loom
The rain has stopped and the scenery is beautiful, it is the spring equinox, and thousands of flowers are competing for their brightness.
Pairs of new swallows fly on the painted beams, their chirping disturbing people's sleep.
Listening to the birds singing outside the house and feeling the morning light on her face, Tan Linshuang slowly opened her eyes. When she turned around, Zhao Mingyan was still sleeping soundly.
Her red lips were slightly pouting, and because of her plump cheeks, her profile with her eyes closed looked like a pufferfish, which made Tan Linshuang playful and she couldn't help but stretch out a finger and poke it gently.
It felt so good, he poked it again.
“Hmm…”
Zhao Mingyan murmured in dissatisfaction, then turned over and lay on her back with a frown on her face.
Tan Linshuang smiled and carefully stepped over her and got off the bed.
After getting dressed, he picked up the small porcelain bottle, his eyes became stern and his whole body turned cold.
Then he left the room, glanced at Xiaozhu who was waiting outside the door, and raised his chin to Ayun beside him. The latter understood and followed him, and the master and servant went to the study together.
"Take it to Doctor Zhu for examination."
As soon as the study door was closed, Tan Linshuang handed the small porcelain bottle to Ayun.
Ayun didn't ask any questions, took it and put it into his sleeve.
"Have you comforted Xiaozhu?" asked Tan Linshuang.
Ayun nodded, "That girl is smart, she understands it immediately."
"Miss, were you and your uncle okay last night?"
When helping Zhao Mingyan get up from bed, Xiaozhu couldn't help but express his concern.
Even though Ayun had warned her not to discuss the matter any further last night, her young lady was not in a good state last night and she couldn't turn a blind eye.
Zhao Mingyan yawned and said, "Not bad."
At least Tan Linshuang didn't blame her, and she learned her lesson this time and wouldn't give him random supplements anymore.
Others would bleed from their noses after taking too much medicine, but Tan Linshuang would vomit blood from his mouth. It was so scary!
"Why is the young lady crying?" Xiaozhu asked again.
At this moment, Zhao Mingyan no longer had the dazed look she had last night. She tilted her head and thought, "Maybe my period is coming soon."
After breakfast, Zhao Mingyan and Xiaozhu took a few food boxes and came to the Chastity Hall again in a carriage.
On the way, they saw the rows of eye-catching chastity archways again. Zhao Mingyan discovered that the newly built one was about to be completed, which meant that the Chastity Hall would soon welcome a new chaste woman.
I wonder what the other party’s background is?
Can you weave brocade?
"What? The loom is broken?"
When Zhao Mingyan arrived at the Chastity Hall, she saw Aunt Zhuang coming to greet her hurriedly, saying that all three looms in the weaving room had broken down overnight.
Overnight?
All three are broken?
Zhao Mingyan and Xiaozhu looked at each other in silence, and saw the same criticism in each other's eyes.
Bullshit!
Zhao Mingyan remained calm, motioning Xiaozhu to distribute the food boxes she had brought to the group of chaste women. Then, she said to Aunt Zhuang, "Sister Zhuang, take me to the weaving room to have a look."
She showed a sweet and innocent smile and called out "Sister Zhuang", which made Aunt Zhuang's mouth twitch.
Sister? I'm old enough to be your mother.
"Sister Zhuang."
Zhao Mingyan smiled again and then took her arm. "I brought a lot of snacks, so we won't have anything to eat when we get back."
Seeing this, Xiaozhu quickly opened a food box that was steaming cold, and said loudly, "This snow yogurt is made according to the palace's secret recipe. It's very delicious."
Upon hearing this and looking at the thick millet porridge-like snow yogurt inside, everyone immediately smelled the sweet fragrance floating in the air and their appetites were immediately whetted.
Aunt Zhuang glanced back and said in a complicated tone, "A bowl of snow yogurt, seven or eight children share it."
Zhao Mingyan smiled and said, "If you sisters like it, I will ask the East Chef to prepare a bowl for each of you."
Aunt Zhuang opened her mouth, her expression more complicated than before.
She said nothing more. After silently leading Zhao Mingyan into the weaving room, she pointed at the three looms and frowned, saying, "They were working fine yesterday. I came over this morning and they're not working."
"Not moving?"
Zhao Mingyan's eyes flashed. She didn't know how to weave brocade. She only knew roughly that the loom in the Ming Dynasty was also called a Hualou loom. It was mainly composed of five parts: the machine body, the Hualou, the opening mechanism, the weft beating mechanism, and the warp feeding and winding mechanism. So if it stopped moving, which part was it?
She walked to a loom near the door and touched here and looked there like a layman.
These three looms are of different ages, but without exception they are all about two meters long, half a meter wide, and ten meters high. They are supported horizontally and vertically by several wooden beams. From a distance, they look like bunk beds.
If you look closely, you will find that this flower tower loom is much more complicated than a bed frame. A rough count shows that it is composed of at least nearly a thousand components. The machine body is straight, with a raised flower tower in the middle, and flower books are hung on the tower. It is said that the flower books are woven into patterns using different threading and pulling methods.
When weaving, unlike previous looms, two people are required to operate it together. The flower puller sits in the flower tower to lift the warp thread and pull the pattern, and the shuttle operator sits under the loom to throw the shuttle and weave the weft. Only by repeating the warp and weft cycle can the "square and round, exquisite and wonderful" patterns appear.
Therefore, simply saying "I won't move" cannot convince Zhao Mingyan.
She pointed at the loom and turned to ask Aunt Zhuang, "What's stuck? Is it that I can't lift the heald to open it? Or the shuttle? Or the lower string?"
When asked this question, she remained calm.
In fact, she was a little nervous, afraid that Aunt Zhuang would see that she was pretending to be an expert.
The three things she mentioned were all heard, and there was no picture in her mind at all.
So, after meeting Aunt Zhuang's scrutinizing gaze, she put her hands behind her back, took a deep breath, and took the initiative in an experienced tone, "I'll go find a carpenter to take a look."
Aunt Zhuang was stunned. Before she could speak, Zhao Mingyan left the weaving room first, found Xiaozhu, and headed straight for Zhaohua Town.
The master and servant came in a hurry and left in even faster. By the time Aunt Zhuang reacted, the carriage had already gone far away.
Looking at the two long wheel marks, Aunt Zhuang opened her mouth again with a complicated expression.
"Auntie, what should I do?"
"Mrs. Tan wouldn't really hire a carpenter who knows how to use a loom, would she?"
"If they find out..."
"Stop talking!"
Aunt Zhuang immediately interrupted the man, and at the same time, she turned to the crowd and said, "It took them quite a while to come and go."
"You mean... you really want to break the loom?" Someone immediately understood her implication.
"But it's broken. What if we can't fix it?" another person frowned.
"If the loom breaks down, we'll be doomed."
"I can't explain this to Sanniang either."
Everyone was talking at once.
Aunt Zhuang's eyes darkened, and her voice deepened: "It's better to have no way out than to make wedding clothes for others!"
As soon as the words fell, there was complete silence.
Two hours later, Zhao Mingyan's carriage returned to Zhenjie Hall, and an old man and a young man got off, Lu Dachuan and Nie Xiang, also known as Nie Sanlang.
Lu Dachuan is a famous carpenter in Zhaohua Town. He can not only repair looms, but also make them. However, he is better at repairing than making.
So, he walked into the room, took a quick look, and saw what the problem was.
However, he did not say it explicitly. Instead, he called Zhao Mingyan outside and said to her in a low voice: "The loom is indeed broken. One of the vertical legs is broken, one of the spinning wheels seems to be stuck, and one of the pedals is broken."
"Then... is it easy to repair?" Zhao Mingyan asked hesitantly.
Lu Dachuan said it very tactfully: "I'm afraid that after it's repaired, it will break again. The problem is not with the loom."
"Ah?" Zhao Mingyan was a little confused.
Seeing that she didn't understand, Lu Dachuan hinted further, "Take the broken vertical pole for example. The break is very fresh, which is caused by human violence."
Zhao Mingyan understood instantly.
Seeing her eyes light up, Lu Dachuan continued, "As for the loom, I can fix it in half a day or a day. As for the rest, you have to rely on yourself."
"Humans are much more complicated than looms!"
Lu Dachuan's words came true. He repaired the three looms in just half a day. But as soon as he and Nie Xiang left, Aunt Zhuang started to grumble.
"Ouch... my wrist suddenly hurts."
"Could it be that the evil spirit has taken effect?"
"Yes, yes! It rains a lot during the Spring Equinox, making it very easy to contract the six external evils and develop the five internal evils."
"Now that you mention it, I feel my knees starting to hurt. I'm afraid I won't be able to pedal anymore."
"Hiss... My shoulder hurts, I can't swing it anymore."
…
The chaste women who had been happily enjoying the snow yogurt a few hours ago were now all sick, which made Zhao Mingyan and Xiaozhu both angry and amused.
"Since you sisters are ill, please rest for now. The loom has just been repaired and needs to be taken out of service for maintenance."
Zhao Mingyan retreated to advance, left a few words of concern to everyone, and then turned and left with Xiaozhu.
"Miss, they just gave up on the task on purpose."
As soon as she got on the carriage, Xiaozhu expressed her dissatisfaction.
Zhao Mingyan smiled but said nothing.
What happened today was indeed beyond her expectations.
Aunt Zhuang and her friends' methods were not very clever, but she could not admit her mistake to their faces.
If these virtuous women really don't plan to weave brocade anymore, then the Tan family's wishful thinking will be in vain, and it will not benefit Zhao Mingyan at all.
It really is a hot potato!
Zhao Mingyan stroked his chin and sighed in his heart.
"Miss, what should we do next?" Xiaozhu asked with a frown.
"Next..."
Zhao Mingyan opened the car window and shouted to Li Si, "Go to Mingyuezhai."
…
"Yan'er!"
A day later, when Li Yuzhu saw her daughter again, she had put yesterday's unpleasantness behind her and greeted her with a smile.
Zhao Mingyan did the same. She took Li Yuzhu's hand and said coquettishly, "Mom, I'm hungry."
Li Yuzhu studied her face carefully and nodded to herself, "She is a little thinner than yesterday."
"Come on! I'll take you to a new restaurant on the next street for something new."
With that, the mother and daughter walked out of the door hand in hand.
Xiaozhu quickly followed, "Miss, are you going back to eat?"
Zhao Mingyan waved his hand without even turning his head. "You can ask Li Si to go back first. We will hire a carriage and go back later."
"It's okay to let Uncle Zhang take you there." Li Yuzhu turned around and said to Xiaozhu.
"OK."
Xiaozhu nodded, looked at the intimate backs of the mother and daughter, and smiled.
"The heart is known only through the belly, and there is no overnight hatred between mother and daughter."
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