Chapter 227 Flavorful

"Miss, here are the ochre, azurite, cochineal insects, and bone snails you requested. I have prepared everything for you."

Luo Bai pointed to the various minerals and dyeing materials displayed on the long table in front of him, and looked at Shen Yuanzhu with a grin.

Luo Qing then slapped him on the back of the head.

"What kind of behavior is it to be all smiles and joking around in front of the young lady?"

Luo Qing placed the safflower, sappanwood, gardenia, locust flowers, soapberry, gallnut, and other items on the table. Following instructions, he also had someone bring him a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Shen Yuanzhu carefully placed a wooden box on the table.

Luo Bai scratched the back of his head, still smiling, and said, "Miss, have you thought of a new dyeing formula? But these things look like ordinary ones, nothing special..."

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Qing reached out his hand again, and Shen Yuanzhu quickly stopped him.

"Brother Milk, stop hitting him. He's not smart to begin with, hitting him will only make him dumber."

After saying that, Shen Yuanzhu laughed along with Luo Shi.

Luo Qing looked at Luo Bai with a smile in his eyes and a doting expression.

Madam Luo said, "Miss has her reasons. I think it has something to do with the fish, doesn't it?"

"What kind of fish?"

"These past few days, Miss has been staring at the fish in the courtyard every day. She must have come up with a new design, but I wonder if she can dye it."

Shen Yuanzhu nodded and said, "Indeed, the other day I saw a fish leaping vigorously in the sunlight, its tail shimmering with iridescent light, dazzlingly colorful, and I wondered if I could bring that color to life in fabric..."

Shen Yuanzhu touched the box she had brought, her heart aching, and said, "I've been pondering this for several days. The stunning beauty I glimpsed that day originated from the shimmering light on the fish's tail scales."

"So I was thinking, could we replicate that beautiful scene onto our base fabric?"

"Then, using the clamp-dyeing technique, the fish scale shape is dyed on top..."

Shen Yuanzhu said, "I've already thought of a name for this dyeing method. It will be called Scale Pattern Dye."

"Scale-patterned dyeing? What a beautiful name."

Shen Yuanzhu said, "I like it very much too, but the difficulty now is how to create the seven-colored glow on the fish scales."

She opened the wooden box she had brought, which was full of sea pearl powder.

Shen Yuanzhu: "My wet nurse ground pearl powder for me, but pearls have a faint luster, and after being ground into powder, they lose their luster. So today I asked my wet nurse brother to come and find out what can be ground to produce a pearly luster."

"If we could add it to the dye, perhaps we could recreate the beautiful scene from that day."

"Huh?"

Luo Bai said, "Miss, I know what this is."

You know?

Luo Bai nodded and pointed at Luo Qing: "My elder brother brought my sister-in-law a box of expensive face powder from the capital a while ago. It's what women use to apply makeup."

“There were some shiny things inside. My older brother and I studied them for a long time before we realized they were clam shells that had been ground up.”

"A clam shell?"

Shen Yuanzhu's eyes lit up: "That's it, it's a clam shell!"

Clam shells do indeed shimmer with iridescent colors under sunlight. If dyes were added to clam shells, perhaps we could create dazzling, shimmering scale patterns.

"Shall we collect some clam shells, grind them into powder, and add them to the dye vat? Let's see if this method might work?"

The Luo brothers acted swiftly, and after listening, they went out to collect clam shell powder.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuanzhu selected raw silk in the dyeing garden of Xiecuifang and had the embroiderers weave a large amount of plain silk in preparation for subsequent dyeing experiments.

Xie Qi and Shen Yuanzhu got busy with their own things, and the day of the Dyeing Competition was drawing near.

It wasn't until Yuanxu had prepared the venue for the Dyeing Competition that Shen Yuanzhu, through countless experiments, finally determined the final formula.

"Miss, as you instructed, a batch of 'blue-gold' plain cloth has been dyed. Would you like to take a look?"

Shen Yuanzhu nodded and went to the cloth shop.

This lapis lazuli-based fabric is made of raw silk. After the raw silk is boiled to remove the glue and drained, it is dyed with lapis lazuli juice, so that the base color evenly presents a dark blue color like the night sky.

Many base colors were tried on the agarwood pearl, but only this color can best show the shimmering texture.

With the base fabric in hand, she worked with the experienced craftsmen in the garden to prepare "star sand paste" with added snail saliva.

Star sand paste is made by soaking crushed clam shell powder in alum water, then mixing it with the scale glue boiled from snail saliva, and finally turning it into a white paste under the dyeing of the dyer.

This method was devised by Shen Yuanzhu and the master craftsman of Xiecui Workshop.

However, she tried many times but could not get the dosage right.

Too much styrofoam will make the silk brittle and hard, losing its softness. But if too little is used, it won't produce the shimmering, iridescent effect.

So after discussing it with her master, she finally decided to draw the "scale pattern" by hand herself.

"Miss, let this old servant help you."

Luo laid out the soft sheep hair brush and lapis lazuli cloth on the table, while Chen Yuanzhu took a small sheep hair brush, dipped it little by little in the star sand paste, and carefully drew scale patterns on the silk cloth.

Because the star sand paste contains scale glue, the brushstrokes of the agarwood must be quick and precise, otherwise the scale glue will gradually solidify, making the scale pattern stiff and lacking a soft, undulating feel.

Moreover, with each stroke she made, she would gently blow away the star-shaped slurry floating on the surface of the silk cloth before it dried.

Otherwise, the accumulated stardust will make the silk cloth uneven, and once it clumps together, the stardust will lose its luster.

In this way, Shen Yuanzhu spent several days drawing fish scale patterns.

Every time she returned home, she was so tired that she could barely lift her arms, and her eyes were lifeless and she was utterly exhausted.

Xie Qi has been extremely busy these past few days, and even spent an unusual night yesterday at the weaving and dyeing garden of Jixia Manor.

But after seeing that he hadn't returned all night and the exhaustion on Shen Yuanzhu's face, Xie Qi dared not do it again.

He tenderly pulled Shen Yuanzhu into his arms and whispered softly, "I didn't come back yesterday, did you wait for me all night?"

Shen Yuanzhu's eyes were half-open, as if she were half asleep.

Hearing Xie Qi's words, she was too tired to think about what he was saying, and just gave a soft "hmm" as a perfunctory reply.

"Didn't I tell the wet nurse you didn't need to wait? Why are you still waiting for me?"

Seeing the faint dark circles under Shen Yuanzhu's eyes, Xie Qi said, "Don't worry, this won't happen again. I've finished what I needed to do, and I'll be able to relax after the Dyeing Competition ends."

Shen Yuanzhu hummed softly twice, then rolled over and lay down on her stomach.

Xie Qi stared at her face, thought for a moment, then lowered his head and sniffed her neck.

He was very familiar with this smell; he had been immersed in the dyeing and weaving workshop all day for the past few days, and it was as if he had been pickled in the flavor.

Therefore, he was very familiar with this smell.

But why does Yuanzhu smell like this too?

Xie Qi lowered his head and sniffed again, becoming increasingly puzzled...