Chapter 522: Skillful Hands and Ingenious Mind
Waking up in the morning, the air conditioner in the room was still running. After a night of air conditioning, her skin and mouth felt dry. Xuerou pushed aside the air conditioner blanket covering her body, thinking about getting up to drink some water.
Last night, after Xuerou returned to her room, she saw Xiao Xian still organizing rattan vines for weaving. She lay down beside her, watching, and soon fell asleep. Eventually, she simply moved the blanket and pillow to the floor, and each of them slept at one end.
It was her first time sleeping on the floor, yet she slept very well, dreamlessly. Xuerou remembered it had been a long while since she had last slept so soundly.
The last time she slept well was at Yanqing Farm; it seemed that every time she was with Xiao Xian, she could sleep deeply. Having a friend felt truly wonderful.
The Black Purple Vine scattered on the floor was gone. Before falling asleep last night, Xuerou remembered that Xiao Xian had carelessly dropped the Black Purple Vines on the floor.
Before sleep, they hadn’t managed to tidy up, and the two just lay directly on what was said to be the best material for weaving mats.
Thinking back, sleeping on unprocessed rattan surprisingly felt more comfortable than sleeping on the top-grade goat blanket laid on her mother’s study couch.
Feeling around with her hands, Xuerou couldn’t find the scattered rattan vines. At her feet, she didn’t touch Xiao Xian. Xuerou sat up and first looked at the red alarm clock on the bookshelf—it was only a bit past four o’clock and not yet five.
On the balcony, there were rustling sounds, not like the noise of the curtains being blown by the wind.
Xuerou tiptoed toward the balcony.
Last night, mid-rain, the summer heat was washed away.
After the rain, the horizon started to lighten up some, while staying dark elsewhere; the heat of the day had not yet come. The balcony had a cool, watery fragrance, and its edge was still dripping with rainwater, drip-drip-drip, silently falling to the ground; the balcony doors were half-closed.
Xuerou walked onto the balcony barefoot, leaving black streaks on the ground.
Xiao Xian was sitting on a chair, with hundreds of black purple vines each gleaming with a dazzling silver luster. That luster shone on Xiao Xian’s cheeks, turning the fine hairs golden on her face.
Each black and silver-striped purple vine, as pliable as fine silk hair, slid between her fingers and knees. Her fingers moved as nimbly as knitting needles, following a weaving method of four horizontal and two vertical, and in just over an hour, the Black Purple Vine Mat already started taking shape, covering most of the balcony.
Xuerou thought about asking a question, but realizing Xiao Xian was wholly absorbed in her fervor, chose to stand by the door behind the glass, watching quietly for fear that a single movement might disrupt Xiao Xian’s rhythm.
Fortunately, Xuerou didn’t approach. If she had opened the door and stepped out at that moment, it would undoubtedly have been very dangerous.
While weaving the Black Purple Vine Mat, Xiao Xian defensively enveloped herself in a burst of Spiritual Energy.
In the morning, during her sleep, she felt an intense heat overwhelming her, though the room’s air conditioner was set to 20 degrees, and Xuerou beside her curled up coldly in the blanket.
That heat wasn’t due to the room’s temperature but because of a vigorous Spiritual Energy surging within her body, pulsing through her veins like a torrential river.
The Black Purple Vines on the ground seemed to possess a magical power. The river flowed from her fingers into the mat, filling every horizontal and vertical gap between the strands, tightly woven so that no water could seep through without the need for a ruler’s knock.
At this moment, Xiao Xian replayed the teachings of Mao Dazhu about mat weaving in her mind. Each of Mao Dazhu’s movements, from his fingers threading through bamboo strips to every bend of his fingertips, broke into countless slow-motion scenes.
Her movements became smooth, akin to a skilled mat weaver with decades of experience. The completed mat constantly slipped from her knees and hands, seamlessly without a single halt.
The entire mat used far more Spiritual Power than the previous few times she used the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors, but this time Xiao Xian felt no signs of diminishing Spiritual Power. On the contrary, the Spiritual Power inside her was like sailing on a river after a torrential rain—water rose and the boat sailed high, and each time she used some, it immediately replenished.
The sound of shaking the mat, "swish swish," suddenly darkened the room. Xiao Xian spread out the mat on the balcony, blocking the still-mild morning sun.
Ultimately, due to limited materials, even though the mat was filled with Silver Space Water, it could only be woven into a single-sized bed mat instead of a standard double-bed mat. Nevertheless, Xiao Xian felt it was enough. Sweat appeared on her nose, her body exhilarated as if having undergone intense exercise—not from exhaustion but from a thoroughly refreshing exhilaration.