On the second day when the children of the Chang family began to pick bluegrass, the joy of Chang began to begin.

To make indigo from blue grass, you first have to soak the leaves and stems in a tank for seven days, when the blue juice will come out. And each stone slurry should be put into five liters of lime, whipped dozens of times, and the blue indigo will condense. When the water is still, the indigo will be deposited on the bottom.

After getting indigo, if you want to use it to dye, you have to go through a very complicated and boring process, and you have to go through more than a dozen processes repeatedly to get the best dye and dye the bright blue. If you want to make the color more layered and rich, with high saturation and not easy to fade, the process is more elaborate and the most critical part. There must be no mistakes at every step, otherwise defective products are likely to be stained.

For the sake of observation, the real yàn is carried out directly in Changjia.

There were already women who could dye cloth in Taoyuan Village, and Chang Xile invited them to come over for specific operations, but he was just doing technical guidance.

These people themselves have this craft, but they are much more reliable than people like Chang Xile.

A woman who came to help was called Sanniang and Aunt Lan, both of whom were good at dyeing cloth in the village, and they were also a craft passed down from their ancestors. However, these techniques are too old, and their mother's generation can still earn money from this craft, but gradually they are being squeezed out by foreign cloth.

The color of the cloth they dyed was too monotonous, the color sensitivity was not good enough, and it was extremely easy to fade, far less than the one shipped from outside. And the price of the two is about the same, so it is less and less dominant, and it is gradually eliminated. There were not many people in the village who could dye cloth, but gradually there were few people left.

Chang Xile asked Li Zheng for someone, but Li Zheng still thought about it for a while before remembering that these two people still had some skills.

"I thought I wouldn't be able to continue dyeing cloth in my life, I didn't think about ......it," Aunt Lan sighed, and even wiped tears from her affectionate place.

Aunt Lan's ancestor specialized in this work, and before fleeing to Taoyuan Village, their family owned a small workshop. But the war came, and there was nothing left overnight. Their family fled all the way, and the prosperous family, which originally had a population of more than 30, was left with only Aunt Lan's ancestor when they arrived here.

It's just that Aunt Lan is not the best at dyeing cloth in the family, and she only does some chores on weekdays, and there is still a long time before she becomes a teacher. But he is the only one left in the family, and the inheritance of skills in this life is taught by hand, and no one teaches them that their family's craft is almost broken here.

Aunt Lan didn't want her own craft to be cut off from him, so she kept thinking about finding it back, otherwise she would be sorry for her ancestors and ancestors after she died, and she would be sorry for giving him her rations and starving to death for her brother. But he was too young at the time, he hadn't learned anything at all, and he wasn't a talented person, so although he studied year after year, he couldn't show the family style of the year.

He passed on the craft to his children and grandchildren, hoping that they would be able to dye the most beautiful cloth one day in the future.

It's a pity that it backfired, and in Aunt Lan's generation, only her daughter was a little interested in it, and although the others should learn it from the scalp, they disliked the dyed cloth.

Although Aunt Lan is the best dyed in the family, the color is bright, and the color is still quite beautiful. It is also difficult for the dyeable cloth to survive in the market, because the fading is strict, and no matter how beautiful the color is, it is unbearable.

Sanniang smiled: "I also thought that I couldn't handle this craft anymore, but now with Master Wen, we can do this again!" To tell you the truth, I love dyeing cloth and watching it turn into all kinds of colors in my hands. Especially now we use cotton to weave cloth, which is white and soft, and I thought at the time that if we can dye it, I don't know how beautiful it is. ”

Aunt Lan also eased up at this time, and said happily: "But isn't it, I heard that I was asking me that Master Wen wanted us to dye cloth, and I was so happy that I couldn't sleep for several days." Master Wen, do you want to build a dyeing workshop? ”

Chang Xile looked at the expectant eyes of the two, and while his heart was moved by trust, the pressure on his shoulders was not small. Although he has theoretical knowledge, it is really hard to say that he may not be able to do it.

"It's up to us to see if we can do this job well, I won't hide it from you, and I'm not good at it, so I need your help......"

Sanniang and Aunt Lan hurriedly waved their hands, and Aunt Lan said: "Look at what you said, we are already very happy that you can call us, how can you say help." ”

Sanniang also said: "If we don't drag you back, we will have to steal fun." ”

Chang Xile smiled, "I'm not a god, I can do everything properly." So you have to be prepared, and it may take a lot of your work and nothing will be done. ”

When Sanniang and Aunt Lan heard this, they forgot that Chang Xile was omnipotent in their eyes, and hurriedly said that they were not afraid of hard work, nor were they afraid that they would not be able to do anything, as long as they could give it a try, they would be very happy.

Dyeing cloth is not a one-time thing, it takes a lot of work, Chang Xile originally wanted to start the work to pay the two of them, after all, it will delay them a lot of work, and they can't take care of the family.

Today, in addition to their own fields, every household in Taoyuan Village also raises a lot of chickens, ducks, fish, sheep and pigs, and part of the wasteland has been successfully managed and rice has been planted. In addition, each household now has to have at least one person who is either working in the workshop, doing business on the docks, or undergoing training.

This means that there is a shortage of labor, and some families have begun to hire people from other villages to help, and they are really too busy to do so.

But the two of them said that they would not accept anything, and later Chang Xile thought that the two of them were already married, and if they went out early and returned late without any craftsmanship, they were afraid that they would be dissatisfied with their in-laws, and this matter was likely to fail in the end, so they had to give up, so they insisted that the two of them accept it. Although the two did not respond at the time, they did not object again.

didn't expect that the next day, the two women's in-laws would come to their parents-in-law's house, and Chang Xile said that it was a great blessing for their family to be able to do things with him, where did they collect money when there was no output? If you do that, you'll definitely be poked in the back. Being able to help him do things is a good thing that can't be robbed.

Chang Xi saw that they were resolute and no longer insisted.

In the end, the two sides agreed that if the real yàn failed and the dyeing workshop could not be opened, then it would be regarded as help, and if it was opened, the two of them, as heroes, could get a high reward.

After this incident, Chang Xile also affirmed the kindness of the people of Taoyuan Village, and it was very atmospheric. Even if they have some small calculations in their hearts, it is not a bad thing, it shows that they now have a clear mind and are willing to work to take risks.

There are more than a dozen large vats piled up in the yard of Chang's house, because they still need to be fermented with sake lees, so there is a smell of wine wafting all over the yard, which makes Chang Xiwang want to have a drink every time he comes back.

Life is better in Taoyuan Village now, and many families have started to make their own wine, which is used as a festival or occasional drink. And the Chang family will also brew some rice wine every year, and Chang Xiwang's wine bugs are also hooked out. But this thing is expensive, so it takes a long time to drink it once, which makes Chang Xiwang hungry every time.

"Xiao Wu, didn't you say that you were tossing me, knowing that I was good at this, but I was still doing this thing at home." Chang Xiwang said depressedly.

In fact, the rice at home is enough to make wine, so that he can feed the wine bugs every day, but no one in the family agrees to such a bad use of food. Although the wine is delicious, the experience of the past has made them feel that no matter how good the wine is, it is not as good as the grain.

Chang Xile not only has such a requirement for his own family, but also directly asked Li Zheng and the clan elders to make a rule, which winemaker must report, and no wine can be made without authorization, and the number is still limited. Because it is not used for sales, the government does not care about this matter, so the village has set up rules for his brother.

Nowadays, the grain in the village is not built to be sold, and although the former grain collection team is still there, it is only to help the nearby villages find buyers, and the intermediate profit is very small.

This is to encourage everyone to stock up on grain, and although there is more food now, it will not be so much that it will rot if it cannot be eaten. And now the people in Taoyuan Village basically don't need to sell grain to generate income for themselves, so almost all people don't sell grain, and basically hoard.

Now when everyone talks about their granary, they are all smiling so much that they can't see their eyes.

And Chang Xile does not let everyone use grain to make wine, not only because he is worried that when he encounters natural disasters, there will be no food to fill his stomach, but also because he is worried that too much wine will raise drunkards. As soon as a person drinks alcohol, it is easy to get out of control and make some inappropriate actions.

That's it, and I don't want everyone to indulge in pleasure too much and have no moderation. He advocated that it is okay to drink but not too much, and that it is better to drink in moderation.

Although these are small things, I often feel that quantitative change produces qualitative change. Besides, drinking too much alcohol is not good for the body, and the rules set by the village are enough for everyone to feed the hungry worms in their stomachs.

"It's training you not to be tempted by the outside world, you have to do it." Chang Xisheng said with a smile.

"This is also terrible, hey, what if I am sleepwalking in the smoke at night and dig these things and eat them!"

Yang Zi's eyes rolled and he chuckled: "Then the third uncle, you will turn blue!" ”

"Even you kid laughs at me! See how I clean you up. "Let's say, Chang Xiwang stretched out his hand to grab Yang Zi, but Yang Zi was waiting for him in the same place, and he had already gone away.

Chang Xiwang was originally just joking, but seeing that Yang Zi's movements were so sensitive, he just wanted to tease him and play around in the yard.

The yard is not big, if it was in the past, Yang Zi would have been caught in an instant. But now he is now 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 Yang Zi who was like a loach for a while.

Yang Zi was smug and grimaced at him, "Third uncle, you can't catch me, you can't catch me!" ”

"You two stop playing, there are so many things in this yard, what if you bump into them. You're too, how old you are, and you're still like a child. Seeing the commotion in the yard, the grandmother reprimanded.

This big and small one stopped.

Chang Xiwang: "You kid is getting more and more capable, the tiger master won't just teach you the ability to escape, how can you be like a monkey?" ”

Chang Xile smiled: "Didn't he just practice this skill, didn't you see what he looked like in the forest, you can't catch up now." ”

Although Chang Xile had never participated in the children's hunting, Chang Yu would tell him in detail about the situation that day every time. First, it is also to let him understand the movements of the children; Second, it is also to show merit. Chang Yu knows that Chang Xile likes to watch everyone make progress little by little, becoming more and more powerful.

Chang Xiwang didn't expect it to be the case, although he was also trained by Chang Yu, but because many items are practiced separately according to their own characteristics, and he belongs to the strength type, so I didn't see how other people practiced, and I didn't know that he could also practice running away.

"Just practice how to run, then if you really encounter something in the future, you can only run away, what can you do?" Chang Xiwang said with some disapproval.

Without waiting for Chang Xile to speak, the third sister-in-law Ding, who was holding her youngest son in the sun, couldn't help but say: "How many times has Uncle said that life is the most important, and it is also the ability to run." ”

"But if you really meet the bandits, he ran away with a big man......"

This is really not good, Ding San's sister-in-law hurriedly interrupted, "If you don't listen to you to read more on weekdays, you will know that you are buried in work, and your brain can't turn, what kind of stupid things to say!" Wouldn't it be better if something really happened and someone hurriedly ran away to move the rescuers? Why don't you think about it, you know how to use brute force. ”

Chang Xiwang was not angry when he was murdered by his mother-in-law, and patted his head happily, "Yes, yes, look at my head without turning, or my child's mother has insight!" ”

The big guys are all in the yard, and Ding San's sister-in-law is not a thick-skinned person, her ears are red when she hears this, and she tilts her body to the side and doesn't want to deal with him.

Chang Xiwang smirked, he didn't know what embarrassment was, and went directly to tease his youngest son.

The family has long been accustomed to this situation, and the family members sighed secretly in their hearts, fortunately, they married Chang Xiwang to a third sister-in-law who was so shrewd and capable, and could lower his wife, otherwise this stupid strength would be rectified in the future.

People say that a pregnancy is stupid for three years, but it turns out that these two stupid ones are fathers. I don't know if Chang Xiwang is getting more and more stupid or because Ding San's sister-in-law is becoming more and more intelligent and capable because she is a workshop manager, which sets off Chang Xiwang's stupidity, and now he is nicknamed a big fool.

Chang Xile called this kind of stupidity happiness stupid, if it weren't for a trustworthy person who was good to himself wholeheartedly and arranged a good situation for himself, how could he have this opportunity and conditions to be happy stupid.

Because of the experience of Sanniang and Aunt Lan and Chang Xile's guidance, the progress of the first qiē was quite smooth, but the hands of the two sisters-in-law also turned blue, although they were cleaned every day, there would still be faint marks on it. If you work in a dye vat for a long time, your whole hand will turn blue that can't be washed off.

Chang Xile had seen traditional cloth dyers in his previous life, and their hands were like the skin color of Avatar. He also told his two sisters-in-law about the result, and they all laughed when they heard it. It is said that having such hands means that he is a qualified dyeer and is respected.

After a month of busy work, the first blue cloth was finally dyed.

Blue cloth of different depths is hung on a bamboo frame, and the colors are bright and beautiful after being exposed to the sun, from dark to light, like a beautiful picture.

"It's a beautiful color!"

Passers-by sighed when they saw those different shades of blue cloth.

"That light blue is so beautiful, if it is made into clothes, I don't know how beautiful it is."

"It looks better with it, if you want me to say ......"

Sanniang and Aunt Lan were overjoyed to see such a beautiful color, they had used this blue grass to make indigo cloth before, but they could not make so many shades of blue as Chang Xile had instructed them. And the color is saturated and vivid, so you can see how different it is from what you dye.

"If it is not easy to fade after washing, it will definitely be sold at a good price!" Sanniang touched the cloth and said excitedly.

Aunt Lan was so moved that tears were about to come out, "It's this color, it's this color!" It's exactly the same as what my ancestors have handed down, no, it's better! ”

Aunt Lan used to be the most famous for the blue cloth dyed in her family.

Chang Xi was very happy to see that he could make such a result for the first time, in fact, because of his lack of experience in the process, there were many mistakes, but he was still able to dye such a beautiful cloth, which was really rare, and gave him a lot of confidence.

Li Zheng and the others also got the news, and they rushed over to take a look, and they all gave a thumbs up to these blue cloths.

"If you want to be dyed like this, there must be a lot of people willing to buy it."

Now that the weaving mill has been built, with the big spinning wheel, the cotton spinning speed is faster. Chang Xile also modified the loom, although it still required a lot of labor, but the efficiency became much higher. When Chang Xile decided to dye the cloth, he had temporarily stopped supplying to the Shen family.

The Shen family knew that they were going to dye cloth, so they had no opinion. With the promotion of cotton, the profit of ordinary cotton cloth is getting smaller and smaller, and they also want to see processed goods. After so many cooperations, the Shen family was very relieved of Chang Xile and felt that he would definitely be able to make good things.

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

In such a situation, Chang Xile felt that he had met the standard in his heart. This situation is already at the middle level in this world, and only the higher level can be used by high-ranking officials and nobles. Chang Xile does not plan to attack this part of the market, so he intends to maintain this state.

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

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

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

His initial plan was that the dyeing workshop would dye relatively simple solid colors at first, and first use blue cloth, and then enrich other colors. After a certain period of time, start to use batik to start dyeing some patterns. Take it step by step, don't be impatient.

Dyeing cloth is not an easy task, you have to train a group of people to come out first, before you can refine it. Moreover, the solid color cloth here is also very marketable, but the ones with patterns have their own aesthetic influences and high requirements for cutting, and some people are afraid that they will avoid it, 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, which was one level higher than the price Chang Xile guessed! Everyone was overjoyed when they heard this result, which was much more profitable than selling the woven cloth directly!

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

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

Chang Xisheng went to Chang Xile's house to talk to him, and Chang Xile didn't beat around the bush and asked 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 at sea for nearly a year, and there is no news yet. But this is also a normal thing, they have to go to a far place, and they are ready to wander outside for two years. So he worries about their safety, but he doesn't feel anything wrong because there is no news.

"What's wrong with them? Didn't you say you hadn't come back yet? ”

Chang Xisheng sighed deeply, "Part of the ships of the Shen Pei family has already returned, just a few days after the day I went. But Shen Gongzi and Pei Gongzi did not come back, I heard that they encountered a strong wind in one place, so they blew more than a dozen boats away at that time, and when the wind stopped, only the five ships that came back were found, and the other ships were gone, including the ships that the two sons were on. Later, they searched for a long time at sea, but found nothing, except for the occasional floating wreckage. I'm afraid it's ...... There is less bad luck. ”

Chang Xile seemed to have a thunderbolt in his ears, these two were his friends, because they made the whole Taoyuan Village different, and they talked to each other very happily, they were still drinking happily at home when they left before, and they also took a lot of his private work, why is it so gone!

"It doesn't mean that the person is gone, maybe I don't know where to go."

The person who came back said that when there was a strong wind before, he saw the two of them in a large boat that was swept away by a tornado...... And those wrecks are the big ship's. ”

The boats for two people are the largest and most luxurious, and the material patterns are different from the others.

Chang Xile heard the tornado, and immediately understood why everyone guessed that the two were no longer there. Tornadoes at sea are so terrible that even the great ships of later generations have nothing to do with them.

"They...... That's it...... Gone? ”

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

Because this involves whether to open the sea, there was originally a debate in the court, and now there is such an unlucky thing, and the original opponents will not let go of this opportunity.

So there was a lot of uproar about it, and everyone was talking about the shipping, and they all thought that the two were dead.