Shipin Dalizheng

Being busy during the day, the night passed easily. Almost the next morning, Rong Tang received news that the village chief had already planned to build a workshop on the selected land.

The land was a piece of wasteland purchased by the village, about five mu (approximately 1.5 acres). After paying a few taels of silver to the county government, the land was assigned to Rongjia Village. Rong Dajiang fired a whip and shoveled the dirt, and work began.

In the compound, Rong An handed over the tasks of purchasing and collecting money to Rong Dashan, and assigned him the eloquent Wang Youcai as his companion, so that the team that went out to do business was stable.

After loading the wine that had been purified the day before into the car, Rong Dashan led the team on the road with silver in his arms.

Rong An has decided to be Rong Tang's accountant at this time, so he needs to sort out the accounts of the winery and wait for Rong Dashan to return and hand them over to him.

He first chose a house facing the sun in the front yard as his office, and then brought some items that he would use at any time from home and put them in place, and then he took office.

Seeing that he had almost put everything in order, Rong Tang waved at him, "Come here and see our new business."

Since morning, Tongqian and Tian Laoda brought in bundles of sorghum stalks from outside the yard and locked themselves in a room, acting mysteriously and unknown what they were doing.

At this moment, when I opened the door, I saw that Tian Lao Da, Tong Qian, Rong Shen, Rong Qianqi, Rong Wanli, and Xiao Li Jin, six people were peeling sorghum husks, peeling the hard skin on the stalks together.

Chuncao cut the peeled white flesh into small pieces as long as fingers. The sorghum flesh was different from the ones he had seen before. It was very juicy and looked very crispy.

Daya put the cut poles into the strange mold she had made yesterday, held the lever with both hands and pressed it down, and juice flowed out from the holes at the bottom. She pressed it repeatedly until all the water was squeezed out.

There was already half a bucket of juice in the bucket below. Rong Tang saw that it was almost done, so he asked Chuncao and Daya to carry the bucket out and let someone else continue to squeeze the juice.

The wooden barrel was carried to the kitchen, and the juice was first filtered repeatedly to remove the residue, and then poured into the pot to boil. This process was quite long. Rong Tang asked Aunt Dahu and Daya to stir it a few times at any time, and then went out to cool off in the shade of the tree.

Rong An was still confused at this point and asked, "I wonder what new business the prince is going to develop?"

Rong Tang said surprisingly, "Sugar making."

Rong An was shocked. Sugar is a precious commodity in the world. It is extremely expensive. Ordinary people cannot afford it. Even in wealthy families, sugar is distributed according to social status.

“Sure, it might not be perfect, but it’s definitely sugar.”

Even if the final product is thin sugar, it is already amazing.

Outside the courtyard gate, a carriage stopped and a middle-aged woman got out. "Is anyone home?"

Daya heard the voices and went over to greet them, "Auntie, who are you looking for?"

"My last name is Xue. I work at the Xue Family Embroidery Workshop in the capital. Someone came to my house yesterday and asked me to come and take measurements for a young lady."

There are two girls in the yard. Daya is sure that it is not her, so it must be Sister Chuncao.

Daya went to the juice room and called Chuncao. Chuncao was puzzled. She didn't want to make clothes, she just wanted to make it, so she made it herself.

After asking a few questions, she found out that it was Rong Tang who was preparing new clothes for her coming-of-age ceremony. She was so moved that she burst into tears.

Xue Xiu Niang took the measurements and brought down seven or eight samples of fabric from the carriage, asking her to choose the base color she liked.

Chuncao was also knowledgeable. These fabrics were too expensive and not suitable for a girl like her. What was the point of making a skirt that she couldn't wear normally?

In fact, Xue Xiu Niang was also a little puzzled. She had also inquired when she came here. The client who came to her door for service today was a newly promoted nobleman from the capital. Normally, their embroidery workshop often received nobles of this level, so it was not surprising to her. However, this Prince Rong, who obviously had no sisters, asked someone to come to his door to make a long-lasting skirt with hundreds of flowers for his female relatives. This was very intriguing.

When she saw the girl who needed tailoring wearing clothes suitable for rough work, she was even more certain that Chuncao was a maid. If the master ordered new clothes for a maid to wear on her coming-of-age day, then she must be a future concubine, right?

The look in Chuncao's eyes was a bit strange and ambiguous. "Girl, please choose. These materials are all excellent. I guarantee that after embroidering flowers on them, you will look like a fairy in them."

Chuncao said, "But I'm not destined to be a fairy! I'm busy as a dog every day. I'll just make one piece at random. These materials are not good. They look expensive and not strong enough. It would be a waste if they get torn. Let's change to fine cotton. I like the light blue color."

After saying that, he turned around and went back into the house to get busy.

Xue Xiu Niang thought to herself that their skills would be wasted if they could only embroider a piece of fine cotton cloth. It seemed they had to find someone who could make the decision. Glancing over, she saw a young man enjoying the cool air under a tree. This could be the owner of the mansion, Prince Rong.

She saluted from a distance, "Greetings, Prince Rong, I am honored to meet you."

When he came closer, he couldn't help but admire how good-looking this Prince Rong was. Although he was clearly a teenager who hadn't even reached adulthood, his overall demeanor was no worse than that of the most noble young men in the capital. Due to mourning, the clothes he wore were not gorgeous, but some people, even if they were wearing coarse cloth and tattered straw sandals, still looked noble.

"What's the matter, Madam Xue? Hasn't the measurement been completed?"

"Yes, I've measured it," said Mrs. Xue with a smile. "It's just that the girl thinks the material is too good and wants to change it to ordinary material. Look here, making a Hundred Flowers Skirt that doesn't fall to the ground mainly costs money. The price of a piece of material is not much different whether it's good or bad. Since we've already made it, it doesn't matter if we pay a few ounces. What do you think?"

Rong Tang nodded, "Then do as Xue Xiu Niang suggested and make two more sets for daily wear."

Xue Xiu Niang laughed even more happily, she knew that she had found the right person. She then praised the strength of her own embroidery workshop and said that they could even make the emperor's court robes.

Rong Tang could tell from Rong Zhan's words that the Xue family embroidery workshop was only considered medium-sized in Shangjing, and its customer base was far less than that of the other two.

"Xue Xiu Niang, I hear your accent has a southern tinge. Where are you from?"

Upon hearing this, Xue Xiu Niang's eyes darkened. "I'm from Jiangnan, the Xue family of Gusu. Over there, our Xue Family Embroidery Workshop is second only to the others. It's a pity that I came to the north to exchange skills twenty years ago, but I couldn't go back. Hey! Why am I telling this to the prince? Prince, if you don't mind, in the future, when your family needs fabric, can you embroiderers come to my Xue Family Embroidery Workshop? I'll give you a 10% discount, no, 20%."

Looking at the two fingers Xue Xiu Niang extended and her eager eyes, Rong Tang was unable to refuse. "Maybe the village here doesn't need them. When you return to Beijing, you can go to Steward Tao and contact him. The money for the clothes will also be collected from there."

"Who is looking for me?"

Butler Tao's voice rang out at this moment, and he and Rong Zhan came back together.

Xue Xiu Niang knew Steward Tao. In the past, the Earl's Mansion and the Minister's Mansion were merged into one, and it was Steward Wu who was mainly responsible for dealing with the outside world.

"Butler Tao, it's me, Xue Sanniang. The prince just said that if the mansion needs anything in the future, they should come to me, Sanniang, and I'll give you a 20% discount."

"Okay, I understand. Sanniang, go back first. I'll finalize this for you when I get back."