"Second Miss, Second Miss, where are you? Have you seen Second Miss?"
Hearing the cries of the young maids in the courtyard, Qin Junyao put down the ledger in her hand and signaled for Liu Yu to go out and see.
Qin Xiaoyu had been living in the Zhao family for some time, and Grandma Qin had arranged for her to be busy every day.
Embroidering, cooking, calligraphy, reading, arithmetic, accounting, and so on were all things Qin Xiaoyu had to learn.
Except for cooking, which Qin Xiaoyu was interested in, she would avoid everything else if she could.
As it was, during the calligraphy practice time before breakfast every day, Qin Xiaoyu had once again slipped away from under the eyes of the maids. She was probably running around the village with those soldiers, led by Fuzi and Dengzui.
Since temporary workers had come to do the work, the soldiers led by Dengzui had been pulled out from the fields.
Even so, these soldiers had not lived a life of good food and drink. Dengzui, with the mindset that a day without practice means three years of regression, thought of ways to train his soldiers every day.
In addition to daily training, Dengzui would also have the soldiers help with building houses, which made the houses of Ling Manshuang, Bai Qing, and Qin Junyao change day by day.
"Madam, Second Miss has run out again and hasn't written a single character," Liu Yu reported to Qin Junyao with a pursed mouth after a short while.
"What did you see? Laugh if you want to laugh." Qin Junyao smiled and handed the yesterday's procurement list she had written to Liu Rong to record.
Liu Yu covered her mouth and chuckled, "Old Madam Qin made a six-foot-long feather duster and is waiting at the front gate with it. She said she wants Second Miss to taste the flavor of chicken feathers all over her body today."
Six feet long, that's two meters.
Qin Junyao imagined the scene: Grandma Qin, wearing a red kerchief, like a general, stuck the two-meter-long feather duster into the ground, with one hand holding the duster and the other akimbo, waiting for Qin Xiaoyu at the gate.
It was so funny.
Seeing Qin Junyao's shoulders shaking as she held back her laughter, Liu Yu and Liu Rong also covered their mouths and chuckled.
"Alright, be serious. You can't laugh in front of my grandmother when we go out," Qin Junyao said with a stern expression, but her lips curved upwards against her will.
Liu Rong, holding the list given by Qin Junyao, changed the subject, "Madam, are the cotton you bought back yesterday still for weaving coarse cloth?"
Qin Junyao nodded, "Continue weaving. Have you found a dyeing workshop?"
She had already transported three batches of cotton bolls with seeds back home.
The children that Grandma Qin had bought for the family, besides learning etiquette, spent most of their time picking cotton seeds from the bolls.
These cotton seeds had already been planted in batches by Qin Junyao.
In her previous life, the Northwest was a production area for high-quality cotton. This place was also located in the Northwest and had a very similar climate, so cotton should grow here.
However, she didn't know the planting time, so Qin Junyao could only conduct experiments in batches.
After the cotton was fluffed by the bowstring, hired village women were brought to spin yarn and weave cloth at the Zhao family's.
Although Qin Junyao's Northwest did not grow cotton, areas close to water sources grew jute, which was the material for the cheap burlap bags that Grandma Qin had mentioned.
Skillful women in the Northwest would use this jute to weave burlap cloth for door curtains, making burlap bags and even clothes.
Many women in Yangshu Village would buy processed jute and spin yarn at home to weave linen.
This was told to Qin Junyao by Grandma Qin when she took out the first batch of cotton bolls from her space and was thinking about how to weave them into cloth.
So, now there were more than forty villagers who knew how to weave, using their spinning wheels and looms every day to weave coarse cloth in the backyard of the Zhao family.
The coarse cloth directly woven from cotton was white. To make clothes, it needed to be dyed.
Qin Junyao had assigned the tasks of spinning, weaving, and dyeing to Liu Rong, who was responsible for managing her image.
"Madam, we have a lot of cloth, and it needs to be sent to different dyeing workshops for batch dyeing. However, there has always been a problem that hasn't been solved."
Qin Junyao raised her chin, signaling Liu Rong to continue.
"There isn't enough dye. If we want to dye it all, it will take a whole year."
Qin Junyao frowned, "Isn't indigo the most common and cheapest color? Some people in our village even dye their own clothes. How can there not be enough?"
These batches of coarse cloth she had prepared were meant to be made into clothes to send to Zhao Liangcai.
From their correspondence, Qin Junyao learned that Zhao Liangcai lacked everything except salt.
Uniform colors and styles of clothes could better distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield, and it would also be convenient to identify fallen soldiers by their clothing when clearing the battlefield.
Liu Rong patiently explained to Qin Junyao, "Madam, indigo needs to be dyed with the leaves of the indigo plant. Only leaves picked in May, June, August, and September can be used each year."
"Because it's cheap and widely used, they don't have that much inventory."
"Also, they are afraid of offending our manor if they don't finish dyeing on time."
Qin Junyao tapped her fingers lightly on the table and, after a moment of thought, made a decision, "Send someone to dig up some indigo plants with roots and bring them to me. I will solve the problem of the indigo leaves."
"Build a shed next to the new well dug in the wheat field, and we'll dye it ourselves."
"Dyeing isn't difficult, is it?"
She thought that since people in the village dyed their faded clothes at home, the process shouldn't be difficult.
Liu Rong nodded, "It's not difficult. Blue is very easy to dye."
Then Liu Rong explained to Qin Junyao the materials and steps required to dye cloth with indigo. It was indeed not difficult; all that was needed was lime and water.
.
At breakfast, Qin Junyao saw the two-meter-tall feather duster.
She looked at the sparse chicken feathers on the handle. It didn't look like it was used for dusting, but rather specifically for hitting people.
Fuzi was at the dining table, his eyes not only on the food but also on the feather duster standing by the door.
His small mouth opened and closed as if he wanted to ask something, but sensing Qin Xiaoyu staring at him, Fuzi closed his mouth and remained silent.
Grandma Qin's intention to teach Qin Xiaoyu etiquette was not a pretense. Not speaking while eating and not speaking while sleeping were basic rules.
Qin Xiaoyu's personality was such that she would not listen if only one person spoke while eating. Therefore, when everyone ate together, they all observed the rule of not speaking while eating.
After the meal, Qin Xiaoyu went to practice embroidery with the maids. Fuzi successfully borrowed the feather duster from Grandma Qin and dragged it out to play with, bumping and nudging it.
"Grandmother, aren't you being a bit too strict with Xiaoyu?" Qin Junyao poured more tea into Grandma Qin's teacup and wanted to discuss something with her.
Grandma Qin propped her right elbow on the armrest of her chair and picked up her teacup with her left hand. "She doesn't have as good a life as you."
"With you as her sister, she can't marry poorly in the future. But even the most powerful backer needs her own strength."
"Suffering now will lead to enjoyment later. How is the matter I asked you to handle?"
Qin Junyao took a sip of tea. "Except for the new recruits, most of the generals at the salt lake are married. There are no suitable sons-in-law for Zhang Erni."
"Why not? Xu Qiang, who lives behind the Hou family, Ma Changyuan, who lives by the road, Sun Laifu from Dengzui's company, and..."
"Grandmother, Erni is only thirteen. All those you mentioned are over twenty. Xu Qiang's mother is paralyzed from a stroke, Sun Laifu has three unmarried younger brothers and sisters below him, and Ma Changyuan..."
Qin Junyao paused, trying to remember who Ma Changyuan was.
Grandma Qin rolled her eyes. "What does it matter if they're older? Those who are older know how to cherish people. Hammer is also six years older than you, and besides, it's not like we're finding a husband for Xiaoyu."
"Do you know that even if Zhang Dani marries into our family, it will be extremely difficult for her younger sister to marry into a good family?"