Volume 1 Princess Taiping Grows Up Chapter 61 Cotton Products
Riding a tricycle to Renshou Hall, Li Yuechen said hello to Zhang Chengxin who was guarding the door, then trotted into the hall.
"Come here, Chen'er!"
Li Zhi, who was sitting cross-legged at the table, waved to her: "The tea is ready, come and have some tea with me."
"good!"
Li Yuechen agreed, jumped over the table and sat down next to Li Zhi.
Wu Zetian, who was reviewing the memorials, was probably in a bad mood, and suddenly scolded him: "Look at you, you are always in a hurry, how can you act like a princess?"
Although I don’t know why I was shot, all mothers are like this. I guess there was something unsatisfactory in the memorial.
Li Yuechen was not angry. She stood up and came to her side, gently patting her legs: "Isn't it because I miss my parents that I don't want to walk slowly!"
In fact, it is normal to be taught a lesson. After all, women in this era are very particular about their manners.
Most women of this era wore chest-length skirts, the hems of which almost touched the ground and completely covered their feet.
In addition, the steps are very small, and the requirement is that the legs swinging under the skirt cannot be seen from the outside, so it looks like she is floating on the ground.
In order to practice martial arts, Li Yuechen usually wears men's clothes and wears pants instead of skirts, so she usually walks with big steps.
When they sit, they usually have their legs open and their legs spread wide, not like the women in the palace at all.
"Hmph!" Wu Zetian glanced at her and did not continue to teach her a lesson.
"In my opinion, Chen'er is good in this state, Mei Niang should not teach her a lesson for this!" Li Zhi on the side smiled and waved his hand: "Come here, Chen'er, have some tea!"
Li Yuechen agreed, came and sat down next to Li Zhi, picked up the teacup and blew it gently twice.
"Well, Chen'er's armor looks good!" Li Zhi commented.
Hearing his praise, Li Yuechen raised her hand and looked at her bright red nails. She didn't feel anything special, but she still smiled and said, "Thanks to the flowers given by my mother, they look so beautiful!"
Li Yuechen flattered her naturally. Wu Zetian glanced over here but didn't say anything.
Li Zhi also blew the tea in the cup and asked softly, "How are you going to sell Chen'er's soap?"
"I'm just about to tell Grandpa." Li Yuechen moved forward a little and gave him a cute smile, "I still need Grandpa's help in this matter."
This was not unexpected to Li Zhi. He nodded slightly and said, "Are you talking about 'investment' again? Tell me, how much do you want?"
Li Yuechen nodded: "Yes! In addition to investment, there is another thing that needs Grandpa's help."
"Just speak up!" Li Zhi nodded domineeringly.
"I plan to find a place in Luoyang City that specializes in producing this thing, but considering that someone might steal the recipe, I want grandpa to send troops to guard it." Li Yuechen said.
"Um……"
Li Zhi nodded when he heard this: "That makes sense, I agree!"
…
After leaving Renshou Hall, Li Yuechen was in a very good mood and rode his tricycle back.
Li Zhi and Wu Zetian smiled at each other.
"I said Chen'er would be able to think it through." Li Zhi said with a smile.
Wu Zetian nodded, and then continued: "You have considered things very carefully, but it's a pity that you don't use your talent in the right way, but only think about doing business..."
"I don't think so!" Li Zhi picked up the teacup and took a sip. "I think Chen'er knows that once this thing comes out, many complicated things will come flooding in, so he asked me to send out the army to solve some of them first."
Having said that, Li Zhi fell silent while rolling up his health ball, not knowing what he was thinking.
Wu Zetian, who knew him very well, observed him for a few seconds, but did not continue speaking. Instead, she continued to review memorials.
On the other side, Li Yuechen, who returned to Anfu Hall, also began to think.
In fact, considering my current age, it is obviously a bit too much to actively propose to let the army guard the place.
I wonder if the emperor and empress will suspect that I am actually very smart?
After thinking about it, I feel that it is not a big problem. Children of this age are generally precocious, so it seems normal for them to come up with this method.
And as more and more things are produced in the future, this problem is actually unavoidable.
So why not just do this, little by little, to make them feel that they are actually very powerful.
And now that I am in favor, as long as I don't fall out of favor, it would be a good thing to be smarter.
While he was thinking, Xiao He suddenly came in: "Your Highness, the Clothing Bureau sent a piece of cloth for your review."
"cloth?"
Li Yuechen raised his head: "Bring it here and let me see it!"
Xiao He agreed, turned around and brought in a piece of white cloth about ten feet long from outside, and asked the two palace maids to spread it out in front of them.
Li Yuechen was a little stunned when he saw the cloth, he stood up, walked over and touched it.
It really is cotton! The people in the Clothing Bureau are incredible, they actually made it!
After thinking about it, Li Yuechen decided to go to the Clothing Bureau in person.
Seeing the princess coming, the palace lady immediately came out to greet her: "Greetings, Your Highness!"
"No need to be polite."
Li Yuechen entered the Clothing Department, looked at the white cloth they made and the pile of cotton in the warehouse, and a smile appeared on his lips.
Then he asked for paper and pen on the spot and drew a design of underwear for them to make with the cotton cloth.
"Your Highness, this item is fine in winter, but if you wear it in summer, it will probably be stuffy!" the palace lady reminded.
"Then weave it thinner." Li Yuechen reminded, "Oh, by the way..."
Li Yuechen gave a brief explanation and asked them to make a sample of the sanitary napkin.
Unfortunately, she didn't know what material the thing was made of, so she could only ask them to weave the cotton cloth into a translucent cloth bag similar to gauze, and then stuff cotton inside.
Considering cotton's good water absorption, it should be fine.
To put it bluntly, it is much better than wrapping wood ash in a cloth bag.
After confirming these two things, Li Yuechen asked them to make a batch of samples to try out first.
…
The winter solstice is coming in two days, and the palace has begun preparations for the winter solstice.
Because the pace of life is slow in this era, people basically start celebrating the New Year from the winter solstice.
People in the Tang Dynasty regarded the winter solstice as the beginning of the new year because the night is the longest and the day is the shortest on this day.
Starting from the second day, the days became longer and longer.
In this regard, Li Yuechen had to admire the wisdom of the ancients. In the absence of various high-tech instruments, it was really amazing that they could determine the calendar just by looking at the stars.
The emperor also had to perform sacrificial activities on this day.
In previous years, women like Li Yuechen were not required to participate. But starting this year, Li Zhi had gone crazy and asked her to participate in the moon worship on August 15 or the winter solstice.
In fact, Li Yuechen has never been interested in this kind of activity.
In essence, the emperor invited his ministers to dinner, and after drinking a little wine, they started to recite poems and songs, and once they were drunk, they started to dance.
Not to mention that the men's dancing generally has simple movements and a bold style... Well, to put it bluntly, it's almost the same as in a disco.
But no matter what, the emperor has given the order, so we have to attend.
Li Yuechen raised her hand and looked at her bright red nails. She raised her eyebrows. She looked more and more like a real princess.
In addition, there is a custom of eating dumplings during the winter solstice.
However, the name is not dumplings, but wontons. In this era, anything with stuffing wrapped in this kind of dough is basically called wontons.
Among the folks, many people will invite three or five good friends to eat wontons and drink some wine at home or in a tavern on this day.
On the day of the winter solstice, a royal banquet was in full swing in the Yaoguang Hall above the Jiuzhou Pond in the Ziwei Palace.
The bright moonlight splashed on the surface of Jiuzhou Pond, and the silver light was everywhere, like the shining light balls in a nightclub.
Li Yuechen also knew that today was an important event, so she did not act as casually as usual, but instead tied her hair up into a bun and put various accessories on her head.
The most eye-catching one among the accessories is actually a moth! Yes, it looks like a big fluttering moth!
I don't know how the technology of that era could make it look like this. Not only is the appearance very lifelike, but the key is that the two wings of the moth will tremble when it walks.
As for clothes, she did not wear men's clothes as usual, but instead wore a formal dress.
You cannot take big steps when wearing this kind of clothes. You can only fold your hands in front of your abdomen and move in small steps.
If your hands hang too low, your wide sleeves will drag on the ground.
Fortunately, she is still young and there is no requirement to wear makeup, otherwise she would never come.
It’s not that she rejects makeup itself, but the cosmetics of this era contain a lot of heavy metals. Li Yuechen, who has always paid attention to health preservation, would never apply this stuff on her face.
Although the light in Yaoguang Hall is not bright due to the countless lanterns, it has an intoxicating atmosphere like that in a bar.
Coupled with the musicians' incessant playing of music, she couldn't help but feel a little dazed, as if she had returned to the future.
Li Yuechen sat down below with her brothers with an obedient look on her face. After a while, when the emperor and his ministers began to compose poems and dance, she ran to sit next to her mother.
"Let me pour wine for you." Li Yuechen took the jug and poured wine obediently.
Wu Zetian turned her head and glanced at her, with a look of relief on her face: "It would be great if Chen'er could be this dignified on weekdays."
"If mother doesn't want to see my true side, I will certainly obey your command!" Li Yuechen replied with a smile after putting down his wine glass.
After these words were spoken, Wu Zetian turned her head and looked over again.
But Li Yuechen immediately added: "But mother must be reluctant to let her child pretend to be unhappy every day, right? After all, mother loves me very much!"
"Heh..." Wu Zetian grinned, "You are quite clever. You can tell whether this is good or bad!"
"Doesn't this show that mother is kind and doesn't have the heart to teach me a lesson?" Li Yuechen smiled and butted her arm with his head.
Even though Wu Zetian usually maintained a dignified appearance, she was amused by her behavior.
The emperor and ministers below were already getting carried away. They put away the four treasures of the study and started dancing.
Because they had been drinking and dancing and their bodies were hot, they soon started to dance wildly.
Some Hu generals even took off their shirts, leaving their upper bodies naked and revealing their thick chest hair.
Judging from his expression, Li Zhi probably wanted to do the same, but after looking in the direction of the people in the Censorate, he gave up.
The brothers didn't care about that. Except for Crown Prince Li Hong, Li Xian and Li Xian also took off their shirts and jumped up.
Li Yuechen looked up and found that the expression on her mother Wu Zetian's face had become completely gloomy.
In order to prevent the two from being punished too harshly tomorrow, Li Yuechen picked up her Sanlejiang and clinked it with her cup: "Don't be angry, mother, let them have fun."
After hearing what her daughter said, Wu Zetian felt a little helpless.
For these sons, except Li Hong, the rest... I can only say that they are obviously my biological sons, but in many cases I hope they are not!
Looking down at her little daughter who was accompanying her, Wu Zetian felt much better. She smiled and took a sip of the wine glass.
…
The banquet lasted until midnight. Li Yuechen did not stay too late, but went back early to sleep and rest.
The next morning, after I got up and practiced, the Clothing Bureau sent someone to deliver the finished samples.
The underwear is made very simply, and since it is winter now, it doesn’t matter if it is made a little thicker.
I went back to the inner hall and tried it on. Well, I should say it was worthy of being a senior tailor from the Shangyi Bureau. It was really quite comfortable.
After putting it on, Li Yuechen didn't want to change it. She then took a few other samples and gave them to Shangguan Wan'er and her two sisters and asked them to try them.
If you are sure it is useful, you can recommend it to your mother Wu Zetian, and then make some minor changes to make it a male version to recommend to your father Li Zhi.
As for the other thing... she was still young and it wasn't time for her yet, so Li Yuechen gave it to Xiaohe and Zheng and asked them to try it.
In any case, this stuff is definitely much better than wood ash, and the cotton cloth itself is delicate and smooth, and it feels very comfortable to wear against the skin.
After Shangguan Wan'er and her two sisters changed their clothes, they all felt very good. It was much better than before with the one layer of cloth covering them.
It is also extremely convenient as you don't have to get tangled up in it.
At the same time, Li Yuechen also began to think about whether this thing could be promoted?
With cotton cloth, it is relatively easier for people to survive the winter.
For most women of this era, needlework is one of the essential skills. Maybe they can't compare with the high-level tailors in the Shangyi Bureau, but it is still easy to make clothes for themselves and their families.
If cotton cloth can be popularized, it should make it easier for people to get through the winter.
In this era, although the wealthy and powerful used animal fur to keep warm, ordinary people could only use things like willow catkins, straw, and reed catkins to keep warm.
Not only is it hard to wear, but is also not very efficient.
If we can promote cotton cloth and cotton and make them into cotton clothes, we can reduce the chances of people freezing to death.
But the question is...how to reduce the cost?
While Li Yuechen was thinking about the problem, news came from the craftsman supervisor that the foot-operated stirring rod she wanted was ready.
