"Miaozhu! Your signboard's here!"
The next morning, Song Miaozhu was in the middle of printing product data for a purchasing request she'd received the night before when she heard the shout and quickly rushed outside.
"It's done already?" she asked in surprise—only to see Zhao Mumu, eyes ringed with dark circles, directing workers as they unloaded the large wooden plaque.
"What happened to your eyes?" Miaozhu asked, frowning.
"Ahem." Zhao Mumu rubbed her nose awkwardly. "I may have... lost track of time doing wood carving last night."
She deliberately emphasized the words wood carving.
Song Miaozhu immediately understood—this was the excitement of someone who had just discovered cultivation and couldn't resist practicing all night.
"You know what's weird? Normally, if I pull an all-nighter, I feel drained the whole next day. But this time, even though I've got dark circles, I don't feel tired at all! Do I look more 'spiritual' now?"
Zhao Mumu asked eagerly.
"..."
Song Miaozhu couldn't bring herself to say it was probably just adrenaline-fueled delusion. Wood carving was meticulous work—forcing it might backfire.
She also stayed up late making paper offering, but she rested her body while her soul worked in the underworld. And she only did it for two hours at a time before returning to rest.
"Don't push yourself too hard," Miaozhu advised gently. "Proper rest keeps your energy aligned. The better your condition, the more spiritual energy your carvings will attract."
"Got it! I'll rest after we install this signboard," Zhao Mumu promised. "Though I can't tell if it's my master's improving skills or the spiritual energy, but this plaque… it feels different. It has this inexplicable aura. Especially those golden sycees in the corners—at first glance, they almost look real."
Miaozhu nodded. She'd noticed it too.
Originally, she'd chalked it up to Grandpa Zhao's exceptional craftsmanship, but now it seemed spiritual energy really was enhancing their work—just like it had elevated the quality of her own paper ingot and golden lotuses.
Still, whether it was paper infused with glowing spiritual energy or wooden carvings laced with it, Miaozhu's Heavenly Eye could no longer detect any traces once they were complete. The energy seemed to vanish into the finished piece.
"By the way!" Zhao Mumu suddenly piped up. "Master He, the Suzhou embroidery inheritor, spontaneously recovered from terminal cancer! It's being called a medical miracle. Do you think it's related to spiritual energy?"
That got Miaozhu's attention. She immediately pulled out her phone to check. She'd been so busy all morning collecting product data that she hadn't glanced at it once. The moment she opened Weibo, she saw:
"Medical Miracle: Master Embroiderer He Recovers from Pancreatic Cancer in One Month!"
Zhao Mumu peeked over. "Already dropped to third? It was number one this morning!"
Song Miaozhu clicked into the hashtag and found an interview with Master He Zhen. The elderly woman, even older than Grandpa Zhao, calmly answered questions.
"It's true—I've healed. Six months ago, I wasn't feeling well, so I went in for tests. They found pancreatic cancer, and the prognosis was grim.
I thought… if I didn't have time to pass down my skills, I could at least leave a few more pieces behind before I go. Immersing myself in embroidery helped me forget the pain.
But once I finished that piece, I actually felt better than before my diagnosis. So I went back for another checkup, just to see if I could still take on a more ambitious project. And that's when the doctor told me—the cancer was gone.
I don't know how it happened. It wasn't a misdiagnosis—the test results were clear.And it wasn't a sudden recovery either. The cancer cells had been gradually fading."
The interview cut to the doctor, who provided a more detailed medical explanation.
The comment section was buzzing:
[Three months ago, the headlines were about her apprentice ditching embroidery for showbiz, and now this? Heaven must've pitied Suzhou embroidery!]
[Even Chi Meiren congratulated her—see? The bond between master and disciple is still strong. Stop stirring drama, people.]
[Respect personal choices, no moral coercion!]
[When's Master He taking new apprentices? I promise I won't run off to Hollywood!]
[Manifesting this luck—disease-free life, please!]
After reading, Song Miaozhu felt something was off. "Mumu, do you have any recent videos of Master He embroidering?"
"Sure do!" Zhao Mumu pulled up Master He's short video account. "She's been posting her work for years now to promote and preserve Su embroidery. Her apprentice, Chi Ling, used to manage the account and appear in the videos. But after she got famous and started filming dramas, Master He took over the account herself."
She tapped one of the most recent videos. "This one's from after her diagnosis. At the start, you can really tell she wasn't doing well. Not sure if it was the betrayal or the illness…"
Miaozhu squinted at the screen—and her eyes widened.
The spiritual light around Master He's embroidery stand was dense. Even denser than Grandpa Zhao's. Many had broken through the barrier, some merging into the embroidery, others into Master He herself.
"True mastery indeed!"
After watching several videos, Song Miaozhu noticed that spiritual energy only appeared in clips from the past month—as if it had suddenly manifested.
The same day she first saw the energy particles.
The day spiritual energy revived.
"What do you think?" Zhao Mumu asked eagerly. "Pretty similar to us, right?"
Miaozhu nodded, deep in thought. "Paper offering, wood carving, embroidery… What do these all have in common?"
"They're all traditional handcrafts!" Zhao Mumu said excitedly. "If making handmade art really helps with cultivation, then masters like Grandpa and Master He won't ever need to worry about their crafts dying out again. This could be the golden age of artisans!"
Miaozhu's eyes lit up. Zhao Mumu might be right.
Paper offering, wood carving, embroidery—all were time-honored traditional crafts. Maybe the new cultivation system centered around craftsmanship itself.
And it wouldn't be hard to confirm. She could start by monitoring other elder artisans who practiced old crafts.
With the rise of short video platforms, many master artisans and intangible heritage inheritors had started posting online to promote their work, grow their reputations—and earn a little extra income.