After Qi Shi went to work in the yamen, the three brothers and sisters went to the right room. One silently recited the new text he learned yesterday, and the other two followed the words in small letters. After less than half an hour, I already felt that my fingers were almost stiff.

Erluli couldn't stand it, and said with a wry smile: "It's still so cold with a stove burning in the house, let alone outside, in such weather, do you still have to go out to practice horseback riding and archery?" What will I do when I go to school tomorrow? ”

Hajlan laughed at him: "Could it be that such a cold weather stumped my brother?" This is the first snow, so what if it's colder? ”

Eruri had a headache when he heard this, and said with a bitter face: "I want to continue to study and practice hard, but even my hands are stiff just by writing in the house, and won't I become a popsicle when I go out?" What else can I do? He jumped to his feet, moved to the brazier, and stretched out his hand to roast it.

This is indeed a problem. Hajlan looked at the condensed ink, and could no longer write. She put down her pen, took three and stepped on the brazier, gave one to Erluli and Qi Buchen, and sat on one herself, thinking about what to do.

Eruri thought hard for a long time, and then burst out with a sentence: "Damn, my feet are also icy." ”

Hajlan laughed and asked, "Will it still be cold next to the brazier?" Didn't my brother wear socks? ”

Erluli said with a bitter face: "It's worn, it's a little better than not wearing it, but it's still cold."

Hajlan naturally replied: "If one pair is not enough, it is better to wear two pairs, why don't you ask someone to play a thicker pair?" ”

When Eruri heard this, he jumped up: "This method is good, why didn't you say it earlier?" Can you fight? ”

Hajlan nodded and said, "Yes, didn't Mongolia transport some blankets to sell?" Go to those people and ask for some wool, spin it into thread, and weave it into socks, which are much warmer than socks made of ordinary cotton yarn. If you have a lot of wool thread, you can also knit it into clothes and wear it. ”

When Eruri heard this, he rushed to the main room and said to Nalan who was settling accounts, and after Nalan asked what was going on, he smiled and said: "I don't need to look for wool now, I just bought wool thread before, and I was going to use it for socks, but I didn't expect the weather to be cold like this so quickly." You go and ask Mama Shulu, I'm afraid that I've already made one. ”

Eruri went to find Grandma Shulu, and when he came back, his right foot had been changed into woolen socks: "There is only one, and the other will be fine tonight." It's so warm. ”

Hajlan pouted: "Just change it, even if it is warm, it is impossible for your feet to change from ice cubes to warm soup water so quickly, less bluffing." ”

Erluli smiled proudly: "When I look back, my sister will call Ge Fo He Mama to also make a pair, and you will know when you put it on." But he sighed again, "It's a pity, it's only on the feet, if only you could wear socks on your hands." Unfortunately, the leather gloves used for horseback riding are too bulky, and no one wears them on weekdays. ”

When Nalan heard it in the main room, he smiled and said, "You can't wear socks on your hands, but our women do have fur gauntlets, but it's a pity that you guys will be laughed at when they use them." ”

Eruri was depressed, but this remark reminded Hajran that it was okay to make a pair of gloves? Although I don't know how to knit woolen gloves, I can use a clever way to make the palm part of my hand according to the knitting method of socks, and then knit another five finger parts, and then sew them with thread. If you can do it successfully, and then put on a big leather glove on the outside, what are you afraid of cold?

As soon as he thought of it, Hajlan hurriedly went to Mama Shulu to ask for thread, and when he tried it, he didn't need a few woolen threads, but tried ordinary coarse cotton threads first. She immediately got to work.

It's a pity that the skills of the little girl are not up to par, and it wasn't until lunch that she made the palm of one of them, thought about it, and specially measured the length of her brother's fingers. The gloves can be stretched out and the palms can be sloppy, but if the fingers are too far apart, too long or too short, it will be troublesome. After the meal, she prepared to make the more delicate finger parts according to the measured size, and Qi Buchen had been watching Hajlan busy with his work, so he asked his sister what she was doing and how to prepare to do it? As soon as Hajlan said the idea, Qi Buchen volunteered to do the next part, the two sisters said one by one, one did it, and they didn't even go to sleep during the nap, and finally made a pair of gloves at the time of the nap, and they could do it so quickly, it was because of Qi Buchen's ingenuity, if Hajiran came to do it, it was estimated that he would see the finished product tomorrow. Hajran put his hand in and tried it, and it was okay, in general, it looked like a glove. So he took it and tried it on Eruri.

Eruri had been wondering what her sisters were doing for a long time, and she was very happy when she saw the gloves, so she hurriedly put them on, just right. He looked at the gloves over and over with delight, and Nalan came to look at them, and said, "Isn't this the same as a leather glove for horseback riding?" It's just a thread, it's not difficult to see, ask the people below to do it, it's fast and good, and it will be useful tomorrow. After that, he instructed Mama Shulu to arrange for someone to do it.

Qi Buchen was a little aggrieved, and Erluli comforted her: "Brother Ming'er will wear what his sister did to go out." Qi Buchen smiled, thought about it, and said embarrassedly: "Brother is still waiting for a while, I feel that this pair is not very good-looking, I will embroider a small pattern of winged eagles to decorate it." ”

Hajran looked at the most ugly part of this pair of gloves was the small part he made, shame! It's a bit of a pressure to have a clever sister.

Eruri said with pity: "It would be nice to wear this when riding a horse, alas, it may be that if you wear it, you will get wet with snow in a while." How can leather gloves be so warm! ”

Hajran thought for a moment and said, "Then let someone add a layer of leather to the outside of the woolen gloves, so that they are not afraid of getting wet?" ”

"When you're outside, you wear woolen gloves made according to what Hajran said, and when you go into the house, you change your wool, isn't it?" Nalan smiled, "Oh, one of my two daughters is ingenious, the other is smart and cute, Eniang is so happy!" Hajlan said that Qi Buchen was responsible for making samples, and the official production would be handed over to the maids and grandmothers at home. However, it is advisable to try new things, so Hajran has started to introduce fingerless gloves again. Because while lamenting that wool gloves are more flexible than leather gloves, Erluli also regretted that it is a pity that it is inconvenient to do live writing.

In the afternoon, Qi Buchen made a pair of fingerless gloves, which are easier to make than full fingers, after all, the finger part takes much less work. When he tried it on Eruri, he immediately wore it and wrote a few words, turned a few pages, and shouted that it was convenient. Nalan handed over the official production to Mama Shulu to arrange, but this time, she also joined the army of making zuò, knitted a pair for her husband and herself, and also brought Qi Buchen to help, Hajilan was watching, who called Hajilan's craftsmanship is the worst!

In the interval between his busy work, Nalan instructed Mama Shulu again, saying, "I will boil a big pot of ginger soup today, and prepare it for those who come back in the snow." Everyone in the family should drink a little and burn more. When you go back, you ask someone to go and say hello to the mutton shop and ask them to send half a sheep. ”

Mama Shulu agreed, and said, "I just discussed with you that the dinner at night is better to make noodles, it is comfortable to eat hot, and then cook a pot of meatball soup, and put more green onions and ginger." ”

Nalan nodded: "Let's send noodles to meatball soup, and make some mutton, but the ginger soup should be burned more." When I went back to buy meat, I beat a few catties of good wine and put it away, and the men also drank some when it was cold. ”

Mama Shulu answered.

In the evening, Qi Shi returned. As soon as Qi Shi entered the door, he took off his cloak, stretched out his hand to the charcoal basin to keep warm, and said: "It's so heavy snow, I thought it was just a small thing at first, but I didn't expect the snow to get bigger and bigger the later it was getting dark, but I was afraid that when I got up tomorrow morning, it would be half a foot thick." I came back first, and a few of them still stayed in the yamen to arrange the resettlement of the people in the city. ”

Nalan asked him, "Are you hungry?" If you have a hot broth, let's drink a bowl to warm up and start the meal right away. He also asked someone to scoop the soup, and then waited for Qi Shi to take off his boots. Qi Shi smiled: "Fortunately, I saw that it was cold, so I went in leather boots, and some people only wore their usual shoes, but it was cold enough, and when I returned home, my whole shoes were wet." ”

Eruri told Qi Shi about the gloves on the side, and by the way, he showed off his new gloves, convenient finger baring and shearling gloves.

Qi Shi smiled and said to Hajran: "Why don't you think of a way to make a pair of cotton shoes for Ama that can be worn out?" Although this boot is not wet, it is still cold and panicked. ”

Hajlan nodded: "Okay, I think you can sew thick cotton socks or something like that into cowhide boots, isn't it just a pair of cotton boots, not afraid of snow and warm, can it?" ”

Qi Shi laughed. Nalan instructed Mama Shulu to make cotton boots as much as possible.

The snow fell all night, and when I got up the next day, it had stopped, and sure enough, it had accumulated half a foot. Qi Shi went back to the yamen early in the morning to arrange all the things in the city, and the Nalan clan asked people to push the snow in the courtyard and in front of the gate to the side, sweeping out the way where people could walk. Every house on the street does this, and many people climb onto the roofs to get the snow off their heads.

Erruli rode a horse with shearling gloves or practiced archery with open-fingered gloves and cowhide cotton boots on his feet, causing a sensation among his friends and envy him to follow suit. And Qi Shi also put on the "warm brand" wool gloves made by his family and wore cowhide cotton boots, etc., which also attracted attention among his colleagues and asked questions. For a time, the wool blankets of the Mongolian merchants were unsalable, but the wool was in short supply, and they were sold at a good price, and more shrewd merchants negotiated with them about the future wool business. And the shoe shop also changed the way to make many different styles of "cowhide cotton boots", which was very popular in Chahar City for a while.

Heavy snow is falling, and the persistent cold weather has the whole city looking for a good way to survive the winter. Inspired by wool gloves, some people came up with a style of gloves with satin and cotton, and embroidered on them to appeal to women. Even if they did not have the financial means to make wool covers for silk or sheepskin or wool, some people came up with gloves made of coarse cloth and cotton or rags. There are also people who work on other parts, such as making padded socks, padded shoes, wool boots, soft leather hats, scarves woven of wool thread, and so on. For a time, there were a lot of new winter clothes in the city, and some people returned to the customs and made a lot of money.

Hajran looked at the various versions of the cold made by others, sold them and made a fortune, and sighed at the wisdom of the ancients.