Chapter 149 Knitting a Sweater with Pride

"The Dzungars are so annoying, they've been causing trouble for over a year and they still won't stop." The Ninth Prince frowned, his eyes filled with instinctive disgust and rejection of the Dzungars. "If only we could just crush the Dzungars in one go."

Otherwise, the Dzungars would invade the border every few years, and the Khalkha Mongol tribes would be either worn down by the Dzungars' raids or driven crazy by them. Meanwhile, the imperial court was too busy to provide disaster relief, and just when they finished rescuing the Khalkha, they suffered again.

Yin'e glanced at the Ninth Prince but said nothing. It would be good to achieve the goal in one battle, but if he remembered correctly, Kangxi had personally led three expeditions against the Dzungars before finally quelling the Dzungar rebellion, killing Galdan, and stopping the Dzungars from advancing eastward.

Yin'e shook his head slightly, his tone indifferent and lacking enthusiasm: "These matters are for Father Khan to decide. We don't need to worry about them. At most, we can keep an eye on them occasionally."

At their current age, they are destined to be "oblivious to the world around them and focused solely on studying the classics."

It wasn't just Yin'e and the Ninth Prince; even the older princes who were ahead of them in the order of seniority, except for the First Prince who had already begun to perform official duties and was relied upon by Emperor Kangxi, were also confined to the Imperial Study to study, and were not even free to leave the palace.

The Ninth Prince thought it made sense, and he became somewhat disheartened. He leaned back in the spacious armchair and muttered, "If we really go to war with the Dzungars, then my elder brother will be very pleased with himself."

Going to the battlefield is dangerous, but it also means earning merit and accumulating prestige. As long as you survive the battlefield, even if you don't achieve anything great, but just don't hold back and make some minor contributions, as the eldest prince, you can still gain many benefits, whether overt or covert.

"Let him be proud, brother," Yin'e shrugged indifferently.

Although it wasn't good to say it out loud, Yin'e was genuinely pleased with the eldest prince's high-spirited and enthusiastic behavior. It was wonderful that the eldest prince was making such a splash; the more conspicuous he was, the more low-key and inconspicuous the other princes would become under his "cover."

The fact that the eldest prince stepped forward to participate in the struggle for the throne drew the Crown Prince's attention and made the ever-suspicious Emperor Kangxi suspicious and wary was actually a good thing for the other princes who wanted to seize the throne.

This was especially beneficial to the Eighth Prince, who would later participate in the struggle for the throne. The Eighth Prince's faction was able to overthrow the Crown Prince, and the First Prince, who was the first to step forward and draw away the majority of the firepower, made a great contribution.

The Ninth Prince turned his head to look at Yin'e, resting his chin on his hand and tilting his head, a smirk playing on his lips, a hint of schadenfreude flashing in his eyes: "Although the eldest brother doesn't like to talk to us because we're too young, it's just that he's not familiar with us. In comparison, the Crown Prince who likes to put on airs and act high and mighty is much more annoying."

As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Although the Crown Prince was not the Ninth Prince's enemy, the Ninth Prince really disliked him. Since the First Prince could make the Crown Prince suffer, the First Prince became a good older brother to the Ninth Prince, and the Ninth Prince was happy to see the First Prince riding high and enjoying his moment of glory.

The Ninth Prince, who had been resting his chin on the armrest of the grand master's chair, gloated about the Crown Prince's subsequent misfortune. But somehow he slumped down, tilting his head to the side and resting it on the armrest. His chubby cheeks were squeezed out as the half of his face touched the chair, and his phoenix eyes were half-open, almost squinting into a line.

Yin'e took out his pocket watch, glanced at the time, and jumped off the chair.

He stretched, gesturing to Xiao Linzi to put the basket of clean wool and the lanolin in the tea canister back into the lab, then looked up and asked the Ninth Prince, who was sitting slumped in his chair, "Ninth Brother, it's getting late. Are you going back to the Fourth Institute tonight, or are you staying here with me?"

The Ninth Prince tried to open his phoenix eyes wide. He propped himself up, sat lazily in the chair, and then slid off the armchair with his short legs.

While yawning, the Ninth Prince slowly stretched and yawned, then leaned his head down and slumped towards Yin'e, snuggling up to Yin'e's side.

Leaning against Yin'e like a boneless body, the Ninth Prince yawned sleepily, a few glistening physiological tears hanging on his long, thick eyelashes. He said in a soft, coquettish voice, "I'm too lazy to walk back. I'll sleep with you tonight."

Yin'e was much stronger than the Ninth Prince, and he was also more attentive and hardworking in the riding and archery lessons. Although Yin'e was a little younger than the Ninth Prince, he was able to steadily support most of the Ninth Prince's body, which was leaning against him.

“Alright, I’ll have someone go to the Fourth Palace to fetch your book box. You don’t need to go back to the Fourth Palace after you get up at 3 AM tomorrow. We can go straight to the Imperial Study.” Yin’e dragged the Ninth Prince to wash up, then added after thinking for a moment, “This time we can’t forget the time while talking.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Yin'e glanced at the Ninth Prince, who was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open and was being pulled along by him. He thought to himself that they definitely wouldn't stay up all night this time, because even if the Ninth Prince wanted to, he wouldn't have the energy.

Recently, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince have been extremely busy. Not only are the courses in the Imperial Study so intensive that there is no room for breathing, but they also have to find time to copy the Four Books and Five Classics three times as an extra punishment imposed by Emperor Kangxi. They are really busy like spinning tops, and they are exhausted every day.

The next day was another fulfilling (and tiring) day filled with knowledge. After returning to the West Third Palace from the Imperial Study, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince did not go back to the West Fourth Palace, but instead followed Yin'e directly into the West Third Palace.

The reason, of course, is that the Ninth Prince, who was unable to spin the thread by hand yesterday, is still in high spirits today and wants to try it himself. Meanwhile, Xiao Linzi, who was not prepared yesterday, has prepared the spindle today, so the Ninth Prince can fully show off his skills.

Not only that, but today, while Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were studying in the Imperial Study, Xiao Linzi also arranged for someone to use a needle comb to clean the basket of wool, combing the wool into wool fibers that resembled wool strips, and picking out the shorter ones and setting them aside.

Sitting down on a small stool of suitable height, the Ninth Prince, under Yin'e's guidance, awkwardly tied a cotton thread to the spindle. Holding the spindle high in one hand, he used the other to wind the wool strips onto the cotton thread, using the spindle to stretch and thin the wool while twisting it, allowing the wool fibers to gradually wind into a dense, fine thread.

Spinning thread is very simple. Once you get used to it, it's all tedious mechanical work, far less interesting than the Ninth Prince had imagined.

Therefore, the Ninth Prince only persisted for three minutes, spinning out a small piece of wool thread, before complaining that his arm was sore and putting down the spindle. It seemed that he did not intend to continue and had completely lost interest in spinning thread.

Holding the strand of wool yarn he had worked so hard to obtain, the Ninth Prince looked at it from left to right, and finally scratched his head, somewhat at a loss, and asked, "Tenth Brother, this wool yarn is quite strong and elastic, and it's relatively fine, but it's still too thick compared to silk or hemp yarn. Can this be woven into cloth on a loom?"

"...How about we give it a try first?" Yin'e was also unsure, his tone hesitant.

He looked up at Yin'e silently, then let go of the wool thread and tossed it back onto the spindle.

Feeling that he was being a bit unreliable, Yin E chuckled twice, patted his chest, and boasted with great pride, "If the existing textile machines don't work, so be it. We can always improve them ourselves. We're sure we can create a textile machine suitable for spinning wool!"

At this point, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Yin'e. He recalled the dormitory supervisor he had once seen knitting a sweater in the duty room on the first floor of the dormitory, and immediately thought of the sweaters, woolen pants, and scarves that would later become popular.

With a sharp clapping sound, Yin'e's almond-shaped eyes widened, sparkling like tiny stars: "That's right, there's no need to weave wool yarn into cloth. Just twist it into yarn and knit sweaters. Knitting needles are much easier to make than spinning machines."

A knitting needle is just two long needles; it's small and doesn't take up much space like a knitting machine.

Moreover, knitting needles don't necessarily have to be made of metal. While metal ones are certainly sturdy and durable, wood and bamboo are perfectly viable alternatives. If they break, you can just replace them. Wood and bamboo are so inexpensive, so you won't feel bad if they break!

Thinking that in the future, shopping malls would not only sell sweaters and woolen pants, but also yarn directly, Yin E's eyes flashed, and a series of ideas rushed through his mind.

Wool is spun into yarn, then twisted into yarn and dyed. It can be sold as a finished product after knitting, or, for convenience, wool yarn and knitting needles can be sold directly by the roll.

The price of wool yarn sold individually is definitely lower, but this makes their wool business easier and simpler, and people spend less money on clothes.

Once the method of knitting sweaters is spread, people will be able to buy wool yarn and knit their own sweaters at home. Although it will take more time, it will save them a lot of money.

Wait a minute, how do you knit a sweater again...? Yin'e was completely bewildered, realizing he had absolutely no knowledge in this area. He had never knitted a sweater before, and no one had ever knitted him a sweater or scarf in his previous life.

However, Yin'e only panicked for a moment before calming down.

It's not easy to knit a wide variety of patterns with yarn, but the most basic stockinette stitch is quite simple.

Thanks to the handmade scarves that were popular during my university years for Valentine's Day, Yin E once watched his roommate knit a scarf for his girlfriend while watching a tutorial video. Trying hard to recall, he could still remember how to knit the plain stitch in that beginner tutorial.

After finding out what knitting was, the Ninth Prince was initially surprised that yarn could be directly woven into clothes, but then he put that aside and focused on how to make money from it.

After tilting his head and thinking for a moment, the Ninth Prince concluded: "The wool business can be divided into two types: one is to sell yarn directly, and the other is to sell finished products such as blankets, sweaters, gloves, and hats."

"Moreover, both of these businesses can be divided into low-end and high-end. Undyed raw wool and wool fabrics are cheap, so they can be sold in large quantities with low profit margins; the more vibrant the color and the better the color matching of the dyed fabrics, the higher the price, so they can be raised as much as possible and sold exclusively to the rich."

Yin'e nodded in agreement: After dyeing, not only wool fabrics can increase in price, but yarn can too. DIY will always have a market. Even if it can't shake the status of tailoring and embroidery, selling to wealthy families is no problem at all.

For wealthy and leisurely people, is knitting a sweater by hand beneath them? No, it's the thought that counts!

Do you even realize how valuable handmade items are? ︿(￣︶￣)︿!