Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

The emperor did not agree to Shen Meizhuang's proposal, and even strictly ordered her not to tell anyone the content of today's conversation. This made Shen Meizhuang very disappointed, but by the evening, she had figured out a lot of things.

Just as she suggested linking the issue of freeing feet and prohibiting foot binding with the issue of imperial examinations, if the issue of freeing feet and prohibiting foot binding could be linked to the emperor's pain points, the emperor would surely be willing to issue an edict.

The emperor's weakness is very easy to take advantage of. He likes a good reputation, but sometimes he doesn't want to be like the previous emperor in his later years and be carried away by the so-called "good reputation", so the scale of this matter can only be carefully considered by her.

Having seen all the advantages of the emperor, Shen Meizhuang felt that this matter was somewhat outrageous. She could not let the emperor be scolded alone, and she had to tie up as many nobles and princes of the royal family as well.

But whether it was contacting nobles or royal family members, it was not something she, a concubine and a member of the Shen family of the Han army flag, could do, so Shen Meizhuang secretly sent a letter to Yi Xin, asking for help.

Yi Xin did not expect that Shen Meizhuang would challenge such a difficult task as liberating feet right from the start. However, she was still very optimistic about Shen Meizhuang's execution ability. For example, before she even offered the wool she had prepared, Shen Meizhuang had already deeply sounded out the emperor's attitude, and got the conclusion that the emperor was hesitant even though he knew that foot binding was inappropriate because he attached too much importance to his reputation.

As for what Shen Meizhuang wanted from her, contacting royal family members and nobles, Yi Xin felt that this favor was well worth helping with!

However, even though she is now the actual ruler of the harem, when she was canonized as a noble concubine, there was still a ceremony for the ladies from both the inner and outer court to pay homage. But if she wanted to summon the wife of the royal family, it would not be legitimate after all.

But if only the wife of Prince Ding, her cousin, was summoned, there would not be much of a problem.

The relationship between Prince Ding's wife and Prince Ding is average. Prince Ding seems to be a carefree person, but he is actually a very weird person. In his early years, he favored his concubine and neglected his wife, which won the heart of Prince Ding's wife. Now, even though the palace has no heirs, Prince Ding's wife is too lazy to care.

But Yi Xin couldn't bear to see her cousin acting like she was dying at only thirty years old.

After some pleasantries, Yi Xin got down to business: "Cousin, do you know what your family is busy with recently?"

The wife of Prince Ding nodded. She was the daughter of Ma Qi, and although her family deliberately concealed the matter of wool from outsiders, they would not hide it from her.

It would be good if the wife of Prince Ding knew about the wool. Yi Xin continued, "I originally came up with the idea of ​​wool because I wanted to give women all over the world a chance to make money. I think as long as women have money that they can control themselves, they don't have to rely on men for everything."

This statement was a bit treasonous, but the wife of Prince Ding was only slightly surprised, "I didn't expect that the queen had such great ambitions. No wonder the family now relies on the queen's wishes to do things."

"Then the queen asked me to come to the palace today, is it because of this wool?"

Yi Xin frowned slightly and said, "Inviting my cousin to the palace today has nothing to do with this wool."

"A few days ago, Huipin brought up the abolition of foot binding to the emperor again. Unexpectedly, the emperor thought it would damage his reputation, so he did not agree to Huipin's proposal. Huipin thought that if the royal family stood with the emperor, it would surely help relieve some of the pressure on the emperor. That's why I invited my cousin to the palace today."

The wife of Prince Ding felt that the ladies in the palace were more unexpected than each other. After a long while, she asked Yi Xin, "When did you become so close to Concubine Hui?"

There was nothing to hide about this matter, Yi Xin answered directly: "On the surface, we didn't have any dealings. The emperor also kept silent about the abolition of foot binding. I guess Huipin thought that I was the only one in the palace who could make this happen, so she took the risk to ask me for help in secret."

"It just so happens that I came up with this wool thing to find a way out for women, and it complements the abolition of foot binding. So I agreed to Huipin's request."

Prince Ding's wife changed the subject and reminded Yi Xin, "You should tell the emperor about the wool as soon as possible. The longer you delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for you."

Yi Xin thanked the wife of Prince Ding for her kindness, and the two chatted for a while. Then Yi Xin kept her in Chengqian Palace for lunch before letting her leave.

It happened that the emperor sent a message to Chengqian Palace the next day, saying that he would accompany Hongsheng to have lunch. Yi Xin thought that this was a good opportunity to let the emperor see woolen gloves and woolen socks. Although the weather was just a little cool at the moment and not yet cold, it would be better to prepare them early so that ordinary people in the capital could also wear woolen clothes for the New Year.

The emperor walked in happily, hand in hand with Hong Sheng. Yi Xin prepared a Cantonese style porridge base hot pot, because she happened to have fresh river shrimps and hairy crabs, and an uncle from Yi Xin's maternal grandfather's family sent a lot of dried seafood from Guangzhou. Yi Xin picked up small dried abalone and dried squid and soaked them for later use. She also added fresh beef, mutton and other meats, and filled the table with meat, which made Hong Sheng very happy.

Although the emperor had completely opposite preferences from Hong Sheng, preferring vegetarian dishes and not very fond of meat, because Yi Xin's food had a wide variety, gradually, he no longer objected to a table full of meat dishes. Anyway, as long as it suited his taste and was delicious, he liked it.

Fresh river and seafood are put into the pot first, followed by beef and mutton. Finally, when all the meat is finished, put the vegetables into the net pot. You can finish the whole pot together with the bottom of the pot, and you will feel relaxed all over after finishing.

When the emperor came back from a walk in the imperial garden with Hong Sheng and Yi Xin to digest their food, he lay on the kang and said, "Tell me, what's the matter that made you take such trouble to entertain me today?"

If someone else had come today, they would have flirted with the emperor, but Yi Xin had no such intention. She just smiled and replied, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. Earlier, I saw that the East Side Hall where Hong Sheng played was covered with fine wool felt. I thought that if we could find a way to remove the smell of the wool and remove 10% of the grease attached to it, we could probably spin the wool into yarn like spinning cotton thread."

"Later, the Fucha family really figured out a way to spin wool into yarn, and even wove a few new blankets and sent them to Chengqian Palace. But I was only thinking about how to turn the yarn into clothes, and forgot to report it to the emperor."

The emperor became interested when he heard this. He got up and asked Yi Xin to bring the wool and blanket to him. Xizhu and Sang'er presented the wool and blanket to the emperor. Yi Xin then took out the socks and half-finger gloves she had just knitted.