bestfiction Chapter 226 Brisbane Flowers
Chapter 226 Brisbane Flowers
Now that she had the idea of raising silkworms, extracting silk, and weaving cloth, Wen Yuxia felt that she could put some effort into the weaving and dyeing process. She smiled and asked, "Brother Rui, does the Nangong family have anyone who knows how to weave and dye?"
“Yes, what are your thoughts? Tell me,” Nangong Wenrui said with great interest. Wen Yuxia subtly expressed her interest in weaving and dyeing, hoping that Nangong Wenrui would assign her two masters.
Despite being married for many years, Wen Yuxia never inquired about the Nangong family's businesses, income, or Nangong Wenrui's private assets. In fact, Wen Yuxia bore all the expenses of the entire Princess's residence.
Nangong Wenrui once wanted to hand over his private property to Wen Yuxia, but Wen Yuxia refused decisively. In Wen Yuxia's words, her own business was managed by Wen Yunhong, so she had no time to manage Nangong Wenrui's business.
This was the first time Wen Yuxia had asked Nangong Wenrui for someone, so it had to be taken seriously. Nangong Wenrui immediately returned to his small world, used his mind to locate the Nangong family's old residence, and went there to bring Nangong Yangxu and his wife back to the Princess's Mansion.
Nangong Wenrui said calmly, "Mu Hua, Nangong Yangxu is my great-uncle. He manages the Nangong family's weaving and dyeing workshop. If you want to open a workshop, you can ask your great-uncle for help. Grandma He is a master weaver..."
Madam He was the founder of the Nangong family's weaving and dyeing workshops. She wove the first piece of twill fabric for the weaving workshop, and she also provided the patterns and colors used in the dyeing workshop.
Upon hearing this, Wen Yuxia's eyes lit up, and she quickly bowed to Nangong Yangxu and his wife to greet them. Madam He took Wen Yuxia's hand and said kindly, "Young Madam, there's no need for such formalities."
She left the workshop last month, and Nangong Yangxu just finished the handover today. They are getting old, and while they can still move around, the couple wants to travel around and see the world.
Nangong Wenrui approached her, asking her to train a group of weavers and dyers for Wen Yuxia, in exchange for sending them on a journey to various places.
Traveling by horse-drawn carriage, these people, all over fifty years old, would never have been able to explore all the mountains and rivers of Great Xia in their lifetime. With Nangong Wenrui's help, they would save time traveling and, after exploring Great Xia, might even be able to travel abroad.
After discussing it with Madam He, Nangong Yangxu decided to agree to Nangong Wenrui's request and come to the capital to train apprentices for Wen Yuxia.
Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "Grandma He, please rest for a few days. We'll start work once I've found the right manpower and location."
Madam He nodded slightly, and Nangong Yangxu smiled at Nangong Wenrui: "Young Master, after you send us to Fancheng, would it be alright if the Young Madam made the necessary preparations and then went to Fancheng to pick us up?"
Nangong Yangxu had visited the capital city many times, and Madam He had also accompanied him to the city's entertainment district. Nangong Yangxu didn't want to stay in the capital; he planned to visit the leisurely town of Fancheng to broaden his horizons.
Before Nangong Wenrui could speak, Wen Yuxia interjected, "Senior Nangong, the inns in Leisure Town are very popular. If you go there at this time, there probably won't be any rooms available. The manor next to the town is my private property; you can stay there."
Nangong Yangxu was somewhat surprised. The vacant land around the leisure town was extremely expensive, and there was practically no land available; it was impossible to buy. Yet Wen Yuxia actually owned a manor there.
Nangong Wenrui laughed and said, "Mu Hua was able to build a manor there because the leisure town was jointly built by her and her brother with the current emperor."
Nangong Yangxu and Madam He exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes. Their young mistress, besides possessing a princess title, was also quite wealthy.
"Thank you for your understanding, young mistress," Madam He squatted down and performed a curtsy. Wen Yuxia quickly helped her up. "Grandma He, please don't bow. We're all family."
Since Nangong Wenrui had a place he wanted to go, he led them into the small world and then appeared at the entrance of Mu Garden. Nangong Wenrui gently knocked on the gate of Mu Garden.
Old Liu, the gatekeeper, saw Nangong Wenrui outside the door through the archway and hurriedly opened the door, saying respectfully, "Young Master, you've arrived."
Nangong Wenrui hummed in agreement, then told Old Man Liu that Nangong Yangxu and his wife were staying at Muyuan for the next few days, and asked him to get acquainted with them and remember to open the door for them when he came and went.
After arranging for Nangong Yangxu and his wife to stay in the main courtyard, Nangong Wenrui not only left them food before leaving, but also gave instructions to the head of the estate.
Land and houses were hard to buy in Beijing, so after much consideration, Wen Yuxia refused Nangong Wenrui's help and ultimately set up her workshop on a farm in the suburbs of Beijing.
After spending three days browsing the brokerage, Steward Tang finally selected thirty women and ten men, and took them directly to a farm on the outskirts of Beijing to settle them.
Five days later, Wen Yuxia brought Nangong Yangxu and his wife to a farm on the outskirts of Beijing, pointing to several newly built greenhouses behind the two-courtyard house.
He said, "Grandma He, for now, we'll teach them dyeing in the greenhouse, and they can learn weaving in the room. We'll move them there once the workshop is built."
Madam He nodded slightly: "Alright, young mistress, have the workers arrived?" Wen Yuxia smiled and said: "Yes, they're all waiting in the backyard. The looms, dye vats, dyes, and white cloth are all ready."
Without further ado, Madam He had Wen Yuxia call the female workers into her room and teach them weaving techniques, explaining each step in great detail, from selecting the silk threads to weaving the warp and weft.
Nangong Yangxu was not idle either. Having managed dyeing and weaving workshops for many years, he was very skilled at mixing dyes. He went to the backyard and taught the male workers to use various plants to make pigments and mix them into dyes to create a variety of unique colors.
Two weeks later, the female workers wove the currently fashionable twill fabric, and the male workers dyed various brightly colored fabrics. Wen Yuxia was very happy looking at these finished products.
"Grandma He, could you teach the workers how to dye floral fabric?" Wen Yuxia asked with a fawning smile.
There aren't many varieties of printed fabrics on the market, but something is better than nothing. The workshop can only dye solid-color fabrics now, and Wen Yuxia wanted to see how printed fabrics are dyed.
In her previous life, she had seen many patterns. As long as she mastered the technique of dyeing fabric, she could draw all the patterns in her mind and dye them onto the fabric.
After pondering for a moment, Madam He said, "The steps for dyeing floral fabric are a bit complicated. Let's call everyone over and I'll explain it to them first."
Both male and female workers were summoned to the front yard. As He Shi spoke, she explained that the first step was layout—arranging the fabric according to the drawn pattern. The second step was to shape the fabric into specific forms using techniques such as gathering, folding, rolling, and squeezing.
The third step is to soak the treated fabric in clean water, and then put it into the dye vat for dyeing. The fourth step is to take the dyed fabric out of the dye vat and put it in clean water to rinse off the excess dye.
The fifth step is to air-dry the fabric. After it is dry, remove the tie knots, pry open the "knots", iron it flat, and the parts that were tied and sewn together by the thread will form a white pattern.
He described to them the most basic type of floral fabric: blue with white flowers. Wen Yuxia felt a sense of déjà vu after hearing it.
After racking her brains, Wen Yuxia finally remembered an article she had read in her previous life, "Tie-dyeing, Flowers on Cloth." That's right, He Shi mentioned that the second step was tie-dyeing.