Chapter 73 He made clothes from water chestnuts and lotus leaves, and gathered hibiscus flowers...

This young lady is named Zhang Lianhe, and she was born in June. She always jokingly calls herself the Lotus Flower Goddess.

She was obsessed with all pink clothes and headdresses. She would pile on anything that had even a hint of pink, even though it was layered pink, the layers weren't very distinct, like a mixture of wheat flour and rice flour, and the fabrics were all of high quality.

The pink of the lotus is a very beautiful pink. The petals are not snow-white, but rather covered with a light layer of pink, with the edges gradually transitioning from light to dark.

Lin Xiushui's previous statement wasn't made against her conscience. Dressed in the same color as rouge and powder, she was wearing heavy makeup instead of light makeup, which wasn't very appropriate.

She first invited Zhang Lianhe to sit on a folding chair in the room, while she went to pour tea. Recently, there had been an unusually large number of orders for individual clothing at the tailor shop. Madam Gu and the steward of the manor discussed and prepared several empty rooms specifically for receiving customers and taking measurements.

As for the clothing-making work, those who needed it urgently and were willing to pay extra were given priority, and the work was distributed among the various tailors. The requirements for making skirts, jackets, and tube tops were not many, but the clothes had to look good. For the tailors, that meant that "good fabric" made them very happy.

Some rather unusual clothing requirements are that people say her clothes should be elegant, simple, playful, and composed. It's hard to imagine that these four words can be put together and appear at the same time.

Some people also want to make their clothes look antique. In the antique trade, people wear old clothes instead of new ones. Wearing new clothes means they are said to be made recently, which is considered bad luck. Wearing old clothes allows them to boast that the fabrics were made decades ago.

There are also those who particularly love flowers and want dozens of floral patterns embroidered on their clothes, ideally covering them from head to toe.

Aside from the normal ones, none of the rest are considered normal.

The seamstresses first picked out some jobs they could take, leaving Zhang Lianhe's job unfilled. Her price was the highest, and her requirements were the most perplexing, so it was passed on to Lin Xiushui.

Lin Xiushui poured the compressed tea into a teacup, gently placed it on the table, and sat down in another chair. Zhang Lianhe turned slightly to the side, placing one hand on the table. "Do you know what day Lianhua's birthday is?"

"June 24th," Lin Xiushui said, puzzled. This day is also known as the Lotus Festival. There are not many lotus flowers in Sangqing Town. If you want to see lotus flowers, you have to go to West Lake. Gu Niangzi had taken her children to see them before.

Zhang Lianhua smoothed her hair. She was very pretty, but she wore heavy makeup, with two patches of blush on her cheeks.

“You’re absolutely right. Back then, I was still in Pingjiang Prefecture, or Suzhou, you know. There’s a lotus pond outside Fengmen Gate. Lotus flowers can also be called lotus flowers. I went there to pick lotus flowers, plant lotus flowers, and release lotus lanterns. I picked lotus flowers and put them in vases.”

After Zhang Lianhe finished speaking, she sighed heavily. She had returned from Pingjiang Prefecture, but her soul was still there, lost in the lotus pond. She thought about it while sleeping and eating, longing for it day and night.

She could also compose a poem about loving lotus, in which she loved lotus, lotus produces lotus seeds, lotus seeds can be used to make lotus seed soup and lotus seed rice. People at the time called it "Jade Well Rice," which was taken from the meaning of "Jade Well Lotus on Mount Taihua," but it was not as good as lotus rice.

Lotus can also produce lotus roots. She loves lotus, mainly because she loves to eat raw and cooked stuffed lotus roots, two-color stuffed lotus roots, and lotus root pickles.

Lotus petals are also edible. Blanched and mixed with soft tofu, they are called Xuexia Zhuan. If mashed into a paste and mixed with rice flour and sugar, they become Penggao.

Zhang Lianhe loved lotus flowers to death. Every day, she would have the same thought: why wasn't she a lotus flower? She wanted to be one.

Lotus is also the same as water lily, so when she said she wanted to make lotus flower clothes, it was quite straightforward, because she had previously told the tailor Zhang Niangzi that she wanted to make clothes of water lilies and lotus flowers, and that she wanted to make a skirt of lotus flowers and a belt of orchids.

Upon hearing these two lines of poetry, the seamstress avoided them all, refusing to choose any option no matter how much money was offered, completely unaware of their meaning.

Zhang Lianhe asked Lin Xiushui, "Do you understand what I mean? Do you know what kind of clothes I want to make?"

Lin Xiushui came prepared. When she first saw these two lines of poetry yesterday, she couldn't even read them properly. How do you pronounce "芰"? What is it? It talks about lotus, so why is it talking about hibiscus? What about orchid? She had no idea.

So he went to ask Sizhen for advice. Sizhen had read books for a reason. As soon as she took the paper, she laughed twice and said, "What, you're reading Qu Yuan's poems now that the Dragon Boat Festival is over?"

"This is a line from the poem 'Li Sao': 'I made clothes from water chestnuts and lotus leaves.' Water chestnuts are not just any water chestnuts, but also the ones that produce water chestnuts. This line describes making a green top from lotus leaves."

Sizhen looked at the next sentence, "Gathering lotus flowers to make a skirt. Lotus flowers are another name for lotus flowers. We often say upper garment and lower garment, clothes and clothes. This sentence means sewing lotus flowers together to make a lower garment."

"This echoes the line 'Wearing lotus leaves and wearing fragrant herbs,' which comes from the 'Nine Songs.' It actually means you should wear lotus leaves and wear fragrant herbs as a belt. In your tailoring terms, it should be called a skirt belt."

Lin Xiushui listened as the pen scribbled furiously, nodding repeatedly, extremely grateful to Sizhen. Earning those five strings of cash wasn't easy; the requirements alone were a test for others. But she finally grasped three general directions: first, the top should be lotus leaf green; second, the skirt pink like lotus blossoms; and third, a fragrant sash should hang from the waist.

Her thoughts returned from the paper, and she told Zhang Lianhe the truth.

Zhang Lianhe, however, was surprised. She raised her face, her gaze sweeping over Lin Xiushui before she slowly spoke, "Well, that's what I mean, but I don't want a pleated skirt. Have you ever seen a lotus flower? The petals are layered upon layered. I don't want a strapless top that's just a long strip of fabric; I want something more elaborate. And for the jacket, I want one with wide sleeves, not green, but pink..."

"Okay, sure, that works."

Lin Xiushui noted everything down. Even though the requirements were very detailed, Zhang Lianhe had given her thirteen strings of cash for this outfit, the tailor would make eight strings, and Lin Xiushui would take five. The fabric had to be of the highest quality.

She looked at the requirements on the paper and was completely overwhelmed. She couldn't think of anything to do. Clothes were hard to make, and money was hard to earn.

After seeing Zhang Lianhe off, she sat on a chair, propped her head up, and thought for a long time without moving. She packed her things, returned to the drawnwork embroidery workshop, and looked through the patterns. There were no lotus or water lily-related patterns recently.

From the three people who used to do drawn thread embroidery, now there are eleven people besides Lin Xiushui: Li Jin and Xiao Qimei who were there before, five apprentices who came later, and three women who are the best at weaving nets in the Weaving Skill Association.

The house is no longer empty; everyone is doing their own work. Five apprentices are drawing threads and making patterns, while three women are slowly learning to wind threads on the yarn. There is a lot of work, and wages keep rising.

The group chatted and laughed while working non-stop. When they saw Lin Xiushui come in, they all greeted her with smiles, "Manager."

Lin Xiushui closed the door first. She was extremely distressed. She turned around and asked everyone, "When you think of this lotus flower, can you think of anything else?"

"White lotus".

Someone quickly answered, saying that mentioning the color of a lotus flower would definitely be correct.

"That pink lotus?"

"Can you stop talking nonsense?"

Little Seven Sister nodded her chin and said, "Thinking of lotus flowers, it means walking on lotus flowers. Manager, let me tell you, there's a clothing shop called Wang Qiniang on the front street. They have a really beautiful silk skirt there. The fabric hangs down, and when you walk, it'll definitely look like a lotus flower. But it costs six strings of cash. I can't afford it, I can't afford it."

“Lotus,” said Wang Niangzi, who had only been there a few days ago. She was a very cheerful person and laughed as she spoke, “I have a five-year-old daughter at home. There’s an old man on the street selling unopened lotus buds in a bamboo basket. She asked me if lotus flowers and water lilies are the same kind of flower.”

"I told you it's just that everyone calls it that differently."

“She’s wrong. The lotus flower is an unmarried flower, while the water lily is a married flower. Otherwise, how could it have lotus seeds?”

The room fell silent for a moment, then someone burst out laughing. Lin Xiushui was amused by the childish talk. Everyone talked about all sorts of things, like lotus leaves and dragonflies, but Lin Xiushui still couldn't think of anything.

She had to draw the thread first. At lunchtime, she took her bowl and went to someone else's table, asking the old tailor who was holding chopsticks, "Grandma Li, how did you make the lotus flower into the neckline?"

"What do you mean by how it's made? Embroidered with dragonflies playing among lotus flowers. What, you want one?" The old tailor picked up a piece of meat, took a bite, and replied slowly.

“Oh, I’ve been dyeing fabric lately, and I know there’s a new kind of floral pattern printed on fabric these days,” a woman in a pinkish-green dress said, sitting down with a bowl in her hand. “Why don’t you come over to my place later to take a look?”

"Okay, okay," Lin Xiushui nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Aunt Wang, will there be lotus seed soup tomorrow? I think A-Qiao is craving it, so I'll make her a pot of lotus root soup too. I'll drink the soup and she can eat the lotus root," the woman said, walking to the kitchen door and asking with a smile.

Lin Xiushui turned her head from behind the people and said, "Okay, I know an old lady who sells lotus roots and water chestnuts. If you want to eat them, I'll buy some tomorrow."

"Water chestnuts won't do. The ones in June are the best. The ones that have just grown are called sand water chestnuts. They're crisp and tender. Right now they're all too old. They're like wonton water chestnuts. They're soft and mushy, like chestnuts. We'll eat big red water chestnuts later."

The conversation took a turn, and everyone started talking about how delicious the food was. Lin Xiushui's mouth watered as she listened, but she couldn't understand anything else besides what they were saying.

After work, she strolled along the street, looking at each shop, touching the fabrics and examining the workmanship. Recently, two colors of skirts were popular. One was a peach-pink summer cloth skirt, without embroidered patterns, but with painted designs of peaches, apricots, spring flowers, dragon boat races, and tigers. It was cheaper than woven patterns and could be seen everywhere on the street.

One type is a skirt dyed with tulip roots, the color of which resembles ripe rice ears. These skirts are very expensive, yet many people buy them, and most of them are adorned with beads.

“Lotus flowers are not very common,” said the lady of the clothing shop. “This year, the best-selling skirts in the major cities are still pomegranate-colored skirts. Everyone likes red skirts dyed with pomegranate flowers. When they came to our place, they became a similar peach-pink color.”

Lin Xiushui examined the peach pink color closely. It was indeed very close to the color of a lotus flower. It would be better if it were a little lighter. Ideally, it would be dyed a pink that gradually deepens from light to dark. This pure pink color was too ordinary.

She then pulled up the lotus-red skirt beside her; the color was purplish and dark, while the silver-red was a lighter pink, as if it were a color that had been blended into pink many times.

I wasn't very satisfied with the colors, and I hadn't chosen the style of the clothes. After browsing around for a while, I decided to choose gauze to make the clothes, and to add two layers of gauze to the skirt, without adding a white fine cloth lining.

Lin Xiushui was still clueless, so she bought a small basket of cherries and crossed two rivers to find the tailor, Jin.

The man was teaching his students when he saw her arrive. He said, "This is my close friend, a young tailor."

"So it's this lady."

Lin Xiushui quickly greeted the woman and exchanged pleasantries for a while. After the woman left, Lin Xiushui asked her about Heyi.

“That’s interesting. I’ve never done this before. Show it to me when you’re done,” the tailor said, taking a sip of tea with interest.

Lin Xiushui quickly sat down and said, "That's not right, Aunt Jin. I came here to ask you for advice."

"But I don't know how, I'm empty-handed."

Lin Xiushui was embarrassed. The tailor put down his teacup and asked her, "Have you been to see the lotus field?"

“No,” Lin Xiushui shook her head. In the past six months, she hadn’t left the town except for staying in Sangqing Town. She had been focused solely on making money.

Jin the tailor knew it. She tapped Lin Xiushui's arm and said, "You can ask me, ask others, ask them a thousand times and you still won't come up with anything. If you don't go out and look around, how can you come up with anything good?"

She continued, "There's a poem from the previous dynasty that goes, 'A skirt made of lotus leaves, lotus blossoms opening on either side of the face.' You should ponder it."

Lin Xiushui vaguely touched something, went out the door, walked all the way to her boat, rowed to Sangqiao Ferry, and sat in the cabin in deep thought.

It wasn't until someone gently tapped her boat awning with a bamboo pole that Lin Xiushui lifted the bamboo curtain and poked her head out. She breathed a sigh of relief, "It's you, Chen Jiuchuan. I thought it was someone else."

Chen Jiuchuan watched her boat stop there from afar for a long time before rowing over. He then sat down at the bow of his boat, at eye level with Lin Xiushui. "Even busy people have moments of leisure."

Every time he came to town to see Lin Xiushui, it was always in a hurry, as if he had said everything he wanted to say in his life in Shanglintang.

I dare not disturb you.

"Come on," Lin Xiushui said, placing her hand on the windowsill. "I'm the one who's worried about this."

"A worrying matter?" Chen Jiuchuan asked, feigning a question, "or a worrying person?"

"I'm worried about both of them; I've been thinking about them all day."

Chen Jiuchuan clenched his fists, and his smile looked like a sneer.

"Chen Xiaojiu," Lin Xiushui asked him, "have you ever seen a lotus field?"

Who is Lian Tian?

Lin Xiushui looked up at him and asked, "Are you alright? You've been out on the road all year round, and you've never even seen a lotus field full of lotus flowers?"

“Yes, it’s Liantian,” Chen Jiuchuan repeated.

He was known as the "Living Earth Scripture," knowing every river tributary and every road that flowed through the area.

“If you’re free tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to see it,” Chen Jiuchuan said without a fake smile this time. “After passing Qinghewu, go to Xixi. There’s a lake bay there, with water chestnuts on the left and lotus leaves on the right.”

Lin Xiushui was somewhat tempted. She could choose to take a day off tomorrow. She asked Sang Ying, but Sang Ying wasn't going. Her rice shop was very busy at the moment. Wang Yuelan also didn't have the leisure to go see Lian. She was very focused on weaving brocade right now.

"Who can go with her?" Lin Xiushui looked down. Xiao He jumped up and cheered, "I want to go home!"

"What do you mean by going home?" Lin Xiushui didn't understand and tugged at the bag on her back.

Xiaohe was puzzled but serious. "My name is Xiaohe. Going to the lotus field is like going home."

Lin Xiushui nodded, "Then you must have a lot of lotus leaf sisters."

The two got up at dawn and boarded Chen Jiuchuan's boat. He rowed very steadily, had strong arms, and rarely spoke.

He would occasionally say, "It takes an hour and a half to get from the town to Xixi, you should take a nap first."

It was still dark. Lanterns were hanging on the houses along the boat, frogs were croaking, and Xiao He was snoring.

Lin Xiushui shook her head, then remembered that others were ahead of her, and said, "I'm not sleepy."

"I want to talk to you."

The two hadn't had a serious conversation in a long time; many things had changed since they left Shanglintang.

In the past, people would set traps at night to catch fish and shrimp, and then sell them in the surrounding area. In the summer, they would go to other people's melon fields to buy melons, but ended up buying a bad one.

After arriving in town, Lin Xiushui didn't ask Chen Jiuchuan about the shipping, and Chen Jiuchuan didn't bother her often.

But the two did not run out of things to talk about.

After all, if they just picked up some random things, even something as simple as water chestnuts, the two of them could chat for a long time about everything from the past to the present.

Lin Xiushui got sleepy from talking.

When she opened her eyes again, everything outside the window was green, and lotus leaves peeked in through the window. Lin Xiushui woke up Xiaohe and bent down to go out of the cabin, forgetting that her legs were numb. Chen Jiuchuan reached out to help her and then silently withdrew his hand.

The fog had not completely dissipated yet. Looking out over the ten-mile-long lotus field, lotus flowers peeked out from among the lotus leaves, some closed, some still in bud, and some in full bloom.

Here we can switch to a smaller boat, otherwise the boat is too big to get in. Chen Jiuchuan rowed in front, while Xiao He sat next to Lin Xiushui, her face full of surprise. She reached out to brush the lotus flowers that were coming towards her and said, "So fragrant."

Lin Xiushui caught the lotus flower that brushed against her face and finally understood what it meant for the lotus to bloom on both sides of the face. She was surrounded by endless lotus leaves when a lotus flower fell beside her legs. She picked it up and examined it closely.

Suddenly, he exclaimed excitedly, "I've got it!"

Chen Jiuchuan turned to look at her. Lin Xiushui took out a charcoal pencil and started doodling on the paper. He turned back to look at the beautiful scenery in front of him and said to Xiaohe, "Only the two of us can appreciate this."

He didn't like lotus flowers at all, so how could he appreciate them? He even found the lotus leaves annoying, but he flicked his bamboo pole and steadily paddled forward among the lotus leaves.

Lin Xiushui sat on a small boat, smelling the fragrant lotus flowers. She plucked lotus petals, placed them on her skirt, and buried herself in drawing, with inspiration flowing freely.

She understood the meaning of the poem: "I made clothes from water chestnuts and lotus leaves, and gathered hibiscus blossoms to make a skirt."

She first drew a skirt, which could be made with irregular patterns, using lotus petals to make a skirt, with the lotus petals overlapping one another, and the skirt could also be of varying lengths.

It must be dyed with gauze, gradually transitioning from light pink to lotus pink. The edges of the lotus petals are the darkest, Lin Xiushui thought. She touched the petals and decided to sew a circle of peach pink on them with embroidery thread.

She scribbled and revised until a petal-shaped skirt appeared on the paper. As the sun rose, she squinted until Chen Jiuchuan covered her head with a lotus leaf. She looked up and continued drawing with satisfaction.

As for the strapless top, she looked at the emerald green leaves, not a one-piece style. She bit her hand and noticed the edges of the lotus leaves, which were rounded and very regular.

“I can give up on a flat surface,” Lin Xiushui murmured to herself, “Whatever the curve of a lotus leaf, a strapless top can also have the same curve.”

No one could understand her, but Lin Xiushui picked up a pen and drew two lotus leaves pieced together. She then refined the drawing, transforming the plain strapless top into the arc of a lotus leaf, with veins running from top to bottom. She planned to embroider some lotus leaf patterns on it. The fabric here needed to be thicker; gauze would be more suitable than silk, and the chest area couldn't be too sheer.

As for the jacket, Lin Xiushui had originally considered making the sleeves larger and drape more, while keeping the overall shape as normal. However, she took a different turn. The wind blew the lotus leaves, causing the lotus flowers to tremble and the petals to shake slightly. Lin Xiushui stared intently at the scene and suddenly changed her mind.

Why not change the sleeves to lotus petal shape as well, leaving the back unchanged and only changing the sleeves? That way, when you raise your hand and the sleeves flutter lightly, it will resemble a lotus flower.

She painted in the pavilion in the lotus field from the early morning fog until noon. Chen Jiuchuan took Xiaohe to pick water chestnuts and brought them back. She took them from him, and Chen Jiuchuan gave her a handful of lotus seeds.

Water chestnuts are not suitable for eating raw.

After spending half the afternoon looking at the lotus fields, Lin Xiushui watched the lotus leaves and flowers gradually disappear into the distance as she returned. On the boat, Xiao He cried her heart out, saying that she wanted to grow in the lotus fields.

Lin Xiushui dreamed of lotus flowers at night.

The next morning, after washing up, she ran towards the river mouth with a large flatbread in her mouth. Someone called her, but she just waved hurriedly, as she was going to pick out fabric. She had to show the drawing to Zhang Lianhe first. Zhang Lianhe stared at it for a long time, her hands gripping the paper, her breathing becoming rapid. She asked several times, "Can you really make it exactly like the original? If you can, I won't say a word."

Lin Xiushui didn't rule out anything, saying, "I'll try my best."

Drawing a design is one thing, but it doesn't guarantee that it will turn out well. What you come up with and what you actually do are two different things.

First of all, she wanted a lot of yarn, but she couldn't find any that had a gradient pink color. She had to go to a dye shop to dye it, and after many dyeing sessions, she finally managed to get a color that satisfied her.

When cutting out paper patterns for individual flower petals, from the waist to the ankle, the yarn was difficult to cut as it would slip and move, requiring help from others to secure it with needles.

These petals are elongated lotus petals, some long and some short, some reaching the ankles and some reaching the knees. However, they don't look good as a skirt on their own, so Lin Xiushui considered adding a gauze skirt underneath to cover the feet.

Make the petal skirt into an apron with a waistband, and tie it at the waist with a belt.

Lin Xiushui made changes back and forth, working on it intermittently for ten days. During this time, Zhang Lianhe came countless times, but dared not look, for fear of missing the surprise.

Zhang Lianhe paced back and forth outside, her heart pounding with a mixture of joy and excitement, as if anticipating the arrival of a new life, unable to sleep all night.

On the day it was finally finished, she looked at the complete set of clothes on the hanger and approached step by step. The color of the jacket was the pink of lotus petal tips, and the drooping sleeves resembled petals. The green of the bodice was the green of lotus leaves, not too dark, and the rounded edges were very unique, embroidered with veins and patterns. The skirt underneath had two layers: a white gauze skirt underneath and a light green outer skirt. The apron tied on top was made of pieces of gauze pieced together to form lotus petals, the petals gradually deepening from light pink, drooping naturally, like fallen petals sewn together. A fragrant sash was tied to the skirt.

Zhang Lianhe was completely speechless at that moment. She rubbed her eyes again and again, and stood still. She finally understood what it meant to wear lotus leaves as clothes and gather hibiscus flowers as a skirt.

This outfit was not only beautiful to look at, but when she carefully and nervously put it on and slowly walked out, she was so focused on looking down at the skirt that she didn't expect that with a wave of her hand and a step, her sleeves would flutter and her skirt would sway, making her look like a lotus flower with every step.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on her, on her clothes, unable to look away. No one dared to approach her; they just watched from the sidelines. Every detail of the clothes was worth the thirteen strings of cash.

"Damn it!"

"Don't steal my words."

“I used to laugh when people talked about the Lotus Flower Goddess, but I can’t laugh now.”

A group of tailors looked at the clothes and mumbled nonsense.

If lotus flowers were clothing, it would be something like this: simple yet extraordinary, without being cumbersome or cumbersome, and with a layered pink hue.

Lin Xiushui greatly admired the clothes she had painstakingly made day and night, altering them dozens of times. She quietly watched them, admiring their exquisite beauty, which were cherished and moved others when worn by them.

I never imagined that the trend this clothing created would bring me both money and a shop at the same time.

The author says: As many of you have mentioned before that you couldn't come up with an idea, the inspiration for this dress comes from lotus-themed Hanfu, referencing He Rongshang's original Hanfu, as well as Moyuer's Chinese style with its large petal sleeves, and Zhonglingji. I made some changes in the text (I'm not advertising! I just wanted to make it easier for everyone to search). The color I envisioned is closer to the pink of a double-petaled lotus when it's in full bloom.