Quick Wear Dream Qiqi

At three quarters past midnight, the lights in the embroidery room were still brightly lit.

Meng Qiqi stared at the last stitch of the Khorchin totem when she suddenly noticed a piece of paper hidden in the pattern analysis provided by the system. Written on it in Mongolian was the following: "The wings of the golden swallow can fan the wind of the grassland."

This is the system's prompt for the "national integration" task.

"Fujin, the totem on the wristband is embroidered." Chuntao handed over the finished product. The Mongolian curling grass pattern and the Han-style cloud pattern on the butterfly wings were interwoven, appearing particularly harmonious under the candlelight.

Meng Qiqi gently stroked the embroidery and suddenly remembered what Yongqi had said during the day: "When the Emperor looked at the totem design, he actually said, 'Manchus, Mongols, and Han are one family, this is how it should be.'"

She turned her head to look out the window. Xiaoyanzi was teaching the female horse trainer how to blow the whistle. The sound of the whistle and the sound of the drum in the distance intertwined like a strange nocturne.

The system interface shows "National Integration Task Progress +45%", and the real challenge is still at tomorrow's birthday party.

But at this moment, looking at the butterfly wristband on the embroidery frame, looking at the expectation in Chuntao's eyes.

Yongqi's footsteps were heard from outside the door, and he held a brocade box in his hand: "This is the Dongzhu that the Emperor gave me as a reward. I'll use it as eyes for the wristband."

He looked at the dark circles under her eyes, his voice filled with heartache, "Go get some sleep, I'll take care of the rest."

Meng Qiqi shook her head and inserted the Dongzhu into the butterfly's eyes: "Look, now the butterfly has 'wisdom eyes'."

She suddenly chuckled, "Perhaps if the princess sees it, she will think it's a talisman given by the shaman."

Yongqi looked at her serious expression and suddenly remembered the confident gleam in her eyes when he first met her at the engagement party.

At that time he thought it was pride, but now he understood that it was the courage to choose to fly after seeing through fate.

----

At the birthday party

At three quarters past nine, under the gilded dome of the Baohe Hall, the Princess of Khorchin leaned on a bright yellow brocade cushion, her eyes sweeping over the women in red and green in the hall, and finally landing on Meng Qiqi.

The oriental pearl pendant on her earlobe swayed gently as she moved, and her voice carried the straightforwardness of a grassland girl: "I've heard for a while that there's a lady in the capital who can do 'mechanical embroidery'. Today I want to see for myself how unbecoming it is for a woman to tinker with a machine!"

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze.

As Meng Qiqi bowed, she deliberately let a corner of the Mongolian scroll embroidery on her cuffs peek out. "Your Highness, we are simply embroidering auspicious patterns from the grasslands onto our wristbands to bring more safety to the girls riding horses."

She raised her hand to signal, and Chuntao came forward with a tray. The butterfly on the wristband spread its wings in the sunlight, revealing the words "Safety First" in Mongolian and Chinese on the inside.

The princess raised an eyebrow and took the wristband. When her fingertips touched the curling grass pattern, she was suddenly stunned - the pattern was exactly the "Eternal Heaven Protection" totem of her mother's clan, but the connection method used the "velvet embroidery" technique of Jiangnan.

What surprised her even more was that when she gently pressed the butterfly's wings, a copper whistle engraved with Mongolian spells popped out.

"This whistle is called 'Voice of the Grassland,'" Meng Qiqi said slowly in Mongolian. "Three short and one long whistle calls for help, while two long and one short whistle returns to the troop. It comes from the codeword of the 'Red Scarf Cavalry' under the Princess' command."

The princess looked up suddenly, shock flashing in her eyes - the Red Scarf Cavalry was a female guard that she had trained personally before she got married, and the secret code had long been forgotten when she entered the capital.

She suddenly asked in Mongolian, "How do you know this?"

As Meng Qiqi knelt, the golden swallow hairpin in her hair trembled slightly: "My princess, last year your nurse donated a saddle embroidery to the school, and it happened to have this totem on it. We guessed that you must be missing the grassland, so we boldly used this pattern. If it is offensive..."

"How dare you!" the Queen suddenly said, "How dare you speculate on the princess's private affairs?"

But the princess waved her hand and said to Meng Qiqi in Mongolian: "Get up, this totem is used cleverly. But -" She stared at the fluorescent silk thread on the wristband, "What is this glowing thing? Is it a witchcraft?"

The women in the hall let out a low cry of surprise.

Meng Qiqi was well prepared. She took out a piece of leather embroidered with the Big Dipper. "This is 'Night-Shining Embroidery' made with fish bone powder mixed with fluorescent pigment. The positions of the stars correspond to the autumn star map of the grassland, which can help you find your direction when riding. Princess, please look, this is your tribe's 'Eagle Star.'"

The princess's expression finally relaxed. As her finger stroked the "Eagle Star", she suddenly remembered the time when she was a child hunting with her father and brothers on the grassland.

She turned to look at the Queen, a meaningful smile on her lips. "The 'trap' Her Majesty is talking about is more like the lasso we women on the grassland use—it looks like a restraint, but it's actually a lifesaver. This wristband...I want it."

At three quarters past noon, Meng Qiqi suddenly felt dizzy in the embroidery room, and the butterfly wristband in front of her eyes gradually blurred into a block of color.

The system prompt sounded with a shrill electric sound: "Warning! Excessive use of the 'Cultural Decoding' function will overload the visual nerves and trigger 72 hours of temporary blindness."

"Fujin!" Chuntao supported her shaking body and was shocked to see that her pupils had lost focus.

Meng Qiqi touched the butterfly model on the embroidery frame and forced herself to remain calm. "Don't panic. Help me call Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei over, and get three balls of silk thread of different colors—red should look like the morning glow, blue should look like the water in the lake, and yellow should look like the golden lotus."

When Xiaoyanzi rushed into the embroidery room, she saw Meng Qiqi measuring the leather with her fingertips. Tears streamed down her face. "How come she can't see anymore? Was it poisoned by that old witch, the Queen?"

"No," Meng Qiqi touched her hand and stuffed the silk thread into her palm, "I need you to help me embroider the butterfly wings according to my description. Where's Ziwei?"

"I'm here." Ziwei came over holding "A Study of Mongolian Patterns" with a choked voice, "Princess, don't worry, we will finish the wristband."

Meng Qiqi nodded, her fingertips tracing the outline of the totem on the leather. "For the little swallow, embroider the outer circle of curling grass with red thread, making it as unrestrained as the dust kicked up by horse hooves. For the crape myrtle, fill the center cloud pattern with blue thread, making it as smooth as the wind blowing across the grassland. Finally, outline the edges with yellow thread, making it as bright as sunlight falling on the lasso."

Xiaoyanzi gritted her teeth as she threaded the needle, pricking her finger three times with the needle tip: "Damn it, this crappy needle always goes against me!"

Ziwei put down the book and gently held her hand. "Don't worry, I'll teach you. Like this, pinch the end of the needle between your thumb and index finger, and use your wrist to exert force... Yes, that's it. You see, the curvature of the curling grass pattern should follow the grain of the leather, just like the ups and downs of the horse when you ride."

Listening to their breathing and the sound of needle and thread passing through leather, Meng Qiqi was reminded of the "Starry Sky Library" in the system space - there were tens of millions of patterns hidden there, but it was nothing compared to the warmth in the embroidery room at this moment.

She reached for the copper whistle on the desk and blew it softly. Yongqi's response came from a distance, accompanied by hurried footsteps.

"I'm here," she heard a smile in her voice, "Don't worry, Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei are working a miracle."

Yongqi held her cold hand and touched the needle hole on her fingertips: "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Because your eyes are my eyes." She felt the scent of silk threads floating in the air.

At three quarters past three in the afternoon, there was a sudden noise outside the Baohe Hall.

The seventeen-year-old Korchin concubine rode into the courtyard on horseback, the silver ornaments in her hair jingling. "I heard there's a wrist guard that can save lives? I'd like to try it!"

Meng Qiqi was supported and stood in the corridor, listening to Xiaoyanzi's screams and the sound of horse hooves.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced the sky - it was a distress signal with three short and one long whistle!

"Be careful!" Ziwei's scream was mixed with the sound of metal falling to the ground.

Although Meng Qiqi couldn't see, she judged the location by the sound and pushed away the prince's wife next to her. The concubine's horse suddenly went crazy. In the dust raised by the horse's hooves, she heard the sound of Yongqi drawing his sword and Ertai shouting to stop the horse trainer.

"There's a needle in the wristband!" Little Swallow roared, "There's a poison needle hidden under the copper whistle!"

There was an uproar in the hall.

The princess helped Meng Qiqi up, her voice filled with unprecedented authority: "Search the concubine's body!"

A moment later, Rong Mama was dragged out, and the silver hairpin on her temples fell to the ground, revealing the hollow needle tip - there was still light green venom remaining inside.

"Empress, what's going on?" The princess stared at the pale-faced queen, her Mongolian voice carrying a biting chill.

Qianlong's voice came from the palace, filled with suppressed anger: "Madame Rong secretly hid poison needles and intended to murder the Khorchin guest. Her crime should be put to death. As for the Queen..." He looked at Meng Qiqi's bloodstained cuffs, "You will temporarily stay in Kunning Palace to reflect on your mistakes. You are not allowed to leave without imperial decree."

Meng Qiqi felt the wetness on her cuffs, but it wasn't her own blood—when she pushed the princess away, her arm had brushed against the bronze ornaments on the saddle.

But what she cared about more at the moment was that Xiaoyanzi was holding her hand, the palm of which was still stained with the fluff of embroidery thread, and Ziwei was showing Qianlong the structure of the poisonous wristband.

"Your Majesty," Ziwei's voice was clear and firm. "The wristband's safety mechanism can provide timely warnings of danger. If the butterfly whistle hadn't sounded today, the consequences would have been disastrous. This proves that safety devices designed by women are truly effective tools for governing a country."

Looking at the mess on the ground, Qianlong suddenly remembered the "Concept of Women's Craft Rooms in Each Banner" submitted by Meng Qiqi before she became blind.

He fished out the fluorescent embroidered handkerchief Xiaoyanzi had given him. The words "Safety First" written in both Mongolian and Chinese shone faintly in the twilight. "Issue an order: Each banner may establish a women's craft room, under the overall supervision of Concubine Xinrong. The artifacts produced will be given priority for purchase by the imperial court."

Outside the hall, the sunset glow dyed the eaves of Baohe Hall.

Meng Qiqi heard Chuntao's cheers and Xiaoyanzi asking the princess for advice on horseback riding skills, and suddenly she felt that the darkness before her eyes was no longer scary - because there were so many people who were using their eyes to see for her, using their hands to create for her, and using their hearts to feel this gradually unfolding new world for her.

The system prompt sounded again, with a rare warmth: "Detected that the host has achieved an 'institutional breakthrough', and the optic nerve damage has been repaired ahead of schedule. Current historical process change value: 27%."

She blinked, and Xiaoyanzi's red hairband came into view first, followed by Ziwei's tearful smile, and the dancing flames in Yongqi's eyes.

In the distance, the princess was pinning a wristband on Little Swallow, and the butterfly's wings fluttered gently in the evening breeze, as if celebrating this hard-fought victory.

----

At the first quarter of the Xu month, the lights in the embroidery room were lit again.

Meng Qiqi looked at the wristband that Xiaoyanzi and Ziwei had made together. The three-colored silk threads on the butterfly wings flowed in the candlelight, looking like the sunset on the grassland.

"This is the curling grass pattern I sewed," Xiaoyanzi pointed at the crooked red thread. "Ziwei said it looks like a crawling earthworm, but the princess called it 'wild charm.'"

"This is the cloud pattern I filled in," Ziwei said, touching the blue silk thread. "I didn't expect that the Mongolian cloud pattern and the Han cloud pattern could match so well. It's like Xiaoyanzi and Gege. They look different, but their hearts are connected."

Meng Qiqi picked up the wristband and touched a line of small words on the inside - "Sisters United" embroidered with fluorescent silk thread, with both Mongolian and Chinese characters side by side.

The message in the system space reads: "True change is not the flight of a single wing, but the resonance of a flock of butterflies."

Yongqi's voice came from outside the door, filled with unconcealed joy: "The Emperor asked me to tell you that the Qianqing Palace has been flooded with applications for women's craft studios from all the banners. And... the Princess of Khorchin has invited you to the grasslands to design riding uniforms."

Little Swallow immediately jumped up and said, "I want to go too! I want to teach the prairie girls how to ride horses and shoot arrows, and let them try out our butterfly wristbands!"

Ziwei smiled and shook her head. "You should learn Mongolian first. I've already started translating the 'New Scripture of Women's Weaving' and plan to include grassland weaving techniques."

Meng Qiqi looked at them and recalled the confusion she felt when she first traveled through time - at that time she thought she was a lonely butterfly, but she didn't expect to gain so many wings.

She fished out the jade pendant from her waist. The words "Heaven's Way" glowed warmly in the candlelight. The small words on the back finally became clear: "When millions of butterflies flutter their wings, they can stir up a hurricane that changes the times."

The system interface quietly unfolded, and a new task prompt flashed: "The implementation of the 'Women's Craft Room' system has been detected, triggering the ultimate task 'Ten Thousand Butterflies Fluttering Wings': Establish a women's education network in each banner and completely change the fate of feudal women. Do you accept?"

She looked up out the window and saw one star that was particularly bright among the stars in the sky.

Little Swallow was pointing at it and shouting, "That's the Eagle Star! Xinrong, look, it's winking at us!"

Meng Qiqi smiled and stroked the butterfly on the wristband with her fingertips.

Yes, the Eagle Star is watching, watching the women in the deep palace weaving the future with embroidery needles, guarding hope with wristbands, and holding up the sky that belongs to them with millions of wings.