Everyone was talking about Yan Shiyue's sewing machine and clothes. Concubine Xian was completely ignored and her face darkened slightly.
Compared with Concubine Xian, the Queen in the capital can be said to be in high spirits.
Originally, the highlights of the Qiqiao Festival were all held at night, but because sewing machines had to be operated, good lighting was required, so the queen had people dry books, and after a formality, she began to demonstrate the sewing machines.
The Fifth Prince was in the Ministry of Rites, and he did a very thoughtful job, with blankets spread out in the hall and sewing machines placed in a staggered pattern so that everyone could have someone watching them without it being too crowded and without it looking frivolous like a performance.
The queen selected several palace concubines, including the fifth prince's mother, Concubine Liang, as well as the crown princess and the fourth prince's wife. They were already very experienced in this field, so they smiled and said a few polite words before starting to demonstrate.
The queen was born beautiful, with her slender white fingers dyed with nail polish touching the cloth, and when she bent over to cut, she looked particularly dexterous.
Yan Shiyue stood far away from the fourth and fifth princes. Yan Shiyue said intoxicatedly, "Look at this scene, beauties are like clouds! I can recite a hundred poems!"
The fifth prince smiled and said, "Then you should recite a poem."
Yan Shiyue immediately said: "The noise and clinking of the sewing are so complicated, the big and small clothes fall on the jade plate."
The fifth prince laughed out loud.
...
...
The fourth prince asked her, "Why don't you go?"
Yan Shiyue shook her head: "Mother can handle women's affairs, there is no need for me."
"Women's affairs..." The Fourth Prince glared at her: "Then why did you ask me to do it?"
Yan Shiyue smiled and said, "I said that the Qiqiao Festival is a women's thing, not that only women can use sewing machines! Don't worry, this is just the beginning, and men will definitely be needed later, otherwise why would I look for those people!"
She stretched her head to take a look and said, "I'll leave first, are you guys going?"
The fifth prince couldn't leave, so he asked her, "You won't come to the palace banquet tonight?"
She said without hesitation, "No!"
You know, the palace's Qiqiao Festival actually requires catching spiders at night! She really declined the offer.
Why catch spiders?
Because the concubines would offer sacrifices to the stars and pray for good luck at night, they would place fruits and melons in the courtyard. After the ceremony, they would catch a few spiders and put them on the fruits and melons, then cover them up. The next day, they would see how many and densely the webs the spiders had made were. If there were many and dense webs, it meant good luck.
So those delicate girls in the boudoir started catching spiders with their bare hands.
Yan Shiyue was terrified after seeing it once, and she never participated again! She was not afraid of anything except bedbugs and spiders!
She really left.
What she was wearing today was the same imitation flying fish suit as Huo Qijing's, except that Huo Qijing's had a black background with silver patterns, while hers had a silver background with black patterns, and the patterns matched each other, and she felt very handsome.
She went to the Ministry of Commerce.
Before Chinese Valentine's Day, they picked a shop to serve as the Ministry of Commerce's exclusive store. They had already hung up the sign and stocked the goods, but it has not yet opened.
Because sewing machines are extremely sophisticated devices in this manual age, and although they have already started, the manufacturing process in workshops is not that fast, so it is impossible to distribute them across the board all at once.
Therefore, the preliminary policy is to limit the purchase of spot goods to ten units per day, and each household is limited to one unit.
No matter how high your title or how high your official position is, you will be treated equally on a first-come, first-served basis.
Why do you do this? To attract attention.
Officials are a circle, aristocratic families are a circle, the wealthy are a circle, the common people are a circle... Only by treating everyone equally can all circles have the desire to participate. Just like the common people, even if they cannot afford it, but knowing that they can enjoy the same rights as the high officials, they will be happy to spread it.
But in fact, in this kind of imperial society, true equal treatment is impossible.
So after the Qiqiao Festival, the queen would give a few trolleys to a few families to give them face. After all, if they were really treated like ordinary people, they would also have opinions.
This is a.
Second, as the saying goes, if the upper class likes something, the lower class will like it even more. The quality of a thing must be raised so that these people will chase after it and scramble for it, and only then will there be lasting sales.
These people who are not short of money are Yan Shiyue’s main target for making money. Even if they buy the things and don’t use them, they can just look at them.
At the same time, we should also cultivate their good habit of spending money to buy things from the Ministry of Commerce, and not always think about enjoying any privileges in this regard.
Yan Shiyue arrived at the store and went in through the back door to take a look.
The store is very large, with several sewing machines already set up. This one is not exactly the same as the one used in the palace, with slightly fewer decorations, and looks more simple and practical. There are eight big characters on the main panel: "Made by the Ministry of Commerce, any imitation will be prosecuted."
Qu Sinian and Ren Zenan were talking. When they saw her coming, they came over to greet her.
Ren Zenan asked: "Prime Minister, we are discussing whether we can sell the winding machine to some small workshops?"
The small machine that produces spindles for sewing thread was named a winding machine by them. Yan Shiyue thought about it and said, "It's actually possible. No matter how cheap the machine is, some people can't afford it. If someone buys it, it would be a good thing to organize people to make it."
Ren Zenan said: "What if the big workshop wants to buy some winding machines at the same time as buying sewing machines?"
Yan Shiyue sighed, "It's actually possible. You can discuss these small matters. Some of the things we have in mind may not work when we actually put them into practice. Let's explore slowly."
The three of them briefly greeted each other, and then Qu Sinian followed her out and said to her, "Prime Minister, I think the textile workshop can be placed in Xizhou or Jizhou. Send someone to take a look at the site first, and work with the people from the Ministry of Revenue to check the local situation and decide on a location first."
Yan Shiyue nodded, and Qu Sinian said, "You can arrange for your cousin to do this. I think he is very calm. I asked him to go to the workshop and learn how to repair the textile machine. He seems to have no complaints and learns very quickly. Let him manage the workshop, there shouldn't be any problems."
Yan Shiyue said: "Just let it be as you wish. I'm not familiar with him."
Qu Sinian added: "But all of these things in our business department are new. This is the first time we have done this. Yan Shilan's work can still make people feel at ease. I am just afraid that if something goes wrong, he will not be able to handle it. We are so far away that we can't help him."
Yan Shiyue said, "Don't worry about problems all the time. What can go wrong? It's not like he went there alone... Besides, when you first started, you didn't know anything either. So if you want to form an elite army, you have to train them slowly with the same group of people. If you don't know how to do something, just learn it. If you learn day by day, you will be able to train them into elite soldiers sooner or later."
Qu Sinian smiled and nodded, and then said, "As for steelmaking, I have picked a place, also in Qinzhou, with a large mine. The place is quite remote, so it won't disturb anyone. But I have to ask for permission first... Then, I think we should send Lin Cheng to do it?"
Yan Shiyue sighed: "That makes me look like nepotism!"
Qu Sinian said with a smile: "The Prime Minister has a lot of troubles, this one is not the least of them."
Yan Shiyue looked at him speechlessly: "You are really good at comforting people!"
Qu Sinian smiled and bowed.
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