Liu Shimin watched several pairs of weavers operate the loom with great interest, and then picked up a set of jacquard books and checked them for a while.

Suddenly, he turned around, and said to Han Zhongwen in disgust: "Han Gong, you and the housekeeper have been following, every time this Zheng girl responds to our family's questions, she has to carefully weigh your face first." What's the matter, I'm afraid that our family will steal the teacher? ”

Han Zhongwen hurriedly waved his hand again and again: "How dare you dare, my father-in-law deigns to come, my family will know everything, and there will be no end to words." ”

Ma Xianglin stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master Han, let's go, please go to the front hall to drink a glass of chrysanthemum wine, don't be an eyesore here." ”

Han Zhongwen naturally obeyed the order, played haha, and went out with Lao Peng with Ma Xianglin.

Liu Shimin pursed his lips, and when he turned to Zheng Haizhu, his face was much warmer, and he waved her hand to let her continue to take her to visit the weaving workshop.

"I heard General Ma say that the girl is from Zhangzhou?"

"Back to my father-in-law, the little woman is from Longxi County, Zhangzhou."

"Oh," Liu Shimin took out the cleansing handkerchief taken out of the pavilion, rubbed the velvet on it, and exclaimed, "The Han Mansion has a lot of creation, you have to be a good general." Come, tell me how this veil is woven. ”

Zheng Haizhu squatted respectfully, led Liu Shimin to a row of baskets, pointed to the stacked cloth inside, and said, "Father-in-law, please look, these are woven blank cloths, and they need to be dyed." The common medicine spot cloth and purple flower cloth in Songjiang are dyed with indigo and local purple flowers respectively, showing a dark blue and brownish yellow. ”

Liu Shimin nodded and pointed to the robe on his body: "Yes, the long shirt I am wearing today is the indigo material I bought at your Fucheng cloak shop." Literati have always admired the kind of turbulent green, what is the blue water, the green bamboo, the green smoke, the green plum, the green. But I love this dark blue alone, and I can't figure it out when I look at it like the sky at night. However, Xianglin said that his rhombic cloth was the best Songjiang cotton cloth, so that the old man could also make one. Ahem, he is a young man, how heroic and chic, he looks good in anything. ”

Zheng Haizhu always has twelve points of concentration in the face of a big man like a eunuch, and at this moment, he touched Liu Shimin's words, and then thought about Ma Xianglin's move to Songjiang to accompany him, and felt a little strange.

During the Wanli period, the two notorious groups of expatriate officials were the mining tax eunuchs and the weaving eunuchs.

It stands to reason that Ma Xianglin, whose father died at the hands of the mining tax eunuchs, will also be more disgusted with the weaving eunuchs of a similar nature, right? I didn't expect it to be quite a personal relationship.

But Zheng Haizhu guessed flawlessly, and waited quietly for Liu Shimin to stop talking, and then continued to explain according to the other party's interest: "My father-in-law is right, and the little woman also thinks that this blue is like the night sky.

The little woman's hometown is by the sea, and she got up in the middle of the night to decoct medicine for her mother, and saw the night sky and the night sea, the dawn appeared, and the blue was mixed with orange and red, which really made people dizzy.

After coming to Songjiang, she saw the medicine spot cloth and purple flower cloth, which were blue and yellow, so the little woman discussed with the weavers, and buried the thin rod in the blank cloth as a false weft, and the false weft did not weave cotton yarn. First, such a blank cloth is soaked with indigo and purple dye, and after beating and drying, the false weft is used to dye red silk thread, and the velvet ring is woven by winding the knot, and then the velvet ring is cut and the false weft is removed. ”

Liu Shimin gently touched the cloud-like red velvet on the handkerchief with his fingers, while squinting to listen to Zheng Haizhu's narration.

At the age of sixteen, he entered the palace as if he were a fish in the sea, and he had been in the huge inner court of the empire for more than ten years, and he had read countless people.

From the palace maids who served the emperor's concubines to the female craftsmen of the inner weaving and dyeing bureau, their eyes, even if they were not dark, were shrouded in fear and humility.

It is not like the woman in front of her, her expression is calm and solemn, but her eyes are flashing with warm and vivid sparks from time to time.

For a short moment, Liu Shimin remembered that the noble woman in the Forbidden City also had such a different look.

Although, his comrades-in-arms have already figured out that there must be nothing to do with Miss Zheng and that Concubine Zheng.

But this kind of look is indeed more liked by those who are proud in their bones. For example, the saint is to Zheng Guifei, and for example, General Pony is to this Zheng girl.

And the senior who is hidden in the south of the Yangtze River, when he talks about this woman with himself, the appreciation is also very distinct.

"Shi Min, you give me the palm of your hand, is that girl a material that can be made?"

The words of the predecessors are still in my ears.

With a "snap", the weavers around him unintentionally took off the shuttle and fell at Liu Shimin's feet.

Liu Shimin came back to his senses, attached himself, and picked up the shuttle for the weaver.

The weaver was so frightened that he couldn't say a word for a long time.

Liu Shimin patted him on the shoulder, smiled gently, and motioned for him to relax and continue to sit back and weave.

In the huge machine room, many weavers with some experience inevitably muttered in their hearts, and the big eunuch received by the owner today looked very kind. It is said that the eunuch is like a tiger, and the weaving eunuch is the biggest evil tiger, there was a big incident in Suzhou in the past, the eunuch Sun Long squeezed the local fabrics to pay tribute and collect taxes too much, the people of Suzhou rioted, and almost beat Sun Long to death in Gusu City.

I only hope that this father-in-law Liu is not a smiling tiger.

Liu Shimin's gaze fell back on the veil and asked Zheng Haizhu: "The red color of this Yunxia is very positive, and the dyed vermilion materials we see in our house are mostly big-leaf ficus or cinnabar, but they can't dye this red." What do you dye it with? ”

Zheng Haizhu replied: "Hui Gonggong, it is a unique grass in the mountains of Longxi County, our locals call it Xiapu grass, kneaded into slurry water, soaked in raw silk, and dried for ten days, it is so red, ordinary washing, or encountering fragrant pancreas, will not fade." ”

"Oh?" Liu Shiyu said curiously, "Don't you need to add lime?" ”

Zheng Haizhu shook his head: "Just the slurry of grass blades is enough." ”

She is very sure that after she crossed over to Zhangzhou, she has seen countless Fujian people dyeing cloth and silk, and the natural plant dyes are so good.

Wait, she was stunned, and something flashed through her mind.

"Father-in-law, the little woman is stupid, and lime should be added to the dye? After the little woman came to Songjiang, she only saw that she had added alum to the indigo. ”

Liu Shimin smiled: "It seems that you Fujian people are God's favorites to eat, so I don't know." The big-leaf ficus dye here in the south of the Yangtze River must be added with lime, otherwise, the dyed silk satin is ochre-colored, too dark, and the nobles in the palace will not wear it. ”

Zheng Haizhu tried to be calm and put on a very teachable comprehension.

Liu Shimin was so old and spicy, he immediately caught the hesitation that flashed in the young woman's eyes.

It's just that he misunderstood the reason for the other party's thoughts, and thought that this loyal little servant was worried that the owner's workshop would be favored by the imperial court.

Liu Shimin simply teased bluntly: "Hehe, Miss Zheng is not clumsy, right?" I'm afraid that I will pull your master directly into the imperial merchant team. Look at these weavers, all of them are worried, they must be afraid that they will be incorporated into my weaving bureau. Don't worry, girl, these cloths in your house are indeed well woven, but the ladies in the palace only wear silk and satin clothes. However, the velvet cotton cloth cleansing cloth you figured out can be sold by the imperial court to the merchants. ”