Taoyuan Farmhouse Daily

Chang Xile's experiment began the day after the children of Chang's family started picking bluegrass.

If you want to make indigo from bluegrass, you must first soak the leaves and stems in a tank for seven days, and then blue juice will come out.Five liters of lime is added to each stone slurry, and the indigo is condensed after being whipped dozens of times.After the water is still, the indigo will settle on the bottom.

However, if you want to use indigo to dye, you have to go through a very complicated and boring process. After repeating more than a dozen processes, you can get the best dye and dye a bright blue color.But if you want to make the color more layered and rich, with high saturation and not easy to fade, the process is more particular, and it is also the most critical part.Every step can not be wrong, otherwise it is very likely to dye defective products.

For the convenience of observation, the experiment was conducted directly at Chang's home.

There were already women who could dye cloth in Taoyuan Village, and Chang Xile invited them to come over to do the specific operation, and he was only a technical guide.

These people have this skill themselves, and they are much more reliable than people like Chang Xile who talk on paper.

One of the women who came to help was San Niang and the other Aunt Lan. Both of them were good cloth dyers in the village, and they could be regarded as handed down skills from their ancestors.However, these techniques are too outdated, and their mothers can still earn money from this craft for a generation, but they are gradually squeezed out by foreign cloth.

The color of the cloth they dyed is too monotonous, the color sensitivity is not good enough, and it is extremely easy to fade, which is far inferior to the ones shipped from outside.Moreover, the prices of the two are similar, so the less dominant they are, the more they will be gradually eliminated.There were quite a few people in the village who knew how to dye cloth, but gradually there were not many left.

Chang Xile looked for Li Zheng to ask for someone, but Li Zheng still thought for a while before he remembered that these two people still had some skills.

"I thought I would never be able to continue dyeing cloth in this life, but I didn't expect..." Aunt Lan said with emotion, she even wiped away her tears when she said affectionately.

Aunt Lan's ancestors specialized in this job. Before they fled to Taoyuan Village, their family owned a large workshop.But the war came, and nothing was left overnight.Their family fled all the way here, originally a prosperous family with a population in the thirties, when they arrived here, only Aunt Lan's family remained.

However, Aunt Lan is not the best at dyeing cloth in the family, and she only does some odd jobs on weekdays, and there is still a long time before she is a teacher.But he was the only one left in the family, and the inheritance of skills in this life was taught by hand, and no one taught them, so the craftsmanship of their family was almost broken here.

Aunt Lan didn't want his family's craft to be cut off from him, so he always wanted to find it, otherwise he would be sorry to his ancestors after death, and he would starve to death of his elder brother after giving him his own rations.But he was too young at that time, he hadn't learned anything at all, and he wasn't originally a talented person, so although he studied year after year, he couldn't show his family style again.

He passed this craft on to his descendants, hoping that they can pass it on, and one day in the future they can dye the most beautiful cloth as before.

It's a pity that things didn't work out as expected. In Aunt Lan's generation, only her daughter was interested in it. Although the others took the initiative to learn it, they all hated the dyed cloth.

Although Aunt Lan is the best dyer in the family, the colors are bright, and the colors are quite beautiful.It is also difficult for dyeable cloth to survive in the market, because the color fades severely, and even the most beautiful colors are unbearable.

Sanniang laughed and said, "I also thought I couldn't do this craft anymore, but now that we have Mr. Wen, we can do it again! To tell you the truth, I just like dyeing cloth, and I like watching the cloth dyeing in my hand. It turns into various colors in our hands. Especially now we use cotton to weave, and the weaving is white and soft. At that time, I thought that if it could be dyed with colors, I don’t know how beautiful it will be.”

Aunt Lan came in at this time, and said happily: "Isn't it? I heard that Master Wen wanted us to dye cloth. I was so happy that I couldn't sleep for several days. Master Wen , do you want to build a cloth dyeing workshop?"

Chang Xile looked at the expectant eyes of the two, and while her heart was moved by being trusted, the pressure on her shoulders was not small.Although he has theoretical knowledge, it is hard to say that he may not succeed.

"It depends on whether we can do this job well. I won't hide it from you. I'm not good at this, so I need your help..."

Sanniang and Aunt Lan waved their hands quickly, and Aunt Lan said: "Look at what you said, you are already very happy to call us, how can you say that you can help?"

San Niang also said: "We will have fun if we don't drag you back."

Chang Xi laughed, "I'm not a god, and I can do everything properly. So you have to be prepared, maybe this will cost you a lot of work, and nothing will be done in the end."

After hearing this, Sanniang and Aunt Lan also forgot that Chang Xile was omnipotent in their eyes, so they quickly said that they were not afraid of spending time or not being able to do anything, as long as they could give it a try, they would be very happy.

Dyeing cloth is not something that can be done overnight, it takes a lot of work. Chang Xile originally thought of paying the two of them for the wages, after all, it would take a lot of time for them, and they would not be able to take care of their family affairs.

In addition to their own fields, each household in Taoyuan Village now raises a lot of chickens, ducks, fish, sheep and pigs. Part of the wasteland has been successfully managed and rice cultivation has begun.In addition, now every household must draw at least one person who is either working in the workshop, doing business at the dock or undergoing training.

This means that there is a shortage of labor. Some families have started to hire people from other villages to help, but they are already too busy.

But the two of them refused to accept anything they said, and later Chang Xile said that both of them were married, and if they left early and returned late without any skills, they might cause dissatisfaction with their in-laws, and this matter was likely to fail in the end, so they had to give up. Let the two accept it.Although the two didn't agree at the time, they didn't object anymore.

But I didn't expect that the two women's husband's family would come to Chang Xile the next day, and told Chang Xile that it was a great blessing for their family to work with him. How could they collect money when there was no production?Doing so will definitely be poked in the spine.Being able to help him with things is a good thing that cannot be snatched away.

Chang Xi was glad to see that their attitude was firm, and they stopped insisting.

In the end, the two parties agreed that if the experiment failed and the cloth dyeing workshop could not be opened, it would be regarded as a help.

After this incident, Chang Xile also affirmed the kindness and generosity of the people in Taoyuan Village.Even if there are some small calculations in their hearts, it is not a bad thing. It shows that they are thinking clearly now and are willing to work hard to take risks.

There are more than a dozen large vats piled up in the yard of Chang's family. Because distiller's grains still need to be fermented, there is a smell of wine all over the yard, making Chang Xiwang want to drink a glass every time he comes back.

Taoyuan Village is getting better now, and many people have started to brew their own wine for festivals or occasional drinking.The Chang family also makes some rice wine every year, and Chang Xiwang's wine worms are also hooked out.But this thing is expensive, so it takes a long time to drink it once, which makes Chang Xiwang very hungry every time.

"Xiao Wu, don't you think you are torturing me? You know that I like this, but you still make this stuff at home." Chang Xiwang said depressedly.

In fact, the rice in the house is enough to make wine, so that he can feed wine worms every day, but no one in the family agrees to waste food like this.Although the wine is delicious, their previous experience made them feel that no matter how good the wine is, it is not as good as the food.

Not only did Chang Xile have such requirements for her own family, but she also directly asked Lizheng and the elders of the clan to make a rule that any wine brewing company had to report, and they were not allowed to make wine without authorization, and the quantity was limited.Because it is not for sale, the government doesn't care about it, so the village has established rules.

It is not recommended to sell the grain in the village now. Although the former grain harvesting team is still there, it is only helping the nearby villages to find buyers, and the profit in the middle is very small.

This is to encourage everyone to stockpile food. Although there is a lot of food now, it will not be so much that it will rot if you can't eat it all.Now, people in Taoyuan Village basically don't need to sell grain to generate income for themselves, so almost all families don't know how to sell grain, and basically stockpile it.

Now when everyone talks about their own granary, they all laugh so hard that their teeth can't see their eyes.

And Chang Xile didn't let everyone use grain to make wine, not only because they were worried that there would be no food to fill their stomachs in case of natural disasters, but also because too much wine making would lead to alcoholics.Once a person drinks, it is easy to lose control and make some inappropriate actions.

That's all, Chang Xile also doesn't want everyone to be too indulged in pleasure and have no restraint.He advocated drinking but not drinking too much, it is better to be moderate.

Although these are some very small things, Chang Xile feels that quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.Besides, drinking too much alcohol is not good for your health, and the rules set by the village are enough for everyone to feed the gluttons in their stomachs.

"This is training you not to be tempted by the outside world, you have to treat it like this." Chang Xisheng said with a smile.

"This is too cruel, hey, what if I am so smoked that I sleepwalk at night and just dig these things and eat them!"

Yang Zi rolled his eyes, giggled and said, "Then third uncle, you will turn blue!"

"Even you are laughing at me! See how I deal with you." Say it, Chang Xiwang stretched out his hand to catch Yang Zi, but Yang Zi would not wait for him where he was, he had already run away.

Chang Xiwang was just joking at first, but seeing Yang Zi's movements so agile, he just wanted to tease him and started playing around in the yard.

The yard is not big, if Yang Zi used to be caught in an instant.But now he is nearly ten years old after all, his hands and feet are much more flexible than when he was a child, and after Chang Yu's training, Chang Xiwang found that he couldn't catch this Yangzi who was like a loach for a while.

Yang Zi was very proud and made a face at him, "Third Uncle, you can't catch me if you can't catch me!"

"Stop playing, you two. There are so many things in this yard, what if you bump into them. You are the same. You are still like a child despite your age." Grandma Sun scolded when she saw the noise in the yard.

The big and the small just stopped.

Chang Xiwang: "You kid is getting more and more capable. Master Tiger didn't just teach you how to escape, did he? Why are you acting like a monkey?"

Chang Xile smiled and said: "He just practiced this skill, you haven't seen what he looks like in the forest, you can't catch up now."

Although Chang Xile had never participated in the children's hunting, every time Chang Yu would tell him in detail what happened that day.Firstly, it was to let him understand the children's movements; secondly, it was also to show merit.Chang Yu knows that Chang Xile likes to watch everyone improve little by little, becoming more and more powerful.

Chang Xiwang didn't expect this to be the case. Although he was also trained by Chang Yu, many items were practiced separately according to their own characteristics, and he was a strength type, so he didn't see how other people practiced. I know I can specialize in escaping.

"Just practice how to run, and then if something happens, you will only run away, what should you do?" Chang Xiwang disagreed.

Before Chang Xile could speak, Mrs. Ding San, who was holding her youngest son to bask in the sun, couldn't help but said, "How many times has my uncle said that life is the most important thing, and being able to run is also a skill."

"But if you really meet a gangster, he, a big man, ran away..."

This is really unpleasant, Ding Sansao quickly interrupted, "If you don't listen to the daily reading, you will know that you are immersed in your work and your brain can't turn. What nonsense! If something really happens, someone will run away Wouldn’t it be better to go to rescue soldiers? Why don’t you know how to think about it and use brute force.”

Chang Xiwang wasn't angry when he was beaten by his own wife, and he patted his head cheerfully, "Yes, yes, I don't turn my head around, my mother-in-law is wise!"

The big guys are all in the yard, Ding Sansao is not a thick-skinned person, her ears turned red when she heard this, she turned to one side and didn't want to talk to him.

Chang Xiwang smirked, not knowing what embarrassment meant, so he went directly to tease his younger son.

The family has long been used to this kind of situation, and all the family sighed inwardly. Fortunately, they married Chang Xiwang to a daughter-in-law Ding San who was so smart and capable, and could keep his wife down.

People say that the first pregnancy was stupid for three years, and it turned out that the two were stupid fathers.I don't know whether Chang Xiwang is getting more and more stupid or because Ding Sansao has become smarter and more capable because she became a workshop manager to set off Chang Xiwang's stupidity. Now that he has nicknames, he is almost becoming a big fool.

Chang Xile called this kind of foolishness happiness foolishness. If there wasn't a trustworthy person who was kind to her who thought of herself wholeheartedly and arranged everything for herself, how could she have such a happy foolishness with this opportunity and conditions.

Because of the experience of Sanniang and Aunt Lan and the guidance of Chang Xile, everything went smoothly in the cloth dyeing experiment, but the hands of the two sisters-in-law also turned blue. Although they were cleaned every day, there were still faint marks on top.If you work in the dye tank for a long time, your whole hand will turn blue that cannot be washed off.

Chang Xile had seen traditional cloth dyers in her previous life, and their hands had the same skin color as Avatar.He also told the result to his two sister-in-laws, and they all laughed.It is said that having such hands means that only qualified cloth dyers are respected.

After working hard for a month, the first piece of blue cloth was finally dyed.

The blue cloths of different depths are hung on the bamboo frame, and the colors are bright and beautiful after being exposed to the sun. From dark to light, it looks like a beautiful picture.

"The color is so beautiful!"

People passing by sighed sincerely when they saw the blue cloth in different shades.

"That light blue is really pretty. If it's made into clothes, I don't know how beautiful it will be."

"It looks better when paired, let me say..."

Sanniang and Aunt Lan were overjoyed to see such a beautiful color. They had used this indigo grass to make indigo and dyed cloth before, but they couldn't produce so many shades of blue as Chang Xile taught them. color to.And the color is saturated and bright, and you can tell how different it is from the one you dyed.

"If the color won't fade after washing, it will definitely fetch a good price!" Sanniang said excitedly as she touched the cloth.

Aunt Lan was so moved that tears were about to come out, "It's the color, it's the color! It's exactly the same as the one passed down by my ancestors, no, it's even better!"

Aunt Lan's family used to be famous for the dyed blue cloth.

Chang Xi was very happy to see such a result for the first time. In fact, due to lack of experience, he made many mistakes during the process, but he was still able to dye such beautiful cloth, which was really rare and gave him a lot of confidence.

Lizheng and the others also got the news, and rushed over to have a look, and gave the blue cloths a thumbs up.

"If it can be dyed like this, there must be many people willing to buy it."

Now the spinning workshop has been built, and with the big spinning wheel, the spinning speed of cotton is faster.Chang Xile modified the loom again. Although it still required a lot of labor, the efficiency became much higher.When Chang Xile decided to dye cloth, she had already temporarily stopped supplying the Shen family.

The Shen family knew that they wanted to dye cloth, so they had no objection.With the promotion of cotton, the profit of ordinary cotton cloth is getting smaller and smaller, and they also hope to see processed goods.With so many cooperations, the Shen family was very relieved of Chang Xile, thinking that he would definitely come up with something good.

After washing, although there is still some fading, it is not serious and within the acceptable range, and after the second wash, it basically does not fade much.

In such a situation, Chang Xile felt that he already met the standard in his heart.This kind of situation already belongs to the middle level in this world, and the higher level can only be used by dignitaries and nobles.Chang Xile doesn't plan to attack this part of the market, so it's fine to keep it like this.

If you want to achieve better, it is not so easy, it will take a lot of time and energy, and there is no need to do this for the time being.Coupled with their good color, they should be able to occupy a place.

After the third time, Sanniang and Aunt Lan have mastered the cloth dyeing skills very well, and they are getting better each time.At the tenth time, it was basically finalized, and there was no way to make any obvious progress.

Chang Xile knew that this was their current limit, so she handed over this batch of cloth samples to the Shen family, asking them to give a price first, and then decide how to build the cloth dyeing workshop.

His preliminary plan is that the cloth dyeing workshop will dye relatively simple solid colors at first, and the blue cloth will be the main color at first, and other colors will be enriched later.Wait for a certain period of time before starting to use batik to dye some patterns.Take it step by step, don't be impatient.

Dyeing cloth is not an easy task. A group of people must be trained before it can be refined.Moreover, the pure-color cloth here is also very popular, but the patterned cloth has its own aesthetic influence and has high requirements for cutting. Some people will avoid it if it is not good, so it is more risky.

The Shen family was very satisfied with this piece of cloth, and immediately signed a contract with Chang Xisheng, who delivered the cloth, the price was higher than Chang Xile's guess!Everyone was overjoyed and anxious when they heard the result. It would be much more profitable than selling the woven cloth directly!

The children of the Chang family were even more excited. Regardless of Chang Xile's advice the next day, everyone came back with a basket full of blue cloth.

"Second brother, I just saw that your complexion is not very good. Is this business not so simple?"

Chang Xisheng went to Chang Xile's room to talk to him, but Chang Xile didn't beat around the bush and asked him directly.

Chang Xisheng shook his head, "It has nothing to do with business, it's Shen Baili and Pei Qingyun."

Chang Xile was stunned. These two people have been out at sea for nearly a year, and there is no news yet.But this is also a normal thing. They are going to a far away place, and they have planned to wander outside for two years.So he was worried about their safety, but he didn't feel that there was anything wrong because there was no news.

"What happened to them? Didn't they say they haven't come back yet?"

Chang Xisheng sighed deeply, "Some of the boats of Shen Pei's family have already returned, just a few days before I went there. But neither Mr. Shen nor Mr. Pei came back. I heard that they met in a place. When there was a strong wind, more than a dozen boats were blown away. When the wind stopped, only the five boats were recovered, and the other boats were gone, including the boat on which the two sons were on. After searching for a long time, I didn’t find anything, only occasionally saw floating wreckage. I heard that it’s just...the bad luck.”

There seemed to be a thunder in Chang Xile's ears. These two were his good friends, because they made the whole Taoyuan Village different, and they talked very happily with each other. Before leaving, they were still drinking happily at home. While drinking, he also took a lot of private work from him, why did he just disappear like this!

"It doesn't mean that the person is gone, maybe it's because he didn't know where he went."

"The people who came back said that when the wind was strong before, they saw the big boat the two of them were on being swept away by the tornado...and the wreckage belonged to that big boat."

The boat the two are on is the largest and most luxurious, and the material pattern is different from other boats.

When Chang Xile heard the tornado, she immediately understood why everyone guessed that the two of them were gone.Tornadoes at sea are very terrifying existences, and even the big ships of later generations can't do anything about them.

"They... are just... gone?"

Chang Xile still couldn't believe it, but it didn't take long for the news to spread throughout Liangguo.

Because it involves whether to ship by sea, the court had been arguing endlessly, and now that such an unlucky thing happened, those who originally opposed it would not let this opportunity go.

So there was a lot of noise about this matter, everyone was talking about the shipping, and they all believed that the two were dead.