What I Want Is Not Victory!

Shen Lang could not help glancing at Tian Shisan again, because he represented the will of Tian Heng of the Black Clothes Gang.

And when Shen Lang had been making dye just now, Lin Mo of Brocade Pavilion had betrayed him and sent someone to notify the Xu Family. Tian Shisan had obviously seen it all, yet he had shown no intention of stopping it, much less warning Shen Lang.

So at this moment, Shen Lang was facing three colossal forces: the Xu Family, the Lin Family, and Tian Heng of the Black Clothes Gang.

The smartest thing for him to do now was admit that he had stolen the formula, then immediately embark on his grand mission of living off a rich woman. Once he had power and influence, he could take his revenge with a vengeance.

After all, Xu Qianqian had promised the officials of Xuanwu City that if Shen Lang confessed, she would let bygones be bygones.

She cared deeply about her reputation. If Shen Lang confessed, she certainly would not make trouble for him openly today. She would only spend money to have Tian Heng deal with him in secret. At the very least, Shen Lang would be safe today.

But!

They wanted to dump this basin of filthy sewage over Shen Lang's head, then expect him to wipe the spit from his face and pretend nothing had happened?

Absolutely impossible. Shen Lang would never suffer such humiliation.

Shen Lang looked at Xu Qianqian and asked, "You say that I stole this new Golden Yellow Dye formula. What evidence do you have?"

The Xu Family Head sneered. "You, Shen Lang, are nothing but an ignorant, worthless fool. My Xu Family has been in the silk and cloth business for decades, and dye is what we know best. This Golden Yellow Dye formula was personally developed by Qianqian and me through painstaking effort. We poured countless manpower, resources, and money into it, spending years on it. We kept this secret under wraps because we wanted to give the Monarch's Weaving Bureau a surprise. Yet who would have thought that you, an ungrateful wretch, would not only steal from my family and molest our maidservants, but even steal the dye formula that concerns the lifeblood of my family?"

Then the Xu Family Head said coldly, "Qianqian, such an important new formula—why did you leave it in a drawer?"

Xu Qianqian said, "I am sorry, Father. I trusted Shen Lang completely before. I never imagined he would do such a thing."

Then she looked at Shen Lang. "When servants in the Xu Family bullied you, I whipped them and ordered that anyone who dared say another bad word about you would be thrown out of the house. No one in the Xu Family paid attention to you, yet I did not despise you for being slow-witted, dull, and foolish. I came to speak with you every day. I treated you so well—why did you do this? Even if you wanted revenge because I abandoned you, you could have taken it out on me personally. Why did you have to sever my family's roots? Besides, if you had not done those shameful things, why would my Xu Family have driven you out?"

The officials present wore slightly strange expressions when they heard this.

Still, they believed half of what the Xu Family Head and Xu Qianqian said.

The Xu Family truly excelled in silk dyes. Otherwise, their silk could not have been supplied exclusively to the Monarch's Weaving Bureau. And they had also heard of Shen Lang's reputation as an uneducated fool, so they firmly believed that this new formula had been developed by the Xu Family and stolen by Shen Lang.

Shen Lang said slowly, "You have no evidence, and neither do I. But everyone will believe that this new formula was developed by your Xu Family. Even if I had a hundred mouths, I could not explain myself."

The Xu Family Head secretly sneered. At least you know.

This was truly satisfying. Not only had he obtained an exquisite Golden Yellow Dye formula for free, but he could also send Shen Lang to prison with perfect justification.

The Xu Family Head immediately said coldly, "The truth is already clear. Arrest him! Under torture, I refuse to believe this useless fool will not confess."

"How impatient you are, Xu Family Head," Shen Lang said with a smile. "Though I cannot defend myself with words alone, proving this is actually easy! What a coincidence—precisely to guard against a situation like this, I deliberately held something back from that Golden Yellow Dye formula. I actually have an even more advanced formula in my hands."

Shen Lang continued, "Xu Family Head, proving whether I stole the dye formula from the Xu Family is very simple. If I can make a Golden Yellow Dye even better than the one from before, then the truth will be obvious, will it not?"

Xu Qianqian smiled. "You may have stolen the formula from my family, but you are too unprofessional. So long as one is even slightly more careful, one can make something better than what you made just now."

Shen Lang said, "I may be unprofessional, but your family is professional enough, right? You claim that I stole that formula from your family. Then let the Xu Family mobilize its full strength to make Golden Yellow Dye and compete with me. Let us see whose Golden Yellow is more magnificent, whose dyed silk is more noble. The difference will be plain for all to see."

Shen Lang had indeed held something back. The Golden Yellow formula he had handed over earlier came from seventeenth-century China.

But inside his Smart Brain, he also had an improved formula from the twenty-first century. Though the main ingredients were the same, the proportions and heat differed slightly, and several additional additives had been included.

However, the improved Golden Yellow formula could only raise the quality by around ten to twenty percent.

The Xu Family had already acquired his formula. Shen Lang could win on the matter of yellow, but he could not utterly crush them.

So he had to open another front.

Thus Shen Lang said, "Of course, merely defeating you in Golden Yellow Dye would not be enough to prove my talent. You are skilled in dye, so let me ask you—which color is the hardest to produce?"

Xu Qianqian said, "Of course it is purple. That is the pinnacle of dyeing craftsmanship."

That was right. In ancient times, the hardest color to dye was purple, not yellow.

It was not that purple could not be dyed. In ancient China, purple dye had first been made from gromwell roots, but the color was inferior. Later, purple dye was made from purple dyeing sea snails, and only then did the color become somewhat more beautiful.

Duke Huan of Qi liked wearing purple garments. At the time, one bolt of purple cloth was worth five bolts of white cloth, showing just how expensive and rare it was.

In the West, purple dye was made from dyeing seashells. The last queen of the ancient Ptolemaic Dynasty also adored this purple so much that she dyed not only her clothes, but even her ship sails purple.

But whether purple dye was extracted from dyeing sea snails or dyeing seashells, the cost was unimaginably high. A single gram of dye required three hundred dyeing seashells.

At this time, the Great Yan Dynasty had not yet discovered a method to extract purple from dyeing seashells or dyeing sea snails. So where did the world's purple dye come from? It was made simply by mixing blue and red dyes.

But the dyeing effect was truly hard to praise. First, the color came out unevenly, stiff and crude. Most importantly, the two dyes had different wet fastness, so Purple Silk often faded easily.

Shen Lang said, "Purple Dye is harder than Golden Yellow Dye, correct?"

"Of course!" Xu Qianqian said.

Purple Dye was hailed by the cloth and silk industry of this world as an unconquerable problem.

"To thoroughly prove my talent in dyeing craftsmanship, we will compete not only in yellow, but also in purple." Shen Lang said, "Your Xu Family will mobilize its full strength to make these two colors. I alone have no money, and I will make dyes at the simplest and lowest cost. Then, before the several lords present, we shall see whose dyes are the finest and whose silk comes out the most beautiful and moving."

"I will prove to everyone that in dyeing craftsmanship, I, Shen Lang alone, am enough to crush your entire Xu Family and turn this so-called theft accusation into a complete joke."

"Shen Lang, you are truly childish and laughable." The Xu Family Head sneered. "Why should we compete with you? Why waste our time? Just seize him and torture him in prison. I refuse to believe he will not confess."

Shen Lang looked toward the officials present. "What do you gentlemen think of my method?"

The officials present had long been well fed, and the City Lord's Manor had specifically spoken to them as well.

So when Shen Lang asked them, the officials acted as though they had heard nothing at all and did not respond.

Shen Lang kept looking at the youngest official.

This young Chief Registrar oversaw criminal justice in Xuanwu City. When it came to whether Shen Lang would be arrested, his voice carried the most weight.

At the same time, Shen Lang recalled his past dealings with this young Chief Registrar, especially the things he had said.

If his memory had not gone wrong, this lord would stand against the Xu Family.

Seeing Shen Lang looking at him, the young official hesitated for about half a minute.

Then he stepped forward and said, "Xu Family Head, let him try. If he cannot defeat the Xu Family, that will prove he stole the formula. Then arrest him directly."

The moment this young official spoke, the Xu Family Head's gaze turned cold.

These officials had all been fed well in ordinary times and would only turn a blind eye to matters concerning the Xu Family. This Chief Registrar in charge of criminal justice had only recently taken office. Although he had not yet accepted money from the Xu Family, the City Lord had already instructed him.

Why was he singing a different tune now? Did he not know that the Xu Family was about to form a marriage alliance with the Prefect?

The Xu Family Head said coldly, "Lord Wang, are you certain?"

The young Chief Registrar said, "I am certain!"

This young Chief Registrar oversaw criminal justice. If they wanted to arrest someone, they truly could not bypass him.

The Xu Family Head frowned and was about to use the City Lord's Manor to pressure this young Chief Registrar, but Xu Qianqian tugged at her father's sleeve.

No one understood Shen Lang better than Xu Qianqian. How could he possibly know anything about dyeing?

No one knew where Shen Lang had obtained this Golden Yellow Dye formula, but the Xu Family had already tested it. Her family was far more professional than Shen Lang, so the yellow dye they made was even better than his.

And as for purple?

That overconfident Shen Lang did not know that the Xu Family had just conquered a new purple dye formula. It used entirely new materials and was simply revolutionary, capable of instantly crushing every kind of Purple Silk on the market.

Shen Lang was doomed to lose no matter what. Dead sooner or dead later, he would still be dead. It would be extremely unwise to openly oppose the Chief Registrar over such a minor matter.

Receiving her daughter's signal, the Xu Family Head frowned and said, "Then we shall follow Lord Wang's suggestion. Let us see how long this useless fool can delay things."

Shen Lang said, "If I defeat you in both yellow and purple dye, what will that prove?"

Xu Qianqian said unwillingly, "It will prove that you did not steal that yellow dye formula before, and that we wronged you."

Shen Lang said, "Then when the time comes, you will have to admit that you slandered me, and you will have to apologize to me."

The Xu Family Head said coldly, "Wait until you have won."

"Fine," Shen Lang said. "Then let three shichen be the limit! In three shichen, we shall determine who is superior and let the truth come to light!"

"Agreed!" one of the officials present said.

The Xu Family Head said, "Go home immediately. Gather the finest master craftsmen. Qianqian will personally oversee them. You must make the best Purple Dye possible."

"Yes!" Xu Qianqian said.

This time, the Xu Family would mobilize its entire strength.

Shen Lang, meanwhile, still had only himself. He turned to Lin Mo and said, "Boss Lin, I need to borrow your back kitchen again."

"Of course," Lin Mo said.

After entering the back kitchen, Shen Lang once again used pagoda tree flower buds and alum to make yellow dye.

But this time, he directly retrieved the improved twenty-first-century formula from his Smart Brain. It was no longer so crude. He added other auxiliary materials, and the proportions and heat had changed.

Though the main ingredients remained the same, after modern technological improvements, the yellow dye produced would rise to a higher level and resemble the color of gold even more closely.

Of course, improvement was still merely improvement. It could not completely crush the original formula.

So the key was still purple.

He quickly prepared the improved Golden Yellow Dye formula and left it boiling.

Next, Shen Lang focused on producing Purple Dye.

He took out his secret weapon.

The best source for Purple Dye was Litmus Lichen.

It was a kind of moss found everywhere and worth practically nothing, yet the purple made from it was the most vivid, lively, and brilliant.

In eighteenth-century England, Cuthbert had accidentally discovered that a kind of moss plant could produce Purple Dye, with incomparably excellent results.

From then on, Purple Dye extracted from Litmus Lichen dominated the dyeing industry for more than a century, until the chemical industry advanced by leaps and bounds and artificially synthesized Purple Dye with lower costs emerged.

So why had Shen Lang prepared Litmus Lichen in advance?

Because he had prepared for every eventuality. If the Golden Yellow formula was not weighty enough, he would add this purple to the mix.

Shen Lang crushed the dried Litmus Lichen, then boiled it together with coal ash and urine.

Very quickly, he obtained pure purple.

Next, he brightened it with alum.

Soon, low-cost yet gorgeous and wondrous Purple Dye emerged.

It was superior to this world's Purple Dye by an unknown distance.

Then Shen Lang took a piece of colorless silk, dipped it into the dye, and after dyeing it, laid it beneath the sun to dry.

Very soon, Purple Silk appeared.

What a marvelous purple—so bright and vivid, noble yet restrained.

It utterly crushed the Purple Silk of this world.

Yet purple was not all Shen Lang intended to make.

A single purple could defeat the Xu Family, but victory alone would not be shocking enough.

He seized every moment, directly using materials from Lin Mo's establishment to make seven kinds of dye. He would produce the most magnificent, most mysterious, most miraculous Rainbow Silk! That was, dyeing the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet onto the same piece of silk. Using a segmented dyeing method, if his speed was fast enough and his movements precise enough, the Rainbow Silk he made would be incomparably stunning and ethereal.

Though he was not a professional dyer, he was indeed an avid dyeing enthusiast. When he had visited the silk museum, he had gone there to play for over half a month straight, becoming absorbed in it as though it were an interesting hobby class.

And when this Shen Lang had married into the Xu Family, he had watched workers dye cloth every day, leaving behind relevant memories.

Most importantly, the Alien Notebook Computer inside Shen Lang's mind contained information that clearly recorded every step and every material.

So while he could not achieve the most professional and perfect result, it would already be more than enough.

Three shichen later, Shen Lang's Golden Yellow Silk, Purple Silk, and Rainbow Silk had all been dyed.

The Purple Silk alone would be enough to win a great victory over Xu Qianqian.

And this Rainbow Silk was his ultimate trump card.

It was something this world had never seen before. Its breathtaking effect would be enough to crush the Xu Family's silk into scraps!