Chapter 45 Chapter 45 Wear cotton clothes
Autumn is the busiest farming season. Because it is related to taxes, the people work extra hard. This year, thanks to the curved plow, fertilizing method, and water-powered waterwheels, the harvest has doubled compared to previous years.
Taxes are related to the county's rating and are also linked to the county's specific harvest.
At the beginning of the year, Liang Nian was still very ashamed of colluding with Lin Si to conceal the harvest.
Now that it was the autumn harvest, Liang Nian had been very conscious of concealing the results, and even informed Lin Si only after submitting the documents.
The vertical furnace and hydraulic blower are still under construction, but the cotton harvest is the last one of the year.
Cotton prefers warm climates and will not bloom and bear fruit in winter. If it weren't for Lin Si's fertilizing method and the waterwheel, I'm afraid the results in autumn would be in trouble.
Now the planting and fertilizing of cotton are done by the Hu girls. Lin Si ordered them to pick the cotton and send it all to the textile workshop.
Xubu Yan had been growing this plant called cotton for some time, so when the cotton blossomed, she and her mother Xubu Bei were very happy.
The Hu girls planted plants for the first time and thought that their mission was accomplished once the flowers bloomed. However, they found that the green fruits faded and white fluff appeared.
They were ordered to pick white fluff.
Xubu Yan's entire family were commoners from an aristocratic territory, and even their surnames followed those of the Hu nobles, so the whole family had the surname Xubu. Farming was not allowed on the grassland, so they naturally couldn't tell the difference between flowering and fruiting.
I don’t know what this white fluff is used for.
Xubu Yan reached out and pinched the soft white fluff, saying in a mixture of Chinese and nonsense, "Mother, this fluff is so soft. Is it edible? It doesn't look like it."
Xu Bubei said hurriedly, "Regardless of whether this is edible or not, we cannot eat it."
"Of course I know, Mother. I'm just curious. There are so many places in the Central Plains that are different from the grasslands."
The Hu girls picked fruits while talking for a whole day.
The picked cotton is sent to the textile mill, where it is ginned and fluffed, but it is not rolled into slivers or spun into yarn.
After these cotton balls become loose, they will be sold to the people of Li County and used as fillings in the lining of clothes to make cotton-padded jackets in winter.
Shi Jin looked at the fluffed cotton and felt a little dazed.
Although she had a fire bed last year, she still wore a linen coat with reed fluff when she went out, and she was shivering with cold. At that time, she thought it was good that the house was warmer than before.
I never thought that people would be able to wear such cotton-padded clothes this winter.
Not only common people, but also people in the county lord's mansion wore it.
The maids and servants' work clothes had long been changed into uniform cotton cloth. The maids also went to buy cotton and sewed it into the interlayer of their work clothes, making a light and warm work cotton coat.
As for the servants who had no needlework skills, they wanted to hire someone to sew for them, but now all the girls in Li County have work, and the only ones without work are little girls and elderly women. The girls have no time to help others with sewing, so the servants asked the maids to help.
The maids were reluctant at first, but only agreed after the servants increased the money.
Lin Si's new cotton-padded jacket was sewn by Shi Jin, Yu An and Chun Yao Niang. The cotton cloth was dyed into cloud blue. After much thought, the three of them embroidered dark cotton patterns on it and sewed a circle of snow-white rabbit fur on the edge (please provide it by friend Zhu Shixi). The whole piece of clothing is exquisite and beautiful.
Because it was for Lin Si to wear, the three of them took extra care in sewing it.
Lin Si's height has grown a lot, but the baby fat on his face has not faded yet, so he looks particularly good in it.
Chunyi was very satisfied with what she saw. She decided that next time the county lady wore this dress, she should match it with a green headband, which would definitely be suitable.
It is still autumn now, and Lin Si can feel the warmth wrapped in his cotton coat. If someone is afraid of the cold, he can wear it now.
However, Lin Si still has the body of a child and is in good health, so after trying it on, he put the cotton coat away.
Not only Lin Si was trying on new clothes, but the common people were also trying them on.
Kang Zhuqing sewed the cotton into the interlayer of the cotton-padded jacket and quickly asked Shitu to try it on.
Then he asked expectantly, "How is it, is it warm?"
Shi Tu smiled and took off his cotton coat again, "It's more than warm, I feel hot when I put it on!"
Kang Zhuqing said angrily, "You are really a wild boar who can't eat fine bran!" Then she put on her own clothes.
She was instantly surrounded by warmth, which was many times warmer than clothes padded with reed fluff.
After wearing cotton clothes for a while, Kang Zhuqing has been conquered by the soft and comfortable touch of cotton. Sometimes she would think silently to herself.
How could the county lady be so clever that she could think of using this thing to weave cloth and stuff it into clothes?
Kang Zhuqing heard Shi Jin describe the cotton, but she would never have thought that it could be used to make clothes. If it were her, she would only regret that it could not be eaten.
Kang Zhuqing thought about it and felt that it was because the county lady had received education.
In her opinion, educated people are different!
Kang Zhuqing felt a faint yearning in her heart. If she could also learn to read and write, would she also be able to become powerful?
But she no longer has such an opportunity, Kang Zhuqing thought regretfully.
Reading is something out of reach for ordinary people.
*
These Hu people are now considered the people of Li County, and because of the language barrier, Liang Nian takes extra care of them.
This time, Liang Nian also sent people from the county government to explain the cotton to the Hu people. After a long explanation, both sides finally understood each other's meaning.
The Hu people worked in Li County for two months and earned some wages.
If a family of four could pool their money together, they could buy the cloth and cotton, but the problem was that the cloth was bought but there was no one to sew and tailor the clothes.
Xubu Chuo was facing such a dilemma at this moment.
He stroked the soft cotton cloth, muttering to himself, "I wonder how comfortable it would be to wear such precious cloth."
Xubu Bei was still immersed in the shock that the white fluff she picked from the plants she took care of had turned into soft cloth. The people of the Central Plains were really amazing.
She had no idea how the white fluff could be turned into cloth.
Xubu Yan said helplessly, "Brother, stop looking. The most important thing now is to turn these cloths into clothes." He even gestured on himself, "It's clothes like the people in Li County wear."
Xubu Bei wanted to give it a try, but when she thought about her only sewing experience, which was sewing rough cloth and animal fur together with a very thick bone needle on the grassland, she gave up.
When she saw that the girls from the Central Plains were using such thin needles, Xubu Bei was so scared that her eyes almost popped out.
The power of the Central Plains was something she could never imagine in her lifetime.
The four of us in the family look at each other.
Finally, it was Xubu Chuo who spoke up. "The county magistrate told us that the winter will be very cold, and we must sew cotton into our cotton clothes."
Xubu Yan had been in Li County for two months and had become more lively and talkative than before. "But we don't even have cotton clothes now."
Xu Bubei said stubbornly, "Why don't we ask someone else for help? We can pay them some money."
That being said, the family had only been here for two months, and they couldn't speak Chinese fluently. The only people they knew on a daily basis were the Hu people who came with them.
Female workers are very busy nowadays, so there is no one they can ask for help from.
Xububei stared at the cotton cloth and said, "How about I try to make it into clothes like we used to wear on the grasslands?"
Xubu Yan shook his head like a rattle, "No, I want to wear the same clothes as the people in Li County!"
Xubu Chuo silently moved the cloth closer to himself, "Mother, let's just forget it."
Just as the family of four was silent, there was a knock on the door.
Xubu Chuo hurried to open the door and saw two girls. He remembered that one of them seemed to be surnamed Wang and lived in the same alley as them, but he did not recognize the other one.
So he hurriedly greeted her in Chinese, "Miss Wang, what can I do for you?"
Wang Tong and Xubu Chuo lived in the same alley, but she lived at the head of the alley, while Xubu Chuo's family lived at the end.
Wang Tong has a straightforward personality and he and Deng Nan are close friends who grew up together.
Wang Tong smiled and said, "This is Madam Deng. Magistrate Liang has asked us to teach you how to sew clothes."
Clothes, sewing, and teaching, these three words touched the key words of the whole family.
As soon as Wang Tong finished speaking, she saw the Hu family staring at her eagerly.
He said in very standard Chinese, "Great, we're saved!"
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