ENG
The world is full of hustle and bustle, how much money can you make from all the hustle and bustle?
Will you be caught in the trap of heaven and earth, and be entangled by the thread of chance?
In the Kingdom of Zhuzi, a curious tale prevailed. No matter how many kings came and went, the Zhu family of the Royal Weaving Office never relocated. They wove a fabric known as Celestial Silk, gleaming as moonlight, light as clouds. Nobility and merchants alike clamored for it. The city's weavers seethed with jealousy, but none could replicate it. Over time, whispers spread that the Zhus owed their skill to a jade shuttle, bestowed by the Red-clad Immortal.
One weaver was convinced that obtaining that shuttle would also secure his fortune. On a deep, dark night, he sneaked into the Zhu's workshop outside the city walls during the second watch.
The Zhus were rich enough to have their workshop sprawled wide and vast. In the dead of night, not a soul was in sight. The weaver crept through the yards of draping silks when a pure white light fell upon the center of the drying racks. The moon dimmed, and darkness swallowed all but that single, shining pillar joining earth and sky.
The weaver stumbled toward it and discovered the pillar of light was made of countless strands of silk. Two monstrous silkworms were spinning these strands into cocoons and hanging them on the drying racks. The cocoons' hooked feet grabbed the silk strands and passed a jade shuttle back and forth, weaving the exquisite fabric. Dazed, the weaver became fixated on the shuttle, convinced that owning it would endow him with the same power. But the cocoons impaled him with their sharp hooks in a blink of an eye. As he lay dying, he saw the worms crawling toward him. They carried him into the pillar of light and wrapped him a luminous cocoon.
This tale opens by asking how much money you can make from the busy world and whether you will get caught in a trap of fate. It is set in the Kingdom of Zhuzi, where one family — the Zhus of the Royal Weaving Office — never moved and made a special cloth called Celestial Silk. That silk looked like moonlight and was very light; nobles and merchants all wanted it, and other weavers were jealous because nobody could copy it.
People began to whisper that the Zhus’ skill wasn’t ordinary. The rumor said a Red-clad Immortal had given them a jade shuttle, and that shuttle was the secret behind the silk. The story focuses on one ordinary weaver who believed this rumor and became convinced that stealing the shuttle would make him rich and successful.
One night, during the second watch, the weaver sneaked into the Zhu workshop outside the city walls. The Zhus were wealthy and their workshop was large. At first it looked empty, but then the weaver saw a single pillar of pure white light over the drying racks; the moon seemed to dim and everything else fell into shadow except that shining column.
When he got closer he realized the pillar was made of countless silk strands. Two giant silkworms were there, spinning those strands into cocoons and hanging them to dry. Those cocoons had hooked feet that grabbed the silk and passed a jade shuttle back and forth, weaving the extraordinary fabric. The scene made the weaver sure that the jade shuttle would give him the same power.
Fixated on the shuttle, the weaver reached for it. In a moment the cocoons’ hooks pierced him. As he lay dying, the worms crawled toward him, lifted him into the pillar of light, and wrapped him in a luminous cocoon. The story both shows a supernatural explanation for the Zhus’ silk — the jade shuttle and the giant silkworms — and serves as a warning: the weaver’s greed led him to be literally entangled and consumed by the very threads he hoped would make his fortune.