The Virtuous Concubine

The two of them were Malu's close friends, and naturally they knew that the woolen clothes that their master had recently prepared were for them to become concubines.

Thinking of this, Bai Fu couldn't help but spit at the emperor in her heart.

However, before these people could say what they were thinking, as soon as they came to Malu, Malu waved her hand and said, "I know, thank you for your hard work these past two days. Make more wool felt. I want to make two clothes, one for men and one for women."

Malu heard the name being called out, such a sharp voice of "The Imperial Concubine has arrived--" As soon as she heard it, she knew that Imperial Concubine Tong could not bear it anymore and came to snatch the child away.

In fact, Concubine Tong had always looked down on her, thinking that Malu was of low birth and unworthy of serving her dear cousin. She would pretend not to see her when she saw her, and sometimes she even hated herself for not identifying this vixen earlier. How could she have come all the way to see her?

Therefore, Malu must speed up the progress, otherwise he will have to fight with Concubine Tong, which will add some difficulties.

As he said this, Malu asked someone to bring some gardenia fruit, lead white and realgar. Lead white can dye wool into a snow-white color, while realgar can dye clothes into a reddish yellow with a hint of yellow, which is dignified and generous. In ancient times, the dye used to make dragon robes was generally mulberry wood juice. Obviously, Malu could not use it casually, so he had to use lead white and realgar instead. Gardenia fruit contains yellow pigment, which can also be used to dye yellow.

Malu planned to dye all the wool with lead white first, then dye some of it with realgar, and then use gardenia to cover the smell of realgar. Ancient people did not have a comprehensive understanding of the toxicity of objects. The tranquilizing soup commonly used in the palace contained a lot of lead. The same is true for realgar, which is a very common dye and medicine. Some people even like to drink realgar wine.

Long-term exposure to lead can lead to chronic lead poisoning, affecting the nervous system, kidneys, cardiovascular system, etc. Long-term exposure to realgar can lead to chronic arsenic poisoning, increase the risk of skin cancer, lung cancer and other cancers, and may cause skin pigmentation and skin lesions.

At present, Malu can only use this method of perseverance to accelerate the lives of Xiaozhuang and Kangxi.

Malu prepared everything and was ready to dye the cloth herself. Unexpectedly, Bai Xia and Bai Fu were so anxious that they kept kowtowed to her: "Madam, you are still in confinement after childbirth! How can you get out of bed?"

Since Malu became a noble lady, Bai Xia and Bai Fu have been calling her "Niang Niang" in Yonghe Palace. This is probably because they all feel that Kangxi owes Malu a concubine position, so they can only call her "Niang Niang" verbally to comfort her.

Malu couldn't say that she could get up and run around Yonghe Palace in less than a cup of tea, so she had to give up. After giving the protective gear to Bai Xia and Bai Fu, she repeatedly reminded them to cover their mouths and noses and never let their skin come into contact with the dyed liquids.

Malu didn't want to use this method, after all, there were still people who had to wash these clothes, and they would get hurt if they touched them, and it would be easy to be discovered. So she asked the laundry department about whether they could change the system so that they could wear some protection when washing clothes.

Unexpectedly, Bai Xia told her a fact that shocked Malu for a long time.

The clothes that Kangxi and Xiaozhuang wore were never washed and they only wore them once.

Malu was shocked: "This is such a waste!"

Bai Xia and Bai Fu looked at each other in bewilderment. Bai Fu couldn't help but say, "The nobles have always lived such a luxurious life."

Bai Fu then sighed and explained, "I heard that this is to prevent the clothes from being damaged during the washing process. The royal family's clothes are all made of fine silk and precious embroidery. Once washed, they will not be as exquisite as before."

Malu nodded, but still a little confused: "What do you do with these clothes after you wear them once?"

Bai Fu explained: "Some will be collected, and some may be given as rewards to the people below, but these are the concubines in the harem. The clothes of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor cannot be given as rewards, so they are all sealed in the Four Storehouses."

As a person of the people with a good family background, Malu couldn't understand this. Because in Yonghe Palace, she wore her clothes several times. Fortunately, Bai Xia and Bai Fu were good at taking care of them, and she did have a lot of clothes, so she didn't lose her dignity.

She looked at the wool felt in her hand and felt it was heavy. How many people were still without clothes and even froze to death in winter?

So she felt that what she was doing was meaningful. Unexpectedly, today, Malu realized that while she was working so hard to get more people to wear clothes, someone was wasting money right under her nose.

Angry, Malu poured more realgar and white lead into the dye.

After several rounds of bleaching, dyeing and fixing, Bai Xia and Bai Fu produced several pieces of snow-white, soft and bright yellow woolen cloth. After washing and drying these clothes, there was no trace of lead or realgar smell, only the fragrance of gardenia fruit and jasmine.

Malu admired the fabrics with satisfaction, then put on gloves and began to cut them herself. Bai Xia and Bai Fu saw that she could do it all in one sitting, so they no longer insisted on doing it themselves.

After cutting the clothes according to the size of Kangxi and Xiaozhuang, Malu started sewing again. The stitches of the clothes just need to be fine. If they are too fancy, it will not make the two people think that ordinary people can wear them. Moreover, the wool is not sifted so finely, it is not cashmere, and it is still a little prickly.

Malu was not going to say it directly, otherwise Xiaozhuang would definitely suspect that she had ulterior motives, although she did have some little thoughts of her own.

But Xiaozhuang did not doubt that he was obsessed with gaining fame.

After sewing for a while, Malu felt a little tired and decided to do it tomorrow. After thinking about it, he decided to let Bai Xia and Bai Fu use normal clothing dye to make some more wool.

It would be better to make one for your baby yourself, so it will be easier to talk about it when the time comes.

After all these arrangements were made, everyone in Yonghe Palace became even busier, because their mistress couldn't stay idle during her confinement. Malu also felt that they were working hard, so he gave them two more months of silver as a reward, and then paid out of his own pocket to go to the imperial kitchen to prepare more dishes for everyone in Yonghe Palace.

The people below were naturally delighted, thinking that even though their master's position was not particularly high, he was very considerate of his servants, and it was worth it for them to be busy in Yonghe Palace!

When Malu appeared at the Fourth Prince's full moon banquet on the day she was released from confinement, everyone was shocked.

How did you recover so well?!

There were many concubines in the harem who had given birth, so they naturally knew how hard it was to be pregnant and give birth, and how difficult it was to recover. The concubines who saw Malu's condition thought it was Luo Ma's credit, and looked at Luo Ma with even more passion.

Today, neither Kangxi nor the Empress came, so the situation was a little out of control. Everyone's words of congratulations were mixed with some swords, guns, sticks and clubs. There were many people who ridiculed and mocked her.

Malu was naturally unmoved and smiled at everything. Anyway, these people soon dared not say so.