Chapter 1 Ye Tao's Gift for Tan Weishi

Among the gifts Ye Tao prepared for Tan Weishi, the most precious was undoubtedly the miniature painting album given to him by the Samir family, preserved by the chief painter of a small country among the artisans. During all the moments of being captured, loaded onto carts, and put on ships, the painter held onto this scroll tightly, wrapped in layers of the finest linen and silk, so much so that everything else he owned was taken or lost, except for this album. When he was finally sent to the East, which had previously only existed in rumors, and stepped onto the orderly stone-paved port of Yicheng, with its echoing bells, he could hardly believe what he saw. Afterwards, with the help of the Samir family's translator and several friendly and curious technicians from the Ye family workshop, these specialized craftsmen settled down, finding food, lodging, and clothing. To their disbelief, craftsmen with families were assigned accommodations according to their household size, while most of the single craftsmen shared spacious and clean dormitories in pairs. The Ye family workshop was obviously experienced in receiving guests from afar, not only preparing ample food but also inquiring in advance about any dietary restrictions due to their country or religion. Afterwards, these craftsmen, concentrated in one dormitory area, were assigned to various departments of the Ye family workshop. While familiarizing themselves with various tasks, they also learned the language. During this stage, their work would fully demonstrate their individual abilities, and then some of them would continue to work in the workshop, while others would be able to enter a specialized factory area for the localization and transplantation of various Middle Eastern technologies.

The painter originally felt that his painting skills were not as useful to the new owner as those of the blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and jewelers. The only thing that made him feel relieved was that he was at least not as useless as those Egyptian monks who made mummies. Unexpectedly, he was discovered by an old technician within a day of working in the printing and dyeing workshop and sent to the pattern design department of the Ye family workshop in Yicheng, which was currently in a semi-idle state. Cassandra, the head of the pattern design department, was still in Yunzhou, serving as the head of the newly established graphic design department of the Ye family workshop. There was no new pattern design work in Yicheng, mainly organizing various patterns to prepare for the future overall transformation into a specialized graphic design department. In that spacious and bright factory building, among those cabinets, paper clips, and filing cabinets, the painter felt dazzled. What made him even more incredible was that he was told that there were several non-Chinese people working in the pattern design department of the Ye family workshop, and even the person in charge was a young woman of Greek descent.

Opportunities always come to those who are prepared. At this time, the Seven Seas Trading Company required a batch of special sailor uniforms to be made urgently for the crew of the flagship of the Tiger Tooth fleet, so that they could show off their power. In the uniform, there was a commemorative square handkerchief that needed a pattern that matched the theme of the Seven Seas Trading Company. The key was the pattern. Although Master Qi lavishly stated that all of these handkerchiefs should be made using the expensive *jiaxie* (clamp-resist dyeing) process, the *jiaxie* process was now only a very standardized and simple matter in the printing and dyeing department of the Ye family workshop.

In the pattern design department, anyone could create a design as long as they had an idea. In the entire factory building, anyone could take sheets of excellent large-format (approximately A3) drawing paper (120g coated paper) and charcoal sticks, pastel sticks, and the like. All those who were qualified to enter the pattern design department were also assumed to be qualified to participate in discussions, participate in design, and freely use these tools.

With too many emotions accumulated along the way, and having seen various strange sights, the painter could hardly restrain his passion for creation. He created six patterns at once, depicting his imagined sailor life or the grand blueprint of the Seven Seas Trading Company from the themes of the Seven Seas Tower, the port, ships and sailors, the ocean, and the tropics. In the end, Qi Zhentao adopted the design with the Seven Seas Tower as the theme. Dai Qiuyan, who was somewhat curious about the painter, personally visited the pattern design department to see him.

Dai Qiuyan may not be the most comprehensive painter in this time and space, but she has the best artistic creation conditions. When she painstakingly learned about the miniature painter's works, working methods, and their ultimate aspirations with the help of a translator, she generously stated that the painter could establish his own studio outside of his work in the pattern design department, as long as he was willing to take a few students. When Dai Qiuyan brought some of her previous works and asked the painter to comment on them, the painter realized that his future master's wife was actually a painter with excellent skills. This feeling of being valued, trusted, and treated equally as a colleague finally made the painter determined to dedicate the scroll he had been protecting all the way to his master.

Dai Qiuyan naturally would not have thought that she just did something insignificant based on her love of painting, but she had won the loyalty of a painter with excellent skills, and even caused the complete set of miniature painting techniques to be almost completely preserved in Dongping many years later, after the decline of miniature painting techniques in the Middle East due to war and economic recession. There were many works, many students' exercises and works at various stages, and different people's study notes, which finally preserved an art that was so complicated that it was staggering. However, that scroll did surprise her.

According to a more fashionable saying, it was an illustrated epic, *Tanjiliqa*, which narrates the story of a princess on the grassland leading her tribe to conquer all directions and establish a country. Knowing that Tan Weishi had been extremely yearning for the grassland and such images ever since the first military chess open competition, Dai Qiuyan naturally decided without hesitation to give this album to Tan Weishi.

Holding the album carefully and looking at the translated text written in the booklet in comparison with the paintings, Tan Weishi still couldn't cheer up. Those poems completely formed by gold foil affixed to parchment and the painted pages with gorgeous colors fascinated her, but not to the extent that she could forget the depression of the recent period. The problem now was that she couldn't tell anyone about her depression.

Ye Tao had been back in Danyang for a day and a half, and Tan Weishi hadn't had a chance to see Ye Tao, or even Tan Weixin. Almost as soon as Ye Tao and Tan Weixin returned, they were summoned by Tan Xiaopei. In the current situation, the content of the summons must include the conflict between Her Royal Highness Princess Xiu and His Majesty. Tan Xiaopei knew that there were some things that Tan Weishi would only tell her sister, and would only listen to her sister. Yes, Tan Weishi, that super naughty little girl back then, was now eighteen years old. Most of her friends, those friends who could be teased by her and play with her, were now married and had children. Sometimes, she even became the king of the children, leading the next generation of playboys in the kingdom to play, and Xiu Yuan was gradually becoming a nursery... but this was not what she wanted.

Dai Qiuyan looked at Tan Weishi, who was usually in a good mood, very strangely, and asked, "What's wrong? Don't you like it?"

"I like it..." Tan Weishi said weakly, "But I really can't be happy recently. Father is so excessive! He's in a hurry to marry me off. Those candidates are worse than the last."

"...Do you have someone you like?" Dai Qiuyan asked.

After staring at Dai Qiuyan for a long time, Tan Weishi finally nodded with an almost imperceptible amplitude.

"Then why don't you tell His Majesty? Didn't His Majesty promise to let you marry someone you like? In this case, why doesn't the person you like stand up for himself? This is too unmanly." Dai Qiuyan's tone was very clearly accusatory.

"...He...he doesn't know." Tan Weishi's sigh filled Dai Qiuyan's head with question marks. Who? Who could make Her Royal Highness Princess Xiu have a crush? This was really incredible.

"Doesn't know...then why don't you tell His Majesty? Since it's someone you like, then His Majesty should arrange it for you." Dai Qiuyan blurted out. Then she thought of a possibility, that is, once Tan Weishi said it, it would probably be even more impossible. Perhaps the age difference was too great, perhaps the status was too different, perhaps it was a married man? ...Or maybe... it was some strange form that Dai Qiuyan had only heard a little about, called "lily love"?

"Sigh..." Tan Weishi hugged her close friend. Dai Qiuyan's slightly tilted head and focused expression while thinking were really too cute. "Don't guess. It's not good for anyone to say it. I'll just obediently endure it. See how long it takes for Father to figure it out and leave me alone."

Dai Qiuyan patted Tan Weishi's back very considerately and said, "Okay, remember to tell me first when you want to tell me. ...Second is also fine. You should tell Sister Xin'er first. Sister Xin'er can help you solve it." Dai Qiuyan said very confidently. In her small mind, probably everything in this world could be solved by Ye Tao or Tan Weixin.

Yes. It was indeed Tan Weixin who could solve it, and was already helping to solve it. Tan Weishi buried her head in Dai Qiuyan's chest. She didn't know whether she should express her gratitude for her best friend's concern at this moment, or express some kind of apology. But she knew that she would eventually have to face this problem... if her omnipotent sister's plan really worked.