Chapter 174: Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Gu Wenyan greeted them directly and presented the gifts she had brought to attend the banquet.

Bao Mu and Bai Ran both exchanged polite greetings with her. Gu Wenyan knew that today's gathering was no longer like the last time, when it had been merely Bao Mu's circle of friends.

Many of the city's elite and notables had come.

Naturally, they would give the Bai Family such face.

Being invited at this time… Gu Wenyan guessed that they intended to deliberately make things difficult for her today.

But when soldiers come, generals meet them; when waters rise, earth dams them. Let us see, in the end, who wins and who loses.

To expect her to easily admit defeat, to watch her fail—dream on!

No one knew who suddenly opened the topic, but it happened to touch on the qipao worn by Gu Wenyan and Bai Ran respectively. Before this, Gu Wenyan had already left a particular impression on many people.

Her classical air, her gentle grace, and the elegant beauty of her often-worn qipao were all deeply memorable.

But today, as it happened, Bai Ran was also wearing a qipao, and their styles clashed, so people would inevitably compare them.

When Bai Ran mentioned the qipao she was wearing, there was no lack of a flaunting tone. She said that this qipao was handmade by a certain tailor from Hong Kong Island.

And this tailor also came from a qipao-making family, one that had been making bespoke pieces for the social elites of the time since the Republican era.

Their family had been passed down through the generations to the present, and still held a position of no small significance.

To have this tailor make a bespoke qipao, anyone at all would need to wait in line for a long time—some clients had already been queued up for half a year ahead.

No matter how rich you were, if you wanted to find him, you had to keep waiting. Only after the people ahead of you had completed their fittings could your turn come.

Bai Ran had, without meaning to, flaunted her own resources, her taste, and her social standing.

Bao Mu also praised her: "Ranran, this qipao suits you beautifully. It looks full of charm on you—lovely."

Someone chimed in: "And the embroidery on it clearly took considerable effort. For anyone else to get a custom qipao at the embroidery level, they'd have to wait at least a year or more…"

Bai Ran smiled: "Yes, but my family has some connections with the tailor, so after I reached out, he rushed the order for me."

"Miss Gu, the qipao you're wearing is quite pretty. Where did you buy it? Actually, buying a ready-made qipao is also quite fine. The only drawback is… the quality, and the style tends to be rather similar, so it's easy to end up wearing the same design as someone else."

Bai Ran stared at Gu Wenyan and said: "Personally, I don't care for it at all."

Hearing Bai Ran's words, Gu Wenyan suddenly smiled.

The pale blue-green qipao she wore had a remarkable origin. Among everyone present… it seemed not a single person had the eye to discern what made it different.

Gu Wenyan could only sigh: "Miss Bai, I know you've stayed abroad for years and received a Western education, so you're no longer very familiar with certain parts of our inherited culture… But not being familiar with it is no great matter; what's truly not fine is blind arrogance and self-righteousness."

After these words fell, an expression of displeasure immediately rose on Bai Ran's face: "Miss Gu, what do you mean? Are you saying I'm talking nonsense?"

"I had previously thought Miss Bai should be a sensible and well-mannered lady from a good family. But after a few encounters, my impression of you has changed considerably… and I am, indeed, somewhat disappointed."

Bao Mu rebuked her: "Gu Wenyan, don't go too far."

Bai Ran also put on an aggrieved look: "I was only kindly reminding you… From now on, as the aunt's daughter-in-law, as the wife of the Head of the Bo Family, every word you say and every gesture you make represents the Bo Family, including how you dress…"

"A kind reminder? That should at least come when you actually understand the situation well enough to give one. You don't understand anything at all—how is your so-called reminder anything other than talking nonsense?"

The crowd could not make heads or tails of what Gu Wenyan meant by all this. Gu Wenyan could only take the initiative and tell them: "Apart from the fabric itself, what truly makes my qipao precious is the Su Embroidery on it."

"I invited an Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritor to sew it personally. The embroiderer worked stitch by stitch, spending the better part of a year to finish it… And in Miss Bai's eyes, this qipao turns out to be nothing more than some random piece of clothing picked up off the market?"

Gu Wenyan gave a cold laugh: "It seems Miss Bai's knowledge amounts to little. I am very disappointed."

Su Embroidery, as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, means that even when different embroiderers stitch the same pattern, the results are never the same. And the more skilled the master, the more spirited the finished work.

True refinement lies precisely here.

On Gu Wenyan's qipao was embroidered a white lotus leaning to one side—the conception was exceedingly ingenious. The Su Embroidery was done by hand in mulberry silk, soft and lustrous, with every stitch placed so tightly that even under immense magnification, no trace of the needlework could be seen. The craftsmanship was especially exquisite.

Fresh and elegant, yet full of a bright, lively quality.

It was a pity that not a single person present could see what truly made it precious, nor the cultural depth it contained.

After Gu Wenyan finished her brief explanation, the room fell silent—utterly still.

They all realized at that moment just how ignorant they had been.

After all, what they chased after nowadays was a kind of Western elegance and nobility—diamonds, jewelry, and heavily ornamented gowns—worshipping so-called haute couture and European style as the highest standard.

While neglecting traditional culture, the heritage left by their forebears.

Having been slapped in the face by Gu Wenyan here and now, they all came to recognize that they really were rather uncultured…

Of course, not everyone present was uncultured. Suddenly, one lady asked politely: "Miss Gu, the embroiderer you invited was?"

"Master Su Ye."

"Ah? That is the Su Embroidery Intangible Cultural Heritage inheritor who was featured on an official platform before—and she stopped taking outside commissions long ago!"

Every piece Master Su Ye embroidered was used as a gift exchanged between nations, presented only on important ceremonial occasions. Ordinary people couldn't even dream of seeing them…

So every work she produced was not merely expensive—it was exceedingly rare, and extraordinary, already reaching the standard of a collector's piece.

Now, hearing Gu Wenyan suddenly mention such a person's name, that wealthy lady was instantly overjoyed: "You know Master Su? And she was actually willing to sew a qipao? This… her works must be very expensive, right?"

Gu Wenyan shook her head: "I don't know."

She hadn't spent any money.

Bao Mu frowned: "Who is this?"

The wealthy lady immediately shared everything she knew about the matter with everyone present. After hearing it, some people even went online at once to look it up, and found that she truly was a remarkable Su Embroidery master. With that…

Bao Mu and Bai Ran's wish to use that qipao master's bespoke garment to suppress Gu Wenyan had once again come to nothing.

And on top of that, everyone now knew an even more astonishing piece of news: Gu Wenyan… was actually on close terms with a Su Embroidery inheritor.

That lady could not help but ask: "What is your relationship with Master Su?"