shadows of the clouds. She spoke each word deliberately. “Divine Lady, you once taught us a phrase: that mortals have infinite potential and can turn impossible things into possibilities, even beating the heavens by half a move!”
“Therefore, I beg you to stay in the mortal realm.”
As she spoke, her voice grew more determined. “The Divine Lady has lived in the Heavenly Palace for a long time; you must be accustomed to its prosperity and have seen all manner of immortal techniques. Why not try something new? Watch us, a group of insignificant mortals, use our hands, our minds, and our bodies of flesh and blood to change this world bit by bit. Perhaps this would be more interesting than bitter cultivation in the Ninth Heaven?”
The breeze ruffled the stray hairs at Pei Wanning’s temples, but she remained motionless, her gaze clear and burning.
The Divine Lady watched her silently. After a long moment, the corners of her lips curled up into an extremely faint arc.
The smile was very light, but it was genuine.
Shen Yu and the others were so surprised they were speechless, especially Pei Wanning’s uncle, Pei Du.
They had just talked until their throats were dry without seeing the Divine Lady moved in the slightest, yet now she was smiling.
Pei Du gazed at Pei Wanning’s small back, his heart a swirl of conflicting emotions.
Everyone praised him as the Qilin son of the Pei Clan of Heluo, possessing talent that could govern the world. It was only today that he realized he was far inferior to this niece of his who had just celebrated her hair-pinning ceremony.
If A’Ning could have received the same family resources as he had, her talent and ability would have far surpassed his.
At this moment, he felt even more deeply how much the feudal ethics oppressed women.
A woman's wisdom was never inferior to a man's; it was only the oppression of these ethics that kept their talents from ever seeing the light of day.
Suddenly, he began to regret writing that letter. He shouldn't have sent it back to Heluo, asking his eldest brother to come to Xindu to take her back.
His A’Ning had fought so hard to earn a chance at a rebirth from the ashes. If she were taken back to Heluo by his brother because of that letter, he would never be able to forgive himself.
After an unknown amount of time.
The Divine Lady’s voice descended from the Ninth Heaven. “What you say is quite interesting, but I do not like only hearing people speak.”
Just as everyone thought Pei Wanning had also failed, another flurry of footsteps came from behind.
Shen Yu turned his head, his pupils shrinking suddenly.
He saw.
Zhang Qiaoniang leading dozens of seamstresses, along with a group of men dressed in coarse cloth, walking toward them in a grand procession.
They were either pushing or carrying things; one by one, brand-new spinning machines were moved into the open space and arranged in neat rows.
One, two, three, four...
Shen Yu counted silently, and the more he counted, the more alarmed he became.
It wasn't one machine, nor was it ten.
It was exactly one hundred spinning machines!
Each one was polished to an extraordinary shine, with every joint fitting perfectly. They were even superior to the one the Divine Lady had brought from the Heavenly Palace seven days ago.
Furthermore, behind the rows of spinning machines followed another group of people. They carried bolts of cloth in their arms, stacked high like small mountains.
The texture of the cloth was fine and dense, the weave neat and tidy. It shimmered with a soft luster under the sunlight, looking unlike any mortal fabric.
Seeing this scene, Pei Wanning breathed a sigh of relief.
Because time was so tight, even though they had been building spinning machines and weaving cloth day and night, they still lacked manpower.
Especially since Su Aheng was the only one who knew how to build the spinning machines. If Pei Wanning hadn't stumbled upon her, that silly girl would have nearly worked herself to death in her room.
Pei Wanning had thought for a long time before inviting the city's carpenters to follow Su Aheng in building the machines.
Later, she went door-to-door to persuade women who knew how to weave and spin to come to the embroidery workshop. She paid them wages to help weave together, rushing to produce a thousand bolts of fine cloth.
They were originally happy that they hadn't failed the Divine Lady, but then they heard the catastrophic news that she was returning to the Ninth Heaven.
Since moving the machines and the cloth took time, she had to go ahead first to find a way to keep the Divine Lady here.
Fortunately, everything arrived just in time.
Zhang Qiaoniang walked to the very front.
She bent her knees and knelt heavily, her forehead touching the ground, her voice trembling slightly with excitement.
“Divine Lady, seven days ago, to stand up for us mortals, you did not hesitate to wager your ten thousand years of cultivation against the Weaver Girl. You wagered on whether we mortals, with our own wisdom, could build the spinning machines of the Heavenly Palace and weave its fine cloth.”
She slowly straightened her back, her eyes brimming with tears, yet she smiled radiantly. She reached out and pointed to the hundred spinning machines and thousand bolts of fine cloth behind her, her voice loud and proud.
“This is the first gift we mortals offer to the Divine Lady!”
The Divine Lady stood atop her flying sword.
Her gaze swept over the spinning machines one by one, then landed on the mountain-like stacks of cloth. Finally, it settled on those faces full of expectation.
Then, the smile on her lips widened a bit more.
She descended from the sky, landing gently on the ground. Her skirts brushed against the dusty earth, yet they remained unstained.
“I like this gift very much.”
Those few simple words were like a pebble dropped into a calm lake, the ripples spreading out layer by layer.
Zhang Qiaoniang could no longer hold it back; tears burst from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
Behind her.
The seamstresses and carpenters were already weeping in unison.
Some covered their faces, some held each other, and some couldn't even stay kneeling, collapsing to the ground in sobs.
For seven whole days and nights.
They had hardly closed their eyes.
Blisters had formed on their hands, so the seamstresses wrapped them in layer after layer of cloth. Even though their eyes were bloodshot and their vision blurred, they never left the embroidery workshop.
The carpenters had worked even harder, revising the blueprints again and again, dismantling and rebuilding the joints, improving them over and over.
No one complained; no one retreated.
Because in their hearts, there was only one thought.
They could not let the Divine Lady lose.
And now.
The Divine Lady had personally said, “I like it very much.”
All the bitterness and exhaustion.
At this moment, it was all worth it.
The Divine Lady spoke again. “Since you have helped me win the wager, I also have something to give to you.”
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