After reviewing the quantity of cloth recovered, Li Mai shook his head; it was too little.
The village women weren't very efficient at weaving. She was trying to find a solution.
"Father, Mother, do you think it's okay if we also support the weaving workshop at the same time?" Li Mai asked the two elders.
When she built that dyehouse, she also built several separate small courtyards connected to the large courtyard. One was intended for spinning cloth, another for use as a warehouse, and the third for use as a dyehouse. Behind the large courtyard in the middle was a backyard with a drying area, where racks were set up specifically for drying cloth.
Zhao looked at the cloth in the bag on the kang in the west room and asked Li Mai in a low voice, "Xiaomai, is this cloth not enough?"
Li Mai nodded. "Mom, this is definitely not enough. I need to buy some more pure white cloth from outside. Also, I was thinking, should we buy more white thread so we can dye it ourselves when we get back and then weave it into patterned and checkered fabric?"
Zhao nodded, "That's possible, but where will we find textile workers?"
“Mother, do you know who in the village knows how to weave cloth?” Li Mai asked.
Zhao nodded and said with a smile, "I know. Nowadays, all the families in the village who know how to weave are weaving for our family."
“Well then, Mother, this afternoon you can invite all those who know how to weave to our house. I’ll talk to them. Men and women can come,” Li Mai said.
“Alright!” Zhao agreed.
Afterwards, Li Mai asked Zhou Quan, "Go back to town tomorrow and ask Xiao Lin how many days it takes him to make one loom?"
“Okay, I’ll talk to him about this tomorrow.” Zhou Quan agreed. He had to fully support whatever his wife wanted to do.
Even after Li Mai and Zhou Quan returned and moved back to their little courtyard, Zhu Zhu didn't go back with them. She and Xi Que were very happy living in her aunt's room, so she didn't move around with her parents.
Moreover, her father would come home early in the morning to teach her kung fu, so Zhuzhu was very busy every day. In addition to learning needlework and doing some small cloth crafts with her grandmother, she also had to memorize the properties of medicines with Xique and learn kung fu from her father. The little one was so busy that she had no time to play.
Li Mai suggested that she stop learning needlework for now, but Zhu Zhu said that her mother owned a clothing shop and that if she didn't know how to do needlework when she grew up, she would embarrass her mother.
Touched by Li Mai's thoughtfulness, I reward her with a cup of orange juice every day.
Actually, the water in that drink was orange juice that she heated with spring water to make it, just to give him more nourishment.
She also wanted to see if she could help Zhuzhu develop spiritual roots. If she could, then people who wanted spiritual roots could cultivate them with spiritual spring water from a young age. She was also conducting an experiment through Zhuzhu.
Of course, even if she doesn't develop spiritual roots, this spiritual spring water will only benefit Zhuzhu and won't do her any harm.
After chatting with the weavers in the village, Li Mai got a general idea of the situation. The reason why most people had low output was that their children would always come to disturb them, making it impossible for them to concentrate on weaving. They were also prone to having their threads broken or dirty by the children.
They were then asked how many pieces of cloth they could weave in a month, and how much net profit they could make after deducting the cost of the yarn and the money they made selling it to their own families.
The final result was less than one or two taels of silver.
Li Mai sighed inwardly, "No wonder!"
She also mentioned that once Zhou Lin brought back the new spinning machine for her, the workers in her weaving workshop would like to work there, just like the people in the dyeing workshop, starting work at 7 AM, finishing at noon, resting at home with their children at noon, and then starting work again at 1 PM and finishing at 5 PM.
My monthly wage is two taels of silver.
When they heard that they could earn two taels of silver a month and go home to cook, eat and rest at noon, they thought it was such a good deal that they would definitely go!
Therefore, after asking about their wishes, Li Mai had Zhao write down the names of those who were willing to work in the textile workshop, saying that when things were ready, he would call them to work at his place, and they would sign a three-year work contract when they started working.
Ultimately, fifteen people were recorded as willing to weave there permanently: ten women and five men.
Li Mai asked if any of them would be willing to sell their spinning machines to her, and if so, she would move them over with her.
However, no one agreed. They thought that if they stopped working for Zhou Quan's family, they could still weave cloth and sell it to Zhou Quan's family because they had a spinning machine at home.
Li Mai smiled, guessing as much as she had guessed. No one was willing to sell. Looms were passed down from generation to generation. The only people willing to sell such a money-making tool would be families that were truly starving and had no food left.
“Alright, then you can weave at home until my weaving workshop opens!” Li Mai nodded.
Everyone agreed and happily left to go home.
As a result, more than twenty people decided to work in her workshop.
There are three other families here, all run by husband and wife; the husband works in the dyeing workshop, and the wife works in the weaving workshop.
After everyone else was out of the house, Li Mai said to Zhao Shi, "Mother, I think it would be better if we arranged for two people for you and Father after our workshops are all open. I'll buy two old women, two housekeepers, and have them live over at the workshops. They can look after things there and help you."
"Alright, you two can decide what to do," the two elders said with a smile.
The next day, Zhou Quan returned to the town and talked to Zhou Lin about making looms. Zhou Lin said that fifteen looms would take at least half a month. The main problem was that the material preparation would be slow, but once the materials were prepared, the finished products could be assembled quickly and it could be done in a few days.
Zhou Quan took him directly to the timber shop to buy timber. After they returned, Zhou Quan remembered that there were many trees on the mountain that Xu Changhuan had given to Li Mai. So he told Zhou Lin that he would take him to a place to take a look in a few days. If the trees there were usable, he would ask someone to help cut them down and put them in the mansion to dry.
Zhou Lin nodded. He had his own timber, so he could make more money by making furniture. He could earn a little extra for his hard work and labor by buying timber and selling the furniture.
After settling things over with Zhou Lin, he had a meal with his older sister and brother-in-law, and told them to let Zhou Heng come back to the village to find him if anything happened. Then he rode back to the village.
On the way back to the village, Zhou Quan suddenly saw a man in black sitting in front of him, quietly watching him. He frowned, slowly stopped his horse, and raised an eyebrow: "The ancient prince of Nanyou Kingdom?"
Because he noticed that when Gu Zhe waved his hand, a large bamboo basket appeared in his hand.
Gu Zhe looked at him calmly, "These are grapes, give them to the baby to eat more of, they're good for the child."
Zhou Quan took it, glanced at it, and nodded solemnly, "Don't worry, Your Highness, Xiaomai will be fed."
Gu Zhe nodded calmly, then suddenly said, "Don't you dare bully my daughter, or I'll beat you up!"
After saying that, the person disappeared.
Zhou Quan's lips twitched, but after glancing at the basket in his hand, he smiled again. Although he didn't know what this person's purpose was, he knew that he couldn't buy these oranges and grapes even with money right now, and Xiaomai would definitely like them.
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