Chapter 3042 Palace Maid
There are two managers in the weaving workshop, both of them are women. They are technical talents that Bai Shan recruited from Qingzhou City. One is the best weaver, and the other is the best embroiderer. Bai Shan pays them a lot of wages and also promises to provide for their retirement in the future.
It's not difficult. The weaving workshop now belongs to the Beihai County Government. Their deeds are in his hands. If they are willing in the future, he can take them away, or buy an industry in Beihai County and let them live in the shop in their old age. They have the ability, so this is not difficult.
They also knew that a distinguished person was coming today, and they wanted to go to the entrance of the alley to pick him up, but they were stuck early in the morning. In order to satisfy the distinguished people, they took care of their business first, so they didn't have time to go to the front to pick him up.
The door opened wide, and they saw Lord Zhou and the princess coming together. Although it was not the first time they saw them, they were still a little excited.
The two of them immediately led their men to quickly approach, curtsied, and said, "Greetings, Princess, and Lord Zhou."
Mingda raised his hand slightly and said, "No need to be so polite. Let's go see the weaving workshop first."
She looked around curiously and asked, "Are there weaving workshops on both sides?"
"Yes," Jiang Zhiniang introduced. "In the beginning, County Magistrate Bai only rented us two courtyards, both at the end of the alley facing the river. One side houses the looms, and the other is where the embroiderers make clothes."
In fact, because the farmhands were in urgent need of clothes, what they needed at the beginning were a large number of embroiderers who could cut and mend clothes, and there were very few people following Jiang Zhiniang.
Even now, "the three courtyards on this side are for the embroiderers, and there is another one over here. Only those two are where we weavers learn."
She said, "Many people who come here don't know how to weave. It's not something you can learn in a day or two, so the output is extremely low. Now the embroiderers still buy the fabrics they use to cut clothes from outside."
Zhou Man and Mingda nodded and went in to watch the weavers weaving on the looms.
Zhou Man watched very carefully. She also had a loom at home, but it was very different from the one here.
The loom was in the third sister-in-law's room. She wove the best cloth in the family, so every year they paid tribute with the linen she wove.
Sometimes when she had extra fabric, she would use it to make clothes for everyone. As far as she could remember, she could make a new piece of clothing every year.
There's a big difference between the two. Zhou Man smiled and said, "I have one at home, but it's not like this. It's hand-cranked. You sit like this and pull and push the heald rod..."
The weaver was stunned for a moment before she said, "That's a waist loom. Many people have them in their homes now, but waist looms can't match the speed of treadle looms. As far as I know, weaving workshops everywhere have long since switched to treadle looms."
Zhou Man nodded slightly, "What you are doing now is much faster than anything I have ever seen."
Her third sister-in-law's weaving speed was considered fast in the village, but now the less skilled weavers used foot-operated looms, and their speed seemed about the same.
Not to mention the skilled weavers, there were weavers recruited from Qingzhou who worked very quickly with their hands and feet.
Zhou Man looked at the loom thoughtfully, but she said nothing and began to ask about the lives of the female workers.
They live very well here. Not only the new female workers who come here to take up the job, but also the weavers who were poached from Qingzhou feel that they are living a good life.
Here, they not only have high wages, but also receive red envelopes every month. The amount of the red envelopes is determined by the number and quality of apprentices they teach.
Because of this red envelope, they are very dedicated to these students.
After visiting the weaving workshop, they went to see the embroidery workshop opposite.
The people inside were sitting at a table, each cutting clothes.
Yue Xiu Niang said, "What they are making now are the simplest clothes, without embroidery patterns, and using the most ordinary blue linen..."
This is also because the clothes they made were provided to farmhands and did not require embroidery, so the embroiderers also wanted them to master the use of needles and threads first, and then embroider when they were proficient.
But embroidery is actually different from making clothes.
Those who can embroider can definitely make clothes, but those who can make clothes may not necessarily be able to embroider.
For so many people, what the embroiderer can teach them is only the basics. If they want to go further, it not only requires more efforts, but also their elite guidance.
But that would mostly require one-on-one instruction, and the conditions are not there yet.
Yue Xiu Niang took them to see the clothes made by the new embroiderers.
Zhou Man and Mingda are not very good at housework, but they can still watch, and there are several very capable palace maids and cakes around them.
They all do.
So they picked up the clothes and checked them. Zhou Man and Mingda thought they were pretty good and nodded repeatedly. At least they didn't see the clothes with one sleeve longer than the other as Bai Shan had mentioned before.
The palace maids frowned and whispered, "The stitches are a little loose..."
"The needlework isn't very good either. It breaks easily..."
When Yue Xiu Niang heard this, she felt a little embarrassed and nodded, "Yes, they are all beginners, so their needlework is basic. Oh, and these are the first batch of embroiderers. The clothes they made are pretty good."
Zhou Man simply took out the clothes from the basket and showed them to the palace maid. As an amateur, she decided not to look and just listened.
The palace maids checked the stitches and nodded reluctantly. Although there were still many problems, the quality was indeed better than the previous batch and it was barely wearable.
Mingda's eyes wandered over their faces. After a while, he smiled slightly and said to them, "If I'm not feeling well, you can take care of this weaving workshop for me."
The palace maids immediately shirked their responsibility, saying, "We still have to take care of the princess."
Mingda said, "Why do I need so many people to take care of me? You should learn some skills. If you are released in the future, you can support yourselves with a skill."
The maids who were about to refuse immediately stopped talking. Instead, they glanced at Zhou Man, knelt down and saluted, and replied respectfully, "Yes, we will follow the princess' instructions."
Zhou Man said, "You knitters are all good. I think there's nothing more to learn in this area. But to run a weaving workshop well, besides knitting, you also need to be able to keep accounts and deal with people."
Zhou Man had a good relationship with the palace maids. When it was her turn to be on duty in the palace, she would often chat with the palace maids and eunuchs.
There was a lot of talk about the future.
The queen was kind and benevolent, and she would release the palace maids when they reached a certain age. However, they were already quite old when they were released from the palace, and most of them were over 25 years old. Some of them who were more useful would be retained.
For example, Aunt Shang is now nearly forty years old. Normally, she will always accompany the queen. When the queen passes away, she also has several choices.
One is burial alive;
However, the Queen probably wouldn't like it, so no one would ask for it. Unless Aunt Shang was determined to die, she probably wouldn't choose this option.
The second is that the next emperor and empress will honor her and support her, but there are different levels of honor and support. One is to directly grant her an imperial decree, grant her a house and servants, so that she can live out her days in peace; the other is to send her to a manor to be honored and supported, and there will also be servants to take care of her, but it is not as comfortable and noble as the former.
The third possibility is that the next emperor will not remember her, or even has a bad relationship with her. Then she will have to find a way to release him, otherwise staying in the palace will only lead to death.
Given Aunt Shang's qualifications, if she didn't return to her parents' home after being released, she would have been working as a nanny in a powerful family to earn some money to support her family.
Or they could find other jobs, such as taking on some knitting work, and live on their previous savings. Basically, this was the choice of most palace maids.
It’s okay when you’re young, but the older you get, the more difficult life becomes.
So the palace maids, like the eunuchs, also like to save money. If they cannot save enough for their retirement, they will have to find a way to get married.
But even if they could leave the palace at the age of 25, this age is already too old for them to live in the outside world, and it is difficult for them to find a suitable man. Most of them are widowers, some even with children, making their lives even more difficult.
Especially the palace maids who have seen all kinds of men in the palace, they would rather be single and suffer a harder time than marry themselves foolishly and fall into a deeper quagmire.
So Mingda and Zhou Man’s words made them very moved.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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