Chapter 1 Lou Qingxi's Intentions

Lou Qingxi’s statement from the beginning was at least half-deliberately feigning weakness, deliberately confusing the situation. Lou Qingxi knew, and he didn't think Ye Tao couldn't hear it. The so-called invitation to Ye Tao to show off his skills to subdue Shangbao Hall, so that Shangbao Hall's life would not be so difficult, was just a more acceptable way of inviting Ye Tao to battle. What if Ye Tao accepted the challenge, and what if he didn't? If Ye Tao accepted the challenge but failed to subdue Shangbao Hall, he would be the one who lost face. At that time, no one would sympathize with him. Instead, they would say that after repeatedly showing off his abilities, he didn't know how to restrain himself and finally stumbled in a field he was completely unfamiliar with. At that time, no matter which aspect, people as shrewd as Lou Qingxi and his Shangbao Hall would take full advantage.

Even knowing this, Ye Tao still smiled, as if he hadn't seen anything, and agreed. He also discussed the method of this competition with Lou Qingxi in detail. Ye Tao was unwilling to just make three things that challenged the limits of his technology and put them on the stage to compare with Shangbao Hall's things. The limit of technology is not the ultimate technology, but the bottleneck of technology. Moreover, to what extent the craftsmanship is exquisite at that level, ordinary people will not understand at all. Shangbao Hall is famous for jewelry design and production, and these gorgeous things that please the eye are very suitable for everyone's minds and very flattering. Since Ye Tao had accepted the challenge, he simply had to fight back tit-for-tat and defeat Shangbao Hall in a flattering and clever way.

With their own thoughts, the two sides finally roughly agreed on the method of the competition. Ten days later, at the same time as Shangbao Hall opened, the first work was exhibited, and Ye Tao had three days to make something for comparison. If at that time, the industry unanimously said that Ye Tao's work was not good, then naturally there was no need for the second and third rounds of the competition. If he won the first round, then ten days after the first treasure of the shop was exhibited, the second one would be exhibited, and ten days later, the last one would be exhibited. For the second work, Ye Tao had five days, and for the third work, Ye Tao had seven days. In this way, Ye Tao almost set an extremely terrible time limit for himself, leaving no room for maneuver. If he couldn't come up with decent things within the limited time, everyone would not sympathize with Ye Tao. However, isn't craftsmanship always about slow work and meticulous work? The time set by Ye Tao, even if it was tripled, Lou Qingxi felt that he might not be able to make anything of sufficient magnitude, but Ye Tao seemed to be very confident. In this way, the suspicious Lou Qingxi was a little uncertain about the situation. With a belly full of doubts, Lou Qingxi went back.

Immediately afterwards, the news of Shangbao Hall's treasure of the shop being displayed and the three-battle settlement between Shangbao Hall and Ye Shi Workshop also spread.

"If you lose, see if I don't beat you black and blue." Tan Weixin was a little unhappy that Ye Tao had rashly accepted this battle without discussing it. However, she had considerable confidence in Ye Tao, but she just felt that Ye Tao didn't discuss this kind of thing with her, and the feeling of being ignored was not good, just a little grumbling.

"What interesting things are you making? Can you give it to me after you win against Shangbao Hall?" Tan Weishi said. But her flickering eyes made it impossible to say no. After being purely admired at a forty-five-degree angle by the smaller girl, the boy was gloriously defeated and reluctantly agreed.

"Tch, what's there to be afraid of? His Shangbao Hall doesn't make giant crossbows and bows, and can't make catapults and siege vehicles either. Just some toys, what does it matter if you win or lose?" Lu Dan listened to Ye Tao's instructions, preparing various supplies and materials, and said disapprovingly. And his statement actually had quite a market in the circle of playboys in Dongping.

But Ye Tao was obviously not as open-minded as Lu Dan. If he really lost, his life would probably be a little difficult. He gathered all the apprentices and workers of the Ye Shi Workshop who had come to Danyang with him, cleared out a special workshop, carefully prepared the workbench and tools, checked all the precision measuring tools, and even in terms of diet and daily life, he tried his best to adjust everyone's state to the best, to the state where they could calmly and patiently do meticulous work. It was just that such efforts were somewhat insufficient. After the Flying Eagle letter, the Yicheng headquarters of Ye Shi Workshop immediately dispatched the strongest force to rush over as quickly as possible, including Cassandra, the only female apprentice of Ye Shi Workshop, a former dancer who is now a pattern designer, and Suo Yong, Ye Tao's senior brother who has worked hard and researched fine craftsmanship and has made considerable achievements in craftsmanship. As for those apprentices and workers who had followed Ye Tao and learned a lot of fine craftsmanship, they enthusiastically signed up, and finally, under Suo Yong's careful selection, ten people were selected to come to Danyang together.

Regarding this matter, Master Qi Zhentao showed unusual interest. He directly sent a large batch of jewelry from Nanyang or black-marketed from pirates, with large emeralds and agates everywhere, and several high-quality jade raw stones were priceless. Although only a small batch was sent by Suo Yong and Cassandra to arrive in advance, when the subsequent things were delivered, to meet the needs of the second and third rounds, there was absolutely no problem in terms of material quality to overwhelm Shangbao Hall.

As for the safety of transporting a large number of valuables, there was no need to worry about it. After learning about this, Min Yue, who was originally going back to Beijing this year to report on his work, ordered a thousand soldiers to set off two months in advance to escort this batch of raw materials. Only short-sighted bandits would be so bold.

When everything was happening at such a fast pace, time flew by. Ten days passed in an instant, and the opening of the Danyang branch of Shangbao Hall had arrived.

Shangbao Hall's entry into the Danyang market was so high-profile. In order to keep up with the pace, they, who were financially strong, surprisingly did not build their own building, but bought the property of the original largest jewelry merchant in Danyang, Green Neon Pavilion, and opened it after a little decoration. The location that was originally familiar to everyone suddenly changed owners, giving the old residents of Danyang City a greater impact. However, after the redecoration by those capable people in Shangbao Hall, the aura revealed by the current Danyang branch of Shangbao Hall was indeed much better than the originally re-decorated Green Neon Pavilion. The difference between them was as strong as that between a third-generation rich man and a nouveau riche.

Everyone came here with complex and inexplicable feelings. Most people were certainly happy that there was also a Shangbao Hall in Danyang City, but they were more concerned about the bet between Shangbao Hall and Ye Tao. Everyone had heard of the so-called three master craftsmen of Shangbao Hall for a long time, and the accessories from the hands of these master craftsmen were engraved with the names of these master craftsmen on the packaging boxes. On the other side of the bet, because everyone's understanding of Ye Shi Workshop was far less than their understanding of Ye Tao, they could only ignore this powerful group and focus their attention on Ye Tao, who had recently caused too much talk.

Although he came to Shangbao Hall surrounded by Tan Weishi and Huang Wan, Ye Tao did not have any unnatural expression as the center of everyone's attention. His faint smile fully showed the peace and confidence in his heart.

Luo Qin and Song Yu did not appear on this occasion, while Lou Qingxi fully demonstrated his social skills. His high-profile entry into Danyang made many people feel like they were in a spring breeze.

Ye Tao's arrival immediately attracted Lou Qingxi's attention. He excused himself from the officials he was chatting with and came out. After paying respects to the princess and others, Lou Qingxi specially confirmed with Ye Tao before smiling and saying, "Then let's begin."

Amidst everyone's eager expectations, Ye Tao said with great grace, "That's natural, I'm just about to see Shangbao Hall's skills."

Lou Qingxi chuckled, cleared his throat, stood in the center of the hall, and said loudly, "Everyone, everyone. All those who have come today to participate in the opening celebration of the Danyang branch of Shangbao Hall are famous figures in Danyang. It is really an honor for our shop. Although hairpins and bracelets are what everyone likes to see, I believe everyone is here today to see the works of our three master craftsmen, right? Please follow me, this first treasure of the shop has been waiting for you in the garden for a long time. Everyone, please come this way."

The central garden has been redecorated. The circle of cloisters around it has not changed much, but the small world in the middle has been almost completely transformed. A small pool and several slender bamboos have become the theme of the central garden landscape. Those flowers and trees that are not very precious seem to grow in just the right places and are trimmed just right. On the ground, where there are no plants, delicate and clean pebbles are laid, without revealing a bit of mud, leaving only a winding path paved with bluestone covered with a little moss and slightly moist in the middle. Several dragonflies are flying up and down in the courtyard, and one dragonfly is even perched on a strangely shaped stone by the pool, its wings slightly opening and closing. This small courtyard seems to make people reluctant to touch it at all.

Everyone stood in the cloister around the courtyard, wondering and searching, where is this so-called first treasure of the shop? This perfectly natural courtyard seems to have no space left to hold something full of splendor and treasure.

"Boss Lou, you are...?" In addition to being slightly surprised, there were many people who couldn't hold back their breath, and someone soon raised their own questions, and their tone was very indignant, as if they had been teased.

Lou Qingxi had a smile on his face, walked slowly into the courtyard along the bluestone path, picked up a dragonfly from the rock under everyone's attention, held it on his finger, and slowly turned around so that everyone could see clearly. He said loudly, "This first treasure is this, didn't everyone find it? This dragonfly is made of green jade as the main material and other materials as auxiliary materials!"

This is not actually a real dragonfly? No one had noticed just now. Shangbao Hall is indeed not to be underestimated. Their craftsmanship seems to be able to give these stones life, and can actually show the demeanor of living things in these hard things. Thunderous applause and cheers rang out. As if to cater to everyone's cheers, the jade dragonfly in Lou Qingxi's hand actually flapped its wings slightly again...