Chapter 275 Tapestry
"Aying, what do you want us to do?"
Madam Zheng and several capable women came over after breakfast, and the Su family was already boiling water.
"Come, please ask the sisters for help!" Su Ying invited several ladies in.
"What is this?" Madam Zheng had sharp eyes and saw the colorful lights in the main room.
"Let's go and take a look. We're reeling silk today. Please ask the sisters for help. We also need to hurry and weave it into the finished product." Su Ying said with a smile.
Madam Zheng and the others went in and saw more than a dozen baskets of different colors, dark and light. "How did you make this?"
Several women were holding silk cocoons, their eyes wide open.
This cocoon is not only colorful, but also large and plump, unlike the cocoons made at home, which are dry and thin.
Six or seven days have passed since the cocoon was made. The silkworm pupa is relatively mature and there are still two or three days before it emerges. It will not bleed and is the time to reel out silk. The silk has good color and high quality.
"I'll teach you next season. This is called natural colored silk!" Su Ying introduced.
"We, want to learn too?" Madam Zheng's voice rose an octave. This thing can't be compared to vermicelli or something like that. The value of this thing...
"Okay, sister, this stuff is expensive. Our Su family alone can't make it all. Even if everyone in Huanggou Village made it, the silk and fabrics we produced wouldn't be enough!"
Su Ying hugged Madam Zheng and said, "I invited several sisters to come today. In addition to reeling silk, we also need to weave. It will be very useful!"
"This, this!" Madam Zheng, who was always generous, hesitated. "I'm afraid I'll break something so precious to you!"
"That's right, Aying!" The other ladies took two steps back, fearing that they would damage the colorful cocoon.
"Hey, sister, this thing isn't that delicate. I'll just make it the same way I usually do. I'll just improve a few things..."
Su Ying explained the process of boiling cocoons, cooling them with warm water, reeling them into silk, and drying them in a small brazier before drawing the silk.
After listening to the principle and explanation, Madam Zheng and the others showed admiration in their eyes, "Aying, how did you come up with all this? It would have been fine if you hadn't said it, but now that you've said it, it really is true!"
"Haha, read more books and think more!" Su Ying said vaguely.
There have been many books on mulberry silkworms since ancient times, so what you said makes sense and is reasonable.
In the Su family's courtyard, everyone was busy boiling cocoons, reeling silk, and spinning it into ingots.
"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Everyone exclaimed in admiration at the shiny colored silk threads.
The lustrous, bright silk thread was already astonishing, and the colorful one, too! Everyone felt dizzy; how could such a magical thing exist in the world?
"How is it?" The village elders came after finishing their work in the fields at noon.
After listening to Old Man Yang talking about colored silk for a long time, no one looked at it, and everyone was curious about what it looked like.
"Dear village elders, look!" Su Ying invited people in.
There are several rows of spindles placed next to each other on the wooden racks in the courtyard, colorful and shiny, you can imagine the texture of the silk threads!
"Oh my God! I can see such a treasure in my lifetime!" Old Zheng exclaimed!
I have lived a life of luxury and splendor in the first half of my life, and have seen many fine things. But as a convict living here for twenty years, wearing coarse linen clothes, I am lucky enough to see such luxury goods!
"Wow! What a good thing!" The village elders did not dare to touch it rashly and just watched quietly.
The village elders have sharp eyes! They can tell the authenticity at a glance! This is natural, not dyed, and the Su family doesn't have any dyes.
"Aying, next season shall we really raise colorful silkworms and produce such colorful silk?" The village elders looked eagerly.
"Well, but there are still some technologies that need to be improved. You see, we originally had four colors, bright red, bright yellow, indigo, and purple, but in fact they are of different shades, and there are so many colors!" Su Ying pointed to the colored silk on the spindle.
"Yeah, not bad, not bad!" The village elders thought it was amazing that they could raise it, and the depth of color was not a problem.
"Aying! Actually, this is pretty good!" Madam Zheng looked at the colored ingots of different shades thoughtfully.
"What do you mean, sister?" Su Ying asked.
"Aying, if you want a solid-colored fabric, the shades must be consistent, but if you want to weave brocade, colored silks of varying shades are best!" Madam Zheng expressed her opinion.
Everyone present was stunned by this. Yes, colors should be colorful. Why go into a dead end and unify them into one hue?
At worst, the colorful cocoons can be sorted according to color after they are formed. This can ensure color diversity and they are purely natural, an effect that cannot be achieved by dyeing!
After thinking about it, everyone suddenly realized, "Yes, yes! This method is wonderful!"
"In this case, there will be no technical problems in feeding!" Su Ying patted her head. Once a person's thinking becomes solidified, he will become paranoid.
If it weren't for Madam Zheng's remarks, Su Ying would have fought to the end, and she didn't know when the problem would be solved, but she would never have been able to solve it.
Silkworms are different from each other, so their absorption and digestion are different, and the color of the cocoons they make is always different.
Once the thinking changes, the colored threads with different chromaticity can enrich the color of the colored threads, and the problem is solved!
There is indeed strength in numbers! The wisdom of the masses is endless!
Fu Zhong, who was silent on the side, had to marvel at the fact that there were indeed many hidden talents in Huanggou Village, and any girl was so smart.
Everyone was reluctant to leave, so Su Ying cooked porridge and made scallion pancakes for everyone to eat.
After dinner, I squatted in the yard and watched Madam Zheng and several textile experts gather around the loom to pull the warp and weft threads and start weaving brocade, watching the colored silk turn into brocade bit by bit.
"This silk thread is good, even and tough!" Madam Zheng exclaimed as she weaved. An expert can tell whether the thread is good or not with just one touch.
Not only are the white cocoons we raise small, but the silk we reel often breaks and has poor toughness, so we often have to stop and tie knots when weaving.
Unlike this silk thread, it is smooth to weave and rarely breaks. What’s more, it is colorful, bright and shiny, so beautiful!
When it was dark, the Su family rarely lit several candles and lit the wicks of all the oil lamps, waiting for the first piece of colorful brocade to come out.
The further back we got, the quieter the sound became, and everyone was staring at the loom.
"Kata, kata!" Madam Zheng was immersed in the joy of weaving and completely forgot about the scene around her. The sense of accomplishment made her excited and happy!
"Kata, kata!" When the last sound of weaving ended, Madam Zheng cheered, "It's done!"
Several ladies came forward, took down the brocade and unfolded it. The bright red brocade was shiny and soft.
"Okay, okay!" The village elders watched, but no one touched it.
Their hands are covered with calluses, and they will easily snag the threads if touched, thus ruining the brocade.
Only Fu Zhong stretched out his delicate hands to taste it carefully. He found that the texture was indeed different from other silk fabrics, with sufficient toughness and elasticity.
"Okay! Put it away and put it in my room!" Fu Zhong ordered.
Several ladies carefully rolled up the red brocade, and Su Ying took out a fine small wooden box to keep it.
"Aying, these multicolored silks cannot be woven into a piece of cloth. How about weaving them into a piece of colorful cloth?" Madam Zheng had an idea.
"Great! Sister is really amazing!" Su Ying was inspired, "Let's weave it into gradient colors."
"What is gradient color?" Everyone was puzzled.
"The color progresses from light to dark." Su Ying said concisely.
"Oh! Very good!" Everyone understood as soon as they heard it.
Fu Zhong looked at Su Ying in amazement. If there really was such brocade, its value would be even more precious than pure color. In this way, it could be said that it transformed decay into magic.
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